Personal Finance Blogs

Personal finance blogs are popping up day after day. More people than ever before are interested in sharing advice with others and in the process helping one another to face the challenges of living in our current depressed financial circumstances. As a consumer, no matter your situation, you should consider occasionally reading a few personal finance blogs. Even if you think you know a lot you can still learn quite a bit more, while also meeting other people with similar interests and concerns.

Here are a few ways that personal finance blogs can help you save money and increase your financial knowledge during a bad economic climate:

1. 1. Hear how others are succeeding. You may be able to pick up some great first hand advice from others who are succeeding in ways that you may have never considered. Personal finance blogs offer good information on not only surviving, but perhaps also thriving during a recession.
2. These suggestions and helpful tips are often based on personal experience and therefore bear some weight of authority. In addition, you may wish to ask the writer questions on their experiences in certain areas and thereby improve your understanding of financial opportunities or issues. For example, you may not realize it but your credit score has a lot to do with your personal financial success. If you are lacking knowledge in this area it would be helpful to search for personal finance blogs that touch on this subject matter. There are ways and means to achieve your best credit score, and in turn save money on interest rate expenses in the future and open new loan possibilities.
3. The recession has been and will continue to be tough on many Americans. It will be interesting to learn how others are saving and getting by even when the economy is struggling. Remember the old saying: a penny saved is a penny earned. Financial blogs are full of information on how you can save in all areas.
4. In addition, many personal finance blogs offer tips on where and how you can make a good and useful purchases at great savings. These often include everyday items such as saving on energy use or gasoline use.

If you are interested in learning more from personal finance blogs you can search for this term via Google. Some of the most popular blogs in this niche include: Consumerist, Wise Bread, The Simple Dollar, Get Rich Slowly, and Saving Advice. For a full list of some of the top personal finance blogs check out http://www.wisebread.com/top-100-most-popular-personal-finance-blogs/.

All in all, personal finance blogs can help you in yet unknown ways save money as well as offer helpful tips on how to invest and progress in a tough economy. Take a few minutes each week to catch up on the latest personal financial news!

student credit cards

Are you searching for a student credit card? This can be the case if you are a college student or the parent of a child in this age group. Either way, you need to know that there are many credit card offers for students and teens. Here is some important information about some options. Look for the benefits that most suite your needs

Discover more or less dominates this niche of the credit card industry. They offer many cards that are perfect for students. But even then, you need to narrow down the choices that are offered by Discover. It can be quite difficult to apply for the right offer when you do not take the time to learn the pros and cons of each one.

Here are some of the most popular Discover credit cards for students and teens: Discover Student Card, Discover Student Card Clear, Discover Student Card Monogram Collection, Discover Student Card Tropical Beach, and Discover Open Road Card for Students.  In addition there is Current by Discover, which is a prepaid credit card designed specifically for teens. Which one of these great offers are you going to take advantage of?

When choosing which Discover card is best for you or your teen, you need to know which details are most important. Here are a few tips for choosing the right student credit card:

1. The rewards program. Every Discover card has a rewards program that allows you to earn points towards gifts or cash back. For instance, the Discover Student Card features an unlimited cash rewards program.
2. Interest rate. This is an important detail no matter how old you are. Every Discover student card comes with a zero percent interest rate for the first six months.
3. Set-up and annual fees. Unlike many student credit cards, Discover never charges fees for setting up an account or keeping it active. This can save you a lot of money!
4. Credit needed. As you know, you can only receive a credit card if your credit score is in good shape. The Discover Student Card requires a good to excellent credit rating. All others require only average credit.

There are a lot of credit cards out there for students and teens and you want to make sure you are looking at the best options. You want the best of the best! This is why you should take a close look at what Discover has to offer in terms of student and teen credit cards. You will not be disappointed with the choices and the number of top level features that are available.

See the whole range of Discover Credit Cards.

Student Credit Cards

Learning About Cash Back Credit Cards: Good or Bad Idea? - Fri, 06 Feb 2009

Options For Good Credit Cards - Tue, 03 Feb 2009

Getting Your Credit Card Online - Tue, 06 Jan 2009

Business Credit Cards

If you are like most business owners your career is one of the most important things in your life. For this reason, you want to do whatever you can to make sure you succeed as much as possible. One way you can do this is to take advantage of the benefits of a business credit card. Many companies, big and small, use credit cards to their advantage. If you are not yet doing so you may want to make a change.

