What people don't know about money is mind boggling. I say that with the compassion of someone who grew up poor and who was past 40 before I ever looked at anything beyond the design of a company's annual report. Numbers aren't "my thing." I am pretty good with money. I always say, "Put a dollar sign in front of it, if you want me to get it." But if you're in sales, shouldn't you speak truthfully, at the highest level of integrity?

I'm especially concerned by what salespeople say that misrepresents products or services that are supposed to help people become better educated about money. For example, I read a blog post today by a money merge account representative who said the MMA is a good product for people who don't balance their checkbooks or have a budget. Frankly, I don't think those people should have mortgages!    Someone has to be keeping track, whether you have an assistant to handle it or you know the numbers in your head.

See if you can find the glaring error in the following paragraph:

I come across some people who don’t see the value of the $3500 once in a life time cost of our program. This is still the case with some even though most people will finance this fee with a credit line, and the cost of which usually disappears within 6 months. Remember, the average client saves tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest charges

I hate to "out" the person who said this, but neither do I want to be accused of plagiarism, so giving credit where credit is due, this came to us from Dana Harden of Debt/Mortgage Relief.

You may see more than one error in there, but this is the one that concerns me: the cost of which usually disappears within 6 months.  Did you see that? She just made a $3500 expense disappear into thin air, as though no one paid it! What actually happens is that United First Financial suggests financing the $3500 software and program costs with your home equity line of credit. That simply means UFF gets their money all at once, up front, and you pay the $3500 over time, with interest collateralized by your house.

If you'd like to read a 25-page collection of articles about the money merge account, insert your email address below to have it automatically emailed to you:

In addition, the MMA expense wouldn't win any frugality awards. Yes, it can help you save tens of thousands of dollars. But so can educating yourself about revolving equity. Anyone with the brains to balance their checkbook could then save tens of thousands of dollars, PLUS the $3500!