Posted on November 18, 2009Home Buying: How Does Your Credit Score Rate?
Buying a home is something most people dream of being able to do at some point in their life. All you have to do is save enough money for a down payment and you're in. Right? Maybe not. If your credit rating is not up to snuff, the road to your dream...
Personal Finance Articles
Posted on November 15, 2009Year-End Tax Planning
Strategies to Keep More of What You Make. Well, the year is coming to an end and many business owners are meeting with their accountants and tax advisors to figure out how to reduce that inevitable income tax burden coming in April. Here are a few...
Posted on November 14, 2009Personal Finance Software Helps Save Money
Managing your money can take up a lot of your time and also require you to do repetitive and tedious tasks. With a great personal finance software you will save a lot of time and the need for doing tedious repetitive tasks will be highly reduced.
Posted on November 13, 2009Plug Your Money Leaks
Are you where you want to be financially? Or are you moving in the right direction at least? Chances are that you're not there yet, or at least not getting there as quickly as you'd like. Read on for two more keys to taking control and achieving your...
Posted on November 11, 2009Personal Finance Planning Strategies
Why You Should Treat Your Household like a Business. Do you treat your household like a business? Maybe you feel that treating your business like a business is quite enough. But think about it for a minute. As someone who owns a small business or a...
Posted on November 11, 2009Personal Bankruptcy Further Complicating Home Buying
It seems that the federal government is hedging many of their economic recovery plans on helping people to purchase homes and stay in their existing homes. A good deal of stimulus money has been set aside for helping home owners modify their existing...
Posted on November 20, 2009Don't Spend Your Lifetime Paying Off a Credit Card Bill
Making minimum repayments on a credit card debt can be a risky business at the best of times, and cardholders that do this tend to be hit hard in terms of interest and run a higher risk of exceeding their credit limits. However, some lenders have...
Posted on October 21, 2009Watch out for rising number of credit cards with annual fees
With credit card firms finding a range of different ways to try and recoup financial losses consumers may want to keep their eyes peeled for a variety of credit cards that may start charging annual or monthly fees to cardholders. One credit card...
Posted on October 23, 2009Credit card industry could face wide ranging bans
The credit card industry has faced a lot of controversy over recent years for a variety of reasons, and has been accused of treating its customers unfairly and charging too much in terms of fees, charges, and interest rates. It has recently been...
Posted on October 7, 2009Practicing Frugality Around Your Home to Help You Afford to Keep It
Try to shop around the outside edges of your grocery store where the milk, eggs, meat, and produce are. You may have to dip into the middle of the store to pick up items like basic baking supplies, cereal, canned goods, and the all-important coffee...
Posted on October 3, 2009Using Savings Accounts for Children to Teach Basic Financial Skills
Savings accounts for children open a whole new world of learning and discussion for both parents and children as they explore the world of finance. The world of finance is growing and changing rapidly, and as we have seen in the last year can be a...
Posted on October 2, 2009Budgeting For Your New Home
The annual taxes add another burden to your new expenses. Depending on how your home is evaluated, your taxes can be several thousand dollars a year. If you have this attached to your mortgage, it could be several hundred dollars extra; if you don’t,...
Posted on October 14, 2009Are You Prepared for Breakup?
Are you prepared for a Breakup? Manage your money, survive divorce or widowhood, and plan for retirement. Though men and women are more similar than different when it comes to managing money, there are a handful of personal finance...
Posted on September 1, 2009Financial Literacy: The Key to Greater Wealth
When it comes to financial skills and knowledge, most people can be considered as functionally illiterate. This is the startling and worrisome discovery of policy makers, educators, and financial experts in several studies conducted to assess the...
Posted on August 29, 2009Simple Steps to Personal Finance
If you want to get wealthy, your first priority is not always how to land a job that will pay you big time. What you should concentrate on instead is coming to terms with personal finance. This is actually more important, because personal finance...
Posted on August 18, 2009Loans: 4 Keys To Better Loans and a Better Credit Score!
How you handle loans has a tremendous impact on your FICO score more than any other factor in your credit history. It's a fact, you are scored heavily on the kinds of loans you have, the length of time of those loans, how much you owe, and your...
