Smart-with-Money Mindset Needed

By Paul J. Easton

Unlike the popular belief we are told over and over again, credit cards are not free money. If you are not cautious enough, it can be the straightforward way to financial hell. There is some good news though. Your way out is still possible with efforts from your part.

Many experts say that one of the best hidden ways to get rid of credit card debt, that your bank don't tell you about, is with the use of a debt consolidation loan. If you have a number of credit cards then a consolidation loan may be a good advice. This comes along with a condition though. Be ready to give up your cards because these accounts will be suspended by your credit card lenders. A good indication that you need this is when you are already having missed payments for three or more consecutive months. This is much better than to suffer the consequences of a negatively impacted credit rating.

Consolidating your credit card debts into one big loan offers you a way to get rid of high interest rates from credit card lenders. This offers you a scheme to pay your bills without the hidden charges and extra fees. It also gives you the time to pay the balances in a much more feasible time frame. In addition, you don't have to keep track of several statements with various credit cards because you will only recall one due date with your consolidated loan. This eliminates the late payments when dealing with a lot of bills at different times of the month.

Explore with various banks and get the best debt consolidation loans with respect to the interests and the terms they offer. Take the time to search and compare loans if possible. Bear in mind that you are trying to better your financial situation, so you need to get a debt consolidation loan that offers you better rates and terms than your credit card lenders altogether.

Take the necessary steps and make the religious payments every time and you are on the right track to a debt-free life soon. There is a bad news however. A lot of people will take a debt consolidation loan to get out of their credit card debts. But after a few months, they get another card and splurge their way to another shopping spree.

This only worsens their problems because they have to make the new set of payments on the new credit cards. And don't forget the consolidated loan payment. Unless a person learns how to deal with the finances, he will still be running in circles with this financial disaster. So to make the most of this opportunity, learn not to go back to this financial trap and be smart with money.

About the Author:

For more advices on credit card debt consolidation loan and how to get rid of debt, go to http://www.Howtogetridofdebt.net/ by Paul J. Easton.

Paying Twice the Minimum with Your Credit Card Debts

By Paul J. Easton

If you have a number of credit cards, you are certainly aware that keeping the balance unpaid from month to month will end up making you pay more until your financial outlook becomes very troublesome. For some unfortunate cardholders, the situation seems impossible to get through that they even thought of filing a bankruptcy. Getting out of the credit card debt trap is much more doable if you go about it immediately, and yes, it is possible. Here's how to get rid of debt.

The first thing you should do is make a decision for yourself. Come to a point realizing that you truly are in need to get out of this mess and will face it no matter how hard it may seem. Once you collected yourself and set your focus to being debt-free, commit to have the determination needed to get out of this problem.

The next thing you should do is to get rid of all of your open credit card accounts. This avoids all the temptation to use them. Using these cards means more debt. Cut up the cards for now or put them somewhere where you will not access them easily.

Here is the most critical part of our plan. The move which created this mess is developing the habit of paying the minimum amount only each month. It may be affordable up front but it actually will cost you more money in the long term

As an advice, pay at least twice the minimum payment due on each month. Pay more if your budget can. This technique eliminates the interests added each month on your bills. Credit card lenders will only gain profit from interests and other hidden fees they charge. So you have to truly work at those balances by making larger payments every time. You may not observe any difference at first but with several consecutive and on-time payments of twice the minimum or more, you will begin to notice those balances reducing to a manageable amount. Make sure only that don't get a new card yet until they are fully paid and you discipline yourself to make good use of your next credit card.

It would seem painless to get into the habit of making only the minimum payments every time. Since you will mind of only a low amount, it can free up some cash flow for your other expenses. Regrettably, paying the minimum is not that easy and can be a very costly method of managing your finances in the long run. Even with just a low balance, the interests with your debts will likely to grow and will mostly take over a decade to repay. So pay your dues twice the minimum or more and follow this until you pay the whole balance, you will finally be debt-free soon.

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The Guide To Getting Your Teen Interested In Personal Finance

By Jenni Snook

This article has been written to teach people how to get teens interested in personal finance. Nevertheless, before beginning this article, it's important that you know that a lot of patience will be needed as well as 30 minutes of your time on a weekly basis.

