My task each week on SOAPnet's Bank of Mom and Dad is to provide young women with solid advice that will improve their messy financial lives. In return I've received quite the education on some of the reasons we, as a society and particularly women, overspend and compile debt.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question

Credit card companies are on a tear, raising rates, slashing credit lines, increasing minimum payments and closing accounts in advance of the new credit card legislation that will restrict their more outrageous behavior. Today, Ken and Daria Dolan of Dolans.com help a WalletPop reader decide if she has any recourse against her credit card company's latest trick.

Dear Ken and Daria,

We got a letter from our credit card saying they were changing the terms on our card. We still have a balance on the card, but we opted out and closed the account. They STILL upped the minimum payment required on our balance. Can they do that?

You'll find simple, proven solutions for managing your credit card debt at Dolans.com.

Not all mortgage rates are created equal. There is a time and a place to consider an adjustable rate mortgage vs. a fixed rate.

If you have short term plans to pay off your loan in full then an adjustable rate may save you money over the term of the mortgage. If you're planning on keeping your mortgage for a longer period of time then an adjustable rate may be too risky considering today's evolving stock market.

Check out this week's video and we'll explain a few more scenarios to help determine which option is right for you. Ryan Minick and Steve DeLon are The 2 Mortgage Guys. Subscribe to their newsletter or visit them at www.The2MortgageGuys.com.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Can you please help me understand how my bank calculates my mortgage interest and principal? Even when I pre-pay my mortgage, they seem to put most of it toward interest.

--Penny

For more answers to your debt management questions, visit Dolans.com

Lots of us find that at the end of the month, we don't have any money left. The recession has forced millions of Americans to put off dreams of renovating or redesigning their homes. Designer Michael Moloney has a gift for quick and effective decor. After all, he whips up stunning new rooms within days every week on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Taking off from the show's episode this Sunday, in which a family's plans to build their dream home are derailed by a freak accident, Moloney calls in to WalletPop's studios to talk with Jason Cochran about the things you can do if you find you can't afford that dream makeover anymore.

You can whittle down the things you already own. You can freshen things up by moving your stuff all around the house to new locations. Or, if you have $14 left in your pocket by the 31st, you can give any room a dramatic new look with one simple solution.

Watch our conversation with the design whiz below. You can also watch our conversation with music star Xzibit, who is making his second appearance on the show this weekend as he pitches in to help another needy family.

In a seemingly Scrooge-like move, Hollywood studios may soon restrict newly released DVDs to sales-only for several weeks before allowing them to be available for rental from places such as Netflix, Blockbuster or your local video store.

Keen on reversing the trend of falling DVD sales and dwindling revenues, movie studios are considering such plans that would likely begin next year, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing people close to situation at several studios. And what does DVD-by-mail giant Netflix have to say about it?

Americans, we have something of the caveman in us. We, like our furry forebears, regularly gather the family around an open fire, where we roast meat for ritual consumption. From flaming pit to flaming pit, fierce rivalries have developed between clans over the right way to prepare and devour the kill.

Yes, when it comes to cheap meals that satisfy our bellies, there's nothing quite as fundamental, or as all-American, as barbecue. Despite its long preparation time and complicated and guarded seasoning methods, BBQ is also one of the most reliable budget meals available.

If you live in Indiana and you're planning on buying or refinancing a home then you'll definitely want to file for you eligible property tax exemptions. And if you don't, then follow along and we'll explain some of the common exemptions as well as the impact it could make on your tax savings.
Ryan Minick and Steve DeLon are The 2 Mortgage Guys. Subscribe to their newsletter or visit them at www.The2MortgageGuys.com.

On a recent episode of Shark Tank, inventor Cactus Jack was faced with two offers that would yield him $180,000 for his product, a device that makes it easier for heavy people to do push-ups.

Barbara Corcoran, taken with this big guy with a big personality, offered to give him the cash -- provided he lose 30 pounds. Otherwise, she said, who could take a weight-loss guru seriously? If he didn't lose the weight, he'd lose the deal. (Watch back episodes of the ABC show at this link.)

"There's no way in hell he's losing 30 pounds," kvetched fellow Shark Kevin O'Leary after Cactus Jack had left the room. "The 30 pounds is gonna keep it off the table forever."

Flash forward. Months later, Cactus Jack has flown to New York City from Iowa to meet with Corcoran and hash out the future of his business. Critical to the next stage is the big test: Has he lost the weight contingent to the deal?

Corcoran invited WalletPop to her penthouse office for the big moment. At stake: A comically large novelty check made out for $180,000, and potential infomercial involvement by TV impresario Kevin Harrington.

