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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Credit Repair Help - Here Are Steps You Can Take Right Now!

By Mark Alison

It's hard to live with bad credit. You need credit to lease a house or car. Most loans you apply for will be turned down with bad credit. It can be frustrating to have bad credit.

It's not that hard to get your credit repaired. All it takes is a little time and a little effort on your part. You must be diligent with your spending and take a few simple steps. Repairing your credit will not happen overnight.

The next time you order your fancy coffee at the drive through, think about this, How much a month do you spend on just coffee? A typical fancy coffee costs about $3-$4. if you have 4 a week, that's $12-$16 a week or $48-$64 a month! The key to credit resolution is budget. Cut back on frivolous purchases and put the money towards paying your debt off. It's hard but necessary.

We need to then know what's in your credit report. There are three credit card companies, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. There are many places to go that will get you a report from all three. These reports will list everything you owe to the people who have reported it.

You need to contact the creditors that you owe. This is so you can try and negotiate a payment plan. You can haggle with them about interest and monthly payments. Then when you get an agreement, have them send you the agreement in writing.

Now you need to close out and pay your credit card debts. Destroy the cards and start paying them off. The best idea is to close all the accounts you have except your three oldest ones. You see, credit scores are based on the account history as well as other factors. Even if these lines of credit are opened, you don't need to use them unless it's an emergency.

On time payments is the key here. You must be sure that you honor your promise to pays and your payment plans. If you are going to be late or have trouble, you need to call them up and let them know. Do everything you can do avoid bankrupts. You can choose to do a loan consolidation, you might need a co-signer.

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Adjustable vs Fixed - ARM Wins in Reverse Mortgage World

By Borko Panteleio

A senior gentleman gave me a call yesterday. For 15 minutes I assessed his situation and told him definitively he should move forward only with an adjustable rate mortgage.

Now, I know the senior community's take on adjustable rate mortgages, so typically, when I come out and say, "an ARM is the right choice for you", I don't wait for a response. I simply go into my reasoning as soon as possible.

Why? Because I know the person is already objecting in their mind. It's already a bad deal. So, I get into why it is a good deal as fast as possible.

Well, this fellow beat me to the punch, which is hard to do when there might have be a millisecond for him to cut me off. When I attempted to explain why he simple grunted gruffly, "FIXED RATE".

I know when I'm right. This guy was letting his own rather uninformed opinions get in the way of logic. Without a doubt he could save thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars by listening to me. Not happening.

My would be customer refused to hear what I had to say, as if I was introducing a vampire into his home. Since you can't shut me up, perhaps you can read on and get a feel why the ARM is typically the better choice.

The reason is the adjustable rate mortgage is available as a line of credit. The fixed does not have this option.

Lenders qualify the senior to receive an available sum of cash equal to 50% to 75% of the home's value. Most only need a portion of this money. This makes the ARM and line of credit more viable.

The line of credit option gives the senior the right to draw out cash, use as needed, and leave the rest for later. At any time they can draw out more money.

This benefits the borrower's equity. Unused money in the line of credit has no negative affects on the borrower's equity. It's not accruing interesting eating away at the precious equity.

The fixed rate mortgage, on the other hand, forces the borrower to draw out money one time. Naturally, it will be a sizable number. Why do it otherwise.

Let's say my guy above, who wouldn't listen to me, owned his home free and clear (which he did). He also wanted to supplement his income. His is the most obvious example of someone who should go with an ARM. Going with a fixed would force the borrower to draw out a big sum and put it into some other investment while waiting to use it.

It does not compute. The rate charged for money pulled out would be greater than the return from the bank or CD. The best option is to go with the ARM and leave it the line of credit. On top of that the 15 year average interest rate on the ARM is lower than the current fixed rate.

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Make Good Use of a Retirement Planning Calculator

By William Blake

Retirement should be free of schedules, pressures and other worries, but individuals looking for a great retirement should start planning very early. A good retirement planning calculator can be very helpful in making the proper plans for a successful, enjoyable retirement. A retirement planning calculator can help people decide how much money they should save, invest or spend in order to have a successful retirement.

It is important to begin planning for your retirement early in your career. A Retirement planning calculator can be utilized and if followed can really help one prepare for the future. No one wants to be forced to stay in the workforce and put off their retirement because of poor planning. A retirement planning calculator can help.

A retirement planning calculator is often available from the human resources department of some companies, and other retirement planning calculators are available from banks and other financial institutions. These retirement planning calculators can often be accessed on the websites of these institutions.

