Fliers who feel they have been mistreated by airlines may soon be in for a bit of relief. New government rules go into effect next month that will give travelers more rights—and maybe even more recourse—when travel goes awry. Additional passenger protections may be coming later this year.

The rules, of course, won't protect fliers from every delay or lost piece of luggage. But they will, among other things, heavily penalize airlines for leaving passengers stranded aboard grounded p...
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In the past week, I’ve written up the credit card acceptance guidelines for both Visa  and MasterCard. But what if a merchant doesn’t follow the guidelines? What recourse do you have?

In short, you can report them to Visa or MasterCard and (hopefully) corrective action will be taken. Here’s how to get in touch with the two companies…
Reporting Visa credit card violations

Perhaps the easiest way to get in touch with Visa is to call them at 1-800-VISA-911. Alternatively, you can call the n...
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Food, clothing and shelter: the basic necessities, and expenses, of daily life. This week I’ve done posts on 28 Ways to Save on Food and 18 Ways to Save on Clothing. Now it’s time to tackle shelter.

There are lots of ways to save on shelter. I did a story not long ago that offered 3 Tips to Lower Your Rent. I’ve done stories on buying houses cheap, including How to Buy a Foreclosure. I did a story that featured 5 Tips to Sell Your Home Fast. I even did a story a few months ago about a $1...
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"Experts Show How To Crack Chip And Pin Cards"

IT experts say they have uncovered flaws in the chip and Pin system which are being exploited by fraudsters to use stolen debit and credit cards.

A team from Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory found that criminals can insert a "wedge" between any stolen card and a terminal.

This tricks the terminal into believing the four-digit personal identification number, or Pin, was correctly entered.

However, in fact any Pin can be used to authorise the...
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As the Senate debates financial reform, consumer groups are urging Congress to break up the biggest banks and impose strict limits on proprietary lending, virtually guaranteeing a "repeat" of the 2008 meltdown if those actions aren't taken.

The two components comprise the "Volcker rule" for financial reform, named after former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, who proposed them. President Obama has backed it, citing Volcker as a key ally.

The prospects for its inclusion in the final bill are unclear. ...
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Free Checking Could Go the Way of Free Toasters

Free checking began as a privilege. Once it spread, customers felt entitled. Eventually, it became a commodity, as most banks felt they needed to offer it. Soon, people took it for granted.

But now, free checking may be an endangered species.

Banks are feeling heat from all sides. This week, President Obama moved to limit the size and activities of the biggest institutions. Last week, he proposed a tax to recover bailout funds.

The biggest impact o...
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The IRS is apparently aiming for a low "C" in customer service, having set a goal of connecting just 71 percent of the people who call its help line with a human agent -- and only after they've endured long wait times. Not good enough, says National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, an independent watchdog within the agency. The IRS says it must allocate finite resources among competing demands.

Need help with your taxes? Good luck reaching the Internal Revenue Service. Three out of 10 people w...
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Every day, millions of Americans stand at store checkout counters and make a seemingly random decision: after swiping their debit card, they choose whether to punch in a code, or to sign their name.


 It is a pointless distinction to most consumers, since the price is the same either way. But behind the scenes, billions of dollars are at stake.

When you sign a debit card receipt at a large retailer, the store pays your bank an average of 75 cents for every $100 spent, more than twice as much as ...
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It's that time of year again: the prognosticators are out in full force. What will the year 2010 bring? To find out, all you have to do is turn on a computer or TV. You'll quickly learn that next year we're going to eat fried chicken and whoopie pies, view televised sports in 3-D, witness six to eight hurricanes in the Atlantic, watch as Ruth Bader Ginsburg retires from the Supreme Court and tune in to Sarah Palin's new talk show.

Then there are the financial forecasts. No one loves a look at ...
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For Richard Crane, the "new normal" in the labor market began when he was laid off from a New Jersey battery plant in the summer of 2006.

