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In the aftermath of the housing meltdown, there's been a lot fingers pointing at Fair Isaac. Lenders have been griping that the supposedly all-important FICO credit score has failed to accurately predict the possibility of default on loans of various types. So there are new initiatives in the works to come up with better ways to figure out who's going to pay and who's going to skip out. Dow Jones Newswires reported that the new models involve looking at bounced checks, utility bill history and the ability to pay your rent in a timely manner. It turns out there's a very real correlation between bouncing checks and default on loans.

Clark previously told you about the trend of people with no traditional credit benefiting from "expanded scoring" models. But this latest wrinkle is where even if you have traditional credit, other things are still being brought into the mix to give a better overall picture of your financial health. So if you're in your 20s and bouncing checks, you've got to realize that kind of behavior can really harm you. Your reputation is on the line.

Food budgets have been stretched to the breaking point for a lot of families. The feds try to pretend that we don't have inflation by getting cute and cutting out food and energy from their numbers. After 7 years in the state military, Clark realizes that the basics -- diapers, food, trash bags -- are a tremendous burden for enlisted personnel on a very tight budget. Instead of just hearing about this sad story, some people are doing something about it.

Clark was inspired by The Washington Post's report about a group of women who collect newspaper inserts from their neighbors and meet every Tuesday at an American Legion post. They come with satchels full of inserts and then clip coupons for food and non-perishables. The coupons are then sorted and mailed to soldiers overseas or their families here in the United States. The troops can use the coupons to buy goods at commissaries on their bases.

Clark loves what these women are doing. This clipping program was started by a woman whose veteran husband died of cancer around the time of the terrorist attacks. She came up with this program to honor his memory. But coupons can make a difference for your budget even if you're not in the military. Grocery costs are up at least 10% over last year. Try CouponMom.com to get yourself organized. Clark's sister-in-law is so into coupons that she eats almost for free every week.

Clark is in Milwaukee again today doing listener-appreciation events with 10-year affiliate WTMJ. He's been thinking about the answer he gave to an entrepreneur looking to raise more money for his business. He picked up The Wall Street Journal and wished he'd told the entrepreneur about peer-to-peer lending, which was being featured in a story. P2P lending allows you to give banks the heave-ho when it comes to borrowing. Individuals who are willing to take the risk lend their money to others -- after carefully vetting a potential borrower's credit standing. It's almost like an auction, where people advertise how much interest they're willing to pay.

You as a lender have the opportunity, with risk, to earn a great deal more on your money than at the bank or a credit union. You can minimize the risk of default by splitting your money into a number of smaller loans. When Clark first heard about the P2P business model, he mistakenly thought there would be a high rate of default among borrowers. The Wall Street Journal reports such risk-based lending totals $100 million, which isn't much yet. But estimates suggest we'll hit $1 billion in the next 2 years. The Internet has given us the power to take advantage of this cooperative lending model.

Prosper.com is probably the largest and oldest of the P2P sites. Others include LendingClub.com; Zopa.com (the only one insured by the National Credit Union Administration); GlobeFunder.com; and Virgin MoneyUS.com, among others. People have become obsessed with this idea and there are already blogs and message boards dedicated to P2P lending. One caveat: Know your risk. There will always be people trying to clean up a mess in life with money. Know that sometimes you'll lose and sometimes you'll win with these sites. Rest assured they use collection agencies to go after those who don't pay.

Clark is getting calls about a new kind of tax ID theft, plus a WTMJ listener recently told him her own disturbing story. The latest scam involves someone using your Social Security number to provide false tax info and apply for a refund as if they're you. Then when you go to file your taxes, you're told that you can't file twice. The ways people get our Social Security numbers are myriad, and there's not enough attention paid to this area. Another scam listeners are telling us about involves getting a notice from the IRS saying you owe money because you did not report all income for a prior tax year. What actually happens is that someone working illegally files a W-4 in your name and that income gets reported by the employer.

Clark has a somewhat radical suggestion that's a twofer: It deals with tax ID fraud and would eliminate the hiring of illegals. Clark recently joined the trusted traveler program and agreed to have his eyes and fingerprints scanned. This allows him to speed through security at select airports. Now Clark thinks it's reasonable -- in an era where nobody seems to know who we are anymore -- to be fingerprinted upon accepting employment or filing a tax return. Does this idea creep you out? Tell us by voting in our poll!