Prime Rate Credit

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the story about how so and so got divorced, but they didn’t “divorce” themselves from the racked up credit cards, loans and other “bad debt” that they and their spouse shared together.

So, how does it usually work when two people get divorced? Usually, if the split is amicable enough, they can work it out amongst themselves as to who is going to take on what debts after the split, but what about the damage done to credit from one spouse to another spouse’s credit?

That’s the part that gets tricky. You see, when you’re married and have joint accounts, one’s actions and lack of responsibility can affect the other person’s credit score. But isn’t it still really up to you in a marital situation to kind of keep your eyes open for any financial troubles that either one of you may create?

For example, unless your spouse is the only one who sees the credit card statements, there is no way they can go charging cards past their limits and making a big mess for the two of you to get out of. Not only that, the other spouse should see the spoils that were purchased if they live together, so usually to claim that one spouse had no idea is kind of a lame excuse, unless your spouse had a good way to keep racking up debt a secret from you.

It’s important to be open with eachother and communicate about expenditures in a marriage, and if you can’t or don’t want to do that, then you should probably maintain separate accounts. I personally have been in a relationship for over five years, and we will get married some day, but I’ve already decided that we will not share an account, because we have a system worked out now that works well for both of us, and I don’t want to jeopardize something that works already!

Plus, I must admit, I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to balancing checkbooks and making sure the bills are paid every month. I may have to work on that a little….

We all work hard to attain and maintain our financial assets, whether it is our home, our vehicles, our savings or retirement plans. With many different life scenarios, these assets we have worked so hard for, can be lost quickly due to divorce, illness or financial difficulties.

You can find out about a number of legal methods to shield your assets with the help of good legal counsel. Since state laws are complicated on this subject, the assistance of a good lawyer is a necessity.

One method of asset protection is a real transfer, in which you sell or give property to other people. There must be a valid reason for it and the transfer must be done long before a creditor makes a claim.

Transfer of property between spouses can give some asset protection. The laws and degree of protection vary from state to state so make sure you are familiar with your state’s legal status on this issue.

For businesses, incorporation can provide more asset protection. In this situation, all financial records of the corporation are maintained separately from the owner’s.

“Spendthrift” trusts are another mode of asset protection. With this method, the beneficiary is unable to reach the assets. The same principle therefore applies to the creditors.

Certain types of retirement plans cannot be reached by creditors. An ERISA Qualified Retirement Plan or a KEOGH cannot be reached by either an employer’s or an individual’s creditors. IRA accounts protection from creditors varies again from state to state. So check which laws apply in your individual location.

After working so hard to acquire our homes and other assets, it’s worth investigating the best way to protect them for our unique life situation.

College loans come in many forms, and unfortunately, some student loans are good and will only accumulate a small amount of student debt after one graduates from college, and some are plain old bad, resulting in huge amounts to be paid by the college student after they graduate. Also, there are college student credit cards that are good and bad as well, and a college student should really read the fine print before signing on for one.

For example, does the APR sound too good to be true? Read on, becuase it very well may be one that increases to the liking of the extending company right after the intro period is up. Say you see this in writing : prime plus 5.75 percent after introductory period. This may be acceptable, but what if the terms are vague, and they can increase it as high over the prime rate as they’d like? Just read carefully, and make sure that when the intro period is up, you won’t be in for a big surprise.

As a college student, you want to be careful about your credit cards because credit is often looked at as largely unestablished, and you may be paying a premium for the simple fact that you have not had enough years of credit establishment as older people have, and the credit card companies charge you accordingly because to them you are viewed as a larger risk for paying late payments and possibly defaulting on either a student loan of some sort or a credit card.

They may not offer you the same terms as a credit card for bad credit, but it can be close if some companies have their guidelines to look at it this way. Just shop around, as with everything else, your student loans and college student credit cards are going to offer different rates and deals, and you have to be aware to read the fine print, and most importantly, to see what their guidelines are for increasing rates on you whenever they want.

First off, it’s good to know that when ordering your credit, you are basically dealing with your past credit information on how you’d handled past financial loans and transactions, as compiled by the “big three” credit reporting bureaus. Those big three are Transunion, Equifax and Experian.

These three agencies share information and compile your credit transactions, both good and bad, from a variety of sources who are required to share this information with the various agencies so that other creditors may ask to see the info to decide whether you are a “good risk” for them to loan their money to.

In other words, they are sort of gambling on the odds that you are going to pay the money they loaned you back in a timely fashion so they don’t lose out based on their underwriting calculations.

