Interest rates on CDs, checking accounts, money-market accounts and other places to stash cash are better than they've been in awhile. Why? Despite all the highly publicized bailout funds, the banks still need more money. So they're giving higher rates of interest in return for you lending your money to them.

According to BankRate.com, 5-year CDs are offering interest rates of around 5.2%. 1-year CDs are bringing in about 4.25%. One caveat: BankRate.com won't show rates from local credit unions or smaller community banks. You've got to look at local newspapers and billboards for those rates. (Editor's note: Rates accurate as of 11/19/08.)

Meanwhile, you should also check the online direct banks. See Clark's discussion of direct banks for links to several of them. Finally, consider the stockbrokers. Schwab offers deals on checking that are some of the most competitive in the United States.

Think of the non-traditional sources to find the best deals!

RIP-OFF ALERT: Several years ago, Clark alerted listeners to the dangers of ATM card skimming. To refresh your memory, skimming is when criminals put a small piece of hardware on an ATM where you insert your card.

The skimmer captures info from the magnetic strip on the back of your card. Crooks can then remove the skimmer, download the info and create duplicate copies of your card. There's also typically a camera hidden somewhere so the thieves can record you typing in your PIN. Once they have duplicate cards and your PIN, they employ a team of runners to empty out your account.

Now the Sun Sentinel reports that the skimming crime has escalated, especially with ATMs at gas stations. Thankfully, the article also reveals a technique you can use to avoid putting yourself in harm's way. Try shaking the area where your card goes in. If it has a skimmer, it will be obvious because they're designed to be installed and uninstalled quickly. If you suspect there may be a skimmer on the ATM, let the bank or gas station know.

Meanwhile, beware when using an ATM that's not from your bank or credit union. It can take weeks to dispute any issue with the ATM owner.

Clark has long warned about payday lenders on his show. They are one of the worst examples of capitalism gone bad. Many listeners have pointed out that Clark speaks with a forked tongue when he professes a love of the free market and simultaneously slams payday lenders. But you know what? This is one time when he's happy to be a hypocrite!

The payday lending industry had ballot measures in Arizona and Ohio that could have overturned state caps on the interest rates they can charge. They also spent millions on misleading ad campaigns to sway voters.

In fact, a small campaign in Arizona to stop the payday lenders' initiative was outspent 90:1 by the industry. In Ohio, meanwhile, a similar anti-payday lending campaign was outspent 60:1.

Thankfully, the voters saw through the smokescreen and defeated the ballot initiative. So we're now at 15 states that have capped payday lenders or outright banned them. Of course, you can expect the industry to fight this tooth and nail on a state-by-state basis. Clark himself has relished testifying against these loan sharks and hope he gets the opportunity to do so again before more state committees.

So here's Clark's warning to you: Payday lending is still legal in 70% of states. Don't fall for it. The industry says it meets a legit need, but when you put a noose around your wallet at 391% interest or more, it is destructive.

We've had soldiers who couldn't deploy because they got into severe financial trouble with payday lenders. Our Congress had to pass a law that capped interest rates for military at 36%.

These payday loan sharks were harming our national security. But what about your own financial security?

Clark has only paid an ATM charge once in 12 years, back in June 1996 in Moab, Utah -- and it still eats at him! He can practically remember the very day! But most of his fellow Americans don't care if they get ripped off with inflated fees for using an ATM as a non-customer.

The annual survey that BankRate.com does of ATM charges shows that they're up another 13% -- to just under $3.50 per transaction. But the big banks can charge up to $5 for non-customers! The highest Clark has ever seen was $10 in a Las Vegas casino!

The only reason the banks can raise their ATM fees every year is because we let them by continuing to use non-affiliated ATMs. There are so many ways to get cash back for free. You can do so by using your debit card at the supermarket or the drug store, or by using an affiliated ATM in your bank or credit union's network. Meanwhile, USAA and some of the online banks will reimburse any fees incurred by customers when using others' ATMs.

So if you've been wasting money like this, stop doing it. Just use the easy alternatives Clark has suggested above.

By now you've probably heard the report that consumer confidence is the lowest ever since surveying began during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson.

Clark believes we are in difficult times, but not dire times. Of course, the endless media coverage would convince you otherwise. For example, it's now common to hear a lot about the Volatility Index (VIX) -- even though only a small percent of Wall Streeters ever knew about this previously. Talk about creating a perception of doom and gloom.

Clark has said that he expects our nation could spend 7 to 12 years working our way out of the funk. We spent like crazy -- and borrowed to spend -- on an individual, corporate and government level. To some extent, this is a worldwide contagion.

But before you accuse Clark of contributing to the doom and gloom, you've got to realize that he does not mean 7 to 12 years of daily doom and gloom. Rather, he means we'll have a continuing drag effect on our economy. Think of running with weights around your ankles; you can run, but it sure is difficult. That's exactly how Clark expects us to financially wheeze along for the next 7 to 12 years.

Yes, the news feels rotten and there's more to come. But we are not as a country facing The Poseidon Adventure with a tidal wave that's about to sweep us away.

Those of us who are having a tough time must rely on family, friends and religious organizations. Also, there will be a push when the new Congress convenes to offer extended unemployment benefits. The great thing about our country is that we don't just leave people out on a limb.

Clark is a longtime opponent of the payday lending industry. He's privileged to have been able to testify against the industry in state legislative committees. Right now, however, he's horrified by the payday industry's latest tactics in Ohio and Arizona.

First, though, a little perspective: The Wall Street Journal reports that the average interest rate charged by payday lenders is just under 400%. Interestingly, the industry doesn't disclose interest rates. Clark thinks it would be OK to charge 400% if they clearly disclosed it to customers. But they don't.

That has prompted states like Ohio and Arizona to cap the interest rate that payday lenders can charge at 36%. As you can imagine, such a limit severely cuts into their profit margin.

So what did the payday lenders do? In Ohio, they spent $16 million on saturation-bomb advertising to get an initiative on the ballot that could overturn the state's 36% cap.

Clark recalls a payday lender on Clark Stinks who was hurt by his characterizations of the industry. That individual may have a good heart and feel the business serves a positive function for society. But Clark doesn't believe an interest rate of 400% can truly be a positive thing.

Yes, payday lenders do open in neighborhoods that the banks have abandoned. Likewise, they do treat people with dignity when they walk in. And yes, they say "yes" to people in low-income neighborhoods that have otherwise been beaten by life -- but the consequences of that "yes" are brutal.

Gratitude is sometimes expressed in unexpected ways.

You'll recall that the giant monster mega-banks were bailed out by we the taxpayers. So how do they turn around and thank us? The Chicago Tribune reports that we'll be hit with higher fees as giant monster mega-banks get bigger and go to full-tilt gouging -- bounced checks, ATM charges, you name it.

Do you have to sit and take it? Of course not -- just go instead to a small community bank or a credit union. Credit unions are overwhelmingly superior to the giant monster mega-banks. The only reason to do business with the latter is for the sake of convenience.

The giant monster mega-banks thrive by doing heavy advertising and creating a familiar brand. But you never hear someone in real life say they love their behemoth. Giant monster mega-banks live on every corner, like a plague decimating life in a city. They have austere branches, minimal hours and they suck the life out of a neighborhood.

Can you tell that Clark loves the giant monster mega-banks?! He's expecting to be invited any day now to receive a "Person of the Year" award at their annual convention!

Police officers do an important job in our society, putting themselves in harm's way for the public good. When a police officer pulls you over, it's a natural assumption that they're the real deal. Very rarely it will be an impostor -- and it always makes big news. In the Internet world, however, it's much harder to tell friend or foe.

The hottest way to steal your personal info right now is through pop-ups or other ads that claim to be for antivirus programs. A new report suggests that 30 million of us have been fooled in this way. That's 1 in every 7 adults! Panda Labs -- a company selling legitimate antivirus software -- reports there's now 7,000 phony solicitations from the bad guys out there in cyberspace.

