Facts About Quicken

Posted on January 26, 2009
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Pay close attention to where your money is going. Use Quicken software, you can even try the Free Quicken Trial Version on line or other method so you can visibly track where your money is going each month. You probably easily remember the bigger bills like the mortgage or the car payment, but it’s easy to lose track of the incidental spending you do. You’d probably be surprised how much you spend each month on movies, eating out, video rentals and a little spending money for the kids. Quicken will help you find ways of saving a few dollars here and there, which can quickly add up to a significant savings each month.

Set a realistic budget and stick to it. Once you’ve paid close attention to where your money is going, it will be easy to find where to cut corners and adjust your budget accordingly. With some commitment and a few lifestyle adjustments, it’s really quite simple to live within the parameters of a well-planned budget.

Look for fun, inexpensive ways to entertain your family. You can usually borrow videos from your local library at little or no cost, and outdoor activities not only promote family togetherness but the fresh air and exercise are good for all involved.

Debt Collectors And Collection Agencies Have To Abide By Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Posted on January 3, 2009
Filed Under Personal Finances | 1 Comment

Debt Collectors and the Collection agencies they work for can be held liable by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Debt collection companies can be ordered to pay high fines for violations. Violations such as debt collectors misleading, threatening, and harassing consumers. Are all violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Some debt collectors, to make matters worse, threaten or falsely imply that consumers would have their wages garnished, property seized or initiate lawsuits or criminal actions against them for failure to pay. Some debt collectors call people at their place of business or home and disclose information to employers, co-workers, family members and neighbors.

The FTC receives hundreds of complaints against collection agencies. However, it’s up to all of us as consumers to make the FTC aware of these violations. Well, let this be fair warning: Debt collectors, you can no longer get away with violations of the FDCPA and with using abusive tactics. People are fighting back and are learning how to defend themselves.

Consumers must me more informed of their rights under the law. Some debt collectors still choose to walk the line and in some cases walk right over the line and keep on going. All in an effort to recover outstanding debts.

Debt collectors can be very intimidating and cause unwary people much undue stress. If you are a victim of such debt collector tactics, there are steps you can take to defend and protect yourself.

It would be helpful to submit your complaint online using the FTC Consumer Complaint Form, www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm (copy and paste to your browser).

The FTC does not resolve individual consumer problems, but your complaint will help with investigating any illegal actions. Further you can inform the debt collector that you are aware of your rights and that if they insist on violating the FDCPA you are prepared to submit your complaint to the FTC.

Document the debt collectors name, collection agency name and address, phone number, date and time of all communications. This will certainly be helpful when contacting the Attorney General of your state to submit your complaint.

Consider having a tape recorder handy the next time a debt collector chooses to go by the way side and violate the law. Remember, filing a complaint may not necessarily eliminate your outstanding debt, but by being aware of these methods, you may be in a position of power when the time comes to negotiate payment or settlement terms.

Imagine how much leverage you can have when the debt collector’s supervisor listens to the recorded conversation of his employee violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Pretty powerful stuff.

Blogging For Finance Professionals

Posted on January 1, 2009
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In a variety of ways, blogging requires a comparable set of skills as that used by a finance professional. Comprehensive research is ‘de rigueur’ to find and evaluate competing products to present the leading one to your customers. Once you’ve completed your investigation, you need to write up your tender in a credible format. Both of these skill sets, good writing and research, are similarly required for posting up to date and relevant articles on a blog. Blogging can be a very valuable advertising tool for finance professionals. This is confirmed by the fact that the blogosphere is interspersed with blogs on financial matters.

A blog usually works like a journal, and each entry is time and date stamped. You can, however, set a fixed homepage such as the http://www.successgems.net blog on personal development with the peel away ad image shown in the top right corner. The diary format of a blog is perfect for finance professionals due to the fact that each time there is a new product release, or a associated press release (and there are always plenty of these), this can be used as a basis for fresh blog content. Click-to-publish blogging software renders it simpler than ever for mortgage and finance brokers to broadcast their own content on the web. You don’t have to be a tech geek to install a blog, and once installed, you need only login to a control panel, enter what you want to say into an entry field, and click “Publish”.

You can secure very affordable cPanel webhosting nowadays beginning at $4.95 p/mth. cPanel webhosting includes a feature named Fantastico, which allows you to install a blog with very little effort. A proficient hosting company should also be able to assist you to put up your blog as well, but you can find step-by-step instruction videos for this type of thing included in membership sites the likes of the Portal Feeder membership site.