Mr. Crane had been earning more than $100,000 a year operating heavy machinery at Delco, a former unit of General Motors. He worked there for 23 years, since graduating from high school. But when he lost his job he was thrust into a netherworld of part-time gigs: working the registers at Taco Bell, organizing orders at McDonald's, whatever he could find.

"I t...
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Schoolteacher Shana Richey misses the playroom she decorated with Glamour Girl decals for her daughters. Fireman Jay Fernandez misses the custom putting green he installed in his backyard.

But ever since they quit paying their mortgages and walked away from their homes, they've discovered that giving up on the American dream has its benefits.

Both now live on the 3100 block of Club Rancho Drive in Palmdale, where a terrible housing market lets them rent luxurious homes -- one with a pool for th...
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Nothing gets a group of people talking like a good “bank screwed me over” story. Dissatisfaction with banks, credit card issuers and stock brokers is so widespread that entire forums are bursting with complaints and horror stories to which most of us can personally relate. While it’s unlikely that any of these companies will listen, we thought it’d be useful to gather the most common (and sneaky) ways financial institutions screw people over into one place so you can keep an eye on yo...
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Americans are moving to Mexico for work? This seems quite anomalous to many, considering that historically and currently millions of Mexicans continue to immigrate, legally and illegally, to the U.S. in search of a better (and more lucrative) life.

But more than 1 million Americans have made Mexico their home of late, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down. They've flocked there for a variety of reasons, including its warmer climate, selling points as a place to raise children and retire,...
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Here’s something the bad guys know that you should know, too. When you stop payment on a check with your bank, it’s good for only six months.

After that, the check can be cashed unless you ask that the stop-payment order be extended.

Pat and Gayla Lavery had no idea, and they got burned twice: once by the apparent scammer who took their $1,350 check for a vending machine he never delivered, and again, they believe, by Washington Mutual, which cashed the check six months and six days after t...
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Faced with limited job options, many young adults are turning to an old standby to weather the recession: moving back in with mom and dad.

Nearly 1 in 7 parents with grown children say they had a "boomerang kid" move back home in the past year, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. In a turnabout in the rite of passage in which a college graduate finds a job and an apartment, many are returning to their parents' empty nests because of tight finances or as they pursu...
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"Payment method vulnerable to thieves"
Your new frugal lifestyle is about to get tested by the biggest consumer challenge of the year — holiday shopping.

Even if you’re among the thriftiest who have pared back spending and paid off debt this year, it’s likely you’ll open your wallet to decorate a bit and buy a few gifts in the weeks ahead. The National Retail Federation expects people to spend an average of $683 on the festivities this season. That’s down 3 percent from last year’s...
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On television it’s hard to miss the wildly popular band of slackers singing ruefully from a shabby apartment or while waiting tables in pirate regalia. The ruined credit that led to their financial misfortune might have been sparkling if only they’d tracked their status on freecreditreport.com.

 The Federal Trade Commission is not amused. It has long believed that the company that owns freecreditreport.com is deliberately diverting people from a government-mandated site where consumers can...
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The dirty little secret of the social networking business is that the quickest and easiest way to make money is to sell advertising to companies that scam their users.

For instance, accepting one advertiser's pitch of virtual currency in the popular FarmVille game ends up signing you up for a $9.99 monthly subscription to a text-message update service -- without the user necessarily knowing that's what they were agreeing to.

It's nothing new online, where even the post office tries to get you t...
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Just as the housing sector appears to be recovering, gathering problems in the commercial real estate market threaten to become a new drag on the economy.

The collapse in home prices sunk many big banks last year, but this year smaller lenders and community banks are going bust at an alarming rate because of their exposure to souring commercial real estate loans.

At least 115 banks have failed this year, many because of their exposure to deteriorating commercial loans for retail space, of...

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"Clunkers: Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car"

A total of 690,000 new vehicles were sold under the Cash for Clunkers program last summer, but only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.

Still, auto sales contributed heavily to the economy's expansion in the third quarter, adding 1.7 percentage points to the nation's gross domestic product growth.

...The Cash for Clunkers program gave ca...

