As if you needed another reason to be wary of rebates, one of the largest rebate processing companies, Continental Promotion Group, just filed for bankruptcy. CPG, more widely known as RebateStatus.com, no longer has enough money to cover the rebate checks it has been processing. This means if you have a rebate check from the company, you shouldn't try and cash it unless you care to be hit with a NSF fee when the check bounces.

RebateStatus.com handles rebates for many companies including:

• Costco
• Newegg.com
• Canon
• Logitech
  
• Home Depot
  

If you live near a Harold's store, you may not want to wait until Black Friday or later to start your holiday clothing shopping spree. A judge approved a giant liquidation sale which will be going on across all the chain's 43 stores in 18 states.

Harold's is an upscale retailer for women and men aged 30 to 50, which bills itself as "traditional, classic styled ladies and men's specialty apparel stores" and it has been in operation since 1948. So if you are thinking about the holidays, you could pick up a nice gift for those aunt and uncle types on your list, as well as a few wardrobe items for work and other special events.

As Circuit City seeks bankruptcy protection, and DHL U.S. Express announced plans to lay off 9,500 workers, I can't help but think back to decisions the companies made six months to a year ago that foreshadowed these moves Monday. For Circuit City, it was laying off workers that I think helped lead it to bankruptcy, and for DHL it was a merger that eventually led to jobs being lost. Either way, workers were harshly affected.

Circuit City has had its share of poor decisions over the years, but at least customers knew when walking in that it had some of the most knowledgeable sales people in the industry who were willing to help. I don't know much about electronics, but after going into a Circuit City store, I knew a lot more and could make an informed decision.

But a year ago, the company laid off thousands of its experienced salespeople. Sure, it saved money with fewer workers and the cheaper employees who remained, but it easily looked like a dumb move at the time by anyone who had done business there.

For months, I've been hearing rumors and tales about incredibly cheap housing in high-foreclosure markets. In Detroit, for example, a house that cost $65,000 in 2006 recently sold for $1, and it's apparently fairly common to find houses in the $300 range.

As in the case of the $1.75 house that Joanne Smith bought in Saginaw, Michigan, many of these super-cheap foreclosures come with a tax bill that is in arrears, but even with the $850 in back taxes and cleanup costs that she will end up having to pay, she's gotten an incredible deal.

Searching through various foreclosure listings online, I decided to check out some of the places where I've lived. In Roanoke, Virginia, where my wife and I briefly contemplated buying a home, the cheapest place I found was running about $1,000. Meanwhile, in Blacksburg, where my wife and I worked, even HUD homes used to run in the $140,000 range. Right now, "motivated sellers" and banks are dropping properties at fire-sale prices.

It started small last month, if you consider stranding 900 people on the wrong end of the planet "small." That's when the airline Zoom, which made regular transatlantic runs to North America, zonked out unexpectedly.

The sudden death of airlines creates a ripple effect. Last week, another 2,500 English travelers were left high and dry in the Mediterranean when Seguro, a vacation packager, raised the white flag. You see, the Spanish flyer Futura suddenly folded, leaving the vacation packager that used its flights holding the bag.

The next day, Britain's third-largest vacation seller, XL, gave up the ghost, halting its self-run flights and stranding an astounding 85,000 people abroad. That's a lot of sunburned Brits pounding the counters at tropical airports. Some 10,000 of them, who booked their flights without packages, were not covered by the bond and had to pay more money to get back home. Another 200,000 people with advance reservations were also wondering where their down payments had gone.

Many of the victims of these collapses thought they were covered because they used their credit cards to buy their trips. That's just not the case.

When Target Stores put Mervyns on the block to sell in 2004, you'd think it would be a case of buyout-ee beware. Any entity willing to pick up the tab on a chain of failing department stores has its own best interests at heart, and is not riding in as a White Knight to save the day. But now the former owners of Mervyns are suing the private equity group that bought it for putting it out of business.

As detailed in the Wall St. Journal, (subscription required) the Mervyns team claims that Target set up the stores to fail when it cut a deal with a group of investors. The two-part transaction sold the stores and the real estate separately. The new owners then leased back the properties to the stores and effectively put them out of business with increased fees. Mervyns went into bankruptcy over the summer and will be shutting down a slew of stores.

As retail and restaurant businesses continue to fail in this sour economy, you're going to see a lot more of these stories cropping up, and probably a lot more hurt feelings. It's an economic lesson that most of us can learn something from, even for personal finances. When you are in economic trouble and seek help, the person or entity who kicks in cash to help you is likely going to take more from you in the end.

