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Students who expected impartial advice from financial aid offices on campus were getting the shaft. Now that they've been caught, loan companies have promised to stop bribing schools.

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My poor wife went to a website that I directed her to to buy something for me for Christmas. It turns out that website is a front where they take your money and give no product. If we had known about resellerratings.com, we'd have saved ourselves the hassle, but now we have to cancel the order and possibly get a new credit card issued.

Well, you can bet we'll be checking a site's rating before purchasing directly through a non-major site again.

Anyway, I'm ticked and I'm going to do everything I can to make life miserable for this slimeball. First I'm going to dispute the charges with my credit card and ask if they have any means of prosecution. Second, I'm going to try and get his hosting, domain name, and merchant accounts canceled (with no domain name, no hosting for his site, and no merchant account to take credit cards, I'm guessing it will be harder to scam people in the future). And, if I can, I'm going to see what agency is responsible for this kind of fraud and see what they can do about it.

I'll post updates here if I manage to get any of this accomplished.

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Rather than preventing the problem, many companies are satisfied (and make tons of profit) by inventing new services to attack the symptoms rather than the problem.

Don't waste your time or money. Get a credit freeze and don't worry about all the snake oil.

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Consumeraffairs.com has an article today about extended warranties. With the way they present it, I wonder why anyone would ever buy one.

It turns out that I mostly agree with them. I sold extended warranties for a long time and I can guarantee that you'll get your money's worth in some specific cases, but unless you know your rights very well and push for them in the face of opposition from the store and the company, you probably will never recoup your costs.

If you don't have the tenacity to fight for your warranty terms, you're better off avoiding the expense.

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A guy in Italy managed to get a refund from HP for Windows XP and Works 8 which were preinstalled on his system. Apparently, the license agreement states that if the customer doesn't accept the agreement, the vendor will refund the money.

This could be the start of a disturbing trend as far as computer retailers are concerned.

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This is a nice article explaining the five major monthly bills you should be ditching until you are debt-free (on your credit cards and accounts anyway). Included is the whining they know you'll do when you hear their recommendation:

5) Cable. Your Excuse: "But, but, but I need cable! I get a good deal! It's only $100 a month! I use it a lot! It's bundled with my phone and my internet. I'll only save $30 a month if I cancel it."

It's really sad how well the marketing has worked that people believe they really need and use this stuff. I have never had cable TV service. You can rent the best shows in the stores, borrow them from friends or just watch it with a regular antenna (for stuff that comes on the major channels). A lot of new shows are available from the networks directly on the Internet anyway.

The one service they forgot to mention was cellphone. Most people probably forget that it's just a convenience, not a necessity.

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Consumeraffairs is now reporting that the last credit reporting company, Experian, will now be offering credit freezes in all 50 states, just like the other two.

Credit freezes have always been the quickest, strongest, and most effective way to reduce identity theft. And while this is true:

All three credit bureaus had staunchly opposed credit freezes in the past, claiming the practice would harm consumers seeking credit and slow down industries that depend on instant access to credit.

If you've been reading how instant credit is destroying lives and burying people under mountains of debt they can't handle, this doesn't seem like a problem at all.

Anyway, they're not all in effect yet and I think that further legislation would be good to make sure that these companies don't worsen the deal over time, but it's a damn good start.

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If you've been on college campuses these days, you'll often see the booths where you get a free shirt or coffee mug for signing up for a credit card. Well, it's pretty obvious that college kids have no idea how to handle credit and the credit card companies know it.

Rhoades took the job and signed up roughly 30 students for cards. He regrets any trouble he caused other students from his actions. Still, his actions may have been most damaging to himself. He ended up with $13,000 worth of debt that he is now struggling to repay.

We don't get any training how to deal with and manage credit, but we get plenty of training on how to get and abuse it.

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Perhaps Equifax is seeing the same gate closing on them that Transunion did. They are the second of the three credit reporting companies to offer credit freeze protection.

The credit and financial industries have aggressively lobbied against credit freeze laws, claiming they would reduce the availability of credit and discourage shoppers from making big-ticket purchases due to the time spent unlocking a credit account.

And that's bad how? If people have to spend $10 or so to unlock credit and have to spend more time to do it, maybe they won't be so quick to get into credit card debt. Anyway, with so many states having already passed freeze laws, I guess the credit reporting companies are trying to preempt the states that haven't by offering it first.

Either way, it's good news for everyone. Hopefully, the states will still pass regulation requiring fast and easy access to unlocking credit and a lower fee as well, but it's a dang good start. Now let's see if Experian follows the other two.

Says the only person to vote against the bill: "We are putting this industry out of business".

Well, yeah. You are. Kudos for all those who voted for it!