If you are looking for a place to rent and happen to come across a rental listing with lower-than-average price, do not jump up and down in excitement. Instead, keep the alert flag goes up in your brain.

Scammers target the users of Craigslist and other classifieds websites and place the rental ad with ridiculously low prices. For example, they put a listing for 1BR furnished apartment for $425 whereas the going rate in the market is $1,000 for similar apartments. The price is the bait. Once you fall for it and send an email to the ad poster, you would get the response something like the one below:

Thank you for the most eloquent response to my listing, I’m the owner of the apartment you are making inquiry of. Actually i resided in the apartment with my family, before i lost both parents in a ghastly motor accident so i had to relocate to Africa with my fathers half brother working in an oil firm in Africa.(W.AFRICA) and presently my apartment is still available for rent which i inherited from my late parents . It includes  utilities like hydro, washer and security, I have my furniture in the apartment. if you which to move in with your furnished items there is a storage area where you can move my furniture’s, no problem. Please i want you to note that i am a kind and honest  young man and also you should know that my parents must have spent a fortune on the property that i want to give you for rent, i will want you to take absolute care of my apartment and I want you to treat it as your own, money is not the most important thing but i want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i come for check up. RENT INCLUDES CABLE, HEAT/AIR, WATER, GAS AND INTERNET!!!

N:B :  You will not be able to see inside of the apartment because the keys/document is here with me, you can only go by it and view from the exterior/surroundings, it’s located in a convenient, safe and good location. You would love to call it a home….

Nice email, isn’t it? If you fall for it and decide to rent the apartment without even looking inside, the scammer will ask you to send money to his african bank account and promise you that he will mail you the key thru UPS. By now, you would have probably guessed what would happen after you send the money to the scammer.

If you are naive and decide to send the money anyway for the fear of losing the super sexy apartment, you will never get the key for the apartment. You may be even surprised to know that the property owner is living right there in the apartment with his parents and have no idea about who placed the rental ad.

If you are itching to find out what the deals are going to be next Friday, check out the following sites.

Black Friday Ads

Deal Taker

Both sites give the preview of what retailers like Amazon, Target are going to offer next week. I suspect the retailers are intentionally “leaking” this information to have marketing edge.

529 College Savings Plans are arguably the best way to fund your children’s higher education, and has long sense surpassed the traditional methods like, Custodial Accounts and Educational IRA’s.

A 529 Plan is an educational savings plan is a plan set up under the IRS code 529, to help families fund their children’s education, and have significant tax breaks. I does not matter what state you live in or what state your child goes to school in; you can still fund his or her 529 plan.

Here are 5 benefits of 529 plans that you’ll want to know about.

Federal Tax Breaks: While your deposits in the plan are not deductable on your tax return it grows tax deferred. When your child is ready to attend college, distributions that are used for those expenses are tax free. It’s not hard to imagine the bite the IRS would take out of an investment that grew from twenty grand to two hundred grand, and that is what used to happen to the old college savings accounts, like custodial accounts. Keep in mind, if you use the money for non college expenses you will be subject to federal and state taxes.

State Tax Benefits: Nearly every state offers the same benefits as the Feds do, but just check in your particular state to make sure. If your state does not offer any benefits at the state level, just switch to a state that does, and you do not have to move to receive those benefits.

You Control the Funds: Unlike the old custodial accounts and Educational IRA accounts, the 529 account does not automatically become the property of the beneficiary. In other words, if your child decides not to go to school he cannot just take the money and run when he turns eighteen. You can hold on to the funds or fund the education of a younger sibling or a relative. Of course if your child does so well he/she gets a free ride in the school they are going to, then you can use the funds to help another child.

Large Deposits are allowed: With the old accounts, there were always the strict limits the IRS put on such accounts when it came to deposits. In many states you are able to contribute $300,000 or more, a far cry from the $500 limit of the old Educational IRA’s.

Flexibility: You have the ability to change 529 plans if you decide the plan of a different state is more beneficial than your current plan. You can do this once every twelve months for the life of the account.

So there you have it, five of the top benefits to the 529 plans. Do your research, determine which plan is most beneficial to you and get started funding your children’s college education.

Related Links: How to save money for college | How to save money on education costs

What happens to my credit score when a mortgage lender checks my credit? The old answer used to be, “your score drops.” Not so any more.

If you are getting ready to purchase a home, or refinance an existing home, do all of your investigation within a thirty day period. The law says your score will only drop one time in a thirty day period if you are getting a home loan or purchasing a car. If you have the first potential lender run your credit on March first, make sure that at the end of the month you don’t allow any other lenders to check your credit. That of course could lower your score, maybe enough to disqualify you from the low rate you could have had.

