For a few years, Credit Karma has been offering a product that lets consumers see what lenders and employers see when they look at the consumers’ credit reports. After securely and privately providing your personal information, Credit Karma retrieves your credit report from one of the credit reporting bureaus, either Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Credit ...

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A recent change for us is we have established 529 plan account for college savings accounts for our daughter. Long ago my goal was to set aside ~$5k at the birth of my kids, but so far we have roughly $1,800 set aside for our daughter's tuition in these accounts. I have been ...

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Largest volunteer network in the U.S. This 2007 photo shows HandsOn Network volunteers cleaning up a neighborhood. Image from Flikr.com. We have all heard the president calling for everyone to be good citizens and do volunteer work. Now, there’s a little extra incentive from Disney, who is running the “Give a day, get a Disney day” ...

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California may become the first state to regulate how much energy flat screen TVs use. If the new rules are approved in November as expected, many flat screens sold in California in 2011 will have to use a third less energy than they do now. Some retailers have banded together to oppose the regulations.» E-Mail ...

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Our theme for today’s podcast is haggling and negotiating. The first guest in today’s Consumerism Commentary Podcast is Herb Cohen, author of You Can Negotiate Anything and adviser to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Herb speaks about the experiences that led to his work in high profile negotiations and offers tips for everyday haggling ...

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