6 Credit Card Secrets; Banks dont tell you

1. Interest Backdating
Most card issuers charge interest from the day a charge is posted to your
account if you don¹t pay in full monthly. But, some charge interest from the
date of purchase, days before they have even paid the store on your behalf!
REMEDY: Find another card issuer, or always pay your bill in full by the
due date.

2. Two-Cycle Billing
Issuers which use this method of calculating interest, charge two months worth
of interest for the first month you failed to pay off your total balance in
full. This issue arises only when you switch from paying in full to carrying a
balance from month to month.
REMEDY: Switch issuers or always pay your balance in full.

3. The Right To Setoff
If you have money on deposit at a bank, and also have your credit card there,
you may have signed an agreement when you opened the deposit account which
permits the bank to take those funds if you become delinquent on your credit
card.
REMEDY: Bank at separate institutions, or avoid delinquencies.

4. Fees Are Negotiable
You may be paying up to $50 a year or more as an annual fee on your credit card.
You may also be subject to finance charges of over 18%.
REMEDY: If you are a good customer, the bank may be willing to drop the
annual fee, and reduce the interest rate ‹ you only have to ask! Otherwise, you
can switch issuers to a lower- priced card.

5. Interest Rate Hikes Are Retroactive
If you sign up for a credit card with a low "teaser" rate, such as 7.9%, when
the low rate period expires, your existing balance will likely be subject to the
regular and substantially higher interest rate.
REMEDY: Pay in full before the rate increase or close the account.

6. Shortened Due Dates
Most card issuers offer a 25 day grace period in which to pay for new purchases
without incurring finance charges. Some banks have shortened the grace period to
20 days‹but only for customers who pay in full monthly.
REMEDY: Ask to go back to 25 days.

SOURCE: MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE
OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND BUSINESS REGULATION

6 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Home Equity Loan

So you need some money for unexpected expenses. The roof took on a leak, the deck rotted through and a new family addition tightened living space. You bought too much Christmas on credit now the bills are overwhelming. Junior got accepted to that Ivy League school. Tapping into your home equity can help ease your financial burden. Before deciding on borrowing ask yourself a few questions first.
1. Do I need a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit?
If interest rates are low, a loan is a smarter choice. You can borrow the full amount at once ant get a fixed rate on the entire amount. The advantage allows you to know how much to budget for monthly payments.
On the other hand, a line of credit will let you borrow from a revolving line of credit with variable interest rates. You access the money just like a checking account by writing a check for the purchase. Then the amount used is paid back. If the rates fluctuate, your payments will also.
2. Are there restrictions on how I use the borrowed money?
Most loans and lines of credit can be used for a variety of things. Whether you want to consolidate all your debts into one, do some home improvements or pay for college tuition, an equity loan or line of credit can be the answer.
Be sure to ask yourself if you can afford the extra payments. Is your budget flexible enough? Will adding another payment won’t over-extend a tight budget?
3. How do I find the best interest rate?
Your best bet to determine the variety of interest rates offered by financial services companies is to shop around. Ask questions. Try to find a company your comfortable doing business with. Look for ones that don’t charge application fees. Ask about charging a penalty for early payoff.
4. What is the term of the loan? Is it better to get a 5- 10- or 15 year term?
You’ll want to determine what your financial future strategy is when deciding on the term of the loan. If you’re planning to retire soon, you may want to ask for a shorter term. The longer your loan terms, the lower your monthly payments.
5. Are there any tax advantages to borrowing with a home equity loan?
There are many good tax advantages to home equity loans and lines of credit. The interest is tax deductible on your federal income tax. Be sure to consult your tax advisor before applying for a loan to be certain of the deductions.
6. Is the loan application lengthy and how long before I get an answer?
More and more lenders are allowing consumers to apply for loans over the phone or on the Internet. It can take as little as 10 minutes for the application process. And many pre-approvals can be delivered in a few hours. Final approval often takes any where from 5 – 10 days while evaluating your house is taking place. Often the entire process can be completed without leaving your home with final documents and checks being sent through the mail.
Tapping into your home equity to ease financial burdens can be a good idea. Do your homework. Shop around. Set up your budget. Use the money for what you need.

