Archive for October, 2008

Do You Know About Your Credit Information And Borrowing Power?

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Chevron credit card

When you ask for a student loan, try to get financing for a car or apply for a mortgage, the lender will look at your credit information. They will look at the numbered score in the credit scores range from 300 to 850, high scores being the best, then at the rest of your profile. They can look back over the past seven years to see if you’ve missed a cell phone bill payment, defaulted on a previous student loan, let a medical bill slip into collection or made a settlement offer on a past credit card. By assessing this financial information, the lender will determine how much risk you pose as a client and will determine the conditions of a loan based on that profile. Therefore, it is important that you take a look at your free credit scores at www.AnnualCreditReport.com to find out if improving credit scores should be your focus.

Once you have your credit information, you should focus on improving credit scores. Check out your free credit score reports from Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Credit reporting is voluntary, so the files may all be slightly different. Once you have this credit info, examine your reports for errors. Roughly one-third of credit reports contain serious errors because the credit bureau doesn’t verify the information your creditors send to them. Therefore, keeping clear credit is your responsibility. Some of the items may come off through a dispute, where you send a letter or a photocopy of your credit report with circles around the mistakes and supporting documents to validate your dispute. As for the legitimate blemishes, they′ll be on your credit for up to seven years and will likely only be fixed through consistent on-time bill payment. You can phase out the use of unneeded credit card accounts but do not close them. Simply stop using them and pay then off. Lastly, a secured credit card can help you re-establish regular on-time payment history again.

To file a dispute about your credit information, you can write a dispute letter to each of the three major credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. On the letter, include the date, your name, address, phone number and social security number. Just write “The following data is incorrect and should be updated,” then list each inaccuracy, explaining why it’s wrong and what it should be
updated with.

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Avoid Major Investment Disasters

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Trading the Elliott Waves Winning Strategies for Timing Entry &amp Exit Moves

The best teachers go beyond mere instruction — they actually make learning fun and easy. Once you’ve watched this DVD, originally recorded at the Trader’s Hall of Fame conference in Las Vegas, you will be saying that about Bob Prechter.

Over the course of two hours Bob tells you most of what he knows about the Elliott Wave Principle – and he does it without a single dull moment.

As Bob himself tells you in this DVD, the Wave Principle “… helps you avoid major investment disasters,” and will often alert you to major opportunities – in the financial markets and beyond.

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How To Avoid Being A Victim Of ID Theft

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

For the most part, idenity theft is something that can be prevented. At least you can take certain steps to lower your chances of becoming a victim. Everyone should be doing these basic things to help reduce the chance that they ever have to deal with having their identity stolen. Here is a list of some of those things:

1) The first thing you need to do is shred everything with your name and/or account numbers on it. This includes all those pre-approved credit card applications in the mail and anything else that comes with my name printed on it. It also means that you need to be shredding something almost every day and unfortunately in today’s world it is something you just have to do.

2) Keep all bank, credit card statements, and bill statements. That way, if one month one or more of them doesn’t arrive in the mail, you know that something may be wrong. One of the proven ways identity thieves steal your personal account information is to steal your mail. Idenity protection starts with protecting your mail as best you can.

3) Along the lines of #2, if you don′t have a lot of bills and statement sent to your house every month, you are safer from them being stolen. Many of your accounts and monthly bills can now be viewed online and so switching to online statements is something you can do to cut down on identity theft.

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Low Interest Business Credit Card - How To Apply

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Small businesses use business credit cards to fund bigger projects most of the time. Besides having money available for your business, there are also other benefits to having a small business credit card. Using the credit card responsibility gives your business some credibility with the banks.

 

And more importantly, there are several types of business credit cards being offered that carry low interest rates. And business owners can even search for low interest business credit card online.

 

The first thing to do is to collect as much information as you can on how to obtain the best business credit card. You research needs to include if the company is reputable or not and what the rates are for these cards. It would also help if you would educate yourself first on the terms and jargons associated with business credit cards so as to fully understand the transaction you wish to engage in.

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How to Repair Your Credit Score

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

One of the worst things that you can have in life is bad credit. With no credit or bad credit, there are a lot of important things that you are not going to be able to do. You will really not be able to have the life that you always hoped for if you do not have a good credit score.

