This is a guest post by Karen Ho Fatt.

Winter is the season of treachery – dark nights, cold temperatures and slick surfaces increase the risk of injuries from falls and accidents. Indoors, the risk of fire goes up from heating sources, and seniors are three times more likely to die or be injured in a house fire than younger populations, according to MSN News.

This winter, make a plan for staying safe, warm and dry. You’ll enjoy winter more and reduce the risk of injury.

1. Prepare for Ice

One nasty fall can change your life, causing broken hips and months of rehabilitation. Install rails along porch steps and walkways, and buy generously-sized non-skid mats to keep ice in check.

Keep a bag of rock salt or gravel in your garage or on your front porch, as well as an ergonomic snow shovel. Better yet, make an arrangement with a teen to shovel your walks and driveway after any snow storm. Expect to pay between $10 and $20 for this service, which may seem like a lot until you consider the health costs of a fall. Twenty dollars to ensure your safety is actually a bargain.

Store outdoor tools and equipment, safely away in the shed or garage.

2. Practice Safe Winter Driving

The most common reasons for deaths during the winter are car accidents and hypothermia when drivers leave their cars after becoming stranded on icy roads. Pay attention to weather reports, and plan errands and outings around good weather. Stock up on enough groceries to last you at least one week, and keep a small supply of canned goods on hand. Some grocery stores offer delivery for a nominal fee or alternately use senior home care services to assist you. Use these services during bad weather, rather than risk an accident.

If you must drive, take a cell phone and use well-traveled routes that are more likely to be plowed. Drive slowly and avoid high-traffic times of the day.  In the wintertime I slow down to 20 km under the posted speed. As George Herbert once said, “Every mile is two in winter.”

3. Use Heating Devices Safely

Space heaters are a common cause of house fires during the winter. Avoid their use, or use them with caution. Turn them off before you go to sleep, and keep a 3-foot area clear around them.

Have your furnace serviced each fall before you turn it on. You may also be able to get a free inspection from your gas company so you may want to consider this prior to calling the furnace man.

If you call the furnace company, cost for this service is usually under $100 with seniors’ discounts, and will add years to the life of your furnace. Additionally, a heating expert can recognize serious problems, such as cracks in the system that may leak carbon monoxide into your home.

Wood stoves or fireplaces can put out a lot of heat, efficiently warming a smaller home and saving you money on heating bills. Use them carefully, though. Always open the damper on a wood burning fireplace and avoid stacking more than one or two logs in the fireplace at a time.

Don’t burn cardboard boxes, wrapping paper or charcoal. These materials can produce toxic fumes or carbon monoxide, and cause creosote build-up. Green wood is also a no-no. It produces a lot of smoke and little heat. Store firewood for six months to 1 year before burning it.

Have your wood fireplace cleaned at least every two to three years by a certified chimney sweep, especially if you use it frequently. Creosote, a flammable, greasy film, builds up on the walls of the chimney over time, and can cause chimney fires.

These precautions for winter won’t cost you money but will bring you some peace of mind during the season.

Author Bio: Karen Ho Fatt lives in the countryside of Alberta, Canada, and knows all about treacherous winters. To warm up your own winter, you can find a fire pit table patio set or a propane outdoor fire pit as well as safety information at her website.

PHOTO CREDIT: iStock Photo Jean Gill

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Winter Safety Tips That Won’t Cost You A Pretty Penny

Technorati Tags: driving, propane, safety, wood fire

Related Posts

• June 22, 2011 -- Tips for Seniors Downsizing to a Smaller Home (1)

This is a guest post by Sam Peters

If you have been watching any daytime television over the past fifteen years, you know there is strong competition for your mobility dollar. Your government sponsored healthcare is willing to spend big money on your increased mobility and companies are in a marketing war to receive those benefits. Gone are the days of walkers and manual wheelchairs and in are the days of power scooters and wheelchairs. It is easier than ever to keep an active lifestyle.

Medicare Fraud

While there are many options in the electric powered mobility market, there is even more fraud taking place amongst Medicare. While seniors do not need to fear increased bills or any other financial burdens when receiving these devices, the taxpayers are paying over $700 million a year for these power wheelchairs when they could be spending it on better things.

