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Friday, December 22, 2006

Merry Christmas





Merry Christmas :)

Cooperation Credit Repair

When you are trying to get out of debt, you will need cooperation from others as well as your self. If both of the sources are hard headed, I promise you your credit repair scheme will probably not work. Debt is an everyday part of life and we all have an obligation in life, and this includes both debtor and creditor. When you are dealing with creditors the first thing you want to do is cooperate as much as possible. Most creditors are ready to work out an arrangement with you to help you stay on your feet. However, there are some creditors, which could care less about your situation and will avoid cooperation at all cost. If you run into this type of situation, by law you can report the representative, and ask to speak with his or her supervisor. According to the law, no one has the right to violate you whether it is speech, action, or other source. You have the right to demand cooperation and understanding. If the representative disregards you when you ask to speak with the supervisor, simply hang up the phone and call back. My advice is to send the creditors a letter of recognition, letting them know you owe the debt and is currently working out a solution to resolve the issue. If possible, send a check for as little as $10, or whatever you can afford. This will stay the creditors from sending your information to the collection agencies. It is important to act immediately on late bills before they do hit the collection agencies. The collection agencies are much more complex to deal with than common creditors. If you are in debt and find that you only have enough money to make ends meet, you might want to look into a few options available to you. If you have a family, single family, or individual you may qualify for a government loan or grant. While applying for the loan or grant make sure, you stall the creditors until you get the loan or grant offered. Many debtors believe it is impossible to get out of debt once they go down.

The truth is, there is always a way out of any situation practically. Giving up is the only way that your credit repair system will fail? The only true failure in life is failure itself and this is a result of slackers, procrastinators, and quitters. If you need help with credit repair and do not know where to get started, you might want to search your mind. Once you are finished with your search you will probably see, a resource and a solution that will help you find a way through repairing your credit. Your local library for example has a wealth of information that covers nearly every subject. What about your local social services, do they have a resource available? Community Action is another bridge you could cross when you can’t find the answers to your credit repair in the areas you searched. I guarantee you will find some sort of information at your public library that will guide you through the steps of credit repair. The keyword “credit repair’ is all you need to go through channel of communication that will lead you to repair. The most important thing you want to remember when it comes to repairing your credit, or your credit period, is to never trust anyone that tells you they have all the answers. The market is swarming with bandits that are ready to take you for a ride. Spammers, Rammers, Crammers, and other types of predators are out there, so be careful. Those darn credit cards that tell you regardless of your credit history we will offer you a line of credit, is a crock. In addition anyone that can tell you can get out of debt in 3 minutes, 16-36 days and so on is full of it. The truth is your score rises once you pay your debt, but the overall debts that you owed will remain faithful on that file until the three-seven-or ten-year period that the law allows. So open up that cooperation kit and get to rolling on your credit repair.

source : creditautocard.com

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Saturday, December 16, 2006

Getting Out Of Credit Card Debt


If you've got huge payments and high interest rates on your credit card, you may feel like you'll never get your head above water.

You can get out of credit card debt, if you are determined enough. Though it's difficult to get out of debt, it isn't impossible. All you need in order to get out of credit card debt is planning and determination. Both are equally important.

Determination doesn't come without proper motivation, so you need to ask yourself these questions: "How will getting out of credit card debt benefit me", "What difference will it make", and "Is it really worth it to try to get out of debt." Use the answers to these questions to build up your determination.

The fact that all the nagging mail and phone calls from the collection agencies will end should strengthen your determination and provide you with a reason to get out of debt. Think about the stress-free life you'll have after you get out of debt. List the reasons you want to get out from under your credit card debt and ponder the benefits. Collectively, these will help bolster your determination and prevent lapses.

The second thing that you need to get out of credit card debt is plenty of planning. The planning starts with making a list of the credit cards that you currently posses and noting the debt and the APR for each of them. The sum total of all this information is how much you owe. You also need to check whether you have been defaulting on payments on any of these credit cards (and hence incurring late fees). You will need to avoid doing that. Put it in the plan you have prepared for getting out of debt.

