Monday, March 16, 2009

An All in One Solution to Credit Card Debt

Credit cards are one of the most used and popular financial products in the market today. They are easy to use and very convenient. These cards have so many applications in modern society that they are as good as money, sometimes even better. Credit cards enable so many transactions it is not surprise that they are used more than paper money.

A credit card can be used to purchase services or products without using paper money. It can be used to make international transactions instantly without having to go to a bank. It can allow you to make large purchases and pay for them in installments. You can enroll utility expenses like bills so they are automatically debited from your account without you even noticing. This is probably the reason why people use them more than plain old currency.

The dark side of credit cards

Credit cards can be very deceiving. Since you can get away with so many things without caution or restriction, abuse and over spending is easily possible. Credit cards allow you to spend money you do not have so the danger of going beyond your limitations is highly possible. If you charge more than what you can afford, you are in danger of falling into debt because of late payment penalties. In these cases, one may opt to get unsecured credit card debt consolidation services.

Consolidation as a solution

This specific service can help you manage ballooning interest rates and increasing penalties. It works by first assessing what you owe and comparing it to what you can actually pay. Specialists will try to negotiate with the credit card companies and arrange to have certain interest rates reduced and penalties waived. Once a deal is struck then a loan is processed. A single loan than can pay for all your debt in one lump sum. Of course the loan will not go to you; instead it goes directly to your credit card company making everything square.

This leaves you with the responsibility to amortize the loan you used to pay off your debt or the unsecured credit card debt consolidation loan. In effect, you will not owe the credit card company anything but you will owe the company that provided the consolidation service. In more ways than one, the loan will be adjusted to fit your needs just to be sure that you can pay all of it off.

Unsecured credit card debt consolidation should be considered as a bail out plan and not an extension. By no means should one miss any payments or deviate from the system that the consolidation service provider outlined. If in case you neglect your responsibilities this time around, you may end up in a more compromising position than when you started out, in other words you may end up owing more than you started out with.

A final word of caution to those who want to avail of the service, make sure to check on the reputation of the service provider. Make sure it is stable and that everything is outlined and understandable in agreement documents.

By Sara Lucy Smith

Debt Consolidation Help provides comprehensive information about the options one has to deal with debt. Learn about how to deal with overwhelming debt at http://www.debtconsolidationhelp.com.

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Credit Hope - Tips For Credit Repair

No matter what your current credit situation, there are always things you can do to repair your credit. Even little credit repair items can make a difference to your score.

Tip #1: Review your accounts with each credit bureau. Get a free copy of your credit report from each of the 3 major reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) once a year. Review the accounts with each agency to see which ones are in need of credit repair. If you notice that one or all of the agencies as left out an account that would reflect positively on your report, you can contact them to have them verify that account and add it to your credit report. You can even dispute items online.

Tip #2: Look at the balance to high credit for each account Creditors and lenders like to see variety in the type of debt you carry. If you carry most of your debt in revolving accounts, for example, consider adding a different line of credit, such as an installment account.

Tip #3: Pay all of your bills on time Did you know that your bill payment history on things like rent and utilities can affect your credit rating? One of the most important steps you can take to improve your overall financial health and credit at the same time is to create a budget you can stick to, and get your bills paid in full and on time each month.

Tip #4: Negotiate with creditors Sometimes creditors will sometimes take less than what is owed on a debt to clear it off of their books. When you negotiate a settlement make sure as part of the settlement you have the creditor put in writing that the account is paid as agreed. This single tip alone will help you along your path toward credit repair. If you've got a relatively good history with your creditors, you're in a position to negotiate for better terms. All it takes is a phone call. Tell them you want to know if you can work out a lower interest rate for your card, and that you may take your business elsewhere if they can't oblige. In conclusion, there are many steps you can take on your own to fix the bad things showing up on you credit report. All it takes is some time and persistence on your part to follow up to make sure the creditors are correcting the mistakes on your accounts.

By LeRoy Mager

LeRoy Mager has spent the last 14 years in the mortgage business helping people with damaged credit with their home financing and helping them work on their own credit repair. You can find out more information and get a free report at http://damagedcreditrepair.com

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Learn How to Remove Bad Credit History From Your Credit Report - Raise Your Score Past 700!

Having excellent credit has never been more important than in today's current economic conditions. Getting approved for a loan or credit card can be quite a difficult task if you have bad marks on your credit dragging down your FICO score. What many people don't know is that removing bad credit history from your credit report is quite easy if you know how.

The awful fact is that a ton of credit reporting is done in error. Sometimes it benefits you and sometimes it can drastically hurt your score. Small errors such as improper reporting, numerical errors, and other small things can bring your score down as much as 100 points!

