According to Bankrate, "Legislation has virtually eliminated the grace period for bill payers." That means most check writers, especially the ones whose bill-paying schedules depend on payday schedules, are going to need to buy some "check floating" time to avoid bouncing checks and earning late fees.

Bankrate (via this handy AOL Money & Finance slideshow) is offering up six ways to buy that time. Some of them are pretty simple (Sign up for direct deposit), some are somewhat technical (Sign up for account alerts), while others are downright OCD (Customize your due dates). Color coding might help, as well.

If you ask me, No. Five is the way to go: Use online banking. You'll never bounce another check. The computer just won't let you.

B. Brandon Barker also writes for Political Machine.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

I realize it's important to stay up-to-date on your credit score, but is it necessary to pay for a credit monitoring service?

Jeff

Want to learn more about protecting and improving your credit score? Visit our Credit Center at Dolans.com.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

The unchecked use of homes as ATM machines has left many home owners in the uncomfortable position of being former home owners.

Now that they're out equity and have little left to be milked for fees and interest, the big banks have turned to another group: people who have been responsible, paid off their mortgages, and preserved their equity. The New York Times reports that the big banks would "love to serve" these people.

Will isn't that just dandy. Having spent the past decade reporting huge profits (and then huge writedowns) helping financially unstable people get themselves into bigger trouble, the industry is now looking to move on to the more responsible borrowers.

To be sure: some retired people who own their homes outright do need to tap into the equity to provide for living expenses. But as I wrote back in March, retirees need to proceed with caution, especially when it comes to reverse mortgages.:

There's a reason salespeople love these products -- and therein lies the problem. One elderly lady quoted in the New York Times piece paid an up-front fee of 8% -- $17,100 -- out of the initial proceeds of the loan. And the independent counsel that people are federally-required to receive before closing on a reverse mortgage appears to be a total joke --oftentimes it's paid for by the lender making it, by definition, not independent.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

My husband and I have $7,000 in credit card debt. Should we take out a home equity loan?

Lyndajoy

Ken and Daria Dolan offer advice on all of your debt concerns at their Credit Resource Center.

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Savings accounts can be boring, especially in the current interest rate environment, where Uncle Ben is determined to make it impossible for retirees living on fixed incomes to keep up with inflation.

Anyway: if you're looking for more excitement in your your savings, check out this promotion from Wachovia. According to GolfWeek, "Wachovia, the nation's fourth-largest bank, has debuted its "Save Like A Champion" initiative. It will reward customers enrolled in the bank's Way2Save savings program with an interest rate in June, July and August equal to the tournament's winning score in relation to par. In the past five years at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, that number has ranged from 10 to 13 under."

For more on the promotion, visit the Wachovia site here.

The action starts tomorrow, so you may want to follow the scores to decide whether to go with Wachovia -- it's a lot more interesting than checking BankRate.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

There is a lot of controversy over closing credit card accounts after the balance is paid. What should I do?

Alethea

Ken and Daria Dolan offer advice on all of your credit questions and concerns at Dolans.com.

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Over the years, I've made more than my fair share of mistakes in banking. I once put a large check in a backup account instead of the main one and the next day, I had a bank fee bloodbath. At various times, I've been derelict at balancing my checkbook, and there have been times I've lost track of what check was still out there, only to fully understand when it came through, and I didn't have enough money in the bank to cover it. I've also -- well, look, I'm not here to talk about my dumb mistakes. I wanted to bring up my bank's dumb mistake, and ask the question:

When my bank screws up, why can't I charge them a fee?

Friday, I rushed over to my bank and made a deposit of $646.



.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria ,

I want to bypass my husband in my will (with his permission!) to leave everything to my three children. Can I write a will myself? Can I change it?

Darlene

Ken and Daria Dolan offer advice on all of your estate planning questions and concerns at Dolans.com.

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So I'm depositing some money in a bank. It's not my bank. It's my brother's. I've borrowed a little money the day before, and now I'm paying him back. And the teller asks if I'd like to play the bank's scratch-off contest and possibly win a ton of money.

I tell her that I'm not a customer, that I'm depositing money in my--

She interrupts, tells me that's not a problem. So do I want to play or not?

"Sure," I say, shrugging, figuring I'll kill ten seconds while I learn that I'm not a winner of a quarter of a million dollars or whatever the pay-off was.

Myths endure because the stories seize our imaginations and never let go. For instance, there's the enduring story of the hitchhiker who is picked up and leaves a wallet behind, and the driver who returns it to the house soon learns that his passenger died in a car accident years ago.

And there's the tale of the young couple out on a date, parked along an old countryside road. The music on the radio is interrupted by a local newscaster with a terse warning: "A dangerous convicted murderer has escaped from an asylum for the criminally insane. He has a hook attached to his right hand..." And, of course, when the couple returns to the young woman's house, they find attached to the outside of her car door -- a bloody hook.