If your credit score is already low due to past mistakes, you should know that there are ways to fix your credit score and get back on course. There are a few steps in particular that you are going to want to take if you need to repair your credit score.

Check Your Credit Score

The number one thing that you should do if you want to repair your credit score is check out your own credit. You can get your credit score through your bank or other financial institution, and you can also order it yourself online and get it in the mail or through email. This is an important step because if you want to fix your credit score you are going to need to take a look at where you are beginning.

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What Is a Line of Credit?

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

This is a good question and not one in which people understand very well when thinking about their financial lives. When you think about your finances and you think about buying different products in your life, you have the need for a loan at times and you will need for a line of credit at times.

Let’s discuss when it is wise to use a line of credit versus when it is better to get a loan (or even an unsecured credit card for that matter).

A loan is when you receive a lump sum of money under set terms and conditions for repayment, with a set interest rate and monthly payment. For example, your mortgage is a loan. The terms of the loan are fully disclosed to you when you receive the money so you know exactly when you are expected to have the loan paid in full.

Another example is a car. You are able to choose how long you want the loan to go along with the payment you want by talking with your local banker or the car dealership. An important point to remember is that the shorter the loan duration will equal less interest paid over the life of the loan.

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The Top 100 Safest U.S. Banks

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Most of us think the term “deposits” mean funds that you deliver to the bank for safekeeping, but for nearly 200 years, the courts have sanctioned an interpretation of the term “deposits” to mean a loan to your bank.

Elliott Wave International, the world’s largest market forecasting firm, has just released a free report, Discover the Top 100 Safest U.S. Banks.

The free report will show you:

- The Top 100 Safest U.S. banks (two for each state)

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Financial Stress: The Primary Precondition of Deflation

Monday, October 27th, 2008

The following was adapted from Bob Prechter’s 2002 New York Times and Amazon best seller, Conquer the Crash – You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression.

Deflation requires a precondition: a major societal buildup in the extension of credit (and its flip side, the assumption of debt). Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek warned of the consequences of credit expansion, as have a handful of other economists, who today are mostly ignored. Bank credit and Elliott wave expert Hamilton Bolton, in a 1957 letter, summarized his observations this way:

In reading a history of major depressions in the U.S. from 1830 on, I was impressed with the following:

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Controlling Your Credit Score

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Credit Score Rating Scale

Everyone has a credit score. It is inevitable and impossible to avoid being sought out by creditors. Once you are in debt, credit score repair is an up hill battle. Your score reflects how well you have maintained your credit.

What Is Average?

It is important to understand credit ratings and what is considered good, bad or average. The highest credit score you can have is 800. The lowest possible score is 300. From 650 to 700 is considered an average score. If your scores are right in the middle, around 500 or 550 it would be in your best interest to try to increase your score.

How to Make Your Score Better

There are a number of ways to improve your credit score. The most important thing you can do is payoff debt on or before the schedule payment due date. Anything that is paid late will be reflected on your credit report in a negative way. Paying your bills on time will also help you to lower your balances, which will make it easier to pay your debt of quicker. Do not make hasty decisions about your debt. Try to stay away from higher rate loans with high balances. These types of loans will take longer to pay off in full and stay on your credit report longer.

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What is a prepaid credit card and why do we need them?

Monday, October 27th, 2008

What is a prepaid credit card?

In this high-tech era of computers and machines, the purchasing power of people is mostly based on credit. Nowadays, credit cards are almost indispensable in almost any business transaction. For one, nobody can purchase anything online without a credit card.

People who have a poor credit history though, will have a hard time getting or renewing their
credit cards. This is where prepaid credit becomes useful.

There are lenders that offer prepaid MasterCards and/or prepaid Visa Cards. Both these cards can be used like a regular credit card. It is even hard to distinguish which card is prepaid or not, by simply looking at it or even using it.

This is basically how prepaid credit cards work. When an account is opened, the card should be “pre-loaded” with cash up-front. This is like paying for a pre-paid calling card.
Prepaid MasterCards or Visas can be used anywhere as long as these cards are accepted.

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