We've all been on the receiving end of a parking ticket we felt was unjust wishing there was some way to, "stick it to the man," while avoiding a night in jail. One New Jersey man recently decided he was going to "fight back" by paying his $56 fine completely in pennies, only to be turned down after he lugged the 112 rolls of pennies into the courthouse. To top it all off, because of non-payment, he had to pay an additional $90 to get out on bail because a warrant had been issued for his arrest!

While the New Jersey Court hasn't commented on why it wouldn't take the coins, there is a precedent for not accepting large amounts of coins as payment. While some may argue that the government must take accept them as a form of payment, at least one district court has a policy which lets clerks turn down any amount of coins which would be a burden to accept. Something I'm sure the Bloomfield Municipal Court will be writing up in the next few days.

If you've had a credit card for more than three months you've likely been solicited to sign up for a payment protection plan. The benefits of these plans vary among card issuers, but in most cases, if you experience a qualifying event such as a job loss, the issuer will make your minimum payments and suspend any finance charges. I've always seen these plans as a rip-off but given the recent layoffs and down-sizings, I began to wonder if they make sense in certain situations.

Specifically, is it worth it to sign up for payment protection services if you know there is a strong likelihood that you will lose your job in the next few months? After looking into the protection programs from several of the most popular card issuers I came to a surprising conclusion: Based on the low cost of subscribing to these protection services on a short term basis, it is likely worth signing up if you believe your job will be gone somewhere between 30 and 90 days from now.