The CBS Early Show recently featured the CEO of Billshrink who discussed the many things that we tend to pay way too much for.

Non Bank ATM Fees

You can pay an average of about $3.50 every time you have to use an out-of-network ATM, says Peter Pham, with Billshrink. According to Bankrate, Americans pay more than $4 billion in ATM fees per year. Pham offers this tip: take some time to search for a bank with a good ATM policy.

Credit Card Late Fees/Overdraft Fees

All of these fees can really add up, says Pham. Consider a card with an annual fee. A fee could save you thousands in interest rates. Also, try to cut back on the amount of cards that you have. Consolidate your debt into one or two cards, says the article. Watch out for “processing fees” as well.

Car Maintenance at the Dealership

I learned my lesson when I was young and didn’t know any better and continued to take my car to the dealership. Now, I ask around and find a reputable locally-owned garage. Almost $9,500 is the average amount spent by Americans to maintain their car each year. Those repairs can often be done by a local shop. And you’re helping out your fellow neighbor. Negotiating a job is also easier when you are at a mom-and-pop shop. Another tip from Pham: check out a local community college and see if they have an automotive technical program.

Pseudo Health Products

Watch out for fad health foods. Check the ingredients. They may not really be as healthy as you think and are often more expensive. Think about making some of your own healthy snacks, suggests Pham.

Cell Phone Plans

According to the article, 80 percent of us overpay on our plans. The biggest reason is people don’t really know how much they use texting, voice minutes and data. Many more people are getting family plans to help. Sit down and go through your cell phone bill. Look into a family plan, look at who you call the most and see which carrier they are with. Take advantage of the free phones they often offer with contracts and get rid of those services you really don’t use, says the article.

The average credit card rate in the U.S. is almost 16 percent, according to a recent article in Good Housekeeping. There’s a new act out there, the CARD Act, that gives credit card holders protection from unfair practices. The CARD Act stands for Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure. This act will help you save.

No more retroactive rate increases. Now changes to your interest rate won’t affect previous purchases, says the article. Credit card companies can only increase your rate on new purchases. Here’s an example: if you’re paying the minimum due on $5,000 at an old rate of 10 percent instead of the higher one at 15 percent, you can save $541 in interest charges.

You now have options for over-limit buys. You can choose to let the purchases go through and pay a fee or the transactions will be declined. Before the act was put into place, you would just find out about the fee when your bill arrived.

Pricier balances get paid first. If you pay more than your minimum that is due, the rest goes toward the portion of your balance with the highest interest rate, according to the article.

Get used to more generous deadlines. Now, under the new act, any payment arriving by 5 p.m. on the due date is on time! Issuers also have to mail statements 21 days before the due date.

Say good-bye to universal-default clauses. Credit card companies can no longer increase your rate because of a late payment on say, your electric bill. If you have questions or concerns, call the card’s customer service number.

If you’re a fan of Dave Ramsey you often hear people call into his radio show, telling Dave their stories of paying stupid tax. It’s basically just money that people have essentially thrown away because they didn’t know any better. Some examples of stupid tax are:

* Someone leased a car only to end up owing a balloon payment at the end of the lease terms.
* Someone signed up for a service only to realize they couldn’t get out of it without paying way too much money.
* Someone used their credit cards and racked up big amounts of debt.
* Someone didn’t pay their taxes or a parking fine and ended up owing way more than they would have if they just paid right away.
* Someone gets stuck in a cycle of needing payday advance loans and ends up paying high interest rates because of it.
* Someone consistently pays lots of money to the bank in overdraft fees each month because they can’t get a handle on their finances.

Just about all of us have paid stupid tax at some point (or several times) in our lives. My biggest payment of stupid tax happened because I decided to dabble in the stock market. I had some extra cash and thought it would be a good investment. I put about $3000 into one single stock which tanked. I paid what I would call a hefty stupid tax to learn that someone who doesn’t follow stocks closely and doesn’t know much at all about the stock market should not invest thousands into a single stock on a whim. It’s pretty much like playing the lottery, only the ticket costs a lot more than $1.

Have you paid stupid tax?

For this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile we head to Southern California for a look inside the life of Christine, also known as @MoneyFunk. She’s a clinical research associate for a large cancer hospital, a wife and a mother of two. She’s also a personal finance blogger at MoneyFunk.net.

OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?

@MoneyFunk: In 2007, I actually started a food blog called Sookie’s Kitchen. But then I woke up one day to declare I was tired of paying my bills and being in debt. So, in 2008 I started to blog about my journey to get out of debt. The tweeting didn’t start until a few months ago. I actually wasn’t too gung ho about it in the beginning, but it is actually a great social media tool for me. With tweeting you gain a vast wealth of great information (and for an information junkie, its great!), feel more connected with many bloggers out there, and it helps me gain exposure for my blog, too.

OODC:You say you paid off your credit cards at one point, only to rack up more debt. What habits did you have a hard time breaking so that wouldn’t happen again?

@MoneyFunk:Oh, my husband and I did a doozy on this one. We were free of credit card debt by securing a HELOC, but we didn’t kill the bad spending habits associated with it. That was the habit hard to break – a credit card with a $0 balance. You tell yourself, I will just charge it up a little and pay it off. But then those small charges start adding up to one big charge and then BAM! – you’re back into even further debt (HELOC + CC = BAD).

Thankfully, I literally woke up one day to tell myself, “I am sick of paying all my money to debt. I am going to take charge of my money this day forward”. And that is just what we did. It has been no easy road forward. We have our ups and downs, but we are still moving forward. And as more money is freed up to throw on our snowball payments, I can start tasting sweet success. One just has to be careful to maintain financial discipline and tame those starry eyes.

OODC:What are some of your favorite ways to save money?

@MoneyFunk:Some of my favorite ways to save money include:
* make a grocery list for shopping and gear it towards the weekly sales ad.
* shop online – I can compare prices, take a time out to figure if the item is really necessary, take time to find free shipping and discounts through RetailmeNot.com
* Food is one of the big culprits to breaking a budget. So, combining a bunch of food saving tips helps to keep our budget in tact. These tips include baking and freezing my own muffins to bring to work in the morning, brewing my own coffee, and bringing a ‘brown bag’ lunch (actually I use a reusable cloth bag).
* And we like to have friends over, so we save by making it a potluck. It is always tastier that way, too!
Blog about your actions, because it holds you accountable for your financial actions.

OODC:What do you hope readers get out of your tweets and blog posts?

@MoneyFunk:It is my hope that my readers get a real picture of our journey to become debt free; to understand that it takes the whole family to make this one important goal work. To realize there are highs, but also lows when we fall back a little. But to also realize that with perseverance and some sacrifice, we are going to make it to DEBT FREE. Plus, I am an information junkie (my work proves that). I hope to pass on valuable information here and there, too.

OODC:Who are some of your favorite money tweeters?

@MoneyFunk:Oh, there are so many good ones. I can’t pick them all! If I had to narrow it down:
@enemyofdebt because he is so supportive of everyone’s financial journey to become debt-free. Because of that, my family had a wonderful debt-free Christmas just past. It feels so good not to carry an after holiday debt!
@deliverawaydebt because his family is working so hard to get out of debt. He puts in time to deliver pizzas to climb out of debt, taking responsibility for his past financial decisions.
@financialsamura because I love his writing style and the vast wealth of information he provides. His topics make me think outside the box and widen my horizons. I think in due time, this information will make me a wealthier person.

Thanks again to @MoneyFunk for being a part of this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile! If you’d like to be considered for an upcoming Twitter Tuesday Profile, just tweet me!

Today’s Twitter Tuesday Profile is single and a bit mysterious. She goes by (and Tweets by) SS4BC which stands for Small Steps For Big Change. That also happens to be the name of her blog. She lives in the Midwest with her dog Jack and two kitties, Chai and Tofu. By day she works as a Chemist and in her spare time she tweets and blogs about moving towards financial freedom.

OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?
@SS4BC: As far as blogging, it started just as a money diary. I needed some place to keep me accountable and a blog seemed like a good way to go. It was probably a year into writing the blog before I actually had anything decent to say (and I suppose even that is debatable!). I started tweeting because of My Pretty Pennies. She bugged me enough until I finally caved and got an account. Thanks MPP!

OODC:You wrote that your wake up call came in August of 2008– what prompted it?
@SS4BC: I was at my then boyfriend’s house in August and we went out to eat. My credit card was declined (over the limit) and I knew I had no money in my checking account (already had a couple overdraft fees that month). It was the middle of the month and I had $16,000 worth of credit card debt (maxed), no money in my checking account, and two weeks to go. He paid for my meal and I ate nothing but popcorn and cheerios the rest of the month while I waited for a check from money I had pulled out of my mutual funds. I ended up closing my savings account that month because there was nothing in it and they kept charging me $3/month to keep it open. It was a very sad time.

