i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >> and you could get more great money advice from jennifereade from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> a thrill ride by a drag racing teen turns into a nightmare for one mother. >> he was doing over 100 miles an hour in a char that he'd only had for two weeks. that car split into two pieces and completely disintegrated. >> cops are promoting a new kind of drag racing as a way to keep the streets safer. [ female announcer ] introducing the latest body wash from olay. tone enriching ribbons. two separate ribbons. the white cleanses. the gold moisturizes and has a touch of mineral shimmer to enhance skin's tone. olay tone enriching body wash. for skin that shimmers. should we order nda blossom, panda moon... how about chinese at home with new wanchai ferry?, you can make it in just 14 minutes mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn't feel like going out anyway (announcer) wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese your ocer's eezer >>> police in san diego are switching lanes on drag racing and hoping to make it safer. yesterday, drivers lined up for the

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. this is all about potentially deadly floor mats. >> yes. this is a really important problem. i think you might not think about it. more than 3.8 million cars are being recalled. what's happen sing the floor mat on the driver's side creeps up and then can jam down the accelerate oor pedal. your car speeding up out of nowhere. there have been 100 reports of problems. five people have died. 17 hurt. 13 crashes, including a san diego off-duty highway patrolman, his family. if you have a car that's affected toyota says don't just take the mat out and think it is fine. maybe put in a new one. that's now mao r how it works. go to the dealer. if it happens to you, toyota says try to pull the mat out or step on the brakes with both feet if you don't have time to do that. some models being recalled, c camrys, 2007 to 2010. >> thank you so much, jennifer. appreciate it. >>> 4,000 more u.s. troops will come home from iraq next month. the military's top commander there will announce that on capito

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. more than a million people may qualify for the extension? >>> yeah. i tell you when you are collecting unemployment, those checks can make a big difference. these are for states with very high unemployment, not the whole country. the idea here is there are people who may be out there looking, pounding the pavement, but there aren't that many jobs available. high unemployment is considered to be more than 8.5% so take a look at this. you can see if your state is among the states with high unemployment. all the states in red qualify for these benefits. 27 of the states there, and we also have the states with the highest unemployment rates, michigan more than 15%. so these are all double digits here. the national average is just under 10%. the senate is expected to approve this extension, natasha, and the president is expected to sign the bill soon afterwards. we don't know exactly when but probably by the end of the week. >> a handful of people are keeping their fingers crossed. thanks

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. jen, who will benefit from this money? >> it's a lot more of your money, taxpayer money. the government is hoping this fresh round of money is going to help middle class families who with the credit freeze on are having a very hard time getting mortgageses. this money would fund state housing agencies that used to do a lot of mortgages but they've been frozen up you by the credit crunch, too. this was first reported by the "wall street journal." basically the agencies couldn't lend any more so one takeaway is it may be able to help you if you've tried to apply with one of these agencies. you may want to try a little later on, give it time. but another big takeaway it tells you about the economy is even though the government is right, they talked about their exit strategy for some of these programs, tlair still so worried about the housing market they're not willing to exit there yet. they still think the housing market needs propping up. >>> at cnn and hln, we want to make sure you ha

i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >>> get great money advice from jennifer westhoven each weekday00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m." >>> you've seen the video. a college football player throws a punch here after the game is over. now, that punch -- right there, has brought a high price. >>> a new sculpture in one colorado town is a little too -- natural for some people. it shows a bare-bottomed rock climber. check it out. it was put up in the main intersection in the town of silk. >> who would climb a rock naked. that will get you hurt. >> first we heard from the people who liked it. then it got rumored around. now the people who do like it are contacting. >> thought it would be fun to take a picture of it. >> it's not just part of the sculpture, it shows colorado wild life. the board's town members approved it before it was installed. >>> check out the twisted metal from a nasty chain reaction crash that trapped two kids inside of a burning car here. a doctor, though, just happened to be in traffic and saw this accident in buffalo, new york. he bashed in windows to free a 5-year-old girl. but