Of course the retirement planning calculator will only be useful if the information entered is accurate. Also, once the information is entered the direction given by the retirement planning calculator must be followed in order to maximize your savings for retirement. So once you locate your retirement planning calculator you must give some serious thought to how you will use it.

Anticipating the Cost of Your Retirement Years

So many things change when you retire. Your job will no longer dictate certain aspects of your life. If you chose your current home because of a job opportunity retirement will afford you the opportunity to relocate to a preferred area. These new choices and changes will create new financial decisions and circumstances.

Also during years in the workforce we generally have to consider our family and their needs. It is important to live in an area where your children can get a good education. However, once the children have grown up and have home and families of their own that is no longer something you need to be concerned about. Again, this offers opportunities for you to expand your horizons a bit and base your decisions what is best for you financially and otherwise.

People also need to consider their healthcare costs after retirement. Many people get their health insurance from their employment. After a certain age, people will get their healthcare insurance from the government. If people want to retire before they are eligible for government healthcare benefits, they might have to factor in additional healthcare costs. All of these factors could be considered with a good retirement planning calculator. Careful planning with one of these special devices could make for a truly delightful retirement.

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Easy Penny Stocks Tips You Can Use To Cash In!

By Sam Lockwood

Penny stocks have been around for a long time - they've been part of American investment strategies since the 19th century. That's where these stocks were named, since the modern penny stock actually costs somewhere between a dime and five dollars, not a penny. Let's have a look at the risks you incur by investing in these stocks, as well as the ways they can help investors profit.

Penny stocks are share offerings made to investors by companies that are just too small or new to have a listing with the major stock exchanges. They have significant growth potential, and the initial investment can be quite small, but you run the risk of encountering a pump and dump scheme. Like anything else dealing in the OTC (over the counter) market, the buyer should beware.

Buying penny stocks reasonably means that you need to get the company's business model independently appraised. Just like when you buy shares of any other company that's being publicly traded, you must understand the company business model, what the company does or makes, who their competition is, and what they have to offer.

One of the most appealing things about penny stocks is that the majority of businesses offering them are quite simply put together. One typical type is that of a mining company, which will only be profitable when the price of the material it mines reaches a certain level. There are also some oil exploration stocks which use this kind of valuation.

Penny stocks are rated as a high risk vehicle by the Securities and Exchange commission. Some of the risks you'll encounter when dealing with these stocks include incomplete and indirect financial reporting, limited liquidity and even complete fraud. People who are playing with a day trading strategy will find that sudden demands for penny stock creates enormous volatility. Penny stocks are hard to short sell for this reason.

Penny stocks have significantly less stringent financial reporting guidelines than listings on the national exchanges, and sometimes a stock will even de list for a few days. In the area of investing referred to as the Pink Sheets, penny stocks are known for having almost no requirements for regulation at all. They have no reporting guidelines or minimum accounting standards.

Because these stocks aren't standardized and don't have an generally accepted requirements for accounting, they can be extremely vulnerable to being manipulated or even just plain fraud. People posing as independent observers can encourage people to run up the price, then they sell and de list the stock. This is the classic pump and dump scam.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should never invest in penny stocks. There are lots of real, legitimate startup companies out there, and they need to have a good place to get up and running. If you're able to pick a winner, you'll get an impressive return.

If you're someone who can spot companies that have a lot of promise, you could end up with a big payback. Even if you lose on eighty percent of your picks, the twenty-five percent that do work out, will be enough to make up for the rest.

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The Only Remortgage Advice You Need

By Troy Cruz William Engle Dawn Khoury James Nissen Robert Hill Chris Laning Janet Taylor Jack Enders Bruce Gross Rick Bean Keith Wood Ray Johnson Alex Velez Juan Hines Paul Holtz Kenya Rios Peggy Dye Neal Dawes Lucas King David Hebert Karl Howell Jarrod Lucky Ruth Coats Doris Lund Ryan Hudson Henry Bush Lonnie May Arlen Bell Wanda Kuebler Kevin Stiles Nick Horton Jorge Pina Frank Vera Chad Copp Fred Brod Jose Cruz Mark Jones Kelly McMahon Barney Bernard Ailleann Alan

When the interest rates are low, you are going to feel pressure to remortgage your house or other property that you own, and you might ask yourself whether it is the right thing to do. If you do make the decision to remortgage, you can follow these tips of what you should and shouldn't do, which is going to make remortgaging a whole lot easier.

