Consuming Interests' Consumer Web site of the Week is here to assist you with future car costs.

Last week we gave you options to compare the selling prices of new cars online.

This week, we're helping you compare the prices of auto repairs for said cars, through RepairPal.com, discovered via Consumerist.

Enter your year. make and model (and sometimes other info) and the Web site spits out a range of prices you'd expect at either a dealership or independent shop.

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Today's Consumer Web Site of the Week helps you with a major purchase: new cars.

As you might expect, Information is key for transactions such as these. What's the lowest price a customer has been able to negotiate, below the MSRP? What's the highest?

Before you start negotiating with auto finance manager, check out these sites recommended by Consumerist.com to compare prices on new cars --- what consumers have actually negotiated with dealers.

At RealCarTips.com, readers submit the MSRP of the vehicle of their choosing and the price they actually paid, for the trim line they choose, as well as other details.

OpenCarPrices.com does something similar, but it's a little more cumbersome to use.

Of course,

Continue reading "Find out what people are paying for their cars" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Folks, I'm wearing my Watchdog hat as I tell you about today's Consumer Web site of the Week.

If you're reading this blog post, you probably have access to the Internet.

And if you can access the Internet, you can use it to report the non-emergency problems you see in your neighborhood to Baltimore city and Baltimore County government. 

You may have tried calling the city's 311 service request system, but did you know you can also go to baltimore.customerservicerequest.org to report potholes and broken street lights, or request animal control or inspections of abandoned property? 

The service --- also reached by going to www.baltimorecity.gov and clicking "311 online" in the left menu bar --- has been available since 2003, according to a Baltimore Sun story.

The best part, in my opinion, is that if you enter an e-mail address, the system mails you the confirmation number. You can use it on the same page to check the status of your request in the future.  

Folks who live in Baltimore County, you've got some options too.

Continue reading "Report your municipal complaints online" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Following yesterday's posts on reforming credit card rules, we thought it would be appropriate to choose LowCards.com, which helps you compare credit card offers, as our Consumer Web Site of the Week.

With all the tricks and traps, rates, and reward programs out there, you need all the help you can get to make sure you're getting the best deal. LowCards.com can help you shop for the best offers.

The Web site offers two great resources: a list of the top cards in each of the credit card categories along with an unbiased opinion on every card; and the Complete Credit Card Index where you will find the current rates of all 1300-plus credit cards available in the United States.

Best yet, both are free.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

This week's CWSotW was discovered in the pages of ShopSmart magazine's back-to-school shopping guide.

One customer-friendly store policy I've never taken advantage of is "price protection" --- that is, getting a refund if you buy an item and it goes on sale at that store within some limited time period, usually about 30 days. Although I am no stranger to unshopping (only unused goods, of course), I'm too disorganized and busy to revisit stores multiple times in the hopes that the sticker prices has decreased. 

Now PriceProtectr.com wants to help you keep tabs on any price drops at one of more than 120 retailers --- whether you bought something online or in a store. You could also use the service to track a future purchase for potential sales and discounts.

Here's how it works: 

Continue reading "Protect your purchase prices with PriceProtectr.com" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Do you have an old computer lying around? An old phone? The older version of the iPhone? Don't know what to do with all those gadgets?

Here's where Gazelle comes in. Gazelle, which launched Monday, will give you cash for your gadgets.

Here's how PC Magazine says Gazelle works:

Visitors to the site will be asked to type in their product's specs, answer a few questions about its condition and whether you have accessories like chargers, adapters or earpieces. Gazelle will then give you in instant quote. If you accept, the company will send you a pre-paid envelope or box, which you use to ship them your item.

Continue reading "CWSotW: Gazelle gives you cash for electronics" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I mentioned this group the other day when I was telling you this is Auto Theft Awareness Month. What is the National Insurance Crime Bureau? It's a nonprofit organization that receives support from approximately 1,000 property/casualty insurance companies and works with law enforcement agencies to help identify, detect and prosecute insurance criminals (sounds sexy, doesn't it? like CSI for insurancegeeks).

The cool thing about this Web site is that you can tap into its database for vehicles that were stolen, but not recovered, or declared totaled by cooperating NICB members. Unlike other companies that charge you for this service, NICB offers it to you for free. We love free stuff here.

Continue reading "How to find out if the car you want was stolen" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Ever wonder how much it costs for you to cool a room? How about how much electricity it takes to dry a load of laundry?

Mr. Electricity (discovered via Get Rich Slowly) offers an online electricity cost calculator for you to compute how much it would cost to run certain appliances. You can use this info to compare incandescent to fluorescent light bulbs or even decide whether to employ a solar clothes dryer instead.

The calculator lets you plug in some data for simple calculations, and the page below lists instructions for doing the computations yourself based on the usage info printed on the appliances' tags.

It's the kind of thing that might make you swear off that hair dryer (natural is more beautiful, anyway) and ditch that ancient refrigerator.

The bottom line, according to Mr. Electricity:  

Continue reading "Calculate how much electricity your appliances use" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The Consumer Web Site of the Week comes from Jim Ludwick, a financial planner with MainStreet Financial Planning in Odenton.

It’s called “What’s the Cost?” and the feature on the site that Ludwick recommends is  “Snowballing.”

By snowballing, you’re repaying debts in the order that minimizes the amount of interest you’ll owe over time. That means paying off the debt charging you the highest interest rate.

