Beware of the instant message stock tip.

Case in point: Alliance Data Systems.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission today, Wall Street trader Paul S. Berliner spread a false rumor last year about Alliance Data Systems through instant messages to other traders and hedge funds. The media picked it up, too.

The SEC says Berliner told people that Blackstone Group, which was buying Alliance late last year, was renegotiating a lower price for the deal because of problems within Alliance.

The negative rumor immediately caused ADS stock to fall 17 percent. The swiftness of the decline led the New York Stock Exchange to step in temporarily halt trading of the stock. ADS came out with a press release denying the rumor.

Berliner, meanwhile, pocketed a $26,129 profit by short-selling the stock, a strategy where an investor makes money if a stock falls.

Berliner didn’t admit or deny the allegations, but he settled the charges against him. He can’t manipulate stocks again, he had to give up his profits with interest and must pay a maximum penalty of $130,000, plus he can no longer associate with a brokerage or dealer.

The lesson here is much broader. There are so many stock tips being circulated online and arriving in e-mail baskets. And there’s a good chance that the person sending them is someone who hopes to profit by you taking the bait.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Investments
        

Hurricane season approaches. Are you ready?

In other words, do you have the right insurance and the right amount.

Start off by looking at whether you are at risk of flooding in a storm. A homeowner's policy doesn't cover flooding, something many people unhappily find out each year.

Start by plugging your address into the National Flood Insurace Program's Web site to see the likelihood of your neighborhood ending up under water someday. Mortgage companies usually require homeowners in high risk areas to have flood insurance. But even in areas with a low- to moderate-chance of flooding can suffer severe water damage.

The federal government offers flood insurance and you can buy it from a regular insurance agent. The maximum coverage is $250,000 for a house and $100,000 for contents. Renters, too, can buy it.

And if you have a very ritzy house, some private insurers also offer limited coverage that takes over once the federal coverage cuts off.

The Maryland Insurance Administration is also advising residents to make sure they have enough insurance. Make sure you are "insured to value," which means you are covered up to the actual amount it costs to rebuild your house.

Don't forget to insure contents. The Insurance Information Institute says you can get "actual cash value" which replaces your belongings minus depreciation. "Replacement cost coverage" costs 10 percent more but it will replace your property in current dollars.

 Lastly, make sure you have an inventory of your belongings so you will remember what's lost if disaster strikes. You can download the Institute's software to create your own inventory.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Insurance
        

Reuters is reporting that "Sam's Club, the No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator, said it is limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice 'due to recent supply and demand trends.'"

The story also says that Costco Wholesale Corp, the largest U.S. warehouse club operator, said yesterday that it has seen increased demand for items like rice and flour as customers stock up. Apparently, riots have broken out in other countries over food shortages and rising food prices.

Sister papaer, LATimes reports that Sam's Club "customers will no longer be allowed to purchase more than four bags of jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice per visit. The policy involves only bags of 20 pounds or larger and does not affect consumer packages." The policy is in effect at stores across the nation.

How bad is it? Rice prices have risen 68 percent since the start of 2008.

I don't shop at Sam's Club since it's just me and my dog so I don't usually buy in bulk, but has anyone else noticed any local Sam's Clubs limiting rice sales?

I also don't buy my rice in supermarkets. The closest place I'll buy a bag of jasmine rice is at the Catonsville H-Mart, but most of the time, my family and I do most of our shopping for rice and other Vietnamese staples in Falls Church, Va., where there's a Little Saigon area.

We eat a lot of rice (duh. I'm Asian! Plus, I come from a big family. When we get together, there are five girls, two boys, several in-laws and plenty of nieces and nephews to feed) so my Mama buys rice in 25-pound bags at a time. Rice was always a cheap way to feed the family, especially when we were poor growing up.

Lately, though, we've noticed rice prices going up, too. For a regular bag of rice, it used to cost about $11.99. Now, it runs about $15.99. For a bag of really sweet-smelling jasmine rice, it used to cost $15.99. Now, it's about $18.99.

Anyone know what something similar will cost you at Costco or Sam's Club? Please enlighten me and your other Consuming Interests readers.

(Photo from Getty Images)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Food
        

Bank of America said yesterday it would stop peddling risky mortgages, including subprime and other non-traditional loans, after it completes the $4 billion purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp.

In our sister paper, the Chicago Tribune, BofA's global consumer credit executive Bruce Hammonds said, "We recognize this tightening restricts the availability of credit to some borrowers, but this will help ensure that those who get loans can afford to repay them."

Among other things, BofA announced in public testimony on its proposed purchase of Countrywide that the combined company will halt making option adjustable-rate mortgages, drastically cut back on low-documentation loans and limit prepayment penalties.

It won't solve the subprime mortgage mess we've got on our hands right now, but it's a step in the right direction. This goes back to my Sunday column where I said we're all for people getting credit limits they can afford on their credit cards... or at least curbing the ease of credit for people who can't afford it in the first place.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Consumer protection, Debt, Loans
        

I hate grocery shopping. I hate going to the supermarket, walking down the aisles to look for what I need, loading the car and then carrying all the bags to the kitchen and then unloading. I would stop except that I haven't figured out how to stop eating (damn my appetite!) or become independently wealthy (so I can pay someone else to perform this task for me).

The other reason why I hate grocery shopping is that I've noticed more and more that prices are creeping up ever higher. Did you know that the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average American family of four spends $8,513 per year on groceries. That's about $709 per month for mathematically-challenged people like me.

Even worse, food prices went up by

4 percent in the United States last year and are expected to climb as much again this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

How do we keep money in our pocket even as we have to keep feeding ourselves? The good people at Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension had some really good tips:

1.  Take fewer trips to the grocery store. Make a big trip only once or twice a month. A consumer who goes to the store three times per week and spends $10 on impulse purchases each trip will end up spending an additional $120 per month. By going to the store just once per week, consumers will spend only $40 per month on these purchases; shopping once per month results in only $10 spent on impulse items. The shop-less save-more strategy can save families nearly $1,000 per year.

2. Buy generics. Cereal, canned foods and frozen foods can be cheaper sold through the store brand name. In most cases, quality isn't that much different.

3. Comparison shop. If there are different grocers in your area, compare sale prices before you shop.

4. Use coupons. Many stores will double the amount of your coupons up to $1.

5. Make a list and plan your meals. Stick to that list so you're less likely to impulse buy and less likely to buy food that you don't need. Buying less food that you don't need means you can cut down on tossing food out that spoils because you didn't eat it in time.

6. Cut out eating out. Buying a cup of coffee every day can add up. Buying lunch every day for $6 can add up.

Here's a tip from me. Don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry. You tend to throw a lot of food that you don't actually need into your cart (potato chips, dip, cheezy poofs) because your tummy is growling. I always spend more money on groceries if I shop when I'm hungry.

I think most of those ideas are good ones... I'm not entirely convinced that it's cheaper to bring your own food for lunch, though, since I'm not sure if it's cheaper for me to spend $5 or $6 for lunch every day or shop for groceries so I can pack something from home (which means, if I don't eat it all in time, the food could spoil, which doesn't end up saving much money at all). I need to test the cost-savings on both at some point so I can figure out which is cheaper. Anyone have any idea?

(AP Photo)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Budgeting, Cheap/Frugal, Food, Shopping
        

You’ve filed your taxes and now wonder the whereabouts of your federal tax refund.

You can find out online at “Where’s My Refund,” a feature on the IRS’ Web site.

To trace your refund you will need to enter your Social Security number, filing status and the exact amount of your refund reported on your return.

If you electronically filed your return, you can check after seven days to find where your refund is. Paper filers need to wait four to six weeks after mailing in their return to check on the status of their refund.

If you find that the IRS wasn’t able to deliver your refund because you moved, you can change your address online. Also, if the IRS says it sent out your refund and 28 days has gone by without you receiving it, you can put a trace on the refund through the site, too.

The IRS is also working on a similar online tool for taxpayers to track their economic stimulus payment. Tax rebates are expected to start going out in early May.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Taxes
        

Even as we're struggling to overhaul consumer product safety laws and working to strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees the marketplace, we might want to look to China to see how much easier we have it over here.

Under a draft of a law unveiled by Chinese authorities, manufacturers who produce substandard food could be jailed for life.

Under the legislation, the Guardian story says that "producers whose goods are not up to scratch could be fined, have their incomes confiscated or their production certificates revoked. In serious cases, they could face between three years and life imprisonment."

This is the same country that issued the death penalty to a drug regulator who was found guilty of taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.

Definitely extreme, I'd say, but the country says it aims to boost consumer confidence come hell or high water.

I'm not advocating that we adopt China's harsh penalties, but the point is that this is something the U.S. should take just as seriously considering the number of recalls we saw last year in our food supply and all manner of products from pet food to children's toys (I probably don't have to remind anyone that many of those products came out of China, hence its crackdown.).

Read more about strengthening the CPSC at Public Citizen's WatchDog blog.

(Photo courtesy of stockxchng.com) 

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer protection
        

What's famous local boy Edward Norton got to do with Earth Day? Norton spoke at the Green Apple Festival on April 20 in Washington, DC. The free concert, one of eight nationwide, was trying to put pressure on Congress to take action on global warming.

Check out who else is promoting the environment here, from Zach Braff to Chevy Chase. I always find it silly that marketers think actors can get people involved in issues... especially since I tend to tune most actors out when they speak up about stuff. But I guess if it works for other people, why not? If Edward Norton (yea, I am a fan. Did you see him The Painted Veil, The Illusionist or Fight Club or American History X? Good flicks, I tell you.) can get people to be better to the environment then more power to him.

I can't say I'm the greenest person around. In fact, I'm probably terrible when compared to others.

