Americans struggling with student loan debt got a dose of “hope” from President Obama, when he announced his new plan to help ease student loan debt. Unfortunately, it seems to be more false “hope,” than true relief.

There’s no doubt the problem is significant and needs attention. Student loan debt reached $1 trillion this year, which now exceeds Americans’ credit card debt.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Finally, a less expensive alternative to the ever popular Apple iPad in the very crowded electronic tablet market. The Amazon Kindle Fire premiered to much anticipation but also skepticism.  Many tout the Kindle Fire’s ability to play Adobe Flash Video, while Apple has refused to include this feature.  Kindle Fire’s lower price point of $199 also makes it an attractive alternative to the iPad, which starts at $499.  So, is the Kindle Fire an iPad killer?  Click here to watch a comparison and decide for yourself.

MSNBC compares the features of the Amazon Kindle Fire to the more expensive and more popular touchscreen tablet Apple iPad 2.   Click here to read more.

And that’s for families who get coverage from their employers. If you’re paying COBRA premiums like Schaub, or buying on the individual market, the costs are often much higher.

Click here to read more in this article from the St. Pete Times.

Using the “produce the note” strategy is something all homeowners facing foreclosure can do. If you believe you’ve been treated unfairly, fight back. We have created templates for a legal request, a letter to your lender and a motion to compel to help you through the process. Read the step by step “how to” under the videos.

Special note: In some states, a lender can foreclose on your home without going to court. These are called non-judicial foreclosure states. You can still use the “Produce the Note” strategy in these states, but it takes a few more steps on your part.

Produce the Note – Steps To Follow:

WHO OWNS THE NOTE?

Your goal is to make certain the institution suing you is, in fact, the owner of the note (see steps to follow below). There is only one original note for your mortgage that has your signature on it. This is the document that proves you owe the debt.

During the lending boom, most mortgages were flipped and sold to another lender or servicer or sliced up and sold to investors as securitized packages on Wall Street. In the rush to turn these over as fast as possible to make the most money, many of the new lenders did not get the proper paperwork to show they own the note and mortgage. This is the key to the produce the note strategy. Now, many lenders are moving to foreclose on homeowners, resulting in part from problems they created, and don’t have the proper paperwork to prove they have a right to foreclose.

THE HARM

If you don’t challenge your lender, the court will simply allow the foreclosure to proceed. It’s important to hold lenders accountable for their carelessness. This is the biggest asset in your life. It’s just a piece of paper to them, and one they likely either lost or destroyed.

When you get a copy of the foreclosure suit, many lenders now automatically include a count to re-establish the note. It often reads like this: “…the Mortgage note has either been lost or destroyed and the Plaintiff is unable to state the manner in which this occurred.” In other words, they are admitting they don’t have the note that proves they have a right to foreclose.

If the lender is allowed to proceed without that proof, there is a possibility another institution, which may have bought your note along the way, will also try to collect the same debt from you again.

A Tennessee borrower recently had precisely that happen to her. Her lender, Ameriquest, foreclosed on her in July of 2007. About three months later, another bank sent her a default notice for the mortgage on the house she just lost. She called to find out what was going on. After being transferred from place to place and left on hold for lengthy periods of time, no one could explain what happened. They said they would get back to her, but never did. Now, she faces the risk of having her credit continually damaged for a debt she no longer owes.

FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS

This process is not intended to help you get your house for free. The primary goal is to delay the foreclosure and put pressure on the lender to negotiate. Despite all the hype about lenders wanting to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, most borrowers know that’s not the reality.

Too many homeowners have experienced lender resistance to their efforts to work out a payment structure to keep them in their homes. Many lenders bear responsibility for these defaults, because they put borrowers into unfair loans using deceptive, hard-sell practices and then made the problem worse with predatory servicing.

Most homeowners just want these lenders to give them reasonable terms on their mortgages, many of which were predatory to begin with. With the help of judges who see through these predatory practices, lenders will feel the pressure to work with borrowers to keep them in their homes. Don’t forget lenders made incredible amounts of money by using irresponsible practices to issue and service these loans. That greed led to the foreclosure crisis we’re in today. Allowing lenders to continue foreclosing on home after home, destroying our neighborhoods and our economy hurts us all. So, make it hard for your lender to take your home. Make ‘em produce the note!

