Posts Tagged ‘pay off credit cards’

Ways To Make Cents at Home

In the midst of all these skyrocketing prices, come the how’s, ways and means to save money and earn extra.

There are creative but practical ways you can engage in to help the family save and at the same time earn extra. The things that have been sitting in your attic for sometime and those that become all too familiar and useless might mean extra bucks. This way, it saves you space, cleaning materials and containers. This reduces maintenance expenses.

Save More Money

Garage sale at home is a save-and-earn endeavor for starters. Look at the success of flea markets where people can buy almost anything at a lower price but large amount of income for vendors.

How to maximize the potential of flea markets and bargain sales to help you save? Primarily, a flea market is a place where almost all who have something to sell can sell for tremendously lower costs but good quality items. If you have the right tools and enough preparation for a day’s trip to a flea market, then you are ready to go with some handy tips:

1. Ready your tools, maps, measurements and cash:
• easy-to-carry tool kit with screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, pencil, ropes, set of swatches, paper and plastic bags and boxes;
• floorplan measurements;
• maps, directions and phone numbers;
• bring enough cash and checks for high-priced items;
• dress yourself appropriately for bargain hunting.
2. Early birds usually get the best selections.
3. Keep a critical eye during shopping.
• Be ready to negotiate and haggle on the prices of items.
• Items sold here have greater possibilities, either you can redecorate or repaint them to make it look unique and attractive.

How to make this activity an earning endeavor? After your hands-on training in an established flea market, hope you took note of your observations and ideas; it is time to try out on your own.

Bear in mind five things crucial to garage sale success: location, date and time, variety of goods, organization/presentation, advertisements and prices.

• Spot a strategic location where people can access and drop by easily. Your house is the perfect venue for this. Weekends are the best to schedule your sale.
• During your cleaning session, take note of candidate items for the sale, label them (keep, for repair, must go) and give them a brand new look.
• Organize them well according to prices, use arrangement styles, decide on the tables, baskets and boxes for the items and decorate your venue with fabrics and other helpful materials.
• Lower your prices. The idea here is to dispose of the things but earn from them reasonably.

Wisconsin Blacks Don’t Have Bank Accounts

The largest survey ever of how many families in the U.S. have bank accounts revealed both good news and bad news for Wisconsin.

The good news: The percentage of households without a bank account is smaller in Wisconsin than nationally, 4.3% vs. 7.7%.

The bad news: The state fares worse than the U.S. average when it comes to bank accounts for blacks and Hispanics. The survey found that 30.4% of African-American and 32.6% of Hispanic households in the Wisconsin were “unbanked” – meaning no one in the family had a checking or savings account. That compares with 21.7% for blacks nationally and 19.3% for Hispanics.

The upshot, according to the FDIC, which released the survey findings Wednesday, is that banks and credit unions need to develop more low-cost ways to conduct transactions such as check cashing, educate more people about the value and safety of savings accounts, and offer reasonably priced alternatives for small-dollar loans.

“I think our challenge is to make sure banks have the appropriate range of products and services to meet the needs of all people, including low-income communities, and have the right fee mix that is cost effective,” Sheila Bair, chairman of the FDIC, said during a conference call Wednesday.

At 4.3%, the amount of Wisconsin households without an account at a bank or credit union was tied with Alaska for 11th-lowest.

The survey asked households without bank accounts why they don’t have any. The No. 1 reason was that they didn’t have enough money to need an account. Among other top reasons: They didn’t want or see the value of an account, the service charges were too high, they did not write enough checks, the minimum balance requirements were too high, they’ve bounced too many checks or did not trust banks.

The survey also looked at “underbanked” households – those that have a checking or savings account but still rely on alternative financial service providers, such as payday lenders. In Wisconsin, 16% overall were found to be underbanked, compared with 17.9% nationally. Among Wisconsin blacks and Hispanics, 39.4% and 15.6% were underbanked, respectively, compared with 31.6% for blacks and 24% for Hispanics in the U.S.

“What it shows is we still have a lot of work to do, but we’re up for the task,” said Deloris Sims, chairman and chief executive of Legacy Bank, which operates in Milwaukee’s central city.

Sims said in some cases, bringing people into the mainstream financial system means overcoming years of tradition.