7 Quick Cash Fixes To Recover From A Money Emergency

When you are desperate to raise emergency funds, it usually doesn’t take very long for you to realize who really cares about you, who is truly a friend ... be they family or not. Here are a few emergency budgeting tips: Budgeting Tip #1: The first thing you want to do is prioritize to get back on track very quickly. If that means letting your credit card bill go for a bit, so be it. As soon as you realize that you have a money emergency, contact your credit card issuers and request reduced interest rates and payments. Not only one, both! Budgeting Tip #2: For your car payment, call the creditor and request a payment extension. Perhaps you hate payment extensions, because they require a fee and you still have to make the payment at the end of the contract. In this case, a payment extension can allow a little breathing room to help you recover during your money emergency. Expect that you will likely have to pay a fee (usually about ¼ - 1/3 the car payment amount) for the extension. Freeing up the money you need today is your first and only goal at this point. Budgeting Tip #3: Check to see if your mortgage holder will allow an extension for a nominal fee. Do this today! Budgeting Tip #4: Another quick fix, is to host an on the spot yard sale. You don’t have too much time for planning, so do a quick survey of your personal belongings. Come up with clothes that no longer fit, but that are in good condition, knick-knacks, dishes, and books as well as stuff you bought but no longer use. Throw it all together, quickly. Put some notices up the same day at laundry mats and grocery stores around town, and remember to place a sign at the end of your driveway. You can make a quick $300 this way with very little time and effort. Budgeting Tip #5: If you have a larger item to sell, call into the local radio stations to see if they have a “call in swap show” on the weekends. This is a very popular way to quickly convert gently used and more expensive items to fast cash. Budgeting Tip #6: Another quick option is with utility and telephone bills. If you aren’t already on a budget plan, ask that the current bill (plus any previous balance you owe) be set up for a budget plan. Expect to pay a down payment (usually ¼ of the bill) and that all future bills (while on the back payment budget plan) must be kept current. The nice thing about it ... it’s usually interest free, and can give you some much-needed breathing space for a month. You must be sure though that you maintain the regular utility payments AND the budget payments in the coming month. Budgeting Tip #7: Check with your family church regarding emergency help. Local churches can be one of the best places to find out what’s available in the community to help those in need, or in times of emergency. Check with your local church, first. Getting Fast Cash through Borrowing If you are absolutely, positively, in a bind, a real cash emergency, and you have exhausted all of the above, then consider borrowing. First, ask your family, then your local bank. As a last resort, you may want to consider what’s known as a “Payday Loan.” These types of borrowing stores can be useful when all else fails.

7 Tips For Better Online Banking

Banking has never been easier than it is today. Online banking allows you to access your bank at any time of day or night. You can even do this dressed in your underwear if you like. And if you choose to do it that way, it’s just as well there are no lines to wait in for online banks. 1. Probably the first thing to consider with online banking is the convenience. You can access your bank via the Internet at any time of day or night, even while lying in bed if you like. 2. Transaction performed online are generally much cheaper than those done over the counter at a bank branch. You can pay bills, transfer cash, check balances, and much more for much less. 3. Online savings accounts is something worth considering. The interest rates are usually higher and the fees are lower than traditional bricks and mortar bank branches. 4. Your computer has convenient ways to help you remember your login details. But don’t use the “remember my password” option if your computer suggests it. Keep your bank login details very safe and very secret. 5. Most online banks will allow you change your password. This is a very good idea and something you should do regularly. Of course, you must also remember your new password each time it is changed. 6. Logging on to your online bank is easy and very convenient. But after you have completed your business, remember to log out of your online bank again. This is especially important if you access your bank from a library, at work, or in a cyber café. 7. Enjoy your online banking, but beware of any email you receive asking you to verify your bank details by clicking a link. The site may look authentic, but it will probably be a fake. Respectable banks don’t ask anyone to verify details by email.