Should: Shop around. The whole the point of a remortgage is to take your existing mortgage with company X and change it into a new mortgage with company Y. It is not a remortgage if you don't change companies. Simply put, to get the best deal you are going to have to shop around. This doesn't mean you can just talk with one mortgage company, it means you need to hit the pavement and talk to as many companies as you can.

Should: Take a look at your budget. When people remortgage, they often imagine that they are going to save a lot of money, but that isn't always the case. If you realize how much the bank fees are going to be to remortgage, you might just realize that you are going to save money by putting the money that you would have paid to remortgage towards your current loan. The extra payments might just help you out more than remortgaging and be a lot easier to do. Don't just think of how remortgaging is going to lower your interest, think of how it is going to affect your entire mortgage.

Shouldn't: Don't do what your neighbor does. If your neighbor recently remortgaged his house, it doesn't mean that it is time to do yours too. Just because it was a smart move for them, doesn't mean that you should do the same thing without doing a lot of research and making an independent decision.

Shouldn't: Don't fall for any gimmicks. A lot of times banks are deceptive in their practices offering a special rate in a television commercial just to get you in the door and then telling you the rate expired when you ask about it. If it is too good to be true, then you should probably leave it be.

Shouldn't: Rush things. There is often this big rush to remortgage property, but you are still going to have the option of remortgaging tomorrow, one week from now, one month from now and even one year from now. If you are worried about getting a special deal because the offer runs out tomorrow, you should take a breather. Remortgaging is something that you are going to have to live with for a long time and because it is such a big pain in the butt to do, you don't want to do it and then decide to remortgage again in a couple of years.

Remortgaging your house is going to be a big step, and there are some things that you definitely should and shouldn't do. If you're considering a remortgage, the best advice you can get is to make sure that you do your research and understand what exactly you are doing and how it is going to affect you in the future. It all depends on your specific situation, so make sure you don't forget to do your research.

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Know what it takes to start a credit repair business

By William Blake

A credit repair business is not a difficult one to start. There are many people who have started this type of business with little or no experience to begin with. With a little time and effort they found that the knowledge they needed to have a successful credit repair business was not at all difficult to obtain. Many have been amazed at the profits they have been able to earn working from home in their credit repair business.

No Big Investments To Be Made

To start a credit repair business also does not require investing a whole lot of money though before you do get started it is a good idea to understand the type of skills that are desirable and which will help you succeed in your new business venture.

Good marketing skills are important with any business. With credit repair it is also important to have a good financial head and a good attitude with your customers. Patience is also a good thing to cultivate.

You can structure your business in many ways. You may structure it as a corporation or possibly a partnership. Whatever the structure, the name of your business is important. It is the first thing that people will learn about your business so you want it to be something that is attractive and that they will not soon forget. You want your business name to convey a feeling of trust and draw people to your company.

Another important aspect to starting a credit repair business is to be well aware of different Congressional credit repair laws; especially those that relate to your city and state as well as any other federal laws that apply to the country as a whole. This knowledge will stand you in good stead when you have to deal with the many fraudsters that use bad credit to break the law.

The final step in regard to starting a credit repair business is to have a wide list of possible customers. This is not too hard to do because, it is believed, that as many as eighty percent of the population has a problem or two with their credit and these people are always on the lookout for a good credit repair company that will sort out their problems for them.

With the rising incidences of people in debt there is now many a good credit repair business opportunity open to those with a more enterprising spirit. In fact, the new laws on bankruptcy recently signed by President George W. Bush have opened up the gates for those interested in doing credit repair business.

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Detailed Information about Mortgage Leads

By Todd Packward

When it comes time to finding more mortgage leads, you may want to consider turning to a mortgage leads company. These companies make it their job to track down the leads you need to maintain your business. In an industry that is highly competitive, highly resourceful and very profitable, any company that wants to get ahead needs to invest the time and energy into getting every lead that is available to them. Some of these companies have just what it takes to give you these resources.

You may be asking how to increase your business with mortgage leads from these sources. If you have selected the best companies to work with, you pay a small fee to obtain any and all of the leads they have to offer. They send you leads that you can easily contact and get information on. It is essential to choose a company that is reputable, one that is not recycling leads over and over again and one that you can contact easily if there is some type of problem. When you do this, you will have a wide variety of mortgage leads to work with.

