Remember: you don't need to pay any money to file an unemployment insurance claim, and the centers can help people who don't speak English, according to the Maryland Department of Labor and Licensing.

DLLR officials fear that some people are jeopardizing their personal information or perhaps not receiving all of their benefits if they work through an intermediary.

Hit the jump for a list of contact numbers for Maryland unemployment insurance claim centers:

Continue reading "Unemployment claim filing scams: more naughty businesses" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Economy, Wages
        

We've told you before about businesses refunding or covering payments if you lose a job --- hoping to entice some customers to go ahead and make a purchase even if they're feeling insecure about their job situation. Ford, Hyundai and even menswear retailer Jos A. Bank have tossed out those offers with some caveats. The latest to join has been Virgin Mobile, offering to cover up to three months of payments for people on monthly plans (via Consumerist).

This week, Eileen Ambrose covers some practical tips on places to find financial support after losing a job. And remember, you're not alone --- lots of very successful people, including Harry Truman and Walt Disney,  have all found themselves in financial straits at some point in their careers, according to her column.

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Budgeting, Wages
        

Eileen's got an excellent column this week with savings tips for recent college graduates, helping them set financial priorities due to poor employment outlook and dismal economic climate.

One important piece of advice when weighing potential jobs: consider positions that might a. help you develop marketable skills that can aid your next employment search and b. benefits. A job that offers lower pay but adds health insurance can be a valuable bonus. 

Also, when talking about health insurance, did you know that in Maryland, uninsured, unmarried dependents up to age 25 ...

Continue reading "Financial advice for the Class of 2009: Consumer Sundays" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Budgeting, Cheap/Frugal, College/Financial aid, Insurance, Student loans, Wages
        

Leave it up to the great and wonderful Greg Garland, the paper's former investigative reporter who worked his last day with us on Friday, to leave us with this little tip before he left:

I was trying to check on something relating to unemployment compensation and mistakenly wound up on a site www.md.unemployment.com. It seems like you are on a government site at first, but it isn’t. It’s for profit companies guiding you to different sites. The actual maryland site is www.mdunemployment.com.

No dot between md and unemployment. I bet a lot of people get misled and confused by the for profit site, and steered wrong.

Continue reading "Steering you right to mdunemployment" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Computers, Marketing/Advertising, Wages
        

Everyone's got an opinion about tipping. The Washington Post talked to servers last week who want to add mandatory service charges to restaurant checks. The Wall Street Journal chronicled the history of tipping, from its waning period in the early 20th century to now, when even take-out receipts include a line for gratuity.

The WSJ piece ends with a thought that has crossed my mind before: why aren't waitstaff paid a minimum wage? I don't understand the difference between adding an additional service charge to the check and raising the price of a meal to include the cost of service.

Continue reading "To tip or not to tip" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Wages
        

Great story today by my excellent colleagues Jamie Smith Hopkins and Laura McCandlish on residents cutting back on spending due to fears of a worsening economy.

As they say in the story:

Sharply rising costs for food and energy last year helped fuel the biggest jump in inflation since the recessionary year of 1990, the federal government said yesterday.

That means higher prices for consumers on top of rising taxes. Add markedly slowing U.S. job creation, slumping home sales, climbing foreclosures, defaults on subprime loans and a wildly fluctuating stock market, and it's not hard to see why people are feeling pessimistic.

Good to know I'm not the only one who is a pessimist. As I said in my post yesterday, the more worried consumers get about the economy and their budget, the more they'll pull back on spending. The more they pull back on spending, the more it will hurt the economy. All the state's new taxes won't help at all, either.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Budgeting, Taxes, Wages
        

In case you missed the Q&A feature in yesterday's paper, check it out below. Each week, I try to take one question and find an answer for it.

This is mostly a clerical posting so that visitors can find useful stories or tips we've written about months or years from now using the search button. As you know, you can find everything in The Sun's awesome archives, but if the story is too dated, you'll be charged a fee. I try to link to Sun stories I mention here, but the links might not work after awhile.

Don't snitch on me to my bosses, but I'm trying to help ease the pain on your wallet a little bit when you search through the blog for helpful tidbits we've already published. Bear with me until I can find a less unwieldy way of doing this...

Continue reading "Q&A" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Budgeting, Wages