I started really wondering what I was going to do about where I had gotten myself. So much debt. So little to show for it. And I decided that I needed to change. I started by getting a part time job and then set up the blog to keep me accountable. Since then, I’ve been able to save a small emergency fund and get rid of nearly $8,000 worth of debt. In the last 9 months I’ve also raised my net worth over $10,000. The community that I found in the blogging world kept me going and it has meant all the difference in the world to my finances.

OODC:Tell us about the year-long challenge of not eating out. What do you hope to accomplish and how is it going so far?
@SS4BC: Well, as any reader of my blog will tell you, I LOVE to eat out. I JUST LOVE IT. Eating out is to me what shoes are to Carrie Bradshaw. However, eating out is EXPENSIVE. I realized that the majority of my non-bill money was going to FOOD. And when I looked back at my credit card statements pre-August 2008 I realized that so much of that food was on my DEBT. So I decided to give up what I love the most: Eating Out.

I’m going to try to go 345 days in 2010 without eating out (I get 20 freebies). So far it was been 3 weeks and I’m going strong! I thought it would be a lot harder than it is, but really, the food that I make tastes so much better! I am really pumped to see how the journey goes for the next 11 months. I hope I don’t fail, but it helps knowing I have a community of bloggers pushing me onward. I think of them whenever I pass a Panera and get tempted to stop. And if any of you would like to join me for a month or two (or more!) please let me know – I could use the company!

OODC:What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?
@SS4BC: Wow, great question. You know, I never really think of my blogging as something for anyone else but me. If people like reading it, that makes me happy, but I don’t sit and think “What do the masses want to hear?!” I just write about what is on my mind and the issues that I care about. At the very least, I hope people get some inspiration to make some changes (no matter how small or big) to make their life better.

OODC:Who are some of your favorite money tweeters?
@SS4BC: Wow, there are so many, I’m a big fan of @CarrieCheap, @punchdebt, @myprettypennies, @WellHeeledBlog, @RainyDaySaver, @MoneyFunk, @eemusings, @lifeasapurse @payingmyself @serendipity85 @RevancheGS – they really make me excited to get on Twitter because they’re so full of encouragement and great ideas!

Thanks again to @SS4BC for being a part of this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile. Would you like to be considered for an upcoming profile? Just Tweet me!

As all of us continue to shop for Christmas using our credit cards, we need to be careful when it comes to paying off our cards and keeping our credit score in check. I was listening to the radio when the John Tesh radio show came on and he often discusses finances. The topic of the evening was “Common Myths About Credit Scores.” I thought it would be important to share this time of year. Some of the tips also come from the website Wallet Pop.

Myth #1: My credit score only changes once a year.

There are three credit agencies – Trans-Union, Equifax and Experian. These agencies recalculate your score each time that you apply for a new loan or sign up for a credit card. It’s a good idea to get copies of your credit report from each company once per year.

Myth #2: One missed payment won’t hurt my score.

Paying your bills on time is one of the most important factors in determining your credit score. One late payment and your score decreases.

Myth #3: Checking your score too often will lower it.

I know I’ve heard this one before and wondered if it was true or not. You can actually check your score as often as you like with no problems. Your own credit is considered a “soft inquiry” so it doesn’t affect your history.

Myth #4: Carrying no debt is the best way to boost my score.

According to the banks, they consider higher risk people to be those with no credit cards and no loans. Those who use their credit cards responsibly are seen as positive.

Myth #5: My score will be fine as long as my debt never exceeds 30 percent of my income.

Actually, credit bureaus don’t keep track of your salary. How much you make doesn’t factor into your credit score. They just want you to pay your debt off in time.

What’s the best credit score to have? You want to try and have at least a score of 740 to get the best loans, credit cards and interest rates. Go ahead and shop, but make sure your pay on time when that bill arrives.

Most of us only dream of what it would be like to have a million bucks in our bank account. That’s why reading about celebrities who squander it away can be so frustrating. I came across this interesting post about former Celtics star Antoine Walker’s mounting debt. In his hay day, Antoine was pulling in multi-million dollar paychecks. In fact, according to Yahoo! Antoine earned more than $110 million in 12 years from playing basketball and even more doing endorsements for Adidas. But that wasn’t enough for Antoine’s lifestyle.

Celtics Number 8, Antoine Walker

According to reports Antoine is several million dollars in debt. Financial institutions are after him for several unpaid bills which total more than $4 million. The Boston Globe says the 33-year-old even faces felony check fraud charges in Las Vegas. Some say it was Antoine’s generosity that got him into trouble.

He built his mom a mansion, hired dozens of family members and friends, and often bought lavish gifts for teammates and coaches. Antoine did buy himself some nice toys too– two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade and a Hummer. Antoine’s not the first celebrity to blow through millions of dollars and wind up in massive debt: Rapper MC Hammer, Movie Star Burt Reynolds, Child Star Gary Coleman, and Country Music Star Willie Nelson.

Image courtesy of compujeramey

As a record number of people default on their mortgages and others find themselves unable to pay their credit card bills, more Americans are watching their credit scores take a big plunge. As credit scores drop, the number of scammers making credit repair promises is on the rise. They’ll take your money and leave you with little improvement, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The government laid out some of the most common credit repair scams. Here’s how to tell if a company is making promises that are too good to be true:

* The company tells you not to try to make contact with any of the three major credit reporting companies yourself, something the FTC recommends doing.
* The company asks for upfront payment before offering any real solution. In other words– they want your money before they do any work towards repairing your credit. According to the FTC, under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, this is illegal. Credit repair companies cannot require you to pay until they have completed the services you are hiring them for.
* The company never tells you your rights and fails to point out certain services that you can easily do for free by yourself without their help.
* The company makes false promises to get rid of all or most of the negative credit data on your credit report.
* The company tries to get you to apply for an Employer Identification Number to use instead of your Social Security number as a way to create a “new” credit identity and thus eliminating the need for your old credit report. This is illegal and could get you in big trouble with the FTC.
* The company tells you to dispute everything on your credit report– even if it’s true and accurate.
* The company claims they have a relationship with the credit bureaus that can eliminate your bad credit. The FTC warns the system doesn’t work this way.
* You are asked to call a 900 number for help. You’ll end up with a big phone bill and the company will make money without offering a service.

It may be best to follow the FTC’s guidelines for repairing your credit yourself. Because remember– just like when you get help from a tax preparer to fill out your 1040s– you are responsible for the work they do which could be illegal. Keep in mind that lying on a loan or credit application, misrepresenting your Social Security number and getting an Employer Identification Number from the IRS under false pretenses is a federal crime. Doing any of these activities could cause you to be charged for mail or wire fraud. That’s because using the mail, telephone or Internet to give false information is a crime.

More stores are offering layaway this holiday season, according to CreditCards.com. It’s a response from consumers working to reduce debt and shop for the holidays without using plastic. While layaway is an old idea, some younger consumers may not be familiar with how it works. Basically layaway is a system of paying for an item without using debt or racking up interest. When you find an item you like, the store will set it aside for you when you make a down payment. Then you make manageable payments for the item or items and once you’ve paid for it in full you can take the item home.

Toys R Us is one the latest retailers to offer a layaway program. The store requires a deposit equal to 20 percent of the purchase price, including taxes, as well as a $10 service charge. Customers are allowed to make additional payments at any time and as often as they like. Here are other stores offering layaway programs this holiday season:

Kmart: Kmart now offers there layaway plan online. You just pick out the items you want, pay for it over an eight week period and then schedule to pick up your items in the store.

Sears: The Sears layaway plan is just like the Kmart layaway policy. You can select items on the Sears website and set them aside with a $15 or 20 percent down payment.

Burlington Coat Factory: The layaway policy at Burlington Coat Factory requires a 20 percent deposit and you must pay for your item over a 60 day period.

TJMaxx- TJMaxx has an in-store layaway plan, but the terms may vary according to which store you are shopping in.

eLayaway: The eLayaway website lets you shop at over 1000 online retailers or in the eLayaway mall. You can select your items and set up a payment plan.

I have to admit that I am just so excited to have found all of these websites in magazines that I regularly read. I’m always looking for more resources when it comes to saving money. Here is the second list of sites from Woman’s Day magazine.

Lynda: If you need some extra training in programs such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Office and the basics on photography or web design, this is a great place to start. The Online Training Library helps you keep your skills current and starts at $25 per month. Last month, they announced a partnership with Microsoft to be a training partner for Office 2008.

BigHugeLabs: Are you interested in photography? This site helps you do fun stuff with your photos, such as create posters, photo collages, special effects, jigsaw puzzles and magazine covers.

Dafont: Let’s say you’re working on a project and need to download a cool font quickly. There are more than 9,000 fonts to choose from and it’s free!

Fix It Club: Sometimes I get in a jam and wish I knew how to fix something around the house. Well, look no further. The Fix It Club offers free repair help for things from appliances to electronics and apparel to exercise equipment.