According to The Office of the Inspector General, in 2007 61 percent of power wheelchairs given to those on Medicare did not provide the correct documentation necessary to warrant the devices. Out of those claims, about 9 percent of the wheelchairs were deemed medically unnecessary while 52 percent had errors and misstatements on the claims.

Power Wheelchairs

While the power wheelchair devices cost around $3,000 each for every unit issued, they are rarely, if ever necessary. As recently reported by Fox Business commentator John Stossel, the power wheelchairs, while a novel innovation, are far less effective than cheaper scooter models which can also be subsidized by the government. Doctors and medical suppliers are often in cahoots to increase profits for specific brands and take advantage of tax payers and insurance companies to make their money.

How to Report Abuse

If you believe that you are being used as a pawn in a medical supplier’s scheme you should report abuse as soon as possible. The Medicare website gives some excellent tips on how to spot abuse and fraud first hand. If any of these scenarios happen to you, contact the Medicare hotline at 1800-Medicare:

• Suppliers try to cold call you and offer you a free power wheelchair or scooter out of the blue
• You find charges for medical equipment that has been returned or never received at all
• You are offered to have your copay taken care of by suppliers or your doctor

Just because you are offered a free electric powered device doesn’t mean that it actually free. Think of all the tax burdens you had to pay while earning money as a young worker. Too often there is nothing to show from it but government waste and corruption. By fighting this scourge you can help make the country’s infrastructure better and save money at the same time.

Bio: Sam Peters is a blogger with interests in financial and senior topics including retirement calculators.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Avoid Fraud In Your Power Mobility Purchase

Technorati Tags: Medicare, mobility, power wheelchair, scam

Related Posts

• November 15, 2011 -- Do Reconditioned Stairlifts Provide a Saving (0)
• October 17, 2009 -- Online Lottery Scams Target Seniors (0)
• September 1, 2009 -- Cheque Over-Payment Scam (1)
• June 23, 2009 -- Drug makers admit taking too much money (0)
• March 25, 2009 -- Grandson Scam (0)

This is a guest post by Teena Celis.  Although it applies to US citizens, citizens in most other countries will find the ideas useful.

The rising costs of everyday commodities are causing people all over the world to cut back on their expenses. Disposable incomes are getting limited; it’s getting tougher for people to make ends meet. 59% of available senior income is going towards housing and health care. This means there’s not much left over for food, transportation and other needs. How does a senior person save money in this kind of scenario?

Look For Senior Discounts

1. Don’t be afraid to ask for senior discounts for airline, bus, train, boat and other fares. Check online on the transport website for discounts.
2. Apply for an AARP card (http://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/) to become automatically eligible for accommodation discounts.
3. Check with credit card companies if you can get 50% off on interest rates, with no annual fees for your age.
4. Call your power company to ask for discounts for turning up the heat, adding insulation, and weather stripping, free energy assessment and so on.
5. Check for local grants for home improvements, infrared heaters and space heaters to keep your home warm.
6. Combine home and auto insurance with the same agent to obtain lower rates and ask for a senior discount on top of it.
7. Buy your fluorescent bulbs from Home Depot and Costco to enjoy rebates and a 6 pack for the cost of 2 bulbs.
8. Many stores and restaurants offer special discounts for seniors on certain days of the week; be sure to check.
9. Offer to pay your bill for 6 months at a time and obtain discounts for services such as your phone, cable and internet bills.
10. Take a defensive driving course and check with your auto insurance company if you can raise your deductibles.
    

    Save On Medical expenses

11. Medicines cost similar rates for dosages that are close, such as 5 mg and 10 mg. Invest in a pill splitter and split higher dosage meds in half and save money every month.
12. Buy diabetic and specialty supplies online to save money. Check auction sites for better rates when it comes to medical equipment.
13. In case your medical insurance does not cover certain expenses, ask your doctor if you can get a discount for paying in cash.
14. Check your insurance plan to see if you can avail discounts by ordering six months’ worth of routine medications at once by mail.
15. If you are not medically insured and are not eligible for Medicare, check if you are eligible for state-administered Medicaid programs. See http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidGenInfo for more information.
    