Posted on August 16, 2009Family Finance: 6 Ways To Tame Your Spending Beast and Fix Your Credit!
When it comes to having the nicer things in life, good credit is absolutely a must unless you have bags of cash under your bed and can just buy anything when you want it. If that's not the case, like most of us you need credit, good credit, to give...
Posted on August 14, 20096 Keys That Lenders Use To Evaluate You!
It's a wise move to sit down with your banker or loan officer. Why is this a good idea for you? When you learn how these finance folks think, you will have a serious edge when it comes to getting credit. Here are some tips to make the most of the...
Posted on August 12, 2009These 11 Steps Will Give You Great Credit and Money In The Bank!
Having a good credit score is just a matter of using a little common sense. But, we all know how difficult it can be to understand the 'fine print' in most fix credit programs. Here are 11 basic steps you can adopt starting today that will do wonders...
Posted on August 12, 2009Be Very Careful Of These 5 Credit Repair Company Scams!
Mixed in with legitimate credit repair services are a great number of credit repair scams out there. These scams often promise to magically erase your bad credit overnight. In reality, many of these so-called 'experts' will either overcharge you,...
Posted on August 12, 2009Thinking About Bankruptcy? Stop and Read This!
Choosing a bankruptcy will negatively affect your credit score more than just about any other debt relief solution. Bankruptcy will drastically impact your credit score for many years. Most people understand, after a bankruptcy, they will not be able...
Posted on August 9, 2009How To Survive Your Credit Meltdown!
Financial disaster can happen anytime - good economy r bad economy - bankruptcy, divorce, legal judgments, unemployment, illness, etc. Any of these are traumatic and can affect your FICO credit score in a big way. If you have faced a financial...
Posted on August 8, 2009How To Get A Free Credit Report With No Strings Attached!
Search the Internet for "free credit report" and you find find tons of sites and advertisements promising free access to your credit report and FICO credit score. It's overwhelming unless you know how to sort out the really free reports from the...
Posted on August 8, 2009Credit Fix: Fix Your Credit Report - Fix Your Score!
Don't be a victim of credit report errors! You need to go right to the source - all three credit reports. Yes, all three reports! You must get reports from all three major credit bureaus. They are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Do not get the...
Posted on August 5, 2009Loans: Don't Give Them Your Social Security Number To Get A Quote!
A really dumb mistake that we made when applying for credit was giving our Social Security numbers to loan companies. We learned the hard way that it was a really foolish thing to do. Why? Because it hurt our FICO credit score. Here's what we do...
Posted on August 2, 2009A Thief Can Lower Your Credit Score! 5 Ways to Catch Them!
You applied for credit and you have a lower FICO credit score than you think you should have. Your lower FICO score could simply be caused by a credit bureau clerical error or due to an oversight you have made in the past. At the same time, it could...
Posted on July 26, 2009Keep Track on Little Purchases to Save Big
Have you ever tried to save up money, avoiding expensive purchases like designer clothes and costly food but found that pocket is still empty?
Posted on June 11, 2009Ways Your Home can Make You Money
A garden can do more for you than give you fresh vegetables. A few extra rows of fruit or vegetables could net you a few dollars at your local farmers market. Also, the money you save in produce could end up being thousands over the year, especially...
Posted on June 9, 2009The Boyz of Wally Street
For all that I go on about how money is just energy, has no meaning other than what we attach to it, and how there is no shortage of it, I still find myself feeling a lot of anger towards the guys on Wall Street who took an average of $12 million...
Posted on June 7, 2009Bankruptcy & The Debtor of Alcatraz
In Charles Dickens’ England, people who couldn’t pay their debts were thrown in prison until they worked off their debts. Fortunately, our forefathers weren’t too keen on that idea and they decided to leave it in England.
Posted on June 6, 2009Maybe You Shouldn’t Take Advantage of the Down Market
A market like this one is ideal if you want to live in your home for a few years, at least, but it’s an awful time to invest in a home if you think you will be moving on and don’t want to risk renting the place. Unless it’s a luxury home, it’s got a...