“I think some generations of people have definitely been raised on check cashing outlets versus banks,” Sims said. “That’s the way they are raised, and that’s what they do. That’s how they take care of their business. They could do things differently if they were educated.”

Legacy and many other banks here have outreach efforts to show people the value of using checking and savings accounts.

Wisconsin’s biggest bank, M&I Bank, has two full-time staff members whose job is to conduct financial education and find ways to attract consumers into the banking system, said Ammar Askari, M&I community education administrator. He said immigrants, particularly Hispanics, often are reluctant to put their confidence in the banking system and prefer to deal in cash.

“They come in with a great deal of mistrust of financial institutions based on their experience back home,” Askari said.

Some consumers have had bad experiences with American banks, such as penalties for bounced checks, and find it easier to operate through other types of financial services providers, he said.

“I’m sure you could say that there’s always more that could be done, but I think we do quite a bit in terms of educating people about the benefits of bank accounts and traditional accounts,” said Rose Oswald Poels, senior vice president of the Wisconsin Bankers Association.

Is Legacy Bank Down For The Count?

from JSOnline Report
Milwaukee’s Legacy Bank, wrestling with losses on loans, has been told by regulators to raise capital or sell itself to another financial institution.

Legacy Bank In Trouble

The Federal Reserve has issued a directive that declares Legacy “significantly undercapitalized,” and gives the bank and its parent company, Legacy Bancorp Inc., 60 days to remedy the situation.

Legacy Bank, which was founded 11 years ago with the goal of focusing on lending in Milwaukee’s central city, has lost almost $6.4 million this year after losing $15.2 million in 2009, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data shows.

Last spring, Legacy entered into an agreement with the Fed that required a plan to strengthen the bank’s credit risk management practices and prepare a strategic plan to improve the bank’s earnings and overall condition.

Legacy Bank President José Mantilla said Wednesday that the bank hired an investment banking firm “some months back” to help with a plan to restore capital.

“We continue to raise capital, and we believe that prospects for us are still to move forward. Some work to do, but still moving forward,” Mantilla said.

The new directive also prohibits Legacy from soliciting, accepting or renewing deposit accounts paying higher-than-market interest rates.

Legacy is one of 20 Wisconsin banks that received an infusion of capital from the U.S. Treasury through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Legacy received a $5.5 million government investment in early 2009. At the time, the Treasury noted Legacy was one of the fastest-growing community banks in the nation.

But FDIC records show many types of loans have soured at Legacy. Through Sept. 30 this year, its ratio of non-current loans to total loans had grown to more than 23%, up from nearly 11% – an already high ratio – a year earlier.

According to the FDIC, 37% of Legacy’s home-purchase loans were delinquent through the end of September, and 34% of its credit card loans were in arrears.

“The loans that are problematic were loans that are right here in Milwaukee, in the community we serve, which was impacted by the macro events of this economy,” Mantilla said. “We are seeing some significant turnaround in that process.”

Tips on How to Teach Your Kids to Save Money

A lot of teens nowadays do not understand the value of earning and spending money. They were not oriented that investing is necessary even if they are still students. As parents, you play a crucial role in this area.

You should be able to teach your kids on how to save money. They should be able to understand the concept of money and investment as early as childhood. This will prepare them to learn money management, as they grow old.

Here are some tips on how you can teach your children how to save money:

1. Your children should be educated of the meaning of money. Once your children have learned how to count, that is the perfect time for you teach them the real meaning of money. You should be consistent and explain to them in simple ways and do this frequently so that they may be able to remember what you taught them.

2. Always explain to them the value of saving money. Make them understand its importance and how it will impact their life. It is important that you entertain questions from them about money and you should be able to answer them right away.

3. When giving them their allowances. You need to give them their allowances in denominations. Then you can encourage them that they should keep a certain bill for the future. You can motivate them to do this by telling them that the money can be saved and they can buy new pair of shoes or the toys they want once they are able to save.

4. You can also teach them to work for money. You can start this at your own home. You can pay them fifty cents to one dollar every time they clean their rooms, do the dishes or feed their pets. This concept of earning little money will make them think that money is something they have worked for and should be spent wisely.

5. You can teach them to save money by giving them piggy banks where they can put coins and wait until they get full. You can also open bank accounts for them and let them deposit money from their allowance. You should always show them how much they have earned to keep them motivated.