i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >>> you can get more great money advice from jennifer westhovenrobin meade from 6:00 to 10:00 eastern. >>> one year ago the university of washington didn't win a single football game, but yesterday the huskies did something to make their fans forget all of that. >>> and you think chomping on 19 pounds of grits would be enough competitive eating for one day? it wasn't enough for one guy. he added a couple dozen burritos to the mix. we don't want anything... ...to slow us down. but even in your 30s... ...your bones can begin to change., overtime, you can begin to have bone loss. calcium and vitamin d work together, to help keep your bones strong., and yoplait gives you... ...20% of your daily calcium... ...and is the only leading yogurt with vitamin d in every cup., keep your bones strong every day... ...with yoplait. over health care reform, aarp has chosen a side-- yours. we're fighting to guarantee that you'll never be denied coverage because of your health or age. to prevent anyone from coming between you and your doctor. and to make sure patien

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. that sounds good.ck, right? >> yeah. and you know i remember and you remember even as we tell this story that they're looking at statistics and thick things that told them about the momentum of the economy. they're phdss, not necessarily how you and i feel the economy. it's not the jobs market, not getting better yet. but according to the federal reserve signals, the worst recession in 70 years is ending. and the economy is finally starting to grow again, even if we can't feel it. that's from the federal reserve's beige book. if it's true, if it builds on that, that would be good news in a bad economy. this is the beige book we're talking about. they look at regions all across america and found that nearly ail of the regional economies got better or stabilized. so on this map where it got better and stabilized, that's what's green. only the st. louis area didn't do better. this is much better than the same picture we had two months ago. the kink here is the economists are worried about the recovery's s

jennifer westhoven is here to tell us about some big potential savings, janice. that's what we love to hear in this type of economy. >> thanks, natasha. some utilities say your heating bi bills might be as much as 20% lower this year. that's good news in a bad economy. now, be careful. don't start spending it yet. those prices do fluctuate, but natural gas prices are near seven-year lows. they're like oil prices. they can fluctuate on supply and demand and lately the word in natural gas is -- the main reason is the recession. factories are not really humming at the same levels they were. that means we're using a lot less energy in general, much bigger supply of gas. >>> maybe you know a teen you think should get off the couch and get a job. that's your opinion, but it is a lot harder for teenagers to get a job these days. they're looking at the toughest job market for their age group in 60 years, basically since they started counting these numbers. look at teens who are out there looking, pounding the payments, more than a quarter of them couldn't find jobs in th

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. jennifer tell us about this. it's all about potentially deadly floormats. >> exactly. we're talking about potentially 4 million cars that are being recalled because the floor mat on the driver's side, it can creep up and then it can end up jamming down your accelerator pedal and suddenly your car is speeding up. there have been over 100 reports of this happening. five people have died, 17 people have been hurt. there have been 13 crashes, including a san diego off-duty highway patrolman, his family. if you have one of these cars, you want to take the mat out and go to the dealership. they're saying don't put in a new mat, just go to the dealership. if it happens, you want to try to pull the mat out if you have time or step on the brakes with both feet. we're talking about some of toyota's best sellers. the camry from 2007 to 2010. there are more models that are affected, too. we've got the complete list at cnn.com/robin. you'll have to scroll down a little bit but it's there under important web sites and you'll n

our money expert jennifer westhoven has details on that. shouldn't we be worried about the fdic running short on cash? >> how would you like fit the ir sk asks for taxes three years early. the bangs don't like it'ser this. that's one way to look at the scenario that's potentially unfolding today. the government, not going to let the fdic fail, so they're looking at options including this report that they will ask banks to cough up three years worth of fees early. you know, pay your future fees early. and this is really a sign of the extraordinary times that we're in. the fdic is supposed to be baling out banks but they're basically going to the banks and saying can you bail us out? it's because so many medium and small-sized banks have been failing. it's helped 75 banks so far this year. it's drained it of its reserves. it's trying to spread the money around for maximum stability. >>> yesterday we had some big mergers we mentioned that a big merger may not affect your everyday life but it really helped the stock market and that's because a