It’s probably fairly important if you are considering going for a small or large loan, or requesting any sort of a credit loan or equity line of credit, to order your credit report first so you can see if the financial institution is going to offer you a decent APR, or if you’re going to get ripped a new one, so to speak.

Sometimes, it can even give you a little bargaining power, in other words, the ability to say “that’s not good enough for me, I’m going to shop around”. Not only that, but ordering your credit report gives you the opportunity to rectify any blemishes on your record.

For instance, I ordered mine (free, online) a while ago, and found that I had an obscure medical bill sitting out there that I completely forgot about. What happened is they never forwarded the bill when I moved, and the rest is history. I was able to rectify this right away and get the path cleared on my credit report in a short time.

That’s right everyone, Christmas is officially over today. All that hustle and bustle, rushing around to find Aunt Wilma the perfect flower pot and Uncle Bill the perfect golf clubs is finally over, and you’re now left with, well, returns and credit card remorse.

What’s credit card remorse? Well, it’s that thing we call regret in the form of credit card bills for three months at least that are higher than we’re normally used to seeing them, thanks to the pressures of buying for everyone for the holiday season.

Here’s what you can do though, to take away some of the pain of paying off those credit card debts. If you have something you got from someone, that you don’t really love or need, see if you can get a cash return for it, and apply this to your credit card bills rather than exchanging it for something else, which will not help you get out of your short term Christmas debt.

Another helpful hint is to skimp a little for a few months. Skip that morning Espresso for 4 bucks and instead make coffee at home (much cheaper), and make your lunches at home to bring with you to work instead of picking up fast food lunches for $5 or more.

Maybe scale back on going out to eat, and the more expensive “splurges” that you’re used to treating yourself to regularly. It’s really hard to discipline ourselves again after the holidays, since this is when all around spending tends to be highest, and many of us tend to forget that we will have to face the music - in the form of bills - for those credit cards we racked up during the bustling season.

I read a powerful piece by my favorite financial self help guru, Suze Orman, the short haired blonde dynamo who seems to really care about the people she tutors in the ways of money.

Suze was saying what you choose in the new year to do in January as far as paying off the balances of the credit cards you may have racked up over the holiday, or just let them have a running balance, may have a great effect on your financial life in 2007.

She says that not only will paying off your credit card balances any way you can lift a huge weight off your shoulders and allow you to focus on other, loftier financial goals for the year, but you also gain a tremendous sense of accomplishment and respect for yourself, which can have a domino effect into other areas of your life, including your financial life.

So really it’s kind of a credit card karma if you will. If you pay those balances quickly, other things in your financial life will go more smoothly. In other words, skimp for one or two months, depending on the damage done, and you just might be able to pay off some of those balances and gain a fresh perspective for the new year, and some newer, better goals for your finances.

I just had to laugh at this one. There are some myths going around about debit and credit cards, at least with my particular debit card, which is sponsored by Key Bank and features the “One Pass” where you can tap it and go (not sure what’s so great about this, I haven’t used this feature yet), and also featuring frequent flyer credit card airline reward points for Continental Airlines (I’m still 13,000 miles away from getting a free ticket, and I use that puppy all the time!).

Well, what many people didn’t realize about their debit cards and using the feature where you enter your pin, which is actually a more secure method to make sure it’s only being used by yourself, is that some banks will charge you for that privelege.

So, in other words, if you are not using your debit card with the “credit” option, using it like a credit card and not entering your pin number on the keypad, then you may be getting charged a nominal fee for doing that. Nominal fees can definitely add up though, so you will probably want to check before you start using your debit card with the pin number all the time.

Oh, by the way, sometimes I’m sure you noticed, some establishments will only take debit cards as a debit, not a credit, so sometimes you don’t have a choice. Sam’s Club and a few other stores I’ve noticed are like that.

Everyone falls into it - almost everyone who isn’t independently wealthy without a whole lot of care in the world about getting their bills paid. This does not include the majority of us, who live paycheck to paycheck, and try to find little ways to save money throughout the year so we don’t have to skimp on the things we need and like.

If you are breaking out the credit cards this holiday season, be mindful that you will be paying for these multiple purchases for a long time to come, not just a few months. The common misconception about credit cards is that a few purchases can be “paid off” in the matter of a few months, but really, since credit cards are built around the concept of revolving credit, those same purchases can take up to a whole year to actually expunge completely from your credit card balance.

Revolving credit is a big reason for the skyrocketing amounts of consumer debt here in the US, not really the regular loans, that build interest onto the principle one time, not on a monthly basis, building on itself and all of your purchases. This is why it can be deceiving how much you are paying for that one dinner, that one gift purchase, or whatever.