Posted on May 26, 2009"Fraud for House" Mortgage Scams
Oftentimes this type of fraud seems innocent—after all who'll get hurt if I fudge the numbers just a little bit? However, as we've seen with the record number of foreclosures happening in recent years, too many people have gotten themselves involved...
Posted on June 2, 2009Bonuses, windfalls and your mortgage.
Your work bonus may help you buy a home. While some lenders might look at bonuses with a suspicious eye, there are provisions in the FHA for regularly received or earned bonuses. This can help you qualify for a mortgage that you otherwise might not...
Posted on May 30, 2009Controlling your finances from the comfort of your home
Are you one of the many people who would you like to have a better handle on and understanding of your personal finances? Would you like to have access to information and decision making tools online to access this from home? If so, the good news...
Posted on May 30, 2009Common Credit Mistakes You May Not Realize
Most people think a negative credit score is the result of missed payments on loans or credit cards, but that is only a small part of the equation. In fact, there are a number of lesser known factors that come into play that most borrowers don't...
Posted on May 30, 2009Successfully Refinancing
With long term interest rates hovering at just over five percent, refinancing a mortgage can be a tempting prospect. Currently, financial institutions have much stricter lending criteria and not everyone who applies for new funding is accepted.
Posted on February 5, 2009Clarifying the Credit Crunch
We hear about it everywhere now, everyone is talking about it and it's even been added to the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Just so that you don't miss out on the chat, here's a quick (and hopefully simple) summary of what it's all...
Posted on February 5, 2009PPI - a good time to buy?
Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is often sold alongside loans, credit cards or mortgages to cover repayments if you are unable to work through accident, illness or unemployment in certain circumstances. It has picked up a bit of bad reputation in...
Posted on February 3, 2009Will a Credit Repair Service Help You Buy a Home?
The charm of credit repair is the idea that for just $XXX you can have your credit score miraculously scrubbed of all the residue of missed payments, bankruptcies and other imbroglios. Credit repair company (CRC) advertisements sidle up to you with...
Posted on February 3, 2009Eight Steps to Thrive Financially after Your Divorce
Divorce can be destructiveand negatively impact both spouses. Whether you are the husband or woman, it is likely that you will encounter some sort of economic hardship following your divorce. If your finances are not handled correctly, the...
Posted on January 13, 2009Three Keys to Your Budgeting Success
For many people, the word "budget" has a little bit of negative connotation. But, without a budget many families struggle each week, literally living from check to check. A budget is the only way to ensure that you stay one step ahead of your monthly...
Posted on December 31, 2008Ways To Drive Down Your Auto Insurance Costs
Auto insurance is one of the largest costs involved in driving. Can you take any action to reduce how much you need to spend?
Posted on December 31, 2008How Debt Consolidation Can Fix Your Budget Problems
In today's world, millions of us have built up debts which may be starting to become problematic. Can debt consolidation provide a solution to the problem?
Posted on December 31, 2008Steps To Take To Rebuild Your Credit Status
It can be a shock to be refused finance and discover you have a poor credit rating. Is there anything you can do to remedy the problem?
Posted on December 31, 2008Avoiding Losing Your Home Through Debt
Home foreclosure is a nightmare more and more homeowners are having to face up to in these difficult financial times. What can you do to stave it off?
Posted on December 31, 2008How To Clear Your Mortgage Arrears
In these darkening economic times, millions are facing falling behind on their mortgage payments and even losing their homes. Foreclosure isn't inevitable though, so what can you do if you get into arrears?
Posted on December 31, 2008Easy guide to bad credit score repair
Humans do not like getting on the wrong side of personal finance. It dents them in their day to day living and also casts social trauma on them. They wish to stay afloat with a proper credit ...
Posted on December 31, 2008Donate The Smart Way With A Charity Credit Card
Today's society can often seem overly consumerist, but there is a way to combine spending with donating to good causes. Find out the benefits of a charity credit card.
Posted on December 31, 2008What Exactly Are Low Cost Home Equity Loans?
Homeowners have the edge when it comes to getting a low cost loan. Find out how a home equity loan could benefit you.
Posted on December 29, 2008Loan Options For People Who Rent Their Home
It has always been more difficult for non-homeowners to get a loan, especially at a decent rate. What options are out there for people who rent rather than own their home?