In times when there might be little news to report on, write about developments in your profession, or include home loan minimization strategies, review different types of finance, or investment plans. The possibilities are immeasurable. These contingency articles could be written in your spare time and saved for publishing later on, as they are timeless. Be careful to implement a noticeable Contact page on your blog that includes your telephone number and office address, as well as a contact form.

If you have employees, you ought to include a profile for each of them within your blog, comprising details of their area of specialization. Including a bio and photo of each agent will add a personal touch to your blog and will encourage people to email you for solutions to their finance needs.

Reclaiming Excessive Bank Fees

Posted on December 27, 2008
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Reclaiming Unfair Bank Charges has been in the news a lot of late and there are a lot of people are reported to be being very successful with their claims. But are you entitled to claim? Do you need a solicitor?

If your claim isn’t going to be complicated then there’s probably no need to get a solicitor involved when you are reclaiming bank charges. At the very worst, most of the claim can be dealt with through the small claims courts and probably from your own home if the banks play ball.

But if your claim is complex or you know you just won’t bother reclaiming yourself without help, then the cost is possibly worth it. But look for a no-win no-fee solicitor and check what their charges will be.

Whether you go it alone or appoint a solicitor, or start off yourself and seek professional help if the bank uses delaying tactics on your case, remember that it is important to continue your claim. If you stop, lose interest or just forget to continue to the next step, then the bank has won. If this is going to be you, write down the steps in your diary or contact a solicitor who advertises support for reclaiming bank charges.

During a 2006 ruling that credit cards should charge no more then a £12 annual fee the Office of Fair Trading declared that some bank charges were unlawful as well as being unfair. This opened the opportunity for people to reclaim unfair bank charges, charged within the previous 6 years.

A penalty clause is not permitted in British Law. This means that charges incurred for going overdrawn etc must be directly propotional to what it has cost the bank to deal with the situation. So if it costs £2.50 to send a computer generated letter, then the charges must not exceed £2.50.

Yet when customers go overdrawn in the past, banks have automatically sent customers a standard letter telling them they are overdrawn whilst imposing charges from £20 upwards. This is usually in addition to the interest charges imposed for unauthorised overdrafts or being overdrawn.

There are other unlawful bank charges and these are being successfully challenged by customers with banks refunding these unlawful charges. These unfair charges include:

• Returned Cheques
• Unpaid Cheque
• Account Misuse
• Fee For Exceeding Authorised Overdraft Limit
• Overdrafts
• Unarranged Borrowing
• Unpaid Standing Orders
• Unpaid Direct Debits
• Card Misuse
• Late Payment Of Credit Cards
• Late Payment Of Store Cards
• Late Payment Of Catalogue Purchases

If you are incurring these fees unfairly, then do yourself a favor and take action.

Repairing Bad Credit – Things You Need To Know

Posted on December 8, 2008
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While looking for bad credit repair, many desperately want there to be a band-aid that will fix their broken lives. “There must be some quick and easy insider way of fixing things,” some think. After all, there are so many advertisements online, on TV and in newspapers offering 100% guarantees and removal of the worst kind of blemishes, including bankruptcies, liens, judgments and bad loans. But are they legit?

If you’re looking for bad credit repair, then understand that there is no way to legally remove accurate and timely information from a credit report. Your credit score is designed to let lenders know how much of a risk you pose as a borrower. They are legally entitled to gain truthful information regarding this matter.

Sometimes, you can write to your creditors and ask them to drop the information from your credit report in exchange for a prompt and full payment. Often times, that’s the best you can hope for, with regard to the negative information. Then you can take the initiative to create more positive information.

Here are some do-it-yourself tips for fixing bad credit. If you feel up to the challenge, then you can use your sales and negotiating skills to get items deleted or amended on your credit report. First, never make arrangements over the phone. It’s always best to craft a well-written letter instead and be sure you write this letter before you give the creditor any money or you’ll have lost your power to negotiate!

If you have a “charge-off” listed on your account, then you can sometimes offer to adhere to a monthly payment plan and get creditors to replace them with “paid as agreed and on time.” If you can’t get that, then try for “account closed, account paid or account settled,” all of which are more desirable than a charge-off.

