From Your Money, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, September 2006:
Don't Be Late
The average credit card late fee is $35, and over-the-limit fees top $32, on average, reports IndexCreditCards.com.
Tax Deterrent
By a margin of 34 percent to 14 percent, consumers say rising property taxes are a bigger obstacle to home ownership than higher interest rates. Energy costs were cited by 28 percent in a survey by the National Association of Realtors.
False Alarm
Don't bother adding cell phone numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry. Contrary to e-mail alerts, the Federal Trade Commission says, those numbers won't be released to telemarketers.
It's A Long Shot
Your chances of being summoned to a face-to-face audit with the IRS are pretty slim. In 2005, only one in 526 tax returns was audited, a rate of 0.19 percent.
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