Budget Simple: Budgeting your money can be tricky and this website it designed to help for free. Budget Simple offers software to keep track of monthly spending and current income and expenses.

Annual Credit Report: This credit report is free and it’s available once a year. The site works with three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. Reviewing your credit regularly is important and this helps you do it at no cost.

Dinky Town: Looking for financial calculators? You can calculate just about anything, such as mortgages, loans, automobiles, retirements, personal finances, credit card uses and savings.

Bloomberg: Need more financial calculators? Bloomberg.com helps you figure out how to pay off your car loan, convert currency, check out your investments and mortgage.

Discover America: This is the official travel and tourism website of the U.S. It can help you find great deals to just about anywhere and offers information about each state. It can also put you in touch with a travel specialist to help you book the trip.

Mouse Savers: If you love Disney World, this is the place to go for savings on everything Disney. You can get park and cruise discounts, save on shows, hotels and even books, movies and music.

As we enter the second year of The Great Credit Crisis, loans continue to be tough to come by and lenders are aggressively slashing credit lines and raising rates on existing borrowers who exhibit just a mere whiff of financial trouble. This makes actively managing your credit profile more important than ever. Just as you get your annual physical from the doctor (you do get your annual physical, right?), you need to make a credit check-up part of your yearly routine as well to make sure that you have access to the credit you may need and at the lowest possible rates.

We’ve discussed previously that if you are about to apply for a mortgage or loan why it makes sense to purchase access to your credit reports and scores, but for the rest of us there are some tremendously useful free resources that can help you stay on top of your credit health.

First, everyone should start with a visit to AnnualCreditReport.com which is where you can obtain truly free copies of your credit reports once every twelve months. These reports are notoriously fraught with errors and inaccuracies that can prove to be very costly, so scour them for mistakes that could damage your credit.

Next, head over to Quizzle where you can obtain a free estimate of your credit score. As you may know, there are a variety of credit (or FICO) score calculations, so the number you see here may not match the numbers that lenders are using to evaluate your credit. However, Quizzle recently updated its estimation methods to more closely track the scores used by many lenders and I found that it was within a few points of my “official” credit score. Plus, an estimate is likely good enough for your annual check-up, so you can save the $16 that FICO charges to show you its calculation of your score.

With this information in hand, check out the very useful Credit Report Card from Credit.com. It breaks down the different components of your credit score, assigns you a letter grade to each and provides specific recommendations on what you can do to improve your standing for each facet of your score.

Finally, to see how valuable your annual credit check-up can be, try out this very illuminating credit cost calculator from credit repair firm Lexington Law:

It wasn’t one big splurge like a boat or a car that pushed our next Twitter Tuesday Profile into nearly $30,000 worth of credit card debt. It was small, menial purchases put on plastic that piled up over time. While this single 30-year-old research assistant in Washington DC prefers to remain anonymous, they are very open about their personal finances on their blog, MeWithoutDebt.com and through their Twitter account, @MeWithoutDebt.

OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?
@MeWithoutDebt: Near end of July this year, I realized that I need to do something drastic about reducing my slowly accumulating huge debt. I have been meaning to pay it off the debt for more than a year and half. However, I remember about debt when the credit card bill comes and the debt completely escapes my mind rest of time (when I am spending). In order to focus on my debt payment as well as share my experiences with others, I started blogging and tweeting.

OODC: Your blog allows people to follow you getting out of debt. How much debt do you have and how did you accumulate it?
@MeWithoutDebt: I started with around 27.5 K in credit card debt in end of July and now (mid September) I have 25.5 K in credit card debt. Most of debt were slowly accumulated over 3 years. I have not spent on anything major but small expenses here and there adds up in credit card and gradually balloons up with the help of compound interest rate.

OODC: Do you know how much you’ve reduced your spending since you started making this a priority?
@MeWithoutDebt: I have reduced around $30 a day by drastically reducing eating or going out, buying less items, cutting off unnecessary items from my life (such as cable, magazines) etc.

OODC: What are some of the best ways you’ve found to cut spending?
@MeWithoutDebt: I found the best way to reduce debt is, recognize that you have debt, do complete inventory of what are you spending on, cancel (or stop) anything that you don’t absolutely need (either materially or emotionally), and most importantly to be “disciplined” and “honest” about your financial health

OODC: What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?
@MeWithoutDebt: Foremost, blogging and tweeting is keeping me disciplined financially. Now, I have to explain my financial actions in writing (thus needs to be logical) to myself and whoever is following my blogs and tweets. I also hope a few people can learn from my debt reducing adventure and apply it to their own circumstance.

Want to be considered for an upcoming Twitter Tuesday Profile? Just tweet me!

I recently came across an interesting website that happened to be quite an eye opener. The Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy’s website Econ4U has some great stuff on it to help teach others about personal finance and economics. In August, the group, a non-profit dedicated to financial education, realized that most college students can’t answer simple questions about their finances when it conducted a survey of 500 American students.

The findings were:

APR Basics 44 percent didn’t know the APR of their credit card and more than 80 percent didn’t grasp how long it would take to pay it off.

Balancing a Checkbook 54 percent have overdrawn their bank account in the past and didn’t understand the consequences of bouncing a check.

Credit Dependency 64 percent of college students have one or more credit cards and 61 percent of them already have credit card debt.

But it wasn’t all bad. About 60 percent said they keep a budget, 92 percent understand supply and demand and they had positive thoughts about paying off their student loans within 10 years. Take a look at the complete results of the survey.

When it comes to the average American, the group found that only 47 percent know what the Dow Jones Industrial Index is. Also, just 57 percent said their credit scores were the most important thing when trying to get a loan and 48 percent understood the advantages of investing in an IRA.

Another eye opener for me was when I clicked on the “Quizzes” tab. The site has several quizzes to help you see if you understand personal finance and investing. I took the 20-question quiz that covers several areas and realized that I don’t know as much as I thought I did. They also have specific quizzes on credit card debt, company costs, credit ratings, entrepreneurship, wages/benefits, home ownership, investing and savings.

The site also helps to educate you on topics such as writing wills, information on mutual funds, car loans, mortgages, student loans and many others. Check it out. Your quiz scores might surprise you.

I recently came across a website that has been a source for many news organizations this month, such as CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Fox News, CNN and Bloomberg. As they discuss the ins and outs of credit card use, these sources have been quoting Billshrink to help consumers understand the new government credit card lending changes and they have been using the website to offer advice to consumers.

Billshrink recently took a look at several credit card companies and found that people are paying way more for purchase rates and balance transfers. They are up 20 percent from January to July of this year. The study found that American Express and Bank of America kept their rates basically the same while Capital One, CitiBank, Discover and U.S. Bank were the ones whose rates changed the most.

These findings corresponded to the Credit CARD (Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure) Act that was implemented August 20. It states that requires credit card companies to provide cardholders to a 45-day notice of changes to the annual percentage rates and to mail the bills 21 days before the due dates.

Billshrink is free and offers recommendations and tools to help you save money on your bills. All you do is enter information about your expenses, such as gas, credit card and telephone bills. The site tracks market changes and alerts you when better savings comes along. The founders of the site realize that there are so many confusing options when it comes to cell phone and credit cards and want to help consumers save the most money they can. They compare what plans you have versus what the companies are offering.

I have the iPhone and found a tab on Billshrink that shows you the detailed specs, pros and cons and reviews of the product. I can also look at plans for my service. I know I occasionally have trouble picking the right plans or understanding what I’m getting. Looks like this site may be beneficial in relieving some of that confusion.

Does your debt really impact your waistline? It does according to a new survey titled, “over-indebtedness as a marker of socioeconomic status and its association with obesity: a cross-sectional study.” The study examined 949 over-indebted Germans from 2006-2007. They found that the amount of debt you carry directly impacts the amount of weight you carry.

The study pinpointed several reason for this:

1. Lack of Health Care Access: First of all, the state of the economy could also be affected health care providers, especially charitable ones which means people are going to the doctor less.

2. Debt Causes Depression: Another explanation could be the when you are in debt, you are more psychologically distressed and depression often leads to increased food intake. Eating may cause a positive feeling which can substitute other areas in life that aren’t going so well, such as your finances.

3. Health Food Costs More: The study also says that healthy food costs more which could be another reason why those with more debt are more like to be obese. Energy-dense foods such as fatty snacks and sweets tend to be less expensive.

4. Increased Debt Limits Leisure: If you have more debt you may not be able to or want to take part in leisure activities such as regular exercise.

The entire study is available for your review. The study does realize that there are some issues that prevent complete accuracy. For instance, could overweight people have a more difficult time getting hired or keeping employment which would impact the amount of their debt? Also, for this study participants were asked to self-report their weight which may mean the results were not entirely accurate.

Last year I borrowed a $3,000 cash advance from my credit card. I’ve now paid over $800 in interest on this loan yet haven’t paid down the principal balance by one single dime.

