Prime Rate Credit

A lot of people I work with were supposed to be getting their stimulus checks that the Federal government is issuing in the next few weeks, in this current week we are in now. Many of them said that the check could not come soon enough for them, many of whom are struggling to pay off old gas bills from the winter and are also struggling to pay to fill their gas tanks large and small just to make the commute to work and back and to make other small necessary commutes as well.

It’s really crazy times we’re living in these days when our citizens in the US can’t even make ends meet and have to pinch pennies just to live, and not even to live on any extravagant means, just to make it by, to buy groceries and other necessities and yeah, maybe to splurge on a little something here and there because after all isn’t that what living is all about?

The government stimulus checks were issued earlier than originally planned, thanks to urges by the president and congress to get them out quicker to help the struggling economy and get it back on its feet faster. Next question is, when is someone going to step in and force these oil companies to stop gouging the gas prices for no good given reason?

The stimulus checks supposedly go by the last few digits of your social security number, and there were numerous places online for the schedule of mailing to be found according to this individual information. I think last I looked married couples could get up to $1200 and people who filed as single or are married filing as single can get back up to $600, all depending on how much money the individual or the married couple makes.

The next question on these stimulus tax return checks is, where are we really getting this money from? Is it hidden somewhere or are we in effect really borrowing social security money from our future generations? These are hard economic times, but the good news is that hard economic times and times of recession, which we are in right now according to most financial analysts, are usually followed by economic booms. So it’ll be a good time to position yourself and your investments for when things pick back up hopefully!

Well, it seems like there are a lot of things at work in this economy that are unfortunately not working for us as consumers, but rather very much against us. While I hate to take on the doomsday tone since I think that the media’s doomsday attitude on the economy, housing market and credit crunch has only lended itself to a further roll in the turmoil around us, I have to admit that things just keep sounding worse.

At least that’s what the media would lead us to believe, so please keep an open mind that some of these forecasted happenings may not happen at all and may in fact be overblown by “newsmakers”.

Well, they are now saying that food prices for simple staples like cooking oil, bread, wheat and rice and things of that nature, but I’m also thinking a lot of the more expensive perishables like fruits and veggies may also continue to make their way up the pricing scale due to higher gas prices and more demand for the foods, especially in the developing countries, where this type of food is scarce to begin with.

Corn, wheat and other grains have doubled or more so since this time last year. I actually just got back from the grocery store and did notice a few higher than usual prices on items, but it’s a good thing I have my Giant Eagle Advantage card, because at least all of my food purchases are making their way to something useful, like fuel points which allow me to purchase gas at a discount (I think this is the best advantage of having a card, this is my favorite card for gas, since you just are buying things you already need and can get a generous discount per gallon on your gas just for making food purchases, whoever thought of this is a genius.)

What about those of us who are just scraping by to begin with though? I do wonder how they are making it when me, someone who has a steady income from their job as well as side incomes from other various projects, is noticing a bit of a painful increase in the overall cost of living. Things definitely need to be getting better. Heck, GE, the energy giant, just announced that their earnings for this quarter were lower than expected, and also warned that forecasts for the 2008 year may be lower, so everyone’s suffering.

Just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a wonderful holiday, no matter what holiday you celebrate around this special time of year. And don’t forget, PRC will be providing the best news in finances, credit card deals, credit card news and more reviews of the best credit cards and loan deals out there, so you can get the PRIME RATE every time!

Have a wonderful Christmas tomorrow, and here’s to cherishing family and friends and the continued health and prosperity of our families. God bless!

We all want to escape when our debts seem to be unconquerable, don’t we? I know myself, when I found myself way in over my head in credit card debt as a part time college student, struggling to pay the bills, and using credit cards to pay for schooling and books, as well as living expenses that were unexpected, like car repairs, and even sometimes extra groceries, it seemed as though I would never pull myself out of the mire of mounting credit card debt, bills, and interest rates that I couldn’t keep up with at that time.