The best case scenario you could ever hope for is a creditor to completely remove their account from your credit report, although it’s certainly a rare best case scenario. Often with medical bills, the creditor will remove the bad credit debt if you agree to pay immediately, in full, with an additional fee or two, which will improve credit scores overnight.

If you’re attempting bad credit repair on your own, then understand that there are no guarantees. However, it will only take a few moments of your time to shoot out a letter to your creditors, requesting an agreement that will take your credit report into consideration. If you have a “charge-off” from a closed account, then this could be extremely hard to get removed from your report.

If the creditor is still actively trying to collect, you will have a 1 in 3 chance of getting a complete removal from your credit report. If you have an open account, like an installment or revolving loan, then there is a marginal rate of success if you offer to pay the full balance.

Open/active accounts reported as “late payment” have a very high success rate of complete removal, particularly if the account is in collections. Creditors may say they cannot remove an account, but they absolutely have the power to do so. It’s just that many of them are trained not to do that.

Protect Your Credit If You Have Been Exposed By This Identity Theft Ring

Posted on November 3, 2008
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In August, 2008, CNN and many other news agencies reported on the largest case of identity theft ever. According to the network, more than 41 million credit card numbers were stolen by an identity theft ring that hacked into the computer networks of nine national retail chains, including TJX Cos, Barnes & Noble, OfficeMax and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

I strongly encourage you to take a few simple steps to protect yourself from this crime, which affects as many as 10 million Americans each year, costing billions of dollars and countless hours to correct the problems it creates.

By law, when a data breach occurs, a company is required to send a letter to notify customers of their possible exposure, said Steve Ely, a divisional president for credit reporting company Equifax Inc. In the article from CNN, Ely said companies often downplay the problem to minimize damage to their reputation. “Ninety-nine percent of the time breach letters look like a piece of junk mail, and people throw them away.”

And indictments like those announced in August aren’t likely to prevent your data from getting into the hands of other criminals, warned Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit in San Diego.

“Even though they may have found the individuals,” said Stephens, “that is no guarantee that that information is not out there and available to people to use for fraudulent purchases.”

We’ve all heard these warnings before:. Carry as few credit cards as possible, and leave your Social Security card locked up at home. Never give out personal information by phone, mail or on the Internet unless you initiated the exchange and are clear why you’re sharing such details. Buy and use a shredder.

Other important steps include never leave outgoing mail in your mailbox and remove your incoming mail as soon as you can; shredding or tearing up any private information before throwing them in the garbage. Also make sure online purchases are from secure sites, one good sign is that the URL changes from http to https.

Also, you should limit or eliminate the use of debit or check cards linked to bank accounts, especially online. You should also regularly monitor your credit report. You can do this by ordering your free credit report each year but for even better protection could include daily monitoring through a credit monitoring service.

Upon request, Federal law requires each of the three national credit reporting companies, Experian, Equifax and Transunion, to provide consumers with one free credit report each year. The reports can be obtained at http://www.annualcreditreport.com or by certified mail or phone. Identity theft experts recommend rotating requests among the three bureaus, obtaining one report every four months.

For better identity theft protection, consider thinking about paying for a credit protection service. Make sure you compare them to find the right choice for yourself.

Though many identity protection companies offer similar services they are not all the same. One of the best credit monitoring companies is TrustedID. They place and renew your fraud alerts, monitor your credit and provide a guarantee, it is like having your own personal security guard working for you 24/7 to protect your credit and your identity.

Practical Guide to Handling Retirement Tactics

Posted on October 6, 2008
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Retirement can be the most dynamic part of your lifetime. When you properly design your retirement strategy, you will discover that retirement affordsyou the freedom to explore everything that life can provide. To prepare for an outstanding retirement, you need to set goals to make certain you remain course. However, not all retirement goals involve money.

One significant aspect of planning for your retirement is your health. You can begin today preparing to have a healthier body. You could enroll in a Yoga course, or begin taking a daily walk around your neighborhood. If you want to drop a few pounds, you can develop a program for that also. You need to be as healthy as possible once you retire, so you won’t be restricted in what you are able to do once have the time to begin enjoying your life. So one of your early goals could be to preserve or improve your general health and fitness. You see that retirement is not just about 401 retirement plan.