STEPS TO FOLLOW

A. If your lender has already filed suit to foreclose on your home:

1. Use the first form. It’s a fill-in-the-blank legal request to your lender asking that the original note be produced, before it can proceed with the foreclosure. In some jurisdictions, the courts require the original request to be filed with the clerk of court and a copy of the request to be sent to the attorney representing the lender. To find out the rules where you live, call the Clerk of Court in your jurisdiction.
2. If the lender’s attorney does not respond within 30 days, file a motion to compel with the court and request that the court set a hearing on your motion. That, in effect, asks the judge to order the lender to produce the documents.
3. The judge will issue a ruling at your hearing. Many judges around the country are becoming more sympathetic to homeowners, because of the prevalence of predatory lending and servicing. In the past, many lenders have relied upon using lost note affidavits, but in many cases, that’s no longer enough to satisfy the judge. They are holding the lender to the letter of the law, requiring them to produce evidence that they are the true owners of the note. For example:

• In October 2007, Ohio Federal Court Judge Christopher Boyko dismissed 14 foreclosure cases brought by investors, ruling they failed to prove they owned the properties they were trying to seize.

B. If you are in default, but your lender has not yet filed suit against you:

1. Use the second form. It’s a fill-in-the-blank letter to your lender which also requests they produce the original note, before taking foreclosure action against you.
2. If the lender does not respond and files suit against you to foreclose, follow the steps above.

• Insurance companies no longer allowed to discriminate against children with pre-existing conditions
• Insurance companies barred from placing lifetime caps on benefits
• Insurance companies barred from dropping patients’ coverage when they get sick
• Children allowed to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until their 26^th birthday
•  A 10% tax on indoor tanning services
• Insurance companies must prove they spend 80% to 85% of premium revenue on medical services
• Insurance companies required to disclose rate increases (and the reason) of 10% or more
•  Government-run insurance plan set up for adults with preexisting conditions who are denied coverage
• Seniors receive a $250 rebate to help cover the so-called “donut hole” in Medicare drug coverage
•  Free preventative care covered by Medicare and private plans. 
•  Nursing mothers to be allowed lactation breaks
•  Government-run long-term care program set up. For those who participate, people pay premiums for five years and then will receive benefits if they need them
• Small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees) begin receiving tax credits covering 35% of premiums to help them buy coverage. (This credit jumps to 50% in 2014.)
• States receive billions in funding for community health centers
• Drug companies face $2.5 billion in fees (rises in later years)
• Creation of a government research institute created in to examine the effectiveness of medical treatments
• Establishment of a Medicare Independent Advisory Board, which will be tasked with trying to keep Medicare spending down and submitting legislative proposals to do so. It will first submit recommendations in 2016.

Okay, what happens next.  Republicans argue the bill was front-loaded with postive stuff, but then launches the rub.  Here are some of the measures that take effect in the coming years:

• In 2013, new taxes and fees go into effect for:
  •  individuals making more than $200,000 a year (and families making more than $250,000 a year)
  • on dividends and interest
  • on sales of medical devices
• By 2014, the individual mandate goes into effect — if you don’t have insurance, you have to buy it or face a fee.
• By 2016, that fee will be 2.5% of your income or $695 a year, whichever is more.

Click here to read more on MSNBC’s First Read.

Here are the top ten most expensive states:

1. Michigan, $2,541
2. Louisiana, $2,453
3. Oklahoma, $2,197
4. Montana, $2,190
5. Washington, D.C., $2,146
6. California, $1,991
7. Mississippi, $1,896
8. New Mexico, $1,896
9. Arkansas, $1,836
10. Maryland, $1,807

Click here to see the full list and read more on CBS MoneyWatch.com.

Gold has shown an increase in value over the past year, going from about $1,100 per troy ounce (31.1035 grams) to over $1,400 per troy ounce, an increase of over 27%. Popular commentators such as Glenn Beck have touted the purchase of gold coins as a safe haven against our troubled economy.

The ad describes the historic $50 Buffalo Gold Coin, the first 24 karat gold coin minted by the United States, and offers this “tribute copy” of the popular collector’s and investment item. The ad states that the gold in the coins for sale is 0.9999 percent pure gold, and “your own copy of the $50 Gold Buffalo” can be bought for only $9.95.  A year ago, the earlier version of the same coin by “National Collector’s Mint” sold for $19.95, so this is an even better deal, right? No wonder purchases are limited to five per caller.

A very careful review of the new gold coin ads, however,  reveals that the advertised “Buffalo Tribute Proofs” are actually “gold-clad coins.” Rather than pure gold coins, they are actually what amounts to gold-plated coins. Listen carefully and you will and you will learn that the actual content of gold in each coin is 14 milligrams. That’s 14/1000th of a gram!