Mervyns was valuable mostly because of its real estate holdings, and so the equity group came in and took what it could from it. Mervyns failed, but that's not going to cause the owners to lose much sleep, because they can just rent out the properties to somebody else. The current mortgage crisis is being caused by similar thinking, as homeowners fail on their loans. The banks were willing to dole out bad loans because, in the end, they will own the property and can resell it for some value.

I haven't heard of another story recently that reinforces the need to check and double check information before making financial decisions. On Monday an investment newsletter mistakenly sent out a story about United Airlines (UAL) filing for bankruptcy which caused the price of the stock to drop as worried investors banged out, "sell, sell, sell!" on their keyboards.

The only problem was that the bankruptcy story, passed off as a current event by the investment newsletter, actually happened back in 2002. Something that investors could have figured out if they took a minute to read the article or confirm information.

United denied the rumor that it was undergoing bankruptcy after it became clear that this old news had caused its stock price to drop Monday. Analysts expect United's stock to make a recover as the market opens on Tuesday, which could cause the investors who pulled out on Monday a loss if they haven't been paying attention to today's news.

Slightly more troubling is the fact that Income Securities Advisors Inc, the company who published the item sees nothing wrong with the action and doesn't plan to put any measures in place to prevent old news from being republished in the future.

Don't get me wrong, the losses on this one lie at the hands of investors who didn't adequately research a piece of information before acting on it, and I am sure some of them will suffer financially for their rashness. In another example of market forces, I'm sure that by not addressing the issue, Income Securities Advisors Inc's newsletter will be dealt with accordingly as readers look for more reliable sources of information. Don't forget a hot tip to sell stock should be given the same research that a hot tip to buy stock gets. Don't get burned by your own lack of ignorance.

It's not all that uncommon to hear about once wealthy athletes on the brink of .... gasp.... Budgeting. Evander Holyfield became a recent poster child for wasting a ton of money, and who doesn't know about crybaby Latrell Sprewell who (sob) lost his yacht and is losing his house?

Holyfield's $10 million house is in foreclosure. How sad that he'll lose the 109 room mansion. And he's not the only one suffering. He's supposed to pay $3,000 for the support of one of his children, but he's not paying that either. He's got nine children that the public knows about, so you can bet there are others going without child support too.

During Holyfield's boxing career, one fight brought in $34 million. There were surely many millions from other fights and endorsements. Where did it all go?

Blogger Brian Cuban details other financially-challenged athletes, including quarterback Johnny Unitas, boxer Mike Tyson, and figure skater Dorothy Hamill. So what makes celebrities so prone to ending up in financial ruin? Cuban says that for the most part, it's not stupidity or scams.

The hospital where I gave birth to my two daughters -- one less than six months ago -- is shutting its obstetrics practice, selling two of their main buildings and reducing the number of overall beds in the hospital to just half of the official capacity. This glorious institution is not a post-Katrina victim or anything of the like. It's a major urban hospital: the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn Heights. And it owes $170 million to creditors.

This being Brooklyn, there are other hospitals in the area -- even within walking distance. But there is something of a Starbucks mentality of real estate here, meaning that you could have a hospital on every corner and you'd find enough sick people for each one. Even Starbucks is keeping most of its New York outposts open during its closing spree of 600 stores.

So why close a hospital? The powers that be at LICH cite malpractice insurance and other costs of delivering babies as the major reason for closing that division. My OB actually left the hospital a few months ago because she didn't like the office staff she had to share, and internal politics made it impossible for her to do anything about it. So maybe there's a little tension behind the scenes that we don't know about.

The ward where I gave birth, and subsequently paid $250 a night for a private room, is headed toward condos, it seems, and nearly 3,000 babies a year will have to be born elsewhere. That is not to mention all the sick people who used to head there for emergency care. The buildings will actually make very nice condos, if they can remove that hospital smell. My labor room had a wonderful view of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan, and it's really close to transportation.

In the midst of a 23-month prison sentence on dog-fighting charges, former Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick has filed for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy filing says that Vick owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

It's hard to know what to say here besides the obvious: Michael Vick is a complete moron. He jeopardized his career and freedom by participating in animal cruelty and mismanaged his money. Is there some facet of his life that Vick hasn't messed up royally?

