College football fans get ready to pay big bucks because top college football schools are charging you tons of money to see games. It’s become such a big time business that US Today compiled a chart on how much it costs to go to a college football game and sit in desirable seats. First of all, you usually have to make donations to booster club organizations in order to qualify for the seats. Some of these clubs cost as much as $25,000 a season. But that doesn’t even get you into the stadium. It only gives you the right to pay more money for tickets. Some schools $400, while others charge $15,000 or more. Florida State University is $5,500 for example, while University of Florida is $1,200. It’s all about supply and demand. Some people want to be there so badly that they will pay. Some corporations even purchase season tickets with no intention of going to the regular games. The rationale is that when the prestigious playoffs come and the team makes it, the company then has access to seats to woo high-value clients by taking them. Clark is not one of these people. He prefers to go to the stadium and stand in the corporate lot. The people almost always have extras and they have no idea how to negotiate. Paying less than face value is his goal.
When Clark checks his e-mail these days, the spam box outnumbers legitimate mail about four to one. And in his regular mail, there are things that shouldn’t have made it through because they are actually spam. At the same time, real e-mails are sent to the spam box and Clark never reads them. Spam has become such a huge issue because it accounts for about two-thirds of the mail people receive. The “pre-text” spam e-mails and “phishing” scams look so real that people open them unknowingly. They end up giving personal information and passwords because these spam/scam artists are so sophisticated. Furthermore, the big e-mail operators have failed to communicate with each other and develop good systems to block spam. But there are attempts underway to combat this problem. One that just got underway by the federal government is called “Operation Slam Spam.” Now, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is making its own effort. The DMA thinks these e-mail scam artists will severely damage their ability to market legitimately to the American people, so they are going after them. You’ll soon see people on trial for taking money out of checking accounts through phony e-mails and for lying to the public. You’ll never eliminate this problem entirely though. So, the major e-mail companies need to come up with ways to curtail this. And, as consumers, you must be sure never to respond to these e-mails. No matter how legitimate they look, no bank, auction site or credit card company would ask you to send personal or financial information over e-mails. Call the company directly if you have questions.
You’ve probably heard Clark talk about the problems people are having with debt these days. Going back to the ‘80s, debt issues came up from time to time. But it wasn’t something Clark heard about a lot. Even when the country was in a recession about 0 or 12 years ago, he didn’t that many questions. But the volume of calls has intensified greatly over the past few years. The Christian Science Monitor recently reported on the topic, calling it, “King Kong Debt Meets Middle Class Life.” The average credit card debt is more than three times what it was in the early ‘90s. That is huge. If you go back just one generation, most people paid their credit card bills in full every month. Today, about 35 percent pay their cards in full and the rest are carrying balances. In addition, people are saving much less than they did a generation ago. The average a generation ago was about eight percent. Today, we’re saving less than two percent. On top of all that, bankruptcy filings have also ballooned. About 1.6 million families are filing for bankruptcy today, compared to 300,000 a generation ago. And, this has happened over time. It’s not like we just woke up one day and were in much more debt. So, Clark wants you to consider how you use and spend money. Cutting back on the plastics is the first order of business. You must stop using credit cards entirely if you want to get a handle on your debt.
The airline industry incurs much higher costs when a ticket is sold through a travel agent versus when it's sold online. It’s much like what happens in the investment industry. Making a trade with a real broker costs you more than making that trade online. It’s been a dilemma for the nation’s airlines because they want people to buy on the Internet. JetBlue even gives people cheaper fare if they book online. But Northwest is planning to give people a not-so-nice surprise with its latest idea. The airline is going to charge $5 extra for booking over the phone with a human and $10 extra for booking face-to-face with a human. It's the company's way of encouraging people to buy online, but it's just not smart, in Clark’s opinion. Why not offer people a discount for doing something you want them to do instead of punishing them for doing something you don’t want them to do. It’s just common sense.
If you enter a supermarket or convenience store and use your ATM or fake debit card to buy something, you may have opted to get cash back. It’s easier than going to your bank’s ATM on a separate trip to get cash, and many people are figuring that out. But banks don’t like it one bit because they don’t make any money off you when you do this. So, some of the nation’s largest banks are starting to charge junk fees when you use your debit card and punch in your secret code, according to Dow Jones. One in five banks are doing it, and most haven’t even disclosed it to customers. The Federal Reserve has launched an investigation into this, which will probably result in banks having to tell customers what they are doing. So, why would banks not tell you? The banks lost a class action lawsuit last year regarding the violation of anti-trust laws. Banks were forcing merchants to pay them giant fees each time a customer used fake debit cards. The banks were sued and lost. So, they’re scrambling to take either your money or the merchant’s money in any way they can. About 20 percent of banks are charging the fees these days. If you find out your is one of them, ditch it immediately and shop around for another bank. In other banking news, you may have heard of stored value cards. The popular artist, Usher, has his own stored value card, for example. These cards are being pushed on consumers at concerts and stores, and they’re touted as offering great deals. But they also come with massive fees for certain transactions. Read up on them before you get one of these cards.
You may have heard of “pump-and-dump” schemes. What happens is people buy up shares in a little-known company and send out e-mails and letters, touting the stock. It boosts the price of the stock artificially and gets people buying stock. When enough people get on board, and the price is elevated, the original investors cash out and get out. The bottom then falls out from under those people still in the stock. Some company owners and CEOs don’t even know it’s happening to their companies. The price of the company stock will rise and then fall suddenly. Anytime you are offered an opportunity to invest, it’s your responsibility to do your homework and get to know the company. If you don’t have time to do that, stay away!
