morning continues now. one of the biggest pieces of economics news in the past six years arrived in chattanooga monday ... with volkswagen confirming it would add two-thousand new jobs at the local plant. chris hopkins, an investment advisor with barnett and company, joins us in studio now as we go behind some of this week's business headlines

Rick Reagan has the facts to help put money in your pocket.

You're on Facebook. You see an ad pop up offering a free sample. All you have to do is simply click on the link. It's tempting. There are all these websites out there, Freebie Shark, Hunt for Freebies, and Freebies for Mom. These are "aggregator sites" that bring together a variety of free samples from companies. They promise to save you money, but instead of saving you money maybe we can save you some time. Lotion, shampoo, toilet paper, and diapers. It seems like you could cover your whole grocery list for free online. “Well rarely is there something for free, there's always a catch, said Del Esparza, of Esparza Advertising in Albuquerque. So there's no such thing as free lunch, but what about a free beverage? A KOB employee decided to try and get some tea by simply watching a video.Click on that, okay now some questions. How often we drink tea? What brands we buy? After that survey, we're told the sample will arrive in 4 to 6 weeks. Not too bad. How about another one? "Freebies Frenzy" is promising to send us a load of "summer samples," but this survey is a lot more intense. Asking if anyone in the home has gout, autism, or hepatitis c? Are we taking any of these medications? Personal, even embarrassing health information. Esparza says that's information companies like healthcare or medical product sellers can use. “It gives us as advertisers a lot of very good information, what we then do is subsequently serve content to you based on the information you provided. So we'll be able to serve you content on health issues, relative to your own conditions,” said Esparza. Other questions our employee answered: Does she own a car? A home? Is she pregnant? Does she have more than $15,000 in student loan debt? On average, each free product required her to fill out eight to 12 screens of questions. She signed up for more than 75 items. It took about eight solid hours. Our employee put KOB down as her address and with 75 products we were expecting to be inundated here at the station with packages. We set up a box here to collect all the packages we were expecting to get, but most days it's been empty. Remember those Lipton k-cups? We were promised them in 4 to six weeks. It's been six weeks and we never received the tea. Several samples we signed up for told us “sold out” only after we did the long survey. In fact after six weeks, only three of the more than 75 items have arrived. One of them damaged. In exchange, our employee voluntarily handed over what advertisers consider a gold mine of information. “Well it's not big brother by any means, but based on the answers they provide willingly, we're able to provide relevant content based on their answers, so content hopefully that they're interested in,” said Esparza. Hopefully, but another side effect is an inbox full of spam. So you'll want to set up a special email account just for your freebies if you decide to get into this.

Rick Reagan has the facts to help put money in your pocket.

Rick Reagan joins Dan & Staci-Lyn with his view on the stock market as the Dow Jones opens at a record high.

The Suze Orman card is shutting down. Consumer advisor Clark Howard tells you what you need to do if you have a card and which card you should put your money towards.

Daryl Dagit joins Clay to talk about whether parents should plan to leave an inheritance for their children.

Imagine depositing a check at your local bank for $430 but getting credit for $43,000. Police say that’s what happened to a Roswell man. What would you do if your bank put thousands of dollars into your account by mistake? Tempting right? “I could buy a new car, that would be nice,” said Greg Sonderman. Sonderman says he would put temptation aside and do the right thing, just like other bank customers we talked to. “I’d probably let them know there was some kind of mistake,” said Sonderman. “Well I would immediately jump for joy then probably call the bank to see if it’s for real,” said Russell Smith. However, that’s not what one Roswell man did. And now, Roswell police have opened an investigation. The man used an ATM to deposit a check for $430, but the bank deposited $43,000 by mistake. Instead of notifying the bank, police say the man quietly spent all the cash. When the bank discovered the error, they told the man he must repay all of the money. That was in November. The bank has reached out to the man multiple times. Police say a bank official has spoken to him by phone, but the man has yet to pay back the money. Now the bank is taking legal action. The district attorney will decide whether to prosecute the case for criminal charges or have the bank sue the man in civil court to get the money back. “I believe he should pay it back, you know it’s the only right thing to do because it costs the bank money, it costs me money, it costs you money,” said Smith. The Washington Federal Branch Manager says they are not commenting.

Sending money across the country now has some serious competition. Consumer advisor Clark Howard looks at some of the new options available that will save you money.

States with the Highest Job Growth 6-26-14

Last Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told investors the U.S. economic recovery was on track, and then, things got really dull. A gauge of expected swings in stock prices, known as the "fear index" among traders, sunk to lows not seen since 2007, when stocks began a 2 ½ year plunge. Most professional investors, strategists and economists don't appear worried that the lack of worry is leading to reckless bets, not yet anyway.

Rick Reagan joins Dan & Staci-Lyn to examine the impact of the Iraqi conflict on gas prices and the economy.

Those who find the money are asked to use a portion of the winnings to help others

ATLANTA, Ga. -- What you pay out-of-pocket for your medical bill could change drastically from hospital to hospital.

Argentina's battle with investors who rejected its proposals to restructure debt risks pushing the nation into a new default that would wreck its attempts to return to credit markets but not have the same economic effect as its catastrophic 2001-02 default. The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Argentina's appeal against lower court rulings that ordered it to pay in full the hedge funds which refused 2005 and 2010 debt swaps on $100 billion in debt.



Dollars & Sense 06-17-14 news 12 this morning continues now. like rollercoaster? the stock market went on a wild ride monday, going up and down... before finishing the day positive. chris hopkins, an investment advisor with barnett and company, joins us in studio now as we go behind some of this week's business headlines. oil prices with the latest crisis in iraq yet another gm recall homebuilding stocks also got a boost from a survey showing that u.s. homebuilders' outlook on the housing market improved this month. a new report finds charitable giving to social service and church groups, which tends to depend on middle class donors, is flat while institutions like universities, hospitals and the arts are swimming in cash from their usually wealthy benefactors. barnett & company 1300 broad street, suite 303 chattanooga, tn 37402 756-0125 http://barnettand

Alexandra talks to Financial Advisor Jim Stowell

Rick Reagan has the facts to help put money in your pocket.

President Obama hoping to ease student loan debt.

Rick Reagan joins Dan & Staci-Lyn with a look at the rising stock market and whether a crash is coming.