Your Money

By Daniel Eisenberg

CAFFEINE HIGH If inflation really began to wake up last week, it must have been the smell of Starbucks coffee. Because the country's costliest cup of coffee just got costlier. The company upped prices on everything from decaf lattes to frappuccinos by a dime--7% to 8%. Prices for beans won't change. Starbucks cites rising real estate and labor costs. But with coffee beans trading at their cheapest in two years, at just over $1 per lb., a $1.25 cup of joe may be a bit harder to swallow.

STEALING HOME Sharp entrepreneurs have made a business out of selling information about foreclosed homes, promising to provide tips on bargains for a "small fee." Save your money. Finding these distressed properties has become easier now that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is listing a wide selection of foreclosed homes on the Web www.hud.gov) You can search the site by state. Just be sure to inspect the home before making a bid, so you don't end up buying someone else's problem.

CREDIT CHECK When it comes to repairing your credit record, there's no such thing as a quick fix. In recent weeks, the Justice Department and the FTC have gone after a number of con artists who have been using the Net to dupe consumers into paying $20 to $130 for "credit repair" kits. The ameliorative actions the kits recommend are illegal. They advise consumers with bad credit histories to get a new employee ID number from the IRS and substitute it for their Social Security number when applying for credit, a move that will get them in more trouble, not less.

--By Daniel Eisenberg

Sources: Beverage Digest, AAA, Information Resources Inc., Beverage Marketing Corp., Starbucks