FDIC serves up weekly consumer tips online

The FDIC is now offering consumer tips online. In conjunction with National Consumer Protection Week and officially kicking off on Monday, March 8, the watchdog group is serving up both daily and weekly pointers to help folks of all ages exercise their consumer rights.

What's the FDIC? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was created by congress in 1933 to insure consumers' deposits at 8,012 banks. The FDIC was established to restore public confidence in the banking system, specifically after the stock market crash in 1929. The FDIC isn't funded by any tax dollars. Banks and insured financial institutions fund its operations completely.

The weekly content addition is called "Consumer Tip of the Week." The site's hot topics include loans, saving money, using FDIC to protect your money and avoiding financial fraud.

Here's a recent tip: "You can protect yourself against a variety of financial frauds and scams by being extremely skeptical of unsolicited offers that involve 'updating' or 'confirming' personal information or requirements that you send a payment or provide bank account information before receiving anything in return."

Sheila Bair, FDIC Chairman states, "Consumer education is already a big part of what the FDIC does to increase the public’s knowledge of financial issues. We believe this new service--delivering simple, practical tips on an ongoing basis over the Internet--will make it easier and more convenient for people to stay informed about issues that may affect their financial decisions.”

Click here for lowdown on the FDIC's "Consumer Tip of the Week."

Bussed students may have to walk to school

Parents and officials around the country are waiting until September to see how the current generation of suburban chauffeured students will respond to walking to school.

Hundreds of school districts from Massachusetts to California have been forced to make big-budget cuts this year, and compounded with the high price of fuel, bus routes were some of the first expenses to been crossed off the list.

Cities and towns have responded by increasing the distances from which students are expected to walk. In many places, it’s 1 to 1.5 miles for elementary school students and 2 miles for high school students.

Encouraging more kids to walk has more benefits than just saving money for the school districts. There will be less pollution from the diesel fuel used by school buses, kids will get more exercise and become more oriented in their communities.

The new effort does have some detractors, however. Mary Day, a mother from Shirley, Mass. expressed her concern to CNN. "I remember being a kid," Day says. "Are you going to walk a half-mile down the street to cross in the appropriate way when you see a clear way right there?"

She worries that her sons will come into contact with traffic and train tracks on their way home from school each day. Like many working parents, she can drive them to school inn the morning, but cannot pick them up in the afternoon.

Julie Hatchel, a spokeswoman for a California school district, explains the reasoning behind the unpopular cuts. "Our goal was to keep those cuts as far away from the classroom as possible," she adds.

--Bridget O'Sullivan