The next step is to check your current financial position. Make an assessment of what you expect your future financial position to be. Then you need to do research to check what balance transfer offers are available. See if one of these can prove beneficial to you. Use this information to calculate how much time you will require to get out of debt and how you will distribute the debt payment across your various credit cards. Try to pay off the debt that is largest first and make sure that you don't make any late payments.

You can get out of debt. It is not impossible. If you have any more questions about getting out of debt, contact a consumer credit counselor.

Article Source: ezine-articles-planet.com

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Credit Consolidation - What You Need To Know Now.

Are you overwhelmed by your credit cards? If you feel like you cannot keep up, one effective way to ease the stress is to consider credit consolidation. There are several strategies to accomplish credit consolidation, and there are many benefits that arise from the choice of credit consolidation.

First, what does credit consolidation mean? Credit consolidation can take many forms, and means different things to different financial advisors, so we will go through each one in turn. One form of credit consolidation is to take out a personal loan and use the proceeds to pay down your existing credit cards. Another form of credit consolidation is to do a balance transfer; this involves applying for a new credit card which will allow you to transfer all the balances from your existing cards onto this one new card. Both of these means of credit consolidation involve opening an additional unsecured credit account.

Another way to pursue credit consolidation, available for homeowners, is to look into borrowing against your home equity. One way to do this is to take out a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), which is a credit line against the equity in your home. You would then use the proceeds of this new loan to pay down all of your credit cards. Another way to take advantage of the equity appreciation in your home for credit consolidation is to refinance your existing mortgage. As part of this refinance, you would use some of the proceeds to pay off your existing credit cards. This type of refinance credit consolidation is often called a debt consolidation refinance – you are consolidating both your old mortgage and your existing credit cards into one new mortgage.

Now that you understand what the different forms of credit consolidation are, it is important to understand the benefits of credit consolidation.

•Lower Interest Rate: Perhaps the most significant benefit that results from Credit Consolidation is that the new account that you are opening will carry a lower interest rate than the rates on the credit cards that you are paying off. This means that it will cost you less over time to pay off your debt. If your credit is strong enough, you may even qualify for a 0% balance transfer, which means that you will not have to pay interest charges on your debt for a set period of time. Moreover, a secured loan (e.g. mortgage refinance, HELOC, etc.) will generally have a lower interest rate than your existing credit cards.

•Faster Repayment Period: Along with saving money over the long term by lowering your interest rate, you will also more than likely be offered a lower monthly payment. This may be very attractive given your current financial situation. However, if you are able to maintain your present monthly payment amount after doing a Credit Consolidation, you will be able to pay off the new balance much more quickly than you would have with the old credit cards.

•Ease of One Bill: Another very important benefit that comes with choosing to undertake Credit Consolidation is the simplicity of having one monthly bill that comes with the new account that you have opened. With multiple credit cards you are receiving multiple bills, more than likely with different payment due dates throughout the month. Not only is this difficult to keep track of, it also increases the likelihood that you will miss a payment and end up paying late fees and incurring higher interest rates. It is easy to see how one monthly bill can lower your stress level considerably!

These are just some of the reasons credit consolidation can make sense. Most importantly, be sure to know what your own goals and priorities are, and then select the form of credit consolidation that best fits your own needs.

Article Source: ezine-articles-planet.com

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

0% Apr Credit Cards You Can Find


When it comes to 0% APR credit cards, you may be wondering how you can take full advantage of these offers. There are many f them out there, actually. The ability to offer this service is usually something of a ploy though. To get you into their card products, card issuers may offer 0% APR abilities as an introductory. Yet, even if this is only an introductory offer, you can still find these benefits to be rather rewarding. If you take a few minute to consider what is out there, you may see that you qualify and can benefit from these 0 interest credit cards.

What Are They?

The first thing for you to do is to understand what 0% APR credit cards actually are. Having this card will allow you to use credit without any interest accumulating on the amount that you have borrowed. Any fees including annual fees will still apply, but this amount of money is not something that you have to worry about having a 25% interest rate charge on top of, at least, not at first.

The 0% APR credit card is offered strictly as an introductory rate. It is never offered for the life of the card or even for an extended amount of time beyond say, 12 months. You will most certainly have this 0% interest for just a limited time. Sometimes it is just a few months, other times it can be as long 15 months for some of the longer, extended introductory APR offers. The goal that you should have is to take full advantage of this offer within the timeframe of the introductory offer and consider how it can benefit you.

