Project Cutback

That's cutting back on unnecessary expenses! Yes, that is one of our household's goal for this year. So where do I start? Cutting back on cable yielded just a $10.00 savings, woohoo! Dh will give up the NFL network but not on HBO though. :( He watches more than a couple of series there, most notably the Boarwalk Empire (Steve Buschemi is so good!). So where else can I cut back? I'm thinking of the car insurance so I am currently looking online for cheap car insurance quotes. I hope I can save more than $100 for that. Here's crossing my fingers!

Club Stores = Savings?

We have been members of club stores for a long time. When I was single and living in California with my family, I signed up with Costco. We bought big cans and boxes of coffee, creamer, sugar substitutes, chocolates, shampoo and soap to send to my brother and other relatives in the Philippines. Now that I have my own family, we are still a member although with a different club store. BJ's club is more convenient for us, it's only a 10 minute drive. So do we save money by going to a club store? Of course. I know some people will say that you don't and others said that you don't need a huge pack of whatever. If you're single or a member of the DINKS (dual income no kids) group, then you don't need a club store. But if you have a family, you can save money. The prices when buying bulk is certainly lower. Take a pack of New York Strip steaks for example. At the grocery, this goes for about $8-$9 a pound; at the club store, I was able to get it at $5.99 a pound. That's huge savings right there. I vacuum pack the meat, date it and store it in the freezer basement. This is just one example, there are other savings to be had. You can also get discounts on medicines, eyeglasses, travel and other services like heating oil, motorcycle accident attorneys and car insurance. So what do you think, are club stores saving you money or does it make you spend more money for things you don't need?

I'm Watching Every Penny

Well, maybe not every penny but I found myself extra cautious on spending money. Case in point, I had a physical exam scheduled last Monday. The day before, I thought about it and figured that I can have that exam coincide with another doctor appointment in December. By doing so, I will save money on the co-pay. It may not be much but it is something. Another time was during grocery shopping. I went to the cheese section and picked up mozarella that costs around $8.00. When I got to the dairy section, I saw a mozarella made by another company at just half the price. Usually, I would go for the other brand, this time though, I decided to get the cheaper one. I'm sure the kids will not even know the difference. So it's by doing these small things day-to-day made me realize how much change I made. I guess watching all these shows advising people to watch what they spend had an effect on my spending too. Did you change the way you shop and spend money in the wake of this financial mess?

Debt Management, One Answer to Your Financial Problems

I just heard on the news this morning that Washington Mutual Bank went out of business. What is happening? Big businesses are failing left and right. If these huge corporations are having financial problems, what more for regular people like us. We constantly hear in on the news these days, people are losing their properties because they cannot afford to pay their mortgages. Most of these people clearly took in a mortgage that is too big compared to what they can actually afford. Everyone is affected by this financial crisis. The news article I read mentioned that even your credit card limit might be affected by this. They reported that some consumers have already received notices from their credit card company that their limit was lowered.
This is scary especially for people with huge credit card balances or loans. One of the things you can do is go to the Personal Finance page of the United States Government website (http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Money/Personal_Finance.shtml). This page has links to different articles that can help you start in managing your finances.
It has articles on Personal Credit Help, How to Pay Off Debt, How to Get Your Free Credit Report and Credit Information on MyMoney.gov.
You can also contact a credit counseling company like CareOneCredit.com which can help you with debt management. It is advisable to work with professionals that has a lot of experience in dealing with creditors since doing it yourself can be very daunting and complicated. They will help you in consolidating your debt, talk to creditors to lower your monthly payments and interests. You have 24/7 access to your account, receive monthly statements and have the option of electronic payments. Doing these will at the very least, help you avoid bankruptcy which will completely ruin your credit.

Financial Problems? Consolidate Your Debt

The financial crunch is across the board, everyone is feeling it. Bankruptcy filings are up and more people are probably considering it. If you have many credit card loans then you need to find the most effective way to consolidate debt. Filing for bankruptcy should be the very last option, you must avoid this since there are many repercussions. There are other ways to go about your financial problem.
-Go into Credit Counseling. This is a service that reviews your finances and then enrolls you into a Debt Management Plan. By doing this, they can help you lower your monthly interest rate and fees.
-If you have your own home and it has equity, you can file for Debt Consolidation either by refinancing or using the home equity loan. You have to be aware though that with a home equity loan, you can lose your home if you don't pay it back.
-You can also go into a Debt Management program that consolidates your debts, often with no interest. You make one payment to the program, and it distributes the money to your creditors.
-Debt Negotiation or Debt Settlement - it is a program to reduce your consumer debt by negotiating debt settlement to a lower level. You get a low monthly payment and you avoid bankruptcy.
-Debt Relief - you find help in fixing your debt through credit counseling, debt settlement, loan modifications and other ways.
In my opinion, the best way to do this is to get into credit counseling first. You need all the help you can get. You will learn how to handle your money and you will get aid in dealing with your creditors. The most important point is that you will avoid filing for bankruptcy. No matter which way you choose, solving your financial problems is just the first step. You need to be proactive. Try your best to curtail spending and save money. Do not live beyond your means and you'll be on your way.

