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Good
Tuesday morning! Here's your weekly
Dose
of Dover
The only reliable source
for un-common
sense advice, insights and
cover-your-hiney strategies you simply can't find
anywhere else.
Take
your best shot...try to put me
out of a job!
How?
Forward this week's newsletter to everyone
in your Address Book
and
with any luck, make 'em a little
smarter this year.
[C'mon!
Be a big shot!]
Spread
the word and share the wealth of
Tuesday,
February 25, 2003:
Could
your credit card number have been stolen? It's possible. A
hacker stole 8 million credit card numbers last week, but here's
why you can relax for a change....sorta!
Federal law states that your maximum liability exposure is $50
per card if your card's stolen or lost-in other words, if it's
your fault, you might be at some (minimal financial) risk. But
in this particular situation-in which millions of innocent
consumers were picked off by a hacker-there's no liability
unless you remain asleep at the switch.
It
doesn't matter whether it's your credit card statement,
telephone bill or a bank statement: Usually
you have no more than 60 days to catch any mistakes and
get them corrected/credited back...or you will be
responsible-for much more than $50! In fact, if you are
victimized by some type of fraud and don't catch it, you could
be on the hook for the entire amount. You snooze...you
lose.
This
whole CD settlement story actually brings up a bigger issue.
According to an article in The
Wall Street Journal on February 17, 2003,
millions of dollars of class-action settlement money goes
uncollected every year-and some of it may be yours. Huge
consumer lawsuits, for everything from faulty plumbing systems
to stock fraud, are filed all the time. Most never result in a
payout, but when they do, you have to be ready. You may have a
window of only a couple of months to file a claim. Experts
estimate that more than half of people who are eligible for
compensation never follow up. The
Solution? The Internet to the rescue...here
are three options (two of which are free):
-
Check out www.bigclassaction.com (and
go to the "class action settlements" link). Here's
one sample from the site: As much as $80 back for anyone who
leased a phone from AT&T going all the way back to 1984.
Each settlement usually lists a Web site to go to or a lawyer
to contact for details on filing a claim.
-
Finally, the smart-guys up in the Bay Area at http://securities.stanford.edu focus
on shareholder suits; you can sign up on their site for weekly
e-mail updates.
Wanna
save some dough on any 2002 taxes you might owe? Have you
funded your 2002 IRA yet? Would you like the government to
help you find the money to do it? Do you have
some money coming back this year? If a tree falls in the
forest and nobody's around, does it make a sound? (Just
wanted to see if you were paying attention.....)
You've gotta do it by April 15th in order to legally claim the
deduction on your 2002 taxes. If you do have some
refund money coming back on your 2002 taxes, get off your
butt and file electronically this week. You should be
able to use whatever refund dollars you receive towards
your 2002 IRS contribution. For
a better explanation, read more here.....
And
the second suit was filed on behalf of an addictive moron that
lost all of his money at the riverboat casinos...and
is trying to hold them accountable for his stupidity! You've
gotta read it to believe it.
Litigation
like this makes my blood boil...as does so
much of the "end of the world" hype or "take
your money and run" con games that so many people
fall victim to daily. So in the spirit
of making you smarter, I now have one of the best reasons to
subscribe to satellite TV (or cable if you must): It's
a new series on Showtime starring Penn & Teller called Bull____!
To quote their website, "...the
crusaders utilize principles of magic and trickery, as well as
good old fashioned "hidden camera" sting operations,
to smoke out these nonsense peddlers and reveal how they
operate. They also call upon the scientific community for
back-up. Penn & Teller have discovered that the evidence
debunking bogus operatives exists in countless books,
scientific papers and government-sponsored exposés - research
that nobody else has presented to the public with such zeal,
passion, and conviction." It really is
one of the best shows on TV. If you like my radio show,
website, columns, etc., you'll love these guys. They get away
saying things I wish I could pop off with on the air. Go
out of your way and check 'em out...
Would
you like to avoid an unnecessary trip to see your auto
mechanic? Then you'd better not fill-up at a gas station with
a tanker in the parking lot. Why?
You'll love the reasons behind invaluable
tip from my expert, ASE-certified
Master Mechanic Mario deBruin: "If
you pull up to the gas station and see the tanker truck on the
premises filling up their tanks, the smartest thing you could
do is bypass them today and either go back tomorrow or find
another gas station to fill up at right now. Why? Because
anytime they re-fill these tanks up, any sediment that may
have collected on the bottom of these big, underground tanks
will get stirred up and it will get mixed in with the
gasoline-something you want to avoid if at all possible.
Sediment in your gas tank means clogged fuel injectors and
poor performance, or even an unnecessary or un-scheduled visit
to the shop."
How
do you know if your insurance company's about to go broke?
One of my favorite Wall Street Journal writers-Christopher
Oster-had a terrific article in their January 30, 2003 issue
on this topic. If
you're not an on-line Journal subscriber, this is well worth
spending a few bucks on obtaining,
but here's the most important point from the article that you
need to know: "...Adding to the
problem is the fact that insurance premiums are soaring
nationwide. In the search for cheaper coverage, many consumers
are turning to the very companies most likely to go out of
business."
Did
you get that? If you make insurance buying
decision based on price alone you're setting yourself up for
financial nightmares. This cheap-and-false sense of security
that comes from being insured for the lowest-price will haunt
you if the company goes insolvent. Ben's
Best Bet? Here are some tips that will let you
avoid the heartache of owning worthless paper and help make
sure your insurer has the dough to handle your next claim:
- Don't shop for price alone: Distressed
companies often quote aggressively-low rates!
- Check the insurer's financial-strength rating:
It's usually on their Web site and if it's not, that's a big
warning sign in itself. Don't buy a policy without first
checking this out. (Relax...I've got some resources below.)
- Stick to A-rated companies (or better): And
be sure to check the ratings each year when you renew the
policy.
By
the way, I'm not just referring to property and casualty
insurance companies [like those that cover your home or your
car insurance needs] either: This is
even more crucial when it comes to longer-term insurance
responsibilities, like life insurance or annuity contracts;
the strengths of both kids of insurance companies both can be
evaluated at these sites referenced above.
Here's
some news from the bankruptcy world and a reminder of why the
time may be right to pull the ripcord: No
surprise as far as I'm concerned...medical bills are one of
the big reasons why 1.5 million Americans flushed their
problems in 2002, and here's the bottom line folks:
-
It's not a matter of if, but when, our lawmakers are gonna
buckle and revise the bankruptcy laws.
-
If you're even remotely thinking of taking a bankruptcy, it
might be a good idea to at least start getting a better
understanding of what's involved and explore your options.
-
If you're currently in a credit counseling agreement, you
really might wanna re-consider this strategy. Those
non-profits aren't what they're cracked up to be many times,
and you could be going backwards and doing yourself more
long-term harm than good. (Same goes for debt renegotiation
companies, of which I'm not a big fan, either!) Want more
information? You
need to read more, kids...
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