Don't click on those pop-ups about antivirus software! Ignore those e-mails about free services!

A North Carolina State study found that a majority of us believe when a dialog box pops that the people initiating the Internet chat are legit. Don't fall for it. The Internet does not have brave men and women running around acting as police officers to protect you. You've got to be your own cop on the beat.

If you need antivirus software, see our suggestions for free or low-cost options. And heed this warning: Don't visit our messageboards looking for a link. Yes, we police our forums with the help of a team of moderators, but we can't ensure that every thing on the forums is completely legit.

In related news, be wary of e-mails promoting secret shopping and mystery shopping. It used to be that you'd get taken for $20 or $30, but now the scammers are angling for $2,000 or more. You should never pay to be a mystery shopper -- whether it's $20 or $2,000.

Finally, Christa read an article in the Pocono Record that reports the money transfer scam -- an oldie but baddie -- is back. Here's how it works: You're contacted to act an intermediary who transmits money for others. You're sent a check and told to keep 10% of it and wire the rest to a certain person or business. It turns out to be a stolen checking account number, perhaps from a real business. When the police come after you for cashing fraudulent or washed checks, that's when you get to wear some new jewelry -- handcuffs! Don't do it!

Over the last 6 weeks, Clark has been getting numerous calls from listeners about ING Direct. People wanted to know if their money is safe. Clark repeatedly said that you don't have to worry because ING Direct (a U.S. subsidiary of Dutch giant ING) has full FDIC insurance -- like any other bank -- on deposits up to $250,000.

Well, now the other shoe dropped and ING needed a huge bailout from the Dutch government of 10 billion Euros, which is roughly $13.5 billion. Yet even if the Netherlands hadn't intervened, it would have made no difference to your money. You can have piece of mind -- up to $250,000 -- so long as your bank is an FDIC member or your credit union is an NCUA member.

In related news, the rates out there on savings are good. You can get a 5-year CD in the low 5% range from some institutions -- though not the giant monster mega-banks. Discover, meanwhile, has a 5-year CD offer for its cardholders of around 5.2%. (Editor's note: Figures accurate as of 10/20/08.)

There's been a surge in the sale of home safes as people have lost confidence in banks, credit unions, insurance companies and brokerage houses. They're closing out their accounts and stockpiling cash, gold and other valuables. Obviously, people are frightened about the future.

The real shocker for Clark was when one money market fund "broke the buck" by devaluing shares below $1. This isolated incident devastated confidence in what was thought to be an ironclad, completely safe option. Confidence was restored when the government put in place a temporary guarantee of money market funds. Interestingly enough, some very unlikely companies like Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab joined the government's program just to restore customer confidence.

Clark has 3 money market funds and has not run away from them. Therefore, he wants you to feel at peace too. Our institutions are safe; your money is insured collectively by all of us through the FDIC program.

Need more convincing not to go the home safe route? In a safe, you earn 0% interest on your money. With a competitive credit union or community bank, at least you have the chance of earning upwards of 3% interest.

For several days, Clark couldn't work because he had a bad case of laryngitis. He came down sick just as our government did a partial nationalization of the 9 largest U.S. banks…and he was mute. Talk about torture!

Many of you have gotten down on the penny-pincher about his belief that the partial nationalization was the right move. In fact, he believes that it was wise of the feds to require that the banks take the bailout instead of making it voluntary.

One benefit of the move is that traditional non-interest bearing business checking accounts -- the kind favored by small and midsized businesses -- will now be covered up to an unlimited sum of money.

Of course, this partial nationalization is not like waving a magic wand that will make everything better. But if it encourages lending to businesses that can in turn make profits, that's a good thing.

Yes, there is an irony in the fact that right now we've got to be socialists to be capitalists. But in retrospect, Clark believes this will be seen as a good move. He is worried, however, that we'll forget about this episode of American history too soon. If we learn anything from all of this, it should be that we need more cops on the beat to protect us from the excesses of capitalism.

Our financial marketplace has undergone a transition and been re-made in the image of the 3 remaining giant monster mega-banks. But there are still a ton of community banks out there that offer personalized banking, plus great deals on savings and CDs.

MoneyAisle.com is a website you can use to help get the best deals. It's an online auction marketplace where small banks compete for your business.

You simply enter what you have at the site -- say, $5,000 that you'd like to lock up in a 12-month CD -- and the banks bid on your contract. This is a dynamic marketplace that could get you more or less than what BankRate.com says is out there. Remember, he who has the gold makes the rules. You're the one with the money, so shop for the best deal!

In related news, Clark wants to talk about the Reserve Primary Fund (RPF) -- the first money market mutual fund ever to "break the buck" by devaluing shares from $1 to 97 cents.

RPF has now announced partial distributions of money to begin tentatively on Oct. 13. If you're a small business in need of that money right now, some brokerage houses are making loans -- from 0% interest up to 5% interest -- to float you against your own money.

Then beginning Oct. 8, the government will begin insuring money market mutual funds and tax-free money market mutual funds to restore confidence in the market.

It's a new era in banking with 3 giant monster-mega banks -- Citibank, Bank of America and Chase -- rising to dominate the financial landscape. Historically, we've had many banking choices in the United States to avoid concentration of financial power. Canada was really the first developed nation to go the giant monster mega-bank route. As part of the backlash, our neighbors in the Great White North also embraced credit unions like no other nation!

When all the financial mess settles down, Citibank, Bank of America and Chase will together account for about 1 in every 3 deposit dollars in the United States. The relative lack of competition means the banks have no incentive to offer good customer service. But you don't have to do business with them -- even though convenience is king for many people.

Clark thinks we need intense supervision of these 3 outfits so they can't get into any lending foolishness that could undermine our nation.

Meanwhile, Europe is facing 3 bailouts of its own during the last 36 hours. The most prominent has been the Benelux-funded rescue of banking and insurance company Fortis. There were also similar bailouts in Britain and Germany. So is the world on the verge of financial collapse? No, but we've got a lot of homework to do here and overseas.

The failure of Wachovia -- the nation's fourth largest bank -- is the next shoe to fall here at home. Let's start with some common customer concerns that Clark is hearing. First, accounts are completely safe, and you can access your funds just as you did before the failure. Second, if you have a mortgage or HELOC with Wachovia, you still must pay on your debt to the same address where you've been paying all along.

The FDIC claims this is not a failure, but that's baloney. Wachovia stockholders -- including Clark himself -- are wiped out. For months, Clark has been blasting Wachovia on air over a variety of issues. Therefore, he felt it would be unethical for him to sell his holdings, and so he too went down with the ship.

We as taxpayers did not pay anything for the Wachovia failure, but our maximum potential exposure could be up to $270 billion under the deal the FDIC arranged with Citigroup. This fact is not being reported widely.

Meanwhile, the federal bailout is designed to prevent a death spiral; credit unions and other institutions now are being granted access to money to bolster our financial system. So where is it safe to put your money? Clark wants to emphasize that it's completely safe to use all of our nation's banks, mutual fund companies and credit unions.

One final word for Wachovia customers: Print out hard copies of all current balances on all holdings. Having current records is your best defense against things getting bungled down the road as Citigroup takes over.

Many banks have software systems designed to throw you into overdraft so they can score big on fees. Here's how it works: Let's say you have a debit card. You use it and your transaction is approved even if you don't actually have the money in your account. That's when you'll get hit with an overdraft fee -- even though the transaction goes through!

PIRG now reports that half of all overdraft fees come from debit cards in this way. But there is a solution. You can tell your bank to remove the overdraw authorization on your account. Clark recommends you go in person and fill out the necessary paperwork.

Yes, you'll have the embarrassment of having your card rejected at the coffee shop if you don't have money in your account. But it is better that you should have to dig through your pockets for cash than pay a hefty fee later and get the transaction approved up-front.

