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• How Much House Do You Really Need?

  By Marlys Harris | Nov 18, 2009 | 0 comments

  Emerging from this recession is a new rule: Buy only as much house as you need. Unfortunately for their finances, Americans have been doing anything but. You have only to watch a few episodes of “House Hunters” on HGTV for proof. Unless they live in a high-priced urban area where space is at a premium, like [...]

• S.C.R.E.W.U. or the Safe Credit Revision Everyone Wins Undertaking

  By Marlys Harris | Nov 9, 2009 | 2 comments

  According to a new cartoon by Mark Fiore, an award-winning political animator who hangs out somewhere in the Bay Area, this is the program that credit card issuers have developed in response to the CARD (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009) which is to go into effect on the belated and benighted date [...]

• Old Credit Card Tricks Are New Again

  By Marlys Harris | Nov 2, 2009 | 3 comments

  Since Congress enacted the consumer-friendly credit card law back in May, you’d think that the cardcos would have at least started to roll back all those bad practices that it bans. You’d think. After all, if you knew you were starting Weight Watchers on Monday, wouldn’t you stock up on healthy goodies like fruit, vegetables and low-fat [...]

• Reverse Mortgage Brokers Are No Angels

  By Marlys Harris | Oct 29, 2009 | 10 comments

  A few days ago, I put up a spoofy post called “Five Jobs for Lousy Times and No Talent Necessary.” One of my top picks was reverse mortgage broker. My reasoning: As the population ages and taps out any retirement savings left after the financial crisis, reverse mortgages, which are available only to homeowners over age [...]

• Five Jobs for Lousy Times and No Talent Necessary

  By Marlys Harris | Oct 22, 2009 | 7 comments

  CNNMoney recently came out with its list of the “50 Best Jobs in America.” The list assemblers ranked jobs based on personal satisfaction, job security, future growth, benefit to society, stress — and presumably pay, since, after all, it’s CNNMoney, not CNNSelf-gratification. The top five were systems engineer, information technology manager, physician assistant, nurse practitioner and college professor. I am not [...]

• Why Should You Have to Pay for Your Credit Score?

  By Marlys Harris | Oct 17, 2009 | 5 comments

  Seriously. Why should you buy your credit score? After all, the score is based on your information. Shouldn’t it belong to you? Yet federal law requires you to pay $15 to get it. The fee is a gift to credit scoring companies like Fair Isaac, Choicepoint, TransUnion and Vantage. They don’t need the dough; they already [...]

• The Expensive Student Loan Trap

  By Marlys Harris | Oct 8, 2009 | 5 comments

  Making its way through Congress (at the usual pace–ketchup coming out of a bottle) is a bill that promises to reform student loans. Called SAFRA for Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, it would eliminate FFELP or Family Federal Education Program loans. (Doncha love the acronyms?) The bill would knock out bank middlemen who take no risks [...]

• Who Should Protect Consumers?

  By Marlys Harris | Oct 1, 2009 | 3 comments

  Remember “states’ rights?” Back when the federal government was a strong regulator of consumer products and services, including banks, airlines, brokerages, cable TV and drugs, pro-business factions screamed bloody murder. According to them, federal regulation usurped states’ rights to enforce their own laws, which, they argued, would be more sensitive to the needs of local businesses [...]

• Bernie Madoff: Up Against the Wall

  By Marlys Harris | Sep 29, 2009 | 2 comments

  I have to share this with you. On Sunday, Chen Wenling, a 40-year-old Chinese artist, premiered his sculpture “What You See Might Not Be Real” at a Beijing gallery. Designed to be sum up the world financial crisis, it shows the Wall Street bull, propelled by, well, some say it’s smoke (I think it’s passed gas), [...]

• How to Avoid Those Nasty Bank Overdraft Fees

  By Marlys Harris | Sep 28, 2009 | 1 comment

  When a little white postcard from Bank of America arrives for my son, I shudder because I know what it is without opening it: another $39 overdraft fee from Bank of America. So far this year, he’s piled up probably five or six. He’s a college student and lives on a shoestring. But, thanks to [...]

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