In the bankruptcy filing, his lawyers stated that Vick hopes he "can, after the conclusion of the bankruptcy case, rebuild his life on a personal and spiritual level, resurrect his image as a public figure, and resolve matters with the NFL such that he can resume his career."

Anything's possible. He's broke and in prison, so there's nowhere to go but up. Perhaps he can make a comeback as a late-night televangelist.

Mortgage expert David Reed invites Walletpop readers to ask him questions about real estate financing. leave your questions in the comment section of this post.

Q: Unfortunately, I had no choice but to file bankruptcy to save my home from foreclosure. Countrywide initially said it would modify my loan to bring it to a more reasonable rate, but then declined at the last moment. Are banks working with people like myself who have had to file bankruptcy to modify home loans?

A: Only the servicing lender can modify a note, in your instance it would be Countrywide. If another lender replaced your current note with Countrywide it would then be considered a refinance and not a note modification. Conventional loans ask that two years elapse before entertaining a refinance. I would suggest that you keep trying with Countrywide to see if they'll budge. I don't know all the specifics about your situation but you might also want to explore the FHASecure program from an FHA lender to see if you qualify for this new rescue program.- David

Real estate finance expert David Reed is president of CD REED Mortgage Bankers in Austin, TX and author of Mortgage Confidential: What You Need to Know That Your Lender Won't Tell You and Mortgages 101: Quick Answers to over 250 Critical Questions About Your Home Loan.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that individual consumers aren't the only ones having money problems these days. Businesses are struggling too, and it's showing in the bankruptcy numbers. One website reports that so far this year, 24 public companies have filed for bankruptcy protection, which is more than 60% higher than the same periods in 2006 and 2007.

What happens when the companies go into bankruptcy? Hopefully they are just looking for a little more time to pay their bills, and creditors eventually get the money that's owed to them. Most times, it doesn't go that way, though. The creditors race to get in line to see who is going to get paid and who is not. The creditors almost always lose at least some part of the money that's owed to them.

Why do you care? When a person or a company ditches out on the debt they owe, we all pay the price. Someone's got to make up the difference, and we will see increased prices for goods and services and higher interest rates for our financing. And issues with borrowers can impact markets around the world, as we have seen with subprime mortgage problems.

Not to mention the fact that the shareholders in the public companies filing for bankruptcy usually lose their investments. The effects of bankruptcy, especially corporate bankruptcy, are wide-reaching, and that's why consumers should care about the issue.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

A recent survey revealed that approximately 27% of gift cards are never redeemed. In 2006, that came to over $8 billion in gifts that ended up going back to retailers. The most common reasons that respondents cited for not using their cards included that they never had time to shop or that they never found anything they liked.

Well, you can now chalk up another reason. In a follow up to last week's story about Sharper Image's decision to file for bankruptcy, the high-end retailer announced on Friday that it will no longer accept store gift cards, gift certificates, or merchandise credit.

This means that if you are currently holding any of these items, it is probably worthless. The bright side is that you may have a legitimate claim against Sharper Image's bankruptcy estate; the downside is that Wells Fargo is in line ahead of you, and it probably wants its $20 million back. You can fight over the remaining scraps. If any.

One of my favorite metaphors is the mine canary, the little songbirds that traditionally traveled with miners on their trips into the earth. The birds functioned as early warning detectors: if there was a buildup of poisonous gas, the canary would die from it very quickly, leaving the miner with enough time to escape relatively unscathed.

The miners' canary is particularly relevant now, as we seem to be approaching a recession. Given the increased costs of essential items, it seems likely that luxury items will become a much harder sell and stores which rely on them will start to have major cashflow problems.

Enter Sharper Image.

With people obsessing over the economy and crying about how terrible things are, it seems it has become the norm to consider ditching out on your creditors. Credit card bills have you sad? Declare bankruptcy! Paid too much for your house and now you're fretting? Walk away and let the bank worry about it!

There is now a website to help you ditch out on your mortgage while getting the most you can out of the foreclosure process. YouWalkAway.com offers to help you milk the system, living in your house "payment free" during the foreclosure process and hopefully not paying another dime toward your house. You stay in the house, save your money for your next apartment or house, and the bank is stuck worrying about selling the house and foreclosing on you.

I'm sorry, but those who incurred debts (for whatever reason) need to pay them. Sure, it's easier to walk away and never look back. And it may be considered "legal," but it is certainly not moral. Everyone else pays for your mistakes, irresponsibility, and refusal to do the right thing. It's wrong, and we all know it. But it seems it's becoming the American way.

What do you think?

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.