Good Tuesday morning...here's your weekly Dose of Dover! It's your weekly shot of un-common sense advice, ideas and other observations.  This all comes together as a direct result of your e-mails, letters and telephone calls from the radio shows, TV segments and newspaper column. Do me a favor and put me out of a job!!!  Forward this e-mail to everyone in your Address Book, others that will benefit from the information I've assembled below.   Tuesday, October 1, 2002:   Nothing irritates me more than when the bank sits on my cash longer than they're entitled to: Even though I've got a great track record (no bounced checks, no insufficient funds or returned checks from others that I've deposited, etc.) I seem to be able to find that new bank teller-just outta "official teller robotic training school" (you know the ones...they only see black and white and zero shades of gray)...these people do more to damage customer relations than they're worth. Avoid the heartache from these types; here's two things you've gotta do to prevent this level of brain-damage:     1.  Always know your bank's policy on funds availability so you don't get popped at the most inopportune time, like on long holiday weekends or right before you plan on taking a trip.     2.  Schmooze the bank manager! Most of us have zero relationship with anyone of authority it seems...so maybe schmoozing's not even needed...just get to know the bank manager and more important, make sure they know who you are and can put a credible face together with your name.  When you need someone "in authority" to bless a transaction sometime in the future, you'll thank me for the advice...I promise. There's nothing worse than a credit limit being sucked away by phantom transactions that never even happened! They're called credit line blocks.  Here's a couple of tips from Bankrate.com that'll show you how to reduce their impact:     -- You should think about traveling with a spare credit card to use for other purchases: Credit card blocks usually disappear shortly after you check out of a hotel or return a rental car. If you pay with the same credit card you checked in with, the block will disappear from your credit line within 48 hours and the exact transaction amount will be charged to your card.     -- If you reserve a room with one credit card and then pay with another or with cash or a check:  However, the block could linger on your credit line for as long as two weeks. That's because the merchant forgot to release the initial hold on your credit card after you paid your bill by another means. So if you pay with check or cash, remind the hotel to remove the block when you leave. And check with your credit card company to make sure the block is really gone.  Wanna know more? One of the most frequent complaints that I receive is about health insurance carriers that won't pay for certain things:  But in many cases, they're right on point and don't owe and aren't required to pay for certain things, based on the plan you've signed up for.  Since most plans "re-cycle" and will allow you to change your coverage soon (meaning their anniversary dates coincide with the calendar year end coming up), it's probably a good idea to start doing your research now so you'll be clued-in and ready to make the jump during the [usually] narrow window of opportunity to change your health care type or coverage.  Ben's Bottom Line?     1. You might wanna change from an HMO to PPO: And change the levels of service...an especially crucial strategic move if you think you might be needing a major surgery coming up.  An example of this?  Trying to get a gastric bypass surgical procedure. It might not be covered under your current plan, but chances are good that another type of coverage could pick this up.     2.  If you're currently "under-utilizing" your health insurance coverage, this means that your probably don't have any kids.  Okay, seriously: If you're healthy and don't use your health insurance coverage much, then you might wanna go back and re-think your current coverages. This type of analysis is no different than insurance coverage on a car--if you've got an older car, it might not make sense to be carrying full comprehensive and collision coverage, especially if the car's paid for and more than 8-10 years (or more) old.  Wanna know more about getting your health care plan to pay as much as possible? Have you signed up yet for your free copy of Ben's Dose of Dover weekly newsletter yet?  Why not?  You too, can help put Ben out of a job!  Sign up for the free newsletter and get so smart that you'll never have to listen to the radio show ever again.   