    Leverage Government Discounts and Assistance

16. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helps seniors and low income families pay their rents. See http://www.hud.gov/renting/index.cfm for details.
17. You can obtain help from SNAP, the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy nutritious food every month. Check for details on their website: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap for qualification requirements.
18. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, (LIHEAP) helps pay heating bills, provides energy-related home repairs and weatherization assistance for free. Check their website here http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap.
19. To know about other senior citizen and low income group aid programs, visit http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Benefits.shtml.
20. If you limited income, the Medicare Savings Programs (http://www.medicare.gov/contacts/staticpages/msps.aspx can help you increase your Social Security payment and minimize your medical insurance premiums.
21. Based on your eligibility criteria, you can cut back medicine costs via Medicare’s Extra Help and local prescription drug assistance programs.
22. The IRS helps senior citizens reduce $500 to $2000 from their annual tax  through local abatement, circuit rider and work-off programs. See http://www.irs.gov/individuals/retirees/index.html for more information.
23. Check with your state department if you qualify for a free cell phone plan. Each state has its own rules with regard to eligibility criteria.
24. Visit your local U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Eldercare Locator to find out what public benefits you’re eligible for. You can also get your eligibility screened online for free through NCOA’s BenefitsCheckUp® service.
    

    General Tips And Assistance

25. Look up senior citizen specific personal financial management tips and tools by Visa, at http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/retirement.
26. Look up AARP insurance recommendations if you’re over 50 years of age, for home and car insurance. You can successfully save more than 25% by increasing your insurance deductibles
27. Sign up for AAA, AARP affiliate programs and leverage member discounts for various things. You can do the same with credit card issuers as well. Keep checking their websites for the latest offers.
28. Many stores offer free customer rewards programs; be sure to sign up for these. You’ll get a store loyalty card and some coupons and discounts as well.
29. Clip store coupons from your Sunday papers, or browse coupon sites online. Through clever couponing, you can reduce your expense burden a great deal.
30. Check your community calendar for free events. You can get free entertainment, free meals and free stuff as well.

Author Bio:  Teena Celis is a freelance writer working for Adrenalin, a gift ideas company from Australia.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

30 Money Saving Tips for Senior Citizens

Technorati Tags: AARP, coupons, discounts, government

Related Posts

• August 20, 2009 -- US Health Reform Irks Some Seniors (0)
• February 18, 2009 -- US Seniors Need Stimulus Too (1)
• February 18, 2009 -- Long-Term Care Concerns Fuel Seniors Home Care Growth (0)

This is a guest post by Kimberly Wilson.

Let’s face it. As we continue the holiday season, more consumers are piling on more debt that they are already having trouble paying. It can be a tough situation because you want to make your loved ones feel special, but sometimes the seemingly best gifts can come at a high cost. Fortunately, it is more than possible to save money over the holidays and make your loved ones feel appreciated; it won’t even have to take a Christmas miracle.

Set Money Aside for Regular Expenses

Essentially what you’ll be doing here is finding out how much money you have to spend on gifts, travel, and entertainment. I emphasize focusing on your regular expenses first when doing this because they are overlooked surprisingly often during the holiday season. When budgeting for the holiday, you must take into account things like rent, groceries, and bills. Subtract that from your budget before considering holiday expenses.

Prioritize Big Expenses

Whether you’ve found the perfect yet costly holiday gift or that incredibly fun yet pricy getaway, odds are you will end up spending a good amount of money on at least one thing over the holiday. Pay very close attention to these possible purchases and choose them wisely according to your budget. Remember that the more big expenses you make, the less you will have to pay for smaller holiday items like decorations, nights out, and smaller gift exchanges.

Scrutinize Smaller Expenses

Once you have mapped out your large purchases over the holiday season, now you should evaluate your smaller purchases and find clever ways to save. For smaller gift exchanges, this could be looking for discounts or creating gifts from hobbies (great knitting skills are always appreciated in the holiday season … just keep the patterns and colors simple). Good cooking and photography tend to be very warming, tender holiday gestures as well.

One untapped source of cheap holiday gifts and decorations can be found inside thrift stores. While you won’t always find the sleekest items here, it is very possible to find some unique gems that can actually surprise and impress for a fraction of the department store cost. You may not find the perfect jewelry for your significant other, but you might find a warm or quirky gift for a friend.