i'm jennifer westhoven, looking out for you. >> thanks, jen.on "morning express" with robin meade, 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> what would you do if someone tried to rob the bank you were in? a suspected robber had already taken thousands of dollars from the tellers, but one customer was not about to let him leave with the money. and he wasn't the only person who stepped in to help. 75% of kids don't get the recommended amounts of calcium and vitamin d. that's where their favorite cereals can help. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals that has calcium and vitamin d. help them get more of what they need with general mills kid cereals. >>> there are new revelations about a man the fbi is calling a terror suspect. what the agency is now saying about najibullah zazi's ties to al qaeda. >>> is criticism for president obama rooted in if racism? some people say yes, including former president jimmy carter. but now president obama himself is talking about the whole thing. >>> authorities in washington state are racing to

our money expert jennifer westhoven joins us.en, this one could save people a lot of money. >> overdraft fees are one of those places where you could make a mei take and have to pay hundred dollars. now u.s. bank following the lead of some of the biggest banks after they took the move and cut overdraft fees. the big question is, for them, is it going to be enough? because you probably know congress has been looking at regulating these fees because so many people have been getting soaked by them. but banks, they only want to give an inch. they want to make sure they can keep most of the fees because they're a gold mine for banks. at u.s. bank under the new rules you'd only be hit up to three times a day. also, they can only hit you so many times a year. they will have a limit. and they also said they will not hit you if you only go over your limit by $10. so they won't ding you if you make a little math error, for example. >>> now, this is all happening again as congress gets set to pass new regulations on credit and debit card fe

jennifer westhoven is here.tension. >> yeah. this could help a lot of people, natas natasha, using these checks to feed their families. it's 13 more weeks of unemployment checks in some states. now, the average benefit, about 300s a week. 314,000 families would have run out of benefits this month without this third extension. as you mentioned, more than a million in the coming months. i said some states. you see them here in red where unemployment is more than 8.5%. we're talking about 27 states now, more than half of the states in the country, where people are saying, look, i'm sure, ready, willing and able to work, but there just aren't any opportunities. it's not my fault i can't find wok. that point, with three extensions here, we've got the government supporting hundreds of thousands of american families. the senate is expected to approve this and the president is expected to sign the bill shortly. generally speaking, benefits go about 26 weeks. in some states now they're 52 weeks. with this extension, some

money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you.s you're not going to have to pay for all of that. right now we're going to give you the numbers for a family of four. a lot of you are single too, we'll try to have those later in the show. for a family of four, more than $13,000 a year. we wanted to get you a fact that a lot of you tend to agree that the kaiser gets a lot of these right. the good news is that the $13,000, you're not paying for all of it. you can see your share at the bottom, about $3,500. and your company shoulders a lot more. a lot of people don't quite realize what a benefit that benefit really is. but with costs rising, both you and your employer are going to be paying more. so they're not just passing the increase on to you, they're taking some of it but not necessarily all of it. and the fall season is coming up where you enroll for your health care next year, and watts and wyatt is what you're going to see a lot more questions about benefits where if you do something healthy you'll get a benefit, where if you q

i'm jennifer westhoven, looking out for you. >> thanks, jen.oney advice from jennifer westhoven each weekday on "morning express" with robin meade from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern.s. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. >>> a new luxury resort is opening in a florida county hit especially hard by unemployment. and that means a few more jobs will be available, but as max turnier explains, the competition for those jobs is fierce. >> reporter: people waited in one line and then sat patiently in another. >> two hours in line here. i heard about this and i took advantage of it immediately and sounded like something i would come down here, hopefully get lucky with. >> reporter: zander search searchy was laid off two days ago. >> i'm looking fo

jennifer westhoven is here. good news. >> this is a program most people doentd even know about because it's behind the scenes. it's not like cash for clunkers where you heard and saw all about it, butd you're still getting benefits in this program. the government has been buying thousands of dollars of mortgage-backed securities. what that does is it keeps mortgages low. by guaranteeing them, lenders are secure in making new loans. it just keeps the housing going. that's why levels are the lowest we're seeing in this generation, about 5.25% right now. the feds says the program is not going to end early. there was some thought that was going to happen, but it will be gradually phased out early next year. they're not going to be doing government intervention forever, but they are trying to keep the housing steady for now. >>> this holiday season, fewer elves to help you with the shopping. 54% say they'll have less staff for this holiday season in the survey of some of the biggest surveys. the shopping companies li

