Michael Finney's Consumer Blog

Have you committed financial infidelity?

Are you cheating on your wife… financially? Is she cheating on you?

The National Endowment for Financial Education commissioned online poll and found nearly a third all of married people commit financial infidelity. Yikes!

According to the survey, of those who committed a financial deception:
 
•    Nearly three in five of these adults (58 percent) say they hid cash from their partner or spouse.
•    More than half of these adults (54 percent) hid a minor purchase from their partner or spouse.
•    An additional 30 percent hid a statement or a bill from their partner or spouse.
•    Thirty four percent of these adults say they lied about finances, debt, money earned.

They’re Baaaaaack!

Your car warranty is not getting ready to expire. They do not have a good deal. Time is not running out. Phony  car warranty companies are calling again, don’t get taken! A couple years back this scam was huge, boiler room callers were telephoning all of us, the feds cracked down and the calls stopped. Well, apparently the bad guys got out of jail, or their underlings have started their own scams. Hang up the phone.

Free stuff: Hugo Boss fragrance

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! Hugo Boss… Bottled. Check out the latest fragrance and let others check you out!

>>Get your free sample at boss-fragrances.com

NOTE: More freebies to come! Watch ABC7 News at 5 PM for Finney's Friday Free Stuff. Details regarding those offers will be posted at ABC7NEWS.COM at 5:30 PM.

Sign up tor receive Finney's Friday Free Stuff and Michael Finney's Consumer Blog newsletters!

This giveaway is not conducted by 7 On Your Side. If there are technical problems or issues with the product, concerns should be directed to the offering supplier.

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! Garlic Fries!

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! Gordon Biersch Restaurant Garlic Fries.

>>Fan Gordon Biersch on Facebook to get in on the deal

NOTE: More freebies to come! Check the blog again at 10:30 am!

Sign up tor receive Finney's Friday Free Stuff and Michael Finney's Consumer Blog newsletters!

This giveaway is not conducted by 7 On Your Side. If there are technical problems or issues with the product, concerns should be directed to the offering supplier.

10% off American Airline Flights!

American Airlines is in a fight with online travel services, some are not allowed to sell AA tickets, and others are refusing to sell them as a protest.  You can make this work for you. American is offering customers on Kayak.com 10% when booking flights now and traveling before March 9th.

Don't be taken in by the conference scam!

Don't be taken in by the conference scam! This scam takes in even the most educated and smartest among us. The victim gets an invitation to present a paper at an international conference. The airline tickets will be provided as will the food. Just pay the conference fee and/or the hotel room. And of course that is where they get you. College professors have been victims and now the scam is spreading out of academia and to groups who care passionately about a single subject or cause. These scamster looks for lists of concerned citizens, then set up a fake conference that would interest them. Care about children's safety, they will set up a conference for that.

Are phone upgrade discounts ending?

One of the cool things about cell phones is getting a new one every two years real cheap. Now that is changing. Verizon is reportedly going to stop handing out the free phone money every two years: iPhone mania means the company no longer has to work as hard to hang on to customers... so free phones and cheap upgrades will be harder to come by.  It isn't just Verizon other companies are expected to follow along, so read those contracts boys and girls... the mobile world is changing.

Man busted for faking his own death

A quick way to make a couple million dollars is to take out a bunch of insurance policies, then fake your own death. It is not legal and not ethical... and actually not that easy to pull off. A restaurant owner in Florida followed the game plan perfectly, other than he kept crossing the US/Mexican border with his real ID. Oops, no money and five years in prison.

>>Read the full story at pnj.com

 

Earn a free pizza if Super Bowl goes to OT

There is a chance for you to earn a free pizza on Super Bowl Sunday. If you have done your homework. If the game goes a certain way. If the stars align. But, hey, it is a free pizza and our always hungry friends at The Consumerists have a whole posting explaining the deal and why they root for loser teams. Hmm.

>>Get more details at papajohns.com

Fish fake out costs consumers big money

We've talked before about ordering fish at restaurants and getting something much cheaper than what you ordered. We've aired reports on ABC7 about the same rip-off in supermarkets. Now, down in Alabama, a couple of fishmongers are pleading guilty to 13 felonies... all geared to rip you off. They were accused of selling catfish and perch as grouper and farm-raised shrimp as wild.  Here's what should have been a tip off: the president of Consolidated Seafood Enterprises was based in Phoenix. Huh?