Fast forward five years, and I am now debt free through smart saving, and dilligence in paying off my bad debts, which were namely high interest loans and revolving interest credits like credit cards that jacked up their rates on me for late payments, or a poor credit history. These days, thankfully, I’m back in good graces with creditors through a lot of tenacity in getting this monkey off my back.

I tried to play the credit card game of transferring balance to low apr balance transfer credit cards, and that only bought me a little more time. What I really needed was a solid budget, extra money and a little more determination, and I could be out of debt, which is exactly what I ended up doing.

The recent big story that’s in the news about a man named John Darwin really brings to light the lengths people will go to to avoid huge debts that seem totally out of their control, and the stressors that it places on people’s lives. This is sad, because many people feel so hopeless when their money situation gets out of control, and they feel it will never improve, that some even carry it as far as intense depression and even suicide.

John Darwin is a man who faked his own death, pretending that he died on a canoe trip several years ago, and of course no body was ever found, so that his wife may collect on his life insurance policy and pay off the debts that had mounted beyond his control - at least in his mind they were out of his control.

The British man was tired of “being dead” to his children, who are now five years older, and showed up out of the blue, acting as if he had amnesia, because he missed his children. He had holed up in the family’s home for five years, and his sons and police had believed him dead all these years. When the story first broke, it was told as if he were a miracle, but when the facts came to light that he did it to avoid mounting debt, he is now being questioned and possibly is going to be charged with fraudulent acts if he is convicted.

His wife finally confessed that he had faked his own death and was holing up in the home, hiding from everyone, so it may even be possible that she would be charged with aiding and abetting some sort of fraud. I for one have sympathy for this type of situation. Anyone who has ever been under extreme financial duress can probably identify with this.

Although many of us would not take it to this extreme and may disagree with it on a moral level, we cannot deny that when we have been through periods of such intense despair that we haven’t had the feelings of wanting a way out - a way to escape.

I know I wrote about this a few months back, shoot, maybe even as far back as a year ago, about the guy in West Virginia who won the largest single Poweball jackpot ever, over 300 million dollars, a couple years ago. His name is Jack Whittaker, and he says that ever since he won the lottery, his life has pretty much become a nightmare, with no friends, or at least friends that don’t ask to borrow money, and very little trust in anyone. He is actually a self made millionaire, with multiple business, even before he won the lottery, this hard working guy was very ambitious, and many say a very generous man.

He says that ever since he won the lottery, he’s had numerous break ins to his home and his cars, numerous bad things written about him, some untrue, and some greatly exaggerated, and his granddaughter, who was supposed to inherit his business is now dead, at the age of 17. He blames her death by drug addiction on a threat to kidnap her that occurred after he won the lottery, when she was 14 years old. Since the threat, she had to be home schooled and became isolated, falling in with the wrong crowd who was older and got her into drugs.

His granddaughter went in and out of rehab several times, and was found dead at the age of seventeen, right before she was supposed to move in with her grandfather, dead of an apparent drug overdose of methadone and cocaine. Jack says that all the money in the world cannot bring her back, but he would give up all the lotto money if he could just have her back.

This is a really sad story that just reminds me of what shallow and greedy people can do. Here is this man, who was already a self made millionaire, who won all this money and was forced practically into solitude because of multiple thefts and threats, not to mention lawsuits by money hungry people claiming he’d done them wrong somehow. Stories like this make you really waiver in your notion of the compassion and decency of humanity….

In the age of increased cyber awareness, it’s a wonder that online identity thieves still find it worthwhile to send out what are called “phishing” emails to get people to unwittingly give up their personal information, credit card numbers, and bank routing and account numbers over the internet and have hundreds if not thousands of dollars stolen from them.

But there is a reason these phishers still do it, because it is still a profitable enough business and they’re still getting away with it to enough of a degree to make money at it. You may think, well who could fall for those phishing email scams?