First they slapped Southern California-based (JUNK) Fax.com with a $5.3 million fine, now the authorities have gone after the [e-mail] spammers! And while it might make 'em feel good, the Attorney General's office is fighting a battle I doubt they can win; check out this story from the Los Angeles Times. And it's always worth re-visiting, here's Ben's Bottom Line for beating the junk spammers, tele-marketers and others from the lowest marketing echelon: The best way to defeat the spammers? The same way you defeat the junk fax companies and those businesses that utilize the services of tele-marketers: Don't patronize them! Make your feelings known by refusing to do business with any of these pests! Kiss your AMEX card goodbye.  Kinda...Apparently not enough of you were taking your green American Express card with you before leaving the house, so it's time to say goodbye to this classic piece of plastic! Too many consumers were charging on credit cards that gave 'em airline mileage or cash back instead of using Karl Malden's favorite "traditional" Green Card. Wanna read more? If you're planning on flying anywhere and plan on taking luggage with you, shrink-wrapping it might not be such a smart thing to do: You actually might be increasing your chances for luggage mistreatment if you get your suitcases shrink-wrapped at the airport.  Gotta question for Ben?  Call in and get it answered live on the air during his Sunday morning radio show (8-10 am Pacific/9-10 am Mountain/10 am-12 noon Central/11 am-1 pm Eastern, 4-6 pm GMT) on KFI-AM/640, Los Angeles: (800) 520-1-KFI     [And you can listen live via the Internet, no matter where you are!] Here's some good news if you fly American Airlines as much as I do: They're ending the fees charged to travelers for using headphones for in-flight entertainment. Beginning November 1st, you can use your own for free, or purchase a headset [to keep] for $2 when you fly American. No more lip-reading the Letterman or "Everybody Loves Raymond" clips; what a deal-more legroom in coach and now free headsets. What will they think of next? Poor Justin called in to the LA radio show Sunday morning with a tale of woe that illustrates two sides of irresponsibility: He's only 22 years old, has five credit cards juiced up to $25,000, plus a car lease and he only makes $1,800 a month while he goes to school.  Can I ask the obvious "what we you thinking" question?  Not about Justin in this case [yes, he needs to shoulder responsibility for his flakiness], but what about the credit card companies.  Justin's planning on getting married soon; fortunately he's living with Mom & Dad...and he's in deep financial doo-doo.  That's the bad news...the good news is that he's young enough to get past this youthful misstep, take a Chapter 7 and get on with his life.  Besides, if his soon-to-be-wife keeps her finances in better control, they won't be locked out of the credit world too bad, post-bankruptcy.  Wanna read more about the changing world of bankruptcy? Thousands of Americans are refusing to report Identity Theft and it's costing them millions of dollars, years of heartache, and in some cases, even their job! Why? Because they were ripped off by a relative. Here's a story about a woman serving her country in Japan that discovered her Mom had ripped off her identity from one of my 1999 newspaper columns on the same theme.  Ben's Bottom Line:     1. If you find out a family member has obtained credit in your name, then you need to call it what it is: Identity Theft. And you need to treat them like the thief that they are: Do not even think twice about ratting them out. Why should you be looked at as "the Bad Guy"?  You are the victim!      2. Give them ten days to come up with the cash and get all of the debts paid off [they won't] or you'll turn 'em in...and then do it!     3. If you do turn them in, the creditors will really play on your guilt and emotions hard. They'd rather you belly up to the bar than force them to go after a criminal that you know the name and address of.     4. As always, you've gotta paper your trail thoroughly if you're involved in a mess of this magnitude, and be ready to fill out a slew of affidavits and reports...even more than usual because of the circumstances.     5. The good news?  Look at the money you're gonna save in the long run on birthday or holiday gifts! Did you hear about the collection agency that filed a lawsuit for 18 cents?  It looks like they picked on the wrong consumer, because she turned the tables on these tele-terrorist punks that were clearly outta control.  I'll show you how to invoke federal law and fire these clowns and eliminate the pain and suffering inflicted by the collection industry; we'll talk about this on next week's show...put it on your calendar: Sunday morning, October 6, 2002, from 8-10a [PT] on KFI-AM/640, Los Angeles. 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