The best piece of advice that I can give you when it comes to the use of ATM/debit cards is this: be careful. Personally, I own a debit card and I do carry it with me, but mainly for emergency purposes and because it’s a debit card that can actually generate rewards. Believe it or [...]

4 Bank ATM Machine Skimmer Fraud and Hacks To Watch For is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

If you’ve read my posts in the past, you know I’m a big fan of ING Direct. One of the best decisions I ever made was to open an Electric Orange checking account from ING Direct to complement my ING savings accounts. As part of the account, I got a debit card that allows me [...]

ING Direct Electric Orange Debit Card – Earn 1% Cash Back is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

I personally really like getting things in the mail. What I don’t like is getting random offers for credit cards, mortgage refinancing, and other junk. Not only are these wasteful and annoying, they’re a big source of identity theft problems. Help save your sanity, your identity, your postman’s back, and the planet by opting out [...]

How To Opt Out And Get Less Junk Mail is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

This past weekend, for the first time in my adult life, I was the victim of identity theft. We were walking into the movie theater about to sit down for a movie, and I got a phone call from a weird phone number. I listened to the message as we sat down in our seats [...]

How To Respond To Unauthorized Transactions In Your Bank Account is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

We ALWAYS notice when something gets more expensive, but do we notice it when prices fall? We should, because the prices probably won’t be falling forever, so you need to take advantage of falling prices when you can. Sometimes recessions aren’t such a bad thing, because we often tighten up our finances which lowers demand [...]

7 Things That Are Getting Cheaper To Buy is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

I have long been of the belief that extended warranties offered on any product are an absolute waste of money.  The benefit that you get out of them is usually zero, and most companies know that.  For the majority of all products which generally have this extended warranty, their average lifespan far outweighs the short [...]

Is Buying An Extended Warranty Ever A Good Idea? is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

The other day I was going through my prescription receipts for the past year in order to get ready for my taxes. I began noticing, in very small print on the receipt, the retail cost of the drug. Since I used several different pharmacies throughout the year, I decided to do a price comparison. I [...]

Prescription Drugs: Are Consumers Paying Too Much? is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

If you’ve been following the financial news today, then you saw articles like this one from Yahoo Finance about the unemployment rate falling to 9.7%, which is a five-month low. That sounds like good news, and it could be, but when you look deeper into the numbers and throw some logic into the equation, it [...]

Only You Can Create New Jobs For This Country is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

If you were following Twitter, Facebook, or any tech blogs today, then you know that the Apple event surrounding the announcement of the Apple iPad (insert feminine hygiene joke here) dominated today’s news, and it will surely dominate tech news for the rest of the week. I followed along with sites such as Gizmodo and [...]

$499 iPad Is First Affordable Computing Device By Apple For Average User is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

I came across this article today on CNN Money about the NY Times charging for their content in 2011. It doesn’t surprise me that major news publications are going this route, because their print subscriptions are suffering largely, and they don’t know what to do. As a fairly serious blogger for over 4 years, my [...]

New York Times Will Start Charging For Content in 2011 is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

Ever since cell phones became popular and now to the point that you look at someone like they are an alien if they don’t have a cell phone, they have been sold exclusively with cell phone service providers. It was a marketing strategy that gave cell phone carriers an incentive to force customers into signing [...]

Will The Google Nexus One Change The Way We Buy Cell Phones? is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

From all of us at Money Crashers, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! We hope that these holidays will bring you a lot of joy and much needed relaxation. If you don’t celebrate the holidays for their religious meaning, take the time to revel in the blessings you have in your life. [...]

Merry Christmas From Money Crashers! is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

We are gearing up for our blowout contest we’ll be having in January. Prizes includes stuff such as $250 cash, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, personal finance books, and a consultation with a Certified Financial Planner. Some of the ways you will be able to enter our contest will be becoming a fan of our new [...]

Connect With Us On Facebook and Twitter is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

Great comment from Jon: My wife and I just flew Southwest on Labor Day Weekend. Getting there early won’t get you the best seat. They have a couple of ways you can check in early, either at the kiosks in the airport, or online up to 24 hours prior to your flight. Either option lets [...]

Great Comment About Southwest Airlines Charging For Priority Seating is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

Recently, I bought an iPhone after about two years of carrying around a phone that looked like it was about to fall apart. I had to switch carriers away from T-Mobile, because the service in our house was horrible. I knew that I was going to go big or go home this time with my [...]

My Favorite Personal Finance iPhone Applications is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

The effects of the economy slowing down are hitting people in every aspect of their life. Now, if you visit Busch Gardens, you won’t be able to enjoy a free glass of beer courtesy of Anheuser-Busch anymore. The company decided to nix their hospitality centers at Busch Gardens that are famous for giving out glasses [...]

Busch Gardens Stops Giving Away Free Beer is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

The big day is coming up when retailers begin to smile and consumers go crazy over deals that aren’t really deals. I shouldn’t say that. There are some deals, but many people get caught up in the deals that aren’t really deals. There are basically three types of people when it comes to Black Friday. [...]

7 Steps To Saving Money On Black Friday is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

Lines are long to vote today, but there are a few companies trying to make it a little easier for you to vote today. Starbucks is giving out a free cup of their original brew coffee. The corporate owned Krispy Kreme stores will be giving out star-shaped glazed doughnuts. Also, Ben & Jerry’s will be [...]

Free Coffee, Doughngiuts, and Ice Cream On Election Day is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

If you’ve got 20 million pounds, which translates to about $35 million bucks, you can buy Saddam Hussein’s yacht. The yacht was built in secrecy by the Iraqi government specifically for Saddam Hussein in 1981. The broker that will be auctioning off this yacht say that it will take as much money as its worth [...]

Want To Buy Saddam Hussein’s Yacht? is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

When I was a kid, if I was at the store with my mother and I pointed to a big ticket item that I wanted, she woud reply, “We’d have to put that on layaway to afford that!”. I didn’t really know what “layaway” was, but then she explained it to me when I was [...]

The Use of Layaway Is Becoming Popular Again With Retailers is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.