Well, there are still a lot of people, many times not as internet saavy, many times older folks who simply haven’t had the same amount of experience online and with the new world of emails and online business, who may fall into this trap, but there are also younger people who fall for very high tech scams that seem so real, you and I might even take a second look.

For example, one day I received a Wells Fargo email asking for me to confirm some details about my account before it was officially “open”. And guess what the ironic part was? I actually am waiting for a Wells Fargo Business account to be opened right now, and thought this was real at first. The fact that the email was not filter out by my email spam filter, coupled with the fact that I really was opening a Wells Fargo account, made me think that this was a real request for information at first.

But on second look, I became weary because it provided a link to a website and asked for a user name and password, both of which I did not even have yet. I knew already at this point that this was phony, but just wanted to do a little more investigating. I actually kept the email but banned the email address from sending me future phishing emails.

You have to be really, really careful. Do not ever follow links and provide your user name and password. If you’re unsure, and really do business with the bank of credit card the email says it’s from, log onto the website directly and send the customer service an email to see if the company requested info. At the very least, report the spam to the company so they are aware a spammer and possible phisher is sending emails under the companies name for information.

Everyone has different new year’s resolutions, and many times they involve losing weight or quitting smoking, but an increasing amount of people who are sick and tired of being financially behind and not as financially comfortable as they think they should be at this point in their life, are resolvign to make some very hefty financial resolutions for themselves.

What should your financial resolution be, or what is your financial resolution if you already have thought of one? I’ll tell you what mine is. It’s to stop spending money on things that disappear quickly, like fast food meals, or restaurant meals that cost upwards of thirty bucks a pop. Also, I have a tendency to think that the little splurges don’t add up, like the Starbuck’s coffee for $4 or that bottled water for a dollar or so at the store.

Every little bit does count, and since I am in the habit of using my debit card now for almost everything, it is traceable, and I can hold myself accountable for the little money I spend “here and there” and see that it is not just a little bit of money at all at the end of the month, but rather could pay an entire bill of some sort, and add to my savings and retirement accounts!

I wanted to wish all our readers out there a safe and happy holiday, no matter what you celebrate. Today is Christmas, which is what I happen to celebrate, so I will be seeing you tomorrow or the next day. Depends on how much I eat!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

We talked at length about the identity theft scams of phishing and other forms of identity and credit theft a few posts ago. Well, it’s been reported that unscrupulous thieves and scam artists are even more rampant to steal your money around the holidays.

More phishing emails are sent out, masked as either a charitable cause, or to get you to somehow divulge your personal information so that thieves can take your money or somehow access credit card numbers and make purchases you did not authorize.

Actually, this happened to me, even though I didn’t open any suspicious emails or anything, so that just goes to show how easy it is for hackers and other n’er do wells to get into your personal information and spend your money.

If you’re a fan of Wal-Mart, or are familiar with their yearly holiday marketing, you know that Wal-Mart has some really great “Black Friday” deals usually. What’s black Friday?

It’s the coined term for the day after Thanksgiving, when bargain hunters and shoppers are out in full force, to get the best bargain basement deals that are being offered by the retailers near and far.

Past sales at Wal-Mart for Black Friday have been so great that there were many reports of consumers actually getting into physical fights over them due to high demand and low stock on the hot deals. One such deal was a laptop computer for about $300.

There may be some other similar deals like that this year, so get your credit cards ready - but make them a low interest APR credit card, of course.

One of the deals this year is supposed to be on a plasma or high definition TV at Wal-Mart, but unfortunately I don’t know yet whether they are having any blow out sales on laptop computers or desktop computers, although I wouldn’t put it past them to lure shoppers in with this type of high demand item.

Good luck to all you Black Friday holiday shoppers, hope you get everything you want. I myself, will be tucked safely in my bed that morning. I don’t dare venture to the malls or stores that frightful day!