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X10.com - Wirelessly send video from one TV to another
All-Ett.com - Check out the maker of Clark's wallet

RIP-OFF ALERT: A well-respected bank with a huge national presence has been involved in a criminal enterprise. There were little inklings of this last year, but now The New York Times has released internal Wachovia memos that show the company aided and abetted criminal rings in stealing from people's checking accounts. In the interest of full disclosure, Clark wants you to know that he owns stock in Wachovia. It's one of the few non-index or mutual fund choices he has in his portfolio. As a stockholder, he's embarrassed and outraged by this news. Worse still is the fact that federal banking regulators are sleeping on the job -- they first discovered this scam 3 years ago.

Criminals know how easy it is to present a draft against an account and steal the money. The banking industry has no security against such drafts. So criminal rings were drafting people's accounts and hoping the customers wouldn't notice. There are systems in place where if too many disputes arise, it triggers a probationary hold or the loss of drafting privileges. But Wachovia kept allowing the drafts even after the alarms went off. Internal memos show employees knew they were dealing with criminal activity in 500,000 cases -- but the fee income was too large for them to care.

Wachovia has issued a statement saying they've now resolved the issue. It's great if that's true. But this scam has been going on at 9 banks and Wachovia was the only one named. Consumers Union has already detailed the cozy relationship between bank regulators and banks; regulators see themselves as protecting the banks! So here's what you need to do: Check your bank and credit card statements every month, line by line. If there's a charge you don't recognize, question it.

RIP-OFF ALERT: Clark's wife recently received a letter about inclusion in a "who's who" organization. The pitch proudly proclaimed how there's no cost to be recognized in her given field for outstanding contributions. In reality, there isn't any cost; this is more of a classic rip-off than a crafty scam. Here's the scoop: There are a number of vanity organizations that send out these query letters. There is no cost to reply and have your name included in their listings. But once you respond, they try to sell you framed pictures, books, plaques and more to turn a profit.

When Clark was in college, his mom got taken in a similar rip-off. Clark was supposedly "selected" as one of the nation's top college students. Yet there was no selection process other than his mom filling out the form and sending it back in. So for his birthday, she gave Clark a plaque and a book that she ordered. The book featured Clark listed with all the other kids who had parents that also gotten taken!

Here's what you need to know: If you get a letter like this, Clark wants you to buy a frame at the dollar store and hang the letter on your wall. Don't respond and don't buy any extras goodies from the vanity organization itself!

Here's another money-saving tip from Clark. The penny-pinching guru's mom recently moved into a new place and wanted a TV in her den and another in her bedroom. But the building wasn't wired for TV in the den. While Clark is a self-proclaimed techno idiot, his brother Gary is a tech genius. It was Gary who told Clark about a wireless video sender called the X10 that lets you send a video signal from one TV to another. The device cost Clark $40 (though it's now selling for around $50) and installation was a breeze.

With one simple piece of equipment, Clark solved the problem for his mom. But he missed out on the real purpose of the product. Cable and satellite companies charge you for every additional box for the extra TVs in your home. The X10, however, will let you pay for just one box and then bounce the signal to your other screens. You can stop paying extra every month for those additional boxes. There may be other devices like the X10, but Clark found this one was so easy to use -- it even came with a remote. The only drawback is that you must watch the same broadcast on all screens in your home. Thanks again, mom!

After years of declining or staying the same, auto insurance rates are now headed in the other direction. Allstate and Progressive are both raising premiums aggressively in 20 states, according to Bloomberg. There are a few factors contributing to this reversal. First, the availability of Internet insurance quotes sparked a battle for market share that has exhausted many of the insurers. Now their focus has turned from stealing customers to making more money for their own stockholders through higher premiums. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that insurers are suffering more losses in collisions as people buy cars with greater horsepower. More horses under the hood increases the level of accidents as people drive more aggressively and speed. The conventional wisdom about calling your insurer to find out what it will cost to insure a car before you buy is again great advice. Plus, it's even more important now than ever to shop insurance rates.