Personal Finance
Raise Interest Rates To Spur Lending?
We know that flies in the face of all conventional economic wisdom.
But for the past year the Federal Reserve has been providing commercial banks with an almost limitless supply of free money in the hope that they’ll make lots of new loans and help boost the economy out of the recession.
Yet the banks are extending precious little credit to consumers. To small businesses. To anyone.
Could it be that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has pushed conventional economic wisdom too far by driving interest rates too low?
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Learn Your Rights From Free Videos
If you’re looking for easy to understand legal advice on all sorts of financial problems you need “Money, Credit and the Law — Know Your Rights!”
It’s a free, six-part series of online videos produced by the Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center.
In them, law professor Richard Alderman explains how to stop abusive calls from debt collectors, find legitimate credit counselors, defend yourself against lawsuits, file for bankruptcy and much more.
If nothing else, these videos will make it harder for you to be scammed or bullied by unscrupulous creditors and con men who prey on consumers in financial trouble.
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Turning To Angie To Find A New Doctor
I wanted a new dermatologist.
Not only did my ex-doc’s smarmy billing tactics piss me off, but he made me feel like an ATM machine: He got his cash and he got me out of there.
I wanted a doctor who would take time with my office visits, listen to my concerns, look at my medical history and offer solutions instead of a wham, bam, thank you ma’am approach.
I talked to my primary care physician about recommendations, but all he offered was a list of dermatologists who take my insurance.
So I decided to look on Angie’s List and walked away an empowered consumer. MORE
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Docs Are Over-Collecting From Patients
I just had a doctor overcharge me (twice) and keep the extra money until I figured out what happened.
First I was asked to make an erroneous co-payment.
Then I was billed too much to cover what my health insurance company didn’t pay.
The doctor kept the extra money as a credit on my account without telling me, even though I had no intention of ever returning.
It appears to be part of a trend in which physicians are trying to collect as much as they possibly can from patients without waiting to see how much they’ll be paid by insurers. MORE
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The Greatest Deals In Bankahistory
Happy Birthday to us!
Bankaholic is three this summer and we thought it would be a good time to look back and pick our 10 favorite, dare we say greatest, deals.
We combed through almost 600 posts to find everything from sky-high CD rates to the best gift for opening a new account — and it ain’t no stinkin’ toaster.
Savings accounts that paid 6%. Mortgages that cost only 4.3%. Credit cards that charged no interest for a year, or gave you a free airplane ticket just for signing up.
They all made the list. MORE
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Your State Can Help With Balky Insurers
Many families with medical insurance are shocked when an illness or accident strikes and their insurer leaves them with tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.
In most cases that’s because they’re underinsured. Their policies have such strict limits on how much the insurer will pay, that they’re left holding the bag for most of the cost.
It’s a major reason why 62% of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills even though three out of every four of those being pushed into bankruptcy by health care costs have some type of health insurance.
But insurers also reject 10% to 15% of what appears to be legitimate claims. That’s where your state insurance commission comes in. MORE
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“Thrive” Might Help You Do Just That
A growing number of Web sites allow you to enter all sorts of financial information and get back all sorts of advice about how to save and spend your money.
Could “Thrive” be the best of the bunch?
It requires you to do surprisingly little work because the program automatically downloads most of the relevant data from your bank, credit card, mortgage and investment accounts.
The site uses that to figure out where your money goes now, and where it ought to go in the future, providing suggestions on how to trim expenses, pay off your credit cards and get your investments rolling.
The guidance seems pretty smart. And it’s free. MORE
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