Payday Loans – Rip Off or Smart Financial Tool?
Running short of cash with bills to pay? Should you consider a Payday loan to get you through a tight spot? If you’ve been reading any of the other financial advice articles on this website, you know that we make it a point to encourage you to make smart financial decisions. Taking out a short term loan from a Payday lender with an effective annual percentage rate that makes most hand-held calculators produce an “error” message ...We’ve Decided to RAISE our Borrowers’ Interest Rates
“We appreciate your loan business very much, but because the economy has gotten difficult we’ve decided to TRIPLE your interest rate effective immediately. When your next statement comes, the payment and interest rate will be higher, but don’t panic – it’s just our way of staying profitable so we can continue to serve you…” OKAY, BEFORE YOU CALL ME IN A PANIC – THIS IS NOT TRUE!!! But are you one of the ...Are YOU Spending Wisely, or Emotionally?
In the article, “The Cost of Whistles”, I shared with you a story about how Benjamin Franklin once bought an overpriced whistle from a peddler at a fair, and regretted it all his life. What Franklin was trying to teach us with this story was that purchases based on emotion – desire & want – are almost always bad purchases. Whenever you emotionally pass the point where you can no longer “walk away” from ...“SAFETY NET” Credit Scoring Factor
Lenders and credit card companies use your credit score to help determine how likely it is that you will pay back the money they lend you. Fair Isaac Corporation, the creator of FICO credit scores (the most commonly used credit scoring system) has a breakdown of the relationship between your credit score and your chances of being a “Good Player” vs. a “Bad Player” (see chart here). So, your credit score reflects an estimate ...They ARE Plotting Against You – Watch Out For Universal Default!
Almost all credit card companies have adopted the policy of Universal Default. So what is Universal Default? This is the legal right for them to change the terms of your agreement if you become a riskier borrower. What kinds of changes can they make? Well, they can immediately raise your interest rate up to a predetermined “default rate” that you’ll find somewhere in the fine print of your credit card agreement. It is quite ...Universal Default – Yes, They ARE Out To Get You!
Read the fine print of virtually EVERY credit card agreement these days, and you will find a hard to understand clause called “Universal Default”. Most everybody understands that failing to pay your credit card bill on time can result in a late charge being tacked on. This has been going on for years. And many credit card users have learned the hard way that failing to make your payment on time can result in ...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 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 ...Latest Articles
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