SmallEnoughToCare.com - Offers Maximum Earnings checking account
InsureMyTrip.com - Trip cancellation insurance
EvaluateLifeInsurance.org - Estimates "true" investment returns on any cash value life insurance policy
Nolo.com - Find info on starting a non-profit organization
FoundationCenter.org - More info on starting a non-profit organization
ELoan.com - View your TransUnion credit score for free
CrimeReports.com - Monitor crime stats on a neighborhood for free
EnviroMapper - Search info on drinking water, toxic releases, hazardous wastes and more by zip code

Recent news reports have trumpeted how savers are getting their clocks cleaned as CD and online savings rates continue to drop. So many people use the giant monster mega-banks for the sake of convenience and they keep getting larger all the time. But small community banks and credit unions have grown in number as people seek banking with a personal touch. Some smaller banks and credit unions now offer a new oddball checking account that pays up to 6 percent interest APY. They can afford to pay out such a handsome return because the account is, in essence, subsidized by merchants.

Usually called the Maximum Earnings (ME) account, this account can take deposits up to $25K. Stipulations include that you must do direct deposit and at least 10 signature-based debit transactions each month. That's where the retailers come in. Merchants pay exorbitant fees whenever you run a debit transaction as a credit card and sign for it. So the bank, in essence, rips off the merchant and then passes along a part of the bounty to you. This thing could go on for a while until retailers can break the Visa and MasterCard cartel. SmallEnoughToCare.com is one specific website Clark has found that offers the ME account.

CLARKONOMICS: There's been so much buzz about 6 of the largest banks offering foreclosure relief to millions of homeowners. The relief will be temporary, but it could lead to changes in loan terms and payments. Participating lenders include Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo. The bottom line is that they are not prepared to deal with millions of people going into foreclosure. They simply don't have the staff to manage REO (real estate owned) properties in their portfolio. Each foreclosure costs upwards of $70K in clerical expenses. So this move was really designed to prop up the big banks, more than it was intended to help out homeowners. Clark's advice is to contact your lender if you're behind on your loan and you've been avoiding them. Remember that yesterday's "no" may be a "yes" today or tomorrow. Just keep in mind that this is not charity -- the lenders just don't want the expense of foreclosed homes!

What these lenders have agreed to do is call a time-out and look at the financial situation of borrowers facing foreclosure. They may reduce your interest, your balance or both to keep you in your home. Those who are current in their mortgages will not get similar rate reductions. If that's you, file this one under the "life's not fair" category because there's nothing you can really do about it. To get some historical perspective on this new development, you need to look to commercial real estate lending. Commercial borrowers who get into trouble can lose their properties, but more often than not lenders will do modified loan agreements to avoid having to take on the properties. The closest parallel in residential real estate is probably the short sale. However, the fallout from Japan's '80s real estate bubble proves there's danger in putting off the day of reckoning too long.

A few years ago, Clark told you about a website that lists trash facilities and toxic waste sites in a given area. Potential homebuyers could use the service to vet a neighborhood before a purchase. Then he recently read about a website called CrimeReports.com that allows you to do the same thing for crime statistics. CrimeReports.com is still a fledgling effort so there's not too much info in the database yet; so far Dallas and Chicago are the only big cities listed. One of the main impediments to growing the website will be from politicians and police departments. Unfortunately, a lot of politicians don't want their local police departments to be honest about crime rates. Spikes in crime reflect poorly on a politician's leadership. So we'll see how this site progresses in the future. CrimeReports.com was the brainchild of a man in Virginia who had been the victim of a crime. The site could prove to be a real boon to community-based policing of the sort that was favored by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.