Was this medical check-up a photo op for the media? Of course it was, but it was fun. And did this larger-than-life guy prove Kevin "Mr. Burns" O'Leary wrong? Watch and see.

It was a moment worth $6,000 a pound.

This Sunday evening, Food Network star Sandra Lee appears as a volunteer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and she'll be pitching in to collect something she knows a lot about: canned foods.

Lee has crafted a mini-empire out of her DIY advice that teaches people to take economical shortcuts with pre-packaged foods. Her expertise runs from gardens to drapes -- she helms two Food Network shows, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee and Sandra's Money Saving Meals, a magazine (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade), and three recently released books, Weeknight Wonders, Money Saving Slow Cooking, and Cocktail Time. And, of course, on ABC this Sunday, when she helps re-make the lives of some dedicated community volunteers.

In a video chat with WalletPop's Jason Cochran, Lee talks candidly about her youth spent on food stamps and working in food banks with her grandmother.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Thanks to rising unemployment and an economy stuck in neutral at very best, more consumers than ever are struggling to pay their debts. Credit card delinquencies and charge-offs are both at record highs. Today, Ken and Daria help a WalletPop reader understand how debt charge-offs impact his credit and share solutions for managing his debt.

I heard that once your debt has been charged off, that your credit score never gets any better.So, is it a good to accept the offers I get to settle my debt by paying off 60-to 70% of it in exchange for charging off the rest?

--Hector

Looking for debt help? Visit Dolans.com to learn more about debt settlement and other debt management options.

When it comes to being frugal, Lauren Weber wrote the book.

As the author of "In Cheap We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue," just published by Little, Brown, she takes a long, affectionate look at thriftiness.

She was raised by a dad who was so cheap, he would literally ration toilet paper in the family home. But she didn't spend her life complaining about it. In fact, her dad's miserly ways inspired a thoughtful, researched book about his mentality. Weber learned that while it annoyed her as a child, now that she's an adult who pays her own way, she sees virtue in being careful about wasting what you buy and in re-using what you already have.

Weber, looking like a million bucks in a smart thrift-store outfit, paid a visit to WalletPop's studios to talk about the culture of thrift. In a conversation with Jason Cochran and Andrea Chalupa, Weber reveals some surprising facts about skinflints in the United States.

Cheap is not a dirty word! For one, did you realize that we owe our nation's independence to the fact that our Founding Fathers were devoted to stretching every pound they had?

When did we become so wasteful as a country? How can we save money and still look respectable to our friends and family, and is it possible to take thrift too far? Is it cool to be cheap again (oh, please, say it is)?

Join the fun with our podcast. After all, it's free!

And ration your toilet paper with pride!

On last night's season finale of ABC's Shark Tank, two guys walked in the door with empty pockets and walked out with $600,000. Just who out-sharked whom here?

Brian Duggan and Adam McCombs were willing to give the Sharks 10% of their company, JumpForward, in exchange for "only" $150,000. Their subscription-based website is designed to make it easy for colleges to recruit high school athletes by giving them a place to post profiles of their achievements. So far, 30 colleges have signed up, and 60,000 students were represented, which helps universities live by the strict and complicated rules that govern contact between college recruiters and students. Using their proprietary system, colleges can relax, knowing they're not likely to run afoul of violations, and therefore incur steep fines, if they go about recruiting athletes in the wrong way.

In three months, they've made $150,000 in contracts, and they see it going to $35 million. Instantly, Barbara Corcoran didn't trust that the costs wouldn't inflate, and so did Harrington, and they went out. "You guys are way too smart for me," Daymond John admitted, and he left the table, too.

And they are, too. As part of our popular AfterShark video series, WalletPop's Jason Cochran caught up with them in the wake of the show to find out what was going through their minds during the big moment. It turns out there was plenty of action that network TV audiences didn't get to see.

Does Chris Brogan not want to do business with you? Does he think you are not worthy? Maybe you just offended him by trying to poke him in the chest with your business card after he spoke at an event that you attended.

If you're in the new media business, you've probably crossed paths with Brogan, the co-author of New York Times Bestseller "Trust Agents," but your success in getting him to remember your name and maybe do business with you depends on knowing what he thinks about business card etiquette, which we learned when we stopped him at the hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center after his keynote address at Blog World '09.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Dear Ken and Daria,

How do I find houses that are in foreclosure through a U.S. agency? I tried one given on TV, but every lead I get is a company looking for money to give you a list, or they want your personal information. Can you help?

--Carole

Let the Dolans help you with debt management, smart investing and retirement planning at Dolans.com.