But I do try to do what I can by recycling bottles, cans and newspapers at home. I don't buy bottled water since I don't believe in spending money on water (and as a bonus, I keep that plastic out of landfills). I turn non-necessary appliances off when I'm not home and I try to turn out the lights when I leave a room. When possible, I try to buy my vegetables and fruits from local farmers markets. I wait until the last possible minute to turn my air conditioner on and when I do, I let it hover around 75 or 76 degrees. I just planted a tree in front of my house last year and if I go anywhere after work, I try to walk to a neighborhood establishment. I recycle plastic shopping bags to pick up my dog's poop.

I'm being serious so no "Leave all the lights on in your house while you drive a Hummer into a tree and toss trash out the window" comments, OK?! It'll make me chuckle, but it'll be entirely useless to me on Love Your Mother Earth Day.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Greenies
        

Welcome to my good colleague, Michelle Deal, and her new travel blog that just launched today, "What's The Deal."

Do check her out. Lord knows there's plenty to discuss and complain about when it comes to traveling.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Airlines, Travel
        

Over at Get Rich Slowly, a reader poses a problem: what to do when a family member steals your identity by opening credit cards in your name?

Unfortunately the temptation is probably very very great. Your relatives --- your parents, your siblings, your own children --- have access to both your personal data and your mailbox.

And you're left holding the bill ... and the risk on your credit report ... and a whole lot of family drama.

But what to do when you discover it? Do you file a police report? The commenters say this is the only way to prove to credit card companies that any outstanding debt is not yours -- pointing to advice from the Identity Theft Resource Center.

The best way to to protect yourself is to stop this kind of activity before things get out of hand.

Remember in Maryland you can get two free credit reports annually from each of the three credit reporting bureaus. That means you can space out each request and check one every two months. Always investigate new accounts that you haven't opened. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you're interested in finding out more about credit card reform, Ed Mierzwinski over at his U.S. Pirg blog compiled a bunch of links where you can listen to consumer testimony at a hearing last week on the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights.

You can also listen to the panel of bankers, regulators and consumer advocates testify on the bill. And, you can find out if your representative is one of the 100 co-sponsors on the bill. If your Congressman isn't a co-sponsor and you want to know why not, now might be a good time to write your elected official a letter about your position on the bill.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Credit cards
        

Did you catch my column yesterday on the credit card industry and how Congress is trying to rein in abusive practices? Here's some of the issues that the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights would deal with:

•Universal Cross Default Clauses: If you are declared in default by any other creditor, be it your landord, utility company or a library fine, then that automatically represents a default on your credit card. You can be charged penalty interest rates even if you have been making payments on-time to the card issuer.

•Arbitrary Interest Rate Changes: Carry a balance too close to your credit limit and wham, your interest rate goes up. Open up another credit card and wham, your rate goes up. Pay late once and wham, your rate goes up. Sneeze and your rate goes up. Why? Because your contract includes a clause that says, “Any term can be changed at any time for any reason, including no reason.”

•Two-Cycle Billing: Carry a credit card balance as many consumer do and get charged interest on the balance of the previous billing cycle even if you already paid it off. Say you charged $400 and pay off the balance in full at the end of them month. In the next month, you charge $200 and pay only half the balance. Well, guess what? The card company applies interest to $500 (including the previous month’s bill), even though you only owe $100.

•Payment Allocations: If you carry a balance that includes high-interest cash advances, lower-interest balance transfers and purchases, a card company will often take your monthly payment and apply it to the lowest interest rate-carrying portion of your bill first.

•Due Date Changes: Card companies can routinely change the due date on your statements from month to month. Cardholders who don’t check often miss paying on time or their automatic payments are late, which then means they’re penalized with late fees and then higher interest rates.

The thing I like about this bill is that it doesn't impose limits or caps (which the credit card industry vehemently opposes) so it's not messing with free market concepts, but it does try to make the rules more fair for the little people by making card companies stick to the rules we originally agreed to. Yes, by little people, I mean you, consumers.

Everyone knows since you were a kid that changing the rules in the middle of the game is blatantly unfair.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Complaints, Consumer protection, Credit cards, Debt, Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

The Maryland Department of the Environment wants to help you save gas money.

April is National Car Care Month, and some repair shops will be inspecting cars for free, according to an MDE news release. They're looking for common problems that decrease fuel mileage and performance to help both the environment and your pocketbook.

With just a little more than a week left, MDE, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC), and Precision Tune Auto Care will offer a free Car Care Clinic from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 20th at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Washington Boulevard in Halethorpe. Apparently more will be scheduled elsewhere in the Baltimore metro area, and information about them will be posted at www.baltometro.com. (We'll try to keep you posted as well.) 

Here are some problems that can cause gas pains, according to MDE:

• Vehicle gas caps: About 17 percent of the vehicles on the roads have gas caps that are either damaged, loose or are missing altogether, causing 147 million gallons of gas to vaporize every year. 

We discussed in an earlier post that you're unlikely to lose gas to evaporation when you're running low on fuel, but that assumes that it's a closed system --- that your gas cap is present and properly functioning.

• Under-inflated tires: When tires aren’t inflated properly it’s like driving with the parking brake on and can cost a mile or two per gallon. 

• Worn spark plugs: A vehicle can have either four, six or eight spark plugs, which fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles, resulting in a lot of heat and electrical and chemical erosion. A dirty spark plug causes misfiring, which wastes fuel. Spark plugs need to be replaced regularly. 

• Dirty air filters: An air filter that is clogged with dirt, dust and bugs chokes off the air and creates a “rich” mixture – too much gas being burned for the amount of air, which wastes gas and causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving about 15 cents a gallon.

(photo: Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Gas prices, How To
        

Anyone else get an e-mail from IRS.com to get your tax refund sent directly to your Visa or Mastercard?

I just received one today, politely asking me to "Please enter your Social Security Number and a valid Credit / Debit Card where you want the refund to be made."

Supposedly, to get my $134.80 refund, all I have to do is supply them with some information. They don't ask for much. Just my card number, expiration date, three digit code on the back of the card and my PIN number. Oh yea, and my name, my address, my city, zip code, phone number and e-mail address, too.

Nice. Why don't I just take you smart guys to my bank and cash out my accounts for you while I'm at it? That might make it just a little bit easier. Or better yet, just hand over my home and car keys to you at the same time.

Bozos.

And by the way, the legitimate site is IRS.gov. And even more importantly, the IRS is NOT going to contact you out of the blue and ask for your bank account information, credit card information, or anything else.

Bozos.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Scams
        

Thanks to those smart guys at Baltimore-based ISE for finding a critical vulnerability in Mac's Safari browser. Apple Inc. patched four flaws in its Safari browser this week, including the one discovered by ISE's Charlie Miller, according to this ComputerWorld story.

The finding won Miller a $10,000 check for the "Pwn 2 Own" contest on the second day of the hacker challenge held at the CanSecWest security conference in Canada.

According to the story, Miller and two fellow researchers turned over the vulnerability that they discovered three weeks ago and signed a nondisclosure agreement that prevented them from discussing their findings until the bug was patched in exchange for the $10,000 prize.

Bravo, guys!

If you don't know about ISE, this little homegrown company has made quite a name for itself by analyzing controversial Diebold Electronic Voting machine source code and broke the encryption on Texas Instruments' wireless gas payment cards and car keys - a potential threat to millions of consumers.

Founder and President Avi Rubin and his team of super geniuses are hired by various companies to expose vulnerabilities in products and systems. I wrote about Avi and his guys three years ago and seriously, they were so smart it made my head hurt.

Since then, Avi was named by Baseline Magazine and eWeek as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Information Technology. Miller, a former National Security Agency employee, is best known for being the first to hack into Apple's iPhone last year. His team of computer scientists, electrical engineers and cryptographers have testified before Congress, served as expert witnesses, participated in creating standards, and evaluated systems for both government and private industry.

Good job, guys. And, thanks for making our city look good.

(Illustration courtesy of stockxchng.com) 

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Computers, Consumer protection
        

Kmart and Sears are fighting for access to your "economic stimulus" dollars, according to the Associated Press.

Take your checks to either store between May 14 and July 19 and get a gift card worth the value of your rebate plus 10 percent, the Arizona Republic reports.

I suppose that's a good idea if you've already planned to drop your tax rebate on the purchase of a new appliance or a blue-light special. The article says the gift cards won't expire, so you could bank it for holiday shopping or another big-ticket item.

Or you could use it to pay down high-interest credit card bills. Or earn interest by depositing it in a savings account.  

What's your plan for your tax rebate dollars? Are you hearing other retailers jostling to lay claim to your checks? These financial advisors and readers said they planned to pay bills or save it.  

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I like popcorn. It tastes good.

Corn is cheap --- at least it was until the demand for ethanol skyrocketed.

I don't know why it costs so much to buy popcorn at the movies, but I don't buy it there because generally I can make it through the 80 to 120 minutes of most conventional films without a snack. It's not like you're running for two hours. Most movie watchers are just sitting still.

I like the way popcorn smells. Now, I'm not inclined to open a microwaved bag twice a day and take a big snort, but I don't buy microwave popcorn often, either.

Your run-of-the-mill supermarket carries a dizzying array of microwave popcorn options in differing flavors and levels of artery-clogging butter and even different sized bags. The last time I considered such a purchase I ended up calculating numerous cost comparisons of snack-size versus 100-calorie bags versus kettle corn (for that carnival feel in your own kitchen, without the festival food prices or the crowds) until I got so frustrated that I just walked away.

Several restaurants in Baltimore now offer gourmet popcorn on their menus, like Alexander's Tavern and Woodberry Kitchen, sometimes with fancy toppings.