The banking world continues to be in turmoil, making this a better time than ever to heed Clark's advice about not having uninsured money on deposit.

New data out today shows that IndyMac had $541 million of uninsured money on deposit at the time of failure. That's $541 million that went up in smoke -- and there's no way to get it back.

An organization called Highline Financial has ranked the strength of the 10 largest financial institutions on a scale from 0-99, from the worst to the best. Citigroup gets a 1; Wachovia gets a 6; and Bank of America gets a 17. These are ugly numbers. On the flip side, U.S. Bancorp and the Bank of New York Mellon score 81 and 71, respectively.

FDIC insurance is available on deposits up to $100,000 ($250,000 for retirement funds). But Clark advises people to only put money in up to $90,000. That way you don't forfeit a penny of interest in the event of a bank failure.

Beware if you think a revocable trust will expand your coverage beyond $100,000. As many IndyMac customers found out, a revocable trust that's been filed incorrectly will be void -- leaving you completely exposed.

So here's the bottom-line: Don't put more than $90,000 in a single bank. Split it up yourself among several banks or use the CDARS program -- especially if you're a non-profit or a business.

Do you have money that hasn't been touched in a while in a bank account, brokerage house, insurance policy or company stock? After a period of time, the State eventually rules that account dormant, and that money gets sent to an unclaimed property office. The state office it gets sent to depends on where the company involved is based.

Recently, USA Today reports that certain states suffering from budgetary problems have decided it's ok to steal these leftover funds from you. Washington, Delaware, Alabama, Oregon, South Carolina, Louisiana and Kentucky changed their laws so that it would be legal to seize unclaimed money and not give it back.

But there's good news: there's a way to find out whether you have dormant money, so you can claim it before the state does. A website called Missingmoney.com allows you to pop in your name and see if you (or your relatives) are due a refund. Do a multi-state search to include the state you live in and the headquarter states of all your previous employers. Always search in Delaware and Connecticut too, as most stock and insurance companies are based there. Another website to check is unclaimed.org and if you've ever had an FHA loan, be sure to see if there are leftover assets waiting for you at hud.gov. You could be a hero to a loved one, or be the beneficiary of money you didn't even know you had!

CLARKONOMICS: The FDIC recently reported that there are now 117 un-named banks on its watch list of potential failures. There are likely to be even more than that. Meanwhile, the head of the FDIC reveals that they'll need to come to taxpayers to deal with the cost of future bank failures.

The cost to be shared by taxpayers is a collective one. There is, however, a more immediate and personal cost. Think about those who get burned when they have deposits in excess of the FDIC limit ($100,000 for individuals, $250,000 for retirement accounts) in a failing institution.

The most recent bank failure was the Kansas-based Columbian Bank and Trust Company. The uninsured money on deposit there totaled $50 million. That's $50 million that just vanished into thin air!

It's usually non-profit organizations, local governments and wealthy private individuals that tend to have deposits over FDIC limits. But there is a better solution. Visit CDARS.com to find out how to get FDIC insurance on deposits up to $50 million. The process actually involves splitting your money among a number of participating banks.

Regional bank Synovus has a similar program using its own branches.

Here's a story that really has Clark steamed.

Between 1992 and 2003, Citibank used a proprietary computer program to steal money from deceased account holders. Whenever their computer found a surplus in a deceased person's credit card account, the software swept it into the bank's coffers without leaving a paper-trail. The software also did the same thing for living accountholders who may have inadvertently paid a credit card statement twice.

The software program was discovered by an employee who brought it to the attention of his supervisor. The response? "Stealing from our customers is a business decision, not a legal decision," the supervisor reportedly said.

The attorney general of California got involved after a whistleblower lawsuit was filed by the employee. Citibank is now being forced to pay restitution to families. The whistleblower, meanwhile, got a $300,000 payment.

Citibank does not acknowledge any wrongdoing.

What kind of respected name-brand bank thinks such software is a good idea? Clark invites a Citibank spokesperson to come on the show and explain the bank's position.

And what's the consumer lesson here??

Don't trust the computer-generated statement you get in the mail. Go through it thoroughly and keep good financial records. Usually, you'll just encounter honest clerical errors. But beware that after 60 days, the bank gets to keep any error in their favor that you don't notice.

For the first time in a good while, you'll finally be able to earn much better rates on savings. You can now actually keep pace with inflation!

5-year CDs are again earning over 5% -- that's after months of 5-year terms yielding around 2.5%. 1-year CDs, meanwhile, are in the steady 4% range. For the shorter term, Clark suggests you might want to look at an online savings account.

So how do you find these deals? Many of the best ones are at community banks and credit unions in your hometown. Look on billboards or signs when you're driving around. Just don't look at the giant monster mega-banks!

You can also get a good survey of rates around the country at BankRate.com.

No one knows where CD rates are going from here. That's why Clark recommends laddering your CDs. The easiest way to do that is to split your money into 3 piles -- a money-market or savings account; a 1-year CD; and a 5-year CD.

A more sophisticated laddering approach would involve a 6-tier setup. Splitting your money into 6 even piles, you'd have the following set-up: A money-market or savings account; a 1-year CD; 2-year CD; 3-year CD; 4-year CD; and a 5-year CD.

Then when your 1-year CD comes due, you re-up in a 5-year CD; ditto for your 2-year CD, your 3-year CD, etc. That way you don't lock all your money into a 5-year CD if rates go up or down.

There is now a federal move to cap the interest rates that payday lenders can charge at 36%. That would extend the protection against outrageous rates now enjoyed by military personnel to all civilians.

As surprising as it sounds, a wide-reaching 36% cap would nearly demolish the payday lending industry. They simply can't staff their outlets and give out money haphazardly at that rate of return.

Clark believes the industry really brought this on itself. If they had kept to interest rates of only around 50% or 60% -- and Clark uses the word "only" very loosely! -- they may not have attracted such ire. But instead, the payday lenders have been greedy, sometimes charging hundreds or even thousands of percent interest!

On a related note, Clark is disappointed that credit unions have only had limited pilot programs for short-term borrowing. He feels they missed out on an opportunity to provide a real community service to those who would otherwise be targets for payday lenders.

As always, resist the temptation to go to a payday lender. It's never the right move.

RIP-OFF ALERT: There's a controversy brewing over supposedly ultra-safe cash investments that were sold by some of the biggest banks and brokerage houses in the country.

These so-called "auction rate securities" (aka "cash holdings") were touted as the equivalent of a money-market account. Banks and brokerage houses including Merrill Lynch, Citibank, UBS, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wachovia sold $300 billion of these to non-profits, local governments and individuals.

These auction-rate securities were pushed as a substitute to savings or money-market accounts -- even though it was known they were garbage. When the music finally stopped, people had their life savings wiped out and non-profits went insolvent.

This raises 2 points in Clark's mind: First, where is the moral compass of the banking and brokerage business? Why would they go out of their way to rip off customers and destroy them financially? The answer is simple -- the commissions were humongous.

Second, where is the federal government? The SEC, the Federal Reserve and the OCC haven't done anything. The only actions are coming from the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts.

There are just 2 lone wolves going after the bad guys! The banks and brokerages have been fined in the millions, but that's just a slap on the wrist for them. The attorneys general are trying to force full restitution to those who were ripped off. Clark applauds that effort and thinks jail time is in order for the culprits.

Always remember the core principle of investing: Know what you are buying. If you can't explain it to a fifth grader, don't buy it. That should help you stay out of harm.

There's a new trend that you need to know about if you have a home equity line of credit. Buried in your HELOC is a clause that allows the bank to freeze or reduce your line, at will, with almost no notice. In his TV work, Clark recently did a story about Bank of America doing this to its HELOC holders. But many banks other than just BoA are doing this.

