What Are The Most Common Credit Card Mistakes?
September 6, 2008
Now in a world with so many easy to get credit cards it can be easy for someone who is a first time credit card holder, or even someone who has several credit cards in the past to make mistakes when using the card.
One of the most common mistakes when using credit cards is to use the credit card to make purchases of things you are not really able to afford. Easy to get credit cards make it tempting to get a credit card in a store to make a large impulse buy, that you will end up paying for several times over in interest rates. People will often sign up for credit cards at baseball games, and on college campuses in order to receive free promotional items. While it is easy t get credit cards from these types of booths, the credit cards often will have a high interest rate, annual fees and memberships fees that you don’t pay attention to when you sign up.
Finding Reputable Credit Card Companies
September 3, 2008
You’re interested in getting the best credit cards for your family’s needs, but you don’t want to be cheated. Or you’re interested in small business credit cards, but you’ve heard that some of them aren’t terribly secure. What do you do?
First, don’t look for the best credit cards in your email box; and don’t pick out your small business credit cards from your daily junk mail. While these are often good bargains and perfectly honest companies, junk mail and email are also the way fraudulent credit card companies find their victims, or less-than-great credit card companies find customers. The best credit cards are the ones you seek out yourself. Whether you’re looking for small business credit cards or good credit cards for your personal use, be an active rather than a passive buyer.
Go to your bank and ask them if they carry credit cards, or if they can recommend a good company. Chances are, the answers will be yes, and yes. For unsecured cards, your bank may have less than great rates; but for cards secured by home equity or an equivalent security, your bank will probably have rates competitive with the best advertised prices out on the Web or television - and you have the added comfort of knowing you can trust them.
Five Debt Negotiation Facts
September 1, 2008
These five debt negotiation facts along with a few debt reduction planning tools gives you the ability to control your own debt. For many people today credit card debt is a mounting problem and very few know how to successfully negotiate debt settlements.
If you want to learn how to successfully negotiate with your creditors, follow the five debt negotiation facts below which offers you some solutions to your debt problems. This not only gives you a way to gain control of your credit card debts but all of your finances.
Debt, in the form of credit cards or loans, mounts up daily with interest charges, additional finance fees, and service charges. Lumping these charges and fees on top of the previously borrowed amount can make the price tag on a loan or credit card multiply a lot higher than a person originally figured on. This is what makes debt become too high to properly manage.
When the price of debt becomes too high to realistically pay each month, debt negotiation offers an opportunity to put a time out on the debt process. That allows you to reassess and renegotiate the terms with a creditor that are not currently feasible to comply with.
Cash Advance ? How Does It Work?
August 29, 2008
If you want a cash advance or a payday/paycheck loan, you usually get a personal check. Some companies use your bank account or credit card in addition to or instead of a check. This means that you have to write a check that is to be cashed or you have to agree to have an amount withdrawn from your bank account at a certain date in future (usually 14 days). After filling-in the agreement or contract you get a sum of money that is less than what you have agreed to pay. The sum is smaller because the difference is the “fee” for the loan service. Why would the company loan you money like this? Because loaning out money in this way and getting these “fees” really brings them a huge profit at your expense.
If we assume that you borrow $200 and the “fee” is of $15 for each $100, within 14 days you will have to give back $230 for the $200 that you borrowed. If by borrowing the $200 you avoid paying a $100 late fee or penalty on something, then it is worth the effort. But if you just need the money for yourself, the price is too high.
How Do I Establish A Good Line of Credit?
August 26, 2008
A line of credit, roughly defined, is the amount of credit that can be given to a borrower from a lender. Usually a contract or note of promissory is exchanged between the two parties, in which both parties agree to the line of credit amount, as well as the annual interest due to the lender at the end of the term.
Line of credit can be anywhere from a paltry sum such as twenty dollars, to a home lone of over twenty thousand dollars. Line of credit speaks volumes about your character and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Where and how much your line of credit can be extended is at the sole discretion of the lender. The lender holds all the cards in the transaction, basically.
Qualifying for a good line of a credit is somewhat of a Catch 22, in that in order to qualify for any line of credit you must prove that you have previously been reliable in paying back a previous line of credit. It’s like the old adage you may have heard upon graduation from college: “To get a job, you need experience. But to gain experience, you need a job.” Sometimes it may feel like there’s no way to get the ball rolling, vis a vis your very first line of credit.