Oh, I'm sure all you Consuming Interests readers read about this in the New York Times in 2005, or on Ask MetaFilter, or saw it on Alton Brown's Food Network show Good Eats or his book I'm Just Here for the Food. I had not.

And yes, you can make it on the stovetop. After all, the Native Americans who brought popcorn as their potluck contribution to the First Thanksgiving probably didn't have microwave ovens. But microwaves use less energy.

And then I realized I don't have a ton of paper bags lying around and wondered if I could just pop corn in a not-quite-airtight, microwave-safe bowl. The answer: you can.

No need to buy a microwave popper that doesn't work very well or an electric air popper that will clutter your countertop.

Now, armed with a little knowledge (and a 32-ounce bag of yellow popcorn that costs $1.99), I can make my own fresh kernels, in whatever size serving I like, with my own toppings enhancing this delicious snack treat. And at a cost of a little more than six cents an ounce, rather than an outrageous markup for carcinogenic seasoning and convenience.

High in fiber!

Tasty!

Frugal.

Alton Brown’s Plain Brown Popper (transcribed by Get Rich Slowly)

• 1/4 cup good quality popcorn
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or popcorn salt
• Sprinkle jalapeno seasoning mix
• Paper lunch bag
• Stapler

Toss the popcorn with the olive oil, salt, and jalapeno seasoning mix in the paper bag. Fold the top of the bag over and staple the bag twice to close. Place the bag in the microwave and microwave on high for 2 minutes to 3 minutes, or until there are about 5 seconds between pops.

(NOTE: Popcorn salt is a super-fine salt that is designed especially for sticking to food such as popcorn. It has the taste of regular table salt, but its granules are much finer.)

(photo: Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun) 

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Food
        

Meeting friends for drinks or dinner can be a nice way to catch up --- but you pay for the convenience of someone else cleaning up afterward.

Hosting a potluck gathering at someone's home or even (as the weather gets warmer) a public park or beach can be one option to cut down on socializing costs.

Here's another, courtesy of the folks at Wise Bread: throw a party sponsored by a company, like a car manufacturer, a TV show like Lipstick Jungle or beauty products through House Party.

It works this way: You sign up, select a date for a party of your choice and cross your fingers. If you're chosen as one of the 10,000 lucky people ... 

you get a package in the mail with games, coupons, food and other items to share with your guests.

Check out what the New York Times had to say about it here. 

There's no hard sell required here, unlike party formats used to hawk products as varied as kitchen gadgets, lingerie or even Tasers. But to be sure, the sponsors are interested in getting the biggest bang for their buck. The materials for one party for the launch of a new chocolate candy encouraged hosts to contact their local media to see if they'd be interested in writing about the event.

What do you think? Any other suggestions for cheap and frugal ways to entertain your friends and loved ones?

(photo: Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

See how happy that couple looks about flying? Yea, not so much, right? That's because they're some of the very misfortunate thousands of people who missed their flights recently when American Airlines had to cancel more than 2,500 flights. Egads. What a headache.

Well, to try to improve the flight experience (for some reason, I kept chuckling while I was typing that line), U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced today a number of measures to strengthen passenger protections, improve consumer choice, reduce congestion, establish operational improvements to cut delays this summer and double the limits on compensation airlines must pay flyers bumped from oversold flights.

Under the new bumping rule, which goes into effect next month,

fliers who are involuntarily bumped would receive up to $400 if they are rescheduled to reach their destination within two hours of their original arrival time or four hours for international flights, and up to $800 if they are not rerouted within that timeframe.

According to the DOT, the new rule also covers more flights, including those operated with aircraft seating 30 people or more; the current rule covers flights with 60 seats or more. The amount of these payments are determined by the price of your ticket and the length of the delay, in addition to the value of your ticket ticket, which you can use for alternate transportation or have refunded if not used.

Measures to cut down on summer delays include: Allowing new and greater flexibility for aircraft to use alternative routes in the sky to avoid severe weather. This would include an “escape route” into Canadian airspace from the New York metropolitan area so airlines can fly around summer thunderstorms and high winds. 

The FAA will also open a second westbound interstate highway in the sky for aircraft.  This would provide a parallel route along a heavily-traveled aviation corridor, helping cut westbound delays from the New York area.

To manage congestion at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (the facility has been capped since 1968, but it is still consistently one of the top three most delayed airports in the nation), the DOT is proposing two market-based options that would require a limited number of flights operated by the airlines in a given day, known as slots, to be made available through an auction process.

If you want to learn more, read about it here:  http://www.fightgridlocknow.gov/aviation.htm

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Airlines, Travel
        

Morningstar, the investment research company, has published its annual report on the best and worst 529 college savings plans.

Among the top five: the College Savings Plan of Maryland managed by Baltimore’s T. Rowe Price Associates. The Maryland plan was one of Morningstar’s five favorites last year, too.

Here’s what Morningstar says about the plan this time:

“T. Rowe Price runs the College Savings Plan of Maryland. Residents get a big break because they can deduct up to $2,500 of their annual contributions for each beneficiary from their state income taxes, and contributions in excess of $2,500 can be deducted in any of the following 10 years. The plan looks equally good on the fee front. Total annual asset-based fees are well below industry norm, ranging from 0.68% to 0.97%. (Investors also pay a $25 annual account fee.) Better still is the fact that this plan is packed with top-quality funds that cover the market spectrum. So while the taxes advantages make this plan particularly attractive for residents, we consider it a topnotch option for nonresidents too."

Morningstar’s other top picks are the Virginia Education Saving Trust and Virginia College America, Illinois Bright Start College Saving Program and Colorado Scholars Choice College Saving Program. That last one is run by Baltimore’s Legg Mason.

The five worst plans, according to Morningstar:

— Ohio Putnam College Advantage. Poor fund performance and high manager turnover.

— Mississippi TIAA-CREF Affordable College Savings Program and Mississippi TIAA-CREF Affordable College Savings Advisor Program. High fees and limited investment options.

— New York 529 College Savings Program. Reasonably priced, but lacks diversification.

— Nebraska AIM College Savings Plan. Too expensive.

Read the full report on Morningstar’s site.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: College/Financial aid
        

Having a hard time finding a bunch of your favorite portable fruit?

Three local supermarket chains --- Wegmans, Safeway and Giant Food Stores --- confirmed yesterday that flooding and bad weather in Ecuador damaged the banana crop there, decreasing the availability here in the United States.

All three chains said they were working with different suppliers to keep bananas on the shelves, but they've had to pay more. In turn, retail prices were going to be a little higher due to the scarcity --- 59 cents a pound at one market I checked yesterday. 

"While we are not having trouble getting product at this point, it might get worse," said Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale.

(photo: Andre Chung/Baltimore Sun) 

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Tax day is over. Now can you throw away all those scraps of paper, right?

Maybe. Here’s the low-down on paperwork from the Privacy-Rights Clearinghouse:

— Throw away old pay stubs once you checked the information against your W-2.

— Keep any documentation related to an entry on your tax return this year, or some future tax year. If you bought stock, keep the paperwork so you can figure your cost basis whenever you sell the shares.

— Retain documents as long as the IRS is likely to audit a return. For most, that’s three years. But if you underreport your income by more than 25 percent, an IRS auditor can come knocking as much as six years later. Blatantly lie and file a fraudulent return and the IRS auditor has no time limit.

— Each state has its own audit deadlines. So, check with your home state.

One of the handier tips: If you lost your birth certificate, you can find out where to replace them at a government Web site.

Also, if you are throwing away papers, make sure you shred with a cross-cut or confetti shredder, the privacy group says.

(Photo courtesy of stockxchng.com)

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Personal finance
        

Anyone catch Sick Around the World, the Frontline report on healthcare in five countries and how it compares to our healthcare system in the U.S.? I only caught the second half, but it was definitely fascinating on how other countries achieved universal healthcare for residents.

If you missed it, you should check it out. You'll learn how the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland and Germany deliver healthcare to everyone. Click here to read a synopsis how how each country does it.

It's not all socialized medicine out there. Many countries provide universal healthcare with private insurance, private hospitals and private doctors using market ideas. But the main point is that these capitalist countries don't trust healthcare completely to the free market. They all impose limits. The three main ones that correspondent T.R. Reid found:

Insurance companies must accept everyone. They can't make a profit on basic care.

Everybody is mandated to buy insurance and the government pays the premium for the poor.

Doctors and hospitals must accept one fixed standard of set prices.

Can Americans accept ideas like that? Reid says America already uses these ideas to cover some segments of the population. We just don't use them to universally cover everyone. Definitely some intriguing ideas worth looking into, especially when you find out that in these five other countries, it's practically unheard of for anyone to go bankrupt due to healthcare costs.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Healthcare
        

Are shoppers feeling the sales tax pinch after Maryland's sales tax went up 20 percent in January (from 5 percent on purchases to 6 percent)?

Some state governments certainly are. 

In the past, we've discussed the benefits of online shopping here, with the tax savings being one of the key points --- avoiding the sales tax on everything from electronics to clothes to even some groceries.

This burns states with deficits, including New York, which has tried to lay a claim to a share of sales made by its residents in cyberspace or elsewhere.

They put a line on state tax returns asking people to pay levies on their online purchases and have even taken down license plate numbers of NY residents parked at Jersey shopping malls.

Now New York has taken on Amazon.com, reports the New York Times (via Consumerist) and Marketplace.

Stay tuned for legal fireworks. And p.s. to any Maryland lawmakers planning to stake out Delaware outlets: NY eventually stopped stalking out-of-state shoppers. Too big brotherish. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

It's Tax Day, ladies and gentlemen. Have you paid your dues to Uncle Sam yet? Or are you waiting until the very last possible minute?