The best way to start to get your teens talking about personal finance is to gain their attention and lead by example by applying everything that you are trying to teach them in your own life. You may want to consider getting your teenager a pre-paid debit card or either an active checking account. If you decide to use the credit card, you should set the limit extremely low, around a hundred to two hundred dollars.

After doing this, you should make it clear to your teen that money doesn't simply grow on trees and that by giving them such a responsibility is a huge risk for you. You should make sure that they fully understand that there could be consequences for not being financially responsible with their money.

The third step in discussing personal finance for teens is to explain all of the basic mathematics that are required in order to properly maintain the account. Then see how they are able to make this financial responsibility work. If your teenager is successful in avoiding financial problems, then you be congratulated for watching over him. However, if they unexpectedly run out of money, you should take time to explain to them the reasons why this occurred.

If this was all the result of an unfortunate mistake, a one-off thing or a situation where you have forgotten to transfer the allowance, then you should verify the problem and make sure it doesn't occur again. You should continue explaining the situation again and again if accounting problems persist.

The fourth step in discussing personal finance for teens is to follow up with their account each week and keep constant track of their expenses online. With today's banking system, you will be able to monitor each and every transaction within minutes of their purchase; you may even receive email alerts through some banks.

If deserved, the fifth step in discussing personal finance for teens is going to be to reward their progress. As you surely already know, money management is a terrific tool for young adults to have, so you should continually push your teenager to learn a variety of different finance related topics each month.

In the event that you are ready to set-up an account like this for your teenager to see how he or she manages their personal finances, your local bank may be able to set you up with a debit card for free, and they will automatically transfer the pre-determined amount of funds into the account on the dates that you require. Be sure to take advantage of their electronic banking system and free services, especially those that you are familiar with.

Also be sure to keep the credit or debit account at a really low balance, because teenagers have a tendency to misplace things, so you really don't want someone spending all of your hard-earned cash attempting an experiment on your teenager's personal finance.

About the Author:

Jenni Snook is the main author of http://www.HealthyWealthySoul.com, a website dedicated to providing individuals advice and resources on personal finance for teens to have both financial and spiritual happiness in their lives.

Get Out of Credit Card Debt as Soon as Possible

By Paul J. Easton

Using a credit card wisely, one can definitely take advantage of a lot of benefits like bonus points, airline miles, and a cash back you most need in times of emergency. Use it haphazardly and this could be your nightmare for a long time.

For some irresponsible debtors, their financial situation is very much ruined by the bills that haunt them every due dates. It has come to a point where it is so difficult to get out of their credit card debt trap. This is actually the product of year of financial unreliability or simple ignorance.

Credit card companies like it when you carry a big balance in your statement and only pay the mandatory minimum every month. Unfortunately, you will most probably expect to pay that card off for an extended period of time. For some cases, it even takes them decades to pay off a substantial balance. Credit card companies are laughing their way with bigger profits because you are like a cash cow to them. But will you simply be still ignorant over the matter?

Here are simple methods how to get rid of debt as soon as possible. The initial step that you have to take is set your mind to being credit card free. Cut up all your cards except one just for emergency, but still don't use this one for now. At first, this is terribly difficult. You must have the enough determination to get yourself out of this debt trap. Or else, this will be your death trap soon.

When you don't have any access to credit cards, you don't get any deeper into debt. The one that you saved should not be placed in your wallet. Have it in a safe place and should be used only for emergency cases.

Now, when the statements arrive, pay much more than the minimum balance. Ideally, pay at least twice the minimum payment due or more. This lets you deduct the principal to gradually reduce the interest over the balance. Initially, you may not see a considerable difference but with a few moths of timely payments, you will eventually notice those balances come down.

When you are dealing with multiple cards, here's a great tip. Prioritize and concentrate most of your money to the payment of the card with the highest interest. Temporarily, you can have minimum payments for the other cards. When that prioritized car is fully paid, concentrate on the next card with second highest interest and so on. You will finish paying your balances faster with this method compared to paying only the minimum.