7 Ways to Grow Flowers

Flowering landscape trees are the crown jewels of the yard. Perhaps no other plants, individually, can have as great an impact on how a yard looks in spring. Browse the articles to which I've linked below for information on particular varieties of flowering landscape trees. Pictures are included. Crape Myrtles: Landscape Trees of the South A popular choice in flowering landscape trees for Southerners, crape myrtles have a long blooming period (mid-summer to fall). The blooming clusters of these flowering landscape trees come in pink, white, red and lavender. The clusters appear on the tips of new wood. Northerners can sometimes get away with treating these flowering landscape trees as perennials that die back in winter but come back in spring. Trees Not all specimens with a weeping habit are flowering landscape trees, but this article looks at several weeping varieties that do bloom, headed by four types of cherry. Saucer Magnolias The size and shape of the blooms are what suggested the common name for these flowering landscape trees. Want a specimen with a brilliant bloom as big as a saucer? Access information on these beauties here. Rose of Sharon Although some people think of it as a landscape "tree" (because it gets tall and can be pruned so as to have a single trunk), rose of sharon is, in fact, a flowering shrub. The fact that it blooms relatively late -- and for a long time -- makes it a valuable plant for those looking to distribute their yard's color display throughout the growing season. Top 10 List of Flowering Landscape Trees and Shrubs for Spring | This article features information on ten flowering landscape trees and shrubs that brighten our spring seasons. Included are redbud, callery pear and crabapple. Hawthorn: Late-Blooming Landscape Trees This article offers information on Washington hawthorn trees, which are perhaps most valued for the time at which they bloom (late spring to early summer). Many of the popular flowering specimens bloom earlier in the spring, and while their blossoms are pleasant sights for eyes sore from winter's barrenness, they desert us too quickly!

9 Places You Can Save Money For Your Family

Most families are spending more and more money every year (and not just because the cost of living rose) while also saving less and less. One reason is that few household managers spend much time reviewing expenses and expenditures to find ways they can save money. However almost every family has places where costs can be cut and pennies can be pinched -- and if those freed up funds are then used to pay down debt and save for the future it could have a dramatic impact on their quality of life. Food is one big area where many families could be more thrifty. Families spend an average of $2,434 on food away from home, according to the Consumer Expenditure Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you (and your spouse and your children) eat lunch out every day of the week then try brown-bagging at least one of those days. If just one of you does it you may save up to $400 a year and if you can double or triple that savings you could finance a family vacation with it. Another major expense is your home. When was the last time you looked at refinancing? Can you find a lower interest rate? Can you renegotiate to a shorter time frame? Even if you can't change your mortgage payment you may be able to pay a bit extra each month which over time will help pay down your mortgage faster. Also, don't overlook your utilities. There are ways to save in this area as well including updating your insulation and weather stripping, keeping up-to-date with maintenance and cleaning of your furnace and air conditioner or using a programmable thermostat to take advantage of those times when your house is empty or the family is asleep. Transportation is another major expense for many families. Not only are vehicles expensive to buy but also to maintain and operate especially with gasoline prices at such high levels. Is carpooling an option for any members of the family on at least a part-time basis? Make sure to combine errands and trips to cut down on your travel and save money when buying gasoline by taking advantage of special programs and discounts and remaining vigilant about gas prices. In addition, following a regular maintenance schedule and proper tire inflation can also help you achieve maximum gas mileage for your vehicle. Choosing your bank wisely can be another way to save money. Make sure the bank you use offers free (or at least low cost) checking as well as electronic bill-paying. Electronic bill-paying and a debit card can cut down on your need to use checks and postage which will save you in the long run as well as help you better manage payments so you will avoid fees, penalties, and higher interest rates. Cutting your credit card costs can be another major savings. This means making sure you are using the best possible credit card with a low interest rate and low or no annual fee. Shop around until you find your perfect match and don't forget to cancel and cut up those rejected suitors. Health care is not really an area where you can cut expenses but you can save money by taking advantage of special offers and programs. For example, many employers offer a Flexible Spending Account where you can save money before taxes for out-of-pocket medical expenses for prescription and nonprescription drugs, dental expenses, and eye care. Tuning up your insurance policies can also help you save money. When did you last compare rates for your home, your vehicles, and yourself? Some other ways to cut costs are to raise your deductible level or using the same company for multiple coverage (your home and vehicles). When you are shopping around make sure to give your current company a shot at keeping you. Sometimes they can offer a better rate too. Another major expense for many families is the cost of communication including local and long distance phone service, cell phones, cable or satellite television, and Internet access. Review your expenditures and cut out the services you don't need. Can some of these expenses be bundled to save money? Are there better plans for your needs? When looking to save money it is important to become an aggressive shopper. The Internet makes it possible today to compare prices and product reviews while not spending a lot of time and money driving from store to store. Any big ticket item (and that includes your weekly groceries, cleaning products and health and beauty aids) deserves a closer study. Over the next, month take time to review your family expenses and expenditures in each of these nine areas. Making a few alterations in your family's spending habits will soon make a difference in the overall household budget. You can raise your family's quality of life by making just a few changes in your monthly budget.