Of course, beyond finding ways to cut gift or decoration expenses here and there, you should also diligently restrict purchases that you may not need. Try to make only the necessary purchases first. You can always get the cute decoration or expensive night out as your budget allows.

Sacrifice Normal Luxuries

Most people have things with which they treat themselves on a some-what regular basis. Maybe it’s a fancy night out, but it could be a more casual event like going out to lunch during work. Remember that any meal you are eating that you ordered out will cost much, much more than it would to make something yourself. Cutting back on small luxuries like that for a whole month can make a huge difference in your holiday budget

Byline:

This is a guest post by Kimberly Wilson. Kimberly is from accredited online colleges, she writes on topics including career, education, student life, college life, home improvement, time management etc.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Ways to Save Money This Holiday Season

Technorati Tags: Christmas, decoration, getaway, gift, luxuries

Other Posts From The Archives

• February 23, 2010 -- More Older Canadians Will Strain Federal Finances (0)
• February 2, 2009 -- Safeguard your savings (0)
• January 6, 2009 -- US Bailout Now $8 trillion (0)
• February 6, 2009 -- Reverse Mortgages (0)
• March 14, 2009 -- Ponzi Schemes, Madoff and More (0)

This is a guest post by Patty Kleen.

One of the greatest benefits of being a ‘senior’ is the freedom to do more traveling, but whether you want to explore the United States or the world travel is not cheap. There are some ways you can cut expenses, though, and still thoroughly enjoy your journeys. Here are five steps to take that will let you stretch your travel dollar.

Plan Ahead

Once you’ve selected a destination, do some research about the area. By searching online you can often discover the locations of free museums, local festivals, and other no cost or low cost sites that you would have fun visiting. You can also get the best price for flights when you make your arrangements at least 21 days in advance.

If you’re the impulsive sort, there is an exception to this rule. If cruises have extra rooms, they will often offer discount rates to fill the spaces. If you unexpectedly get the urge to say bon voyage, you could snag a great deal at the last minute.

Car Rentals

Again, this is something you need to do in advance. Look for car rental coupons online and compare rental agencies policies and prices. The sooner you reserve a car, the better price you will get because agencies raise their prices as their fleet becomes reserved. When the available inventory gets low, the price goes up. You may not be able to get the affordable car you want and be forced to accept a larger, more expensive vehicle. You can also save as much as 10 percent by renting a car away from the airport. If your motel offers airport shuttle service, use that and rent a car when you get there.

Join Groups that Offer Travel Discounts

Groups like AARP (American Association of Retired People) and Triple A motor club offer their members instant travel discounts at myriad locations. There is an annual fee required, but between the savings and other benefits you get, you easily save more than you pay.

Look for Package Deals

You can often cut costs by finding a package that includes your flight, your room, and even some extras thrown in. Do some comparison shopping online. You could be surprised at some of the great deals available.

Ask for the Discount

Don’t forget to ask the vendors you deal with if they offer senior citizen discounts. Even if you’re under 65, keep in mind that many places offer those discounts to people as young as 50. It doesn’t hurt to ask and you could be rewarded with substantial savings.

There are dozens of ways you can reduce the cost of traveling. Put some of these steps into practice and you’ll get more mileage for your money.

About the Author: Patty Kleen is a full-time writer with a passion for travel, retirement planning, and finance. She frequently writes about money saving tips, bad credit loans, bankruptcy, credit repair, and more.

Related articles

• The Frugal Traveler: How to save money on rental cars (knoxnews.com)

Post from: Senior Money Memos

5 Money Saving Tips for Seniors who Travel

Technorati Tags: automobile, car, deal, discount, rental

Related Posts

• January 28, 2009 -- Smaller cars, bigger car insurance rates (0)
• September 21, 2011 -- Apartment rentals for tourists (2)
• July 26, 2011 -- Tips for saving when booking travel online (0)
• March 29, 2010 -- Forever Young But Too Old To Rent A Car (0)
• January 29, 2009 -- Cash For Clunkers From Uncle Sam (1)

This is a guest post by Bernard Prince

With the increase of travel costs, perceptive travelers want to get the best deals. Booking travel online to locate savings on airfare, hotel reservations and car rental is a winning approach.