Here is the Top 10 Tax Procrastinating Cities in American, courtesy of Intuit, the maker of TurboTax products (as determined by the number of tax returns electronically filed online via the TurboTax Online service from April 14-April 17, 2007):

1. Chicago, Ill. – (#2) – Chicago is the "Second City" no more as it takes the top spot for the first time in the seven years the list has been compiled.
2. New York, N.Y. – (#5) – After procrastinating less last year, the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple takes its toll on taxpayers as NYC climbs back up the list to rank at Number 2. The Giants may be number one in pro football, but New York is second on our list of late filers.
3. Houston, Texas – (#1) – Houstonians have topped our list more than any other city (three times) but must have tired of being the top procrastinators. Progress is progress and Houstonians drop two spots this year.

1. Austin, Texas – (#4) – Austin continues to procrastinate as they lock up the fourth spot for the second straight year. One of the fastest growing cities in America, Austin may be too busy to worry about taxes until the deadline forces them to.
2. San Francisco, Calif. – (#5) – The City by the Bay held steady in the fifth slot for the second straight year. In a year that saw the home run record fall to Barry Bonds, taxpayers in San Francisco waited until they had a full count to take a swing at doing their taxes.
3. San Diego, Calif. – (#6) – The home of the 2008 U.S. Open, and home to TurboTax, San Diego dropped to sixth last year and is there yet again. After topping the list two years ago, San Diegans are relaxed in the sixth place.
4. Seattle, Wash. – (#8) – Grunge may have gone the way of disco, but Seattle residents continue to live a laid back lifestyle and are still late with filing their tax returns. The Emerald City jumps one spot this year.
5. Las Vegas, Nev. – (#11) – Making its return to the list after a two-year absence is the jewel of southern Nevada, Las Vegas.
6. San Antonio, Texas – (#7) – Settled first in 1731, San Antonio ranks as one of America's oldest cities. Despite its age, the home of the Alamo is steeped in today as its residents use the power of online tax prep to file at the last minute.
7. Los Angeles, Calif. – (#12) – Apparently Los Angelinos were busy chasing Britney Spears all over town and waited until the deadline to file their taxes. At least they didn't let the forlorn Britney file their taxes for them.

(previous year ranking in parenthesis) and dropped out:  San Jose, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.

Baltimore didn't make this list, but Washington did at No. 17. Anyone want to prove this list wrong? Anyone trying to wait until the very last minute to file?

(photo courtesy of stockxchng.com) 

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Taxes
        

So the first thing I did after I got back from Spain was to sit down and start paying all the bills that were about to come due while I was gone. One by one, I wrote the amount due on each check, filled out who the payment was owed to and then signed my name with a flourish.

Yes. You read that right. I still pay my bills by writing checks and then mailing them. Almost everyone I know pays their bills online. What can I say? I'm old-school about it. Every once in awhile, I pay my credit card bill on-line, but it's infrequently.

I'm just not hip to the electronic payment system yet. Didn't I tell you that I'm not an early adopter of any kind of technology? I just worry that someone somehow in some way will steal my information on-line. Sure, I know they can steal my mail, too. But I've irrationally convinced myself that my mail is safer. Plus, I can't tell you how many people write or call into the Consuming Interests hotline (410.332.6151) to complain about some nightmare scenario where Company XYZ has taken two electronic payments from their checking account in one month or screwed up billing somehow.

I don't like that sense of losing control over my own bank account so I don't sign up for automatic bill payments. I know I can still do electronic payments every month, but I haven't convinced myself to make that leap yet. And yet, I may have to soon.

In the March issue of the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter, the editors are talking about the decline of check writing. They cite a recent report from the Federal Reserve, which said that more than two-thirds of noncash payments are now done electronically, primarily by debit and credit cards. Just four years ago, the split was about 50-50.

According to the study, from 2003 to 2006, all types of electronic payments grew while check payments decreased. Of the 93 billion noncash payments in 2006, about 63 billion were electronic and around 30 billion were checks.

I feel a little bit like a dinosaur, but there's something very reassuring and calming about sitting down with my checkbook every month, writing my checks out, balancing my account and then putting stamps on the envelopes and dropping them into the mail. But then again, I still like reading newspapers the old-fashioned way, too, with a cup of coffee in my ink-stained hands flipping through each page on a Sunday morning.

Anyone else still have love for writing checks?

(photo courtesy of stockxchng.com) 

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Credit cards
        

Debt collectors aren’t supposed to be able to garnish your Social Security benefits.

Contrary to federal law, they still manage to do so.

Last summer, three senators asked the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General to investigate the problem. A report on the inspector general’s findings is supposed to be out in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the senators introduced the Illegal Garnishment Prevention Act. The bill, the trio say, “would prevent the U.S. Department of Treasury from promoting the use of direct deposit for Social Security beneficiaries until they put a stop to the illegal garnishment of government benefits from the bank accounts of private citizens.”

Legislation is good, but it may come too late if debt collectors are draining your account now. It can help to know your rights, though. They are:

A creditor or debt collector can’t make a claim on your future Social Security benefits. And if you deposit that money in the bank, they can’t pull the benefits then if it’s possible to identify the money as government benefits.

Your creditors can’t ask your employer to pull money out of your pension or 401(k), either. Once you deposit retirement money in a bank account, though, they can go after it.

Each state determines protections on IRA money. Maryland protects all IRA money from creditors.

There are always exceptions, of course.

If you owe child support or alimony, your Social Security benefits garnished.

And the IRS can always get its hands on your money if you owe back taxes.

Are you having problem with this issue?

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Debt
        

As we get to the season of celebration of major life events (marriages, graduations, etc.), here are some thoughts and questions about the increasingly ubiquitous registry system.

• What events are appropriate for registering? Weddings? Baby showers? Housewarmings seem like we're getting into gray areas ... but I could imagine being a college grad, challenged by setting up my first real household within the constraints of my first real paycheck, and wishing I had a slow cooker to help save time and money.
  

Heck, I'm in the market for a slow cooker right now.

• What's your registry strategy? Do you start with a price range? Or hunt for something you could call vaguely personal?

For example, I once contributed to a poker set for the couple who taught me how to play Texas Hold-em. For an office wedding we bought a stand mixer for someone who liked to bring us cookies.

Then again, when caught without the personal connection once I tried to buy the most absurd things on the list -- a remote control caddy and a creme brulee kit, which included a miniature blowtorch. One item to help prevent fights between the happy couple, another to use when they occur. 

• Or, do you try to get the most bang for your buck?
  

Many shops will allow registered customers to buy unpurchased items on their registries at a discount after the event, so I've occasionally given people cash with the assumption that they would use it for whatever they wanted ... whether it be the eighth place setting or something fun during the honeymoon.

On the other hand, if you're a new parent-to-be, or the friend of a new parent-to-be, it may be intimidating trying to determine exactly what equipment the bundle of joy really requires. But never fear --- Consumer Reports has some advice, including:

• New parents should cross-reference their desires with the federal government's recall list. 

• If you're a good friend or relative, you'll stay away from the co-sleepers and the doorway jumpers, which aren't safe, and eschew gifts of clothes that other people will buy in abundance and the little tykes will outgrow way too soon.  

• Don't overlook gifts of consumables, like baby wipes and other stuff that will be used in large quantities.
  

Posted by Liz Kay at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I can't tell you how glad I am to be home. It's not that I didn't love Barcelona or wish I could have stayed over there for another week. It's just that the thought of sitting at airports and waiting and waiting because of delay after delay was really wearing on me.

We were supposed to fly out of BWI on April 1 at 2 p.m. They delayed our flight four times that day so that by the time we caught a 6:30 p.m. flight out to JFK , we missed our connecting flight to Spain.

Worse, we couldn't find anyone who could give us a straight answer about why so many flights were delayed, especially since the skies in Baltimore were clear as day. We knew and the gate attendants knew we were going to miss our connecting flight, but when we got up to JFK, not one person there knew what to do with our big group of people.

I'm not saying that we wanted to be waited on hand and foot, but it would have been nice if we had gotten a straight answer from someone at Delta, the airline we were flying. Instead, we were sent to Air France, a partner airline with instructions that Air France would accommodate us. When we got to Air France's check-in, they had no knowledge of us or our group at all. So they sent some of us back to Delta. For a couple hours there, our group kept wandering back and forth trying to find someone who would help us.

It was maddening.

Air France finally took matters into their own hands and designated one person to take care of our little group. Thank goodness. It took us 28 hours and an extra stop at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, but we finally made it.

But I consider myself lucky after watching last week's airlines meltdown.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That the airline industry is imploding (not to use a scary words when it comes to flying) and it's going to further crush our ailing economy? The signs are definitely bleak.

American cancels more than 2,500 flights. Midwest idles a dozen planes to examine wiring, too. Shortly before that, United canceled flights due to safety concerns and Southwest grounded 4 percent of its flights to catch up on inspections.

I haven't even mentioned Aloha Airgroup, ATA Airlines and Skybus Airlines flying for bankruptcy. None of this is making me feel confident about flying. And this is not to say that I'm placing all the blame on the airlines since the FAA isn't exactly making me feel all that secure right now either since it seems to me that routine, consistent and thorough inspections shouldn't find a ton of problems all at once like this.

How many more times should the government bail out the industry? Would a bail-out even help at this stage? Airlines are already charging us for extra bags, preferred seating and food. What next, the air we breathe? Yes, fuel prices are up, but last time I checked, airlines have been adding on fuel surcharges to our ticket prices, too.

So are we to blame consumers? Should we as flyers keep expecting inexpensive ticket prices or is the public's demand for cheap flights helping to cripple the industry? Or, are we as flyers, already putting up with an awful lot whether its lost luggage, repeated flight delays, indifferent customer service (when someone asked about whether we'd make our connection, the flight attendant on our BWI to JFK flight responded coldly, "I don't know. I don't have any answers for you.") and the like? Because really, what are you going to do if you get really mad at the airline? Cancel and take the bus to Spain? I think not.

