If you’ve ever watched a television in the last few years, you’ve undoubtedly seen the FreeCreditReport.com commercials with the guy playing the banjo. In recent months, Experian, the parent company of FreeCreditReport.com, has come under fire because:

1. The credit reports are free, if you remember to cancel the trial (big if!).
2. Consumers have been educated by the FTC that they can get a copy of their credit report for free once every 12 months, no strings attached… except they have to go to AnnualCreditReport.com, not FreeCreditReport.com.
3. Consumers are, knowingly or unknowingly, signing up for the trial service, getting their free credit score and reports, and then not canceling.

So, in early November, the Bucks blog on the New York Times wrote about how Senator Chuck Schumer of New York wants the FTC to force Experian to give you your free report and score before they ask for the credit card information. This was largely shelved because the CARD Act included a provision that required credit report services to include a disclaimer.

I understand the need to police overtly scammy negative option billing practices but how much intervention is too much? I think it was right for the FTC to force Experian to notify visitors to FreeCreditReport.com that they are not affiliated with the free credit report program. It’s also good that the site informs you that you are signing up for a free 7-day trial. It should also be clear that you will be charged for it after the trial because otherwise they wouldn’t ask for your credit card information! (to be clear, I’m fine with the regulation as it stands now… but I didn’t like Senator Schumer’s idea of forcing Experian to change their business practices in that way)

So at what point do we stop? At what point does common sense get completely thrown out and replaced with regulation? I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Sallie Mae, normally known for their federal and private student loans, is entering the savings account area with a high yield savings account currently offering 1.35% APY with no monthly fees and no minimums. It’s your standard online bank offering with a pretty standard savings account rates. In scanning their list of offerings, the only thing that stands out is their 10% bonus for Upromise earnings, which can be substantial if you’re a big user of Upromise.

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Did you know that if you buy something with an American Express card and it’s lost, damaged, or stolen within the first 90 days, American Express will replace the item or reimburse you up to the amount of the purchase price? My friend Michelle just came back from a skiing trip with her family in which she managed to get an oil stain on her brand new ski jacket. She had no idea how it got there but she took it to the cleaners and they were unable to remove the stain.

Her husband remembered that their American Express Blue offered Purchase Protection and decided to give them a call. Why not right? As it turns out, they’re protected by a consumer protection most people forget about – American Express Purchase Protection.

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Now that we know how the IRS picks who to audit, we need to know what we can do to prepare for it. Even if you’re sure you got your return right, that you didn’t participate in an abusive tax avoidance scheme, or can’t possible be snared by the computers, there’s still that “randomly selected” bit.

So, like zombie attacks, the key to surviving a tax audit is to be prepared.

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My friend Flexo at Consumerism Commentary has created the Plutus Awards, to celebrate the best in personal finance. The awards are broken up into two categories. The first goes to personal finance products and services while the second focuses solely on the best the personal finance blogging world has to offer. The nominees were submitted by the “community” and now voting is open until March 16th.

I’m honored and happy to share that Bargaineering was included in several categories and is up against very stiff competition. Many thanks to those of you who may have nominated Bargaineering but know that this site is as much a product of your contributions as it is my own. Without your comments, this place would be nothing more than my ramblings and would not be a place I’ve come to treasure. This recognition is as much a tribute to you as it is to me, so thank you.

If you have a few moments, please cast your vote for your favorites.

Thank you!

Home sweet home – I’ve always love that saying. There is something wonderful about coming to place where you can feel safe, peaceful and rejuvenated. With all of the known dangers out in the big world, home can be a wonderful respite. Sadly, we are bombarded on a daily basis with the news of things that can harm us. Unfortunately some of those things can be found in our safe haven…our home.

Instead of throwing up our hands in frustration, I believe in the power of getting educated and making small changes with big impact on or health and environment. Here are three small changes that can improve the quality of life in your home sweet home.