Here are a five good reasons a business credit card can help your business:

1. You can build good credit for your business just like you do for yourself. This may not sound like a big deal, but over time it can definitely bring perks to you and your company. Start slow and build your credit over time.
2. With a good credit report on your side you can get lines of credit from partners, manufacturers, etc. This is a huge accomplishment because it allows you to get the products you need when you need them.
3. Access to more cash. What business doesn’t want access to more cash? Money is needed to grow, and sometimes the cash that you have on hand is not enough. Fortunately, with a business credit card you are gaining access to more cash. How much depends on the credit history of your business, and of course, what card you opt for.
4. Your business credit card can earn you cash back and/or rewards points. Do you travel a lot for your business? Do you have salesmen who are always on the road? If so, stockpiling points that can be redeemed for travel perks is a great idea. By paying for plane tickets, hotels, and rental cars with business credit card points instead of cash you can save a lot of money through the year.
5. It is good for your ego! Okay, so maybe this isn’t the best reason to apply for a business credit card. But if you have a small business that is just getting going there is nothing more important than feeling good about yourself. When you have a business credit card you will feel like you are moving in the right direction. And this is a big step in actually making progress. You have to be confident in what you are doing, and a business credit card can help you to do just that.

Business Credit Cards

Learning About Cash Back Credit Cards: Good or Bad Idea? - Fri, 06 Feb 2009

Options For Good Credit Cards - Tue, 03 Feb 2009

On April 23 President Obama met with top ranking officials from 14 credit card companies to let them know that their days of preying on consumers are over. At this time, he is working fast with other members of his party to push legislation that will prevent credit card companies from increasing interest rates for no reason.

Of course, there are some who feel that this is not the best thing to do at this time. With the weak economy some experts feel that cracking down on credit card companies is only going to make things worse. The pros and cons are sure to be discussed many times over as the next few months unfold.

National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers has been doing a lot of talking on the president’s behalf. Recently, he said Obama was “going to be very focused, in a very near term, on a whole set of issues having to do with credit card abuses, having to do with the way people have been deceived into paying extraordinarily high interest rates that they wouldn’t have paid if they knew what that they were getting themselves into.”

The Financial Services Committee has already approved the legislation, 48 to 19, which Obama spoke about on April 23 with credit card officials.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, including the credit card companies, that this is happening. For many years they have been taking advantage of consumers by disguising the amount of interest they were paying or suddenly increasing interest rates without proper notification. It appears that Obama and his team is taking the side of the American people in this battle. Keep an eye on the news for further updates.

What to Think about:

1. Who is responsible? The primary name on the credit card is the person who is responsible for paying the bill. So if you are going to add a co-borrower you need to make sure you trust them 100 percent. If something was to happen and you no longer want your co-borrower to have access to the credit card, you need to get in touch with your credit card company. After all, you don’t want an ex taking out their bad mood on you by racking up a huge credit card bill.
2. The main benefit of adding a co-borrower on your credit card is that you can help them increase their credit score. For instance, is your child looking for a way to increase their score so they can eventually move out and obtain their own loans? If so, adding them as a co-borrower can help. This will not do anything to your credit score, while helping the co-borrower better their credit report and score. Of course, this only holds true if you pay your bill on time.
3. If you are the primary credit card holder you are putting your personal finance history on the line by adding a co-borrower. Even if you trust the person you are dealing with it should be noted that you are still taking a risk. What if your co-borrower was to lose their job and is now unable to pay what they owe? Again, this would fall back on you. Even though their credit score and report would be dinged as well, since your name is the primary one on the account you are on the hook. Are you willing to take this risk?

When it comes to dealing with a co-borrower on a credit card there is a lot to think about. You may feel that this is nothing more than a financial decision, but you would be wrong. If something goes bad you could easily find yourself in a spat with your co-borrower. Are you willing to put your relationship on the line?

There is nothing wrong with adding a co-borrower on your credit card as long as you know the pros, cons, and risk you are taking. If you feel comfortable moving forward, you can contact your credit card company today.