Money and saving is not something that is learned by children in one sitting. You should be patient in teaching them and relating the value of money in all of their activities. Children will learn this easily if you are patient and consistent in guiding them and encouraging them in this endeavor.

Getting Out Of Debt Can Be Frustrating and Depressing!

It causes a lot of stress and financial problems are thought to be the cause of thousands of ruined relationships. If you are dealing with debt stress, reading some getting out of debt stories from people who have managed to get through it can be very beneficial. There are many books you can find on the subject and you can also find these stories in magazines and online.

Learn Some Tricks

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One thing that you can gain from reading getting out of debt stories is some tricks on dealing with your debt that you may not have thought of on your own. Everybody’s financial situation is different and so different methods of taking care of debt have to be devised to suit your personal circumstances.

If you are reading about how someone in a situation similar to yours got out of debt, you may be introduced to some ideas that will help you out as well. Also, many of these books are compiled by individuals who specialize in the financial/debt field. This means that they may toss in valuable debt reduction pointers in between the stories.

Find Motivation and Battle Despair

One day taking care of your debt may seem to be going well, and the next day you feel like your world is crumbling around you. When things like this happen, reading some getting out of debt stories can motivate you again.

Something you will probably find in these stories is people who were in much worse situations than you. They had to find their way out of a very deep financial hole, but they found ways to keep at it and now their lives are back

in order.

By seeing the success of someone who was buried deeper in debt than you are, you can find a lot of motivation. If they could get themselves out of that situation, you can get yourself out of this one! This can be a very powerful mental tool.

Keep in mind that no matter how dark things may seem, there is always someone out there who has gotten through worse.

Keep Yourself Out of Debt

Once you have cleared most of the debt out of your life, you will have created a real sense of financial freedom. Your income will stop vanishing into the bank’s coffers to pay expensive interest payments and it becomes all yours to spend however you want.

Now you just need to keep yourself that way. By keeping some getting out of debt stories around where you will see them once in a while, you are providing yourself with a reminder. You may be tempted to open that line of credit because the payments really aren’t that much. But when you think about the book of debt stories sitting on your shelf, you will rethink your situation and probably walk away from this destructive train of thought.

By reading up on some getting out of debt stories, you are providing yourself with a powerful motivational tool. You would be amazed at the positive effects something like this can have on even the most seemingly-hopeless situation.

If you are despairing, these stories can remind you that your situation really isn’t that bad, and that you have the ability to get yourself out of it. Not only that, they will also provide you with a means to do this by giving you some tips and pointers to use to reduce your own debts along the way.

A Little Goes a Long Way: Smart Secrets to Budgeting

There’s nothing more we want than to be able to efficiently manage our money. After all, the money that we want to manage is money that is oftentimes, hard earned. This is where a budget comes in. A budget executed properly, should help you see where your money is going, get more utility out of every buck, and help you save some extra for future use.

The first smart secret to a budget is to set a goal. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to correctly appropriate your income into bills payments? Do you want to put an amount aside for a big purchase or a huge investment? By having a goal, you will be able to shape your budget to best serve your interests.

Secondly, you would want to take note of where your money usually goes. This includes bills, major but regular purchases (like grocery costs, healthcare costs, and the like), and everyday miscellaneous purchases. Only when you list down where you know your money usually goes will you be able to identify which expenses you can do without. Once you’ve identified these regular expenditures, take into consideration what you can cut back on. How much do you spend on your daily caffeine fix in the morning? How much do you spend on newspaper deliveries to your front door? The measly $2 or $5 of these small purchases cumulatively translates to more than $3600 a year! Instead of buying your expensive latte or reading the newspaper on print, put aside the amount you would usually pay for these small routine purchases in a small container. You will be surprised at how much you’re saving out of your older budget.

Being indebted is a vicious cycle on its own. You’re talking about continuous payments, not to mention huge interest rates. The best way to deal with this is to pay the minimum on all of your debts in order to avoid paying extraneous late fees. Whatever cash excesses you may have, you can opt to add on to the payments you make in your biggest debt. This way, you are concentrated on getting the biggest debts first that cost you the greatest interest rates. Doing this progressively, you’ll be amazed at how much you’ll get off your huge debts.