To be honest, I don't really have any answers either. I do know that regardless of whether you pay $100 for a ticket or a $1,000 a ticket, the service you might encounter is up in the air (no pun intended). More money doesn't guarantee you better service. In many cases, it doesn't even guarantee you a seat as American flyers last week.

What I do know is that the government shouldn't bail the industry out again without some solid changes, demands and accountability set in place first. Do we know how they're managing their operations and budget? What's to stop the industry from getting another bailout now, only to extend its palm out again another few years down the road?

(Sun Photographer Jed Kirschbaum)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Airlines, Travel
        

In keeping with our naughty businesses theme, here's a recent one from the Attorney General's Office:

The Consumer Protection Division ordered Baltimore company, Maryland Rentals, LLC (a/k/a Rental Properties, LLC), which was formerly located at 5904 Harford Road, and its owner, Wanda Monroe, to cease offering illegal rental referral services.

The company and its owner were ordered to pay restitution equal to all fees it charged consumers for its services and to pay the Division $129,000 in civil penalties and costs for pursuing the matter.

Maryland Rentals advertised properties for rent at attractive rents in Baltimore area newspapers. But the AG says that when consumers contacted Maryland Rentals to rent the advertised properties, the company sold them a rental listing service instead of offering the callers leases.

The Division found that consumers who purchased the service were unable to locate rental properties in the areas that Maryland Rentals advertised, or at rents that were as attractive as advertised because the properties did not actually exist.

The AG says that the listings were created by Maryland Rentals to get consumers to pay for the listing service. Even worse, consumers who purchased the service were refused refunds. The Division found Maryland Rentals’ advertising to be deceptive and ordered it to stop offering properties for rent that did not exist or that it did not have the actual ability to rent.

“Maryland Rentals preyed on consumers who were having difficulty finding rental properties they could afford and took advantage of their desire to provide better housing for their families,” said Attorney General Doug Gansler. “When a business offers a house for rent, it must have the ability to rent the property at the advertised price.”

Seems to me, we might need to add this company to a Do Not Rent From list, or Avoid Completely list.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW, Rent
        

Here's Part Two of the Maryland Department of Environment looking out for us.

On Feb. 15, MDE issued 11 enforcement actions to gas stations for air pollution violations. The penalties range from $1,000 to $4,000. The actions address various violations of gasoline vapor recovery regulations, including failure to test, failure to provide test results, failure to train workers, failure to keep records, and failure to post signs.

Maryland law mandates the control of particulate matter, which is a complex mixture of small particles and liquid droplets. Particle pollution is made up of a number of components, including acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles. Coarse particles such as those found near roads and dusty industries are larger in size. Fine particles are found in smoke and haze and can be formed when gases emitted from power plants, industries, and automobiles react in the air. These particles work their way into the respiratory system exacerbating respiratory conditions such as asthma.

Synagro-Baltimore L.L.C. -- Baltimore City -- On February 25, MDE received a $27,000 penalty payment from Synagro for violations of air quality requirements. Synagro operates a sludge pelletizer plant that dewaters sludge waste from Patapsco Waste Water Treatment Plant to form a dry pellet.

The penalty addressed nuisance odor violations and permit condition violations. Synagro had a malfunction of their air pollution control equipment that allowed sewage odor to affect nearby neighborhoods. During this time MDE received numerous citizen complaints about sewage odors. Based on MDE’s investigation it was determined that Synagro was the source of the odor.

Also, MDE’s review of quarterly monitoring reports revealed that Synagro failed to comply with certain conditions of their air quality permit.

Synagro addressed their violations and is now operating in compliance with air quality requirements.

Lafarge – Frederick Quarry – Frederick County--On February 27, MDE signed a Consent Order with Lafarge to address violations of air quality requirements. Lafarge violated air quality requirements by failing to take reasonable precautions to prevent particulate matter and dust from becoming airborne at its Frederick quarry and crushing operation. The Order requires payment of a $20,000 penalty for the violations as well as major improvements to the plant to reduce air pollution and dust emissions. On March 11, MDE received the $20,000 penalty payment from Lafarge as required by the Consent Order.

Improvements required by the Order include, among others, a major upgrade to the water suppression system for the crushers, upgraded dust suppression on the storage piles, and improvements to dust control on the plant roads. The Order also requires the Company to submit plans to MDE for overall plant dust control and to keep extensive records of the operation of all air pollution control equipment and procedures.

MDE had received a number of citizen complaints about airborne dust from the quarry’s operations. MDE issued nine Notices of Violation to Lafarge for failure to control dust emissions, leading to this enforcement action.

Lehigh Cement Company – Carroll County -- On March 5, MDE and the OAG sent an “Opportunity to Settle” letter to the Lehigh Cement Company (Lehigh). The Opportunity to Settle letter addresses air quality violations that occurred at their Union Bridge facility in Carroll County. The violations occurred when Lehigh’s Portland cement kiln and clinker cooler baghouses failed a particulate matter stack test. Periodic stack testing is required by Lehigh’s air quality permit.

The Opportunity to settle letter provides Lehigh with an opportunity to discuss settlement of the violations, including achieving compliance and a penalty.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

Those aces over at the Maryland Department of Environment are at it again. Maryland law requires that all users of radioactive materials must have a license. This licencing process ensures that users such as medical professionals using x-ray machines and researchers in laboratories understand how to handle radioactive materials in a safe manner. Sounds like a good rule to me, yes? 

Between Feb. 1 and March 31, MDE and the Air and Radiation Adminstration (both responsible for air quality in Maryland) took enforcement actions against the following businesses in Anne Arundel, Carroll, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, and Baltimore City:

Anne Arundel Medical Center – Anne Arundel County -- On February 26, MDE reached a Settlement Agreement with Anne Arundel Medical Center. The Agreement includes payment by Anne Arundel Medical Center of $20,000 to the Department. The Department cited the facility with two misadministrations of radiation where two patients were treated with radiation not in accordance with their prescribed treatment plan.

Lawrence Z. Satin, M.D. – Montgomery County -- On February 15, MDE reached a Settlement Agreement with Lawrence Z. Satin, M.D. The Agreement includes a penalty payment of $80,000 in installments over a twelve-month period. MDE had cited Dr. Satin with transferring his clinical cardiology practice to another physician without terminating his radioactive materials license. This resulted in another physician receiving and using radioactive materials under Dr. Satin’s license without the knowledge of the Department or review by the Department to determine whether all users of radioactive materials were qualified to do so.

Panda Brandywine  - Prince George's County -- On February 15, Panda paid a $15,000 penalty for violating a condition in their Consent Order. The Consent Order, signed in March 2007 with ARMA, required the submittal of monthly emission reports, which Panda did not submit. The Consent Order settled nitrogen oxide violations at Panda's electric generating unit.  Electricity generators in Maryland must submit periodic emission reports to MDE. These reports provide information that MDE uses to ensure that these stationary sources comply with state regulations. If the generator is not in compliance, then MDE can recommend and/or require appropriate mitigation.

G&K Services - Prince George's County -- On March 19, ARMA and the Attorney General's Office filed a Consent Decree in court to address air pollution violations that occurred at the G&K industrial laundry facility located in Laurel. The Decree requires that the company achieve compliance with air quality requirements and pay a $150,000 penalty for past violations.

As background, G&K bought the facility from the previous owner and hired a consultant to conduct an environmental assessment of the facility. During the assessment, it was discovered that the facility was a major source of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and had never obtained the required air quality permits. Under ARMA regulations, major sources must determine and implement VOC reduction controls, which had also never been done. The facility has since achieved compliance by ceasing the use of VOC-laden materials and by submitting applications for the air quality permits. Due to the nature of the violations, the facility is listed with EPA as a high priority violator.

 

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

April 15 is around the corner, and if you don’t file a 2007 return by the deadline, you could miss out in getting the tax rebate this year. (You can always apply for it next year, but why wait?)

The rebate is worth $300 to $600 for individuals and $600 to $1,200 for joint filers. To be eligible, you must have at least $3,000 in income.

Even if you normally don’t file a return, you will need to do so to get the rebate.

Forget how to file? No problem. The IRS in Baltimore will be helping taxpayers file returns on Saturday from 8:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. Bring your papers to the IRS offices at 31 Hopkins Plaza.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Tax rebates
        

Dan Thanh's post yesterday about the high costs of traveling due to the dollar's weakened purchasing power got me thinking. Are people planning their trips based on how far their dollar will stretch --- even if it costs more to travel there?

Here's a list of lower-priced destinations from concierge.com that might fall into this category. 

I started thinking about incidental costs as well.

I usually find myself dropping a certain amount of money on an impulse purchase in the food court or book store or newspaper stand right next to my gate.

But be sure to question those hunger pangs that strike you during a layover, says food psychologist Brian Wansink, the author of Mindless Eating.

Flights are dehydrating, and our bodies sometimes confuse thirst for hunger, he writes.

I usually buy water, because you can't bring it through security, and once I've got my wallet open, gum/magazines/inflatable pillows seem like such a good idea ...

But after our conversation earlier about the illogical bottled water I wanted to mention a tip I learned from a friend who also owns a refillable, washable water container.

She packs it for every flight --- but empty. She fills it from the water fountain once she's cleared security.

So, no more $2 bottles for me, and fewer impulse buys as well! And as long as you're going somewhere that the water is safe, it's a fine technique.

 (photo: Nanine Hartzenbush/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Sometimes the extra effort it might take to save a few bucks comes with added rewards, according to Jennifer Derrick at Savingadvice.com (via about Frugal Living).

If you need a little motivation, check out her list of reasons to be frugal besides saving money.

