If you haven’t heard the news already, Circuit City has decided to go into liquidation after failing to find a buyer and secure financing from creditors and lenders.  Circuit City will be closing its remaining 567 U.S. stores.

If you’re a Circuit City customer, holder of Circuit City gift cards, credit cards, or have store credit — here’s a quick FAQ that will hopefully address some of your questions:

If you have a gift card or store credit:

Use the gift cards, gift certificates, coupons, and store credits as soon as possible. Circuit City should honor them during the going out-of-business sale, which is expected to last through March.

If you have a Circuit City credit card:

The Circuit City credit card is issued and administered by Chase, so don’t expect it to magically disappear. Most likely your Circuit City credit card will be rebranded to a generic Chase card in a future date.  Continue to make payments if you have a balance!

If you want to return an item:

You have only about 14 days left, until January 30th, to return items purchased prior to the going-out-of-business sale.  All sales are final on anything bought after January 16.

If you have a pending mail-in-rebate:

This depends on if the rebate was from the product manufacture or Circuit City.  If the rebate is from a manufacture, you’ll be okay.  Although Circuit City uses a third party to handle its rebate offerings, the rebate processor won’t be able to pay you if Circuit City haven’t paid them.  If you’ve kept your rebate submission form, there should be a phone number or a page online for you to check the status of your rebate.

If you have an extended warranty:

The warranty is serviced by a third party and should still be in full effect to the terms and condition of the warranty purchase.

If you need to contact Circuit City:

Please do it immediately as Circuit City’s website and call centers will cease to operate after January 18, 2009 (Circuit City’s website is current down and it is unknown if it will reopen before January 18).

If you’re interested in going to the liquidation sale:

The going-out-of-business sale will start tomorrow on January 17, and is expected to last until the end of March.  Please be aware that liquidation sales are not exactly a great place to go look for bargain.  Liquidators often mark up prices significantly before marking it “down” to give appearances of steep discount.

Merry Christmas!  If you don’t celebrate Christmas, happy holidays!  Its been a crazy financial year for everyone, so I hope you’ll get a little R&R before we start the entire wacky ordeal all over again.

photo credit: Dr. Hemmert

By the Hammer of Thor, it’s freaking cold.

I know this might sound kind of lame, but when I’m home alone I’m always hesitant to turn on the heater since it feels like a waste to warm up an entire house just for myself.

The heating reluctance can probably be alleviated somewhat if I just get the house insulated better, but better insulation sort of became one of those housing project that always floats off of my mind — until I’m freezing my ass off.

• Top 12 Coupon & Discount Websites – Because Paying Full Price is so 1999
• Should You Tip Less in a Recession? – Alpha Consumer
• Tips to Avoid Becoming a Scam Victim – The Digerati Life
• Mint.com Launches iPhone App – Mint’s blog

Mmm… December. The season of the holiday spirits and happy times. Bleh. Yuck.

• New Tools for Investing Nerds – Hey what’s this? PortfolioMonkey? Stockalicious? Financial tools that I haven’t heard about? Holy cats.
• Jolly Giveaway from College Money Network – Free stuff. ’nuff said.
• 10 Steps to Escape Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle – Practical tips from No Credit Needed.
• Winners of the 2008 Recession & Credit Crisis – Not all doom & gloom for these guys.
• Use Your Inactive Credit Card Once a Year - Jonathan’s WaMu credit card got killed from inactivity. Would of been a no biggie but it’s the WaMu (previously Providian) credit card that gives you free monthly FICO tracking. Doh!

This week’s financial picture, Fortune Fail from Fail Blog:

For your information, I just woke up from my Thanksgiving dinner comatose.

Now you would think that waking up after a 3 day slumber will result in a feeling of well-rested-ness-ish (uh whats the word I’m looking for?), but to be honest I feel pretty crappy — as if I’ve been laying in the same position for hours and days on end. Too weird.

Here are some reads from the blogsphere and beyond that I bookmarked while in my dreamlike robotic state:

• Be wary of high-yielding “CDs” offered by non-bank firms – Marketwatch
• Responding from relatives who wants money – Alpha Consumer
• Finding bargain gift cards – The Smarter Wallet
• Your financial network map – Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Found on Tip’d financial news portal:

• Citibank rate increases and opt-out notice – CreditAddict post up the notice Citi’s been giving out to many of their customers, letting them know that Citi’s jacking up the interest rates — just in time as a holiday gift. Urgh.
• 8 bad things you’re teaching kids about money – A guest post on MoneyNing covers some of the bad things you might be inadvertently teaching your kid, although a few seems like a stretch.  Then again I’m no parent so what would I know?

Financial quotes from 30 Rock:

• What would this country be if we don’t allow the wealthy people to take advantage of rubes? – Kenneth to Jack

You know what? I bet if I sleep normal hours on my own bed, I’ll wake up well rested, giving me an extra 10% XP bonus as I pwn up raiders, super mutants, and Enclave soldiers.

Uh… ignore that last part.

Here are some gems from this week’s blogsphere trolling:

• 100 Money Saving Tips for the Holiday Gifting Bonanza
• Do-it-Yourself Christmas – 34 Great Gifts You Can Make Yourself
  

Blogging carnivals:

• 179th Carnival of Personal Finance, Smile Edition – MoneyNing
• 85th Carnival of Money Stories, Myth Edition – Ask Mr. Credit Card Blog

Found on Tip’d:

• Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds
• 6 Ways Eating Out Less Has Made Our Family Better

Financial quotes from 30 Rock:

• Next stop, home ownership!  I’m just kidding the middle class is dying, you’ll be renting forever. – Jack Donaghy to Kenneth
• Sometimes to feel like I have company during dinner, I dispute credit card charges on speaker phone. – Liz Lemon

Weekend readings for financial info obsessed weirdos:

• A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis – From Mint’s blog and Wallstats.com
• How to Calculate Blended Interest Rates – Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
• Insider’s Guide to Black Friday - Flexo at Consumerism Commentary for PC World
• Baby Boomers: The Shallowest Generation – Seeking Alpha

Blogging Carnivals:

• 178th Carnival of Personal Finance – The Digerati Life
• 38th Money Hacks Carnival – Taking Charge
• 165th Carnival of Debt Reduction – Greener Pastures
• 30th Review Blogger Carnival - This Full House
• 151th Festival of Frugality – Quest to Be Debt Free

I was just watching President-Elect Obama’s press conference and he directly responded to a reporter’s question by stating that a second economic stimulus package and check will happen. If you’ve been following the news, you would notice that House Dems have been pushing for a second package in recent months, and it looks like if it doesn’t happen by year-end, our President-Elect will make it happen while he’s in office.

Regardless of how you feel about the effectiveness of these “stimulus” packages and the current political divisiveness of this country, what will you do with your second stimulus check if you were to receive one?

A quick reminder: please do not budget your finances expecting the second stimulus check.