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Loraine Mullen-Kress carries a Bank of America credit card and religiously pays off her balance.

"Flawless credit," she boasted.

Yet now, her good credit habits could cost her. Earlier this month Bank of America started notifying customers like Mullen-Kress that they will be charged a new annual fee of $29 to $99.

"There is a big segment of their population that they will have never made money on, which is people who pay their bills on time every month," said Ben Woolsey, Director of Consu...
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Whether a newbie or seasoned budgeter, nearly everyone has spending holes -- leaks in your budget that drain money with you hardly noticing.

These small drips can add up to big bucks. Once you find the holes and plug them, you'll keep more money in your pocket. That spare cash could be the ticket to finally being able to save, invest, or break your cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.

Here are 20 common ways people waste money. See if any of these sound familiar, and then look for ways to pl...

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One of the few places in the world not yet plagued by government intervention is the internet. Although some governments in certain parts of the world have infiltrated the activities of the internet to varying degrees, it remains the closest thing to a purely free economy that we can identify in the modern world.

On the internet, the beautiful aspects of human nature manifest themselves, and we see individuals and companies maximizing their talents and resources for reasons of profit, pleasur...

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Michigan has  a huge problem with jobs and capital leaving the state for more favorable climates.  Which makes it incredible that the ruling Democrats in the state have this plan to improve things:

        * Hiking the minimum wage to $10 an hour for all workers.
        * Imposing a blanket moratorium on home foreclosures for 12 months.
        * Cutting utility rates 20% across the board.
        * Requiring all employers to provide health care to their employees.
        * Hiking, by $100 a wee...
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If you've always wanted to become an internet entrepreneur, now is the time. It has been proven that in a recession there is a flood of entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurs have the vision to see a need, fill that need and run with it.

There a lot of great reasons why it is possible to become a successful internet entrepreneur in a recession.

The up rise of layoffs and cutbacks the recession is causing has many people seeking new opportunities. Lots of these folks are considering becoming entr...

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Do you feel frustrated when sales prospects don't return your calls? Does your anxiety about paying your bills give off a I'm frantic to get a sale look?

When you are successful business owner you have a platform to position your product or service with more people. Doors then open to client opportunities. You sell more when your platform is working for you. You can raise your rates and finally have money to go on vacation.

How do you get a platform?

Business success is influence. Influence giv...
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The oft-touted problem whenever the loonie begins to rise against the US dollar is that it will hurt Canada’s exports to the U.S..  If the rise is too quick or too much, the Finance Minister - currenty Jim Flaherty - has been known to step in and threaten “intervention” to ensure that the rise will be tempered.

The solution to this problem of not getting fair value for the loonie is for Canada to move away from being so trade-dependent on the U.S.  Among other materials and resources - l...
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Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home.

Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.

“I’ve seen a surge of young people coming to work in China over the last few years,” said Jack Perkow...

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"Today there are more scam ptc sites out there than genuine ones. The ease of availability and maintenance of PTC scripts has made the paid to click business a scammers' haven. However, there are several ways of telling if a PTC is a fraud. If a PTC is offering more money per click than the industry average of about one cent, or big referral bonuses, it gets unsustainable and may not survive for long. Watch out for cheap-looking PTCs built upon the infamous 'bux clones'. Before you make any p...
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....Try to be logical: You demand work from your employees but take care not to ask them for truly impossible. Don’t insist them to work in late hours daily and all weekend for something which is not urgently required. Don’t shout and force them to work in such a tiring and uncomfortable situation.

Keep your words: If you say something then let it happen whether it’s regarding bonus of employees, giving feedback on a project, liaising with another department. Do what you say you’re g...

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It's hard to see a silver lining when you're out of work.

But some unemployed workers believe getting a pink slip was a blessing in disguise, according to a new survey by SnagAJob.com, which focuses on hourly jobs.

Of 584 workers who have been laid off since the start of the recession in December 2007, four in 10 workers saw the positive in getting the ax. Another 26 percent who do not see their layoff as a blessing expect it will eventually become one.