When you locate these mortgage leads companies, it is important to work with companies that give you flexibility. You should be able to select the type of leads you are most interested in. This is often a rate or score that works for your particular need. You may want exclusive debt consolidation mortgage leads, for example. Depending on what the company has available, and your stipulations, chances are good you will get the type of leads you need to make the investment worthwhile. If you are unable to choose from these options, you may want to consider a company more flexible.

The bottom line is quite clear: if you want to have a successful business in the mortgage industry, you need to have a regular stream of customers. You need to be sure that that stream of customers is highly qualified and that they have not been contacted by many other brokers in the recent past. Once you get this information, you can work the leads as you would any other. You will walk away with more deals and transactions than if you were to wait around for borrowers to contact you. Many of today's top mortgage brokers use these services for just this reason: they work.

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The Rumors about the American Express Black Card

By Gray Rollins

If you are using a credit card for your purchases, you are probably aware of its privileges. When it comes to privileges, American Express was rumored to have issued a Centurion Card or the black card that features extra ordinary exclusive benefits to high ranking and dignitary celebrities and private individuals. It has been rumored that the cardholder is entitled to many benefits and privileges.

The Centurion Card is offered through an invitation sent from the American Express to cardholders who met certain criteria according to the strictest standards. The introductory credit card charge before was $1000, now the cardholders are required to pay $2500 annual charges and $5000 initial fee. This card is really meant for individuals who are financially capable of paying the charges and fees.

There was an urban legend about the black credit card that circulated and spread as rumors in the business industries in the year 1980s. The rumor said that high ranking individuals like celebrities and notable persons who are cardholders of American Express cards were given a black card that give them the opportunity to transact in any high class establishments even after business hours. The truth is the card only contains the information and numbers for assistance and services.

The rumor about the black credit card was about the widest range of benefits and privileges it extends to the cardholder. It emphasizes the freedom to buy anything as much as the cardholder wants it. Although the rumor was widespread in the industry, no one really ever had it or get to use it.

This rumor was eventually capitalized by the American Express. A Centurion card was created in the fall of 1999. It is offered through an invitation from the American Express. This card is only offered to those who have the Platinum card, and that the card is not made of plastic but of metal. Because of its elegance and value, most people use it as status symbol. Platinum credit cards are considered to be the best of all credit cards in the business.

The Centurion card is an invitation only card in many countries where the exclusive credit card was the Platinum card. If the Centurion card is not available in one of these countries, the Platinum card is still the card that is considered the exclusive "by invitation only" card.

American Express black Centurion card started in 1999 with an introduction of $1000 as an annual fee and a one-time initiation fee of $5000. Now the annual fee was raised to $2500, the highest annual fee for credit cards as of today. Among the first persons who availed it was the comedian and American Express spokesperson, Jerry Seinfeld.

Centurion Card became famous around the business industry because of the urban legends in circulation. The rumors about the black credit card continue to circulate to all people concerned. Although the rumor was not true, new rumors and tales would still come up. This will make the Centurion Card more controversial and the promotion would generate more applicants as well.

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DEAL WITH CREDIT BEFORE DIVORCE

By Rob Kosberg

Divorce can have unexpected effects on your credit. If you are at the point of considering a divorce, you need to find out how to deal with your finances before you receive the possibly devastating injuries to your credit. Know your total debt situation. You might want to have legal advice as you go through the division of finances.

The recommended time to do this is prior to the finalization of the divorce. You should examine credit reports of both partners. Fix any errors. Continue to deal with the rest of your finances.

Joint responsibility for a home mortgage will need to be reworked. Such an issue needs careful management especially when child support and alimony is in the mix. It's possible that you may decide to sell the home and split the proceeds or you may sell the home to one partner as responsible party.

Other debts including cars, credit cards, utilities, loans also need to be only in one name. These decisions are not easy ones but are necessary.

When credit cards are in both names, get them changed to one name only. If this is not done and payments stop (even though one of you has been deemed responsible), creditors can come after the other partner. This can lead to going to "collection" and numerous unpleasant collection calls. Eventually this situation can lead back to court battles. You should know that the poor credit of one partner can affect the credit of the other.

You want to make certain that all cash assets are divided. Then, close all joint checking and savings accounts. One spouse should not be able to get to the accounts of the other.

During this process, pay all debts even if you have to sell some things to do so. This way, you are each then responsible for your own individual debts. You want to have your own financial base when you leave the marriage.

Your divorce decree will spell out financial arrangements and the party responsible for each debt. However, if there are still joint debts, these can make life miserable if a creditor is not receiving payment and cause problems for the spouse decreed not responsible. Be proactive about this situation.

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