our money expert, jennifer westhoven says you may be looking at the worst job market in a long time.e had a hunch about this, jen. >> yeah. >> what evidence do you have? >> at least you know what you're facing. a lot of people -- you get depressed. you really are facing some of the hardest times to find a job since 2000. that's just because they started keeping records then. there are now, for every job opening, there are six people trying to get a job. that's from "the new york times," citing the labor department this morning. overall, we've got almost 15 million americans officially out of work and only about 2.5 million job openings out there, right? you can see the big imbalance. that's why it's really hard right now. you've really got to be out there. some experts say have a plan. be positive. other experts say, look, yeah, but the job market is just not going to heal very quickly. it's not going to snap up because companies are being so cautious. >>> so, let's get you to some good news in a bad economy. that is the price of gas, at least if you're out there, job hunting. it cos

jennifer westhoven is looking out for you on this one. is this a danger to kids in. >> johnson & johnson, when you look at how this works, saying it's almost impossible that any kid would get hurt or sick from this but they want to be absolutely sure so they're recalling nearly two dozen tileal liquids, children's and infants products, found bacteria in an inactive ingredient that wasn't used in the product. they're calling it an apun dance of caution. to see the list of the recalled lot numbers so you can make sure everything in your medicine cabinet is okay go to the website, cnn.com/robin and look at important links. you check the lot numbers to the bottom of the tileal box or on the sticker around the bottle. >> jen, thanks so much. >>> president obama reportedly is preparing to accuse iran of having a secret nuclear fuel facility. the "new york times" reports the president, along with the leaders of britain and france will make that accusation before the opening of the g-20 sum nit pittsburgh this morning. mr. obama is scheduled to m

our money expert, jennifer westhoven is here. >> it's a long-brewing fight and get people who are into neutrality. if you download too much, your internet provider can slow you down and say, you're hogging up the bandwidth for everybody, slowing things down for everyone on our network. consumer groups say they don't think that's the reason. they think the reason is the internet providers just want to block out the competition. the head of the fcc is calling for a new rule that providers would not be able to make distinctions and treat all web traffic equally. it's interesting here. in some ways, you say it could slow down your experience. maybe people are downloading many, many movies. in other ways, it could mean if you want to download something, you're not blocked from it. it's easier for you. >>> could this be the week that the dow retakes the 10,000 mark? even with all the bad news about the economy, the stock market -- i wouldn't exactly say it's throwing a party, but it is definitely clawing back a lot more of the heavy losses that came right after the financial crisis, right in

our money expert jennifer westhov westhoven. >> chicken feet. billion-dollar -- billions of dollars worth of trade. >> spill it. >> so you may remember the story, the u.s. is upset over and is putting tariffs on chinese tires, then threats from china, we're going to start banning u.s. products, maybe even chicken. this is a whole global trade flap threatening the u.s. chicken industry. zperts tell the "new york times" they don't think china will make good on the threats because its people love chicken feet so much. >> what do you do with chicken feet? pickle them or something? >> you suck on them. you cook them and suck on them. i've seen it at the chinese restaurants at sunday brunch in new york. i had a girlfriend, yep. >> no kidding. new to me. okay. >> they buy billions of dollars worth of them every year. they're the only place, by the way, that pays so much for them. so it just reminded us of the phrase one man's trash is another man's delicacy. >>> you think car show, you think fancy cars that nobody can afford, girls in bikinis. carmaker

jennifer westhoven is all over it.t your car like something you bought at the mall basically. good morning. >> good morning. in a way it's like you could get a free car for two months. i'm not saying you should do that. but this is a marketing gimmick. >> did you notice the music even stopped? she did not! >> but it's a marketing gimmick by gh. what they're saying is if you buy a gm between next monday and the end of november, if you don't love it, you can bring it back within 60 days. all your money back. no questions asked. so, look, here's the thing. gm are taking a risk. why are they? they want to drum up business after cash for clunkers, also fight the notion that you might not be satisfied with your gm. they've got a whole marketing campaign kind of based around this. by the way, you can't bring it back if you put more than 4,000 miles on it. you can't drive to alaska and then florida and then try to bring the car back. here is good news in a bad economy. it may be good for your retirement. stocks on a winning st

