Money Blue Book

PayPal and Equifax have an ongoing partnership where PayPal users can receive free credit monitoring alerts through Equifax. The interesting part is that you don’t need to have a PayPal account to receive the free service. You just have to visit PayPal’s website and click on the Equifax Credit Alert link. You will then be automatically redirected to Equifax’s website where you can register or sign in with your existing Equifax login ID. The offer is essentially open to everyone since there is no actual attempt to verify that you are indeed a PayPal customer. You just have to register through the PayPal link and the service is free.

I have not been a victim of credit fraud but I am learning to be more careful these days. I have given my confidential personal information numerous times to apply for various credit offers and contract job positions. It doesn’t cost anything to exercise a healthy level of caution and take advantage of the service.

The free Equifax standard credit monitoring service provides notifications to your chosen e-mail address or telephone number when the following account changes appear on your Equifax credit report:

• Balance amount increase,
• Balance percent increase, or
• New Equifax credit inquiries.

The alerts can be changed and customized to your preference, and you can decide on what dollar amount or percentage change you would like to be alerted about.

The downside is that the service only provides alerts for Equifax credit changes and doesn’t tell you which credit card triggered the alert. But hey, it’s definitely not bad for a free credit monitoring service.

Traffic and parking tickets are the absolute worst ways to have to spend your money. The only possible good that can come from it is that you save a few extra minutes by speeding or a few extra minutes by not having to find a less convenient parking space.

Pulled Over in New York and Paying Dearly

Earlier in the year, I was pulled over in upstate New York for greatly exceeding the 65 miles per hour speed limit. Needless to say I had no credible defense other than that I did so in an otherwise “safe manner” since there was no one else on the interstate highway. Obviously what I did was wrong and I paid heavily for it. I was fined $500 for the speeding violation and penalized an additional $450 for a New York state law called the Driver Responsibility Assessment, which imposes a stiffer penalty for greater violations. The total came to nearly $1000.

Virginia and the New $3,550 Speeding Ticket

Many states are enacting stiffer penalties for traffic violations. In Virginia, the government recently enacted a very controversial self proclaimed revenue-generating law that slapped many ordinary traffic offenses with an additional civil remedial fee. That means a motorist convicted of reckless driving (75 mph in a 55 zone would qualify) faces not only a fine of up to $2,500 and a year in jail, but a non-negotiable and non-waivable $350 a year tax for three years, bringing the total possible cost of a speeding ticket to a whopping $3550.

Costly, But I Learned My Lesson

Comparatively but thankfully, my offense occurred in New York state, and my total fine was only a “measly $1000.” I regret having to pay the fine but mostly, I regret having sped in the first place. I was not in a hurry and there was no emergency. Now I am down nearly $1000. Learn from my mistake, because it doesn’t pay to speed. The extra time you save by speeding is not worth the stiff penalty you’ll have to shell out if you’re caught.

Such a waste of money, but lesson learned.

In an earlier entry, I discussed about this new get paid to surf company called AGLOCO that was developing an application that shows ads on the bottom of your computer screen. For the past few months, users have been downloading and using the application, with the expectation that the company would ultimately fine tune its business plan and release news about the payment structure.

Last week, AGLOCO announced on its blog that it had finally signed one of its major revenue partnerships and that a formal announcement would be forthcoming. On the face of it, it seems like good news for the people that have downloaded the application and are actively accruing usage hours. The informal announcement suggests that the company is trying to carefully move towards a viable and sustainable implementation of its payment plan. I noticed that the company wisely steered away from further discussing its previous assertions that payment might also be made in the form of shares – most likely to avoid complications from possible securities law issues.

I remain cautious but encouraged, however, I suggest that you should keep your expectations reasonable. The payment structure is still being developed and there is no clear indication of what the payout really will be. I suspect it may not be as lucrative as some may have hoped. But usage of the AGLOCO application is free and early adopters will likely benefit the most from referrals.

This week, Apple released it’s newest iPod Nano model and a new update to its popular iPhone. The company has increased each unit’s storage space and the design makeover looks more tantalizing than ever. More the reason not to go out and buy one.

Those who must have the newest and fanciest gadgets will be shelling out a hefty premium to acquire them before anyone else. My advice is to stay away. You don’t need it so soon. Give it a few months for the frenzy to level off before you make your purchase. When the initial craze is over, prices will surely drop.

My Hasty Purchase Experience

Back when I was in graduate school I came across this new silver ultra-thin Sanyo cell phone. I was immediately hooked and hastily paid $350 for it. It wasn’t even a smartphone or a PDA. It was just a shiny new phone that looked amazing (this is back when thin phones were just being developed). Months later, the fascination of owning this new gadget wore off and I realized that I had made a costly mistake. Newer models had come out by then. If I had only waited a few months, I wouldn’t have paid so much.

Here’s another example. When the Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 video game systems first came out, bidders on eBay furiously bidding the prices to nearly twice or triple what the retail value was. It was all hype, plain and simple. Do the sensible thing and avoid the irrational exuberance.

Another Reason To Wait

It’s not just an economical consideration. Letting someone else be the early adopter has benefits as well. You can benefit from their experience and their reviews. New products often have hardware or software bugs that are solved in later models. If you wait just a few months, you won’t have to live with the same problems that an early adopter may face. Just a little bit of patience will ultimately save you money.