"Once they got over the initial shock, the...
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"Good Financial Cents…."

1. You Need A Budget, period. Until you see your budget on paper, you’ll never have a full understanding of where your money is going...
2. Use The Budget..helps you live according to your financial goals. By setting spending and saving goals, and adhering to them, you can make sure your money is working for you, rather than you being a slave to your (lack of) money.
3. Before you can get out of debt, you need a positive cash flow. Having a positive cash flow takes so...

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You have received a letter in the mail saying that a bill on which you owe has been sent to collections. Whether this is the first letter you have received or the collection agency has been calling you to collect, the most important thing is that you take care of your debt in collects immediately before you incur more interest, acquire more fees, and blemish your credit record. Here are the steps you should take immediately.

Evaluate the Bill in Question

The first thing you should do is gat...

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According to a recent worldwide survey, Australia has been found to be the best place for conducting businesses during recession. This is to suggest that anyone who would be immigrating to Australia can be sure to benefit from a strong standing economy and enhanced investment security, even at the time of recession and the recovery period.

Earlier this year, entries through Australian skilled migrant program has been restricted by the government. This is to ensure that fewer people are migra...

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There have no been no failures of financial institutions, no large scale bailout of banks and the financial system did not undergo severe systemic pressures like it did in the U.S. and UK. Let's review some of the key points from this report.

1. Sound Supervision and Regulation: Regulators follow some of the best practices with respect to supervision of institutions including the new Basel principles for banking supervision. As a result writedowns by Canadian banks have been much smaller when ...

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"Job Losses Push Safer Mortgages to Foreclosure"

As job losses rise, growing numbers of American homeowners with once solid credit are falling behind on their mortgages, amplifying a wave of foreclosures.

In the latest phase of the nation’s real estate disaster, the locus of trouble has shifted from subprime loans — those extended to home buyers with troubled credit — to the far more numerous prime loans issued to those with decent financial histories.

With many economists anticipating tha...
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"What Does Your Credit-Card Company Know About You?"

Rudy Santana’s day began recently, as almost all his working days begin, with a name on a screen. The name that April morning belonged to a Massachusetts man in his mid-30s. He owed money...the screen told Santana, and was separated from his wife. He was behind in paying back $28,900.97 in debt. Which was why he was on Santana’s screen.

hen Santana reached him by phone, the man quickly began talking about his ex-wife. “Listen,” the ma...
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"Even to Save Cash, Don’t Try This Stuff at Home"

Saving money never cost quite so much.

When the toilet in Carol Taddei’s master bathroom began to break down a few months ago, she decided it would be cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs. Ever frugal in this dismal economy, Ms. Taddei, a retired paralegal, then took her economizing a step further, figuring she could save even more by installing the new toilet herself.

Initially, things looked good with the flushing and the swishin...

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"Want to Save? Put It on the List"

You know times are hard when the shopping list makes a comeback.

As the recession takes hold, consumers who used to shop impulsively are seeking ways to rein in their spending, and many are finding that sticking to a list can help them navigate through stores and limit their purchases.

Until recently, Eileen Burke's main goal when shopping was "to get in and get out" of the supermarket quickly. But now, financial worries have Ms. Burke working to trim her sho...

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"The Fine Print: What's Really in a Lot of 'Healthy' Foods"

A lot of Americans think they're eating a healthy diet these days. But it's easy to be fooled by our assumptions and the ways that food manufacturers play on them.

Take chicken. The average American eats about 90 pounds of it a year, more than twice as much as in the 1970s, part of the switch to lower-fat, lower-cholesterol meat proteins. But roughly one-third of the fresh chicken sold in the U.S. is "plumped" with water, salt and som...

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"How to be smarter when the market comes back"

Is this a new bull market? Nobody really knows for certain. But one will -- presumably -- come along in due course. Will investors make the same mistakes they made last time, or will they be wiser? Here are 12 rules for the next bull market -- whenever it turns up.