The last and most important step is to jot down the amount you earn the sum you spend. You can make use of computer cash management programs, or make database sheets of your own. Make a system that works for you and will help you keep track of your monthly budgeting progress.

Here are the 7 Steps to getting your debtsolution.com/debtsolutionblog”>financial house in order…

1. Stabilizing your household situation – you’ll never be able to pay any debt if you can’t ensure that you and your family has a roof over your head, food on the table, utilities paid and transportation to and from work.

2. Set-up a budget – you’ll never understand how to management your money unless you know to the dollar what’s coming in and what’s going out.

3. Put together a debt elimination plan – when you have a budget you can put together a strategy to pay off your debt faster because you see what’s in front of you.

4. Establish an emergency fund – this is very important because most people use a credit card for an emergency fund and that’s a problem. If you have cash on hand more than likely you’ll rarely have emergencies and if you do have one you won’t have to go into debt to take care of it. I recommend at least $500 to $1,000 accessible cash with no penalties if used. While getting out of debt.

5. Review for acceleration of your debt elimination plan – once you have the other steps on paper there are several options that will open up for settlement offers on credit cards, automobiles, payday loans, etc.

6. Action + Action + Belief + Concentration = Tremendous Results – nothing will happen without you taking definite action with belief you can accomplish your goals and a high level of concentration to keep you focused on your goals.

7. Start saving for life experiences…Fun, Retirement, Generational Wealth

Before you sign up for any debt relief program such as bankruptcy, debt consolidation or credit counseling please read this FREE Consumer Guide To Getting Out Of Debt

http://therealdebtsolution.com/debtsolutionblog/getting-out-of-debt-consumers-guide-newly-released/

How Desperate Can A Person Be?

While working in my office this past Friday Oct. 29, 2010 I heard a strange noise from outside.

I parked my Land Rover on the street so I can see it out of my window from my desk.  My office is in a pretty good area also.  I’ve never had any problems with people or theft.

I heard that strange noise and I did take a look at my car but I only looked to see if it was hit by another car and I really didn’t look at my entire car.  From space I park at on the street I could only see the front half of my car.  I could have seen the entire car if I was to get closer to the window but I didn’t.

The thief actually ripped 1/4 of my license plate off as you can see in the photo.  This is not the first time something like this has happened to me.  There have been several times at various locations around the city of Milwaukee that this has happened to me, my employees or business associates.

How desperate can a person be to do this.  How much will they receive if they sell it and who is the dumb ass that would buy it.  Don’t they know that their car will not automatically become registered by the state when they put my 2011 sticker on their cars license plate?

I’ve also been running through my mind what would I have done if I saw the person doing it.  Would I have yelled out of the window?  Would I have ran downstairs to my car and punched the person in the face?  I don’t know what I would have done.  This person must have been very desperate and I’m thinking they must have drug problem.  This theft happened at about 2pm so it was nice and sunny outside.

So now I’m going to have to go to the DMV and get a new sticker and order new plates.  My plates are custom plates so I don’t know what the fee will be to replace them.  All of the other times the thieves have only taken the sticker off of my licenses plate.

Here are the 7 Steps to getting your financial house in order…

1. Stabilizing your household situation – you’ll never be able to pay any debt if you can’t ensure that you and your family has a roof over your head, food on the table, utilities paid and transportation to and from work.

2. Set-up a budget – you’ll never understand how to management your money unless you know to the dollar what’s coming in and what’s going out.

3. Put together a debt elimination plan – when you have a budget you can put together a strategy to pay off your debt faster because you see what’s in front of you.

4. Establish an emergency fund – this is very important because most people use a credit card for an emergency fund and that’s a problem. If you have cash on hand more than likely you’ll rarely have emergencies and if you do have one you won’t have to go into debt to take care of it. I recommend at least $500 to $1,000 accessible cash with no penalties if used. While getting out of debt.

5. Review for acceleration of your debt elimination plan – once you have the other steps on paper there are several options that will open up for settlement offers on credit cards, automobiles, payday loans, etc.

6. Action + Action + Belief + Concentration = Tremendous Results – nothing will happen without you taking definite action with belief you can accomplish your goals and a high level of concentration to keep you focused on your goals.

