Consumers filed 570 federal lawsuits against debt collectors and creditors in just the last two weeks of March, the highest number so far this year, according to a tally by PaymentsSource.com. It was the most lawsuits filed in a two-week period all year.

The vast majority of the suits, 562, alleged violations of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Another 60 involved companies that allegedly broke the Community Reinvestment Act, and 14 alleged that companies violated the Truth in Lending Act.

Some suits listed more than one violation. The lawsuits were filed by 626 plaintiffs against 515 different companies. All the lawsuits were all filed in the U.S.

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Even though the Great Recession is behind us and the economic recovery is (by most accounts) well underway, good jobs are hard to come by. So how can you be sure to keep yours once you’ve found it? Simple. By making yourself indispensable.

An example of indispensability

I was recently talking to a friend (let’s call him Steve) who related a story about one of his most valuable employees (let’s call him Mark). Times were tough, and Steve wasn’t actually hiring, but Mark showed up one day and got his foot in the door by offering to volunteer in return for the work experience. Steve checked out his resume and gave him a chance.

Over the next few months, Mark proved his worth – and then some. According to Steve, he made himself completely indispensable. Ultimatel

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The supermarket giant blames shoppers who made money out of the scheme by identifying cheaper items at Asda before buying.

Vouchers for 100s off groceries

Boost Tesco, Airmiles etc up to 8x

Tesco imposed a 20 per shop refund cap last month, paid in store vouchers, in addition to the 100 per month limit in an initial attempt to curb the benefits after it emerged some were profiting (see the Tesco overhaul MSE News story).

The new system comes into effect at 12pm today.

Tesco has also removed a section on its website that allowed you to view the price of Tesco items against equivalent Asda items before you shopped.

Profit-making

This site helped shoppers work out what items were significantly cheaper at Asda, allowing them to first buy at Tesco and then claim double the difference back.

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Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII), one of the largest rent-to-own operators, recently delivered lower-than-expected first-quarter 2011 results. The quarterly earnings of 79 cents a share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 85 cents, but increased 2.6% from 77 cents registered in the prior-year quarter.

The quarterly earnings also failed to meet management’s own guidance range of 82 cents to 88 cents a share.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate had remained stagnant prior to the earnings release. On a reported basis, including one-time items, earnings came in at 69 cents a share, down 10.4% from 77 cents earned in the year-ago quarter.

Rent-A-Center’s total revenue, which comprises store and franchise revenues, grew 3.3% to $742.2 million from the year-ago quarter attributable to higher revenue from the RAC Acceptance business, partially offset by the discontinued financial services business. How

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Credit card question: If I make a balance transfer to a new credit card, when can I stop making payments to my old card issuer?

Answer: This is a question I get all the time. It’s extremely important that you continue to make timely payments to your old card issuer until you’ve received news that the transfer is complete. Otherwise, you could get hit with a late fee and possibly see your FICO score take a hit.

It might be helpful to get a picture of how the balance transfer process works. First of all, choose a card that offers a zero percent intro APR on balance transfers. Before making a final decision, read the terms and conditions carefully so you understand the “rules” for the balance transfer. I’ve rece

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Over the past year or so, we’ve seen a lot of debate over the definition of wealthy. Much of this discussion has centered on whether or not individuals (or families) earning $250k or more per year are “rich” and should see their tax rates rise.

Without getting into the underlying politics, I think that one thing that most of us can agree on is that people with that kind of earning power are definitely not poor. Or are they? I recently ran across a story over on MSN Money that questioned whether or not $250k is enough to make ends meet.

For starters, I’ll just say this: Yes, $250k/year is clearly enough to make ends meet. As evidence, I offer the fact that less than 3% of American households earn that much, but most of use are getting by. I’d go

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This is the third of a multi-part series on how to invest outside of a 401K. The whole idea for this series started when I was asking a group of about 30 co-workers if they invested outside of a 401K, and found out that ZERO of them did.

I later polled readers as to why they had not started investing outside of a 401k. And now were hitting each of the reasons why. The first part in the series dealt with the question of whether you should pay off debt or invest. The second on how to start an online broker account like Zecco or TradeKing.

In this third part, well discuss getting over the fear of investing. In that poll, 43 readers (20%) chose Im scared of losing money and prefer guaranteed returns as their top reason for not investing in the market.

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Medical devices giant St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) continues its positive earnings surprise streak as its  first-quarter 2011 adjusted earnings per share of 80 cents has topped the Zacks Consensus Estimates of 78 cents and exceeded the year-ago earnings of 75 cents. This represents the Minnesota-based company’s seventh consecutive quarter of outperformance.

The adjusted earnings exclude charges of $28 million, primarily associated with the company’s acquisition of cardiac devices maker AGA Medical. Net earnings, as reported, clipped 2.2% year over year to $233 million (or 71 cents a share), hurt by these charges.

The Quarter in Detail

Revenues

Revenues jumped 9% year over year to $1,376 million, matching the Zacks Consensus Estimates. Reve

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