7 Ways to Eliminate Credit Card Debt
By Philip P Wilson
When you are deep in credit card debt, you find yourself in somewhat of a desperate area that hopefully you haven't been in before. Your situation worsens as you become delinquent on some of your card payments and the fees rise, your interest rates rise, and you are pushed down further and further under the surface of just breaking even. Don't give up hope yet because there are ways that you can eliminate your credit card debt.
• Pay on time - while it may seem somewhat difficult to do in these trying financial times, you must find a way to have enough money to at least make your minimum payment. Take a second job, sell some things on eBay, do something. You may think that you are above having to do a second job, but do what you have to do.
• Pay more than the minimum - As you find ways to save money and/or earn more money, do the wise thing and pay more than the minimum on your credit cards. Credit card companies do not want you to pay more than the minimum payment because when you, as a consumer, pay the minimum, it will take you longer to get out of debt and the lender will pocket all the extra money that you have been paying them.
• Negotiate for a lower rate - Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Credit card companies would rather have you as a customer paying a lower rate than not being a customer and providing no revenue.
• Spend less - Sometimes it is easier said than done. You can get help at mint.com. This site will help track your spending and show you where your money goes. It even offers ways to help you save and shows you how your spending compares with others in your same area.
• Clip coupons - you can find coupons at this site. You can use the money that you save to pay more on your credit card debt.
• Get help - you can always look for the nearest Consumer Credit Counseling service. This non-profit organization will help you will developing a budget, negotiate with your credit card companies, and give your one place to pay all of your creditors.
• File bankruptcy - this is a last resort, but for some, it becomes the only resort. Bad credit activities stay on your credit report for years, but if it comes to filing bankruptcy, you should definitely check with an attorney before taking this route.
This is just a partial list, you can always seek help from others, but know that you are not alone.
Phil Wilson
http://www.money-for-my-life.com/ - a site for helping people make money
http://moneyformylife.blogspot.com/ - a blog to help people save money.
============================================
Credit - Here Are Some Pointers to Help Your Credit Score
By Bruce A. Tucker
In today's tough economic world good credit can make you king while bad credit can you make you the court jester. We have all been there, missed a payment on a credit card, forgot to pay that phone bill and it ended up in collections, whatever the case is, chances you might have experienced one of these. The questions are how does it affect your credit and what can you do to increase your credit score?
Let's tackle the first quest and that is how much do these negatives affect your credit score. Depending on how delinquent they might be they could have a major impact and that in turn could mean the difference between getting a great interest rate or a terrible one or even worse getting the loan for that car or house or being declined. Now that is the bad news. The good news, everything is always fixable.
If you have something in collections get it paid or even better (if you have the cash) settle the debt. Settling is the process by which they reduce what you owe and you pay it then the remaining balance is no longer owed. Make sure you get all settlement offers in writing before you send money though. It will show on your credit report as "settled". Meaning that even though you did not pay it off in full you still made an attempt to pay most of it and the creditor was satisfied with what you paid and that looks far more favorable than "charge off" or "judgment".
Now that you have caught up on the "bad" items, what can you do start rebuilding that credit score. Also keep in mind that all items (good and bad) stay on your credit report for 7 years. So if you have taken care of the "bad" items, these 7 years can be used as a great time to rebuild and strengthen that credit.
For starters pay your bills on time. Whatever you do, do not be late on any bills, especially ones being reported to credit agencies. These are usually your credit cards, rent, mortgage, car loans and so on. Keep these up to date and that will improve your score.
Second, keep your revolving credit balance to a minimum or zero if at all possible. These are most notably your credit cards. It is looked at negatively when you have a credit card with a limit of five thousand dollars and you are carrying a four thousand dollar balance. You need to take the steps necessary to get that balance down. So in order to do so you will need to pay more than the minimum to speed this process up. Sure that high balance may seem insurmountable, but remember you have 7 years to work with, and work it you will.
Third, stop applying for credit. When you apply for credit an inquiry goes on your credit report. What that means is to let other borrowing agencies know of where else you have been trying to get credit. The more inquiries you have the worse it looks because it makes you look desperate for credit. Inquiries stay on your credit report for two years, so if you have a lot of them, stop applying and let them start falling off your report.
Since you are now going to be responsible with your credit, there is not need for multiple credit cards. Even though many say closing them is a bad thing as it goes towards your score, I say it's a good thing in the long term because the credit card won't be there for you to put anything on. So cancel those cards that you use infrequently and keep one maximum of two cards active. Just make sure you pay those cards off.
Finally and the most important tip of all, but I left it for the end for a reason, and that is get copies of your credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies (Transunion, Equifax, and Experian). You want your credit reports so you can look them over to make sure they are accurate and if they are not to take the necessary steps to contact the creditors who may not be reporting the information accurately. Don't be surprised if you see an account on one report that does not appear on another, this is common because not all creditors report to all three credit agencies.