Choose not to be tricked by the credit card companies. Decide now and get out of your debt. Work hard and smart towards paying your cards as much as you can. Your goal is to get out of debt as soon as possible and by deciding now, you save your butt from a big financial disaster.

For more tips on how to get rid of debt, go to http://www.Howtogetridofdebt.net/ by Paul J. Easton.

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Using Debt Factoring to Survive the Economic Slump

By Phillip Evans

Its now a blatant fact that the United Kingdom Economy is in a downturn and Company Directors interested in their Companies existence must have a plan or they will most certainly go into liquidation

The tricky trading conditions over the Christmas and New Years holiday season saw an exceptional level of shops go into insolvency

Retailers and Businesses that have already been bore the brunt of the recession and have had to go bankrupt are MFI the furniture retailer, Whittard of Chelsea, the specialist tea and coffee retailer. and Wedgewood the fine China and tableware manufacturer.

Another victim of the recession has been our beloved Woolworths that went into administration just before Christmas and saw its final stores close on the 5th of January 2009, which has left 27,000 people facing redundancy.

How can a business survive this recession? Well Alan Tilley of the Turnaround Management Association says that for a business to achieve a successful turnaround it needs four things; a viable business core, credible management team, a valid business plan and appropriate finance.

British Business is now facing a Cash Flow pinch caused by the credit crunch and and freeze in the capital markets forcing Companies to search out alternative sources of funding

Company Directors with an eye on survival should immediately have a plan to reduce expenditure within the business. Carefully review expenditure to identify any areas of your business where savings can be made. Meticulously going over the Companies expense to find areas where costs can be cut. You should look at Telephone Charges and Tariffs, Utilities, Trade Suppliers, distribution costs. The build up of a number of cost saving can be remarkable.

Business owners interested in surviving a recession should look for alternative and appropriate sources of finance. The old clich of cash is king has never been more important than at the present time, although most businesses nowadays rely on some form of third party funding whether it be bank overdraft or business loans. Now may be the time to consider alternative forms of funding such as invoice factoring, which is increasingly popular for small to medium businesses. While not suitable for all businesses, the huge benefit of debt factoring is that rather than have money tied up in invoices that are yet to be paid, you can receive an initial payment up front, typically 80% - 85% of the gross value, and the remainder when the customer pays the invoices to an invoice finance provider, less the service fee which has been negotiated with them. However, if the customer defaults on payment, then the factoring company will recover the money provided to you initially from any further invoices which are factored. This can lead to unpredictable cash flow if customers are poor payers or they go into insolvency.

About the Author:

Debt Factoring is provided by the Asset Based Lending team of Enable Finance Ltd. Enable Finance are specialist small business finance brokers providing British business access to traditional and different types of credit. For a free meeting please contact the Business Refinance Team.

No Documentation Loans - The Option For Independent Contractors

By Gressly Stevens

Are you an individual that owns a business? Do you work as an independent contractor or are you a tipped employee? These are all situations that can make getting a good mortgage difficult because proving your income can be very hard to do.

There is a way that you can get a mortgage without many difficulties, though. You can use what is called no documentation loans to get what you need. Here are the situations that are perfect for the no doc type of loan.

Those that are self employed are perfect for this type of mortgage. They typically do not claim all the money they make for various reasons. This can make it very difficult to prove their income. There are programs called stated income programs that are just right for you to use in this situation. They will not verify your income on a program like this.

You should have no problems getting the mortgage you need with a stated income program. You will not have to prove any income and you will be able to write down a number of what you really make. These programs started specifically for the self employed so don't be afraid to take advantage of them.

Next, if you are an independent contractor and get paid mainly in cash, then it can be hard to prove what your income is. If this is you, then you are a perfect candidate for a stated income or no documentation loan. This will give you the leverage you need to get a loan and get it fast.

You will not have to prove your income or where you work with this program. It is very similar to being self employed, but not quite the same. This will allow you to refinance if you need to or purchase a home if that is what you are attempting to do.

One more situation that the no doc loan is great for is tipped employees. These are usually bartenders and servers, but anybody that makes the majority of their money from tips qualifies. This person typically does not claim all their tips and this makes it hard to prove your real income.