Select the exact date of the trip and look at the search engines for travel. They give lowest prices being offered on several websites and by the airlines. To back up this information, go to a free service that calculates which directions the airfares are likely to go. When clicking to buy the ticket, this site will direct one to the website offering the ticket and purchase the ticket. Some airlines offering low fares do not deal with these websites, so log directly onto the airlines website.

Is it easy to get the best travel deals if you do not have a specific date or city in mind or if you have flexible travel plan? Some website will combine and present a record of travel deals. If as a traveler you are flexible on the time or destination to travel, you should use the flexible setting on the travel search engine or include travel RSS feed in your bookmarks. The website can locate which airlines or airports in the area have cheaper flights.

Look for good buys on last minute flights by using airport codes.  Booking two one-way tickets can save cost. Airlines do not charge as much today for a one-way ticket. It can be cheaper to book on two different airlines.

Consider reserving your hotel online to find bargains. Use the major search engines to search numerous hotels for the lowest charge. You can use a “deal listing” site to find out hotel prices even though reservations are not made at these sites. Sometimes, a hotel’s website will offer last minute deals. Reviewing hotels online will give you an over view of lodgings.

As a discerning traveler, you can use websites to look for homes to rent for vacations. Homes offer the most for large families or groups of people who require more rooms, who might stay longer, or who want to use a kitchen.

Renting a car also can be easy on line but keep several words of advice in mind. Renting at the time of travel can get last minute deals. Rent the cars in advance and change the reservation if rates improve. Use a promotion code. Check on frequent flyer miles. Sometimes agencies add more flyer miles when the cars are rented through a particular agency or credit card.

While using the website, be sure that your credit card or car insurance conditions covers insuring rental cars. Do not sign up for the pre-paid gas choice. Moreover, rent the car for a week as that is cheaper. Try to rent the car at a location off airport as the airport charges more fees and taxes.

The most important to keep in mind when looking online for travelling is to bundle or make the reservation for airline tickets, accommodations and rental vehicle all at the same time to be sure you get all the discounts available. Whatever you’re looking for, online deals are always ephemeral so be sure to tie your travel package down promptly when you have found what you are looking for.

Bernard Prince is online travel specialist for VarVacations.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Tips for saving when booking travel online

Technorati Tags: airline, automobile, hotel, rental car, Travel

Related Posts

• October 16, 2011 -- 5 Money Saving Tips for Seniors who Travel (0)
• September 21, 2011 -- Apartment rentals for tourists (2)
• March 29, 2010 -- Forever Young But Too Old To Rent A Car (0)
• April 1, 2009 -- Seniors Travel More (0)
• January 29, 2009 -- Cash For Clunkers From Uncle Sam (1)

If you’re interested in finding good deals as I am, then you should check out the latest trend in frugal shopping. It’s called group-buying, an activity that has been around for a while certainly, but which is now really popular due to social networking sites that focus especially on making deals available to many consumers at once.

These sites essentially use the leverage of lots of consumers to create good deals. The most popular site that uses the power of group-buying is called Groupon. To give you an idea as to how popular it is, consider this: Google just tried to buy Groupon for nearly 6 billion dollars, according to Forbes, but the Groupon folks turned down their offer! You know if Google is interested, then it’s big.

If you’re unfamiliar with Groupon, here’s how it works. The site contracts with businesses in cities to offer a special group discount to everyone who buys through Groupon. Groupon only offers one deal a day, so users have to wait for the next day if they don’t like the current deal. Also, Groupon uses a pledge system that essentially holds the discount coupon from consumers until a minimum number of people have pledged to purchase the product or service. Once that minimum is reached, the site charges its users and releases the coupon so everyone who purchased it can print it out. By having a required minimum number of sales, Groupon can protect retailers and businesses from losing money. Groupon earns income by taking a cut of the transaction.

So how does Groupon help you? Well, if you take a moment to browse the site, you’ll see that many of these deals are huge discounts. It’s common to see discounts for up to fifty percent off of a product or service. Also, Groupon can help you out because the site often partners with local businesses, so you can take advantage of great savings in your area. For how complicated the entire operation seems, the actual Groupon service itself is really simple: you decide if you want the discount, pledge your payment, then wait to print out the coupon.

