Are You Looking for Help With Loans, Debts, Insurance or Other Consumer Financial Decisions?

If you're looking for excellent consumer reports, advice and tips, you've come to the right place. I'm Max Anderson and I've got the answers to real consumer and financial questions here -- and we've put the answers in an easy consumer tips and reports format.

From debt help to boat loans... from auto insurance to payday loans, we provide you with the consumer reports you need to make your decisions -- and to make them wisely.

So what will you find on this site? You'll find consumer reports on home equity loans, auto insurance, debt consolidation and more. If you need to know about it, we've got the consumer reports and tips to cover it.

So sit back and take a look around. These consumer reports can save you time and money, but most of all they're meant to give you peace of mind.

To harried modern professionals -- especially the singles among us -- easy meals are always welcome. Often there just isn't enough time in the workweek to waste any of it in the kitchen, beyond preparing the occasional sandwich.

Continue reading "Easy Meals for the Busy Professional" »

Posted by Max at 7:24 PM | Permalink

You've probably heard a lot about password safety. Many people, though, think they don't need to worry. They assume that their password is unique, that nothing could ever happen to them, or that they don't use passwords enough to make it an issue.

But the simple truth is that your online safety and financial security are strongly related to password security. Here are just some of the problems that can follow a password hack.

Continue reading "The Essentials of Password Safety" »

Posted by Max at 3:46 PM | Permalink

If you're looking for money saving coupons, you probably fall into the huge percentage of Americans looking for ways to save. That was me, too, just a little while ago. I never really thought about how to save money with coupons because I associated them with old ladies trying to save ten cents on yogurt -- in other words, not worth clipping because they didn't make enough of a difference.

I needed to learn the real ins and outs of how to save money on groceries, not how to save 10 cents here and 20 there. But to my surprise, money saving coupons really do... well, save money!

Continue reading "Money Saving Coupons Make a Difference" »

Posted by Max at 3:44 PM | Permalink

If you've caught yourself impulse buying, you're not alone. In fact, many stores depend on the impulse buy, because they know if you stick strictly to items you need (or worse yet, those on a list!) they aren't going to get as much money as possible out of you.

So although it's your responsibility to resist the impulse purchase, you aren't necessarily a shopping compulsive just because you can't seem to resist those last minute buys. Stores set themselves up to direct you into impulse buying. Not sure how that can be? Just keep reading!

Continue reading "How to Resist Impulse Buying" »

Posted by Max at 3:42 PM | Permalink

In spite of the economy, many people still want to donate to charity. In fact, charitable donations have not taken much of a blow in spite of the current economic situation. Americans are generous people, and they realize that they are well off compared to the rest of the world.

It's wonderful to donate to charity, and I highly recommend it -- but that doesn't mean you should do so blindly. Unfortunately, not all charity organizations are what they seem to be. The worst types of crooks take advantage of your caring and decency by posing as charities and either taking all the money for themselves or donating only a very small portion to actual charity.

Fortunately, it's not all that hard to make sure your charitable donations go where they belong. Just a bit of charity research can make the difference.

Continue reading "Donate to Charity Safely and Responsibly" »

Posted by Max at 3:39 PM | Permalink

The insurance scam is, at its heart, straightforward robbery. The great thing about it (for the scammer, not you) is that they don't just steal from you once and run away. They get to keep stealing from you every month in the form of monthly payments, and if they're lucky -- and there's a good chance they will be -- you'll never even know.

Let's face it: most people don't need to use insurance very often. If it's something like medical insurance, then yes, you'll need it for common things like doctor visits and medication. But car insurance, home insurance, life insurance? These are the big ticket items that we hope we'll never need.

Continue reading "How to Spot an Insurance Scam" »

Posted by Max at 9:41 AM | Permalink

The Me to We movement offers a great opportunity for ethical shopping. It's not hard to find fair trade products and even eco friendly products these days. Most large centers have fair trade specialty stores, and a lot of major supermarkets and other chains have jumped on the ethical band wagon.

Even some major brands such as Cadbury have made a move towards greater responsibility by making their Dairy Milk bars fair trade. But for some reason, it's still difficult to find fair trade clothing. Getting clothes that don't cost a fortune, are made from eco friendly products, and don't involve slave labour can be a really difficult thing to do.

Continue reading "How to Change Shopping From Me to We" »

Posted by Max at 9:26 AM | Permalink

Insurance fraud is increasingly common these days. It takes many forms, but one of the most disturbing is "staged" accidents. These accidents, also called accident fraud, are exactly what they sound like. You're in a seemingly random collision that turns out to be not so random.

Now, you might be thinking, who in their right mind would stage a car accident just to get a bit of insurance money? You have to understand it's not a 'bit' of money -- or at least, it won't be once they're done. These criminals have all sorts of ways to amp up their accident fraud until insurance companies are paying through their teeth -- and trust me, your premiums will reflect it.

Continue reading "Make Sure Your Car Accident Isn't Insurance Fraud" »

Posted by Max at 9:21 AM | Permalink

I learned about responsible credit card use the hard way. Since then, it's become part of my mission to make sure other people don't suffer the same problems I did. Credit card debt is something that can get out of control very quickly, and it can literally ruin your life. Take steps to prevent those problems before they happen.

Continue reading "Responsible Credit Card Use " »

Posted by Max at 10:27 AM | Permalink

Every electronic shop in the world pushes extended warranties. In fact, at the big chains, employees earn bonuses for selling an extended warranty to a customer. That in and of itself doesn't mean an extended warranty is a bad thing -- many companies encourage sales through commissions and bonuses. But it does beg the question, why the focus on getting customers to buy extended warranty services?

Continue reading "Are Extended Warranties Worth It?" »

Posted by Max at 10:23 AM | Permalink