21 Jul 09 Curb Your Credit Card Spending

Credit cards have been a bad thing for many people, as it’s an avenue to spend money that you don’t have. Sometimes you have trouble negotiating that, and can find yourself deep in debt much faster than you would ever think you could become. Far beyond what you may have thought, so that the mountain of debt becomes so fierce you don’t know that you’ll ever be able to make your way to the summit to be able to call yourself debt free once more. The key to making sure that never happens, is making sure that you don’t get out of control when it comes to spending, in the first place.

One of the early warning signs that you should watch for, is if you find yourself consistently in credit card debt from month to month. If you can go through the years and you find yourself pretty well indebted more often than debt free, you might need to think about cutting down that spending. There are a few tactics you can employ, but one of the most successful is using cash instead of credit cards for purchases. When it comes to cash you can’t spend more than you have to spend, therefore there is no risk of you going into debt off mindless impulse purchases you didn’t need to make in the first place.

Calculate your actual income, after taxes, against the amount of credit card debt you pile up on average per month, and you can really get a feel for how much you’re spending that you don’t have. This will give you a good idea of how in trouble you are, and how long it will take you to make a good dent in that debt on your current salary. If that’s not a good motivator, try to calculate how much money you waste on products you absolutely don’t need, like cigarettes for example, so that you can see how much of that money you’re wasting, and using credit cards to compensate. You just may be surprised.

And if that’s not enough to scare you into curbing your spending, think about the fact that you could be mounting so much debt against you, that you’ll never be able to retire. What you may not be considering right now, is how much that debt is going to bite you when you’re still trying to pay it off years from now. It’s awfully hard to save money so that you have some sort of nest egg in your old age, if you have to keep spending the majority of your salary to level some debts.

Tags: Cash Cards, Cigarettes, Credit Card Debt, Credit Debt, Cutting, Early Warning Signs, How Much Money, Impulse Purchases, Motivator, Risk, Salary, Summit, Using Credit Cards

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03 Jul 09 Get Yourself Out Of Debt

Part of the reason we’re in such a bad economic recession is the mounting debt that most of the population carries. So there’s a good chance that you, yourself are also in debt to some degree. One of the biggest problems that comes with that debt is trying to find a way out, as debt is a constant battle that you could end up fighting for most of your life. In fact most people don’t necessarily even know where to turn when faced with mounting bills, as wading deep into the waters of debt can feel insurmountable, to the point where you fear you’ll never be able to overcome the seemingly never ending pile up of interest rates and penalty fees.

But there are plenty of things you can do, such as debt consolidation to gain a little breathing room and make some headway on that mounting debt. The first and most tried and true strategy to put into action, is consolidating any of your credit debt that may be spread out over multiple cards onto one card with the lowest interest rate available. This way you stop your cards with higher interest rates from building up more cash that you’ll have to pay back later, and you have the opportunity to really eat into that debt.

Another quick fix is a home equity loan, if you own your own house. This is a quick loan you can take out from your bank in which the collateral is your house. So you’ll be able to get a good amount of money quickly, and usually home equity loans don’t have to be paid back as quickly as credit card bills, and the interest rates tend to be lower. Not to mention the fact that there are all manner of tax deductions available for interest built up from home equity loans.

If those fail, there’s always a credit counseling agency. They will work with the agency’s collecting your debts to consolidate the payments and reduce your interest rate to the lowest possible amount, making your debt free life reclamation much, much easier.

Tags: Amount Of Money, Breathing Room, Cards, Collateral, Credit Card Bills, Credit Counseling Agency, Credit Debt, Debt Consolidation, Debts, Economic Recession, Good Chance, Headway, Home Equity Loan, Home Equity Loans, Interest Rates, Lowest Interest Rate, Population, Tax Deductions, True Strategy, Trying To Find A Way

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01 May 09 Establishing Good Credit

Establishing a good credit score can be hard at first, especially considering no credit history is just as negative as a bad credit history in most cases. As pretty much everyone should know, these days your credit score is incredibly vital, you need as good a score as possible so that you can ensure your mistakes earlier in life don’t haunt you decades later. You want to build up your credit to be as strong as possible, that way you can avoid too many issues with purchasing vehicles, getting a credit card, or even renting an apartment or buying a home. There are a few things you’ll want to follow to get that good score you desire.

First off there’s the precautionary stuff you should be doing already, such as paying bills on time, making sure that when you write a check that you have the funds readily available in your bank account. Credit cards are fantastic when you don’t have cash and are in a pinch, but don’t over spend thinking you can always pay the debt later, or else you’ll find yourself drowning in credit card debt before you know it. As we all know massive debts kill your credit score.

Beyond that you want to do the smart things first. It can be hard to get a credit card when applying for one with little to no credit history, well at least not a credit card that doesn’t have an obscene interest rate. What you’ll want to do at first is apply for a secured credit card. This means you’ll have to put down a security deposit, usually in the area of a few hundred dollars, which will then serve as your credit limit on the card. This way if you have a problem paying your bill, the security deposit will cover everything, and by using the card often and paying your bills on time, you build up a good credit history.

There are also things you want to avoid on your road to good credit, such as letting any debt you may already have go to a collection agency, as this looks remarkably bad on your credit score. Same goes for letting anything go as far as court proceedings. You never want to have to go to court over a debt, because that looks absolutely atrocious when stacked against you. You’ll also want to avoid opening too many credit card accounts, as many unused credit cards in your name will actually look like a negative thing, opposed to a good thing.

You want to stick to a low number of credit cards, and you want to manage those successfully, by paying the bills on time, and paying more than the minimum every month. That’s how you create good credit, and maintain that good credit score.

Tags: Bad Credit History, Bank Cards, Build Credit, Buying A Home, Credit Card Debt, Credit Cards, Credit Debt, Credit Score, Decades, Desire, Establishing Credit, Establishing Good Credit, Interest Rate, Massive Debts, Renting An Apartment, Secured Card, Secured Credit Card, Security Deposit, Smart Things

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21 Jul 09 Curb Your Credit Card Spending

03 Jul 09 Get Yourself Out Of Debt

01 May 09 Establishing Good Credit

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