FINANCE

Market for prepaid debit cards is booming.

Some prepaid cards hold a fixed amount of money like a gift certificate does. Many cards operate like bank accounts. Users add money by having their paychecks credited to the cards, and they can withdraw cash from ATMs.

One study shows that 47 percent of American households bought a prepaid card in the 12 months ending in June 2012. For now, the market is not regulated and companies can charge merchants and cardholders whatever they like. But cardholder fees usually start at about $5 a month.

Chase Liquid costs $4.95 a month and works like a checking account. AmEx has its Bluebird card which is sold at Walmart stores. The card is free for direct deposit users. AmEx makes its money from merchants' card fees.

Other companies such as BillMyParents, which has Justin Bieber's picture on its cards, are focused on a specific demographic and are not banks.

Attorneys at the National Consumer Law Center say card buyers should keep their money in banks that are backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in order to protect their funds. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, if funds aren't in a bank account there's also no bank regulator to do safety and soundness checkups.

Roads are becoming a 'rolling junkyard' of older cars?

According to a study by leading automotive market intelligence firm Polk, in January 2013, the average age of cars and trucks in operation in the United States was 10.8 years and rising. Trucks and SUVs are older than passenger cars. A lot of people need a new vehicle which is one reason auto sales are predicted to reach from 14 million to 15 million vehicles sold in 2013.

Car makers, the EPA and auto owners report mileage variations.

When you're checking the sticker price on a new car, you'll find that close to the price is the mileage that's calculated by the Environmental Protection agency using their special formula. Drivers who track their mileage usually come up with a different figure. Sometimes it's more than the EPA estimate. Sometimes it's less, and those drivers complain.

The EPA now invites vehicle owners to share their mileage on its website, fueleconomy.gov, and the reports are making |a difference. Owners of the Hyundai Sonata have bitterly complained their mileage is much lower than EPA estimates. Hyundai has agreed that the mileage test was done improperly on some models.

Web reports by owners of the new Ford C-Max hybrid averaged 39.1 miles per gallon, not the 47 mpg Ford advertises. But some reported much better mileage, as much as 56 mpg. The EPA is retesting the C-Max at its fuel economy laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich. They are studying it, in part, because it presents new technologies that may show its long standing tests to be inaccurate.

Speed and battery use are thought to be a factor. The car is designed to go as fast as 62 mph on batteries alone. The EPA tests between 48 and 60 mph. Fuel could make a difference. Ethanol mixes lower mileage by about 4 percent, the agency says.

According to Ford, especially with hybrids such as the C-Max, variables such as temperature, a driver's behavior and engineering choices that Ford made to balance mileage and performance can make a big difference. At Duke University School of Business, one professor says the government should measure fuel consumption by using 100 miles of driving.

© 2013 TLC Magazine Online, Inc.