Your Benefits

First off, you should look very closely at the particulars of each 0% APR credit cards offer that you are considering. Ask yourself the following questions:

* How long does the card offer keep this introductory rate?

* What is the ongoing APR after that introductory period is over?

* Is this an APR that you can live with, especially if you are a cardholder that tends to carry large card balances?

* Are there other fees that you should take into consideration, such as an annual fee?

* How well does this compare to your current credit cards?

* How well does it compare overall to the other offers you are considering?

Since all credit card offers are a bit different, make sure you read the details before you just accept any offer out there.

Your benefits come in when you can take what is being offered to you, in this case a 0% APR credit card, and use it to your advantage to save money, and in some instances, a lot of money. Let’s say that you currently have a credit card that you have a 25% APR on, which is considered anything but cheap. Now, you are looking to find a way to lower the amount but the lender won’t offer a drop in the APR (you should always call and ask for your current lender to lower your APR!) One thing that you should also do is determine if your 0% APR credit card offer applies to purchase, balance transfers or both. If the introductory rate only applies to balance transfers, you should move your outstanding balances to the new account, and ultimately pay it off before the introductory period ends. If the introductory APR applies only to new purchases, you should use this new card
strictly for all new purchases while continuing to pay down the balances on your higher APR cards. And if the 0% introductory APR applies to both purchases and balance transfers, you should centralize all of your card activity around this card for the entirety of the introductory period.

The key to any of these credit card strategies is an aggressive card balance repayment plan that minimizes the compounding effect of high APR finance charges. If you let your card balances continue to roll over, you are likely to end up paying just as much, if not much more, on the credit card anyway. Yet, those six months or more of no interest can be a true blessing to those that pay down their balances aggressively within the timeframe of the introductory period.

Article Source: ezine-articles-planet.com



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How To Maximize Your Credit Card Rewards

Been sucked in to the lure of a “rewards” credit card only to get burned in the end by high interest rates and a less than stellar return when it came time to cash in those points? You’re not alone.

For credit card companies, acquiring customers is big business, and most cards today offer some kind of incentive for running up the charges on your plastic. If you’re not careful, and use your card at will just to collect a few measly points, you could get stung. But by following a few simple rules, you can turn the tables on the credit cards companies and use that “rewards” card to your advantage.

What to choose?

Most likely, your mailbox is full of pre-approved offers for new and exciting credit cards. In fact, in 2005 over 6 billion unsolicited credit card applications were mailed. The average person received approximately 72 offers. If you’re in the market for a new card, it’s important to weigh your options carefully. Most credit cards today offer some kind of rewards, but which one is right for you?

Take a look at your lifestyle and spending habits. Would you benefit from a points-based rewards card, an air mileage card, or one that offers cash back on purchases? Points-based cards usually give you one point for every dollar charged. When you accumulate enough, the credit card company will usually have a shopping portal set up, where you can redeem your points on a variety of products (e.g., electronics, gas cards, travel, etc.).

Problem is, most items in the catalogue are ludicrously overpriced, though it’s better than nothing. Air mileage cards offer great benefits to the frequent flier, but in today’s airline industry, who’s to say how much fees will be raised by the time you’re ready to redeem? With cash back cards, there’s most likely a set amount you’ll need to charge annually before you reap any benefits, so make sure you read the fine print before you sign up.

Take Advantage

Quite simply, offering incentive-laden cards are a way for credit card companies to get you to sign up. Rarely are the rewards worth the interest rates you’ll pay if you carry a monthly balance. But therein lies the rub—pay off your credit card every month and put those rewards to work. Here’s how: Charge as much as you can on your rewards card. We know, it goes against everything you were ever taught about using a credit card. Let us explain.

If your collectors allow it, charge every bill you have to your credit card instead of using a debit card or writing a check. Then, pay that balance off immediately to avoid incurring an interest fee. You’ll collect big rewards points fast, and it’ll be just like paying cash. Be disciplined about it though, even one month of letting those charges sit on your card can be a killer when the fee kicks in.

Another idea: instead of having separate credit card accounts for you and your spouse, ask for an increase in your credit limit and a companion card for one account. The more you both swipe the plastic, the quicker you’ll accumulate rewards points.