With the information you now have in hand you are set to repair and improve your credit. As you can see mot of it is common sense, but the majority of it is discipline to use your credit wisely. Remember the money you spend from credit does eventually have to be paid back.
About the Author
Bruce Tucker is a contributing writer to Mike's How-To Blog, a blog that covers a wide variety of topics and how to do them. You can also follow him on Twitter.
=================================================
Credit Card - Four Tips in Choosing the Right Card For Your Good Credit
By Bruce A. Tucker
So you have taken the time to build a really good credit rating and your credit report is second to none, so now what? You have choice of whichever credit card you have and a slew of interest rates to choose from. If credit card companies had a customer draft just like pro sports teams do you, my friend, would be a top five pick.
The time has come for you to get rid of all of those department store cards, move on to unsecured credit and become a part of the world we call "a responsible borrower". And since you have pick of the litter when it comes to credit cards be wise when making a selection. Here are some tips that could help you along.
Say No to Fees
Avoid all credit cards, that charge a fee, like the plague. You have great credit and they deserve to have you not the other way around. If they are going to charge you, the person with an excellent credit history, a fee, then you do not need nor do you want that card. So avoid fee based credit cards.
Interest Rates
Be leery of introductory interest rates. You know the ones where they start out at a certain percentage and then end up around twenty percent. Your credit is way too good to pay high interest rates, so pick a card that maintains your interest rate based on your good credit. You should have no problem finding and sticking with one around nine percent or even lower.
Points, Points, Points
Look for a card that awards you points towards something. For instance my wife and I have the Disney card. With every purchase we earn points towards anything Disney related. Yes we are Disney fanatics. In any event, we apply those points towards vacations we might take, movies, toys for the kids and so on. What do you enjoy? Do you like to travel? Look for airline miles, cruise points or vacation club stays. If sports is more you thing, look for one that gives you points towards merchandise and sporting events. Chances are there is a card out there that will allow you to earn points towards your favorite things.
Added Incentives
Look for a card that has other added incentives such as deals you might get with businesses they partner with. For example on my card when I rent a car from a certain rental car company I can earn up to triple points or receive cash discounts. Credit cards issued from quality companies do business with other businesses as a way for everybody to be a winner. You are a winner because you are earning points and discounts, the card wins because you are using the card and the business wins because they now have you as a customer. Everybody wins.
These are just four of the many things you can look at when choosing your credit card. Only you can decide which card is right for you. If you find yourself ever stuck making a decision about your finances you should talk to professionals who are experts in the field. You have worked hard to build that good credit. Do the right things to keep it that way.
About the Author
Bruce Tucker is a contributing writer to Mike's How-To Blog, a blog that covers a wide variety of topics and how to do them. You can also follow him on Twitter.
==============================================
Lower Your Credit Card Debts
By Glenn Franklin
If you are reading this article, I am sure that you are tired of paying huge bills and draining away all of your money to the credit card companies. Maybe I can help you. All you have to do is try a different approach than you are using right now, doing bi-weekly payments.
The great benefit of paying your credit card bills bi-weekly is that when you make half of your month's payment every fourteen days, you would have made 24 payments in a year instead of the traditional 12, so that means it would help a lot in reducing down your interest rate, and improving your average credit score.
However, before making the effort and hassle of arranging two payments for your monthly bill, write up or call your credit card company to make sure that it is okay with their credit policy to allow you to do that. You must always make sure before taking steps like that.
This helps a lot in getting rid of your credit card debts 2 times as fast as if you would just have paid your monthly minimum. Let me create a scenario for you to better understand this.
For example, if you charged $5,000 on a card with a 17 percent interest rate, that makes your monthly payment at least $100. So that just means that you pay $50 every two weeks, you will cut down your interest by $8,149 precisely, and will end up paying the debt in six years and 14 weeks. Now let me tell you the important part of that scenario. If you would just have paid the monthly minimum, you would have ended up paying your debt for about 34 years.
You should keep one thing in mind here though. You should decide, whether this method to reduce credit card bills is beneficial or not. This mode of payment is only nice for those who have large credits with large interest rates. If you have small credit and small interest rate, the mode of bi-weekly payment won't do much good, and you would just be overstretching yourself for nothing.
Also, you must make sure that you are well organized to opt for this method, as it can prove really disastrous if you are not organized enough. The trickiest part is sticking up with the 14 day schedule. If you don't want to face the late fees, you would have to make sure that you never miss out on even one payment. What you could do is, setup an electronic transfer with your bank for the money to get automatically transferred to the credit company from your bank account every 14 days.