The three companies that make determine your credit score are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. They gather the information provided into your report and this is part of what determines your scoring. Many people have no idea that you can actually check your own report free once per year.

Attaining a free copy allows you to go over it and discover all the potential errors which may be bringing you down. If you find errors, you can submit in writing and have them disputed. They have 30 days to respond either way and you can have it off as quick as 35 or 40 days.

Many people report that having even small things corrected can raise your score to the much desired 700+ category, which gives you the ultimate buying power in today's sluggish economy. It's highly recommended you grab a free copy to ensure your score isn't being sabotaged by any unnecessary errors.

By Marc Sumner

Want to know the secrets to raising your credit score? Learn this and also see how to get a free copy of your credit report by visiting http://online-credit-report.info today!

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Delete a Collection Account From Your Credit Reports

A collection account can stay up to 7 years for the last date of activity on your credit reports. The last date of activity is usually the date of the missed payment that sent the account into collections. The date of last activity will update if any mutual activity occurs on the account such as a partial payment etc.

The best method for removing a collection from your life for good would be to negotiate with the collection agency or the original credit if at all possible. They have the ability to close the account for good and remove it from your credit report thus increasing your credit scores. You should try to negotiate a payment based off of the age of the account. For example if the account is a 3 year old cell phone account for $500 you might want to try to negotiate a payment of $250. Always start lower than you think they might accept knowing that you can work your way up if at all possible. Now if the account is only 1 month old then you might not be able to negotiate at all and only a payment in full would work in this case more than likely. The most important thing you can do in the negotiation process is to ensure that no matter how little you pay, the account is update to show as paid in full and closed. Even better, you should try to get the account removed from your credit reports all together. Make sure to get everything in writing before you send any payment!

If the collection is already paid but still reporting on your credit report then your next step would be to dispute the collection at the credit bureaus. It is important to remember that even though you paid the collection off, it is still legally acceptable to be reported to your credit bureaus as long as the account is 100% accurate. You should dispute something about the account as inaccurate such as the balance or the date of first reporting. Since the account is closed out at the collection agency more than likely they will not respond to a request from the credit bureaus and the account will be removed.

Hopefully, by following these simple steps you can help yourself to delete a collection account from your credit reports and improve your credit scores.

By Johnny Tebowr

For more information about how to delete a collection account on credit or for a list of the top credit repair services please visit my websites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnny_Tebowr

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Stop Paying Too Much For Loans - Fix Your Credit Score

In this article I will briefly go through some of the critical aspects in relation to the matter of how to raise your credit score. There can sometimes be quite a lot of uncertainty with reference to this issue. The nice thing is that there is only a small number of really critical details that you will really have to understand properly.

Not making new requests for credit is an exceptionally significant area to try to consider. These kinds of new applications will bring about quite a large amount of needless activity on your overall report. This will really mess up your credit report and score. That is why calling a halt to any new applications for loans or credit cards right away is truly important.

Checking your current credit report for any mistakes is a really significant feature to endeavor to consider. Sourcing your current credit report is clearly the first part of this process. The next step to take is to write and object to mistakes and inaccuracies you have found. The fixing of any inaccuracies is going to really aid your credit score.

Keeping good but dormant accounts you possess is a tremendously important subject to endeavor to factor in. Large numbers of people will decide to close this type of additional account. Leaving them open is a substantially better plan. This will help to lay down a steadier track record and lift your overall score at the same time.

As I mentioned during the intro to the piece, this is a basic outline of a few of the the most important details with regards to the topic of how to raise your credit score. There are really just a few other entirely critical items that you really must have a grasp of.

By Alan Willis

To find out about those things right now please go to credit score advice now. For the best tips http://info.answertrain.com/fixyourcreditreport.html

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What to Do in a Recession? Learn What Does Well in a Recession and How to Get Rich During Recession

Is it the end of the world? Not likely, but it is a recession. So do we tuck tail and run? Again, no we Learn what does well in a recession and we find out how to get rich during one! This is capitalism folks.

So lets start out with a recession definition and I quote Wikipedia "a period of reduced economic activity". So now that we have a definition lets dive into ways to capitalise. One of the best ideas for profiting from a recession is to start a business. It is a great time to do so. Prices are low and niche markets tend to pop up during recessions.

So what is big right now in America? Well, loan modification of all the bad mortgages that got us into this mess. Debt settlement from all the people who spent too much thinking the housing market would never crash and now need to get bailed out. Finally we have an influx in the operation of home based businesses.

Now the first two niches can make you a lot of money but they often require a financial background and some startup capital. The 3rd option on the other hand is an interesting alternative.

