5 Surefire Ways To Eliminate Credit Card Debt
June 5, 2007
Do you have enormous credit card debt? You are certainly not alone. According to research, the average family in the United States has $7000 in credit card debt and pays about $1000 in interest each year! Throw in a late payment or two, or an over-the-limit charge, and that number skyrockets. Imagine what you could do with that $1000 if it weren’t being spent on interest.
Let’s imagine for a moment that you have $5000 debt on one credit card that is charging you 17.5% APR. Let’s also imagine that you pay only the minimum due of $25/month on this card. Guess what? You will never pay it off! The interest alone on this card is $73/month!
That means that each month you get further and further into debt. By the time you have been paying on this $5000 for 10 years, assuming you have not used the card during this entire period of time, you will owe $20,385! That’s over $15,000 in interest. If you triple your payment to $75, it will take you over 20 years.
The Power of a Home Equity Loan to Pay Down Debt
June 4, 2007
Households across the country are finding themselves in a similar situation. They lack the financial funds to make the necessary changes to their home and need to find a way to fund upgrades and eliminate debt. A popular way of financing these changes without killing themselves is by taking a home equity loan to pay down their debt.
The Home Equity Loan has become a fast-track way of paying down large credit card debt, financing college education and even taking a vacation. Since the stock market has lost quite a bit of appreciation, people have been purchasing homes as a means of investment, thus sending housing prices through the roof. With higher prices comes a great deal of appreciation in the home. People who have found themselves in 20 ? 30 thousand dollars in debt can pay it down by taking a home equity loan. Home Equity Loans have been a source of relief and flexibility to get the homeowner out of debt and moving forward in life.
The home equity tax shelter
Bank Auto Loans ? Best Loans for Stretch Commuters?
June 4, 2007
People have to work to survive. The desire to maintain increasingly indulgent lifestyles drives 13% of workers to travel over 100 miles a day to get to and from work. These so called "stretch commuters" make the majority of these trips by personal vehicle, but when it comes to trading in their tired automobiles for newer models should they just settle for a bank auto loan?
Stretch commuters do not have a lot of time on their hands. They spend most of their working week either at work, or travelling to and from it. When they get home exhausted the last thing they want to do is to look for the best deal for a car loan. Therefore, getting a bank auto loan is the easiest and most convenient option.
Let’s quickly take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of this.
Advantages of bank auto loans
1. Convenience ? Most consumers with checking accounts have held their account with one bank for a number of years. This may be due to inertia, but it is easier to manage finances if check accounts and a bank auto loan are held in one place.
7 Surefire Ways To Repair Bad Credit
June 3, 2007
Do you have a poor credit rating? If so, you are one of tens of thousands of Americans with the same problem. In fact, it seems that this has become a national ‘disease.’ And just what do people need that have a disease? They need a cure.
Here are some sure-fire solutions to ‘ repair bad credit ‘. Keep in mind, like most ‘diseases,’ credit repair can take some time, but complete healing is possible.
The First Step
The first thing you need to do is find out what is being reported about you. This is easy and inexpensive. For under $10, you can get your credit report from one of the three main credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Keep in mind however, that if you have recently been denied credit, you can get a free report from the same credit bureau the lender used to reject you as long as you do so within 30 days.
What You Don’t Need
Internet & Mortgage Calculations
June 2, 2007
"You’ve been approved!" The words you have always wanted to hear when you filled out the home loan application. It swirls through your mind the opportunities and memories you will cherish in your new home. Before you even start shopping for a home it is best to understand in real terms what you can afford. Your income level may make it tight for you every month to make the mortgage payment if you purchase too much home.
You may wish to know how much the home may cost you before you sign your contract. So you will need to be a financial calculator to figure out the monthly paper in real-terms. There is an easier way. The Internet has become the best place for mathematical equations and there are some great websites that will do the figures for you should you know the absolute basics of the transaction. Here are some of the factors that can help you determine what your monthly interest rate will be:
Save Money on your Clothing Budget. Tame the Closet Monster!
June 1, 2007
Reducing the clothing budget was a serious challenge for me. Two pre-teen girls and a teenage girl certainly didn’t make life any easier. My son wasn’t much of a challenge. Thank goodness, he’s not "fashion conscious".
The girls on the other hand were greatly disappointed in the new methods of clothing acquisition. Freebies, thrift stores, yard sales, consignment shops, and clearance items weren’t exactly their style.
I found that changing the way I approached them on the subject made things a little easier. For instance we don’t buy "used" clothing. We buy "previously owned, unwanted, or gently worn" clothing.
I strongly believe that knowledge is power. And, if you want to save money on anything, you must do your research! Informed consumer = More Savings, that’s my motto. It took some shopping around for me to locate the best clothing value for my money. I did eventually find the one place where I consistently find excellent values with a great variety of choices.
