Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Clark Howard - Interest, Credit Cards, Weddings, Publishing

Clark Howard broadcasts a call-in consumer advocate talk show whose "goal is to help you save money, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off." In Dayton, Ohio his syndicated talk show can be heard on News/Talk 1290 WHIO AM. The following items came from a monthly email summary of his show:

Reduce your interest rate

"A study by the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) shows how easy it is to reduce the interest rate on your credit cards just by picking up the phone. Approximately 60 percent of us run balances on our credit cards and the average interest rate is about 17 percent. As part of the survey, PIRG asked people to call their credit card company and have their rate reduced. Wouldn't you know - 56 percent got an immediate reduction..." Read more...

CardCops Protects You!

Cardcops publishes "quite a bit of information, especially for businesses, to help prevent identity theft. Now, they have started a Web site - cardcops.com that allows you to see if your card may be in the hands of thieves..." Read more...

Finance your wedding with sponsors

Here's something to consider if you have not yet tied the knot: Ericka Armour and her husband-to-be, Nathaniel Hughes, are having their wedding financed by sponsors who are supplying nearly everything for free. Sponsors names will be on the back of wedding invitations, on the tables at the reception and in other 'discreet' places at the wedding. Ericka said the companies have given about $15,000 worth of items and supplies. When you think that an average wedding costs $20,000, that’s a nice chunk.

Publish it yourself

"Clark’s received many calls from people who are interested in getting their first book published. What’s happening is the big publishing houses are only publishing a very small handful of authors and they’re even turning away some of the veteran authors who are considered 'mid-list.' So, how do regular citizens like you and me get published?" Read more...

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