1. Go global.

Most investors prefer to stick to their "home" market. It's a mistake. America accounts for only a fifth of the world economy but a third of its share values. No one knows ...

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"How to Correct Errors in Your Credit Report"

Everybody makes mistakes. But not every mistake is forgiven. In our capitalist society, mistakes with money are carefully logged, categorized and entered into a formula that controls your financial future -- your credit score.

But what happens when the companies that keep this list make mistakes? After all, the credit bureaus -- which keep the list of who's been naughty and who's been nice -- are staffed by people who are just as fallible as the res...
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Could a $10 coupon code buy your friendship?

It's a proposition worth considering as more retailers dangle exclusive discounts and perks on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where people stay connected by posting frequent updates about what they're doing.

You can also get the first word on special promotions, help resolving customer service disputes, or even friendly checkups on how you're doing.

In one recent Twitter post, Kmart asks about a poster's recent shopping trip, "w...

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They say -"Pay credit card bill early and save."

In 2005, the Corbett family had about $500 in savings and $12,000 in consumer debt. About half of the money they owed was a result of credit card obligations.

"We were spending every dollar that came in, and then some," says Jason Corbett, a 34-year-old nonprofit manager who lives in Sope...

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"A New Web Site Helps Borrowers"

HOMEOWNERS who are having trouble making their monthly mortgage payments may be able to get some relief by modifying the terms of their loans.

The federal government’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is aimed at owners whose mortgages are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while other individual lenders are offering help as well.

But borrowers may have a difficult time determining if they qualify for these programs, in large part because loan-modi...

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"Consumers winning lawsuits against collectors not following the law"

Got debt? If you’re being harassed by collectors, you may also have a good lawsuit.

Lawyers in the debt business say that as collectors get desperate in these tough times, consumers are increasingly fighting back by suing those who use illegal tactics.

In Houston, U.S. District Court statistics show lawsuits filed against debt collectors under a federal consumer protection law are up 60 percent the first quarter of this ye...

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"Seven Questions to Ask When Picking a Financial Adviser"

As investors look for guidance in these troubled markets, one question looms above all others:

Whom can you trust?

During boom times, it was easy to hire a financial adviser and put your money on autopilot. Now the market is in chaos and thousands of investors have been devastated by fraud, with Madoffed threatening to become an all-too-common verb.

Small wonder that many investors are getting reluctant to put their faith in experts. Mor...

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"...Crack Down on Mortgage Modification and Foreclosure Rescue Scams"

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a crackdown on fraud and deception by mortgage modification and home foreclosure rescue companies. The FTC is seeking to halt the proliferation of these mortgage relief scams – which target distressed and vulnerable consumers who are delinquent or facing foreclosure – through increased law enforcement, consumer outreach, and close coordination with federal, state, and non-prof...
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"Is Your Investing Personality in Your DNA?"

Whatever investing mistake you have committed lately, there is probably a gene that is often associated with that behavior. Are you predestined to be the prisoner of your genetic code?

To find out, I recently spent a day at the University of Pittsburgh getting a battery of DNA analyses and brain scans. I consider myself a patient and disciplined investor, so I volunteered as a guinea pig in Ahmad Hariri's imaging genetics lab to learn how my genes a...

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"Consumer Reports Investigation Finds Serious Gaps In Individual Health Insurance Policies"

A new Consumer Reports investigation finds that many people who believe they have good health insurance actually have coverage so riddled with loopholes, limits, and exclusions that it won't come close to covering their expenses if they fall seriously ill. The full report is available in the May 2009 issue of Consumer Reports. The report includes a table listing the staggering treatment costs of many co...
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"Financial Prescriptions"

The recession and souring job market has deepened consumer worries about rising medical costs. But there are things patients can do -- before or after they get sick -- to gain more control of their health-care dollars.

Many unemployed workers are finding that individual health plans are not as generous as their work-based insurance. Even those still covered by group plans may face higher premiums and co-payments, and one costly treatment could push them into medical de...

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