“But my lender warned me not to let anyone else check my credit or my score will drop.” That’s a common sales tactic to scare borrowers from shopping around; don’t believe it. The next question people often have is, “How much could my score drop if I apply for a loan outside of my thirty day window?”

I had the opportunity to ask a representative from TransUnion that very question and received the following answer. “There is no way to tell for sure.”

Before I could object, he qualified his answer and here it is in a nutshell. How much ones score will drop is dependent on a number of factors. Some of those being; number of revolving accounts open, debt to available credit ratio, length of time accounts have been open, and of course adverse factors like late payments on accounts. Those are just a few factors that influence how much you score will drop.

Be safe, do all your searching for lenders in the thirty day window and you won’t have to worry about your score dropping fifteen points and disqualifying you from the best possible rate you qualify for.

Don’t tell your appraiser about the leaky faucets: Or the mildew on the ceiling and the water stains on the wall. If you have any similar issues there is no point in having an appraisal done. Your appraiser will notice these issues however minor and he will include it in his report. Your lender will of course see it and halt the process. You’ll have to fix the issues then have the lender send the appraiser out again to verify the problems are taken care of. You will probably have to pony up another $100. Once your loan has been pulled out of the line in the funding process it could easily cost you fifteen days or more.

Leave the five broken down cars on your lot: Okay, so maybe you are not operating a car repair shop on your off days, but your appraiser and lender don’t know that. If it is decided that you have income producing property there are different guidelines and it may cost you points and a rate. It may even cost you the loan. Clean up your lot and clear out anything that may be misconstrued as a side business on the premises, either inside or out. I’ve had borrowers who failed to mention they operated a daycare in their home and the lender was not happy to find that out late in the funding process. I was not too thrilled either.

Occupy your owner occupied home: Everyone is looking to get the lowest possible rate and no one wants to pay that extra one percent in rate because the home they are refinancing is a non owner occupied home. Quite often borrowers will tell the lender and the appraiser it is occupied by them but there are ways the lender can find out. For example, the docs you sent in all had a home address different than that of the “owner occupied” home they are refinancing. That one catches a lot of people. If the appraiser inspects the house and strangely finds pictures of the Ramirez family on the walls instead of the McKenzie family you’ve got a problem. You may still get away with it. Bear in mind most lenders require you occupy an owner occupied home for one year and if it is found in that time that you do not live there the entire balance of the loan can come due. Just don’t take the risk.

There are any number of ways to derail your loan process and those are just a couple common ones. Be honest and upfront with your lender in the entire process and you will find you are having a much better experience.

For those who are looking to refinance their home, determining the value of your house can be critical. No one wants to go through the long and laborious process of a refinance only to be shot down by a value that is too low to go ahead with the loan.

Ideally you should try to determine your home’s value before starting the process, and here is one way to do so. The first thing I would do is check the last appraisal and find the value you got on it. If it has been a couple years or more you will probably find your home value has increased. However, with the meltdown in the real estate market, your home may not have appreciated much so finding an accurate value is very important.

Look for the appraisers name and phone number at the bottom of your last appraisal report and start with them first. Make the call to the appraiser, let him know your plans, and ask him to give you a comparable value. Let him know if you have done any work on the home that may affect its value. Be honest as well if there are some issues that may negatively impact its value. Appraisers don’t like surprises and neither will you when your home appraises for less than expected. The appraiser that did your last inspection will probably remember your home after he glances at your report and he is more likely than anyone to give you a reliable value. Keep in mind of course, that the value he gives you on the phone is just an estimate. You will still need a full inspection. Still, once given an estimate, they are usually pretty accurate and you will likely not be surprised down the road.

Most of the work of an appraisal is done in the office doing research on the computer. In fact the average appraiser will spend thirty minutes at your house and another five hours in the office. Even if the guy who inspected your home has moved on, they will probably still have the appraisal in their computer system. Any appraiser there should be able to access it and call you back with a value.

Once you have that value, you are green lighted to go ahead and find a lender to work with. If you cannot determine who did your last inspection there are ways to find your home’s value so look for other articles addressing this issue.

You don’t need to lose your ATM card for someone to steal the money from your account. You just need to swipe the card in a compromised ATM machine to give all your information to identity thieves. ATM Skimming is the process in which crooks steal your ATM card information without your knowledge. Wall Street Journal published article detailing this prevalent identity theft problem.

It’s always a better idea to use the ATM machines only in the bank branches. Do not use the ATM card when you travel abroad. Do not use ATM card in gas stations, strip clubs and in any place where the ATM machine looks different than usual. According to Wall Street Journal, sophisticated skimming devices are placed right over a card-reader slot that allows the scammers to capture the information embedded on the magnetic strip of a debit or credit card. Camera mounted on the right place also captures your hand movements and PIN number. If you are curious about how a skimmer would look like, take a look at the following video.

