credit

The holiday season is upon us and we know most of you are struggling to "find the money" to buy gifts for your friends and family, so we make the long trip across the hallway and invite Jill Schlesinger on the show to help us keep our heads above water. Jill is editor at large for CBS MoneyWatch.com and has plenty of experience with financial planning, so listen up!

As you might already know from past episodes featuring The Financial Decoder, Jill isn't the biggest fan of credit card companies, or "legalized drug dealers," as she calls them, but this time she has her scope pointed at the dangers of using a debit card.

Despite proposed laws that would outlaw overdraft fees, Jill suspects we haven't seen the end of hidden fees and actually recommends budgeting this season with presents that won't leave you with an empty bank account. Your dear old mom doesn't really need that Tiffany's necklace or box of Godiva chocolates! Leave that stuff for Mother's Day, and just go out and have fun together--it's free, and it won't drain your bank account.

Jill also drops knowledge on us (in a Bulgarian accent, no less) about how to develop optimistic (and realistic) financial goals for the year instead of frantically scrambling to plan around the holidays. With Valentine's Day coming up, it's too bad Jeff isn't here! Jill tells us the best way to stop the cycle of "hedonic spending" is to play a game she calls "Find the Money."

Have fun and play games while balancing your spending and saving money at the same time?! Be sure to listen to this episode of The 404 Podcast to get the whole story!

Home Bookkeeping Lite purportedly is a tool to help users manage their personal finances. Our experiences with it, however, suggest it is a tool of annoyance and time-wasting.

The program's interface is pleasantly uncluttered, so we were optimistic. The first major drawback that we encountered is that the program does not allow users to import transactions from their bank's Web site. We acknowledge that there may be some users who don't use online banking, but we suspect that most people will want to import the data and not spend hours entering transactions manually. For users who do … Read more

Home Credit Card Manager helps you keep a close eye on your spending and credit card balance. While it has the capability to be precise, the amount of labor involved in using it could turn some users off.

The program's interface is fairly intuitive, thanks to a labeling system that walks you through all the data to be entered into various fields. However, if you get confused, there is a Help file. Home Credit Card Manager is simple to organize and manage. You begin by entering the name of each of your credit cards. The program builds a separate … Read more

The Financial Decoder Jill Schlesinger back on the show today. Yeah, yeah, it's not technology, but we do mention online banking, so we guess that counts. Anyway, we talk about how credit card companies are like drug dealers, and how to break the habit.

Congress recently passed legislation that would prevent some of the bad practices that credit card companies engage in, but Jill reveals to us that for the most part it won't prevent much. Credit card companies will just have to tell you how they are screwing you. Be prepared for your credit cards to have annual fees and higher rates in the interim.

After the break, Jill warns us to stay away from the credit consolidation, negotiation or settlement companies. According to her, you don't have to pay some lawyer to do what you can do already, by calling the credit card companies yourself or writing them a letter. If you are in the endless debt circle, ask them for a break on the interest rate for a year or two. Keep in mind that the companies want something instead of nothing.

Finally, we talk about how the experiences of growing up in Jewish and Chinese households share so much in common. Namely, our love of mahjong. So much so that we all flip out when we see an automated mahjong shuffling table! Send in your feedback as usual to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Jill and Wilson might make a weekly date of their financial and economic talk. Let us know if that might interest you. Look out for Jill's recommendations for credit cards and checking accounts later.

UPDATE: Check out Jill's blog post on MoneyWatch about credit card companies. Plus she gives us a little love.

… Read more

I'm not a fan of protective case for gadgets (which, as long as they function, are fine the way they are, even with a few scratches). For this reason, the only things I've put on my iPhone 3GS so far, and only when I travel, are the Mophie Juice packs, which add more battery life to the phone.

I just, however, found a new protective case that I actually am going to use more regularly, for the sake of convenience. It's the Case-Mate I.D. case.

Unlike other protective cases that try to be as slim as … Read more

Credit Card Manager 2009 offers users a chance to keep all their credit card information in one place. While the program offers an extremely usable format, some may simply choose to manage a credit card via its Web site.

We made an immediate trip to the program's Help file because the interface was a blank slate with no direction for users. Reading the brief descriptions of the process, we quickly gained footing and a better understanding of the program as a whole. We filled out the vital information for all of our credit cards to find a simple listing … Read more

This comprehensive program comes with all of the tools you'll need to manage your business' invoicing and inventory needs. Users of all skill level will love its straightforward navigation. Our one complaint is the lack of choice in credit card processing vendors.

Simple Business Invoicing & Inventory has a pleasant, simple user interface. Colorful menu commands line the top of the window, and include options for processing invoices and quotes, managing customer information, and generating reports. Clicking on each command introduces a submenu of commands for creating specific invoices and records. Creating a new invoice was extremely intuitive. After … Read more

This debt management tool allows users to manage their debts using built-in formulas that automatically calculate the total amount owed and total interest paid. Users familiar with Excel will find it easy to use.

The Debt Management Calculator has three tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet: Calculator, Payment Schedule, and Chart. The program explains different methods of managing debt, namely the "snowball" or "avalanche" methods. The "snowball" method advises the user to pay the debt with the lowest balance faster, where the "avalanche" method advises the user to pay the debt … Read more

Max Ray Vision, aka "Iceman," pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of wire fraud stemming from the theft of nearly 2 million credit card numbers and $86 million in alleged fraudulent purchases.

Vision faces up to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced in October in federal court in Pittsburgh, according to federal public defender Michael Novara.

Vision was arrested in September 2007 and accused of operating an underground forum called "Carders Market" where cybercriminals bought and sold stolen credit card numbers and other data. He was targeted as part of a sting operation … Read more