NFCC.org - Get a referral for housing counseling
GrandCentral.com - Cell-phone users avoid unwanted calls!
AnnualCreditReport.com - The only legit site to get a free copy of your credit report

Clark knows that he picks on banks quite often in an unfair way. He actually realizes that banks vary in size, quality and the level of customer interaction. Some banks don't even have teller windows. You instead make a deposit at a desk where you sit down for a moment -- talk about a warm and fuzzy experience! On the other hand, many banks have gone the electronic route. You can just scan in a check at home rather than running across town to deposit it. With all the push toward e-banking, physical branches are becoming less and less important. But the irony is that banks are opening them like crazy. Having a physical presence in a neighborhood is psychologically important to customers even if they rarely go inside.

The Washington Post reports that Chicago and other cities are putting strict requirements in place for banks that want to open more branches. Near Clark's house, there are four banks with their branches all facing each other. They suck the life out of neighborhood and make it feel scary and lifeless on the weekends. Branches also take up valuable retail space, especially if they're located on a corner. More and more people in urban and suburban neighborhoods want lifestyle centers that have day-and-night activity every day of week. So it's a shame there's no way to make branches multi-purpose and allow them to be something else when they're not open. Clark thinks we need the wisdom of architects who know how to re-purpose buildings. Many gas stations that are no longer in business have been converted to other uses. There's also a pizza parlor near Clark's house that serves a cheap slice where it used to just offer cheap octane!

How many cups of coffee do you drink a day? Clark says his wife's day doesn't get going until she has her coffee. Clark's executive producer Christa is up to about two cups a day, while Joel -- his producer -- enjoys one cup of coffee after dinner per day. They all brew their java at home. If you're a coffee lover, you might be seeing some headlines that may scare you. Brazil -- the dominant producer of arabica beans -- is facing a drought that promises to raise the price of coffee, according to a recent report in Barron's. But the impact on those who drink at home will probably be minimal because it's so inexpensive to begin with. Instead of being four cents per cup at home, it might be six or eight cents. However, many people enjoy their coffee outside of the home at an expensive shop. So the message here is brew your beverage at home! Clark's wife converted to drinking coffee at home when she got a fancy automated electronic brewing center. Her cost is about 23 cents per cup, but there's no mess or fuss and it saves them a bundle instead of going to Starbucks.

There's been an e-mail flying around the country again about the Do Not Call list and how cell phone users are supposedly about to have their names sold to marketers. Law enforcement has denied that this is true and Clark too wants to emphasize this is a false rumor. When it comes to the National Do Not Call Registry, you want to register your home phone number. Clark also thinks you should register your business number -- even though it's discouraged. That way you'll have full protection from solicitors. But the bogus e-mail that's been circulating shows that more and more people use their cell phones as their sole point of contact. This is a bad idea because marketers can sell it again and again if they get hold of it. If your only phone is your cell and you want to avoid annoying solicitation calls, try signing up at GrandCentral.com where you can get a "fake" home number. Special kudos to one listener who pointed out that GrandCentral is still being tested. At this point you must be invited to join by someone who already has an account. All others will be wait-listed until the service officially launches.

If you're a business owner, you know that sending bills to customers is expensive. It can run about two dollars per addressee, which is well beyond just the cost of paper, printing and postage. Many businesses have been trying to steer customers toward e-billing, but not everyone has embraced it yet. So what's a business to do? How about subsidizing the cost of billing with fancy ads on monthly statements?! The Wall Street Journal reports that technology exists to deliver four-color targeted ads directly on your bills. Here's one possible scenario: Say your average electricity bill is $150 every month. Based on that information, the power company knows that you're likely to have a large house and a high level of affluence. Therefore market research might tell them that you'd be an ideal customer for an in-lawn sprinkler system. So that could be one of the ads you'd be served on your electric bill. This whole idea is very similar to what Google does when it delivers ads to your computer based on your Internet search criteria. Clark admits that there's a definite creep-out factor here. It reminds him of election years when Volvo owners are targeted by the Democrats and Jaguar owners get solicitations from the GOP.