Personally, I like to conserve resources such as time and money, and I want to avoid the psychological warfare waged by advertisers to get us to buy more stuff, as detailed in this Frontline documentary.

After all, money doesn't just buy things.

It guarantees security and peace of mind.

As Damon Darlin wrote in the New York Times last year, saving enough for retirement, for example, means the difference between taking the bus to the doctor in the rain and taking a cab. When I'm a senior citizen, I might not be able to walk. But I can now!  

But I'm not sure I agree with all Derrick's suggestions, like being frugal cuts down on paperwork. I've avoided things like keeping a grocery price book to track prices between different stores, for example, because it seems like a lot of work even though it could reap benefits.

Posted by Liz Kay at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

It's a logical suggestion: you'll save money if you don't buy things sooner than necessary.

Consumer Reports offers these tips to keep your food fresher in the refrigerator. Store mushrooms in a paper bag once the package has been opened? Cover ice cream with plastic wrap underneath the lid to prevent ice crystals from forming? Who knew?

Posted by Liz Kay at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Hola, my friends!

I'm back. You might not have missed me, but I just spent a week in Barcelona (plus a train trip up to Perpignan in France) eating and drinking my way through their very beautiful city. From the open air markets to the Gaudi Museum, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. My favorite food has to be octopus. Have you had it? It's neither rubbery or squishy. It tasted like a good steak. It was heavenly, I tell you.

What wasn't so great, of course, was the weak dollar over there. The exchange rate was 1.57 Dollars for every Euro. So swapping $400 got us about 245 Euros. ack! How depressing!

Worse, everything over there (with the exception of the wine) was fairly expensive. Anyone ever eat those Haribo gummy bears? Over here in the states, I can buy a bag at pharmacy for a buck. Over there, they were charging 3 Euros for a bag. How crazy is that?

We loved the trip, but definitely experienced exchange rate shock for a couple days. You have to keep in mind I haven't been out of the country since 2000 when I went to London so it was a little surprising to me.  Anyone else been overseas lately who wants to share your story about the exchange rate?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Travel
        

Yesterday, we debated the merits of canned beer, screwtop wine and other low-brow means of packaging the main ingredients in your baskets of cheer.

Several readers dismissed canned beer stating it imparted a distinctly metallic taste to their brews. 

But no one mentioned a taste difference when talking about wine in either screwtop or corked forms, or even the boxed wine jl mentioned, which is even more economical and efficient than screwtops. Yet it's still fighting poor expectations in the marketplace. 

Perhaps that's because the presentation has more of an impact on the perception of excellent flavor in wine than one would expect, according to behavioral economists.

Sun science writer Dennis O'Brien explored the effect of placebos earlier this month. To summarize: people told that they were drinking from a $90 bottle wine enjoyed their glasses more than those who were told their wine cost $5.

A similar study showed that diners served identical wines enjoyed them better if they were told they came from California, known for its wine regions, more than if they were showed a label indicating the grapes came from North Dakota.  

Wine isn't the only product we measure subjectively, unfortunately. In Dennis's story, people who received painkillers they were told cost a lot also reported feeling better than those who were told they were taking an inexpensive remedy.

The Consumer Reports Home & Garden blog also notes that shoppers don't always act rationally when making a purchase --- the emotional element of showing off an expensive, professional-style stove to the neighbors increases the value of such a product, for example, even if it doesn't work as well as a standard model.

So what can you do, now that you know that factors other than pragmatic ones will affect your purchases?

Find mechanisms to thwart your instincts, says MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely said in a Marketplace interview. Recognize what affects your decisions to buy and spend and then develop systems to make you more conscious of your actions.

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

Not surprisingly, Americans’ confidence in their ability to comfortably retire has fallen to its lowest level in 7 years. In other words, the last time a recession hit.

These findings about our lack of confidence are part of the 18th annual Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

In the survey released today, the group found:

The most optimistic people surveyed last year suddenly became pessimistic. Twenty-seven percent last year were very confident about having enough money for retirement. That’s now down to 18 percent. That’s the steepest one-year drop in confidence in the survey’s history. Among the least confident were younger workers and lower-income workers.

Last year, 41 percent of retirees were sure they would have a secure retirement. This year it’s down to 29 percent.

Fewer workers — 38 percent —expect to have employer-paid health insurance in retirement. Last year, 42 percent were counting on insurance from an employer.

Health care costs are a big worry for retirees, too. About 54 percent of those who retired early did so because of health problems. And 44 percent of retirees spend more on health care than expected.

Savings are modest. While 72 percent report saving for retirement, about half of workers have less than $50,000 in savings and investments. Twenty-two percent of workers and more than a quarter of retirees have no savings.

Any good news?

 More workers — 47 percent— have tried to calculate how much they will need to retire. Back in 1996, only 29 percent had done so.

The survey was conducted in January with 1,057 workers and 265 retirees.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Retirement
        

For those of you who enjoyed Dan Thanh's two columns about avoiding common consumer blunders, here's some more useful consumer information from the Real Estate Wonk.

Jamie Smith Hopkins interviewed Steven Smitson, executive director of the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, and he offered more tips about hiring contractors, including checking to see whether their licenses are valid.

You can check online or call 410-230-6309 to verify, he said.

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

What’s the top complaint by consumers about their insurance? Delays in handling claims. The No. 2 gripe? A denial of that claim.

Consumers complain most about auto insurance — accounting for more than 38 percent of complaints so far this year. More than 37 percent of complaints this year were over accident and health insurance.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners compiles this information through its Consumer Information Source. It recently started making the information easily accessible to the public online. The group plans to update the stats each month.

Perhaps the most consumer friendly features of the Web site, though, is that the NAIC makes it easy for consumers to file a complaint with their state insurance administrator. You can click on the state and submit your complaint online.

It also allows you to plug in the name of an insurer and see the number of complaints and the company’s financials. You want to check out an insurer’s health before buying a policy to make sure it has the funds to keep its promise to you.

For instance, Carefirst of Maryland Inc. had a total of 403 complaints in Maryland in 2007. The company also had $1.13 billion in assets and $621.5 million in liabilities. The net premiums earned reached $1.4 billion. More than half of the premiums come from the federal health plan.

Check out your insurer.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Insurance
        

We've talked here before about the drawbacks to Starbucks coffee.

After retraining its coffee slingers, now the company is offering a new "Pike Place" roast that responds to all the demands of the commenters on the previous post. It's mild, it's fair trade. It's fresh and hand-scooped.

My theory behind the Fourbucks -- I mean Starbucks --- business model always was that they sold regular coffees that were acceptable to a small segment of the customer population alongside pretty tasty,  more universally acceptable espresso drinks that cost much more.

And you can try it for yourself today.

From the press release:

"Visit any participating U.S. Starbucks store on Tuesday, April 8 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time (12 p.m. Eastern Time) and Starbucks will give all customers a complimentary short (8 oz.) cup of the new Pike Place Roast™ to enjoy as they participate in a simultaneous, nationwide, coast-to-coast, coffee tasting conducted by Starbucks coffee experts."

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Or, how perception interferes with technology.

A post on Consumerist about a recall of Sam Adams beer that comes complete with bonus glass shards makes me ask: why is beer still sold in bottles, anyway?

I once went on a tour of the Clipper City brewery in Lansdowne --- $5 for a souvenir beer glass, with six complimentary samples --- and learned that a tiny amount of beer oxidizes in bottles due to the exposure to air that's sealed inside.

Canned beer doesn't have this problem. It's also lighter than bottled beer and thus costs less to ship and transport.

Not to mention that you don't need special tools to open a can, nor are you likely to hurt yourself if one breaks. 

But you don't see a lot of craft beers in cans just yet --- probably because of stereotypes that don't need to be repeated here.

Makers of wine in screw-cap bottles still experience similar derision (see the first comment here) even though many people realize that wine corks can dry out and expose the fine liquid inside to oxidation and mold. Mmm, tasty.  

Hugh Sisson, general partner of Clipper City Brewing Company and co-host of WYPR's weekly program Cellar Notes, is in favor of both both canned beer and screw-cap wine. 

"Because the public's perception is that corks and bottles are better doesn’t mean they’re right," he said.

"I frankly think the glass blottle is becoming something of a dinosaur," he said, noting the tremendous energy required to make a glass bottle, which is heavy and fragile.

I know that most of the beer consumed in this country comes in pop-top form --- Sisson said 60 percent of all beer comes in cans. I'm just asking why haven't more smaller producers, such as Oskar Blues in Colorado, haven't made the investment in packing technology. Sisson said he could improve his nautically themed business if he made the switch.

"The boating community doesn't want bottles on a boat," he said.

The same thing applies to the wine-drinking public, which has grown in recent years. As more and more people invest in higher quality wines, Sisson predicts that they -- and the retailers that sell it to them -- will be less tolerant of wine that's corked. 

After all, "them that writes the checks wields the club," he said. 

UPDATE: Beer blogger Rob Kasper has a post about good beers sold by the can.
(photo: Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

Are you putting off a major life decision because you’re cash-strapped or worried about the weak economy?

Four out of 10 adults say they are doing just that, according to a poll released today by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

These adults say they have put off retirement, marriage, medical procedures, college education, buying a home or having a child because of their financial situation or the economy’s.

This is more pessimistic than last year, when three out of 10 were postponing life decisions. Among those putting life on hold this year, 28 percent said it was due to a lack of savings. Eighteen percent blamed the economy.

“It’s alarming that so many people are choosing not to get married, buy a home or further their education because they don’t have the money,” said Carl George, head of AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission in a prepared statement.

The survey polled 1,026 adults.

So, are you putting off major expenses?

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Personal finance
        

It all started with Swiffer.