our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. morning. >>> dporng. thanks, robin.s is good news in a bad economy for most of us. it's not so good if you're a farmer. but for everybody else going to the grocery store, this is helpful. milk prices down almost $1 a gallon compared to last year. these are government statistics cited by "usa today." i'm look iing at the milk being poured. do you know what else is cheaper? bacon. it's cheaper, too. pork producers, look, they're talking about the economy, demand is down, but they also say that it's h1n1, swine flu. people are making the mistake of thinking that swine flu is somehow related to pork. it's not. get it from humans. demand in general has fallen. so in any case it's still good news for you at the grocery store. for the first time more americans say they'd rather handle their money online. 26% of people aged 35 to 54 say they like online banking best. anyway, compared to the other forms, more people said they like banking on the internet compared to branches and atm. i tell you, robin, if you add up those number

i'm jennifer westhoven.ought $8,000 from the federal government was a lot for buying a first-time home, check this out. $20,000 for first-time home buyers in this kansas city, missouri, program. called dream home program. it's really aimed at the middle class. homes can't be worth more than $150,000. you can get money up front. you can use it for your down payment or closing costs. it is technically a loan but you don't have to pay any of it back as long as you keep your promise which is to live in that house for ten years. that's on top of federal money. $28,000 together. money does come partially through the federal government. >>> it is safe to peek at your retirement again. there was a strong rally on wall street last night. that's got the dow back within striking distance of $10,000. that's good news in a bad economy. dow up 108 points last night closing near 9800. best close since october. you can see how far we've come off that low of just about 6500 there. >>> rain, rain, go away. bob has the travel

jennifer westhoven, smart choices means what? >> exactly. what does that mean?i think this is a case where -- and overall this story is a good reminder you have to be really careful about what they say on the packaging. the food companies put together the smart choices system. the symbol, check it out, this is what you're going to see on hundreds of products from companies including kellogg's, krafts, general mills, a little check on the box. some of the foods that have this check are mayonnaise and fruit loops. this is a leading nutritionist of harvard, he told "the new york times," these are horrible choices. kellogg's says fruit loops is an excellent source of many vitamins and minerals and a tufts nutritionalist who helped put the program together said they used government dietary guidelines and fruit loops can be better than a doughnut. she said that. that's what she told "the new york times." the fda has told the food companies they're going to be watching and they would be concerned if americans were misled or if they started thinking that highly processe

. >>> and heading to jennifer westhoven watching business.ny, yogurt you're eating may not be all it's cracked up to be. think twice when you put the spoon in the yogurt. >> are you ready for the jokes on this one? >> okay. sure. >> the theme song of this story is i feel the earth move under my feet. >> all right. >> yeah. having a little fun with it. dannon is going to pay up to $35 million. that's not small change, over claims it made on its abouttivia and dannon active yoegers. they're settling a class action lawsuit over claims that this yogurt would "strengthen the body's defenses or regulate digestion." through what we think is good bacteria. dannon is going to drop the words. it's a settlement. no admission of wrong it doing. that it will change the labels and you could get up to $100 back if you bought a lot of this. but what we don't know yet is how you'll get the money back. i mean, does anybody really save receipts for that long from the grocery store? we'll see how that works poupt keep an eye on that one. how's it looking at the

jennifer westhoven is joining us now.ns why prices will come down a little bit. >> you should be seeing it at the store for meat, milk, dairy, fruits, vegetables. that's been happening almost every month this year. that is certainly good news in a bad economy at a time when so many are being tight with their money, being careful. a lot of people buying store labels. the food companies are taking notice and they can afofrd to do it now. with gas and energy prices down, it's costing them less to get it to your store. again, this is some welcomed relief from last year when we saw a lot of food prices hitting record highs. >>> this is kind of a good news-bad news story. good news, we are paying off credit cards and debt. that is good for the economy in the long-term. the latest numbers show that consumer credit fell by more than $20 billion in the latest month. so we're not carrying as much debt. now, it's also, it's not just because we're doing good work, but good for us for that, it's also because the banks are being very c

