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• Credit card fees and fine print: What's in your wallet?

  Posted Jul 30 2008, 05:26 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Debt, Banking, Credit, The Dough Roller
  Rating:

  This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.

  Credit card companies are masters of marketing. From cash back to travel rewards, and 0% introductory rates to gas rebates, credit card companies have turned a once fledgling industry (remember MasterCharge?) into a multibillion-dollar juggernaut.

  While taking advantage of credit card rewards can be a financial boon, care must be taken that fees and default interest rates do not ensnare us. Let's take a look at those fees and interest rates by examining a popular credit card -- the Discover More card, Wildlife Edition.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 11 comments) 3,705 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Warning: Your HELOC may evaporate when you need it

  Posted May 28 2008, 06:09 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Housing, Banking, Emergency, The Dough Roller
  Rating:

  This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.

  I'm a "Seinfeld" fan, and I'm reminded of the episode when George Costanza pushed an elderly woman, a clown and a roomful of children out of his way so he could escape what he thought was a blazing fire. The clown ended up dousing the blaze with his big shoe.

  When you think of your home-equity line of credit, you should be reminded of George. In an emergency, your home-equity line of credit may be the first thing to leave the room.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 2 comments) 2,779 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Here's the real deal on Dave Ramsey and debt

  Posted Apr 16 2008, 06:43 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Debt, Banking, Spending, The Dough Roller
  Rating:

  This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.

  As much good as he does, Dave Ramsey drives me nuts with his extreme views on debt.

  Ramsey, as he readily admits, did some really stupid things with debt. Leveraged to the hilt on bad real estate deals, he went bust in a way most of us could never imagine. As a real estate investor, my leverage and borrowing comes nowhere near the toxic level Ramsey went to.

  Why? Because Ramsey's personality is one of extremes. Much like an alcoholic, he could not control his use of debt. He got one taste of that leverage, and he was borrowing before noon ever day.

  Dave Ramsey is a recovering debtaholic

  Now he is a recovering debtaholic. Like a recovering alcoholic, he should never borrow again. Why? He just can't handle it. Put Ramsey and debt together, and something really ugly develops.

  OK, fine. But why should that apply to all of us? It's as if a recovering alcoholic were telling the rest of the world never to have a glass of wine. In other words, what works and doesn't work for Ramsey may not apply to everybody else. Of course, there are those who, like Dave, can't control debt and should avoid it just like he does.

  But debt, if used wisely, can greatly improve your finances, can increase your financial freedom in the long run, and can greatly improve your balance sheet.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 78 comments) 20,193 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• ID theft: Here's a one-stop source on scams, breaches

  Posted Feb 28 2008, 08:31 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Banking, The Dough Roller

  This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.

  Identity theft is scary. A friend of mine several years ago had his voter registration revoked because the Commonwealth of Virginia thought he was a convicted felon.

  It turns out that a former roommate of his was the convict, but had given the police my friend's name and Social Security number. It took The Washington Post running a full-page article to get Virginia to correct its mistake.

  So I was very interested to learn of a resource that lists current scams and security breaches in which Social Security numbers and other highly confidential information may have been stolen. The site is run by a nonprofit organization called the Identify Theft Resource Center.

  Scam alerts

  ITRC provides a list of current scams on its scam warning page. Here is an example of a  scam listed on the ITRC site:   Read More...

  Discuss ( 2 comments) 678 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• How far would you go to cash a 35-cent check?

  Posted Jan 23 2008, 05:56 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Banking, Insurance, Saving, The Dough Roller
  Rating:

  This post comes from partner blogger The Dough Roller.

  Would you cash a 35-cent check? Two days ago I wouldn't have known the answer to that question. Now I do, and, I'm sorry to say, the answer for me is yes. Yesterday I spent 30 minutes traveling to my bank and back to cash a 35-cent check.

  Here's the story and what I plan to do with my spoils.

  Two weeks ago I received a letter from my health insurance carrier. Excited to be receiving an unexpected check, I tore into the envelope and retrieved a check written out to me for the grand sum of $0.35. I went to chuck the check into the trash bin, but some unknown and unseen force held me back.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 406 comments) 116,289 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• The 'brave new world' of peer-to-peer lending

  Posted Jan 17 2008, 01:05 PM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Investing, Banking, The Dough Roller, Karen Datko
  Rating:

  Call it "peer-to-peer" or "social" lending, the online enterprise of loaning money to others outside the confines of a brick-and-mortar bank is taking off. The Silicon Valley Blogger says this "brave new world" is expected to grow by as much as 800% in the next three years, and she plans to be a part of it -- on the lending side. Her post at The Digerati Life explains how Prosper.com, Lending Club and other P2P services work, and how investors can reduce the risk of losing money.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 1 comments) 650 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this