For some reason, Swiffer static dusting cloths opened the cleaning closet door to many products that are meant to be used once and tossed.

Sure, it's okay to be justifiably grossed out by the inner surfaces of your toilet, but is a disposable toilet brush really necessary?

So keep your focus on your wallet during your next stroll down the household cleansers aisle --- or avoid it altogether.

You could save money with these recipes for homemade cleansers, thanks to Montana-based Women's Voices for the Earth.

As part of their Green Cleaning campaign, they assembled ways to make products that cost less than their commercially prepared counterparts. Check out more possibilities here.

The group says that manufacturers aren't required to label cleansers with their ingredients, so even products labeled "natural" may contain stuff that's not so good for you.

You probably already have many of the main ingredients like vinegar and baking soda in your cupboard already. Combine these tips with directions to make or buy reusable Swiffer pads (via Consumerist) and you've got a clean, green house.

See a price comparison and a few recipes below.

• LAUNDRY DETERGENT (including fabric softener)

Homemade $0.13 per load
Storebrand $0.48 per load

• ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER 32 oz

Homemade 0.38
Storebrand $4.00-$8.00

• CREAMY SOFT SCRUB 16 oz

Homemade $0.78
Storebrand $3.69

• FURNITURE POLISH 16 oz

Homemade $3.89
Storebrand $4.39

• TOILET BOWL CLEANER

Homemade $1.05
Storebrand $2.99

• DRAIN OPENER 32 OZ

Homemade $1.40
Storebrand $2.99

All-Purpose Cleaner
suggested uses: hard surfaces like countertops and kitchen floors, windows and mirrors

2 cups white distilled vinegar
2 cups water
20-30 or more drops of essential oil (optional)

Tip: Warming in microwave until barely hot will boost cleaning power for tough jobs. Only microwave in a glass container.

Creamy Soft Scrub
suggested uses: Use this creamy soft scrub on kitchen counters, stoves, bathroom sinks, etc.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer (optional)

Mix together and store in a sealed glass jar, shelf life of 2 years.

Tips: For exceptionally tough jobs spray with vinegar first—full strength or diluted, scented—let sit and follow with scrub.

Dry soft scrubs can be made with baking soda or salt (or combination of both) with 10-15 drops essential oil to scent

Posted by Liz Kay at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

April 15 is fast approaching. If you don’t have the money to pay your tax liability, don’t make matters worse by not filing by the tax deadline.

By ignoring the deadline, you will pay interest and late payment penalties.

The IRS advises filing your return on time and paying as much as you can. Then go to the agency’s Web site to request a payment agreement. Within minutes, the IRS says, you could set up a short-term extension or a monthly payment plan.

With an extension, you’ll get an extra 120 days. You’ll still owe interest and a late-payment penalty.

The monthly plan is for those who need more time to pay. You’ll still owe interest but the late-payment penalty is reduced. If you’re approved for the monthly plan, you can cut the $105 user fee in half by having your payments made through electronic debits from your bank account.

Some taxpayers get extra time because they are in combat zones or in a disaster area.

Service members in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat areas don’t have to file until 180 days of leaving the combat zone.

Taxpayers in certain disaster areas of Illinois have until May 6 to file; the deadline is May 6 for disaster areas of Georgia and Missouri and May 27th for disaster areas in Arkansas.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Taxes
        

Knowing is half the battle.

Yes, that was the motto repeated at the end of every episode of G.I.Joe, but I'm talking about information that's more useful than how to fashion a tourniquet or when to wear a life jacket.

Do you know if your accountant is licensed? If your doctor has been sanctioned by the state Board of Physicians? If someone is suing your contractor?

Dan Thanh broke down these and other tips for you in her pair of columns about avoiding common mistakes that consumers make.

Don't miss Part I or Part II. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer protection
        

and makes it harder for Baltimore residents to get out of the country, according to this story by Tricia Bishop.

The Indianapolis-based airline tanked Wednesday, killing a deal it had with Southwest Airlines to offer cheap trips to Europe through BWI Marshall Airport, she writes. 

This is the latest of a string of international carriers that have pulled out of the airport, such as Air Ghana, Aer Lingus, Icelandair and Mexicana.

There are still four international carriers --- USA3000, Air Jamaica, Air Canada and British Airways --- but BA offers the only transatlantic flight right now.

Why is this bad?

Well, Tricia points out that we now have fewer international flights out of BWI despite spending $147 million on an international terminal a decade ago.

A BWI spokesman says that Southwest is still talking to other airlines, that something could come through. But, right now, nothing official to announce. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

And no, we're not talking about the kind of profit touted by the Underpants Gnomes.

Evan Siple, who offered a soliloquy on online shopping here, shares his system to save money on every purchase. He's already buying all his electronics and plenty of groceries over the Intertubes --- being careful to avoid the early adopter trap. He also takes advantage of Craigslist.
 
But why online, especially for electronics?

"As far as ordering electronics online, you can ALWAYS find a better deal online than at the major brick-and-mortar establishments, almost without exception. Even in the case of buying something large like a television, which can be white-glove delivered to your house for a fee, the cost of shipping and delivery is usually offset by substantial rebates, no sales tax, and the simple fact that you're not paying an inflated price to satisfy a salesperson's commission."

But Evan's not talking about searching for coupon codes online, or even hunting Amazon for "filler items" to bump the total in his shopping cart over $25 to get free shipping (via Consumerist).  

Here's his secret to saving money and time, which requires one simple step:

"If you, like every other American, have a blog or Web site, you can sign up to be an Amazon.com Associate. (And actually I'm pretty sure other online retailers offer a similar thing but I'll use Amazon, as I have experience with it.)
 
In a nutshell, you place a small search bar or ad box on your page that people can use to search for things on Amazon --- when they click through and order something, you get a cut of the revenue. Depending on the product, it could put between 4 to 10 percent in your pocket.

Pretty great, right?
 
Well, unfortunately, you can't use this affiliate program to get money out of your own purchases. But let's say your wife/husband/mother/brother/pretty much anyone else you know has a blog or website. You could just as easily partner with them to order through their affiliate box, and vice versa.
 
Factor in the fact that you are now no longer paying shipping, sales tax, time waiting in line, PLUS getting an additional 4 to 10 percent back in cash, ON TOP of whatever benefits your credit card may confer to making purchases ... the potential for saving money is pretty insane. However, in the rare case that I've done enough homework and checked all of my prices from other trusted online resources and the cost to me is lower somewhere else even after all of this, I'll go somewhere else without hesitation.

But, then again, you do have to wait a few days for your order to arrive. Right? Nah. You can sign up for Amazon Prime which gives you two-day shipping on everything. (N.B. The program costs $79 a year, or about $6.60 monthly, and you can share your membership within your household --- lfk). But if you use the system I just mentioned, it pays for itself almost immediately.

(Note that I definitely do not work for Amazon or have any other sort of conflict of interest, but for me personally they're the best online retailer thus far.)"

Well, readers, what do you think? Loyalty shopping programs start to be a problem when they prompt you to make impulse buys, but this system relies on buying only what you need --- just all from one source.

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

More and more taxpayers are telling the IRS to put their tax bill on their credit card.

Convenient, maybe. But does it make financial sense?

Ben Woolsey, director of marketing and consumer research for CreditCards.com, says filers might want to put away the plastic.

Of course, any bill put on a credit card can trigger interest costs if you don’t pay the balance off each month.

But on top of that, the IRS can’t pay credit card company the usual fee that merchants pay, says CreditCards.com. That 2.49 percent fee is passed on to you instead. So, a $1,000 tax bill paid with plastic carries a nearly $25 fee.

Plus, credit card interest rates typically run higher than what the government would charge under an installment plan, the group said.

When can it make sense to put taxes on a credit card? When you owe a big tax bill, need eight months or more to pay it off and your interest rate on the card is far, far lower than what the IRS installment plan charges.

So, have you paid off your tax bill with a credit card or thinking about it? Any thoughts on doing so?

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Taxes
        

Readers, don't miss the package of stories The Sun's features staff has put together to help you save a dime while you have a good time.

Here's some tips for how you can find a great outfit, stave off hunger while you drink and then head off for some culture --- all for little or no money.

There's also some suggestions for cheap eats and reads, and reasons why a little belt-tightening might not be a bad thing.

I'd love to hear your suggestions, particularly about cheap eats ...  

Based on purely anecdotal evidence, it seems like restaurant prices in this town are higher than they are in other cities. It's hard to find lunch for under $5 and near impossible to get a dinner for under $10 -- and I'm not a picky eater. Then again, I'd be paying more for other expenses in Philly or New York, so perhaps it all balances out.

My theory is there just are fewer restaurants/cafes/etc. so, lacking competition, prices are higher. Or, there are just more establishments in that price range in other communities.

Anyway, I try to keep an eye out for specials, such as the ones posted on www.baltimorespecials.com. Be sure to click around because there's some geographic license at work there.

And watch that you don't let saving on 'cheap' meals lull you into spending more in other ways ... My $10 pasta night yesterday turned into a $26 bill after a beverage and dessert, and tip, of course.

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Budgeting, Cheap/Frugal
        

Do you clip and collect coupons?

You can print out coupons at home, but that requires a printer --- not to mention an Internet connection. Some people swear by online sites such as The Grocery Game or couponmom.com to help stretch their food dollars by matching coupons with store sales to maximize savings.

Others pooh-pooh such discounts, say that they usually apply toward processed items sold on the inside aisles rather than whole foods that are better for you to eat --- think Hamburger Helper rather than produce.

Personally, I find myself using coupons for household products like detergent or soap --- or at least cutting them out. My problem is the follow through: making sure I have the coupons with me when I end up at the store, before the coupons themselves expire.

Well, one company has come up with a system to combat that problem, which I hope hits our shores soon.