Make It a Habit

It is a good idea to start teaching young kids the value of money. Everytime my son asks me to buy him something he saw on TV, my answer is always "We'll have to save money for that." It's not a good idea to buy them everything they want even though you can afford to. Whenever my daughter wants an item, she has to pay half of the cost herself. Even though I can get her the item, I don't want to do it. I want her to learn the lesson that to have something, she needs to save first. That's why she has her own savings account although she cannot get into this without my knowledge. It's an online account and I didn't ask for an ATM card. Having a card will just give her the idea that it is easy to take money out. Until she is old enough to be financially responsible, I will be the primary contact for this account.

Living Without Debt

A lot of people are in deep debt these days. Their house is being foreclosed by the bank since they can't keep up with their mortgage payments. Some people are also using their credit cards to pay for necessities or worst, use one credit card to pay the monthly payments of the other card. These people need help from businesses that provide Debt Relief. One website called Freedom Debt Relief offers services that help people get rid of their debts. There are a lot of things that makes this site different from others. First is their free 10-minute phone consultation assess your financial situation. They also design a debt consolidation program that will fit you and your situation, unlike other financial institutions where you are given the same cookie-cutter solution. With Freedom Debt Relief, they usually negotiate your debt up to 50% less than what you owe. After your debt has been paid off, they can also help you with other financial services offered by their affiliates like home and auto financing or credit repair. Even if all you need is some advice with making some sort of financial decision, FreedomDebtRelief.com will help you with the best strategy to stay debt free.

Your Personal Information is Secure with LifeLock

It was on the news a couple of days ago. The government broke up an international identity theft ring with 11 individuals from the United States and other countries such as Germany and China. This was the largest identity theft breach so far, with as many as 40 million card numbers in jeopardy. The credit card numbers were stolen from large businesses such as TJ Maxx, Barnes and Noble, BJ’s Warehouse Club and others. Everyone should be worried, I certainly am.

Last year, while checking my credit history, I saw two small loans that I did not recognize. I called the loan companies and found out that someone used my Social Security number to acquire the said loan. Only the name and address on the loan was different. I was told that I need to get a police report and it took me several days of phone calls and faxing documents to the three credit reporting companies and loan companies before my record was cleared. I had to prove to these companies that I am the rightful owner of that Social Security number. That was a stressful time for me. I was still ‘lucky’, if you can call it that, since this woman only used my Social Security number and not my name to open two loans. Obviously, this person used a fake ID card to secure the loan using her real name.

Now that even the big name businesses' security are compromised, consumers need to be proactive in protecting their identity. That's why life lock is the best idea so far to combat identity theft. If I was registered with this service then, the moment that my Social Security number was used, I would've been alerted of the fraud. Lifelock monitors your identity and personal information, they also have the only identity theft child protection program out there.

Even if the government cracked down on these identity theft criminals, there are still more of them out there. So why not take charge, check your credit history for any discrepancies every year and be careful of your personal information.

Student Loans Will Not Be Honored

Have you heard? Another financial business is having troubles. This time, it is a company that doles out loans for college tuition. So now, a lot of parents are scrambling to find alternative solution to pay for the upcoming tuition bills. School is starting in a couple of weeks and it is not easy to get approved for student loans in such a short time. I heard from some parents that they are at a loss as to what to do. According to the news report, the company said that they are deeply affected by the Sub-Prime Mortgage mess and they cannot afford to go through with the student loans that have already been approved.

A short term fix will be to use a credit card. Take note that I said 'short term'. Only use it if the tuition is due at the end of the month. If you have a high interest rate credit card then it is not a good idea. It would be better to find a lender with the best 0% credit card offers. It takes a lot of searching the web to find these cards and offers. If you are looking to get the best balance transfer credit card offers the website YourCreditOptions.com is the way to go.

Personal Loan For Everyone

When this whole mortgage problem started, it is now much harder to get approved for loans. Lenders' requirements are more stringent resulting in a lot of rejections. They are more discerning in whose loan application they will be approved. Many people defaulted on their loans like mortgages that a lot of banks foreclosed on their homes. There are Personal Loans Online that are available for almost anyone. Since it is online, it is a very convenient service offered to the customers. PersonalLoansMania.com offers quick loan service no matter where you are in the United States. Even if you have less than stellar credit, you have a very good chance of getting approved since bad credit personal loans are their specialty.

Taking Control of Your Finances

With the way the economy is going down these days, it is more important to take control of one's finances, especially debts. One of the main problems that people have is how little they know about their finances. Some people don't know what affects their credit score or even what their credit score is. There are a lot of websites in the internet that has this information but not all of it is easy to navigate. There is a website I saw called http://www.bills.com/ and they have a quiz which anyone can take that will test their financial knowledge. This Bill IQ quiz is free and you don't have to register to take it.

I took the Bill IQ quiz myself and scored a little above average for my demographic. The nice thing about this quiz is that at the end, it gives you the best answers and a detailed explanation about it. I learned that it is recommended that one's will should be updated every three years just in case circumstances have changed.

It is also advisable according to this website toConsolidate My Debt. We should all be aware of the interest rates of the credit card that we use. If you carry balances in your credit cards, this website advised that you should pay the card that has the highest interest rate first. This will save you a lot of money in the long run. It is also better to pay off the entire balance each month if you can afford to do so.

To improve your credit score and financial IQ, visit http://www.bills.com/