The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about a rise in products offering to boost fuel efficiency. It’s no surprise that so many products are being offered, considering the high price of gas. Those prices are blinding consumer’s better judgment and causing them to be tricked by claims such as those made by the much hyped Platinum Gas Saver that it can “boost fuel economy by 22%.”

The Platinum Gas Saver has been getting a lot of attention because of that outrageously high claim. The FTC talks about how to actually save gas, faulty advertising claims by gas-saving products, and lists products tested by the Environmental Protection Agency (including the Platinum Gas Saver) which show no improvement in gas mileage. The Consumer Report’s Platinum Gas Saver test also showed that it had no effect on fuel economy.

Instead of spending $119 on the Platinum Gas Saver, or any other device advertised to save gas, check the EPA’s list of products that don’t work and consider taking steps that have been shown to improve gas mileage time and again.

Chrysler recently announced the Let’s Refuel America program which locks in gas prices at $2.99 per gallon. Here’s a clip from the press release followed by an analysis of whether the deal is worth it.

From the press release: “In response to direct customer feedback citing the prospect of rising gas prices as a top concern, Chrysler LLC today announces its own economic stimulus package: an exclusive gas price protection policy that eliminates the risk of further spikes in fuel prices. With the U.S. purchase of eligible Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles, customers can enroll in the “Let’s Refuel America” program and receive a gas card that immediately lowers their gas price to $2.99 a gallon, and keeps it there for three years. The offer is available at 3,511 U.S. Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealerships through June 2, 2008, and is available on vehicles ranging from popular new compacts, crossovers and minivans to full-size diesel-powered pickup trucks.”

The analysis:

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There’s a Cadillac ad for the 2008 Escalade featuring Brian Bloom that gives terrible financial advice. The actor says that life is “high school with money” and that following what the cool kids are doing, including what they are driving, is still going on. The ad concludes with him saying that anyone who never cared about impressing the cool kids should “graduate.”

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Using the information provided in three of my posts, you can get most of the services that Lifelock offers, without having to pay for them.

If you want someone to do the work for you, then the $10 a months for Lifelock service may be worth it for you. Their service also comes with identity theft insurance. Their analogy to getting your oil changed does make sense. You could change your oil for less money than paying someone to do it, but for many people the small price of paying someone else is well worth not having to do it themselves.

If you decide to enroll, or for more information, use this link:

For information on how to do it yourself for free, see these three posts:

Set/Renew Fraud Alerts in Your Credit Report
Opt Out of Pre-Screened Credit Card Offers
Get Your Free Yearly Credit Report

Setting fraud alerts in your credit reports is free and easy. Simply call or visit the credit reporting agencies and request a fraud alert be placed in your report. Doing so should cause new credit requests to be validated by calling you at the phone number you provide. It doesn’t always work, so stay on top of your report. Also remember to renew these alerts every 90 days! Here are the contact numbers and websites to set alerts at. Set your alert with all three agencies to ensure complete coverage. This is a free service.

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To help protect myself against identity theft, I subscribe to a credit monitoring service for about $75 a year. The service grants unlimited review of my credit report, but the real value is the alerts that I can setup on my reports.

I have my service configured to alert me anytime there’s unusual activity in my credit reports. This includes applications for new credit, change of address, activity on dormant accounts, as well as balance changes on my revolving credit. It’s nice to get an email that says that my credit card bill jumped by a certain dollar amount or percent that I’ve setup. Then I can compare against my spending to see if it’s due to a purchase I made, or if something is awry.

There are other methods and services to guard your identity and credit report, but this is the one that I have found to be most useful with minimal cost or time investment.

As required by The Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to one free copy of your credit report every 12 months. There are a lot of websites that offer you a “free” report, but usually only if you join their site and pay for one of their other services. The FTC lists annualcreditreport.com as the only official site offering this service.

Registrations on the national Do Not Call Registry, which prevents telemarketing calls, expire after five years. If you signed up when the registry first came out, in June of 2003, then your registration will be expiring soon. The website to register, or re-register, your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry is https://www.donotcall.gov/.

Want to stop most of those junk mail offers for pre-approved credit cards? The Federal Trade Commission has established methods to allow you to opt out of prescreened offers. In addition to requiring card issuers to clearly disclose how to stop receiving offers, the FTC endorses an official phone number and website to allow you to opt out. The FTC website recommends calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) or visiting www.optoutprescreen.com for details. Through either method you will have the option to opt out of prescreened offers for 5 years or permanently.