Cash Advance Advantages

1. Fast Cash. If you have an immediate need for cash, using this option could be the answer you are looking for. Before you opt for this make sure you are aware of how much cash your credit card plan can offer , as well as what your current overall credit card spending limit.
2. Ease. It is more convenient to opt for a cash advance as opposed to applying for a loan. Your credit card company can get you the cash you need within a couple of days. Not to mention the fact that you already do business with them so you know they are trustworthy. This is fast cash without a lot of effort or delays.
3. Emergencies. Believe it or not, there are still some places that do not accept credit cards. Having a credit card with a cash advance option can make it easy to get the money you need so you can take care of your emergency without delay.

Cash Advance Disadvantages

1. High APR. Generally speaking, your cash advance APR interest rate is going to be much higher than the APR interest rate on your regular credit card debt. Are you willing to pay more in finance charges just so you can have cash in your hand? This is a question that you need to think about before starting the cash advance process.
2. Fees. Does your credit card company charge fees on top of a higher APR? Since most credit card companies do charge fees, this is something that you want to check into.
3. Fast and Easy to get what you need. This is both a pro and con. It is nice to be able to secure a cash advance almost instantly when you need one. But on the other hand, this convenience can also work against you. Fast cash means you may jump the gun and pull out cash quickly without first thinking of the consequences.

As you can see, you need to think about what you are doing before you opt for a credit card cash advance. There are definite benefits of a cash advance, but on the other side there are drawbacks as well. Once you compare the pros and cons you can then decide if a cash advance on your credit card is worth the time, effort, and added fees and finance charges.

The best place to find the information you need is to look at your credit card offers “terms and conditions”. In the fine print you will find the terms for a cash advance option with details on the interest rate you will pay on the cash advance as well as the amount of cash you will be able to get on the card and additional fee charges.

There is no denying that the credit crisis in the United States is serious. In addition to effecting millions of individuals, this situation has caused issues with businesses all over the country as well. Of course, this is not to say that the government is sitting back and hoping that things get worse. They are looking for ways to fix the credit crisis, and have already taken some steps such as cutting key interest rates to record lows.

There are many opinions as to what the government can do in order to fix the credit crisis and better the economic state of the country. That being said, not every move is an easy one to make. Remember, fixing one thing can lead to issues in other areas so the government needs to be very careful about the choices they make.

Many people are of the opinion that fixing the credit crisis can be done by removing all capital gains tax. This is a drastic measure, but this is something that should definitely be considered if the government is serious about implementing policies that will bring the country back on track. By cutting capital gains tax investors from all walks of life will begin to put money into real estate and the stock market. Why would they do this, you may ask? Simply put, they will want to seek out tax free profits in order to put more money in their pocket. In the meantime, they will be doing their part in repairing the credit crisis and stimulating the economy.

Others feel that insuring mortgages and subprime bonds will help fix the problems. Simply put, any financial instrument that is US government backed will create a large market the world over. In turn, this will create immediate liquidity.

At this point, the government is trying their best to fix the credit crisis through a number of improvements including a large economic stimulus package. Some experts feel that this will help get things moving in the right direction, whereas others are not so sure. But one thing is for sure: the government has the ability to make the necessary changes in order to better the current situation.

The credit crisis has affected millions. While current government policies are starting to kick in, it is difficult to say how long it will take for things to start to kick in and change for the better. Only time will tell if the government makes more changes in order to address the credit crisis.

Fiscal policy is the ability of the government to collect taxes and to regulate government spending. Monetary policy has to do with the Federal Reserve Board’s ability to regulate the money supply and interest rates.

With these tools here are four things the government can do to improve the economy:

1. Setting a low interest rate at which qualified borrowers can obtain a loan or mortgage. This will help to improve the real estate market, as well as the amount of money that lenders are giving out.
2. Government spending is out of control causing the national debt to continue to soar. Although the new powers-to-be are talking about cutting the national debt they need to back up their words with action in the months to come. The question is: how much more can the government borrow until credit markets become alarmed?
3. Create jobs. This is one area that President Obama is adamant about addressing as soon as possible. He has big plans for creating millions of green jobs in the next couple of years. Any plan that creates jobs and lowers the unemployment rate is one that will definitely help the economy to thrive once again. New jobs also help to boost the amount of taxes the government is collecting.
4. Cut capital gains tax in order to bring back investors who have tightened up. The ability to earn tax free profits will not only bring back investors, but it will show others the benefits of getting involved.