our money expert jennifer westhoven here with more on this anniversary. hey there, jen. >> thanks, virginia. of course they dropped because there was so much concern about the financial system. but the magnitude of the drop was huge. the biggest plunge by points in one day in history. the dow off 777 points. of course, we're still not back to this 10,300 level. but people basically felt sick, investors, by the time the closing bell rang that day. so many warning signs about the financial system then. lehman brothers had collapsed. there were calls for a huge bailout. but on this -- basically, before this day the house rejected the government's bailout plan. now, later on it did pass, of course, but there were a lot of fears the economy might sink into a great depression, driving the dow down to 6,500 by march, even after the initial drop. now, stocks have recuperated much of that loss since then as things have stabilized, at least in the financial system. so many people out of work. we're a long way from the economy recovering. but at least the financial

jennifer westhoven looking out for you. jen, what up? think we had heard about the where you shop might affect you, but pretty invasive stuff as we learn more details about this. they're scouring your purchases looking for any sign that you might be losing your income. it's pretty surprising. >> you're shop from a middle or upper tier retail store and suddenly, it shows a purchase at a dollar store. some form of down shifting. suddenly shopping at walmart. >> so just shopping at walmart for a first time, marriage counseling is one of the things, too. try to fix your marriage if they're going to hit you. if you go to bars a few nights in a row for them. signs that you might have lost your job and therefore lose your ability to pay, they're willing to cut your credit. a colorado man running for office says if he's elected, he'll try to stop it. american express says we don't just look at where you shop, but overall spending patterns. in some ways, you can understand, but still, can feel a little creepy. >> what if you're just trying to eco

jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. >> this week, some of the big banks decided they were goingwells fargo started it. chase, u.s. bank followed, maybe more t. question is, is that going to be enough to pacify congress? congress has been hearing a lot of people saying they are furious after getting socked by overdraft fees which could be around $35 and if you make a mistake you can get hit with a few in one day. it can be hundreds of dollars. banks don't want to give them all in. they are a gold mine for them, they brought in $38 billion this year alone. so banks are hoping to give an inch so they can keep most of that revenue stream. bank of america and welgs far go, for example, they are cutting the number of time these can hit you in a day. it used to be ten times a day in some cases they could hit you $50 in fees. some banks are not going to hit you, say you go over by only $10. they won't whack you for a little mistake. we'll see if that's enough. congress is getting set to pass new regulations on debit and credit card fees that could possibly protect you. >>> and you can g

jennifer westhoven is here. jen what do we know about this program and do homeowners even know about it? >>> a lot of people don't, natasha. this is one of those it's kind of a behind-the-scenes program not like cash for clunkers where it directly affects you. it indirectly affects you. the government is buying billions of dollars of mortgaged back securities so even though you may not be seeing it you're reaping the benefits if you buy, sell or refinance. that's good news in a bad economy. now what the government is doing by guaranteeing all these mortgages it means the lenders feel secure enough that they can go out and make new loans and we know they haven't been making very many but the ones they're making are partially, some would argue, because of the government program. experts credited with keeping rates at some of their lowest levels in decades in a generation. rates are about 5.25% right now and basically the fed, we have thought this program was going to expire right away or they would cut it off earl

i'm jennifer westhoven looking out for you. >> you can get more great money advice from jennifer westhoven meade from 6:00 to 10:00 eastern. >>> a man's plan to put his house on the market came crashing down in just a matter of seconds. take a look at this. police actually do have an explanation for how this suv ended up in the second floor of someone's home. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years. and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. >>> some people thought it was an explosion but it was actually an suv crashing into this second floor of someone's home. take a look at this mess. police in suffolk county, new york say that a 20-year-old drunk driver ran a stop sign, hit a mound of dirt and went flying. get this -- the homeowner had just put his house here on the market. >> i was shocked. how could do you

our money expert jennifer westhoven has a potentially stunning development about recorded phone callsam. >> yeah. you may remember there were some senators who were named. they said we didn't even know about this. what's going on? what we're learning this morning is that there were phone calls, tapes of them, that were reportedly destroyed. and that's got congress calling for some more information. now, bank of america, of course, bought countrywide in july 2008. well, a bank of america spokesman told "the wall street journal" the company didn't keep any of these recordings that were involved from before july 2008 when it took over countrywide and terminated that program. but this program got a lot of criticism. well, countrywide got a lot of criticism in general in mortgage collapse. but this program included mortgage loans to two senators, a former housing official. now, they all have denied any wrong doing. but, you know, it's a big question. did this company basically try to give people, some people, influential people, much lower rates in return for positive legislation and no ru