Of course, there are a few disadvantages to the service that you’ll want to be aware of. For example, Groupon serves many cities; however, it might not serve your specific city. In that case, you could always look for competitor’s sites. But, with the recent move by Google, we might expect Groupon to significantly expand its area of operation. Another problem with Groupon is that it has been criticized for actually taking advantage of the power of group buying to negative effects on retailers. The Gap lost, according to Mashable, nearly $7.5 million during a nationwide promotional sale through Groupon. Other retailers, such as Posie’s Café in Oregon, have also reported losses, especially because Groupon does not put a cap on purchases.

Groupon is a great resource for frugal shoppers, certainly, but it can also have its problems. If you’re interested in the service, give it a try, but also do some more research to see if it’s right for you. Remember, frugal shoppers are still a part of a community, especially if they patronize local businesses. Spending your money wisely is the hallmark of a frugal shopper.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Barbara Jolie, who writes on the topics of online classes.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: barbara.jolie876@gmail.com.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Groupon: A Useful Site for Frugal Shoppers

Technorati Tags: bargain, frugal, groupon

Other Posts From The Archives

• April 20, 2010 -- Good Retirement Planning (0)
• March 16, 2009 -- Canada Revenue Agency E-mail Scam (0)
• April 25, 2009 -- Perfect English Tea (1)
• February 25, 2009 -- Quebec Provincial Pension Fund Posts Record Loss In 2008 (0)
• February 11, 2009 -- A Good Solid Bank You Can Trust (0)

Having a bank is a necessity in modern-day living, but unfortunately many people are dissatisfied with the available choices.  At the start of this year Forbes listed America’s Best And Worst Banks, but it was somewhat surprising to see what they analyzed.

With Bank of America and Citigroup buoying their balance sheets and repaying billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout funds, the casual observer might assume the banking crisis is just about over. The casual observer would be wrong.  Lots of banks are going under these days. Here are the best and worst among the 100 largest.

Busted banks are still keeping the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. busy. In the past two months, 41 went under, surpassing the total of 26 for all of 2008. What’s more, by some measures bank balance sheets are in worse shape today than they were at the height of the financial crisis.

It is of course necessary that your bank will still be there when you wish to get your money.  However that is a very minimal criterion in selecting a bank.

Unfortunately reports since then indicate that on other dimensions, banks are not doing very well. One title suggested that Customer Satisfaction With the Biggest Banks Plummets.

While customer satisfaction with banks over all remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the year-earlier period, customer satisfaction with some of the biggest banks has declined to the lowest fourth-quarter levels in years.  The results, from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, back up similar findings from a Forrester Research report.  This found that customers of the biggest banks in the United States were the least likely to believe their financial institution did what was best for them as opposed to what was best for the institution’s bottom line.

A report from Reuters today shows that there is no improvement: Large bank customers  are even more dissatisfied.

Some of the largest U.S. banks were ranked very low for retail customer satisfaction.  A US marketing research company study by J.D. Power and Associates implies that as some of the biggest banks get bigger, customers may not be happy.  The three biggest U.S. retail banks — JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Chase, Citigroup’s Citibank, and Bank of America Corp’s Bank of America — consistently rank at or near the bottom for customer service in the regions they serve.

This dissatisfaction with banks and the service they provide seems to be the case wherever you look.  Here are some results from the UK on how different services rank for customer satisfaction.

According to a recent survey conducted by moneysupermarket.com, it is hairdressers and hotels that that we think provide the best service. While banks and estate agents are thought to offer the worst.  Restaurants, coffee shops, garden centres, supermarkets, clothes stores and entertainment centres such as the cinema and bowling alleys all scored highly with consumers.

Here below are the results for this year.  Compared to last year’s survey it would appear that the service provided by banks has actually got worse. Banks have dropped a place in this table.

The industries at the bottom of the table have all traditionally suffered a bad press. Most of them – banks, energy companies, estate agents – demand hefty fees of their customers and provide necessary and essential  services, rather than luxuries.