My card charges a cash advance rate of 24.9% while my rate on purchases is a less shocking 14.9%. Though I pay more than the minimum due each month and am making steady progress in paying down my debts, my card’s terms dictate that payments are applied to the *lowest* rate portion of my balance first. Only when that is paid off will I start whittling down the burdensome cash advance portion of my balance. I think it will take me another year — and another $800 in interest — to get to this point. (Ironically, though my balance and interest costs are steadily declining, this payment scheme actually causes my effective interest rate to GO UP each and every month!)

Congress has taken notice of how onerous this on on consumers and passed the Credit Card Holders’ Bill of Rights this past April. When in takes effect on July 1, 2010 banks will have to either apply payments to the highest rate portion of your balance or prorate your payment proportionally across all of your balances. This may provide me with a small bit of relief, though the bigger lesson learned is that this is a costly situation I should have striven harder to avoid.

When I took the cash advance out, I felt that I desperately needed the money. Now that I know how high the cost of these funds has become, I should have taken a hard look at what I needed the money for and whether it was really a ‘must have’. I also should have evaluated the costs of making late payments on the bills I had due at that time versus the nearly $2,000 I will ultimately spend for a $3,000 loan. Though late fees certainly seemed like a painful blow at that time, they pale in comparison to what I’m paying to avoid them.

Finally, if I had no choice but to take out a cash advance, I should have used a credit card that I could devote solely to this purpose. This would have allowed me to focus my repayment efforts on this high rate loan and every dollar of principal repayment would have immediately brought my balance down, instead of chipping away at the lower cost purchase balance and costing me a fortune.

In USA Weekend Suze Orman shared her top six tips for keeping more money in your wallet. Suze’s tips go beyond things like avoiding the local Starbucks or try clipping coupons. Here’s her advice for saving more money:

1. Reassess Your Home: This is especially important if you bought your home in the peak of real estate. The value may have dropped significantly which means you shouldn’t be paying taxes on what your home was worth a few years ago. Try having it reassessed so your tax bill will drop.

2. Update Your Insurance: Nobody likes to get insurance quotes, but it can save you a lot of money. Suze suggests putting both your car and home insurance with the same company. I know my husband and I do this and it did cut down on our bill. She also suggests increasing your auto deductible to $1,000. You’ll pay less in insurance and chances are for small amounts of damage you won’t claim it anyway because your insurance rates will increase.

3. Diversify Your Savings: Suze advises putting money into your 401K up to the employers’ match. After that put whatever you can afford in a Roth IRA.

4. Increase Your Exemptions: I used to get excited when I got a tax refund– until I thought about what it was. A tax refund is getting my money back from the government that they’ve had tax-free! Suze says increase your exemptions so you get less of a refund and have more cash in your paycheck.

5. Don’t Use Store Cards: Suze warns that store cards often carry much larger interest rates. Having lots of credit card accounts could hurt your credit score, too so just avoid them.

6. Borrow Wisely for College: Suze says to be careful about spending money for college. She suggests taking a look at your 529 plan and make sure your portfolio is in fixed-interest-generating options, not stocks.

Every Tuesday we profile a great money Tweeter here on Out of Debt Christian. This week we introduce you to Matt Jabs, creator of DebtFreeAdventure.com. He’s a full-time Information Technology Manager by day, and a full-time Personal Finance blogger by night. He and his wife of more than four years hope to start a family soon, which is why Matt is trying to earn extra money blogging and why he’s making a big push to become totally debt free. His wife desires to say home and raise their family soon so they’re working to make that possible. Keep up with Matt through his Tweets and on his blog, DebtFreeAdventure.com.

OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?

@MattJabs: I actually started blogging back in the beginning of 2007 but was never “serious” about it. It was not until January of 2009 that I began blogging about Personal Finance- this was also when I became VERY serious about it. I have a goal to be a full-time blogger by 12/31/2010 and will not stop until I am there! I actually got my start in Twitter on the recommendation of my friend.

OODC: You’ve set some big goals for yourself to be debt free and have a $6,000 emergency fund by the end of the year. Do you think you’ll accomplish those goals?

@MattJabs: My wife and I have done a complete financial 180 since the beginning of this year! The changes we have made have freed up a lot of extra money that allows us to pay down our debt and save at much higher rates. At the onset we set goals to pay off $15,000+ in debt and save $6,000+ in our Emergency Fund. Due to a few unexpected set backs, we are not currently on pace to reach those goals by year end. That said, we do have faith that the Lord will provide and are excited to see what He does! My income goals for Debt Free Adventure are also surpassing their originally set marks, so we’ll see what happens.

OODC: How did you accumulate your debt?

@MattJabs: Our debt was not necessarily the result of irresponsible spending as it was irresponsible money management. We very rarely buy “new toys” and do not go on vacations we cannot afford. Our problems centered around a lack of proper financial planning. Our remaining $11,000 in high interest debt consists of $5,000 in auto loan debt from my 2000 Jeep Cherokee (purchased used) and $6,000 in credit card debt we accumulated while my wife was out of work a few years back. Other than our high interest debt we have around $65,000 in low interest student loan debt and $160,000 in mortgage. You may not be surprised to learn that we have a plan in place to DESTROY this debt as well!

OODC: What is the hardest thing you have given up in order to become debt free?

@MattJabs: Good question. I just discussed this with my wife and we agreed that after decisions were made, nothing has been truly “hard” to live without, although for some reason… the decision to cut our cable bill was the one we wrestled with the most. Interestingly enough… now it is the one that we receive the most blessing from since watching TV is such an incredible time waster. Both of us get so much more done than we did when we had satellite TV! We still get a few HD digital channels for free, but have very little desire to watch now that we have experienced the benefits of going without. It is also worth noting that everything is relative. Things are only hard when viewed in light of your circumstance.

OODC: What was the easiest thing you have given up?

@MattJabs: I want to answer this by saying everything! There honestly has not been one thing that we are now living without that we truly miss. On the contrary… going without most of the extras has actually been a blessing to us in so many different and amazing ways! Although if we had to pick one thing it would be the $5,500 we are saving by not eating out all the time. This was the first thing we gave up, and it was easy to do once we figured out how much money we were spending on it!

OODC: What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?

@MattJabs: I hope people find value in the information I share. I know that sometimes sending tweets is about networking and marketing yourself and your brand, but in the end… hopefully you and your brand are something worth talking about! Another thing I like to do with the information I present is to challenge people to “Live Outside The Box!” There are so many things accepted today as cultural norms that would have been laughable to American’s living 20 some years ago. It is my goal to break down our human needs verses our human wants, and to focus on addressing the former rather than the latter. Abundance breeds selfishness, complacency, apathy, and moral decay… and these are the exact things that I want to stand up in opposition to!

OODC: How does your faith affect your finances?

@MattJabs: For me, all blessings flow from salvation and faith in Jesus Christ, and from living life according to his bible. There are a lot of people in our modern culture who want to toss these faith topics aside as archaic or irrelevant, but these are indeed the very concepts that funded the success of our nation from the beginning, and they are the concepts that will deliver success to the individual today. Not only regarding finances, but regarding peace, happiness and tranquility in this life. I love people, and I love trying to refresh these truths in the modern man and restore faith to our nation and its people. This verse comes to mind, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

OODC: Who are some of your favorite money tweeters?

@MattJabs: I have a ton, and do not want to leave anyone out so I will simply list my top 13 favorite money tweeters… people who truly bring value: @FrugalDad @trenttsd @MoneyMatters @GetOutOfDebtGuy @fiscalgeek @ManVsDebt @MH4Christians @flexo @fcn @bargainr @ChristianPF @FMFblog and @moolanomy.

Thanks again to Matt for letting us learn more about him in this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile. Do you want to be considered for an upcoming Twitter Tuesday Profile? Just Tweet me!

The experts say there is good debt and there is bad debt and there are consumers that will say I’m in no debt at all. Facing debt is difficult. For many, taking the first step is the most difficult in that actually admitting you are in trouble is harder than taking the steps necessary to correct it.

Whether you are certain you are on the good side of debt or unsure of where you actually stand financially, there is no time like the present to reevaluate your financial situation. When debt isn’t far off, there are some general signs that will proceed it. If you sit down and look at your situation, you may find there are some classic signs appearing in your own life.

When it comes to debt, take a good look and see if you see any of these signs in your own financial life. If you do, make a commitment now to regaining control of your money and most importantly, admit that you actually do have a problem. Here are some signs of debt danger:

You Have No Clue Where You Stand
Unless you are independently wealthy, money management should be a top priority. If you have no idea how much you owe or who you owe it to, you are already in trouble.

You Are Late Most of the Time
Even if you aren’t late on bills and payments all of the time, you might be headed down the wrong road still of you are late at any time. Take a look at why you are late. Do you not have the money before the due dates of your bills? If so, it might be time to look for supplemental income to help you catch up. If you are not making enough money, you need to find new sources of income or consider getting a better paying job if you have no time to take on a second one. If you are late because you forgot the due dates, then you may need a refresher course in money management. Get a calendar for bills only and start tracking the due dates for all of your bills each month with a notation on the days prior to ensure your payment makes it before the due date. This will eliminate wasted spending on late fees and penalties.

