Government regulations are about to take effect to get rid of some of the sneakier/more unethical ways credit card companies have of getting extra money out of you. In response to this, credit card companies are raising fees on balance transfers, APRs and other sorts of transactions. But they’re also inventing or implementing brand new fees to make up the ...Read More

Posted in Frugal, Scam Notices No Comments »

I recently had a physical. My routine bloodwork claim was completely denied by my health insurance carrier, which made me responsible for paying nearly $400.  I called them to find out why, and got a surprising answer: the lab had simply used the wrong diagnostic code – if they would resubmit it with the right code, the claim would be ...Read More

Posted in Frugal, Scam Notices 1 Comment »

Oh, here we go again. Just as I’ve stopped getting calls from the fake company “Account Services“, I started getting robot calls from a collection agency called National Action Financial Services. They’re a real company, but they don’t ask for anyone by name on the messages they leave. It turned out they were after the person who had my phone ...Read More

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Here’s a situation I wouldn’t wish on anybody. You’re a stay at home mom or dad with a spouse who makes a fantastic living. You don’t actually have any money of your own – it’s all in joint accounts, under your spouse’s control. One day, your spouse announces that he or she has had enough of you and the kids ...Read More

Posted in Personal Development, Scam Notices 2 Comments »

Leases are one of the few types of contracts that are pretty one-sided. If you violate their terms, you can be evicted. But if your landlord breaks the terms, you may need a lawyer to help you. Landlords are more likely than tenants to have the money to enforce the lease, so it’s really not a fair system.

That said, if ...Read More

Posted in Do It Yourself, Scam Notices No Comments »

A legitimate debt consolidation service works out an arrangement where they pay your creditors and you pay the debt consolidator. This stops your spiraling interest and late fees from continuing to increase your debt. Now you have one simple payment every month – an amount you can afford – and as long as you make those payments, you eventually get ...Read More

Posted in Do It Yourself, Scam Notices 3 Comments »

If you live near a Claim Jumper restaurant, you may be familiar with their notoriously huge portions of food that can easily keep you going for several days if you’re the type to take home leftovers.

Unfortunately, their TV dinners lean toward the other extreme:

I don’t have a problem with puny TV dinners. I often buy them on purpose ...Read More

Posted in Easy Food, Scam Notices No Comments »

A couple of months ago, I wrote about how there’s almost no way to escape DirecTV’s enormous cancellation fees, and it’s really not clear in the fine print that every time one of their crap DVRs breaks down and they replace it, your contract renews for another 1-2 years.

Well, I am blessed with some really smart, savvy readers here at ...Read More

Posted in Do It Yourself, Featured Articles, Scam Notices 3 Comments »

It can be tough keeping track of bills that you split with roommates, but the last thing you want at the end of the month is to have to pay huge bills yourself and hope your roommate reimburses you.

The first tool you need in your arsenal is something like Bill Monk, which splits the bills for you and sends you ...Read More

Posted in Organization, Scam Notices 1 Comment »

You know how, when a company starts giving you more for your money, they can’t brag about it enough on the packaging? It’s interesting how they try to slip it past you when they start giving you less. The past year has seen coffee prices stay the same while the ounces in each type of standard packaging fall (16 ounces ...Read More

Posted in Scam Notices 13 Comments »