Besides the Bush tax cuts getting stretched another two years, the proposed new Obama-GOP tax deal has other goodies in the bag for you. [More]
personal finance
Wachovia's Lame Attempt To Get You To Sign Up For Overdraft Fees
By 12.7.10
Wachovia sent out an eblast trying to get people to sign back up for overdraft protection, and the fees that “service” entails. [More]
Smart Wallets Get Harder To Open As You Spend More
By 12.7.10
An MIT Media Lab team has developed a series of wallets that physically react when you electronically spend. [More]
Woman Fights Foreclosure For 25 Years
By 12.7.10
This lady has been successfully fighting off foreclosure for twenty-five years, pulling out every trick in the book along the way. But her winning streak may be drawing to a close. [More]
Personal Finance Roundup
By 12.7.10
9 fast fixes for your credit scores [MSN Money] “If your credit scores are below 760, you may not be getting the best rates for loans or insurance — so burnishing your scores can save you money.”
3 New Ways to Save on Gas [Smart Money] “SmartMoney looked at three popular ways to get fuel on the cheap — and their potential savings and pitfalls.”
New Year’s Resolutions: 7 for Your Money [Money Watch] “Here are seven money resolutions that can improve your mind, spirit and bank account.”
Side Income: Is It a Hobby or a Business? [Money Under 30] “Almost everyone partakes in some sort of hobby without worrying about whether it will generate income. However, as soon as you take steps to attempt to generate a profit you’ve got a business on your hands.”
6 Simple Ways to Safeguard Against Bank Bullying [Wise Bread] “The joy of using the system against the banks? Priceless.”
Chase Isn't Charging You A Fee, They're Rewarding You
By 12.6.10
Reached for comment about ex-WaMu “free checking” accounts becoming new Chase “fee checking” accounts, a Chase spokesperson told Consumerist, “What we’re trying to do is reward customers for giving us more of their business, in terms of multiple accounts, or deeper business, in terms of balances or direct deposits.” I then asked him if they were also trying to get rid of less profitable customers. [More]
Chase Kills "Free Checking" For Ex-WaMu Customers
By 12.6.10
Starting Feb. 8 2011, former WaMu account holders gobbled up by Chase will become the latest batch of customers to lose their free checking privileges. They will still get “free checks for life”, but their “free” checking is about to become “fee” checking. [More]
Why Savings Account Rates Suck Right Now
By 12.6.10
You may have noticed it’s dang hard to get a good rate for saving money right now. Used to be you could get an online savings account with 5%, no problem. Now if you can get in the upper 1% you’re doing pretty good. So what’s the dilly? [More]
A Lottery That Encourages Savings And No One Loses? America Hates It
By 12.3.10
Prize-Linked Savings plans are these things where a tiny bit of the interest on all the participants’ savings accounts get pooled together. Then on a regular basis someone gets randomly selected for a giant cash prize! The instruments have done well in other countries for years, encouraging people to save instead of wasting their money on a hopeless game. Naturally, America hates it. [More]
New Line Of Prepaid Debit Cards Target Teens With Cartoon Designs
By 12.3.10
Just days after the Kardashian Kard got cut, a new line of “Myplash” prepaid debit cards targeting teen consumers is here, bedecked with cutesy cartoon characters and Twilight stars. [More]
How To Save Up Money For The Apocalypse
By 12.3.10
Once you’ve taken advantage of the Second Coming Jewelry Sale, you may be wondering: how can I make sure that I have a nest egg ready for the End Times? Reader loquaciousmusic came up with this great idea to take advantage of two proposed “expiration dates” for the Earth. If the world ends–oh, well, you probably won’t have missed that $10 per week. If it does–hey, use the money to buy yourself something cool to celebrate still being alive. [More]
ATM Skim Scammers Steal Cards With Old Cassette Recorders
By 12.2.10
Fraudsters are cracking open old handheld cassette recorders and using their components to build ATM skimmers that steal your credit card numbers. [More]
Coupon Grandmaster Scores $1658.53 Of Stuff From Walgreens For $19.99, Donates All To Charity
By 12.2.10
Epic is the only word to describe this coupon genius who bought $1658.53 of stuff from Walgreens for only $19.99. It took 6 hours to check out the over 100 transactions necessary to complete the purchase. Why did the manager gladly let him do this? [More]
Updated: DangerP's Sweet Excel Budget Spreadsheet (With Debt Snowball)
By 12.1.10
After I uploaded my quick n easy excel budget spreadsheet yesterday, Consumerist reader DangerP sent over his to share with everyone. His is pretty cool! In addition to the regular cash flow and recurring billing item tracking, it also has a built-in worksheet for doing a debt snowball, tracking long-term debts, and an overall budget dashboard. Update: new excel file replaced to fix formula issues some people where having. [More]
This Used Car Ad Is Totally Tubular
By 12.1.10
Madison Ave, take some copywriting lessons from this radical used car ad: “Looking for a car with a sweet tape deck and a radio with five pre-sets? A car that needs new brakes and maybe some action under the hood?…Than this is the car for you! [sic]” [More]
Overcome Personal Finance Procrastination
By 11.30.10
The number one cause of personal finance ruin is procrastination, and the number one cause of procrastination is fear of failure. So if you find yourself watching Brideplasty instead of balancing your checkbook, deciding which expenses to cut, or updating your retirement savings plan, here are some tips for making those tasks less daunting. [More]
Fancy Colleges Don't Matter
By 11.30.10
Smart and ambitious students should go to community college and state school, and save their money for funding their dreams. At least that’s one way to look at a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that found going to a college where kids have higher SAT scores doesn’t result in more money after they graduate. [More]
Download Our Free Easy Excel Budget Spreadsheet
By 11.30.10
Back by popular demand after the file on our server got messed up, it’s Consumerist’s easy excel budget spreadsheet! It lets you track your cash flow and expenses, and plan for upcoming purchases and bills. Use it properly and you’ll never overdraft again. [More]