This is a double whammy because many banks charged fees upfront to set up the HELOCs. So far they're not refunding the junk fees. Meanwhile, your credit score can also be demolished based on utilization of the HELOC. Say you have a HELOC with a $100K limit and you're only using $30K. That means you're using 30% of the limit, which is a relatively low level. But if your HELOC is suddenly dropped to a $30K limit, then you're using 100% of what's available to you and your credit is buckling under that strain.

Banks are slashing HELOCs because people are increasingly defaulting on them. Yet people with solid credit can get fantastic offers for borrowing right now because it's such an odd time in our economy. Clark's credit union is offering a 5-year fixed rate HELOC at 3.95%. That's really inexpensive! He also has access to car loans at 3.90% for new or used vehicles on loans of 4 years or less. There's such a stark contrast between what's available to people with good credit and people with bad credit.

CLARKONOMICS: Wachovia, Washington Mutual and National City -- 3 of the nation's top banks -- have all had to go looking for more cash, but hundreds of smaller banks around the country won't be able to find an angel to avoid failing. If you have less than $100K in a failing bank, none of what Clark is about to say matters to you; you'll be protected up to the full FDIC limit of $100K. But many business owners, people with inheritances and local governments have deposits that exceed that limit.

What can they do to avoid getting burned in the event of a bank collapse? CDARS.com extends FDIC protection up to $50 million by spreading your money among a number of participating banks. That way you never have more than $100K at any one financial institution.

On a related note, many people are upset that savings rates are in the toilet. But there are deals to be found if you search around. Many of the deals come from unusual sources. For example, CapitalOne.com is looking for a quick cash infusion on the cheap. So they're offering a simple savings account that pays 3.50% APY (accurate as of 07/31/08) if you have a minimum of $10K. Clark likes to check BankRate.com for CD rates. Do you have reservations about the financial health of any of these banks? You'll be fine as long as you stay below the FDIC limit.

Another day, another wrinkle in the mortgage crisis and its impact on other sectors of the economy!

First off, we had the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history with IndyMac on Friday. Just a day later, Clark got a call from a relative who wanted him to talk to a family friend. Clark had to difficult task of explaining what happens when you have money that's not FDIC-insured in a failing bank.

The latest stats show that 37% of people have money above FDIC limits --$100,000 in a bank account and $250,000 for retirement accounts. If this train wreck has already happened to you, here's the scoop: If there are assets left over after all depositors have been reimbursed up to $100,000, then you'll get a portion of your unprotected money back.

Hopefully, you're not in this situation. Heed Clark's advice now and reduce your accounts to $90,000 so you don't forfeit a penny of interest in the event of a collapse.

Second, let's address the mortgage crisis involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are both private corporations that created money for mortgages with a wink and nod and the understanding that taxpayers would back them up in the event of any difficulty.

Well, now the difficulty has arrived and Pres. Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson and the folks at the Federal Reserve have agreed to bailout private stockholders with taxpayer money. This is unacceptable. The only reason it's happening is because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are politically connected.

Third, the Federal Reserve has issued new rules for banks making mortgage loans. The first rule states that they can't make a loan if you can't pay it back. Duh! That took a federal regulation?! Under the new rules, they have to make sure you can pay at the highest rate that your monthly payment could adjust for 7 years. In addition, there will be no more pre-payment penalties (in most instances) and escrow accounts will be required for property taxes and insurance.

IndyMac Bank -- a failing mortgage company and bank -- has been the subject of a classic "run on the bank" scenario. That makes this a great time for Clark to remind you that a run is not necessary -- unless you have excess money in a bank.

The reality is that a large number of banks will go insolvent during the next couple of years. Many will be invisibly absorbed or merged into larger banks. You as a customer will be fine as long as you don't exceed FDIC limits.

During our last rash of bank collapses in the '80s, approximately 8% to 12% of money was uninsured. Today, that figure has ballooned to nearly 40% -- especially among organizations, non-profits and small businesses.

The FDIC will insure your bank deposits up to $100,000 in the event of a bank collapse. But Clark advises a $90,000 personal ceiling -- so you don't have to forfeit any interest. When it comes to retirement accounts at banks, they're insured up to $250,000.

In the world of credit unions, there's an organization called the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) that ensures deposits to the same limits as the FDIC. But be aware that in some instances, a credit union may only be covered by a state guarantee pool. This is riskier than the NCUA.

Speaking of going insolvent, cheap clothing retailer Steve and Barry's has filed for bankruptcy. Right now, they're planning to keep all stores open and honor all gift cards. This coming holiday season is one during which you don't want to give gift cards -- especially those from retailers and restaurants that may be here today and gone tomorrow.

There's been a widespread security breach at some 5,700 Citibank ATMs. Heed this special warning if you've used a Citibank ATM (including those found at 7-Eleven stores) at any point this year.

Criminals hacked into the bank's system and were remotely able to capture account numbers and PINs. They then made duplicate cards that were used to withdraw money from accounts for about 7 months.

The banking industry's longtime rule has been that the burden of proof was on you if your PIN was stolen. They believed their system was impenetrable and if something went wrong, well, you must have been at fault by not protecting your account or PIN. But the hacker community shares info about how to break into back-end systems on a variety of message boards.

The real problem is that our banks rely on 1960s ATM card technology. Over in Europe, they've long since switched to using smart chips in ATM cards. These smart chips defeat the ability of hackers to duplicate a card should they capture a number.

Washington D.C. has also been complicit in this backwards-looking policy. Federal regulators who are in cahoots with the banks have not followed through on requiring them to follow international banking security standards.

The takeaway for you is that you've got to thoroughly monitor your account and follow up on any discrepancies.

Meanwhile, the folks at Wired magazine originally broke the Citibank story. And Citibank, to its shame, is still being hush-hush about the number of people affected and the amount of money that's been stolen. Ukrainian immigrant Yuriy Rakushchynets and 2 others are the likely culprits of the crime.

Our banking industry operates at below-Third World standards when it comes to data safety. It's well past time for our government to mandate that the banks adhere to recognized world standards in the field. Clark also thinks banks should be required to provide full disclosure to the media and the American people when breaches like this one occur.

Happy birthday to Clark, who is celebrating his 53rd birthday today (June 20) at Dallas affiliate KRLD!

CLARKONOMICS: There's something really interesting going on with savings rates right now.

With the inflation rate hovering between 4% and 5%, it's almost impossible not to fall behind with your savings.

Like everyone else, the banks are suffering because of defaults on all kinds of loans. So they're doing 1 of 2 things. They're either offering lower rates on CDs and savings to conserve their dwindling funds, or they're offering higher rates to attract big chunks of money.

That may sound obvious, but it really means that now more than ever it pays to shop around. Visit BankRate.com to compare rates on CDs and savings.

First off, you should only save money that you may need access to in the next 5 years; money that you know you don't need to touch anytime soon should be invested, and that would warrant a whole different discussion.

When it comes to savings, Clark loves the idea of laddering. For example, you might opt for taking your money and splitting it among multiple lengths of CDs -- such as a 1-year CD; a 2-year CD; a 3-year CD; a 4-year CD; and a 5-year CD. That way you can benefit from varying interest rates over the next few years.

5-year CD rates are once again getting back up close to 5%. E-Loan is offering 4.85% right now with a $10K minimum deposit. For 1-year CDs, E-Loan is right around 4%. (Editor's note: Interest rates accurate as of 06/20/08.)

Finally, beware that brokerage houses have been quietly reducing the interest they pay on your cash by as much as 90%! You may need to manually move your money to a higher-earning account, such as an online bank that pays around 3.5% on savings. Brokerage houses are no longer necessarily a safe harbor for your cash.

It's often been said that there are no free lunches. But Clark thinks that credit unions are darn pretty close. This wonderful option is available to most adults, but only about 1 in 3 actually is a member.

