Two new laws were signed in October 2008 that benefit military personnel and veterans. The first is the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, which has a number of provisions to help veterans concerning disability claims, VA mortgages, educational benefits, and assistance for those severely disabled while serving after September 11th, 2001. The second, the National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act, is intended to help National Guard and Reserve members who have been adversely impacted by strict bankruptcy rules.

Here are two alerts from BBB, one about an internet ticket sales company called TicketsMyWay.com, and another about an internet scam that uses a supposed package sent through the United Parcel Service as its bait.

Recent news articles have talked about online scammers offering tickets to the Presidential Inauguration. College football bowl season is coming up in a month or so, as well, and sports fans will be trolling the Web looking for great seats at bargain prices (an unlikely combination). So this is a good time to review the rules of the game for online ticket buyers, and ask you to remember some tips from BBB before you send off your money for those too-good-to-be-true seats that you spotted on the internet.

The U.S. Postal Service is giving a discount on its largest Priority Mail flat-rate box if it’s going to an APO/FPO, as well as offering free Military Care Kits to help you with those holiday mailing tasks. And the YMCA of the USA has teamed up with the Department of Defense to offer free YMCA memberships to certain military families.

Going to college next year? Now that you’ve decided where you want to go and the application process is drawing to a close, it’s time to start thinking about where to find the money to pay for that college education. The good news for you is that there are lots of scholarships just for military children. And with access to a computer and advice from your guidance counselor, there is no reason for you to hire anyone to do a scholarship search for you.