Unfortunately the attitude in many banks may be as Tom Peters said, that “we are no worse than the others”.  If you are looking for one of the best banks, hopefully you can find one that searches for banking excellence, which includes not only safeguarding your money but also delivering a high level of customer satisfaction.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Best Banks

Technorati Tags: Banking Services, banks, Customer service, Forrester Research

Related Posts

• November 2, 2009 -- Seniors Often Need An Ombudsman (1)
• March 8, 2009 -- Building Customer Loyalty – the old-fashioned way (0)
• January 4, 2009 -- Seniors Credit Card Debt (0)
• December 24, 2008 -- Money as Debt (0)
• December 23, 2008 -- One Law For The Rich, And … (2)

Google has up till now presented free (organic) search results accompanied by sponsored results.  The credit card comparison it now offers in the UK represents a significant departure.  As is noted in the footer:

Actual rates and other information may vary. Sponsored results shown only include participating credit card issuers. When you click on a card’s “Apply Now” link, the information you entered on this page will be shared with the issuer.

This new Google initiative is drawing the inevitable adverse criticism from the competition.  Here is how Moneysupermarket.com describes the additional values it brings to such credit card comparisons:

moneysupermarket.com’s successful formula comes from helping customers find the right card for them, with the option to search the whole credit card market, whilst providing help and support, such as independent reviews, to guide the customer’s decision making process.

In this latest move Google has abandoned its successful search model which comes from showing customers a combination of whole of market results, ordered by what is most relevant, plus sponsored results based on how much the advertiser pays. In this test they are simply listing cards that are prepared to pay to advertise, regardless of whether they are a great deal for customers. We are disappointed that Google has chosen to only feature sponsored products in this solution with nothing to support customers.

As well as seeing just a fraction of the credit card market customers who use this Google tool whilst it is in trial will miss out on at least one fantastic exclusive card coming soon only to moneysupermarket.com.

Paul Carpenter has a different concern about the Google credit card comparison website:

Verticals and niches are, to me at least, all about domain expertise and experience and I rely on brand perception to tell me where to find that.  As Google races against Bing to operate in verticals like this, it will be interesting to see whether its brand will resonate outside its core function. I suspect not, and I really don’t know why the tech market is so fetishistic about this stuff. Would you buy Coke jeans, or Marlboro branded microwave meals? Brands that are malleable enough to cross boundaries are vanishingly rare – an honourable exception being Virgin, who work in everything from cruises to space travel.

Clearly this test is very different from search activities that Google has worked on in the past.  Whatever the result of this test, it has big implications for where Google will be putting its efforts.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Google Offers Credit Card Comparisons

Technorati Tags: Bing, Financial services, moneysupermarket.com

Related Posts

• May 20, 2009 -- U.S. Credit Card Industry Faces Much Greater Regulation (2)
• April 6, 2009 -- Credit Cards – Good News, Bad News (1)
• March 17, 2009 -- Unjustified Bonuses Paid By Taxpayers (0)
• March 4, 2009 -- Women Need Financial Freedom (0)

Be warned that Online scams abound even on some of the most reputable websites such as Craigslist. Apparently some buyers are more interested in scamming you than in scoring a great deal.

Alan Munro posted an ad on Craigslist to sell a windsurfer board and was asked to email the prospective purchaser an invoice through PayPal. He did so and got an email that seemed to come from PayPal, saying that a remittance had been made. But since the invoice was in U.S. dollars, he was asked to pay the exchange difference before the money was released. Paypal does not send such emails and this was a scam.

Craigslist and other similar services such as Kijiji, suggest some simple rules to avoid getting taken in:

• Ensure that all transactions take place locally with local people you can meet face to face. Go to a public place with many people around, such as a coffee shop.
• Never send or wire money to buyers, which includes mailing cheques or using payment services such as PayPal, BidPay, Western Union or MoneyGram.

Applying just those two simple rules will ensure that you do not get taken in by these ever more prevalent scams.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Craigslist Rental Scam takes America! (dougfrancis.com)

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Watch Out For Online Scams

Technorati Tags: Confidence trick, Craigslist, PayPal

Related Posts

• September 23, 2009 -- Be Rude With Some People (2)
• August 14, 2009 -- Seniors Fall For Ponzi Schemes (0)
• February 7, 2009 -- Grandparents Scam (0)