What is a credit union? It's like a bank that you own as a shareholder. There's a nominal fee to become a member and then it's like you go to the mezzanine with a ton of great products at your disposal!

For example, Clark's credit union offers car loans at 3.9% interest to those with good credit. Home equity loans are available at 3.95% for 5 years.

Credit unions may have rip-off charges for overdrafts and the like, but they're usually lower than elsewhere. When it comes to credit cards, most credit unions offer Visa and MasterCard with interest rates that are about 20% lower than the giant monster mega-banks.

The one thing you don't get with credit unions is convenience. They typically don't have as many branches as the giant monster mega-banks.

Yet more and more people are turning their backs on the banks. In fact, banks only control about 12% of our collective wealth. The bulk of it is with stock brokers, mutual fund companies, credit unions, etc. For example, Merrill Lynch offers a cash management account for the wealthy.

Not sure if you're eligible for a credit union? Visit CUNA.org to find out.

Americans wasted over $4 billion on ATM fees last year, according to BankRate.com. Some giant monster mega-banks are pushing their non-customer fees as high as $5!

There's a better answer than getting ripped off. You can go to a credit union or a community bank and get real customer service and not have to pay for ATMs. Quite often, your credit union or community bank will have an ATM network that's fee-free. That means you can use the ATMs for nada at various banks, credit unions and other independent spots.

In another example, the stock brokerage Clark uses reimburses all his ATM fees. He always tries to find a free or very low-cost ATM because he feels guilty about sticking them with the bill. Similarly, Clark's brother uses an online bank and gets a monthly stipend to cover any ATM charges he incurs.

The bottom line is that there are many ways to get around paying ATM fees. But convenience is king and too many people don't want to be bothered. Yet at a time when every dollar counts, Clark would prefer that you choose to not get ripped off.

Several months ago, Clark told you that Wachovia was allowing illegal drafts from seniors' accounts. The bank has now been fined a pitifully low amount -- $10 million -- for its actions in a similar case involving unethical telemarketers. Wachovia had been taking a cut whenever it allowed fraudulent 3rd party telemarketers to make withdrawals from customer accounts.

First off, Clark says shame on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for being asleep on the job and allowing Wachovia to do this. Second, where are the jail sentences for the responsible parties?

The New York Times has gotten hold of some internal memos that show the company knew full well what was going on with the telemarketers. A Wachovia executive even wrote "Double yikes!!!!" on a memo that incriminated the bank in the rip-off.

But, wait, it gets worse. Wachovia knows exactly who they stole an estimated $100 million or more from. Yet they got the feds to agree that they don't have to give the money back -- unless those who have been wronged file a claim via a form that doesn't exist yet!

Clark is extremely upset about the puny $10 million fine and lack of prison time. If you stick-up a teller, you'll no doubt go to jail for a long time. So what gives in this case? In the interest of full disclosure, Clark wants you to know that he owns Wachovia stock. He also has a good mind to go to the next annual meeting and confront the company's big wigs face-to-face.

A press statement from the bank claims they're taking the crime seriously and trying to correct the situation. But it seems that if Wachovia wants to do right, they'd give the money back without making people fill out the form. Will the company just keep the ill-gotten gains from those account holders who are too old or sick to fill out a form?

One last note of general warning: You usually only have 60 days to dispute fraudulent transactions at your bank or brokerage house. You snooze, you lose.

CLARKONOMICS: Wachovia, Washington Mutual and National City -- 3 of the nation's top banks -- have all had to go looking for more cash, but hundreds of smaller banks around the country won't be able to find an angel to avoid failing. If you have less than $100K in a failing bank, none of what Clark is about to say matters to you; you'll be protected up to the full FDIC limit of $100K. But many business owners, people with inheritances and local governments have deposits that exceed that limit.

What can they do to avoid getting burned in the event of a bank collapse? CDARS.com extends FDIC protection up to $50 million by spreading your money among a number of participating banks. That way you never have more than $100K at any one financial institution.

On a related note, many people are upset that savings rates are in the toilet. But there are deals to be found if you search around. Many of the deals come from unusual sources. For example, Capital One is looking for a quick cash infusion on the cheap. So they're offering a simple savings account that pays 3.75% APY (accurate as of 04/16/08) if you have a minimum of $10K. Clark likes to check BankRate.com for CD rates. A quick search reveals that Countrywide is offering a CD that pays 4.05% APY and GMAC offers one that pays 3.90% APY (both accurate as of 04/16/08). Do you have reservations about the financial health of Countrywide or Capital One? You'll be fine as long as you stay below the FDIC limit.

Clark has long objected to companies putting mandatory arbitration clauses into contracts. Many car dealerships, home builders, cable providers, cell carriers and others do this. Why? They want to be able to cheat you and not worry about consequences.

The city of San Francisco now is suing Bank of America over its mandatory arbitration process. Stacked-deck kangaroo courts allow BoA to win 99.9% of the time with the arbitrators they choose. Sounds like the results of a Third World election.

One supposedly impartial arbitrator in Minneapolis has heard more than 18,000 cases. The arbitrator found for businesses 18,045 times and for the consumer 30 times. How can that be unbiased?

Clark loves alternative dispute resolution, which offers a mediation process where both parties agree not to go to court and instead arbitrate in a mutually decided upon forum. But that's not what BoA is offering; their arbitration is just a joke and they have no intention of fairness. The irony is that it will be up to courts again to decide if BoA's use of the mandatory arbitration process is fair. Boy, that bank is lucky that Clark's not sitting as the judge!

CLARKONOMICS: Washington Mutual has received a $7 billion bail out to keep the bank solvent. While this was not funded by taxpayers, it's just the latest in the parade of the nation's largest financial institutions getting into trouble and facing insolvency. Why should you care if a bank survives or fails? What difference does it make to your wallet?

Clark thinks back to the last wave of bank failures in late '80s/early '90s. At that time, people tragically lost their life savings because they didn't heed warnings about being above FDIC limits. Today, the problem is twice as bad. Barron's reports that 40% of the money in banks is uninsured. Much of it belongs to institutions like non-profits and small businesses. But some of it is also held by individuals. If that sounds like you, heed Clark's warning and dial back your savings to under the $100K FDIC limit. If you have retirement money in a bank, that will be covered up to $250K.

Get in touch with the FDIC if you have any questions about your specific account(s). Clark also wants you to beware that many banks are peddling non-insured financial products inside their branches. You may see commissioned salespeople who look like they're bank employees pushing such products. Be sure to read the small print for a simple English disclosure about how you could lose money in these kinds of savings options.

More than a month ago, Clark told you about the plight of a young man in mainland China who repeatedly took advantage of an ATM glitch and pocketed $24K. He was arrested months later (on an unrelated charge) and sentenced to life in prison when his crime was discovered. Public outrage against the harsh sentence prompted a second trial -- which almost never happens in communist China -- and the sentence was reduced to 5 years.

When Chinese citizens were polled after the initial sentencing, 93% of them said they would do the same thing as the young man at the ATM. That's how deeply alienated they feel from their system. Clark was curious about what you would do, so he put the question up in a recent poll. More than 80% of you said you'd stop the transaction and report it; 8% of you said you would pocket the money and then report the malfunction; and 12% of you said you'd milk the situation for all it was worth.

Then just days after Clark's initial report, a New Yorker went to a Chase ATM and wanted $110, but got $220 instead -- while the ATM only debited $110. According to a news report, that person went into the bank and reported the malfunction. But the bank never sought to reclaim the extra money. It's so ironic that the person was honest, but wasn't thanked and no action was taken. Meanwhile, Clark finds it interesting that there's a gulf between the results of his own polling and the reality of just 1 single person actually saying something about the glitch in New York.

RIP-OFF ALERT: If you think that banks are lying to you, the feds now say that you're right! The U.S. Government Accountability Office -- the investigative arm of Congress -- sent out undercover agents to determine whether a sampling of 185 banks across the country lie about their fees and rules. The results? Banks did lie, or they would not provide a disclosure of fees about 80% of the time.