You Never Pay A Dollar More than the Minimum
When you spend on credit cards, the financially-savvy way is to spend only what you have to back up in cash, meaning you should already have the money to cover your purchases. At the end of the billing cycle, you should have all of the cash to cover the balance and remit a check for the full amount. If you find you are not even close to doing that each month and are only able to squeeze the minimum amount from your budget, you are headed for disaster, as your interest rates and penalties are sure to rise, adding to your balance due and leaving you to face years of payments to eliminate the debt.

Your Credit Card Has Become An Extension of Your Income
If you find that you now have to use your credit card for daily living expenses such as groceries, gas, and other bill payments just to survive, you are headed for financial disaster. Credit cards are not meant to be an extension of your income. You should not make purchases that you can’t afford in cash. Not having enough money to meet your daily needs means you don’t have enough money in general. Using credit cards out of desperation will only make you sink deeper in debt. This is especially true when you find you have taken cash advances from your credit card to meet your needs because of the often excessively high interest charges.

Your Family Life Suffers Because of Cash
If you find that you and your spouse argue a lot over money and the family finances, you may consider this to be a red flag in your financial life. Being defensive and frustrated about the lack of money much of the time means there is already trouble. It is important to work as a team to handle the finances for the family. Get the kids involved by teaching them early about spending and the differences between needs and wants.

Tisha Tolar is a writer for DebtFreeDestiny.com, where she provides information about credit card consolidation, debt relief and how to get out of debt.

Sometimes we all need to get cash in a hurry (or at least think we do) for that must-have purchase, can’t miss investment or incredible weekend out with our friends. If your wallet is empty, your credit cards are at the limit, and your bank account is running dry, there are still plenty of ways to easily access the money you need, but the cost is just never, ever worth it. Easy cash is usually easy for a reason: an unconscionably high price. Here are some of the dumbest ways you can get some quick cash and much smarter alternatives to each:

Payday Loans. In some communities, ads and storefronts offering these loans are seemingly everwhere. They promise you up to $1,500 cash in as little as one hour and with no credit check. The fees on these loans range from $10 to $30 per $100 borrowed, and repayment is usually due within two weeks. Do the math on a $300 loan with a fee of $30 per $100 borrowed: To get a little cash for two weeks, you’ll need to repay $390 which equates to 30% simple interest or a whopping 780% annual percentage rate!

Alternative: With all of these choices, ask yourself if you really need the money right now. If you absolutely must have it, try to borrow from friends or family.

Credit Card Cash Advance. Your credit card may make easy cash just a few minutes away and as close as any ATM machine. Avoid the temptation! Rates on cash advances are usually 10% – 12% higher than they are for regular credit card purchases, and you could incur extra fees as well. Plus, if you are paying down a credit card balance over time, the highest rate charges are considered to be repaid last, which means that this high interest debt could hang around for months or years to come!

Apply for a Person-to-Person Loan: Social lending is a rapidly growing market for personal loans where individuals lend money to each other. You provide a description about what you need the money for and how you will repay it, and individuals chip in as little as $25 each to fund your loan. A host of online lending networks handle all of the administration and help match lenders and borrowers.

Borrow from a Pawn Shop. If you have something of value, like jewelry or electronics, a pawn shop will provide you with a quick loan for as little as $20 to as much as several thousand dollars. If you don’t pay back your loan in a set period (often 90 days) the pawn shop will sell your collateral to fulfill your debt. Sounds simple, but it’s rarely a good deal for the consumer. Interest rates are once again quite high, with an annual percentage rate of up to 240% allowed in many states, and the value offered for your goods is usually just 50% – 70% of what the pawn shop thinks they can sell it for should you not return to claim your item.

Alternative: Try to sell your items for more yourself via a garage sale, eBay or Craig’s List. Video games or musical instruments you no longer want may sell quite quickly, or try to get cash for that gift card you got for Christmas but still haven’t used!

Cash in Your Retirement Accounts. This is along the lines of the old saying ‘Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!’ You may have good retirement savings but no cash to spend today. Raiding these funds could prove to be quite costly, and not just because you are taking from tomorrow to pay for today. The government provided strong tax incentives to encourage you to save this money and thus makes it tremendously unappealing to borrow from yourself. An early distribution from your IRA is a fully taxable event PLUS you’ll incur a 10% penalty.

Alternative: Take a short term loan from your IRA. Under lesser known rules, you can ‘borrow’ cash from your IRA for up to sixty days, once every twelve months. You are technically doing an IRA rollover, but just rolling the money over to the same account. Be careful though, the IRS shows absolutely no leniency if you miss that sixty day repayment deadline!

This week for our Twitter Tuesday Profile we are putting the spotlight on Mark. He’s a husband, father of two, and attorney with a Fortune 100 company focusing on corporate and technology law. Besides all of that he’s passionate about writing about personal finance which he does at TheDebtHawk.com and also tweets about from @theDebtHawk.

OODC: How did you get started blogging?

@theDebtHawk: I have been blogging for about two years. I started out blogging about my love for video games and technology. From there I started other blogs including Onlinebanksblog.com. At Online Banks Blog I provide readers with the latest banking rates to help them find the best interest rates for their savings. But, I often find this niche too limiting so I decided to start TheDebtHawk.com.

TheDebtHawk.com is allowing me to cover a wider range personal finance topics with a focus on helping people to get out of debt. Being in corporate America, I also hope to help people to get ahead in their jobs. A person’s career is one of their biggest investments, but often they don’t spend enough time thinking about it. Hopefully, my readers will enjoy reading my career advice. I know I look forward to reading their advice in the comments.

OODC: Financial expert Dave Ramsey seems to have made a big impact on your life. Why was his message so powerful for you?

@theDebtHawk: Dave Ramsey did have a huge effect on me and my relationship with money. All of my life I believed that debt was an inevitable part of life. My parents always financed their cars and bought consumer goods using credit. Therefore, I always thought that everyone borrowed money.

For me, I started borrowing money to pay for college. After college, I went straight to law school where I came out with over $150,000 in student loans. I knew that I was going to have to pay lot of money back, but did not know how difficult it would be. Despite coming out of law school with a great job, it was very hard to pay off the student loans. I have been strangled by them ever since. However, after reading the Total Money Makeover, I realized that not all people have to go into debt. It is alright not to keep up with the people around me. Dave’s message liberated me from this debtor mentality. Now I
am on the path to cleaning up my debt mistakes.

OODC: You write about being on a debt roller-coaster– racking it up, paying it off, racking it up, paying it off. Why do you feel like things are different this time?

@theDebtHawk: After reading Dave Ramsey, I have decided to end the debt roller coaster. To be honest, my wife and I did start cleaning up our debt after law school. We had over $20,000 in credit card debt and we paid this off within a couple of years. But, our relationship with debt did not really
change. We would still borrow money to pay for a new house, new cars, and new home furniture.

Since reading the Total Money Makeover, I am determined to buy my next car with cash, build a $20,000 emergency fund by the end of December 31, 2010, and stop paying for consumer goods with credit. As you can see, I am deviating from Dave Ramsey’s baby steps. I am not putting all of my efforts into paying down my student loan debt. I am not sure that Dave would approve, but I believe that I have a fairly good plan. I will discuss my plan and my journey further on TheDebtHawk.com.

OODC: What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?

@theDebtHawk: Twitter and my blog are just media that I use to communicate with people. For about two years now I have been fascinated with blogging and my ability to connect with readers around the world. Twitter is just an extension of this for me.

OODC: What do you hope people get out of your tweets and blog posts?

@theDebtHawk: With respect to what I hope people get out of my blog articles, I want to help people to meet their financial goals so that they can accomplish their more important life goals. Getting out of debt is tough. It is not something that you do overnight, but instead, it is a marathon. I hope that people reading TheDebtHawk.com learn actionable tactics to pay off their debt and start building wealth.

My goal with Twitter is much the same, but I find it a much better place to socialize with other people interested in personal finance issues. I love to follow Twitter users talking about personal finance, social media and blogging. But, I don’t want to just socialize on Twitter. I have been also been tweeting debt reduction tips as I come across them. I think I am up to Debt Reduction Tip #5 right now. My goal is to hit Debt Reduction Tip #1,000. Who knows, maybe they will become a book some day.

OODC: Who are some of your favorite Twitter users?

@theDebtHawk: I have a lot of favorite Twitter users. My favorite personal finance tweeters include, @MoneyMatters, @trenttsd, @GetOutOfDebtGuy, @Wisebread, @manvsdebt, @SuburbanDollar and many, many more.

Thanks again to Mark for being apart of this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile. If you’d like us to consider you for an upcoming Twitter Tuesday Profile just tweet me.

