Personal Finance News

The College on a Dime series is written by Zac Bissonnette, a junior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His book College On a Dime will be published by Penguin in the fall.

In a press release issued this morning, Sallie Mae suggests that students use private student loans provided by Sallie Mae -- and then make the interest payments while in college to "save a lot later."

According to the press release, "As families make college admission and financial aid decisions for next school year, Sallie Mae recommends building interest payments on student loans into the budget. Keeping up with accruing interest prevents loan balances from growing each month beyond the original balance. After graduation, when it's time to pay down the principal, young professionals start out their careers with smaller IOUs. That means they can pay off their debt faster than their fellow alums who deferred their interest."

Here's the problem: instead of making interest payments on a student loan while you're in college, why don't you just borrow less money and send the cash to the school?

More than two years after joining Twitter, I still find myself the target of blank stares more often than I'd like to admit. When it comes to skepticism, I've heard just about anything you can imagine, with most dismissive questions usually taking on some form of the following: "Wait, isn't Twitter, like, an instant message to no one?"

Well, not really. Whenever I'm asked something like this, I try to hold onto the last few seconds of their attention span by explaining I might never have landed an acceptance to graduate school, two internships and a handful of job interviews without paying close attention to the way I used my Twitter account.

Charitable giving is ingrained in our culture. Americans as a percentage of gross domestic product give more than any other country. And as a result of this charitable inclination, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports the United States has raised more than $895 million in response to the recent devastation in Haiti.

But how can we know that we are giving smartly? That our donation is being used in the best possible way and not being wasted on something we did not intend? How can giving actually help you, outside of the warm feeling you get?

With its competitors doing away with free food in economy years ago, it's a wonder that Continental Airlines didn't drop the perk earlier.

But the last airline to offer free meals to passengers on flights of three hours or more announced this week that it will discontinue gratis chow on all flights under six hours starting this fall. Continental, the country's fifth-largest airline, positioned the reversal as a way to offer its passengers healthier food options.

"We're hearing from customers that they wanted more choices," said Mary Clark, an airline spokeswoman. "In order to be able to provide that higher quality food, with more variety and healthier choices -- in order to provide that depth of service -- it changed our food model."

But the new fee-for-food service is really about adding to the beleaguered carriers' bottom line.

Don't say they didn't warn you. The IRS just issued its annual "Dirty Dozen" Tax Scams report, a list of frequently-used frauds that cheat honest taxpayers out of hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year.

While there may be a long history of tax cheats, there's also a solid record of con artists that prey on those who are trying to do right by Uncle Sam. Among some of this year's chart toppers are hiding offshore accounts and tax preparer fraud.

"Taxpayers should be aware of anyone peddling scams that seem too good to be true," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in the announcement. The agency warned that taxpayers who fall prey to such scams will be on the hook for unpaid taxes, plus interest and fees, and could even face jail time.

So without any further adieu, here's the "Dirty Dozen" tax scams to avoid when filing your taxes this year.

Many people are looking for new ways to save money. Clipping and organizing coupons helps, especially for large scale shopping trips. When you're strapped for time and still need to buy new clothes, order dinner or shop for someone's birthday, try using online coupon codes. No scissors or organizational skills required.

Retailmenot is one of the leading online coupon code generators. It accesses a variety of sites, pulls codes and lists them in one place. All the codes are listed on the main body of the page. The biggest drawback to the site is fraudulent codes. People will occasionally add inappropriate, dirty and obviously useless codes to the list. They're easy to weed out and often obvious, but they are obnoxious.

Some North Carolina toddlers whose parents subscribe to Time Warner Cable television got a surprise recently when they tuned in to the Kids On Demand Preschool channels. Instead of promos for SpongeBob SquarePants, they saw nude women from the Playboy Channel dishing dirt about sex.

The Raleigh-Durham Time Warner official interviewed by WRAL TV apologized, abashed that not only did porn appear for about two hours on the kid's channel, but that its technicians took a good portion of that time to fix the problem. And worse, the problem had happened before and the company was confident it had put safeguards in place. Apparently, they still aren't practicing safe broadcasting.

Eating out is a treat that gets pricey as quickly as you can say "table for two!" But it doesn't need to be. If you plan a few days ahead, you'll have time to buy restaurant gift certificates at a steep discount through Restaurant.com. Right now a $25 certificate is $3 when you use coupon code LUCKY.

The code expires Monday, March 22.

The catch -- and there always is one -- is that you should read the redemption rules for each restaurant because they differ. But generally each one requires a minimum spending amount on food that is above and beyond your certificate. I crunched the numbers to see how these minimums affect your savings. Alcohol, taxes, and tip are never included. A few might even specify days and times the certificate can be used (some may be for lunch, others may push you towards dinner).

This is one deal where it pays to read the fine print.

Buying a gift certificate supports WalletPop.

If you've shopped for health insurance as an individual, you've likely found it very difficult, if not impossible, to get that insurance unless you are in perfect health. Or once you're over the age of 50, you may find that even if you can get insurance, you won't be able to afford it.

I'm going to take a look at key provisions in the proposed health care reform that will be particularly helpful to those of us who shop in the individual health care marketplace. I've used the comparison tool on health care reform at The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation for this story. Even if the bill passes these provisions will not be available until January 1, 2014.

"Made in China." It's the calling card of a staggering percentage of products that Americans buy. And what does that phrase conjure for you? Poorly made? Dangerous?

Ask America's top product safety official about Chinese-made products and you're going to get a different answer. She said change is already here -- asserting there's a new awareness among Chinese government officials and manufacturers that has led to a noticeable difference in imports from that country meeting U.S. standards.

In an interview with WalletPop.com, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum said recent law changes in the U.S. and a constant dialogue with the Chinese government is yielding results that should end up with American consumers feeling better about Chinese products.