• hud.gov -rules about FDS refis
• myfico.com -credit calculator

Clark has heard a lot of bad press about these real estate investing seminars that try to convince people to buy some piece of property that will make them rich. They get you to come to the “free” seminar at a hotel, and then they try to push a very expensive real estate class on you. The classes usually cost $1,500 to $2,000 and are held over two or three days at another hotel. Don’t get him wrong - Clark loves real estate And he’s bought a number of foreclosures and distressed properties. He believes there is potential for wealth over time. But a lot of these hotel road show presentations make it seem as though you will become a real estate mogul in days. The Washington Post assigned a reporter to go to these seminars for an entire year. She then wrote about the number of people who got rich through these presentations. How many do you think got rich? Zero! Most people told the reporter these seminars were a total waste of time. Others thought they were very uplifting and motivating, but they still didn’t make any money. You’re not going to be able to go to a hotel ballroom for two or three days and become an instant expert in how to invest in real estate. One of the biggest companies running these operations filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy a few years ago. So, stay away from these rackets.

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What about foreclosures? Even though there has been a big run up in real estate values, foreclosures are still extremely common. Foreclosures are a way for you to acquire a personal piece of property at distressed prices, and often you can find a needle in a haystack. But you have to know how best to buy. The process of foreclosure works differently in different states. But you will hear a lot about people buying property “pre-foreclosure.” This means the buyer swoops in before a home goes through the foreclosure process and buys a house. Stay away from this unless you are a very experienced real estate buyer. You want to buy a property after it’s been foreclosed on. These are called REOs or “real estate owned” foreclosures, and they end up in all kinds of places including HUD, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, credit unions and even banks. You can also find a real estate agent that specializes in foreclosed real estate. So, check out those resources before buying.

There are two initiatives under way to allow more people to have high speed Internet access for less. The first affects people in 14 states and is being led by Qwest, one of the four dominant local phone companies. Qwest is now offering “naked DSL,” which means that you can sign up for the high speed Internet access without being a Qwest customer for other things. The position of the four dominant phone companies has been that people must “tie” their phone service with their cable or DSL service. There is no need to have to tie these things together, but it’s legal for companies to demand that you do. So, congratulations to Quest, which appears to have seen the handwriting on the wall. It will cost about $33 for the service, which isn’t a lot more than some people are paying for dial up Internet service. The other trend is utility companies providing high speed Internet access. Basically anywhere you have an electrical outlet in your home you can plug in and get access. It’s been going on for a while in Europe, and now Synergy, a Midwestern utility, is joining the trend. They give you the modem for free and you plug in the socket wherever you are in your house. We’re paying way too much for high speed Internet service right now, so this is great. Synergy will be charging about $30 a month, as well. So, how will this affect you? It will spread the idea of new options around the country. What Qwest has done is very innovative. Clark hopes the other companies follow suit.

Most of us knew nothing about our credit scores two years ago. But today this one, little number can decide our financial future. Credit scores came about because big companies that were merging and growing and they wanted a quick and easy way to get a picture of our financial history. The three-digit number is supposed to lenders and credit card companies an instant picture into our financial lives. But there are several different places to get a score, and they can vary by company. A score in the 700s is great, but scores can go up as high as 800. Lots of things can affect your score, including how promptly you make your payments. That is all fine and good. Problems arise when auto and homeowners insurers either refuse to cover you or charge you enormously high rates based on your credit score. Clark wants to know what your credit score has to do with how well you drive a car. Absolutely nothing. Several states believe that too and have outlawed the use of credit scores by insurers. California, for instance, recently passed a law prohibiting insurers from using credit scores to determine eligibility. AllState apparently wasn’t listening and was recently fined $3 million for continuing to do so. A number of other states - Texas, Maryland, Utah, Hawaii and Washington – have also either banned or restricted the use of credit scores by insurers. But people in the insurance business continue to do this in all other states. It’s a movement that will take years. So, make sure you are making all of your payments on time. Then, you have nothing to worry about.

People face a huge ripoff these days if they either have no health care insurance or if they have coverage with a provider that is out of town. When people seek treatment from a hospital, they are billed with “list prices” that the hospital claims that they can’t negotiate. But this isn’t true. The Department of Health and Human Services has directed all 4,800 hospitals in the United States to negotiate with patients on services. In the past, insurance companies have had different relationships with these hospitals. One insurer may have negotiated a deal with that hospital and, if you have that insurer, you are billed at 80 percent. Another person walks in with insurance that the hospital doesn’t recognize, and that person is billed at 100 percent. But now, that has all changed. If you’re in an MSA (Medical Savings Account) or you have no insurance at all, you can negotiate with that hospital. So how do you negotiate? You tell them you want to work out a payment plan based on the “medicare rate.” That is the target you are shooting for. Hospitals are bureaucratic organizations and they will try to bill you as much as they can. But you can work this in your favor.

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The main goal of a hospital is to make you well, right? But some hospitals have had serious problems and subsequently tragic consequences because the wrong medicine is administered to patients. There are so many people involved with the dispensation of prescriptions that there is huge room for error. As a result, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a directive, requiring hospitals to use a bar code system for prescriptions. The doctor will write his or her prescription electronically, generating a bar code for each bottle. The bar code will match up with the patient, so the chances of the prescription harming someone are much lower. About 7,000 people die each year because they are given the wrong drugs. Let’s hope this helps. In addition, if you have elderly parents who take a lot of medications, you should monitor the medications they take.

Over the past four years, Clark has gotten tons of calls from people who have been duped by one of many third world country dictatorship scams. When people call who have lost money, it’s nearly impossible to get money back. Clark would much rather people call before they decide to help some corrupt government official who supposedly needs your help. At least he can try to stop them from throwing away their bank accounts. But many still go ahead and get involved out of greed. One man has written a book on these scams, which have come to be known as “Nigerian e-mail scams.” The book details his contact with these people over several months, after he received one of these e-mails. Tom Davis was supposed to wire 14,000 pounds of sterling to several different locations in Amsterdam. Then he would fly over and a security officer would take him around to the various locations to retrieve the money, which would be used for “administrative purposes.” For doing so, he would receive a cut of the $65 million purse that a former government official wanted to smuggle out of the country. Instead of just deleting the e-mail, he decided to see how far he could take these crooks. During the conversation he was able to discern that they were somewhere in Europe or Africa. He couldn’t find out much more than that, other than the fact that these outfits exist all over the globe. Once these people get your money, there is no way to get it back. So, don’t believe any of these bogus e-mails. Anyone who promises you free money, is selling you a lump of goal.

Clark has been on the air since the 80s, and for years he had to warn hopeful authors about all of the self-publishing scams out there. Up until 1998, one in particular, known as the “Vanity Press” industry, would charge people outrageous sums to publish a book for them. It wasn’t unusual for someone to pay $8,000 to $12,000 to these phony publishing houses. Luckily, about five years ago, legitimate organizations, including some bookstore chains, got involved in the self-publishing business. Now, it’s possible to hire a publisher for $500 and have your book published. Occasionally, these self-published authors end up with a huge hit. It’s very hard for someone who hasn’t been published before to get published by a traditional publishing house. So, these houses are real alternatives, and the prices are reasonable. Two of the main ones are xlibris.com and iuniverse.com. But be realistic. Publishing a book yourself probably won’t make you millions.