It’s an invigorating and emotional part of Dave Ramsey’s radio show. Callers get the chance to announce that they are debt free to the entire world by screaming at the top of their lungs. Many have been paying off their debts using the debt snowball for months, or even years and finally they achieved financial freedom.

Recently Dave did something he’s never done before. He had five families join together in their celebration by screaming “I’m debt freee!” at the same time. Their combined debts totaled nearly $600,000. Even though they were scattered across the country and had faced a variety of challenges, each had conquered their debt.

Want to listen to the call? Just click here to hear the biggest debt-free scream in Dave Ramsey history.

My favorite online couponing strategy has always been quite simple but tremendously effective. As I go through the check-out process, I look for a field that says ‘promo code’ or ‘coupon code’. I view these fields like a challenge: if it’s there, I know that somewhere is a coupon that could help me pay a lot less for whatever I’m buying. I’ll then go to Google and search for the merchants’ name and coupon code (i.e. “Mary’s Pie Store coupon code”).

Without fail, there are tons of results and unfortunately many of them are just garbage. They either don’t actually have coupon codes for the merchant I’m shopping with or offer coupon codes that have either expired or no longer work. I’ll of course find some great coupon codes from time to time, but lately it seems that I’ll spend ten minutes wading through eye-straining sites that leave me empty-handed.

But now that I’ve discovered Coupon Chief, I don’t go hunting for coupon codes at Google anymore. Coupon Chief is a beautifully designed Web site that has thorough listings for well over one thousand retailers, both large and small. The offers and coupon codes are very clearly listed and easy to sort through. Just copy, paste and save. Plus, they have a rating system that shows you if the codes are working or not, so you can stop wasting so much time on bogus or expired ones.

Coupon Chief also let’s you create email alerts for your favorite stores as well, so you’ll instantly be updated whenever they make a new coupon available or announce a sale.

So the selection of coupons is nice and the site is comprehensive and easy to use. Very nice, but I haven’t told you the really great part yet: The reason they have so many interesting and accurate coupon code is because they pay their users to find new coupons!

They call it the Pays-2-Share program and if you are an avid coupon hunter, you will definitely want to take part. Just be the first to discover a new coupon from one the retailers enrolled in the program (which appears to be most of stores on their site) and then upload then just fill out a simple online form to upload its details to Coupon Chief. Then, whenever someone uses the coupon to make a purchase, you earn 2% of the purchase price!

If you are the first to find a really popular coupon or a great offer on a high ticket item, your earnings can add up quite quickly. I’ve uploaded a few and it’s fun and easy to do. You need to earn $25 to get paid, but I hope to cross that mark shortly. I’m sure the top coupon hunters hit that mark quite often — last week’s top submitter added 483 new coupons to the Coupon Chief site!

Coupon Chief is a much easier way to save money when you shop online and perhaps you’ll even use it to earn a few extra bucks as well!

The home of the slurpee is getting political. About 6,300 7-Eleven stores across the country launched a campaign calling on Congress to reform what they call excessive credit card transaction fees. The stores are hoping to collect a million signatures in support of their effort, according to a company press release posted Wednesday.

At issue are interchange fees that 7-Eleven says are privately set by credit card companies and charged to store owners every time a customer pays with plastic. The release says that these transaction fees cost American businesses $48 billion in 2008.

Officials say most 7-Elevens are franchises operated by small business owners and they are the ones getting hurt by excessive fees. “Interchange fees are hurting individual small business operators, which represent more than 75 percent of 7-Eleven stores in the U.S.,” said Darren Rebelez, 7-Eleven, Inc. executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Because more and more customers are using credit cards for small purchases, there are small transactions where the operator actually loses money. The fundamental challenge is that in most business relationships, both parties have the ability to negotiate, and in this case we do not. ”

Walk into just about every 7-Eleven store and the petition will be prominently displayed at the check-out counter. This announcement comes just three days before the store plans to hand out close to five million free slurpees to mark 7-Eleven’s 82nd birthday. “We’re not asking for a bailout, we simply want to negotiate in good faith with credit card companies in the same manner we negotiate with thousands of our other business partners,” Rebelez said.

The press release goes on to say that out of every $100 Americans spend, $2 goes towards paying transaction fees, totaling the highest non-labor cost for many businesses. The fees have tripled since 2001. The petition drive will last until August 10. Once complete, the top signature-gatherers from each of 7-Eleven’s seven US geographical divisions will congregate in Washington to deliver the signatures to Congress.

Perhaps you’ve caught yourself humming along to the jingle in that pirate commercial for FreeCreditReport.com. It is a catchy tune, but does it really offer a free credit report?

Not exactly.

Sign up and you’ll agree to be billed $14.95 per month until you cancel. There is, however, a seven day free trial period during which you can view your full credit reports AND your scores from all three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. You must cancel your seven day day free trial within nine days to avoid being billed. (We don’t know why they don’t just call it a nine day free trial, either.)

So, the use of the word ‘free’ is a bit dubious here, but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a great product for people who are about to apply for a mortgage or those who are actively trying to clean up credit reporting mistakes and boost their credit scores. As you may know, the three credit bureaus are now legally required to provide you with a completely free copy of your credit report once every twelve months, which you can order at AnnualCreditReport.com. However, these reports take up to fifteen days to be delivered to you and if you want to make any changes to your reports, you’ll need to either wait another year to get the reports again or pay to view updated reports…via a site like FreeCreditReport.com.

Furthermore, your free annual credit reports will not include your credit scores, which change frequently and are what lenders primarily use to determine if they will approve your loan application and what terms they will provide. FreeCreditReport.com provides you with your scores from all three credit bureaus, so you can monitor improvements as you clean up credit report errors and make progress towards paying down your debt.

We don’t love their use of the word ‘free’, but FreeCreditReport.com does provide a worthwhile service to those who are making an active effort to boost their credit scores.

There’s no doubt Michael Jackson lived large. With fame hitting at such a young age, fortune was not far behind. Business Week reported that Jackson supposedly spent up to $30 million a year on clothes, travel and toys for the Neverland Ranch. With the artist’s passing, he not only leaves a legacy as the King of Pop, but also a financial legacy that includes millions in debt and two very valuable assets.

In 2008, Jackson’s money problems forced him to give up his beloved Neverland Ranch. In February of 2008, Jackson received word that unless he paid off more than $24 million by the following month, a public auction will go forward in Santa Barbara, California, in front of the county courthouse. Along with the land and buildings, other things on the property would also be up for auction, such as the rides, trains, art, and curtains. Jackson’s attorneys were able to reach a private agreement that allowed Jackson to maintain ownership. But just two months later the loan for Neverland Ranch was sold to Colony Capital.

In 2005 ABC News reported that a former adviser to Jackson filed a lawsuit, asking for $3 million. Marc Schaffel claimed he was unpaid for work on two television specials and various loans. Schaffel told ABC that Jackson often requested large amounts of money using code words, like “Super size” it. Schaffel claimed he once gave Jackson $100,000 in an Arby’s fast food bag. Jackson’s lifestyle required a lot of money. Just to eat a quiet meal required shutting down a restaurant and paying the entire staff for a day’s work.

In 2003 Jackson’s money problems were massive, according to his accountants. CBS News reported that forensic accountant John Duross O’Bryan traced Jackson’s assets and liabilities from 1999 to 2004. O’Bryan testified in court that a balance sheet from 2002 showed Jackson had a net worth of negative $285 million with assets totaling $130 million and liabilities of $415 million. O’Bryan also told the court that as of February 2003, the month a damaging documentary about Jackson aired on television, Jackson had racked up vendor invoices totaling $10.5 million but only had $38,000 in cash in bank accounts. On top of that he said that Jackson owed Bank of America at least $235 million in loans and credit debt.

Jackson was supposed to begin a series of 50 concerts in London on July 13, work that would have paid him $1 million for each performance, according to Business Week. Although he had great earning potential, Jackson also has one asset worth an estimated $4 or $5 billion. After the success of Thriller, Jackson purchased the Sony-ATV catalogue which includes rights to the works of a variety of artists including the Beatles. He also owns the catalogue of his own songs. Just as his life included controversy, it is almost certain that his death will also include controversy as the King of Pop’s financial legacy is ironed out.

Along with the three “R’s,” should schools also be teaching students about budgets, credit cards and how to be financially responsible? I came across a blog today about this topic and it got me to think about my own education. I can’t recall ever being taught the specifics about budgeting in school, but thankfully I can say that my parents drilled into me that credit cards are bad and debt should be avoided. While I’m grateful that I had parents to teach me those lessons, I wonder how the children of parents who haven’t learned those lessons themselves end up handling their finances.