10 Easy Tips To Save Money On Your Home Heating Bills

With energy costs higher than they have ever been in recent history, it pays to find ways to reduce your home heating costs. I put together some tips that are easy, cost effective and will all add up to reduce your home heating bills by a significant amount! You don’t need to be Bob Villa either. Some take just a minute or two. Even small changes will add up to big savings over the course of this cold winter! Here are the 10 tips that I have personally used to save on my home heating costs: 1. Head down to the basement and reduce the setting on your hot water thermostat by about 10 degrees. I wouldn’t go below 120-115 degrees. The adjustment dial is typically a red knob towards the bottom of the water tank. 2. While you are downstairs, make sure you have clean filters for your central air-heating unit. A dirty and clogged filter will force your unit to work much harder and stay on longer as it struggles to fresh air through the clogged filter to heat the rest of your house. 3. Check your air ducts for gaps, leaks or disconnects. If you have any disconnects or leaks in your ductwork, your heating bills could be 25% higher than they need to be if these gaps were sealed. If you can’t do this on your own, hire a professional. This expert can also clean your ducts for added efficiency. 4. Adjust your thermostat a few degrees lower. Believe me, this really adds up. It may not seem like much of a difference to you, but you will notice the difference when you get a lower bill each month! 5. While we are on the subject of thermostats, consider replacing yours if it is not programmable. The reason is, you can set the thermostat so the temperature setting in your house is lower at night than during the day, when you are awake. Also, if you are away at work during the day, you can set it for a lower temperature and have it programmed to start heating the house a little bit before you come home. These aren’t too expensive and are easy to install and configure yourself. 6. Insulate your attic. Heat rises, right? If your attic isn’t properly insulated, all of the heat in your house (and your money) goes right through the roof. Literally! This does require some effort on your part, but following through on this tip will save you a ton of money over the years. Measure the square footage of your attic and buy rolls of insulation, greater than R-13 but no higher than R-30. Wear a mask and gloves when working with insulation because it irritates the skin. 7. Find those leaks and cracks! If you were to add up all of the small cracks and holes in your house, they would probably add up to a small window, wide open, letting cold air in and hot air out. Take the time to find gaps in windows, doors, pipes, electrical and phone lines, your dryer duct and much more. Put weather-strips around your doors and windows. You can buy insulation foam that comes in a can with a straw at the top that allows you to fill in tight spaces. It expands to fill even the smallest cracks. Of all of the tasks, this was the most fun finding and filling these gaps all around the house. 8. Close the vents in rooms that you do not use. I have one room in my house that is not currently in use. I shut the hot air ducts and made sure the windows and doors were properly sealed to limit energy leakage. Why waste your money heating up extra square footage of your house that you don’t even use? 9. Open drapes and shades for all of your windows during the day to let the sun heat your home. In the evening, pull them back down for added insulation. It is amazing how much direct sunlight streaming into your home helps to heat things up. 10. Your fireplace can help and hurt your heating costs. If you are not using your fireplace, make sure the damper is closed. When it is closed, inspect the damper and feel if cold air is still leaking in. If you are using your fireplace, make sure the heating in the rest of your house is reduced or turned off. Taking the time to implement these tips will drastically reduce your home heating bills. You can get most of them done in just one day, but the payoff will last for as long as you live there! I followed through on each one of these tips and the following winter, my bills were about 25% lower, saving about $100 a month! So roll up your sleeves follow these tips and start saving money on your heating costs!