In order to get the mortgage you need you will have to use a stated program. This will allow you to say what you make with no verification whatsoever. They will not even send a verification to your employers because you will just provide a number and a signature.

No documentation loans should not scare you, and you should not feel like you are doing something wrong. The interest rate will be a little higher than a normal mortgage, but that is due to the lender taking a little more of a risk on you. These programs were designed for this use, though, so use them.

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Do you fit the above situations? Then, you need to learn all aboutStated Income Programs by Click Here Now!

Mortgage Loans for People with Bad Credit

By Steve Mortensen

Owning a home is the American dream. But if you have bad credit, you might think that dream will never become a reality for you. Even if you've been turned down for other mortgage loans due to a bad credit history, you might still be able to qualify for a bad credit mortgage loan.

Let's start with the good perks. Bad credit mortgages can help give people a chance to clean up their credit and improve their credit score. The tricky thing about credit is that you need it to be able to increase your credit score. But if you have already done some damage to your credit, it becomes a lot harder to qualify for credit. Thus, a vicious cycle ensues.

Bad credit mortgages can give people the chance to buy a home. Even though the main objective might be purchasing a home, the perk is that you might be able to improve your credit score. Once your credit is bad, it's hard to qualify for loans that will help you prove you are financially responsible.

One down side to a bad credit mortgage is that they usually have really high interest rates. Obviously, if you have bad credit, you are considered a big risk to lenders. In order to compensate for the risk they are taking on by offering you a mortgage loan, they attach a high interest rate to the loan.

Many bad credit mortgages impose a penalty for early payment. This means you can't pay off the loan early allowing you to save in interest payments. Finding a mortgage that doesn't impose a penalty for early payment is always a good idea.

Not only are the interest rates really high, but the fees and closing costs on the mortgage a high too. Since the banks take on a big risk lending to people with bad credit, they have to recoup some of the money they lose on bad loans by attaching high fees and interest rates to the bad credit mortgage loans.

A bad credit mortgage loan can be a second chance for people who have created a bad credit history for themselves, but still long to own a home. If you can commit to it, you can not only stop renting and begin to own, but improve your credit as well.

About the Author:

Steve shows home owners how to find mortgage loans bad credit and also how to get their hands on a personal loan bad credit.

Think Twice Before Filing For Bankruptcy

By Michael Geoffrey

It is absolutely essential that, before you start bankruptcy proceedings, you think long and hard about what choice to make. You need to weigh the pros and cons of any decision. Most people who decide to file for bankruptcy do so because they need a clean start to their financial lives. The debts that they have incurred have become so overwhelming that they cause serious emotional stress. When debts just keep on growing and you cannot seem to find a way out, it may be hard to know what to do about it.

Buy Yourself Some Time

In case your debts mount to such a degree that paying them off becomes impossible, you will have no choice but to be thinking about filing for bankruptcy, and even though you will still have to pay up what you owe, your chances will increase of becoming debt free by filing for bankruptcy.

And, once you are sure about filing for bankruptcy, you will have bought you some time from your creditors who will not be able to bother you with reminders to pay up, and in some cases, may even mean having to pay less, while some companies will even help you overcome all of your financial woes.

Although the details mentioned above outline the positive aspects of filing for bankruptcy, it is important to remember that there are also notable cons. Do not forget that making bankruptcy a part of your credit history will mean that you will no doubt feel some loss of privacy in your life since people will judge you by your bankruptcy for quite some time.

Other negative aspects to filing for bankruptcy include high interest rates on loans that you may get in order to pay off your debt, and this is especially true when you're past credit history shows that you cannot pay off your debts.

And, it is also necessary to have funds to pay for the services of a bankruptcy lawyer who must be engaged to handle your bankruptcy proceedings in a court of law.

Some of the financial problems that can and do occur as a result of filing bankruptcy can have very serious and very long lasting effects. For that reason, it is very important for you to think seriously about your choice to file or not instead of just making a rash decision.

About the Author:

Before you decide to cut up credit cards to help you get out of debt, you'd better understand how it can hurt your credit. Find out what you'd better know first on the Debt Smackdown website at http://www.debtsmackdown.com