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Last week, as I was research the “catch” on a return of premium life insurance policy, I wondered if it was possible for you to self-insure your life. The idea behind self insuring is that you take a lower level of insurance protection and save the difference into an account. With auto insurance, you could take away comprehensive insurance coverage, rental car coverage, or raise your deductible and put the savings into a high interest savings account.

I do this today with my auto insurance. For my Acura Integra, I didn’t carry comprehensive insurance and was able to saving hundreds of dollars a year. When it was totaled, through no fault of my own, I rolled the savings over to do the same thing with my current car, a Toyota Celica. As I’ve gotten older and the premium on excluding comprehensive insurance decreases, I’m tempted to add comprehensive again and pay for it with the fund. I’m able to because of good driving and good fortune, but I think that self-insurance is something everyone should consider.

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There’s a security out there that tracks the average (mean) length of time someone is employed and that figure broke thirty weeks in January. The average person looking for work will not find it in seven months… seven months of job hunting. Seven months of going to job fairs. Seven months of searching online at job websites.

If you’re submitting resumes and calling companies, there are only so many resumes you can submit, calls you can make, before you start burning out. If you start burning out, you reduce the chances you’ll ace the interview because your brain is being beaten into submission by monotony.

That’s why it’s important for you to sprinkle in other activities throughout the day. It’s hard to do this because when you don’t have a job, you feel like you have to get one. To get one you have to submit resumes, call companies, and do all the things involved in “job hunting.” Then you fall into a vicious cycle… no job, want job, must search, keep searching, burn out… you get it. So how do you introduce activities that aren’t directly related to looking for a job but improve your prospects?

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How many times have you run into this scenario at work: you start a task that seems ridiculously inefficient or outdated, bring it up to your supervisor only to hear them say “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Sadly, it happens all too often and it’s the product of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality that permeates almost every aspect of life. When was the last time you took a hard look at how you did things? Your commute to work every day, how you pay your bills, and how you set your thermostat? Probably not much, especially with all the other, more important, things you have to worry about right?

I totally get it because everyone does the same thing. There are a lot of things in our lives that we probably do the exact same way because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. It has worked… but it could be better. And, just like at work, we’ve done it that way because while it may not be the best way, it worked and you have a million other things competing for your time and energy.

However, today I want to work with you to try to find some ways we may be leaking money. It’s hard to know where you might be losing your hard earned cash bit by bit because it’s hard to know what you don’t know, right? So, to help get our mindgrapes flowing, I listed a few common money leaks in the hopes that you could kick in a few leaks you may have found recently.

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The Huffington Post shared the thoughts of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) on unemployment this week:

Unemployment insurance “doesn’t create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work,”

The title of the article is a little misleading. In quotes, Kyl said that benefits dissuade people from job hunting, not that they “make people not want to get a job,” as the title states. While I didn’t hear or read about the debate, it seems like a stretch to take the quotes and twist them to match the title.

However, unemployment benefits do act as a disincentive. You get unemployment benefits when you are unemployed, you don’t get them when you are employed. If you remain unemployed, you get paid for not working… so in that respect Kyl is right. Given that base unemployment benefits lasts 26 weeks (not including the extensions from the stimulus package), I’m inclined to think that it’s not unfair for Bunning, or others, to ask how we are going to pay for these things especially if we’re extending benefits again.

While the initial 26 weeks are funded by my employer and myself, through past payments, the extensions, in theory, aren’t. They’re funded by current workers and are taken from their future benefits, should they ever need them. I’m not well versed in how it all works but that’s just my layman’s understanding of it.

If I lost my job and was on unemployment, my initial sense of urgency at finding another job would be much lower than if I didn’t have unemployment benefits (once I got over the sting of being fired). If I just need to meet the job hunting requirements to receive unemployment benefits, I’ll do that while I search for the “right” job and not the “right now” job. I would rethink my career, a la Lemonade, and not rush to find income. Without unemployment benefits, I would be less likely to do it… so in a sense the benefits act as a disincentive.

What are your thoughts on unemployment benefits and whether they reward laziness? Did you think Bunning blocking the bill because he wanted the Senate to follow its own PAYGO rules were justified?

(Photo: notionscapital)