Seeking information can be dangerous – as anyone who has ever opened an email with a virus can attest. Valuable information is best when it’s local and timely, when it addresses real-life concerns and comes from a trusted source. And it doesn’t hurt if it comes packaged so it is easily consumed – meaning in a format that is handy and “hits the spot.” That’s what I was thinking when I decided to start this weekly question-and-answer “Financial News” – as a reader who wants to share timely information about financial issues I find newsworthy and trustworthy. And since this is the first article of the series, I will ask the first question, which we imagine to be: What do readers really want

Many patrons come to the law library and Civil Self-Help Center because they have been sued by a credit card company. A sizable percentage of these people tell us that there must be some mistake—they hired a company to settle all their debts for them, so how can they be sued? Unfortunately, “debt settlement companies” frequently promise far more than they can deliver. These companies actually have no power to prevent lawsuits. They offer to negotiate settlements for consumers, often charging a hefty fee for the service, but they cannot force a creditor to accept their offer. The consumers often end up worse off than they would have been without the debt settlement company’s “help.” Risky

The company that sold plastic wristbands with bold claims of health benefits and then bought the naming rights for the arena where the Sacramento Kings play (or would be playing if there wasn’t currently an ongoing labor dispute) has filed for bankruptcy, according to reports. Power Balance, who sold the completely useless trinkets for as much as $30 a pop, recently settled a $57.4 million dollar class-action lawsuit with its customers for false advertising. Under terms of the agreement, anybody who was foolish enough to pay for a Power Balance Bracelet can get their money back plus up to $5 to cover the costs of shipping and handling. A spokesman for the Kings was quoted in the Sacramen

Q: I didn’t pay my student loans. My $20,000 in student loans is now up to $90,000. I am on unemployment. What is going to happen? A: This is a tough situation for people. You go to school and borrow money with the expectation that you will be able to pay it back when you get a job. And when the economy goes south, many people lose the ability to pay their student loans. So, what do you do? Unlike credit cards or personal loans, student loans generally are not dischargable in bankruptcy. That means you cannot get rid of the debt solely by filing for bankruptcy and moving on with life. You are going to have to pay them back. Your first shot should be a deferment. If you are not working,

 *   You have likely heard the old joke that lab rats are being replaced by lawyers because the lab workers do not get emotionally attached to lawyers.  Or the one about a thousand lawyers being chained together at the bottom of the ocean being a “good start”.  As these jokes (and the hundreds of others) show, lawyers have a bad reputation.  Personally, I have never had the need for one and only know a few, and I have worked pretty hard at maintaining the status quo on both of those points.  It seemed to me that lawyers are for people who live near secret toxic waste dumpsites.  Recently, my work helping small businesses with marketing led me to a local Law Firm and Real Estate company