our money expert jennifer westhoven. >> i could see how that could be.you think that's a big commitment to take on to look afr after this human being for the rest of the their lives. it tells you that the recession is making a huge impact not just on what you're buying but some of life's biggest choices. numbers from the census bureau show that more americans are staying single, 31%, maybe thinking being i just want to be a little bit more secure at work first. a lot more people in their 20s, too, are staying single as well. 31% of people have never been married, the highest in a decade. americans are also waiting to do things like buy a home. that number of people is down. also people willing to move. mobility is at a 60-year low. and more of us are saying, maybe i'm going to carpool, come in with a co-worker or use mass transit to save money. how is the recession affecting you? we'd love to know. cnn.com/robin. we've got a link to our facebook page, the latest edition to the many ways you can communicate with us. >>> many americans are also giving up o

. >>> jennifer westhoven, thank you. i feel sorry for this guy. the best-known polar bear knut growing up before our eyes. he met his potential made giovanna. it wasn't love at first sight. she slapped him and went away to swim by herself. he was spurned. knute is not sexually mature yet. >> they need to manscape his beard. >> it's tough work. keep at it, my friend. >>> two suspects are on the run after leading police on a high-speed chase. >>> we've got a new dash cam video showing a high-speed chase coming to a crashing end. police in ohio say the suv got up to 90 miles per hour before republicaning down a bank and disappears. the driver took off running towards a hotel and has not been caught. the passenger got away, too, from this high-speed chase. >>> director roman polanski is getting celebrity support. they say he fled decades ago after having sex with a 13-year-old girl. martin scorcese saying polanski should be released immediately. they are upset because polanski was arrested on his way to the zurich film festival which honored him this

jennifer westhoven is looking out for you on this. is this a danger to kids? >> the message from tylenol is that it isn't a danger, but that they want to be very cautious. but they are recalling it so obviously they think there is some kind of a small risk there. johnson & johnson say the ris sk remote but they want to be absolutely sure. they're recalling nearly two dozen tylenol products after they found bacteria that was in an inactive ingredient that they say was unused in the product but because it was made at the same time, they just want to be sure. here's what you can do to make sure that everything in your medicine cabinet is totally safe in case you think you may have one of the products. go to cnn.com/robin, we have a list of the lot numbers, it's under important websites. get the medicine bottle and compare the lot numbers. look either on the bottom of the box or on the sticker that goes around the bottle. and sometimes you have to pull off the top label and it's on one underneath. >> good tip. we'll be back with more in about ten minutes. >>> now

jennifer westhoven is here with the story. this is an interesting one. >>> it's really taking off. it's peer-to-peer lending. if you're borrowing, you borrow from these websites, basically other people just like you willing to lend. with a lot of banks afraid to lend right now, that is good news in a bad economy. if you're someone who borrowed, you might get better rates at lending club and prosper. now you can also if you feel like taking a risk be a lender at some of these sites, too. it's taken off in a few years, talking about almost $6 billion by next year. the federal government is taking notice and looking into how they're going to deal with them. do they register the sites. richard? >> go for it. >> we've been talking about people behaving badly lately, so this was somebody behaving badly in the finance world. you may remember the story about a bank executive who was allegedly partying in this beautiful home, a foreclosure she was supposed to be looking after. the follow-up that she's been fired. wells fargo said the executive was let go for violating company policy after n

jennif jen westhoven is looking out for you. >> bank of america and wells fargo started it, and chased, and maybe more. the question is, is that going to be enough to pacify congress. congress has been hearing a lot of people saying they are furious after getting socked with overdrawn fees. banks don't want to give overdraft fees up. they brought in $38 billion this year alone. and so banks are hoping to give an inch so they can keep most of the revenue intact. bank of america and wells fargo are cutting the number of times they can hit you in a day. it used to be 10 times a day, and in some cases $250 in fees. say you go over by $10, and they won't whack you for that. congress is getting set to pass new regulations on debit and credit card fees that could possibly protect you. i am jen westhoven, looking out for you. >> you can get more money advice each day from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> i asked everybody, would you really give something up with no chance of pay back? >> you have to hear who stepped forward to give him the gift of life. >>> frequent flyers can pick up dea