There's Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle and that crazy myth that offshore bank accounts are used by sinister bad guys.

OK, that last one is true to a large extent, but the stigma is so strong that it often prevents good and honest people from opening accounts.

That's why Lloyds Bank, based in the United Kingdom, has been on an active campaign, trying to spread the word that it's perfectly okay to get an offshore bank account. Are they doing this because everyone who works there is kind and benevolent souls? Well, possibly -- I'm sure they're all nice people -- but they also just happen to be in the market to sell you an offshore carrier account.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

Without our knowledge, our 23-year-old daughter ran up $5,000 worth of credit card debt on three different cards. She defaulted and now the collection agencies are coming after my wife and me. We could pay the debt off, but does it make sense to do that?

Jay

Ken and Daria Dolan offer advice on all of your credit card and debt management concerns at Dolans.com.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Dear Ken and Daria,

I have a 30-year mortgage. Am I better off paying ahead on it or taking that money and investing it for a higher return?

Richard

Ken and Daria Dolan offer advice from mortgages to debt management to insurance at Dolans.com.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Time banking is a must do for anyone interested in doing good and saving money at the same time.

Time banks ask their members to provide services to their community neighbors, in return for Time Dollars. Those Time Dollars can then be spent on a service that you would like to have. The services range from giving someone a ride to the airport to cooking dinner for a family whose parents work late, but all services offered depend on who is a part of the time bank and what they have to offer.

A Time Dollar is basically equal to an hour's worth of work. If you do community service for the time bank for an hour, you then receive one Time Dollar and can then use that Time Dollar to "purchase" an hour's worth of work.

I just got an email warning from my savings & loan in Ohio. It said:

"We have learned that a number of Northeast Ohio banks are the target of fraudulent phone messages also known as "phishing" phone calls. The automated voice on the phishing call tells you that your account has been deactivated. The "voice" then instructs you to call an 800 or 866 phone number where you are further instructed by a real person or another automated voice to enter your account numbers. These "phishing" calls are NOT from Third Federal. Third Federal will not call you with an automated message and ask you to respond with personal information about your accounts. Do not respond to these calls; do not enter your account number; and do not give any personal details to the caller. "

Never, ever call back a toll free number given in an email or over the phone regarding your bank or credit cards. If you do get a fraud alert from your banking institution, call a number that you know gets you to the bank, such as the standard customer service number and ask about the email or automated phone call.

I'm sure this attack is not limited to Ohio banks or will be repeated in another state soon. It's a common fraud attempt. Stay safe. Don't be the victim of a phishing attack.

Lita Epstein has written more than 20 books including the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Improving Your Credit Score."

With the Federal Reserve aggressively cutting interest rates, you may be wondering if it's time to refinance your current mortgage. The answer is a simple yes. Back in January I locked in a 4.5% 15-year fixed rate mortgage the day after the Fed rate cut. Rates went back up to 5.5% within a week.

Generally you will benefit from a refinance as long as your interest rate will go down by at least 1% and the new loan does not require you to pay points in order to get that lowered rate. In most cases, a refinance is only worth it if you plan to stay in the home for more than three years. If you think you'll be selling the home before that, the costs of a refinance probably won't be recovered unless you can lower your rate by 2% or more.

With interest rates so low, the only kind of mortgage you should consider today is a traditional fixed-rate mortgage. Lock in those low rates. Don't play games with variable rates. If you can't afford the payment on a 30-year fixed-rate, consider a 40- or 50-year mortgage rather than a variable rate mortgage. You can always make extra principal payments when you can afford them to shorten the life of the loan in the future. But, of course, be sure your loan doesn't have any pre-payment penalties. Never accept a mortgage loan with pre-payment penalties. Ask that question when you're shopping for a loan and ask it again before you sign the papers to close the loan. Make sure you see in writing that there are no pre-payment penalties before you close the loan.

Check your credit report and score. Before applying for any new major loan it's a good idea to check your credit report and credit score. If you find any erroneous information on your credit report, clean it up before you start the application process. Cleaning things up as part of the underwriting process will only delay the loan process and could even kill the loan. To get the best rates, your credit score must be 730 or higher. People with this credit score can often get rates below the national average rate you'll see quoted around the Internet. If your score is below 675, you will pay significantly higher rates than you are seeing quoted. People with scores between 620 and 674 generally pay 1.5% to 1.9% higher rates for a mortgage. People with scores between 560 and 619 will find their rates are about 3.8% higher than the national average, if they can find a lender at all in today's tight mortgage market. Below that you'll probably find it almost impossible to get a refinance in today's market. You can use the round robin debt startegy to improve your score quickly.