According to a report from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, more than 40 percent of Americans grade themselves a C, D or F on their knowledge of personal finance issues. That’s probably pretty accurate considering that the average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $11,000 in credit-card debt. And the average worker saves just four cents of every dollar she earns. A survey of high school seniors conducted in 2004 measured 12th-graders’ knowledge of personal finance basics such as credit, saving, insurance and retirement. More than half (65.5 percent) of students received a failing grade on their answers.

Many educators haven’t focused on financial education in the classroom, in part because standardized exams don’t test for it. Only 17 states require that students pass an economics class before graduation. But The National Endowment for Financial Education says more states are requiring personal finance classes. According to the NEFE, at least eight states have legislated that personal financial education be either a requirement for high school graduation, or a course that must be offered. These states include Idaho, Illinois, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Texas and Utah.

There are some programs offering free curriculum to educators who want to teach personal finance.

National Endowment for Financial Education: This is a free program that covers topics including budgeting, debt, investing and more.

Jumpstart Coalition: Several individual lesson plans are available for free download here covering a wide range of financial topics.

Money Skill: This is an online course geared towards young adults that is available for free use by teachers, parents, non-profits, government agencies and employers.

More people are turning away from using credit cards during the recession, according to a recent study. But more people are using debit cards. And it looks like the trend will continue, with debit cards actually becoming more used than credit cards by 2012. According to CardData, purchases made using MasterCards and Visas have increased from $1 trillion in 2004 to $1.4 trillion in 2008. That’s an increase of 40%. But purchases made on Visa or MasterCard debit cards have jumped by 120%, from $500 billion in 2004 to $1.1 trillion in 2008.

Another online survey from Mintel Compermedia questioned 1,594 adults about their debit and credit card use. They found that debit cards are beating out credit cards, and more than one fifth of Americans are choosing to avoid using any type of plastic. Interestingly, 83% of those surveyed said the recession has pushed them to change their spending habits. A little less then half said they are using debit cards more frequently and credit cards less.

Why is credit card use dropping? Some experts say it’s because more consumers are getting frustrated with mounting debt. Also, as fees increase, interest rates rise and credit limits drop, credit cards are becoming less enticing to use. Along with an increased use in debit cards, more people are also using prepaid cards, according to Cardweb.com.

U.S. CARD PURCHASES
(Visa and MasterCard)

Credit Cards Debit Cards
2004: 1.0 trillion 0.5 trillion
2005: 1.2 trillion 0.7 trillion
2006: 1.3 trillion 0.8 trillion
2007: 1.4 trillion 1.0 trillion
2008: 1.4 trillion 1.1 trillion
Source: CardTrak.com/CardWeb.com

As any Dave Ramsey devotee knows, sometimes the only way to stop yourself from wracking up more debt is to cut off your ability to do so. Or, cut up as it were. Dave coined the term Plasectomy to describe the destruction of your credit cards so that you will not use them again.

Well, if you’re going to get rid of those cards, you may as well have some doing it! We don’t condone violence, but sometimes a simple pair of scissors just won’t do. Here are some of our favorite Plasectomy videos:

The ongoing credit crisis combined with intense political pressure has made many major banks very amenable to easing the loan terms for most borrowers displaying repayment stress. While federal-backed programs for mortgages have been getting most of the press, banks will modify credit card, home equity and even auto loan terms, too. Many banks may be quick to reduce the cost of your loans, but they certainly don’t advertise this! The trick, is finding the right person to talk to in these behemoth institutions.

To help you make your loans more affordable, we tracked down the direct contact information for the loan modification departments at major U.S. banks:

Bank	Program Name	Phone Number
	Bank of America Financial Difficulty Relief	800-846-2222
	Chase Home Ownership Center	866-550-5705
	Citibank’s Office of Homeownership Preservation	866-915-9417
	Citifinancial Hardship Assistance	877-915-9417
	National Homeownership Retention Program for Countrywide Customers	800-669-6607
	Fifth Third Bank Financial Hardship Assistance	866-601-6391
	HSBC Payment Assistance Program	800-338-6441
	Regions Bank Loan Payment Assistance	866-298-1113
	SunTrust Home Retention Team	888-886-0696
	U.S. Bank Lending Assistance Program	800-872-2657
	Wachovia Loan Modification Programs	800-707-4607
	Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Alternative Payment Options	800-678-7986

Did you catch Larry’s post on buying a car for $500? Many financial experts believe it’s our car payments that are driving us deeply into debt. Think about it– as soon as you drive your new set of wheels off the lot you are losing thousands of dollars. In an effort to save more money my husband and I decided to sell our nice, fairly new Mini Cooper. Our plan was to be a one car household until an offer came in that we hadn’t considered before: trading.

The man offered to pay us, plus give us his 1998 Audi A6 quattro. Brand new the car was probably about $40,000 but now it had 167,000 miles on it which meant the price dropped more than 90%. My husband and I have never had a car that was older than four years so this was a big change for us. But the more we thought about it the more we fell in love with the idea. Here’s why:

No car payment: After years of car payments and lease payments, the thought of having a car that we owned was a great feeling. We always thought we wouldn’t be happy with any type of car but a nice, new, reliable one, but we were wrong.

Cheaper insurance: Because our “new” car is older our insurance dropped quite a bit. This is another factor we will definitely keep in mind, especially if we end up having to put some money into the car for repairs.

Very little depreciation: It’s hard for a car to depreciate when it’s already dropped by more than 90%. We don’t have to worry about putting miles on the car or whether it gets a small scratch or door ding.

When we drive around in our “new” car, it’s hard not to be excited about all the money we’re saving. And Dave Ramsey is right, cars do seem to run a lot better when they’re not dragging around a car payment.

You can now follow us on Twitter: @ChristianDebt

Love Twitter? Hate Twitter? Don’t get Twitter? No matter what your opinion is, there is no doubt that Twitter can help you save and make money. This weekend my post on How to Save Money Using Twitter appeared on TwiTip. There are some great tips in that article, but I’ve got even more to tell you about!

If you’re not yet part of the Twitterati, here’s a quick explanation of the newest craze in social media: take the Facebook “status” feature, combine it with blogging and you’ve got Twitter. You can follow people and people can follow you. It’s a great way to give and receive insight or information in 140 characters or less. Ok, now that we’re all on the same page, I’m going to explain how Twitter can help you save and even make money.

Find Contests

The web is full of contests and sweepstakes. Keep tabs on current sweepstakes and contests through Twitter by following these people:

@Sweepstakesgirl
@ContestsGuide
@ContestTweets
@bloggygiveaways
@Bloggiveaways
@Freebies4Mom
@anyluckyday
@giveawaysblog

They’ll even update you when a contest is about to end so you can enter yourself.

Hunt for a Job

Did you know you can search for a job through Twitter? Just use the hashtags #jobangels or #jobfeeder and you’ll find up-to-date job openings in a variety of fields. Twitter is also a great way to network with people in your industry. Search for people in your field or companies you’re targeting and try making connections through Twitter. Try tracking TwitHire.com, a free job posting site. Another way to track possible openings is by setting up an account on twilert.com. Set up a phrase like “human resource manager” or “looking for editor” that fits what you’re searching for. Twilert will send you regular updates on tweets that include your specified keywords.

Eliminate Debt

Looking to get out of debt? Try following @DebtGoal. This Twitter-user provides tips, resources and tools for getting out of debt. Right now @DebtGoal is holding the “Confessions of a Thrift-a-holic” contest. They’re giving $250 to the winner with the best tip for saving money.

Sell Your Tweets

Once you build up a following, you can make money off of your tweets by using Magpie. Basically the site matches advertisers with Twitter-users and you get money based on your number of followers and the popularity of the topic. Once you’ve reached 50 Euros (it’s a Berlin-based company) you can cash out

Locate Coupons

Using coupons can be a great way to save a lot of money. Twitter can alert you to the best ones. Just follow these Twitterers:

@FrugalFreebies
@CouponPrincess
@CouponCravings
@TheThriftyMama

Tough times usually mean people and companies coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of desperate people. Many credit repair and debt consolidation companies are part of that group. But there are also a number of credit repair services and debt consolidation services that are really in it to help out a client (and if they make a few bucks along the way then that’s all the better).

1. Check with the Better Business Bureau to see how long the company has been in business. You can also find out how many complaints have been filed against the company (if any) and how those complaints were resolved (if they have been).

2. Google the company’s name with the word review (company xyz review) to see what other customers think about the company and its services.

3. Choose a company that has legal connections if possible. Sometimes just having the title of a lawyer on a letter will make credit companies stand up and take notice.

4. Read ALL of the guidelines for the company and its services so that there are no surprises – this includes refund information, warranties and guarantees.

5. Understand the law and your rights. Anyone can dispute credit problems on a credit report. The difference between an individual and a company is that the company has more people and experience in dealing with the credit companies and the reporting agencies.

Credit repair and debt consolidation will not eliminate your debt. It does help to clear up problems that are on your credit history or to make your debt more manageable. There is no magic pill to fix a credit history or make debt go away, but the right credit repair company or debt consolidation service can help you find your way to the other side of desperation.