It’s highly recommended to cover the keyboard with the other hand when you key in your PIN to block anyone or a camera from seeing your PIN. This may seem paranoid, but it’s better to look paranoid than actually losing lot of money. If the ATM machine looks different than usual or if it looks crooked or damaged, just walk away.

Related Link: Man accused of installing cameras in ATM machines

Take a look at the last few trading days and you’ll see that market volatility is back in a big way. Ever since the Eurozone fears started and the market plunged nearly 1,000 points intraday, investors have been quite skittish. As someone who has followed the market for years I can tell you that when this kind of trading gets started, it often takes quite a while before it quits. Plan for volatility over the next few weeks and months in the stock market.

While many investors are simply worried by volatility, it can be used as both a time to learn important lessons in the market and take advantage of opportunities available to you. Let’s take a look at the game plan you should have in volatile markets and how you can profit.

• Don’t make any split second decisions- Decisions made very quickly often come back to haunt you, especially when the market is moving so quickly. Buys or sells that weren’t thought out well are poisonous in this kind of a market. Plan ahead and be prepared well for what may come next.
• Make a stock shopping list- This is vitally important if you wish to profit from huge selloffs during market volatility. During volatile times there are bound to be huge down days, where you might find some of your favorite names down 20% or more in the period of just a few days. If there is no valid reason for this stock to perform this way, consider it a sale price on that stock.
• Pay close attention to trading actions- History often repeats itself in the stock market, so I like to tell people to pay attention to how the market reacts. Knowledge is power at all times, but that knowledge can help you even more in volatile markets where many others simply don’t understand what may be coming next.

Volatility in the stock market can be scary, but if you have a game plan it can help you be a step ahead of the pack!

In the last few weeks gold prices have made a jump to levels never seen before. Today gold prices topped $1,245 an ounce as fears about the Greek debt problem and the subsequent bailout program from the European Union.  If you have followed gold very closely at all you know that gold is the ultimate safe haven play when other assets and currencies are under pressure. The current flight to safety is one that many had predicted for quite some time. Obviously, those who own gold right now are happy. The bigger question is, over the long run, should you own gold in your investment portfolio?

There is no doubt that gold is a safe investment that will help you sleep better at night. It is the kind of asset that always perks up nicely when all of the others are in deep trouble. The fact that it is safe does not mean it always moves higher though, which many investors can sometimes misunderstand. If you take a close look at a historical gold chart showing prices between 1980 and 2000, you’ll see exactly what I am speaking about. In 1980 gold traded most of the year between 650 and 700. In the year 2000, gold prices sat at about 275-300. A 20 year long investment in gold would have hurt the investment portfolio in a big way. At the same time, if you had invested around 300 about ten years ago, the current levels above 1,200 have allowed you to quadruple your money. The point here is that despite the safety of gold, it undergoes huge price swings.

Since gold is currently trading at a historical high, it is hard to recommend putting money into the precious metal at this point. History tells us that the price of gold will go through cycles, which means you are in quite a bit of danger if you invest at a historical high. Should you own gold inside your portfolio of investments? The answer is likely yes, but a wise investor will pick their spots and keep it as a small percentage of their portfolio, primarily for diversification and safety during troubled times.

Yesterday’s stock market plunge of 998 points was the biggest intraday loss in the history of the United States stock market. The rumors are flying around about what caused this, but it appears it was some sort of trader error. Many are calling it a fat finger error that crushed the stock market. It seems someone input b for billion instead of m for million when selling a basket of stocks. The end result was relentless selling from computer trading that knocked the market way back on its heels. Between 2:45 and 2:55 eastern time on May 6, 2010, just about no one had any idea what was going on in the stock market.

The unthinkable happenings of that 998 point plunge rattled the markets and shook investors confidence in a big way. There are definitely going to be more questions in the weeks and months ahead about the safety of almost solely computer trading on the stock exchanges. What happened in this plunge was certainly abnormal, and the sooner investors know what happened and if it can be avoided again, the better things will go in the near future. The VIX has shot higher to almost 40, after sitting at about 16 in the last few weeks.

For now, the stock market is going to be extremely volatile. The confidence of the retail investor had to be hurt by yesterday’s ridiculously fast drop in stocks. Think about all the questions surrounding the market right now and you’ll realize why volatility is the name of the game. The European credit crisis, the oil spill in the Gulf, attacks thwarted in New York City, and the list goes on and on. Even as solid non farm payrolls came out today, the market is still shocked from yesterday. The lesson here is this, the stock market will have to work out the current issues and in the interim stocks will be extremely volatile. I think investors would be wise to make out a list of names they think might be good buys and get ready to get into the market if the panic gets overdone.