Identity theft is becoming an increasingly used buzzword in today’s high tech world of online banking and bill paying, and with the advent of services like Paypal and shopping cart. We hear about identity theft in the news all the time, and we think we very well may be at risk, but we’re not sure what to do to help prevent it. Well, there are some things you can do that are very simple that will help prevent you from ever becoming a victim of this potentially disastrous crime.

Unfortunately, even though identity theft is a federal crime, that still doesn’t scare theives away from bilking millions of dollars of year to unsuspecting, hard working people like you and I. It’s not something that any of us want to deal with, but it is prudent to exercise caution whenever possible to reduce your risk.

At this point, we may all have a story about a friend, acquaintance, or family member who was an unwitting victim of some form of identity theft, and the good thing is, these bring the reality closer to home, and have made more people aware that is a growing problem. There are a few types of identity theft, and I’m sure there are even more than I am listing here that not a whole lot of people are aware of.

The types of identity theft are : 1.) When one’s personal information is stolen from their person, such as a wallet with credit cards and other identity revealing financially negotiable instruments. 2.) Something called “phishing” where bogus emails are sent from a scam artist claiming to be a bank of some other type of financial institution, claiming they need you to “sign in” and provide personal information that can allow them to filter money from your account, or charge purchases to a credit card. 3.) Mail related identity theft where a thief can either intercept your mail and get your personal information or even fill out a change of address form for you so they may receive your mail and do with it what they please. 4.) Internet fraud through unsecured websites when you provide credit card or personal information, a thief may be able to hack sites that are not secured and gain your personal information.

Like I said, the four mentioned above are probably not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to identity theft, but they are the main categories of ways that savvy and increasingly sophisticated scam artists are getting away with stealing money from people. So, what can you do to help prevent being a victim of these types of identity theft? Well, the good thing is, there are several ways you can help reduce your risk, besides sticking only to prepaid credit cards.

First and foremost, make sure you do not ever respond to an email that is requesting you to log in somewhere to verify your information, even if it appears to be from a company you do business with on a regular basis. Spammers skilled in the art of “phishing” are very adept at making these emails look like the real deal, and unfortunately many people have been duped into disclosing important personal information.

What you can do to help combat this problem is visit the company’s offical website on your own, not through any links in the email of course, and report this suspicious email to them. Most large companies have measure in place to protect their clients, and they want to be aware of any bogus emails going out to people with their trusted name attached. There are also large efforts in the making to prevent these types of emails form coming through to your email inbox, and instead go to your spam bulk file, making them more idenitfiable as a potential security threat, and also reduce the likelihood that one will be defrauded by them.

I saw an improvement in this, but just recently, my inbox has been indundated with spam emails requesting personal information, so it seems the scam artists have found a loophole and are taking advantage, although it may not last long. Another important prevention measure is to not only be aware of bogus emails, but also to make sure any website that asks for credit card information for a purchase has a security seal of approval. These secured sites usually will have some sort of symbol that they are secured by Verisign or another online security system that signifies it should be safe to pay with. If the site looks fishy, stay clear.

Whenever you receive mail that has credit card information, or is a solicitation for a credit car offer, make sure you tear it up well. Another scam to gain access to your credit or accounts is for theives to go through your garbage and fill out your credit card offers with a change of address, get the new credit card mailed to them, and start using it to make purchases. Also, it is wise to always have up to date virus protection on your computer, as some viruses are designed to hijack your personal and credit information.

When making purchases with credit or debit cards in any retail establishments, if your credit card number prints on the receipt that they keep, ask to scribble out the whole thing. Workers or other people may have access to your credit card information, or have just enough information to make online or over the phone purchases with your credit, and this is yet another way your identity can be stolen for the financial benefit of thieves.

While this list of things your can do to help prevent identity theft is not all inclusive, it is a good start to ensuring your security and making sure your hard earned money stays in your pocket only. They are good principles to live by in this day and age of increasing technology and banking methods.

I recently needed to order my credit report, since I am seriously considering buying a house soon. I wanted to see if I had anything on there that I needed to be aware of, which could affect my mortgage loan rate, or even just the ability for me to get a decent sized preapproval for a home loan.

Well, I’m glad I did, because it turns out I had a bill in collections to a health screening business that I wasn’t even aware of that was in collections! I got it taken care of right away, and was advised it would be expunged immediately from my credit report since it was due to no forwarding address (apparently if the bill cannot be forwarded, it is found in favor of the borrower on the credit report).

This is where I went to get my free credit report, with no hassle, no signup for any other programs, and it was really easy. It’s AnnualCreditReport.com.