Retirement planning services companies provide long-range planning and guidance for retirement plans, building a clear path to financial security. They conduct seminars on retirement planning to Federal, State and local government employees and businesses in the private sector. Plenty of research and analysis on retirement planning is conducted by these agencies. Each client is presented with a written financial plan and is assisted with the implementation of the selected plan.

Don’t think of retirement as a destination. Some of the happiest people in the world never retire. Consider your retirement plan to be a guide to the wonderful years ahead.

Think of those colorful maps you get when you visit Disney World or any of the big theme parks. A big mass of space with lots of paths to all the wonderful rides and shows – that is your retirement plan. There is no single destination. You want to see and experience every good and happy event possible during this great time in your life. Without a retirement plan, you may show up at the gate after hours, with no money to get in or be too feeble to walk the paths or maybe miss the park altogether.

So, where do you start? Your mindset; use the seven points above as affirmations. Say them out loud or write them down on paper every day. Don’t tape them to your bathroom mirror and ignore them. You are a Baby Boomer. You have life experiences and you’re smart enough to be reading this article. Grab control of your life and make the next thirty years the very best humanly possible.

Also make sure that you know how to save your paper money from the results of all these bailouts and even bigger bubbles – read about junk silver coins and junk silver bags.

Debix Vs Lifelock

Posted on September 27, 2008
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Here is my reason for writing this article.

The other day two co-workers were arguing who was best Debix or LifeLock. I actually paid attention to this argument as I too was considering buying identity protection. This is what they taught me.

Lifelock is the best known when it comes to identity protection services. They do all the work for their clients even though many things could be done yourself for free such as ordering your credit report. In order to get attention and show how confident they are in being able to protect your identity, Lifelocks CEO actually made his social security number public. This is how I first became conscious of them.

LifeLock is also able to generate positive public relations for itself because they have earned many recognitions and awards. LifeLock has some unique for your information to ensure it is not being sold. True Address checks with databases that your address has not been changed by a criminal.

LifeLock the only one who can effectively protect children. LifeLock is ISO 27001 certified which shows that their security procedures at company headquarters is the best of the best. They seem to have invested in such which makes them able to provide real protection of the information that people turn over to them. LifeLock was also pioneered the $1 Million identity theft insurance offer.

Debix, another identity protection company gaining traction in the identity theft racket, is almost as good as LifeLock. They also put a Debix Safe Number in your credit file, not your phone number. This keeps personal phone numbers private. In addition, during the credit approval request process, reporting fraudulent credit requests is easy to report to law officers by just pushing a button on your phone. Simply hit star to be connected to a identity theft specialist who will help you contact the appropriate authorities.

Did you know Debix has a patented system that is perhaps the closest thing to getting full proof identity theft protection? Their fraud alert system is simply the best. With Debix you also get an audit trail in case there is a fraudulent activity.

Debix and LifeLock place fraud alerts on your behalf and order your credit report. They also remove you from junk mail and credit card lists. Debix also removes you from telemarketing lists.

The essential differences are Debix’s patent pending fraud alert technology and low price $24/year compared to Life Locks additional services including TrueAddress, WalletLock and Erecon and, of course, the $1 million guarantee.

This should help you evaluate which company is right for you. In my opinion you get better credit protection with LifeLock but at $24 a year Debix is certainly worth considering. Especially since it is $75 less than LifeLock.

Free Time Proven Advice About Credit Help

Posted on September 19, 2008
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If you are going to improve your credit score, then logic has it that you must understand what your credit score is and how it works.

If you don’t understand how your credit score works, you will also be at the mercy of any company that tries to tell you how you can improve your score – on their terms and at their price.

In general, your credit score is a number that lets lenders know how much of a credit risk you are. The credit score is a number, usually between 300 and 850, that lets lenders know how well you are paying off your debts and how much of a credit risk you are.

In general, the higher your credit score, the better credit risk you make and the more likely you are to be given credit at great rates. Scores in the low 600s and below will often give you trouble in finding credit, while scores of 720 and above will generally give you the best interest rates out there. However, credit scores are a lot like GPAs or SAT scores from college days – while they give others a quick snapshot of how you are doing, they are interpreted by people in different ways. Some lenders put more emphasis on credit scores than others.

Some lenders will work with you if you have credit scores in the 600s, while others offer their best rates only to those creditors with very high scores indeed. Some lenders will look at your entire credit report while others will accept or reject your loan application based solely on your credit score. The credit score is based on your credit report, which contains a history of your past debts and repayments. Credit bureaus use computers and mathematical calculations to arrive at a credit score from the information contained in your credit report.