Please do the math, dear consumer. At $1,400 per ounce, that means the gold in these coins is actually worth 63 cents! At $9.95 per coin, that’s quite a markup.

The ads state that because “supplies are limited,” purchases will be limited to only five per customer, and the price can be guaranteed for only seven days. So those unfortunate enough to snatch up five of these coins will get $3.15 worth of gold for “only” $49.75! Interestingly, a year ago when pure gold sold at a lower price, this same company sold the same “Buffalo Tribute Proof” for $19.95. That earlier coin had a whopping 31 milligrams, worth $1.10 back then, about the same comparatively poor deal.

An actual “$50 Buffalo Gold Proof” coin is priced by the U.S. Mint at $11,060.

Buying gold can be a sensible investment for some people. Like anything else, it is an investment with risk. If you buy gold now at the current high of $1,400, and it dips back down to 2009 levels, you could lose your shirt. During a span of several months in 2008, gold went from $1,000 to $700. Just as many learned from the real estate bubble, gold prices (like real estate) don’t always go up.

If you are considering buying gold as an investment, be sure to watch out for common scams in this market. Here are the top five:

1. Grade – True gold coins are graded, and prices can fluctuate greatly based on the grade assigned. A “mint condition” Gold Eagle coin can sell for $2,850, whereas the price of the same coin graded “very clean” (indiscernible to the amateur eye) can be $1,650. How honest is the assigned grade?
2. Presentation – Be wary of gold coins encased in nice looking packages or coatings that prevent you from actually examining the coin. The seller might be hiding something.
3. Gold Indexes – Some gold indexes cannot be trusted. The investment bank Salomon Brothers used to compile a gold index showing huge annual appreciation figures for gold coins, but these were based on a set of very rare coins, not the type commonly sold.
4. Gold held in escrow – Afraid of losing your precious gold to robbers? Don’t worry, the helpful seller will hold the gold for you. Are you sure it even exists?
5. Government seizure – In 1933, the government seized gold held in bank deposits, paying $20.67 per ounce per executive order. It is highly unlikely, but not impossible, that future circumstances could result in similar action.

Now we can add yet another potential scam to this list. Listen carefully, be sure to read all of the fine print, and do the simple calculation yourself. How much are you really paying for the actual gold in the coin?

Weekend charging: The new rules say if a due date falls on a weekend or holiday when the bank is closed, you can pay your bill on the next business day and not be hit with a late fee. But banks are keeping a few branches open on weekends, just so they can charge that fee.

College gotchas: The new rules say that if you’re under 21, you can’t get a credit card unless you have a parent co-sign or can show proof of a job that would allow you to pay your bills. But card companies seem to be looking the other way when classmates act as co-signers.

And there’s much more.  Click here to read the full report on CBS MoneyWatch.

Looking for a bargain, but tired of all those paper coupons in your desk that expire before you remember to use them? Looking for fine wines at half price rather than just 50 cents off a tube of toothpaste? Welcome to Groupon, one of the fastest growing internet fads of the past few years.

Groupon, an internet group coupon site, is less than two years old and has already grown to become the latest dot.com fad, with $350 million in revenues, making its founder and CEO Andrew Mason a 29 year old multimillionaire. In fact, recent estimates of the company’s value range as high as $1.2 billion. With more than a million members, and people signing up every day, what has made Groupon so popular? Is it a great way to great deals, or is it just another trendy gimmick to suck dollars out of well intended shoppers who never end up using the coupon dollars they set a side?

How Groupon Works

Group coupons offer people discounts if they sign up for the deal in large numbers. Although other “group coupons” are offered at other places, Groupon is unique in its approach. In over 150 cities across the United States and Canada, members are offered one new deal every day in their community. If you sign up, these deals, for anything from 50% off at a local upper scale restaurant to a major discount at a fine wines store, show up in your email. If you choose to participate, the money is deducted from your registered credit or debit card, and a coupon is made available to you, for use at the merchant’s store for up to one year. A running tab is kept of your purchases on line, so you can see what deals you’ve purchased at any time.

A minimum number of people have to sign up for the group discount before it becomes effective. Should not enough people sign up, your money is refunded. A happy customer we’ve talked to, however, tells us that he has never had an instance where an insufficient number of people signed up.

In return, the featured merchant of the day obtains free advertising and access to a large group of people spending money at its establishment, justifying the large discounts being offered, and perhaps resulting in many return customers for the future. Groupon gets a percentage of the deal from the merchant.