Off the beaten path

As rewards cards have become more prevalent, credit card companies have come up with new incentives to make their cards more desirable to consumers. Many cards have a system that provides extra rewards points to customers who shop with certain vendors. Some will even offer coupons where you can save big shopping with certain companies while still earning extra points. It might take a little more effort, but it will certainly rack up the rewards points at a vigorous pace.

Article Source: ezine-articles-planet.com




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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

College student credit card debt

Credit card debt doesn’t shy away from anyone who doesn’t want to shy away from it. It treats everyone equally irrespective of whether the person is a seasoned professional or just a college student. So college student credit card debt isn’t uncommon either. Since the credit limit on college student credit cards is much lower, the college student credit card debt cannot rise to the levels it does for other credit cards. However, college student credit card debt is an even bigger menace because a lot of students are already in debt due to the loan they have taken for their education. If they pass out of college with college student credit card debt, they will have to payback not just the loan they taken for studies but also their college student credit card debt.




Since most of the college students are inexperienced in the usage of credit cards, they can easily fall prey to what we call as ‘college student credit card debt’. In fact, college student credit card debt is one reason why the credit card suppliers keep a lower credit limit on college student credit cards. The solution for avoiding college student credit card debt is similar to what it is for avoidance of any type of credit card debt. So, the first thing for avoiding college student credit card debt is to understand the concept that credit card is not free money and that whatever you pay-for using your credit card has to be paid back to the credit card supplier when your credit card bill arrives. So don’t treat credit card separate from hard cash. Avoid overspending e.g. do not buy things just because they are on sale, sales keep coming and going and there are always better offers each time; buy only those things that you really need. A good thing to do is to prepare your monthly budget and follow it religiously. Never budge from your budget. Another very important preventive measure for avoiding college student credit card debt is to avoid going for a second credit card. Some students have a tendency to go for multiple credit cards just because the credit limit on college student credit cards is very low. However, this is a perfect recipe for getting into a college student credit card debt. This is how college student credit card debt builds up. One credit card is more than enough for any student.

College student credit card is really meant to be treated like a training ground for learning more about credit cards. It should not be make an instrument of debt (college student credit card debt).

source : creditautocard.com



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Chase credit card


Credit cards have become almost a necessity in today’s world. There are hordes of credit card suppliers who issue thousands of credits cards every day. Chase (of the JPMorgan group) are a well known credit card supplier. Chase credit cards are pretty popular among the masses.

Chase credit cards come with various different benefits and accordingly chase credit cards are classified into various categories. There are general purpose chase credit cards which promise great rates and excellent service. Then there are chase credit cards for people who shop regularly with some retailers. These are termed as rebate cards since they offer rebates on shopping when you shop with certain retailers. These also offer cash rewards. There are entertainment credit cards for people who wish to get VIP access to some concerts, events etc.

Another category of chase credit cards is the travel cards where the credit card holders get travel related discounts and rewards. This category of chase credit cards is very suitable for people who travel a lot. Yet another set of chase credit cards is grouped as auto and gas cards which offer rebates and rewards on everyday purchases. Retail cards are another kind of chase credit cards where you receive points on purchases made using this chase credit card. These points can then be redeemed for shopping certificates, entertainment etc. For students, there is a separate breed of chase credit cards which is called student cards. These student cards help the students in building a (good) credit history and also offer some special benefits for students. Similarly there are college & university alumni cards for supporting your alma mater. There is another set of chase credit cards that operate on similar lines. These chase credit cards are called ‘cards to support organizations’. The organization can be something like a charity or any other organization that you want to support. Then there are military cards that are meant for the members of military (both past and present). You can support your favourite teams or sporting organizations by getting a sports card. Finally, there are business cards which can be used by businesses for organizing their expenses, availing low interest rates and getting other benefits related to business.

Thus chase offers a lot of different credit cards which cater to the different needs of various people. By comparing the features of these chase credit cards and by understanding the main objective behind them, one can easily zero-in on the chase credit card that is best suited to ones needs.

Note: The information given in this article was correct at the time it was written. However, the author does not guarantee the correctness and completeness of this information at any time.

source : creditautocard.com


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