Think about the debit card con game for a moment. These little cards are massive profit centers for banks. Banks say they approve transactions you don't have enough money for as a "courtesy" to you. But what they really want to do is rip you off with an overdraft fee of $30-$40. The Washington Post reports that banks make $18 billion annually on this con.

The bottom line is that you have a right to get a price list at a bank, just like you would at a restaurant. Did you know that in banking circles, free checking is called "fee checking" behind your back? Banks use offers of free checking as a loss leader to fee you to death. So if you're not good at keeping tabs on your balance, you need to become a cash person and buy with green. If you keep overdrawing anyway, you need to be more responsible and track your balance down to the penny. Some people think these suggestions sound quaint and very '90s, but what's the alternative? Clark has a teenager who has learned it all the hard way. She had a debit card at 15 and repeatedly overdrew it and got hit with fees. Now she's 18 and learned her lesson.

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 recently told you about a young man in China who received a lifetime prison sentence for repeatedly making withdrawals at ATMs that weren't debiting his account. There was outrage among the Chinese people because this man was railroaded while Communist officials get away with all kinds of abuses. The outrage has prompted a new show trial and the man is set to be re-sentenced. But 93% of people in mainland China said they would do the same thing. Clark was curious about what you would do, so he put the question up in a recent poll. More than 80% of you said you'd stop the transaction and report it; 8% of you said you would pocket the money and then report the malfunction; and 12% of you said you'd milk the situation for all it's worth.

People in mainland China are so distrustful of the communist government. But here in the United States, Clark likes to think that we have a little more respect for the law. Here's an example: The New York Post reports a person went to a Chase ATM and wanted $110, but got $220 -- while the ATM only debited $110. The person went into the bank and reported it, but the bank never sought to reclaim the extra money. So what happened? Somebody stocking the ATM put $20s in the $10 section. It's so ironic the person was honest, but wasn't thanked and no action was taken. Both stories tell so much. This latter one speaks to the impersonal nature of the giant monster mega banks.

Here's a question of morals and ethics for you: What would you do if your ATM kept giving you unlimited cash without deducting your account? That's the question posed this week in Clark's poll. A young man in China named Xu Ting faced this very same dilemma. His response was to make withdrawals at 171 ATMs and pocket $24K in cash. He received a life prison sentence for his crime after being stopped by police for a routine ID check. This story, reported in The Los Angeles Times, really highlights China's unjust judicial system more than anything else. After uproar among the people of China, Ting is being given a second show trial and will be re-sentenced. Corrupt Chinese officials, meanwhile, make out like bandits. While our country isn't perfect, we do have a tradition of sending our big wigs to jail when they mess up. Just think of Worldcom's Bernie Ebbers, some of the Enron people or Leona Helmsley. But how about you -- what would you do if faced with Ting's ethical dilemma? Remember, you can be honest because online polls are anonymous!

CLARKONOMICS: It's rare that we get the Clarkonomics sounder twice in the same hour, but there's just so much economic news out there you need to know about. The federal government is gearing up for a wave of bank failures. The FDIC is now hiring people out of retirement who were around during the last wave of failures 20 years ago. They're the only ones who have any experience with how to handle the coming failures! Note that Clark said coming, not expected. There are many zombie banks out there that don't meet capital requirements; the government is just not ready to shut them down yet. So heed Clark's longstanding advice and do not put in excess of $100K in an account. Certain retirement accounts will allow you to go up to $250K. But be wary if a bank wants to take a deposit of more than $100K and says they'll just title your money differently. Go to FDIC.gov to verify any titling issues. Don't just take their word for it. Your best bet is to spread your money out. Try CDARS.com if you have more than $100K to stash away. Play it safe and smart!

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.

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.

Several months ago, Clark made a lot of listeners unhappy when he failed to bash Bank of America for charging non-customers a $3 fee for use of their ATMs. Clark defended BoA's right as a free-market enterprise to raise their rates, and he reasoned that non-customers would stop using their ATMs because of the added surcharge. But that's not what happened. In fact, Dow Jones now reports that other banks are following BoA's lead and raising their rates.

We are the ones who have to change our behavior -- not BoA or any of its competitors. They can only rip you off if you allow them to do so. Most every bank and credit union has a network of ATMs you can use for free. You can also shop around for the lowest surcharge before you do a non-customer ATM transaction. BoA and others are raising rates because we're willing to pay! If this sounds like you, your assignment is to go to the website of your bank, credit union or brokerage house and find out where their free ATMs are located. Another option is to use your debit card during a point-of-sale purchase to get cash back for free. If you don't change your behavior, today's $3 rip-off may be $5 or $10 next year!

About three weeks ago, Clark told you that E*TRADE was in danger of becoming insolvent. Customers began to flee after news broke, though there wasn't a full run on the bank. But those 60,000 people who had E*TRADE accounts with more than $100,000 in them narrowly escaped losing their shirts. Things didn't look too promising for a while. Some 30 companies were offered the chance to provide a bailout and passed up on the opportunity. Finally the Office of Thrift Supervision -- an obscure government department that becomes very important when banks fold -- intervened and got Citadel to invest $2.55 billion to keep things afloat.

Even if it E*TRADE had failed, those who were within FDIC limits would have been safe. The feds are very good at knowing how to handle these kinds of things. They got a lot of experience during the banking collapses of the late '80s! The good news is that your money is usually available the next day after a collapse if you had less than $100,000. But rest assured of this: More financial institutions will fail. Citibank nearly folded and Countrywide is in need of cash bailouts. So the important thing to know is that you must keep your investments within the safety range provided by FDIC coverage. Don't play with fire! Remember that the limit is $100,000, unless you're talking about an IRA. Then you're protected up to $250,000.

The financial world is swimming around in an alphabet soup that's really been harming a lot of people. Banks got into making weirdo exotic loans just so they could bundle and resell them as CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) and SIVs (structured investment vehicles). This is part of what fueled the bubble and meltdown in the housing sector. The banks were packaging dynamite and it blew up on them as people started defaulting on their loans. While the monster mega-banks were hit hardest, it was something of a shock when E*TRADE fell on hard times. Bankruptcy rumors recently drove the company's stock down 60 percent. The price made a slight rebound when news of a buyout or takeover broke. Barron's now reports that almost 60,000 people have more than $100,000 each in E*TRADE. The obvious danger is that those folks are above FDIC limits. But there's no need to do a run on the bank, Clark says; just lessen your exposure to below $100,000 so you won't get burned if E*TRADE goes under. We'll keep you updated on this story. On a similar note, Bank of America has had to cough up $600 million to avoid "breaking the buck" in money-market funds. The problem arose when BoA started to take the cash from money-market funds and get into dangerous weirdo exotic loans. Make no mistake, though -- BoA did the right thing by putting out the $600 million to ensure that no one lost on the usually stable money-market funds.

Richard Branson has a reputation for developing business ventures that give some very unfriendly industries a customer-service makeover. Two of his products in the U.S. market are the elegant discount-fare airline Virgin America and the pre-paid cell phone company Virgin Mobile USA. Now Branson wants to turn his attention to the banking field. While he doesn't yet own a bank, Branson is launching something called Virgin Money in Europe and the United States. VirginMoneyUS.com is designed to help you make loans to friends and family members. The company handles all the paperwork, including sending notices about payments and collecting on debts in the event of default. Whether you use Virgin Money or not, the important thing to remember when you lend to family or friends is that you must do an arm's length transaction. That means you have to charge the market rate of interest to avoid getting into trouble with the IRS. You can always forgive interest of up to $12,000 per year under gift rules, but your loan must be structured as the real thing.

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!

