Who Is $4 Gas Hurting? Starbucks! [Gas Prices]

A survey by Kelley Blue Book says that new car shoppers are giving up Starbucks to help offset the cost of $4 gas. Sorry, big green mermaid lady! The KBB study results reveal that 28 percent of new-car shoppers have stopped going to Starbucks or other coffee houses entirely, and 21 percent indicate they are going less often due to skyrocketing gas prices.

“What was once a frequent occurrence such as the morning trip to Starbucks or taking the family to a ballgame just isn’t as financially feasible when $4-per-gallon gas must also share a place in the budget,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com. “The fact that nearly three-quarters of new-vehicle shoppers see this as a permanent situation demonstrates the enormous effect that skyrocketing fuel costs can have on not just the auto industry, but the entire American economy.”

Not everyone is sad, however. The Toyota Prius is dancing on the grave of the latte (and the Hummer?). KBB says "sixty-two percent of shoppers say that gas prices have either changed their mind or made them think strongly about vehicles they normally wouldn’t have considered."

(Photo: Paxton Holley )

Would You Like A Condom Ad In Your Beer? [Bad Ideas]

Maybe the bottom of a beer glass isn't the best place to advertise a jimmy cap. Do you really want to drain the last of your beer and suddenly be reminded of Stiffler from American Pie? Yeah, we didn't think so.

Use Your Credit Card At A Marriage Counselor, See Your Limit Get Reduced [CompuCredit]

Forget boring old FICO—the new world of credit scoring wants to know what you buy and where . The FTC filed a suit last week against subprime credit card company CompuCredit, alleging that it engages in deceptive marketing practices. CompuCredit says customers can use their credit card anywhere, but that's not entirely true:

The FTC claims that CompuCredit didn’t properly disclose that it monitored spending and cut credit lines if consumers used their cards at certain places. Among them: tire and retreading shops, massage parlors, bars, billiard halls, and marriage counseling offices. "What they didn’t say was that you could be punished for specific kinds of purchases."

The FTC has a problem with CompuCredit not disclosing its usage-monitoring policy, but not with how it determines creditworthiness—and this is where it gets a bit creepy.

With competition increasing, databases improving, and technology advancing, companies can include more factors than ever in their models. And industry experts say financial firms increasingly are looking at consumer behavior, as CompuCredit did.

BusinessWeek says the worry is that companies may use race, gender, or sexual orientation to rank borrowers, and since companies never disclose their formulas for determining creditworthiness, consumers will be in the dark on what's being collected about them and how it's used.

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