A Debt Mentality
August 23, 2008
While working through my own debt situation, and helping others resolve their life issues regarding debt and credit, it never ceases to amaze me how similar the life stories are and how profound is the effect of debt on the way a person thinks about life, irregardless of how much money they have or don’t have.
I remember being in junior high school hearing my father say something to the effect of “you only have as much money as you have credit.” Now whether that was what he said exactly or not, dosen’t matter because it stuck in my head that unless you had massive debt, you couldn’t have massive prosperity. Now, some 40 years down the road, I realize how flawed that reasoning was and my responsibility for allowing it in my own life.
I suspect I am not alone in those feelings. Others may get to this mentality by different life events, but it is incredible how common the debt stories are. We all get here by different routes, but FEEL the same about the result. My personal view is the way debt makes you FEEL is the whole purpose of getting in debt in the first place. If you are in debt and have bill collectors calling, and getting the envelopes that you can read PAST DUE through, and getting the ugly phone calls, you understand what I’m talking about.
Start Building Credit Fast!
August 20, 2008
There are a couple of reasons for this. You can pay your bills on time for years and never gain more than a few points on your credit score.
As you probably already know, paying minimums on credit cards and bank loans do not lower your principle amount very quickly. When your balance is too close to your credit limit on a card, it actually hurts your score, even though you may be paying your bills every month without fail.
Paying the minimum can actually hurt you in some cases, especially on cards with high balances. Banks like to see plenty of breathing room on your credit cards. You are more creditworthy to them if you have plenty of availability on your cards.
Another reason you may be denied credit is your debt-to- income ratio. If your total debt is too close to your total income, Banks will not extend you credit. I struggled with these issues for years until i figured out what i was doing wrong. Every time i would lower my balances, I would run right out and build them back up.
Bounced Checks - Straight Talk On Dealing With Bad Checks (NSF)
August 17, 2008
A check can be considered bad if it is bogus or the NSF checks (non sufficient funds check), also referred as bounced check.
The issuance of a NSF or bad checks is an unlawful act and can attract civil and criminal penalties. The onus of a bad check is assigned to the person signing the check and such a person, upon incrimination, is likely to face legal action as specified by the judicial system of the state.
A bounced or NSF check is the result of insufficient funds in the account of the issuer of the check. An NSF check leads to the disruption of a healthy business cycle and also attracts bad check/NSF fees for the issuer of the check. The credit worthiness of the issuer is put under circumspection, which may blemish the business reputation of the issuer.
Measures Against Bad and NSF Checks
The receiver of the check should evaluate the credit worthiness and conduct due diligence of the business/financial repute of the issuer of the check.
A businessperson wanting to mitigate the risk of NSF or bad checks can employ the services of a check guarantee company. Check guarantee companies take upon themselves the liability of a bad or NSF check for a predefined fee.
Good Credit Is Not A Good Reason To Borrow More Money After Youve Achieved Financial Freedom
August 14, 2008
The most important thing for you to remember is that the only way you’ll ever be able to achieve financial freedom is if you are able to avoid getting back into debt once you’ve paid off everything that you owe. It seems like a lot of the different websites that give advice regarding bad credit are not looking at this the right way. Sometimes it almost sounds like the only reason you want to pay off your debts and improve your credit is so that you can borrow more money!
Granted, you will find it easier to borrow money if you have good credit, however, you want to make sure that the money you borrow in the future is something that you’ll be able to pay off relatively quickly - and that you can actually afford to spend that money. Lots of people who have their financial freedom only use their credit card on things that they could be buying out of pocket. After all, sometimes it’s not possible to buy things without credit.
Consumer Credit Reports
August 11, 2008
A consumer credit report is a factual record of an individual’s credit payment history. It is provided for a purpose permitted by law: to help a credit grantor or lender quickly and objectively decide whether to grant you credit. Most of the information in consumer credit reports comes directly from the companies a person does business with, but some information also comes from public records.
Credit reporting can be helpful in extreme cases, but it is often misrepresented by collection agencies trying to sell their services. When a collection agency reports a delinquent account to a credit bureau, it does not get the business any money today. What is does is provides a ‘wish’ for a payment some unknown time in the future if the debtor ever has to do a financial transaction that involves a creditor that checks their consumer credit report.
The issue is that credit reporting also can create a liability for businesses because of collection agencies reporting accounts that were not valid debts. This can open the business to legal action - something no businesses needs. It has been esitmated that over 41% of the information contained in consumer credit reports is not accurate, and with identity theft on the rise, a business must tread lightly when considering credit reporting.