Think about it, people want to make more money so they turn to operating a home based business on the side. So how can you profit? How about partnering with a company that empowers people to operate their own business.

There are a multitude of companies out there that incentivize their employees to have other people grow a business as well. Some companies even offer a residual override on anyone that joins the business off of your referral or under you as a sponsor.

The opportunity is real, people want to own their own business and people will do what it takes to make money. SO give them what they want, empower them to own their own business, make more money and in turn make you a load of money in the process.

Good Luck out there...

By Mathew Robar

Godspeed,

Mathew S. Robar

Mathew S. Robar Operates Endless Wealth Solutions. Find Out How He Helps People Achieve Their Dreams and Earn Money While Online in a Business Just Like The One Described In The Above Article.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mathew_Robar

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A Money Secret Almost Nobody Knows!

Making money is something that seems like most people have a hard time with. Sure, we can all hit the mark of making $ 30,000-$ 50,000 a year, but very few people seem to know how to make it to the six figure level or even higher. The most common assumption is that somehow these people that make this kind of money have more talent or are smarter than everyone else.

That is not true, however.

The biggest money secret that almost nobody knows is that virtually anyone can hit the six figure level and even take it beyond that. Talent is not the only thing that can get you there and when you look at some of the more famous millionaires, you can easily see that this is true. Neither does being smarter than others imply that you will have a higher earning power than other people.

Thinking that people have to be smarter or more talented to make six or even seven figures is what limits most people to settling for far less in their lives. The belief that the average guy cannot make it to this level is a common misconception that becomes true only because many people give up attempting to break that barrier.

You don't have to. You can learn how to hit the six or seven figure mark and it does not require a Harvard degree or the voice of an angel. Regular, ordinary people can and do get to this point and you can to. But first, you have to believe that you can!

By Bryan Appleton

Learn how to attract love, money, or happiness or all three in YOUR LIFE NOW! Go to http://www.successfulfather.com and SIGN up for the FREE newsletter and BOOKMARK the site and return as often as you can!

You can attract the life that you truly desire! All you have to do is learn HOW!

Law of Attraction Secrets

Bryan Appleton is an investor/entrepreneur who has dedicated himself to teaching others how to achieve their dream life. He is also a proud single father with one son.

You can publish this article as long as you leave it intact and in full as well as keeping the url link clickable.

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Become a Millionaire in Just 4 Simple Steps - Millionaires Do This Daily!

Step #1 ... As previously mentioned, the most important first step a person must do is adjust their thinking. Most people think it takes years of hard work or creating the latest greatest invention, when the real secret is ... most of the time it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time and having the ability to look at things with an open mind. The key here is having an open mind. All millionaires are very open minded, that is usually how they made their millions.

Step #2 ... The best time to become a millionaire is in a struggling economy. It is a well known fact that more millionaires are created in economic tough times than when the economy is going strong. The timing for becoming a millionaire in today's economy could not be any easier or any better. Your key here is realizing the state of the economy - which I'm sure most people do.

Step #3 ... Millionaires look at something and are quick to make a decision and take action. They do not ask their spouses if they should do this or do that. Millionaires do not sit for days wondering, thinking about something that just caught their interest. They look at something and quickly seize the opportunity, while other people sit on the sidelines. By the time most people actually decide they should do something, the opportunity is long gone. The key for you to follow here is not letting that happen to you, do not let an opportunity pass you by.

Step #4 ... Millionaires know it only takes one good idea to become a millionaire. Then they are continuously on the lookout for more ways to make even more money. Millionaires know sometimes they lose a little and sometimes they gain a little but the important thing is they are always in the game. Millionaires read daily - looking and searching for new ideas all the time. Millionaires don't wait for something to come their way, they are always in search of the next way to make a million.

By Bill H Carson

And your key here is to put your new-found millionaire wisdom into good use. Start checking out opportunities like this one that recently made headline news. Most people do not have a clue it even exists. Yet it has the possibility of creating millionaires in just minutes. This Internet millionaire information can be accessed by going to http://MoneyMakingAlerts.com

Professional Business Reviews: Bill H Carson

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10 Investment Mistakes to Avoid

We are always in pursuit of perfect investment tips so that our money is safe ,secured and earns us above average returns. While this is desirable by everyone,not all manage to make perfect investments. There are quite a few who have made one or more investment mistakes that they should have avoided. Here let me state 10 such very obvious mistakes that you must guard against at all times:-

1. Buying any insurance plan other than pure Term Plan

I am of the firm opinion that we all must have life insurance for self and family members,but, I strongly recommend you to buy only Term insurance and not any other plan like endowment,money back etc. The reason is very simple.In term plan the companies charge you premium only to cover the mortality charges while in endowment plan they charge you huge charges like admin charge etc over and above mortality charges. In traditional endowment plans as much as 40-50% of the premium paid might just go in servicing the charges for first few years thereby severely impacting the returns that you get. Hence, look at insurance plans as pure insurance and not investment tool. Buy only pure term plan from any insurer.