There are some people out there in the finance world who are so brilliant that the banks would like to take a hit out on them! Chris Larsen, the founder of E-Loan, was one of the first people to make it possible for folks to know their credit scores. The banks didn't want this information to get out because they liked being able to con you into paying higher rates on loans when you were ignorant of your score. But today it's commonplace for credit bureaus and banks to make money selling your score to you.

Now Larsen is behind another new online development in finance called Prosper.com. As a peer-to-peer lending portal, Prosper.com allows both borrowers and individual people as lenders to connect and set their own rates without bank interference. Prosper.com is now approaching $100 million in transactions and has grown so strong that it has competitors. Barron's recently reported on a new one called LendingClub.com. One of the original problems with Prosper.com was a fairly high rate of borrower default. Today it's down to around 3 percent. LendingClub.com aims to limit the chance of default by only allowing you to get in the game as a borrower if you have a minimum credit score of 640. Most social lending sites also limit lender liability by allowing multiple lenders to supply small portions of the money being requested by one borrower. That way no one lender is in the hole if payments aren't being made. There are opportunities for both borrowers and lenders in these new sites. Check them both out and see which one may work for you. Now the banks have yet another reason not to like Larsen. He's figured out a new way to cut them out of the deal!

Several recent bank failures have shown the hazards of having more than $100,000 in any one account. The FDIC insures regular deposits up to $100,000, and retirement accounts up to $250,000. Unfortunately for some, $109 million was uninsured when NetBank folded. Another failure in the Dayton, Ohio, area revealed that one in every six dollars at that bank was uninsured, according to a report in The San Francisco Chronicle. There may be more bank failures to come, so don't leave yourself exposed by having more than $90,000 (to be safe) in any one bank. Use CDARS.com (Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service) if you have a huge amount of money you want to stash. With CDARS, you can put in up to 50 million and it will be spread around to multiple financial institutions so no one account exceeds the protection limit.

On a related note, the interest rates on CDs and savings are in turmoil. The advertised rate you see in magazines and newspaper may not exist anymore. For example, Emigrant Direct was paying 5.05% and now they're down to 4.75%. Credit unions are still paying good rates, and the mortgage lender banking arms have some of the best rates. Countrywide's banking arm is now paying 5.5% on a one-year CD, while their money market account is at 4.5%. So there are still some good deals out there, but some of the best have reduced their rates. Whatever you do, don't go to a mega-bank with their pathetic rates.

Sometimes it seems like young people have a huge bull's eye on their backs for the banks. People who are between the ages of 18 and 24 are being killed with bank overdraft fees. The latest stats say they're paying more than one billion dollars in overdraft fees every year. Clark recently heard from someone who has a teen that overdrew a debit account by $15 and that generated $80 in fees. As a parent, it's getting more and more difficult to teach the young about money. But it must be done. When Clark was in school, you paid for things with cash. Today there's no equivalent in a credit-crazy world. While cash is finite, plastic is infinite. A parent's most important lesson to a son or daughter should involve a pen and a check register -- showing them how to take debit transactions seriously. Banks are only too happy to approve transactions that will result in overdrawn accounts and high fees.

There's a bill in Congress that's trying to make it so that a bank must contact you for approval before they overdraw your account. The banks, predictably, are incensed about this because they may lose profit. Clark loves it when people have more info to make smart (or dumb) choices. What happened to ethics and morality in the banking world? Why do bankers get up in the morning and try to figure out how to rip off fellow Americans? If a bank approves an overdrawn transaction that generates fees, how is that moral or ethical?? It's not. The bill will probably be killed because the bankers are so strong giving dirty money to politicians. So teach your children well and you'll save them from losing money in the school of hard knocks.

Did you know that about two-thirds of all loans are not done by the lenders themselves? They're done instead by mortgage brokers. Mortgage brokers don't have the cash, but they're like the retailer who sells you a loan. Meanwhile, there's a new report out that says about half of all sub-prime mortgage holders could have qualified for good loans at good rates. So what happened? Some mortgage broker conned them into it a sub-prime loan. Washington Mutual has issued a new policy that requires brokers to tell people the truth about whether their interest rates will change, if they'll face a prepayment penalty and if the broker will receive kickbacks (aka bribes) from the deal. Whenever Clark talks to people who are in weirdo exotic mortgages, he always asks them if they knew beforehand that they'd have a prepayment penalty. You have to be sure that this is disclosed to you before the closing. WaMu is also going to call each borrower before the closing and verify that they aren't being ripped off by the broker.

The best way to protect yourself is to shop around for a mortgage. This is a huge field where many people are ethical, but there are some who engage in criminal behavior. Clark thinks two steps should be taken to help out: First, prepayment penalties should be banned. If you find out before closing that you'll be subjected to one, walk away from the negotiating table. That's what Clark did once when he was almost about to be hit with such a penalty. Second, the Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to develop a clear disclosure form to explain in plain English the details of a mortgage. Until they do it, there's a disclosure form that Clark really likes developed by The American Enterprise Institute.

The recent collapse of online bank NetBank has left a lot of people jittery. After all, it is the biggest bank failure since the early '90s. While the cost to taxpayers is unclear, the FDIC should cover everything. Many people wonder exactly what happens after a bank collapses. When the federal regulators walk in, they try to package the bank's assets and get them in somebody else's hands. That's what happened in this case when the feds sold many of NetBank's assets to ING Direct, which has most of the collapsed company's customer base and money. The transition from NetBank to ING has generally been smooth for customers. Be sure to check your ING statement to verify that all your money came along with you if your money made the jump. Those who were most at risk of losing money were people with more than $100,000 in NetBank accounts. It's always better to be safe and only invest $90,000 in any bank. That way your principal and interest are always protected. And if you're just generally scared of seeing a repeat of this collapse, go to BankRate.com and shop CD rates to see the relative health of a bank. But keep in mind that the best deals in savings are still being offered by the banking arms of mortgage lenders.

Clark is usually no friend of Bank of America. Need we remind you of the Matthew Shinnick debacle -- when BoA had the San Francisco man imprisoned on false check fraud charges and then didn't pay his legal fees or even apologize? But today Clark refuses to join the chorus of boos rising across the country as people take BoA to task for their new rip-off ATM fees. The mega-bank is now charging non-customers who use one of their ATMs a fee of three dollars. Clark thinks that if BoA wants to rip you off, it is their right; that's how the free market functions. If they want to raise the charge to five or 10 bucks, Clark thinks that's fine too. The last time he paid an ATM fee was on June 16, 1996, in Moab, Utah. The merchants in that town didn't take credit cards, so Clark went to each bank in the area and found the cheapest ATM fee -- one dollar. He jokes that he then had to skip a meal to make up for paying the fee!

Clark remembers the days when ATMs first came out and surcharges were 25 cents. Now he hears they're as much as five dollars in casinos. But you can easily avoid rip-off charges if you only use ATMs that belong to your bank or credit union. Publix has its own ATMs that many people use for free because the regional supermarket chain has partnered with hundreds of financial institutions. So nobody on Capitol Hill should be talking about imposing price controls on ATM charges, according to Clark. If you choose to use an unauthorized cash machine, you must pay the price. Finally, Clark thinks the timing of BoA's new move is very interesting. Banks tend to raise their fees twice a year -- in August and December. They do this just in time for summer vacation and the holidays. Those are the two times of year when people usually don't watch their accounts too closely. So this latest BoA surcharge is a just little August surprise from the company!

