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Clark recently had annual training for his defense force position. He was at Fort Stewart in Georgia and he noticed tons of pawn shops, quick cash businesses and several bankruptcy attorneys on the way into the base. Why? Lenders are taking advantage of young recruits, lending them money at interest rates of 400 and 600 percent. These young soldiers borrow money at an outrageous interest rate and are unable to pay it back so they go into bankruptcy. The good news is that a new law will soon go into effect that caps the interest rates that soldiers and sailors can be charged at 36 percent. The law will go into effect in October of this year. So, for nine more months, soldiers and sailors can legally get ripped off. Make sure your loved ones know about these loan sharks and about the new law.

A rip-off that has been around for years was exposed again recently in a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company. When buying a car at a dealership, the dealer can mark up the rate significantly. People think the dealer has gone out and shopped the loan. But, in reality the dealer may secure a rate of 5 percent and jack it up to 14 percent when charging you. This practice came to light when it was discovered that car companies have been charging black customers much higher rates than white customers for some reason. Several lawsuits were filed against the companies, and Ford was one of the few automakers that fought the case in court. Well, a judge wasn’t having it and Ford has now had to pay up just like GM, Nissan and Chrysler. What you need to remember is that car makers make their money in the “F & I” department or “finance and interest” department. They don’t make much on the sale of the car. So, they are going to charge more for the financing. That’s why you have to do your homework. Get rates from a bank or credit union ahead of time. Then, go into the dealership and try to negotiate the interest rate on the loan. In that case, you are in the driver’s seat and you may get a better deal. Just make sure you do the work beforehand and know what you can get. Keep in mind that many auto insurers now make loans. So, get rates from you auto insurer and use that to your advantage, as well.

Clark read a story recently in the Orlando Sentinel about the many risks of online shopping, especially at holiday time. It’s so easy to get taken these days in online transactions because many of the Web sites out there are phony. Just about anyone can set up a domain name and start peddling goods. So, how can you protect yourself? One way is to visit whois.net, the site that lists the person or company that registered the site and when it was registered. If the site was just registered, you know it is probably not legit. Epinions.com and bizrate.com are other sites that rate companies and their customer service. You can also protect yourself at the payment stage by using checkout.google.com, the rival to PayPal. So, if you don’t know the site by name or reputation, always check it out before you buy.