DOROTHY CORBIN, SANIBEL, FLA.

You’re joining a secret society of savvy buyers who now have more than 200 companies to choose from. Some, including Exxon, Mobil and Barnett Banks, don’t charge any fees at all. Others, such as Amoco, Home Depot, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart, charge fees in the $5-to-$20 range–much less than you’d pay most stockbrokers. It typically takes $250 to $1,000 to open an account. You also get a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP), which uses your dividends to buy more shares. A few utilities and real-estate investment trusts will even sell you shares at 3 to 5 percent below the market price.

Two firms offer free lists of direct-purchase plans: (1) The Moneypaper, 1010 Mamaroneck Avenue, Mamaroneck, NY 10543 (800-388-9993, ext. 301); (2) The DRIP Investor, 7412 Calumet Avenue, Suite 200, Hammond, IN 46324. The DRIP Investor’s clearinghouse (800-774-4117) will send you propectuses and new-account forms for more than 100 plans.

QUESTION: I withdrew $30,000 from my Fidelity Magellan IRA to make a down payment on our first house. I knew I had 60 days to put it back without incurring taxes and a penalty. One Fidelity staffer told me the Internal Revenue Service allows a few days of grace, to compensate for mail delivery. At the eleventh hour, however, another staffer said the rule was rigid. I scraped together the replacement money and sent it by Federal Express on the 61st day. Will I live to regret it?

NAME WITHHELD, SANTA MONICA, CALIF.

Hmmmm, Name Withheld. Are you under cover for a reason?

As you suspected, you’re in the soup. You missed the deadline. The money had to be back in the IRA 60 days after the day you received it, and the government won’t be interested in what some Fidelity staffer said. That one-day delinquency left you with an early withdrawal. You should take $30,000 out of your IRA, list it as income, pay your tax and add a penalty of 10 percent.

Fidelity has to report that original $30,000 withdrawal on a 1099 form and file it with the IRS. If you don’t put it on your tax return, the IRS’s computer will find you. Had you made the deadline, you’d have noted on your return that the money was repaid.

By law, Fidelity also reports on the size of your IRA at the year-end, although it doesn’t tell the government when the money moved out and back. I guess you could cheat, dear Name Withheld. If you’re caught, however, here’s the price: the 10 percent penalty, plus 6 percent a year on the money kept in the plan illegally, plus interest on the unpaid tax, plus a penalty for lying when you filed your return.

QUESTION: Our company currently has a 401(k) plan. I understand that the maximum that employees can contribute has gone up in some way. Can you explain?

TERRY GROSS, NORTHFIELD, ILL.

Sure! It’s as simple as pie. You see . . . well . . . er . . . AAARGH!

Let’s start with what people notice first: the maximum amount of money that can go into their account. This stays the same. Employees can deposit up to $9,500 a year, if the plan allows it. If your company puts in money, too, its contribution together with yours can’t exceed $30,000 or 25 percent of net earnings, whichever is less. I say net earnings because part of your pay isn’t used to figure your pension deposit.

Those of you who already save the maximum dollar amount won’t be touched by the new law. If your plan has limited you to saving something less, however, your contribution can go up.

When the change takes effect next year, the ceiling on savings will be redefined. The new cap: $30,000 or nearly 25 percent of gross pay. With that small adjustment, ““almost everyone will be helped, no matter what percentage of pay they’ve been contributing,’’ says Karen Field of KPMG Peat Marwick in Washington, D.C. With a higher contribution, you may also trigger a higher employer match.

You don’t have to be in a 401(k) to benefit from this new rule. It also covers workers who contribute to 403(b)s, profit-sharing plans, tax-deductible pension annuities and Keogh accounts.

QUESTION: I’m a 75-year-old widow and owe $7,000 on two credit cards, which I’m paying off faithfully every month. What happens if I die before the debt is paid? My checking account has my daughter’s name on it so that she can pay my bills. She’s not on my credit cards, but is she responsible for them anyway?

NAME WITHHELD, PAW PAW, MICH.

Don’t you worry about a thing. Your daughter isn’t responsible for any debts she hasn’t signed for.

If you die, Visa and MasterCard can collect from any assets owned in your name alone. That might be a house, a mutual fund or a certificate of deposit. But they may not be able to touch the checking account that you own with your daughter. Property held jointly in two names passes to the other owner and normally cannot be attached by creditors, says attorney Carol Karr of Miller Johnson Snell & Cummiskey in Grand Rapids, Mich. To collect, they’d have to show that your daughter was on the account for convenience only, not because you wanted her to inherit the money. That’s a tough case to prove. But your daughter might feel a moral obligation to pay your debts, using money you leave behind.

Send your questions to Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek Focus: On Your Money, 251 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. Letters can be answered only in the column