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• video.msn.com - Clark on The Today Show
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Clark has tried to convince people that extended warranties are trash for many years. He felt like the lone wolf in the wilderness for a long time. But now, Consumer Reports is backing him up. The magazine’s latest edition is all about what a waste of money extended warranties are. Every dollar you pay for an extended warranty, you’re really only getting about 15 or 20 cents on it. Why is that? First of all, the quality of the electronics and appliances is so good these days that the chance of them breaking is miniscule. Secondly, if something does happen it will probably be after the warranty runs out. In addition, although the products are high quality, they will lose value with each year you own them. And you never want to insure a rapidly decreasing product. Also keep in mind that when you buy an item on a major credit card, you usually extend the manufacturer’s warranty by one year. So, extended warranties and service contracts simply aren’t worth it.

Clark read a story recently about how the psychology profession is researching whether there is a new addiction out there: Internet addiction. According to the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, you may be an addict if you have a sense of “euphoria” when you’re sitting at the computer or you are neglecting friends and family to surf the Web. Spending too much time on the computer can cause serious physical problems, including damaged eyesight, carpal tunnel syndrome and chronic back and neck problems. It’s a sign of the times that “Crackberry” is going to be a word in the next dictionary publication. Crackberry is the facetious term for a Blackberry, which many working men and women carry and check often. The good news is that you can configure your Blackberry device so it doesn’t control you. You can set time limits when your e-mail shows up and turn it off completely if you want to. So, get off the computer and initiate some real human contact.

Getting a mortgage these days can be tricky, and it’s easy to get taken at the closing table. But Clark saw a story about predatory lenders recently that infuriated him. It was the lead story in Business Week and it focused on Habitat for Humanity owners who got ripped off by dirty banks. According to Business Week, these banks are tracking down Habitat homeowners and sending salespeople out to their homes to sell them a new mortgage. The salespeople tell the homeowners that their homes have gone up in value and offer them $10,000 to $15,000 in cash in exchange for a new loan with the bank. Habitat homeowners have loans through Habitat at zero percent, so this is a huge mistake. The banks are putting them in loans of 16 to 20 percent, which these homeowners cannot afford. So, the families end up having to foreclose and losing their homes. It’s a disgrace and Clark wants to know why the Mortgage Bankers Association of America doesn’t get involved. This is theft! When doing a loan, look for lenders that don’t charge any closing costs at all or offer “guaranteed” closing costs. The mortgage business is still the wild west, so be careful.

The federal student loan program changed drastically this year, as you may or may not know. Interest rates charged to students and parents has effectively doubled, so people tried to lock in lower rates before the deadline – June 30. The good news is that there is one last opportunity to lock in low rates. These aren’t the super cheap rates that were available before July 1, but they are the ones available to people who graduated from college in 2006. You’re given 180 days after graduate to lock in that rate, and the most you’ll pay is about 6.5 percent. But if you shop around, you could beat it by a lot more. One great site to try is myrichuncle.com. So, don’t let those 180 days pass you by. If there is less student loan money floating around, colleges are less likely to raise tuition. That is the good side of the rate hike. Try to look at it that way.

Consumers are usually at a huge disadvantage when they take a car in for repairs. Often, we don’t understand the terminology mechanics use and, therefore, we don’t know if we really need the repairs they suggest. The good news is that there are a lot of resources out there to help consumers become savvier. One of these is familycar.com. The site has all kinds of good information about car troubles in simple English. You want to know what symptoms the car is having and then the site will tell you what you need to do. It’s also a good idea to find a shop BEFORE something goes wrong with your car. And, make sure the shop you choose specializes in fixing your kind of car.

There is only one official site where you can get your credit report for free. The site is annualcreditreport.com. There are many other phony sites out there that claim they offer free reports, but it is not true. Instead they charge you a fee for various services. One of these phony sites - freecreditreport.com - is actually owned by Experian, one of the credit bureaus. Some states, including Florida, are so fed up with the deception that they are suing the bogus site. None of the advertisements you see are legitimate. Clark knows this because the only real site doesn’t advertise. So, remember, annualcreditreport.com is the only site you need.