(MONEY Magazine) – Q. On April 10, 1987, Vanguard, the mutual fund company, received a check from my wife to open two 1986 Individual Retirement Accounts. Because the dollar amount on the check did not agree with other paperwork, Vanguard returned the check to us on April 17, two days past the account-opening deadline. If the Internal Revenue Service does not recognize these contributions as valid, then when we start to draw from these accounts 30 years from now, the IRS will claim unpaid taxes and penalties on 30 years of earnings. Can you give us some guidance? Name withheld by request San Antonio

A. Not to worry. An IRS spokesman at first stiffly said that a contribution must be made by April 15 (or else!) and that you should amend your return to show your contributions as nondeductible. Sensing perhaps that nobody in his right mind would do this, he then made a surprising suggestion: that you ask whether Vanguard would -- in effect -- back date your contribution to comply with the law. (My first reaction: isn't that how former President Nixon got into trouble with the IRS -- by back dating the gift of his vice presidential papers to the National Archives?) When we checked with Vanguard, however, we learned that it did in fact report your check as a 1986 contribution because your letters and checks demonstrated a good-faith effort to meet the deadline. If you're still queasy, though, you can ask the company to write you a letter of indemnification. This letter would explain the late date and declare that, as far as Vanguard is concerned, your money came in on time.

Q. I have a product that I desperately need to patent, but patent lawyers charge $3,000. Is there an alternative? Caroline S. Collins Easley, S.C.

A. Sure there is. But if you are as desperate as you say -- presumably because your product, whether it is a cure for the common corn or a better mantrap, will fulfill a tremendous public need or sell like tickets to a Rolling Stones concert -- why stint on $3,000? Such are the complications of the law that, of the 83,584 patents granted last year by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, only about 2% went to those who filed without the help of an attorney. So if you are truly serious, you'd better get one. You might want to read How to Protect and Benefit from Your Ideas, a booklet available for $9.95 from the American Intellectual Property Law Association (2001 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Suite 203, Arlington, Va. 22202; 703-521-1680). Buying the booklet entitles you to a free half-hour consultation with a patent attorney in your area. If you still want to go ahead on your own, read Patent It Yourself by David Pressman (Nolo Press, $29.95). The book contains all necessary forms and instructions plus advice on marketing your invention. P.S.: The government will charge you $185 anyway just to handle the paperwork for the patent.

Q. Can credit consultants really change derogatory information in credit reports even if the problems are my fault? I am having conflicting thoughts about paying one to improve my credit rating. Ed Palmer Van Nuys, Calif.

A. And well you should. For a fee of $50 to $1,000, some of these so-called % repair clinics claim that, like fairy godmothers, they can transform Duke Deadbeat into Prince Paid-on-Time. But let's look at the facts. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act specifies exactly what can be written into your credit report and how long it must stay there. If you fail to meet payments on a car loan or other consumer loan, say, that misstep sticks to you for seven years. If you file for bankruptcy, the black mark remains for a decade. So unless your credit record contains outright errors, which you could fix yourself by writing to the credit bureau, there is often little that consultants can do. Sometimes they resort to chicanery -- like bombarding the credit bureau with phony disputes over every bill in hopes of getting some charges erased. For real help, call the National Foundation for Consumer Credit (800-388-2227), a nonprofit organization with almost 500 counseling centers in the U.S. and Canada. Its counselors can help you design a budget and negotiate with your creditors a program to repay your debts, usually in two to four years. Their fee: $10 or so.

Q. I am worried about the 401(k) plan my employer is offering. It seems to allow the trustee -- in this case, the company's owner -- to borrow money against the employees' funds. Is there any insurance to protect employees if their money is misused? George J. Reed Minneapolis

A. Don't fret about that ''right to borrow'' clause. Many plans include some such language so that the trustee can borrow when appropriate to further the plan's investments -- for example, to buy stock on margin. ERISA (the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act) and other federal laws and regulations require employees' funds to be held in trust and generally forbid their use for corporate purposes. Unlike pensions and other defined-benefit plans, however, 401(k)s are not federally insured. The Department of Labor polices 401(k)s, but it monitors only a tiny percentage of them each year. So you should scrutinize all plan statements that you get. And if you suspect shady dealings, complain in writing to the Division of Inquiries and Technical Assistance (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Room N-5658, 200 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210; 202-523-8776).

Q. I work for the Postal Service, and for the past six months I have tried to get disability insurance. The companies I've contacted don't cover civil servants. Help! Shirley W. Floyd Florence, S.C.

A. Neither snow nor rain keeps you from delivering the mail, so what's stopping you from making the appointed rounds of insurance companies? We found several in your area, including Farm Bureau and Mutual of Omaha, that have no ban on civil servants. In fact, both would be delighted to accept your premium payments. (A Mutual of Omaha policy that pays up to $1,000 a month for two years, for example, would cost a 35-year-old nonsmoking female postal worker about $58 a month and a 55-year-old about $83 a month.) So dial, smile and remember: if you've got money to spend, there's always someone who'll take it.