2. Falling for "New Fund Offer" in Mutual Funds

Another big scam out there is the "New Fund Offer" bait that mutual fund companies use to lure customers. New Fund offer basically sells on the premise that you get units at lesser value of Rs 10 while older funds might have NAV much higher than that. Hence in new fund offer you get more units. But this argument is big fallacy since there is basic difference in the way mutual fund and normal stock/equities work. In equities there is difference in the intrinsic value of the stock and market value, while in mutual funds the intrinsic value and market value are same. Hence more units at lower NAV does not mean better deal for mutual funds. Also in new fund you don't know the track record of the fund and the performance of fund manager. Hence, its like taking a shot in the dark not knowing the target and hoping for the best. My advice: Stay out of New Fund Offer, always invest in funds with proven track record over 5-10 year time frame.

3. Investing in equity /mutual funds only on the agents recommendation

Lot of people put their hard earned money in funds only on the basis of their agents recommendation without doing even basic research on the fund quality,its performance track record,fund manager and his credentials etc. While doing research may not be easy or tenable for all, it certainly does not mean that one should put money where agent tells us. Agent mostly have their own interest to take care of first before they take care of yours and hence their advice may not be best for you.They may be guided by the motive of making commission and hence might advice you accordingly. My advice :Do some preliminary research yourself before investing;if you cant do it then take a certified financial planners view.

4.Not investing in Health/Mediclaim Plans

Another mistake that people do is to never think about the medical contingencies and the effect it could have on ones mental,physical and financial health. It can wreak havoc on your finances at times. Hence, its almost a necessity to have medical/health plans for the whole family so that you are well prepared to meet any such eventuality should it arise.My advice:Buy a floater plan of at least Rs 5 lakhs for the family from a good general insurance firm.

5.Too much or too little exposure in equities

Equity markets have always evoked extreme reactions which also reflects in the investing habits of people. The mistake with equity investment that most people do is to have either too much or too little exposure. Both are not desirable. Too much exposure means you are exposed to the vagaries of markets beyond manageable limits and too little exposure limits the upside gains opportunity that these markets provide. So how much equity exposure is right for you? The thumb rule is to subtract your age from 100 to arrive at the equity portion of your investible corpus. For example if your age is 30 , then you should have 70%(100-30) of your portfolio invested inequities. My advice:Stick to 100-Age rule for equity investments.

6. Concentrated portfolio

As the old adage goes"Never put all your eggs in one basket" we should always look to have a diversified portfolio. Concentrated portfolio's are much more risky than a well diversified one and hence can cause severe damage in difficult times. My advice: Have a well diversified portfolio comprising of investments in gold, equity, debt, bonds, mutual funds, FD etc. The proportion of each of these components will depend on your risk appetite and financial goals.

7.Not monitoring your portfolio

Another mistake that people tend to make is to stop monitoring their portfolio's after they make their investment. It is very important to keep reviewing ones portfolio at regular intervals to find out which portion or fund is under performing and whether there is any need to change asset allocation. Remedial measures must be taken periodically be weeding out bad performers from time to time.My Advice:Never underestimate the power of reviewing portfolio regularly. It can help you grow your money faster.

8.Splurging on credit cards

Lot of people fall prey to this one. Credit card being such a convenient product makes splurging very easy for us . We all need to stay out of it because it can put severe strain on your savings and investments. My advice: Use credit card wisely. Never buy luxury for self on credit.

9. Taking Loans to invest in IPO/stocks

I know that there are quite a few people out there who don't mind taking loan and investing it in IPO(Initial Public offering ) of companies hoping to make a quick kill on listing day. They hope to return the loan and pocket the profit made. While this may work at times, it is not a very smart thing to do since we don't know for sure whether we would certainly make a profit on listing. Also as a thumb rule never borrow money to invest in stock market hoping to cash in on bull market or someone told you that this stock will do well or your friend made decent money that way. My Advice:Never borrow to invest. invest only when you have surplus saved out of your earnings.

10. Starting too late

This is the classic one. most of us do regret not having started early on investment. Very few of us do manage to start investing right from their first salary. The power of compounding works wonder when someone starts early.So friends, if there is one mistake you don't want to commit, it should be this one. My advice: The best time to invest is today. Remember its the early bird which catches the worm.

Stay wise n Stay Wealthy....

By Rajeev Ranbir Singh

Please visit http://moneyforinvestment.blogspot.com

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