Invest your money

By Ian Sani

In recent years, the cost of living has increased significantly. People are in need of money every now and then. They are trying to raise money from various sources to meet their daily demands. These days you will find many people are opting for loans from companies, banks and other financial institutions. However, majority of the people who have taken the loan find it difficult to repay the loan amount within the specified loan period and this is the reason why people fall into trap of debts.

Debts can cause much damage to an individual and thus it is very important for a person to consider debt management, as this is the only way to debt relief. You will find lot of valuable information on various online guidance services, which specializes in debt relief programs. These services suggest a systematic procedure for you.

You should try to eliminate the debt as soon as possible and then should try to focus on building your future. Make realistic spending plans and this will surely allow you to achieve your goals.

Planning is very important in case of debt relief. You should plan your expenditure in a way that you should be able to secure your present and your future. You should try to balance your life at both the ends.

Dumping your credit cards becomes necessary if you want to get rid of debts. Credit cards enhances your spending capacity and thus, you spend more than your earn. Credit cards no doubt have advantages but it is also true that these encourage people to spend.  If you are not having a credit card then you will only spend up to a certain level and will never overshoot your budget.

At last, develop a habit of saving money wherever you can and learn to prioritize your expenditure.

In what was termed as a great move, the Supreme Court has refused a stay made by national consumer forum stating that banks cannot charge more than 30% interest rate annually if the full amount on the balance is not paid on the credit cards. Some banks are even charging around 50% as interest charges annually. This will definitely put a halt on these credit cards issuing banks who have been the customers for granted in this issue.

Now, we will have to wait and see how well this is implemented and how the customers are benefited from it since this is just a stay and a full law should be made in this regard. And also the foreign banks are going to appeal against this stay.

It is to be noted what these banks have listed as the reasons why they are overcharging us, very funny,

• Processing cost for setting up a new card in operating system
• Cost of courier and cost of embossing the card
• Cost of providing phone banking service
• Cost of sending monthly statements
• Cost of providing internet banking facility
• Cost of waiving charges for service reasons
• Cost of marketing and promotional offers
• Cost of rewards and loyalty programme

And what’s more even funnier is the fact that they have mentioned the call rates that they have to take up to call the random customers to persuade them to buy their credit card!! It is not us who are asking them to call us to get the credit card, but it is those banks who do this for their profit and they are not doing any social service.

There should definitely be a cap put somewhere to stop these credit card companies from over charging using various hidden and other charges as well as the interest charges.

Credit card is an important needs in this era. I just can’t live without credit card, because I need to buy things onlinelike domain, hosting, ebooks, and other stuff. Credit cards have become a part of life for most people and it has becomingimpossible to avoid them, especially for working people. For them it is an ultimate financial savior.

If you haven’t got any credit card, you should be applying one. Before you apply, you need to compare between credit cards like it’s interest rate, annual fee, and credit needed for approval. You also need to compare the services and other features such as the cash back incentives, or rebates.

You can compare credit card at creditcard321.com. It is an excelent website that provides credit card comparison and credit card rank. You can browse credit card by it’s feature, issuer, and your credit rating. If you have a bad credit rating you can also apply credit card. Just visit them and browse by bad credit. If you are looking for low interest go visit their low interest section.

Each review also have links to secure online application where you can immediately apply for the card.After you have your credit card, don’t forget to have a good attitude on it. Use it wisely and don’t get into deep debt.

Mike Mayo, a CLSA analyst, just assigned an “underweight” rating to U.S. banks and predicted loan losses will exceed levels from the Great Depression. This means that he predicts that there will be more credit trouble, including credit card problems. This might happen to you too. So if you have bad credit rating or bad credit loans, you can visit BadCreditOffers.com to find best offers, like credit cards for bad credit, home loans, auto loans, personal loans that fit your needs. You can also learn how to repair your bad credit cards and consolidate your debt by moving it into one low payment. By doing debt consolidation, you can reduce your loan payments and this will benefit both you and the lender. You can consider BadCreditOffers.com is a one stop solution for your bad credit history.

Because of the way credit scores are calculated, you can take actions to fix your credit score. Here are top ways to boost your credit score:

1. Pay your bills on time. This is simple but will work very well. Lenders will seriously look into your payment history. They want to see bills are paid in full and on time, because they want their money to be paid in full and on time too.
2. Avoid excessive credit. If you have many lines of credit or huge debts, you make a worse credit risk because this will make you harder to pay your loans.
3. If you have a lot of debt, pay down your debts. Start with the largest debt you have and start paying it down so that you are using a less large percentage of your credit total. In general, try to make sure that you use no more than 50% of your credit. If you can pay off your credit card in full each month, that is even better.
4. Have a range of credit types shows that you are able to handle a range of credit types well.
5. Keep Your Credit Score Safe. Sometimes, other people’s criminal activity can affect your credit score. You should look out for identity theft. These people can use the information to use your credit cards, you can be stuck with large debts and the poor credit score. To prevent identity theft, always check your account statements carefully each month. Report any suspicious activity or any charges you don’t recognize at once. If you have been the victim of identity theft, report to the police at once and get a police statement. Send copies of this to your bank and credit bureaus. Close all your accounts and reopen new ones. You can try this Theft Prevention Solution to help you with identity theft.
6. Keep account numbers and PIN numbers safe. Cover your account and PIN numbers when using debit at the store and refuse to give your PIN number to anyone.
7. Only buy things from places that you trust. The seller might steal your information when you are using your card. Never buy anything online from a company you do not have encryption technology. The company should have ‘https’ in their url in the pay page.
8. Install good firewall and antivirus system and update it for your computer. Virus or software or application can steal your information and send them through the internet to the virus maker.
9. Be cautious if you get an email from your bank asking you to verify your information by clicking on a link. This is a popular scam called phising. When you click the link it will bring you to the criminals page, where you you will gave information.
10. Check your credit score regularly so when you find problems you can fix it right away. Check your credit score at least once a year and preferably three times a year.
11. Close credit that you don’t use. Having credit lines and credit cards you don’t need makes you seem like a worse credit risk because you run the risk of “overextending” your credit. You can also forget about an old account and stop making payments on it. Fewer accounts will make it easier to track your debts. However, you must realize that when you close an account, the record of the closed account remains on your credit report and can affect your credit score for a while.
12. Minimize your online loan rate comparisons. Credit bureaus counts comparisons as an “inquiry.” This means that if you compare too many companies online by asking for quotes, your credit score will fall due to too many inquiries. You should should research companies and narrow down possible lenders to just a few before making inquiries.
13. If you want to close your credit account, close the most recent accounts first. Most credit bureaus give high favorable points to those who have a good long-term credit history. If you are closing credit card account that you had since since college your credit will drop.
14. If you want to close your credit account, close the account that have the lowest limit. If you close the highest limit, you will make your overall debt balance too high. This will gives you a bad credit rating.
15. Don’t do anything illegal like lying about your credit score. Your credit score is easy to check and you may actually find yourself facing legal action as a result of your dishonesty.
16. If there are mistates in your credit report, contact each of the three major credit bureaus - TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian - and get copies of your credit reports and credit scores. In writing, contact the credit bureaus and ask that mistakes be removed or investigated. This is called a dispute letter and credit bureaus have to investigate your dispute within thirty days of receiving your letter. It is important to keep a copy of your letter and note the date the letter was sent.
17. If you have trouble getting your payments in on time, consider online or telephone banking. This can help you pay your bills in minutes and can be a real life-saver. You can also have your bills taken out of your checking account each month or even charged to your credit card to make it easier.