Donna Montado, who writes about couponing at about.com, pointed out a new service called Shortcuts.com. Not available yet in local zip codes, but it allows customers to link coupons to their loyalty shopping card.

Then, when you get to the store, the coupons get added to your purchase when you swipe the card or keytag. No paper cuts, no printing, no forgetting them in the glove compartment or the kitchen table.

(photo: Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun) 

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Budgeting, Cheap/Frugal, Personal finance
        

If you’ve been procrastinating about signing up for the Maryland Prepaid College Trust, you’re running out of time.

You have all day tomorrow to sign up before the latest enrollment season ends.

The prepaid plan allows you to pay for college in advance. The price of the contracts are tied to the cost of tuition and fees at Maryland public colleges. If your child ends up not attending a Maryland school, you can always use the cash at a private or out-of-state college.

Applications must be postmarked by Friday. But you also can complete the form online up until literally the last minute tomorrow.

You don’t have to buy four years of school, either. You can prepay one semester at a university. Or, buy one or two years at a community college. Or, split the difference, buying two years at a community college and two years at a university.

Payments can be made in lump sum or on installment plan.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: College/Financial aid
        

Finally, logic is starting to prevail in some parts of our cell phone society.

AT&T has announced it too will prorate its "early termination fee" --- the charge it levies for breaking your contract before it expires.

The company will reduce the previously flat $175 fee by $5 for every month the contract has been in effect for contracts that start or renew after May 25. So, if you're considering an iPhone or if your contract is already month-to-month, it might be worth your while to wait a month or two before you re-up.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which broke the news earlier this week, noted that Verizon Wireless started offering pro-rated fees in 2006.

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The IRS sent out a reminder today that you can find information on the tax rebates in Spanish.

The information is available at Centro de Información Sobre los Pagos de Estímulo Económico.

It includes details for Spanish-speaking retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually don’t have to file a return.

You must file a tax return for 2007 to get the tax rebate.

The IRS says its newly translated information includes the Package 1040A-3, an 8-page package of instructions, a sample Form 1040A and a blank Form 1040A. Better yet, it has everything needed to file a return now.

 Also, Free File – Economic Stimulus Payment is now available in Spanish. Just click ‘Español”  on the IRS Web site and go to the main El IRS en Español page.

The rebate is worth $300 to $600 for individuals and $600 to $1,200 for married couples filing jointly. The rebate starts phasing out once adjusted gross income tops $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples.

If you have children who were under age 17 last year, you may be entitled to an extra $300 per child. Young adults who can be claimed as a dependent on another’s tax return are not eligible for a tax rebate.

To be eligible for a rebate, you must have at least $3,000 in income to get the rebate. That can include wages from a job, non-taxable combat pay and certain benefits from Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Railroad Retirement Board.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Tax rebates
        

Refund anticipation loans are short-term loans tied to your expected tax refund. You get the money in a day or so, and then when your refund comes in within two weeks later, the loan is repaid.

Consumer advocates don’t like these loans because the fees tend to be high just to get a refund a little earlier. And most of those who take out refund loans are lower-income workers who need every penny.

The National Consumer Law Center and Consumer Federation of America publish a report on refund loans every year. This year’s report show positive signs, the groups say.

For instance, the number of taxpayers taking out loans has dropped and prices have fallen in some cases. The report’s findings are based on 2006 data, the latest figures available from the IRS.

Here are the report’s highlights:

— Nearly 9 million taxpayers took out a refund loan in 2006. That’s down from a high of 12.4 million two years earlier.

— These taxpayers paid $900 million in loan fees and more than $90 million in other fees. Of these filers, 5.7 million were the working poor who paid more than $570 million in loan fees

— H&R Block and refund loan lender JP Morgan Chase lowered their prices; Jackson Hewitt and

Republic Bank & Trust still offer fees that translate into triple digit annual percentage rates. Loan fees range from $32 to $130. Some tax preparers also charge a $40 processing or application fee.

— About two-thirds of refund loan borrowers were low-income taxpayers who received the earned income tax credit.

The consumer groups warn that even with lower fees, refund loans can create problems for borrowers if the IRS rejects or delays their refunds.

And Consumer Federation’s Jean Ann Fox says you can get your refund directly deposited in your bank account in 8 to 15 days, without taking out a loan or paying any fees.

The IRS is taking public comment on refund loans if changes need to be made. If you would like to submit your thoughts, you can e-mail them by April 7.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Taxes
        

If you're renting an apartment or house, what are you doing to conserve energy and save money on your utility bills? You can't very well install new windows, after all.

The EnergyStar site offers suggestions on the energystar.gov site. These include ideas that work well for homeowners, too --- turn down the thermostat if you can control it, closing the shades in the summer and opening them in the winter and screwing in compact fluorescent light bulbs.

However, using only cold water in the washing machine and limiting dryer use won't bring much relief to tenants who schelp their clothes to a laundromat, but there are other ways to conserve.

Here's a tip I'd never heard before but makes so much sense: if you have a room air conditioner and can't remove it in the winter, wrap it in plastic sheeting and seal it with duct tape to keep drafts out. Or you could buy a ready-made version if your decorating motif is not inspired by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

And be sure to rid your home of an infestation of energy vampires!

Check out this video on HowStuffWorks.com about how appliances draw power even when turned off.

The dudes used a device called a Kill-a-Watt to measure how much electricity televisions and mobile phone chargers drain when they're not in use but still plugged in.

Your TV is a big offender. Remember how back in the day how it used to take more than a few seconds for the screen to warm up and materialize? Now they seem to snap to attention as soon as you hit the clicker ... because they're on standby!

So, consider plugging your appliances into a surge protector so you can cut off the flow of electricity at the touch of a button. 

It might not be a huge amount --- the TV only used 0.3 kilowatt-hours during the video recording --- but over time it adds up. And hey, you could use a few dollars to buy a compact fluorescent light bulb.  

Any other ideas for folks who can't do major renovations? 

Posted by Liz Kay at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Bring Wal-Mart up in conversation and it's amazing how quickly people want to tell you how much they love or hate the behemoth.

For some, the big box store stands for everything that is evil -- it kills mom and pop stores, it hires workers for low wages, it forces manufacturers to cut costs by moving jobs overseas in order to sell to the giant retailer. For others, it provides thousands of people jobs they might not otherwise have, it keeps products affordable and forces manufacturers to keep prices low.

Wal-Mart can't win, it seems. The retailer landed in hot water again for a commercial it has been running, which shows that Wal-Mart saves consumers $2,500. 

Yesterday, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus criticized Wal-Mart for television and print ads that showed families taking a vacation or buying a car. NAD said that the ads implied that by shopping at Wal-Mart, consumers could save enough to buy something big. 

But it turns out that whether or not you shop at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart saves you money. How's that?

Well, Wal-Mart's growth and power has led to a 3 percent decline in overall consumer prices, which averages out to $2.500 per household. NAD advised Wal-Mart to stop using misleading advertising, but accepted Wal-Mart's claim that its efficiency and size drive down consumer prices across the entire economy.

Me? I don't love or hate Wal-Mart. I shop there occasionally because it is cheaper than most. Inevitably, when I'm there, I end up finding another $50 worth of stuff that I end up buying.

But I don't go to Wal-Mart often. I hate the long lines and the crowded parking lots so I avoid going there when possible. Some don't really have the luxury to avoid them since whether you love them or hate them, you have to admit that they do save families money. You don't have to take my word for it. Just drive by there some time. The ones I've seen are always packed so I'm guessing not everyone hates Wal-Mart.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Marketing/Advertising, Shopping
        

Oriole fans, don't get angry.

During baseball season, practice safe parking by obeying the rules posted on streets around Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. If you're not sure whether there's a game, check out the schedules here or at the Maryland Stadium Authority's Web site.

But what if there isn't a home game or other event, and you still get a parking ticket based on the stadium restricted area rules?

Don't pay it --- contest it!

I got a letter from a reader who saw my Watchdog column about the confusing parking rules in the different residential areas around the stadium. So confusing, in fact, that the parking enforcement officer explained the rules incorrectly in court, and the city is planning to revamp the signs to make them more clear.

The letter-writer had gotten a ticket, too, for a similar reason. But he sent in a letter protesting the citation along with his payment!

What's so wrong with that? 

Well, according to the instructions on a citation I --- ahem! --- acquired, payment "constitutes waiver of trial and authorizes entry of a plea of no contest."

If you want to dispute the ticket, don't just write to me. Write to the Parking Fines office to request a trial date, or click on this link if your ticket is less than 45 days old. If it's "aged", then you have to call the Parking Fines office at 410.396.4080.

And may the parking goddess assist you in your travels. Or, you could implore the intercessions of the patron saint of parking to save you from future citations. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Google released a new application today called Google Custom Time that has potential to help both consumers and businesses.

Time travel is a new foray for the company, which dominates Internet searches and is changing the consumption of news as we know it.

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Drafty rooms? Too hot in the summer? Peeling paint?

Maryland Home Performance wants to make your house more comfortable --- and help you save money at the same time.

The program connects homeowners with licensed contractors who can conduct an energy audit and point out home improvements that would improve energy efficiency, lowering home heating and other utility bills.

Neither the audit or the improvements are free, but you could save 25 percent or more on your bills. After the audit you get a report with suggestions that you could then use to shop around.

And just to put it all in perspective, the Energystar Web site offers this calculator to see how your energy bills compare with other homeowners. 

Here are some of the things they examine in the audit:

1. Sealing air leaks and adding insulation

3. Improving home heating and cooling systems

4. Upgrading to energy-efficient lighting and appliances

5. Adding renewable energy solutions

But what if you're a renter? Stay tuned for more tips!

Posted by Liz Kay at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)