It’s not a real scam, but it is still good advice
August 18, 2010
I get lots of e-mails that seem suspicious. Most of them are politically driven. Some are in regards to my life/health/safety being in danger. And some are financial scams.
Before I believe and/or forward any of these e-mails I always try to do a little fact checking to see if they’re really legitimate. Most aren’t. I’ve learned over the years that no attacker is playing a recording of a crying baby outside of my home to lure me out. Starbucks has never refused to send coffee to our troops. And a rich nobleman from Nigeria is not going to pay me boatloads of money to help him transfer some funds.
This morning I got an e-mail that caught my attention. It was warning people to check their receipts when they leave a store. The e-mail claimed that Wal-Mart cashiers were putting a “cash back” option on customers’ cards, the customers didn’t notice and the cashier pocketed the cash herself. This sounded like it might be true, but I’m still a skeptic.
I went to Snopes, which is a great fact-checking resource for these types of things, and found that the claims in the e-mail are not legitimate. It turns out only the customer can choose to receive cash back, and there is no way for a cashier to do this. However, Snopes also says that many customers accidentally select the cash back option because they don’t pay attention and don’t realize they’ve asked for money back.
There are still some good lessons to be learned from this. One is to pay close attention to what buttons you’re pushing as you check out. There is always the possibility that you could ask for cash back, not realize and a dishonest clerk (at any store) could pocket the cash. But you should also always check your receipts. Cashiers are people, and they can make honest mistakes. But you don’t want someone else’s mistake to cost you your hard-earned cash.
Should parents pay for their kids’ college educations?
August 16, 2010
MSN Money writer Liz Pulliam Weston wrote a column about parents overspending on their children and ending up in debt.
Now that I have a baby, I could understand how this could happen to some parents. You look at your beautiful new bundle of joy and want to give him or her everything you possibly can. Since our baby is still an infant, the spending hasn’t gotten too out of hand because she can’t ask for things yet.
The article goes beyond going broke by buying things like clothes, toys and the latest electronic gadgets. There are parents who are considering going into debt to send their children to college.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you help your children pay for their college education? Would you put your financial future in jeopardy to do so? Did your family help you?
Merry Christmas?
July 21, 2010
Merry Christmas…in July!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Christmas in July trend has been hitting some of the big chain retail stores. You’ll find holiday decorations up and pictures of Santa in a swimsuit. The idea is to get the consumer to start thinking about and buying for the upcoming holiday season, which is 5 ½ months away. Stores are holding special online sales of decorations and toys stores are sending out circulars with what could be the hot toys for the upcoming holiday season.
Some experts think this increased marketing of Christmas in July will actually back fire on the retailers by hurting back to school sales and leaving stores emptier in December.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for early preparations, but instead of doing your holiday shopping now, you might want to consider starting your holiday saving now. There are 18 weeks until the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. If you start saving $10 a week, you’ll have $180 set aside when the big shopping day comes around. If you can double that, you’ll have $360.
If you’re a procrastinator and don’t start shopping until the week of Christmas, saving $10 a week starting now will net you $220 by the time you hit the sales. You’ll have $440 if you can set aside $20 a week.
The store ads are tempting. It sounds like a great idea to get ahead of the holiday shopping game, but don’t get ahead at the expense of your budget. It might be too early to start shopping, but it’s never too early to start saving.
Check your credit report
June 21, 2010
How long has it been since you’ve checked your credit report? If the answer is either: A) Over a year; or B) Never; then you should check your credit report now.
There are three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The best place to get your credit report from all three bureaus is through www.annualcreditreport.com. This site will allow you to check your credit reports for free.
Make sure all of the information in your credit reports is accurate. In addition to your personal information, look at all of your credit accounts to ensure they all belong to you and that the reported payment history is correct. If you notice any mistakes, you can file a correction with the credit bureau right from the web site.
You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three bureaus once every 12 months. If you’ve never checked your credit report, or it’s been a very long time, review all three reports. Once 12 months has passed, you can create your own credit monitoring service of sorts. Get one report. Then wait several months and get your report from another bureau. Wait a few more months to get your report from the third bureau. After a few more months you’ll be eligible to receive a free credit report from the first bureau you started with. If you continue to do this, you can always keep an eye on your credit.
Remember that your credit score is not included in your free credit report. You will have the option to buy your score, though if you’re not planning on making a big purchase in the near future, you don’t really need to buy your credit score.
Hit with a late fee? What to do.
May 4, 2010
Late fees on credit cards can be very expensive. And for someone trying to pay down an already high balance, they can be downright disastrous.
The average late fee is $39. If you’re incurring late fees every month, that can add up to well over $400 in a year.
What can you do? The obvious answer is, “Don’t pay late.” And really that is the best advice, but here are some ideas to help you do that.
If you have been a long-time customer and have a positive credit history with the credit card company (meaning you always make your payments on time and this really was a one-time slip up), call your creditor and ask if they will waive the late fee. Your creditor is under no obligation to waive the fee, but many creditors will do this for good customers.
Set up your payments to be automatically drafted from your checking each month. If you’re someone who gets busy and just forgets about due dates, this is the easiest way to alleviate the problem. If you do choose to have payments automatically withdrawn from your account, make very sure you have enough money in your checking to cover the payments on their due dates. You don’t want to replace late fees with equally expensive overdraft fees.
If you’re not comfortable with doing automatic withdrawals, create a calendar and mark the due dates for your various bills. If you have a phone that will alert you to events and important dates, set your phone up to remind you about due dates at least a week prior.
If you’re struggling to pay your bills and you need help, call the certified credit counselors at Advantage Credit Counseling Service. We can help you create a budget and come up with a plan to manage your debt.
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