Clark Howard

@ClarkHoward
Credit card lenders are creeping onto campus!

Credit card lenders are creeping onto campus!

By Alexandra Thomas
updated 5:50 PM EDT, Mon May 07, 2012
College graduation is a great time to start building credit, but if young people aren’t careful, they’ll get caught taking the wrong advice.

College campuses are still crawling with credit card marketing campaigns, despite regulations set by the Credit CARD Act that were designed to limit the practice, according to a study from the University of Houston Law Center. The study found that students are still getting tons of offers in the mail and card companies are even accepting student loans as a source of income. On top of that, 40% of the students surveyed said they saw bank representatives handing out gifts when applications were completed. This Time Moneyland story digs into how some of the credit card issuers are advising students.

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Trim your waistline, trim your budget

Trim your waistline, trim your budget

By Brianna Chessin
updated 5:10 PM EDT, Mon May 07, 2012
Obesity doesn’t just drag down Americans’ health; it’s also taking a toll on our wallets.

A new study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine says that medical expenses will jump $549.5 billion in 18 years if obesity levels continue their upward trend. Those are the projected health care costs caused by an extra 30 million obese Americans.  The study’s lead author says that Americans could save that $550 billion just by keeping obesity rates at today's levels. The report predicts that 42% of Americans will be obese by 2030.

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Filed under:   Health
Are you being followed?

Are you being followed?

By Alexandra Thomas
updated 1:55 PM EDT, Mon May 07, 2012
HLN Money Expert Clark Howard tells you how to find out which websites are tracking your every move.

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7 easy ways to protect yourself online

7 easy ways to protect yourself online

By Brianna Chessin
updated 5:13 PM EDT, Fri May 04, 2012
The Internet can be a scary place. Just ask your Grandma. Plenty of elderly matriarchs would rather trust their cataracts behind the wheel than brave a world full of trolls, cyber-bullies, and malicious “phish." Well, at least mine would; she wouldn’t touch a computer with a ten-foot cane. And I can lie about the cane, because she’ll never read this.

But, if you’re reading this, you’ve already ventured out into cyberspace (grandma hopes you packed a fresh pair just in case). And she’s right; threats abound out here. But, there are a lot of easy ways to minimize your risk online. Here are seven of them!

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Beware of Internet-infecting scams!

Beware of Internet-infecting scams!

By Alexandra Thomas
updated 10:15 AM EDT, Fri May 04, 2012
HLN Money Expert Clark Howard explains why you should always keep your computer's anti-virus protection up-to-date!

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Is online dating worth the cost?

Is online dating worth the cost?

By Brianna Chessin
updated 9:29 AM EDT, Fri May 04, 2012
You can’t put a price on true love, but some people spend a lot of money trying to find it.

Tens of millions of Americans who tire of the bar scene and blind dates streamline romance by turning – where else? – to the Internet. Dating websites wine and dine love-seeking singles with promises of compatibility algorithms and marriage success percentages. They aim to make your search for love simple by amassing like-minded singles into huge virtual dating pools.

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Time to kiss kids' meals goodbye?

Time to kiss kids' meals goodbye?

By Alexandra Thomas
updated 9:49 AM EDT, Thu May 03, 2012
HLN Money Expert Clark Howard explains how parents are finding cheaper alternatives to kids' meals.

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Cheaper tissue alternative

Cheaper tissue alternative

By Alexandra Thomas
updated 5:32 PM EDT, Tue May 01, 2012
HLN Money Expert Clark Howard has an unusual way for you to save some cash when you've got a cold.

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Is the American Dream dying?

Is the American Dream dying?

By Brianna Chessin
updated 3:04 PM EDT, Tue May 01, 2012
You hear it a lot these days: “Now is a great time to buy a home!” Mortgage interest rates are low. Home prices are still on the decline. There’s a huge pile of housing inventory to choose from. It arguably is the time to seize a great deal on the house of your dreams. But, instead of skyrocketing, homeownership rates are actually tanking. New Census Bureau data shows that the homeownership in the U.S. has hit its lowest level in 15 years.

Flashback to 1997. That’s when “Titanic” was released (the first time). “Candle in the Wind” was all over radio airwaves (for the second time). And 65.4% of Americans owned homes. During the first quarter of this year, we reached that number again, a drop of one percentage point from a year before, and down from a peak of 69.2% in 2004. The reason? A lot of Americans were pushed into renting as they lost homes to foreclosures. Plus, experts say tighter lending standards prevented a lot of would-be buyers from qualifying for a mortgage.

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Two gallons of mayo and a mortgage? Yup!

Two gallons of mayo and a mortgage? Yup!

By Brianna Chessin
updated 1:38 PM EDT, Fri April 27, 2012
What can’t you buy at Costco? The membership club is already a favorite among bargain shoppers who stock up on discounted living essentials and comically large packages of food products. Now, after you load up your cart with 300-count packs of diapers and mayonnaise by the gallon, you can shop for a mortgage too!

And no, it doesn’t have to be a jumbo loan.

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