Ten Ways to Make Money Online and Earn Good Income

Ten Ways to Make Money Online and Earn Good Income

The Internet offers great moneymaking opportunities for Individuals with computer knowledge and skills required to thrive in this online medium. There are a number of ways to earn money online but the ten best possible ways to earn money online are:
Try selling things on the Internet. That is the simplest way of making money online using the Internet. Selling products on the internet through online shopping portals, virtual auction sites, or setting up a web store in your own website provides a great income opportunity to everyone who has something nice to sell to potential customers online. This is ideal for generating the required amount of revenue on a long-term basis and is the simplest of moneymaking options available online.
For all those who believe that their photography skills can impress anyone, there is a great option to sell photos online and earn money. There are numerous stock photography agencies present online, which help you in selling your photos online. These agencies offer great incentives and income opportunities to budding photographers. The amount is paid on a per-download basis to these photographers after getting the royalty payment rights from them. This is a very useful way to earn money online if you have the required skill set.
Several message boards have many visitors to their sites. These message boards are dependent on regular contributions from the forum members to keep the community alive and the conversation growing. As the message boards get popular, there are chances that more members that are new will join the forum and get their queries solved or contribute towards the discussion. These message boards get the sufficient advertisements to pay to their most active members, who have been posting on a regular basis, thereby giving them a chance to earn some money.
Through various social networking sites, it is actually possible to earn money while going through different profile of people who are members of these sites. Some social networking sites pay its users money to improve page impressions in their profile to attract more visitors. These sites also offer money for uploading and sharing pictures and referring new members to the social networking site. The money given to an Individual depends on a proportionate payment structure setup by the site that distributes almost half of its advertising revenues to its members.
Filling up surveys is another way to earn money online. Filling up market research survey may look like a very boring activity but the opportunities to earn money in this type of work are endless. There are thousands of research groups online, which would like to take your opinion about various things and in that process, pay you for presenting your opinion. For each survey completed, there are certain points or money given out to the users. Once the money-earning limit is hit, the survey team allows the user the opportunity to take the money or exchange the points for a certain amount of money.
Another great way to earn money online is through blogs. The process of blogging can help users earn lot of money online by putting in creative content in their blogs. There are two ways of going about this blogging activity: one is to create your own blog and write all the content on your own. This is a painful process where you need to do all the hard work to earn money. The second one is to setup a sponsored blog where you write reviews about products for companies wanting to promote their business. These blog sites pay you money for providing favorable opinion about a certain product. This is one of the best income opportunities present online.
The internet provides the perfect platform for freelancers to earn money by providing services based on their skill sets. These may include talent such as writing, programming, graphic designing, and training. There are many websites where buyer posts their requirements for a particular assignment and freelancers can bid for that assignment. The buyer then selects the service provider for the assignment and assigns the task to them. This is one of the safest ways to earn money online and the website takes a certain cut from your payment as the intermediary to have got you the job. It is more or less a win-win proposition for everyone involved.
The three other ways to earn money online is by betting, setting up an online business, or by playing computer games. Each of these options provides different sort of earning potential and requires different amount of effort to set the ball rolling and generate the required amount of income for you.

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