It is important for government policy makers to weigh the pros and cons of each and every option, and then decide which ones are best for the economy and the country as a whole.

It goes without saying that everybody, qualified or not, has an opinion on how the government can fix the economy. The above are four common ideas shared by millions of Americans. It will be interesting to see if the government agrees, and eventually decides to implement one or all of these plans.

It does not take a financial expert to understand how the FICO credit scoring works. In fact, once you know the ins and outs of the system you will not only know how it works but you will also be able to use this information to improve your credit opportunities.

Your FICO credit score is calculated by the Fair Isaac Corporation, hence the name. The Fair Isaac Corporation uses the information provided by the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax,to create a numerical score that summarizes your credit standing. If there is inaccurate information on your credit report your score may suffer

The FICO credit scoring system takes the following information into consideration:

35% Payment History
30% Amounts Owed,
15% Length of Credit History
10% New Credit Accounts Opened
10% Type of Credit Mix (auto loan, credit card, bank loan, mortgage)

As you can see, your payment history is the biggest part of your FICO credit score. If you have never missed a payment or delayed a payment you will always have a good chance at a high score as long as the other four areas don’t suffer. Those who are trying to increase their credit score may need to focus on one or several of the five factors above. For example, it may help your credit score to buy a new car on credit (as long as you pay all your car payments on time). This is because you are adding a new type of credit to your credit mix and you are increasing the amount of money you owe. Your FICO score actually rewards you for taking out loans. But don’t open too many new credit cards or your score will go down. Your FICO score will go down slightly if you close an old credit card account.

Why should you worry about whether you have a high FICO score or not? Credit card companies give consumers with the highest FICO scores the best and most extensive benefits, such as high credit limits and lower interest rates. Home Mortgage lenders offer those with high scores the best home loan options and smaller down payments. In fact about 3/4 of all lenders use FICO scores when considering requests for loans or credit.

Here is a chart that summarizes FICO scores and what kind of credit you can expect:

• Excellent Credit: FICO score 750-850
• Good Credit: FICO score 660-749
• Fair or Average Credit: FICO score 620-659
• Poor Credit: FICO score 350-619
• No Credit: FICO score 0

The federal government has mandated that each of the three credit agencies give everyone a free credit report once a year. But unfortunately this free report does not include your FICO score.  This is something you may have to pay to receive. There are also many types of services that may also be helpful for example an automatic email if your credit score changes or credit coaching to help you improve your score.

Did you know that federal law allows you to receive one free credit report each year from each of the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax? That is right. Once per year you are allowed to request your credit report, and you will receive this information free of cost. Keep in mind that this report will not include your credit score. That being said, it does offer a lot of good information on your current credit situation as well as your past credit history. Even if your credit score is not supplied, this is well worth the time and effort. After all, you don’t have to spend a dime. The reporting agencies offer toll free 800 numbers as well.

Why would I want to receive a free annual credit report? For one thing, this is a great way of making sure that nothing is “out of line”.  Remember, mistakes can happen. Many people have a lower credit score than they should because of one or more mistakes on their report. You will not know if your credit report is accurate if you have never seen it before. And you can’t do anything about it unless you look at the report and review it for mistakes. Mistakes can be made by the credit agencies. They are known to put the wrong persons information under the wrong name. It is also possible that you may be a target for some kind of credit fraud and not be aware of it. There are many important reasons to request a free yearly credit report.

Has your credit limit recently been reduced? Were you turned down for a loan that you thought you would definitely be approved for? If you are facing any unexpected trouble you will want to request your free annual credit report. You will quickly be able to pin point the issue and in turn clear it up right away before things get any worse.

So where can I get my free annual credit report? Simply put, you can request your free annual credit report from each credit agency at: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. This is the only link you need to get started.

If you are interested in personally contacting any of the three credit reporting agencies by phone the toll free 1-800 telephone numbers are listed below:

Experian: 888-397-3742
TransUnion LLC: 800-888-4213
Equifax: 800-685-1111

It is easy, just follow the link above. Once you have your credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies in front of you, the next step is to go over all of them closely. Do you see any mistakes? If so, you need to call the corresponding credit reporting agency (numbers above) to file a dispute.

You are entitled to a free annual credit report by federal law from each of the three reporting agencies, so you might as well take advantage of it!