Articles and Tips October, 2008
Should You “Opt Out” of New Credit Offers?
Don’t you just love going to your mailbox and finding all those new pre-approved credit card offers waiting for you? Filled with your personal financial information and easily accessible to thieves, it’s no wonder identity theft is so widespread. And having to take all that time shredding those offers before throwing them in the recycle bin. (You ARE shredding them, aren’t you? Thieves know that stealing your mail is a Federal crime, but ...The Half-n-Half Way to Improve Your Finances
With each new article, I hope I’m bringing you some new ideas and new ways of thinking. And hopefully you’ve begun to use some of the strategies that I’ve been sharing with you to improve your credit situation and get control of your finances. In future articles, we’ll be talking about earning more income, spending more wisely, building an investment portfolio, and buying a home, and how to best settle debts. That ...The Anatomy of a Credit Score
Many of you are trying to improve your credit scores before you can, say, buy your home. But there is a lot of confusion and misinformation out there on just how to do that. By not understanding what credit scores are based on, you can hurt your scores by doing the wrong things. For example, how many of you have been told that you should close your old inactive credit accounts to improve ...Credit Scoring with Your Credit Card: Magic Number is Still “30”
In order to score maximum points towards your credit score, you should always keep your credit card balances below 30% of the credit limit. And one thing many credit users don’t stop to consider is: you don’t know which day of the month your credit card company reports to the credit bureaus. So you may be paying off your bill in full each month when the statement comes, but if you are charging up the ...What Type of Mortgage Should I Get?
As you are searching for your home or taking care of your financial situation, let’s discuss what type of mortgage you should get once you’re ready. Rule #1: If you can’t afford a standard 30 year mortgage, you shouldn’t buy the home. Let me put that more snottily: If you want to live in a $300,000 house, you should be able to afford a standard $300,000 house payment. Many of my readers have had financial ...Trigger Leads – What Happens When A Lender Pulls Your Credit Report?
Something for you to be aware of as you continue your home shopping. For a long time, the 3 main credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) have been selling your information to marketers. Those pre-approved credit card offers you get in the mail are the result of data purchased from these agencies. This is not a secret to anyone – been going on for years. Recently, these 3 agencies have rolled out a ...RIP Washington Mutual – A History of Ashes to Ashes
As Ira Hill Case looked out his soot-stained window, the view as far as he could see was ruin, darkness, destruction, and ashes – and he certainly must have wondered why he had been called here. Ira had a place to do his work – a single desk on the second floor of a downtown office building which he shared with a dozen other businessmen representing a dozen other businesses. But Ira was ...Why Standard US Savings Rate Calculations are Completely Wrong
During the current doom-n-gloom economic situation, where the entire economy is going to fall and everyone in America will soon be thrown out of their homes because of the collapse of our banking system, one statistic used to support this gloomy outlook is the abysmal state of the US Savings Rate. “Americans don’t save.” “Americans outspend their incomes.” “Americans have no self discipline.” And on and on the American-bashing goes. One ...How to read a credit report to improve your score
Most Americans today suffer from less than stellar credit. The very first step in improving your credit involves ordering free personal credit reports from the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. However, once the credit reports arrive to you, it is filled with abbreviations, numbers, terminology, and difficult formatting. In order to begin repairing your credit, it is important that you learn how to read a credit report. The credit reports that you ...Latest Articles
Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Early?
I often find myself in long conversations with my borrowers over the best way to pay off mortgages early. Do I recommend the “Bi-Weekly Payment” ...
Variable Rate vs. Fixed Rate
Choosing a Variable Rate is like Ordering a Pizza
“Should I pick an adjustable rate mortgage, like a 3/1 or 5/1 ARM, or go with ...
Washington Women Veterans Summit 2009
"Top 10 Ways to Get Out of Debt and Build Wealth" is the title of my workshop at the Women Veterans Summit this year. I’m ...
Know your Statutes of Limitations
“Can you just make a small payment as a show of good faith?” Have you been called by a collection agency trying to collect on ...
Sell Furniture Like A Gypsy
You can sell furniture door to door and make a lot of money fast. How do I know that? I’ve seen it in action.
I’m not ...