What’s Offered on Groupon?

The variety of services and products made available for group discounts on a daily basis is phenomenal. Massages, stays at resorts, fine wines, boat rentals, portrait sittings, Gap purchases, and gourmet food shops are just some of the deals being offered. One company in the District of Columbia offered “teeth whitening” (normally a $600 procedure there) for only $185.  Each offer is for deep discounts, ranging from 40% to 90% off the normal price.

The founder, Andrew Mason, describes the company’s philosophy this way: “Part of the fun of this business is sending a deal that is for something you normally don’t do, like getting a deal to go to an indoor rock-climbing facility or experience a sensory-deprivation tank, and suddenly that person is saying, ‘Well, if I’m ever going to do this now, this is the time,’ and then maybe that person becomes an avid rock climber as a result.”

One customer told CWN that her daughter discovered that a mountain resort in Oregon was offering a Groupon rate of $122 per night for a large room with a fireplace and overlooking the golf course and Oregon mountains, a perfect location for the daughter’s upcoming wedding. In addition, the offer included a coupon for $40 off food and beverages at the resort.

Groupon’s Success Story

For a start up company already to be earning $350 million in revenues, something must be driving such a success. Andrew Mason points to the recession as a major factor. “I think one of the reasons for our success is that people got used to certain luxuries during better economic times. What Groupon does is allow people to do those things.”

Fast growth and quick revenues has attracted even more investment dollars. In April, 2010, Digital Sky Technologies (DST), a global investment firm located in Russia (which also has invested in Facebook), pumped an additional $135 million into the company, with new plans to expand Groupon’s availability worldwide.

Is it Safe?

Because your purchases are paid for as soon as you sign up for the offer, by deductions from your registered debit or credit card, concern for the financial safety of your information must be a concern. Groupon participates in the “TRUSTe” site validation service, an entity that certifies “trustworthy web sites” that protect customers’ privacy rights. eBay, Microsoft and Cisco, among other major sites, also carry the TRUSTe certification, and CWN has heard of no complaints from customers about the safety of the web site.

Because the Groupon offers are being made to many people at the same time, there is always a concern that the local participating business might not be able to handle the volume of new business. CWN has learned that one such offer, a $50 coupon at Gap clothing stores for only $25, was so popular that the Groupon site itself temporarily went down due to huge traffic. We have not, however, heard of any complaints that stores were not able to meet the demands of customers signing up for their deals.

In an August, 2010, article at the AOL Small business site, Andrew Mason stated: “Ninety-seven percent of the businesses featured on Groupon want to be featured again, and we don’t have too tough a time signing up businesses. In fact, I looked at our number this week — we have nearly 7,000 businesses, spread out over 150 cities, lined up to be featured in the queue.”

Complaints

Groupon is not without its critics. In March, a Chicago law firm filed a class action complaint, alleging that the company violates Illinois consumer protection laws by selling gift certificates that expire in fewer than five years. Groupon denies that it violates this law, and counters that the company has a “no-questions-asked” refund policy so that anyone dissatisfied with his or her transaction can always get a full refund.

A few people have pointed out that because of the deep discounts, combined with the cut taken by Groupon, the merchant often is receiving as little as 25% of its normal price for the product or service, raising concerns, for example, that the $20 massage you may get might actually not be as good as the full price massage under normal circumstances. A check of online comments by consumers, however, reveals that the vast majority of people using Groupon report a favorable experience with the company.

Coupon Redemption Rates

There is one potential downside to the use of coupons by consumers. In 2009, business nationwide issued 367 billion coupons, of which only 3.3 billion were redeemed by consumers. That’s a redemption rate of slightly under 1%. The average value of those coupons was, however, only $1.44.

Since Groupon purchases are immediately deducted from your account, failure to redeem the coupon would obviously result in loss of your purchase money. Groupon deals are, however, for sums substantial enough ($20 or more on average) which will arguably reduce the possibility that you would fail to use your coupon. Also, a track is kept of all your purchases so you can easily see what deals you have purchased but not yet redeemed.

Even with these factors, however, it is likely that some purchased Groupon discounts might never be redeemed. For this reason, extra precaution should be taken by consumers to spend wisely. Remember, as soon as you obtain the Groupon coupon, your money has already been deducted from your account. So if you really want that massage, or truly want to take up rock climbing, Groupon may be a way to save you money. It might also, however, be another drain on your budget if “your eyes are bigger than your stomach” (as my mother used to tell me in buffet lines).