Get Out of Debt with first time government grants
By Philip P Wilson
When you are deep in credit card debt, you find yourself in somewhat of a desperate area that hopefully you haven't been in before. Your situation worsens as you become delinquent on some of your card payments and the fees rise, your interest rates rise, and you are pushed down further and further under the surface of just breaking even. Don't give up hope yet because there are ways that you can eliminate your credit card debt.
• Pay on time - while it may seem somewhat difficult to do in these trying financial times, you must find a way to have enough money to at least make your minimum payment. Take a second job, sell some things on eBay, do something. You may think that you are above having to do a second job, but do what you have to do.
• Pay more than the minimum - As you find ways to save money and/or earn more money, do the wise thing and pay more than the minimum on your credit cards. Credit card companies do not want you to pay more than the minimum payment because when you, as a consumer, pay the minimum, it will take you longer to get out of debt and the lender will pocket all the extra money that you have been paying them.
• Negotiate for a lower rate - Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Credit card companies would rather have you as a customer paying a lower rate than not being a customer and providing no revenue.
• Spend less - Sometimes it is easier said than done. You can get help at mint.com. This site will help track your spending and show you where your money goes. It even offers ways to help you save and shows you how your spending compares with others in your same area.
• Clip coupons - you can find coupons at this site. You can use the money that you save to pay more on your credit card debt.
• Get help - you can always look for the nearest Consumer Credit Counseling service. This non-profit organization will help you will developing a budget, negotiate with your credit card companies, and give your one place to pay all of your creditors.
• File bankruptcy - this is a last resort, but for some, it becomes the only resort. Bad credit activities stay on your credit report for years, but if it comes to filing bankruptcy, you should definitely check with an attorney before taking this route.
This is just a partial list, you can always seek help from others, but know that you are not alone.
Phil Wilson
http://www.money-for-my-life.com/ - a site for helping people make money
http://moneyformylife.blogspot.com/ - a blog to help people save money.
============================================
Credit - Here Are Some Pointers to Help Your Credit Score
By Bruce A. Tucker
In today's tough economic world good credit can make you king while bad credit can you make you the court jester. We have all been there, missed a payment on a credit card, forgot to pay that phone bill and it ended up in collections, whatever the case is, chances you might have experienced one of these. The questions are how does it affect your credit and what can you do to increase your credit score?
Let's tackle the first quest and that is how much do these negatives affect your credit score. Depending on how delinquent they might be they could have a major impact and that in turn could mean the difference between getting a great interest rate or a terrible one or even worse getting the loan for that car or house or being declined. Now that is the bad news. The good news, everything is always fixable.
If you have something in collections get it paid or even better (if you have the cash) settle the debt. Settling is the process by which they reduce what you owe and you pay it then the remaining balance is no longer owed. Make sure you get all settlement offers in writing before you send money though. It will show on your credit report as "settled". Meaning that even though you did not pay it off in full you still made an attempt to pay most of it and the creditor was satisfied with what you paid and that looks far more favorable than "charge off" or "judgment".
Now that you have caught up on the "bad" items, what can you do start rebuilding that credit score. Also keep in mind that all items (good and bad) stay on your credit report for 7 years. So if you have taken care of the "bad" items, these 7 years can be used as a great time to rebuild and strengthen that credit.
For starters pay your bills on time. Whatever you do, do not be late on any bills, especially ones being reported to credit agencies. These are usually your credit cards, rent, mortgage, car loans and so on. Keep these up to date and that will improve your score.
Second, keep your revolving credit balance to a minimum or zero if at all possible. These are most notably your credit cards. It is looked at negatively when you have a credit card with a limit of five thousand dollars and you are carrying a four thousand dollar balance. You need to take the steps necessary to get that balance down. So in order to do so you will need to pay more than the minimum to speed this process up. Sure that high balance may seem insurmountable, but remember you have 7 years to work with, and work it you will.
Third, stop applying for credit. When you apply for credit an inquiry goes on your credit report. What that means is to let other borrowing agencies know of where else you have been trying to get credit. The more inquiries you have the worse it looks because it makes you look desperate for credit. Inquiries stay on your credit report for two years, so if you have a lot of them, stop applying and let them start falling off your report.
Since you are now going to be responsible with your credit, there is not need for multiple credit cards. Even though many say closing them is a bad thing as it goes towards your score, I say it's a good thing in the long term because the credit card won't be there for you to put anything on. So cancel those cards that you use infrequently and keep one maximum of two cards active. Just make sure you pay those cards off.
Finally and the most important tip of all, but I left it for the end for a reason, and that is get copies of your credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies (Transunion, Equifax, and Experian). You want your credit reports so you can look them over to make sure they are accurate and if they are not to take the necessary steps to contact the creditors who may not be reporting the information accurately. Don't be surprised if you see an account on one report that does not appear on another, this is common because not all creditors report to all three credit agencies.