People have about a trillion dollars sitting in lousy checking accounts at banks. They're being hit with a lot of arbitrary fees for transactions and they're not getting a lot in return. The typical bank pays about .1 percent interest on such accounts -- that's one tenth of one percent. Bank of America, meanwhile, pays about .05 percent -- one twentieth of one percent interest! So Clark had been advising people to seek out a checking account from the online banks that pay higher returns. But if you don't like putting your money in cyberspace, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab are now offering great checking account options too. Fidelity pays three-and-a-half percent on its mySmart Cash Account, while Schwab offers four-and-a-quarter on its checking account. You don't have to be an existing customer of either firm to participate. These options are FDIC insured and offer no fees, no minimum balance requirements and no ATM fees. Meanwhile, Clark's beloved credit unions are in this respect much like the conventional banks; they also offer puny interest rates. His credit union does, however, have one free checking option that you must ask for -- and it pays four percent interest. The bottom line is that you should consider switching your checking account if you're not happy with how your bank handles it.

Finally, Clark wants to clarify a point he made a few weeks ago when he was explaining money-market mutual funds. Some people thought Clark was saying that all money market accounts are risky. That's not the case. Find out what kind you've got. If it's legitimate and follows the "don't break the buck" principle -- offering a fixed share price of a dollar per share -- it should be a safe option.

Some bank accounts charge you a fee just to check your account. A call years ago spoke of getting hit with an overdraft fee, even though they knew they had a good balance; was this a clerical error? No, it's a new strategy in banking that tricks people into overdrafting their accounts so that the bank can charge them. Banks used to reject transactions that they knew would cause an overdraft. Not anymore. Many banks now purposely approve transactions that they know will overdraw your account. According to Congressional hearings, banks made $17.5 billion dollars due to this! Even worse, many banks use software programs to see what will cause the most bounced checks, or give you false balance reports at ATMs so that you you'll overdraw! Clark thinks a bank should at the very least inform you that they're going to try to rip you off by approving transactions that will cause overdraft fees. You now need to take additional steps to monitor your account as closely as possible to avoid getting ripped off.

This was a year of embarrassment for colleges who were in cahoots with unethical banks and other lenders. First there was the whole student loan scandal. Now The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that there are some dubious practices taking place on campuses related to student credit cards. Many schools get kickbacks for allowing there to be an "official bank" on campus. Such financial institutions offer outrageous terms and conditions on their credit and debit cards for students. The universities do this to get money under the table money from the banks. These arrangements are technically "partnerships," according to the schools. But the fees on the cards are almost double those available in the general marketplace. Clark believes a full investigation is necessary. As he says, if university officials have been getting bribes, they should go to prison. This is yet another thing for parents to worry about when packing their kids up for college at the end of the summer. Clark says to shop around on campus for a bank or credit union that's available to faculty, staff and students -- instead of just going to the preferred campus lender where the university sells out its students. What is going on in the banking world that offering bribes and kickbacks are becoming so routine??

A new report from the American Bankers Association finds delinquencies are up for seven of the eight types of consumer loans tracked by the ABA. Consumers are feeling stretched at a time when the economy is considered to be healthy. There was also a recent stunner of a story in the New York Times that explained that foreclosures are up big time all around the country. Cities like New Orleans and Detroit have been hit hard because of Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the auto industry, respectively. But Clark’s hometown of Atlanta is also facing a crisis because of option payment loans where the loan balance actually rises over time. So instead of paying down your home debt, the balance keeps going up. It’s comparable to a homeowner paying like a renter. You don’t develop equity and you have to shell out big bucks for all the routine upkeep of a home.

Clark says he needs to get better about talking in "shorthand" -- using specific industry terms without fully explaining them for the average listener. He sometimes forgets that most people just aren't as familiar with these words. This is especially true on the topic of investing. One example is the term "asset allocation"-- less than one in five people knows that it means to "diversify" your funds, or, not put all your eggs into one basket. Clark wants to define these things more clearly for listeners in the future. "Bonds" are another topic not fully understood. Here's how they work: A company or organization needs money and issues some bonds. People buy the bonds, get the interest promised, and ideally, hold onto them for the life of the term in order to get the purchase price back at the end. But let's say you have a bond that promises 5% interest, and now interest rates are at 6%. The issuing company would have to discount the initial price of the bond to get people to buy them. On the other hand, if a bond is paying higher interest than the current interest rate, it's worth more, and will therefore cost more to buy. So, as interest rates go up, the value of bonds go down, and vice versa. Another misunderstood topic is Roth IRAs, which are investments that allow you to save money tax-free. But if all these terms bore and confuse you, read Clark's online investment guide. He lists what he feels are the best companies and services that can help make retirement investing much, much easier for you.

How can you earn the most on your money that are sitting in a “parking space” such as CDs, savings accounts, and money market accounts? Those places aren’t designed to get you a great return, averaging less than 0.5% interest on your savings. While you’ve always had the option of credit unions and local banks for better deals on savings, there’s now an even better choice: a “Direct” -- an online bank which has no branches, and can therefore offer you better rates. ING Direct (ingdirect.com) was the first bank to do this, and they’ve been phenomenally innovative, with checking accounts offering over 4.5% in interest, no-fee savings accounts and more. They spawned an entire league of competitors who are offering even greater rates on savings accounts now. We’ve gotten almost no complaints over the years on these Direct banks, compared to regular banks, so the customer service is fantastic. The newest player in the game is wtdirect.com, who are geared only to people with big bucks. You’ll need $10,000 to earn any meaningful interest, but they’re paying 5.26%, which is a good deal, and not a teaser rate. They limit the number of withdrawals to 6 per month, so this one is geared for those who mainly want to “park” their cash. Fnbodirect.com has a 6% teaser rate through September, and the national average is about 5.05%. However there are some economic trends that may push the rates even higher- inflation may step up, which will push up interest rates, and in turn, rates on savings. If you want to keep some of your business at a monster mega bank, you can electronically link your high-interest savings account to your crummy mega-bank checking account, and in just two days be able to transfer money back and forth between the two accounts.

Over the past two years, online bank accounts have become the new phenomenon in the banking world. It’s the modern banking equivalent of what credit unions have offered for years. And the latest deal is unbelievable! FNBO Direct is now offering a 6 percent yield on FDIC-insured savings accounts. FNBO is the First National Bank of Omaha but it's the online only bank, and the deal is good through September 28. After that, the bank can change the rate to whatever it wants. Clark suggets you sign up sooner rather than later. It's the highest yield amount on a savings account as of today. Just remember that the deal is not offered at traditional FNBO banks. Don’t miss out!

Charles Schwab is trying to compete in today’s tough banking business by introducing a new checking account that earns 4.25 percent. There are no fees, no minimums and essentially no rules with this account, which is not the case with other financial houses. The only thing that seems slightly annoying to Clark is that you can’t deposit money into your Schwab checking account when you go into a Schwab office. He’s not sure why that is, but you may want to contact Schwab to learn more. Citibank is also trying to get ahead of the curve because its competitors – the “Direct” banks – are getting all of the market share. These include ING Direct, HSBC Direct and Emigrant Direct. They have been attracting billions of dollars in deposits because their interest rates are so much higher. As a result, Citibank is now offering an online-only 4.5 percent savings account. You can’t get it at a Citibank branch. You can only get it online at direct.citibank.com. If you have money sitting in low-interest savings accounts, move it!

Have you heard of online-only checking accounts? ING Direct will soon offer one called the "Electric Orange" account. It will earn 3 percent interest, compared to the normal 1 to 1.5 percent most banks offer. The only caveat is that right now it's only open to existing ING members. ING is apparently still working out the bugs and wants to test out the new checking system on current members. HSBC and eLoan will soon offer online checking accounts too with much better interest rates than traditional banks. We'll keep you posted!

For a limited time, HSBC – Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation – is offering 6 percent on savings accounts. The offer is good through the end of April at the online-only bank, and Clark says you should jump on the chance. To find more, visit hsbcdirect.com. If you have an existing account, you will not earn this rate. You will get 5.05 percent, which is still pretty good. But any money you add to that account will earn the higher rate. So, get cracking!

Over the years, Clark has gotten tons of calls from people who made deposits at a bank or ATM, only to be told the deposit was never made. How can we prove we made a deposit when no one is on ou