Use the site's snowball calculator to figure out which of your debts you should pay off first and how much you should pay each month. Start by plugging in your debts and their interest rates into the snowball calculator. You also must put in the total amount you can afford to pay toward these debts each month. (The Web site is based in England, so you will have to click on the American flag to switch from pounds to dollars.)

The calculator will display how much you should apply toward each debt each month to save the most on interest. The whole process takes a few minutes. Ludwick says he used to spend an hour doing similar calculations on spreadsheets for clients.

Ludwick says he’s used the calculator for a couple who had $290,000 in student loan and credit card debt. They could afford $2,000 a month to put toward their debt, about $400 than the minimum payments required. The calculator figured it would take them until 2026 to pay off that huge amount. But by paying off the most expensive debt first as recommended by the calculator, the couple willl save about $60,000 in interest over those years, Ludwick says.

What's the Cost? suggests using the snowball method almost always is cheaper than a consolidation loan.

Of course, there are those who argue that you should pay off the debt with the lowest balance first. That way, you pay off a debt quicker, feel good about yourself and are more likely to continue paying off debt.

But math-wise that doesn’t make sense. You could end up paying more iin interest over time.

“Do you want to feel happier or make somebody else richer?” Ludwick says. “It’s a false send of happiness.”

Check out the site and calculator and let us know what you think.  

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

What's not to like about a place that has the word "FREE" in its name?

For this week's Consumer Web Site of the Week, we're directing you to our very own local star, the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Web site.

Seriously, not only can you search the catalog on-line to find a book, but you can also find job and career resources there if you've suddenly found yourself without a job... er... not that we're worried about that. OK, I'm lying. We are worried about that.

The cool thing on this site is its Recession Busters page, which gives you tips ranging from how to save your home to 66 ways to save money.

Continue reading "Enoch Pratt Free Library's Recession Busters" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Eileen left us with one final tip from her discussion with Mary Hunt, founder of the Debt-Proof Living newsletter and Web site: a link to MommySavesBig.com, our Consumer Web site of the Week.

Hunt said she uses the site as a great source of printable coupons.  

I was convinced by the complex online shopping deals that site users shared with each other and rated. Act fast, because supplies --- and valid coupon codes --- expire quickly.

Also, there were an impressive collection of free magazine subscription offers, including Saveur, Ebony and Woman's Day.

And they had a long list of sweepstakes and contest links, as well as free sample offers, although I'm not sure how enthusiastic I can be about these ...

Continue reading "Find free magazines, deals at MommySavesBig.com" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

One of the more confusing money issues is college financial aid.

 Even if you're a parent who has even gone through college, the way aid works today can be difficult to understand. And it's worse for high school and college students with little life experience but who must make major financial decisions that can haunt them for a decade or more.

A site that cuts through some of the confusion, and our Consumer Web Site of the Week, is FinAid. It's the site that financial aid officers go to when they don't know the answer to some intricacy of financial aid. That's not to say that it's too technical. The information is easy to understand.

FinAid explains the basic of loans and how the whole aid process works. It also offers dozens of calculators. So you can figure out, say, how much your family will be expected to contribute to college under aid formulas, how much you need to earn to comfortably handle the debt you've accrued and how much college will cost in the future, whether you're a high school freshman now or an infant.

The site is published by Mark Kantrowitz. He's the guy that reporters go to if they want to know the impact of new aid legislation or some obscure aid detail from years ago.  

Kantrowitz has an amazing store of knowledge. He once told me that he doesn't have a

Continue reading "Help in understanding financial aid" »

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

When I'm shopping for something and I'm worried about plopping down a chunk of change on something that might not last, or something I'm not familiar with or something I'm not entirely sure about, I try to do a lot of legwork beforehand to reassure myself.

And when I say legwork, sometimes it literally means legwork and lots of time invested. For instance, when I purchased a laptop last year, I drove from store to store to check out quality, prices and features. I talked to friends about what they recommended. I scoured the Web to find different reviews of the laptops I was leaning toward. I searched for complaints about each model.

It took me almost a year to research and compare data to make a decision. In the time it took me to do all that, I bet several of the models I was looking at became obsolete. OK. I exaggerate, but you know what I mean. It took a lot of time.

That's why I was so jazzed when my good friend Gus turned me on to consumersearch.com, which is our Consumer Web Site of the Week pick.

Continue reading "Comparison shopping made easy" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Yesterday, we introduced you to the new weekly feature, Naughty Business of the Week (NBotW). Today, we're making every Wednesday the CWSotW, the Consumer Web Site of the Week.

In our day-to-day jobs writing for the print paper, Eileen, Liz and I use an awful lot of different Web sites to do research for our columns, stories and blogging adventures. Some aren't just useful to us media types, but are also very useful to you, our fabulous readers. This idea occurred to us recently after I wrote two columns on a Consumer Resource Checklist of Web sites and agencies to help you avoid hiring blunders before you sign any contract with any business, ranging from plumbers to financial brokers.

Those columns went over awfully well, so every week, barring natural disasters or a pressing case of retailitis, we'll share one consumer Web site with you. It could be useful, informative or just plain fun, but either way, we'll open up our magic bag of tricks and tell you what we use to get the job done.

Continue reading "Consumer Web Site of the Week (CWSotW)" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)