With the information you now have in hand you are set to repair and improve your credit. As you can see mot of it is common sense, but the majority of it is discipline to use your credit wisely. Remember the money you spend from credit does eventually have to be paid back.
About the Author
Bruce Tucker is a contributing writer to Mike's How-To Blog, a blog that covers a wide variety of topics and how to do them. You can also follow him on Twitter.
=================================================
Credit Card - Four Tips in Choosing the Right Card For Your Good Credit
By Bruce A. Tucker
So you have taken the time to build a really good credit rating and your credit report is second to none, so now what? You have choice of whichever credit card you have and a slew of interest rates to choose from. If credit card companies had a customer draft just like pro sports teams do you, my friend, would be a top five pick.
The time has come for you to get rid of all of those department store cards, move on to unsecured credit and become a part of the world we call "a responsible borrower". And since you have pick of the litter when it comes to credit cards be wise when making a selection. Here are some tips that could help you along.
Say No to Fees
Avoid all credit cards, that charge a fee, like the plague. You have great credit and they deserve to have you not the other way around. If they are going to charge you, the person with an excellent credit history, a fee, then you do not need nor do you want that card. So avoid fee based credit cards.
Interest Rates
Be leery of introductory interest rates. You know the ones where they start out at a certain percentage and then end up around twenty percent. Your credit is way too good to pay high interest rates, so pick a card that maintains your interest rate based on your good credit. You should have no problem finding and sticking with one around nine percent or even lower.
Points, Points, Points
Look for a card that awards you points towards something. For instance my wife and I have the Disney card. With every purchase we earn points towards anything Disney related. Yes we are Disney fanatics. In any event, we apply those points towards vacations we might take, movies, toys for the kids and so on. What do you enjoy? Do you like to travel? Look for airline miles, cruise points or vacation club stays. If sports is more you thing, look for one that gives you points towards merchandise and sporting events. Chances are there is a card out there that will allow you to earn points towards your favorite things.
Added Incentives
Look for a card that has other added incentives such as deals you might get with businesses they partner with. For example on my card when I rent a car from a certain rental car company I can earn up to triple points or receive cash discounts. Credit cards issued from quality companies do business with other businesses as a way for everybody to be a winner. You are a winner because you are earning points and discounts, the card wins because you are using the card and the business wins because they now have you as a customer. Everybody wins.
These are just four of the many things you can look at when choosing your credit card. Only you can decide which card is right for you. If you find yourself ever stuck making a decision about your finances you should talk to professionals who are experts in the field. You have worked hard to build that good credit. Do the right things to keep it that way.
About the Author
Bruce Tucker is a contributing writer to Mike's How-To Blog, a blog that covers a wide variety of topics and how to do them. You can also follow him on Twitter.
==============================================
Lower Your Credit Card Debts
By Glenn Franklin
If you are reading this article, I am sure that you are tired of paying huge bills and draining away all of your money to the credit card companies. Maybe I can help you. All you have to do is try a different approach than you are using right now, doing bi-weekly payments.
The great benefit of paying your credit card bills bi-weekly is that when you make half of your month's payment every fourteen days, you would have made 24 payments in a year instead of the traditional 12, so that means it would help a lot in reducing down your interest rate, and improving your average credit score.
However, before making the effort and hassle of arranging two payments for your monthly bill, write up or call your credit card company to make sure that it is okay with their credit policy to allow you to do that. You must always make sure before taking steps like that.
This helps a lot in getting rid of your credit card debts 2 times as fast as if you would just have paid your monthly minimum. Let me create a scenario for you to better understand this.
For example, if you charged $5,000 on a card with a 17 percent interest rate, that makes your monthly payment at least $100. So that just means that you pay $50 every two weeks, you will cut down your interest by $8,149 precisely, and will end up paying the debt in six years and 14 weeks. Now let me tell you the important part of that scenario. If you would just have paid the monthly minimum, you would have ended up paying your debt for about 34 years.
You should keep one thing in mind here though. You should decide, whether this method to reduce credit card bills is beneficial or not. This mode of payment is only nice for those who have large credits with large interest rates. If you have small credit and small interest rate, the mode of bi-weekly payment won't do much good, and you would just be overstretching yourself for nothing.
Also, you must make sure that you are well organized to opt for this method, as it can prove really disastrous if you are not organized enough. The trickiest part is sticking up with the 14 day schedule. If you don't want to face the late fees, you would have to make sure that you never miss out on even one payment. What you could do is, setup an electronic transfer with your bank for the money to get automatically transferred to the credit company from your bank account every 14 days.
Get Out of Debt with first time government grants
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