Each credit bureau uses different methods to do this (which is why you will have different scores with different companies) but most credit bureaus use the FICO system. FICO is an acronym for the credit score calculating software offered by Fair Isaac Corporation company. This is by far the most used software since the Fair Isaac Corporation developed the credit score model used by many in the financial industry and is still considered one of the leaders in the field.

In fact, credit scores are sometimes called FICO scores or FICO ratings, although it is important to understand that your score may be tabulated using different software.

One other thing you may want to understand about the software and mathematics that goes into your credit score is the fact that the math used by the software is based on research and comparative mathematics. This is an important and simple concept that can help you understand how to boost your credit score. In simple terms, what this means is that your credit score is in a way calculated on the same principles as your insurance premiums.

Your insurance company likely asks you questions about your health, your lifestyle choices (such as whether you are a smoker) because these bits of information can tell the insurance company how much of a risk you are and how likely you are to make large claims later on. This is based on research.

Studies have shown, for example, that smokers tend to be more prone to serious illnesses and so require more medical attention. If you are a smoker, you may face higher insurance premiums because of this and it will not be that easy to get credit help.

Similarly, credit bureaus and lenders often look at general patterns. Since people with too many debts tend not to have great rates of repayment, your credit score may suffer if you have too many debts, for example. Understanding this can help you in two ways:

1) It will let you see that your credit score is not a personal reflection of how “good” or “bad” you are with money.

2) It will let you see that if you want to improve your credit score, you need to work on becoming the sort of debtor that studies have shown tends to repay their bills. You do not have to work hard to reinvent yourself financially and you do not have to start making much more money. You just need to be a reliable lender.

Credit reports are put together by credit bureaus, which use information from client companies. It works like this: credit bureaus have clients – such as credit card companies and utility companies, to name just two – who provide them with information.

Once a file is begun on you then information about you is stored on the record. If you are late paying a bill, the clients call the credit bureaus and note this. Any unpaid bills, overdue bills or other problems with credit count as “dings” on your credit report and affect your score.

Information such as what type of debt you have, how much debt you have, how regularly you pay your bills on time, and your credit accounts are all information that is used to calculate your credit score.

Your age, sex, and income do not count towards your credit score. The actual formula used by credit bureaus to calculate credit scores is a well-kept secret, but it is known that recent account activity, debts, length of credit, unpaid accounts, and types of credit are among the things that count the most in tabulating credit scores from a credit report.

Learn more about avoiding bankruptcy and analyze financial statement.

Home Loan Lenders Cut Rates

Posted on September 12, 2008
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Three of the leading mortgage lenders yesterday cut their interest rates in advance of the Bank of England’s base rate setting decision. Abbey, Lloyds SB and Cheltenham & Gloucester declared reductions of up to 0.30%.

It was the fifth drop in a month by Lloyds TSB. Skipton Building Society revealed that it now had on offer 95% per cent loans for first time buyers. This now means that the average cost of a home loan is now at levels not seen since the start of the credit crunch. This can only be seen as good news as the number of secured loans approved in July rose slightly over the previous month.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has decided to keep base rates at 5 per cent again this month and has done so since April, so what is causing the sudden reduction in mortgage rates?

The main reason is the recent fall in something called swap rates, the rates banks charge when lending to one another. These rose sharply in June, driving up mortgage interest rates, but have started to fall. Swap rates are now at their lowest for quite a few, fuelling the widespread cuts in fixed-rate mortgages.

There are additional factors driving down rates. Mortgage lenders are beginning to regain their confidence and are offering lower rates than their competitors.

The bad news is that the best rates are only available to borrowers with large deposits or loads of spare equity in their property. The higher the loan to value ratio (LTV), the higher the interest rate. Nationwide currently charges 5.78 per cent for a two-year fixed rate up to 60 per cent LTV for remortgages (with a £599 arrangement fee), rising to 5.88 per cent up to 75 per cent LTV and 6.33 per cent up to 90 per cent LTV. That means paying an extra 0.55 per cent if you borrow 90 per cent of your property’s value instead of 60 per cent. With property prices falling, people wanting to remortgage will have shrinking equity in their property, and will need to get a higher LTV loan.

These lower rates won’t last long. The next set of rates are likely to be more expensive. So buy now while stocks last.

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