The answer to that question could change several times throughout a given day. It all depends on the current available interest rate, how much refinancing will cost you and how long you will be staying at your current residence. I just left an attorney’s office after refinancing my mortgage. Even though I bought my home only 7 months ago and had a pretty good mortgage rate, my husband and I couldn’t pass up the 4.75% rate we locked into last month. It will save us $118 a month on our mortgage payment, which to some people may not seem like much, but to us that’s like getting free electricity and water every month!

It’s important to consider how long you’ll be in your current residence and how much refinancing will cost. Refinancing cost us roughly $3000 which means we’ll need to stay in our current residence just over two years in order to break even. But there are other benefits. By lowering our monthly bills we feel like we’re being more responsible with our money and we are better prepared for any bumps in the road that we may encounter. And in a recession, bumps in the road are pretty much inevitable. So how do you know if it’s the right time for you to refinance? Here are some pros and cons to consider:

Pros
1. Do you have an ARM or adjustable rate mortgage? If your current rate is higher than available fixed mortgage rates, you may want to research the possibility of refinancing.
2. When will you break even on your refinancing costs? Figure out how many months it will take for you to make back the expenses of refinancing. Will you be living in your home that long?
3. Do you have two loans? Now may be the time to combine them into one by refinancing.

Cons
1. Do you have bad credit? You may want to wait to repair some of your credit mistakes in order to get a better rate when refinancing.
2. Thinking about moving? Refinancing may not make sense if you’re not planning on staying in your home long or if there’s a chance you’ll be asked to relocate for your job.

“And YOU thought you paid a lot for gas.”

Not everyone checks their credit card statements closely, but it is likely that Juan Zamora will be looking a little closer in the future. His last fill up of his 1994 Chevy Camaro cost him around $81 billion (that was with a “b”).

It was an error (the company ended up using the gas stations I.D. number and not the charge amount) but it makes you wonder what else they are charging incorrectly. How much time do you spend going over the bills you receive? Or do you just pay what they tell you that you owe?

1. Write down all of your spending in a spiral notebook and then compare the charges on your statement with what you’ve written down. Be sure to dispute any that do not line up with what you spent no matter how minute. If you didn’t make the charge then you shouldn’t pay.

2. Review all of the bills that you receive – particularly phone bills. Sometimes companies add on service fees that you do not need or want and you will not know if you do not look over the bills when they come to you.

3. Review your bills as they come in. Waiting until the last minute could mean you wave your rights to dispute some charges.

4. Utilize the internet to keep an eye on your bills. Most credit card companies now offer internet access so you can see what you are charging as the month goes along and you don’t have to wait until the end of the billing cycle to see what shows up on your bill.

It’s not every day that you get a bill for $81 billion but it could be every day that you are paying more than you actually owe. Take the time to review your bills and statements and you could end up saving yourself a nice bundle along the way.

Love online shopping, but don’t want to pay with a credit card? There are several reasons to be a little hesitant when shopping online. First, how do you know it’s safe to be giving out your credit card number to various websites? Secondly, what if you don’t want to use a credit card and you’d prefer to pay with cash? There is now a solution to both of those problems. It’s called eBillme.com.

According to the site, it’s a secure payment option that does not require a credit card. Ebillme has formed partnerships with various online stores that sell everything from apparel to electronics. When you shop on Ebillme, all you have to do is checkout using the “eBillme” option and pay for your purchase through your bank’s online bill pay portal.

It works like paying any utility bill with online banking. You set up eBillme as the payee and you authorize the payment for the purchase you make. There’s no fee for signing up and you don’t have to give out any sensitive financial information. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Checkout
At checkout, select eBillme as your payment option. (Just like you would choose Visa or Mastercard.) A copy of the eBill will be emailed to you for your records.

Step 2: Pay
Login to your bank’s website and go to the bill pay section. Follow the instructions found in your eBill and add eBillme as a payee. Then pay for your order the same way you pay your other online bills.

Are you a Shopaholic?

Breaking Your Budget: Many times you will break your budget by spending more than the limit you have set. This can create tremendous financial strain as you spend well above your means.
Compulsive Buying: When you go shopping you may go with the intention of buying one shirt, but before you know it you end up with six of them.
Chronic Problem: A shopping addiction is a continuous problem and generally gets worse over time. Typically, you experience it regularly. As with other addictions, the problem gets worse.
Hiding the Problem: You tend to hide your purchases due to financial and family problems your addiction has created. You may even try to conceal your problem by opening secret accounts.
The Return Cycle: You might return your purchases, hoping to fix the problem you created, but that puts you back in a shopping environment, making more slip ups likely.
Impaired Relationships: It is not uncommon to find yourself surrounded by unhealthy relationships.

There are some behaviors indicative of compulsive shoppers:
* Shopping or spending money as a result of feeling upset, depressed or stressed.
* Arguments develop over your shopping habits
* Feelings of withdrawal without credit cards.
* Consistently buying items on credit, rather than paying with cash
* Describing a rush when spending money
* Feeling guilty or ashamed after a spending spree
* Lying about how much money or the situation around your spending
* Juggling accounts or bills to accommodate the habit

Credit card users have someone on their side– the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration. Those government organizations are supporting new rules to regulate practices of credit card companies. Here are a few of the new rules expected to go into effect mid-2010:

1. Interest Rate Changes: Credit card companies must disclose the annual percentage rate (APR) at the time the account is opened and if they plan on raising the rate, that must be clearly communicated when the account is opened.

2. Reasonable Time to Pay: Credit card companies can not treat a payment as “late” unless the consumer has at least 21 days to pay it.

3. Payment Allocation: If you have account balances with different Annual Percentage Rates and you pay more than the minimum, that extra money will go towards the account with the highest balance or it will go equally to all of the accounts.

4. Double-Cycle Billing: Credit card companies cannot do this anymore– it’s when they tack on finance charges based on balances associated with previous billing cycles.

These new laws are the most strict regulation efforts against the credit card industry in decades. Although the rules take effect July 1, 2010, the Office of Thrift Supervision hopes credit card companies will start complying as soon as possible.

Photo Courtesy of Andres Rueda

Here’s an option you may not have considered for holiday shopping: layaway. It’s a practice that was popular before credit cards found homes in just about every wallet. It basically allows the shopper to set aside the item they wish to buy by giving the retailer a small amount of money. Then the shopper makes payments towards the item when they have the money. But they don’t walk out of the store with the item until it’s paid in full.

Since banks are lowering credit limits and consumers seem more hesitant to rack up credit card debt, the Detroit News reports that layaway is becoming a popular option once again. In fact, Sears started offering layaway again for the first time since 1989 and it’s been a good move this holiday season. Kmart has had layaway for decades, but started an advertising campaign in October promoting the service prominently. So far it’s paid off.

There are some things to know before trying layaway according to creditcards.com:

1. Does the retailer provide full or partial refunds if the layaway is not completed? (Many stores charge a penalty for not completing the purchase. Kmart, for instance, keeps 10% of the purchase price.)

2. Does the retailer provide store credit toward future purchases if the layaway is not completed?

3. What is the payment amount?

4. When is it due?

5. How often must the payment be made — weekly, every other week or monthly?

6. Are any service or layaway charges added to the purchase price?

7. Are there additional charges, such as for shipping?

8. Will the layaway item be physically separated from other store merchandise, or marked “sold”?

9. If the item is not in stock and needs to be ordered, under what circumstance (such as once half the purchase price has been paid) will the order take place?

10. What are the product’s details (color, size, stock number, model number, trade name or manufacturer, etc.)?

There are also websites that offer layaway services including lay-away.com. Shop for the item you want and lay-away.com will help you buy it without using credit cards. They don’t charge a fee, because they make money off commissions from selling certain products. So if you’re giving up credit cards, but you’re a little short on cash, layaway may be a good option.

There are times when you want to pay down (or off) debts so that the payments are no longer pulling down your monthly budget. There are also times when you are better off keeping the debt and investing the extra money that you have.

1. No interest loans – these are the specials that many companies run (particularly at this time of the year). If you have the money to buy the item why not utilized the no interest loan and put the money into an interest baring account. You could even set up payments to come directly from the account if you are worried about forgetting to make a payment. The interest you gain may not be a fortune but it will be more than you would have made if you had paid cash.

2. Low interest debts – introductory rates on credit cards or even some loans make it viable for you to put extra money in a higher interest baring account instead of paying down the debt. As long as you are making more in interest than you are paying out it is a good choice.

3. Tax deductible debts – some loans (or at least the interest from the loans) can be written off on your taxes. This can make it possible to make more by investing additional payments instead of paying off a loan early. Talk to your tax professional about how paying down a tax deductible debt will ultimately affect you.

Keep in mind that when you have the money available to pay off a debt (even if it is invested in some other account) this is credit and not debt. The goal for a prosperous life is to always have the money to provide for your life.