7. Start saving for life experiences…Fun, Retirement, Generational Wealth

Before you sign up for any debt relief program such as bankruptcy, debt consolidation or credit counseling please read this FREE Consumer Guide To Getting Out Of Debt

http://therealdebtsolution.com/debtsolutionblog/getting-out-of-debt-consumers-guide-newly-released/

Are We Being Realistic About The Housing Market?

I was watching the national news today and the housing sells reports were just released and they were up 6% for the month of September.  Just a week ago all the news media reports were crying about the housing marketing being down.  Well this report shows us that the news media is about 30 to 45 days behind the true facts about our economy.  And they are mostly in the business of getting us all upset and emotional so we will continue to tune into their shows.

Houseing Market Up 6% in Sept. 2010

Even though the September housing numbers showed a 6% increase the levels were down 14% from the 2005 numbers of 20%.  I have a few problems with using the 2005 numbers as a measure for the current September 2010 numbers.

Problem #1 – the 2005 numbers were partially based on fraud.  You don’t have to take my word, all you have to do is look at the numbers of foreclosures and the present and past news reports about the fraudulent loans that mortgage brokers were making to unqualified buyers.

Problem #2 – they picked 2005 because that was the peak of the housing boom.  With that fact being known there will never be another time that the housing marketing will have a 20% increase unless they go back to allowing fraudulent loans.

So understanding these facts are we being realistic about how much our economy should be growing?  A 6% increase in sales in the real estate market can equal billions of dollars in profits and millions of dollars in tax revenue for local, state and federal government to share.  There are other industry’s that benefit from the housing market such as furniture stores, home improvement stores (do it yourself), fence suppliers, painters, security companies, etc.

We need a healthy housing market but we need to be realistic and admit that the 2005 highs were partially based on fraudulent loans so we can’t realistically expect to reach those numbers again.

Here are the 7 Steps to getting your financial house in order…

1. Stabilizing your household situation – you’ll never be able to pay any debt if you can’t ensure that you and your family has a roof over your head, food on the table, utilities paid and transportation to and from work.

2. Set-up a budget – you’ll never understand how to management your money unless you know to the dollar what’s coming in and what’s going out.

3. Put together a debt elimination plan – when you have a budget you can put together a strategy to pay off your debt faster because you see what’s in front of you.

4. Establish an emergency fund – this is very important because most people use a credit card for an emergency fund and that’s a problem. If you have cash on hand more than likely you’ll rarely have emergencies and if you do have one you won’t have to go into debt to take care of it. I recommend at least $500 to $1,000 accessible cash with no penalties if used. While getting out of debt.

5. Review for acceleration of your debt elimination plan – once you have the other steps on paper there are several options that will open up for settlement offers on credit cards, automobiles, payday loans, etc.

6. Action + Action + Belief + Concentration = Tremendous Results – nothing will happen without you taking definite action with belief you can accomplish your goals and a high level of concentration to keep you focused on your goals.

7. Start saving for life experiences…Fun, Retirement, Generational Wealth

Before you sign up for any debt relief program such as bankruptcy, debt consolidation or credit counseling please read this FREE Consumer Guide To Getting Out Of Debt

http://therealdebtsolution.com/debtsolutionblog/getting-out-of-debt-consumers-guide-newly-released/

Crystal Cathedral: Bankruptcy Owes More Than $43 Million Dollars

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – Crystal Cathedral, the megachurch birthplace of the televangelist show “Hour of Power,” filed for bankruptcy Monday in Southern California after struggling to emerge from debt that exceeds $43 million.

In addition to a $36 million mortgage, the Orange County-based church owes $7.5 million to several hundred vendors for services ranging from advertising to the use of live animals in Easter and Christmas services.

The church had been negotiating a repayment plan with vendors, but several filed lawsuits seeking quicker payment, which prompted a coalition formed by creditors to fall apart.

“Tough times never last, every storm comes to an end. Right now, people need to hear that message more than ever,” Sheila Schuller Coleman, the Cathedral’s senior pastor and daughter of the founder, told reporters outside the worship hall decked with a soaring glass spire.

Here are the 7 Steps to getting your financial house in order…

1. Stabilizing your household situation – you’ll never be able to pay any debt if you can’t ensure that you and your family has a roof over your head, food on the table, utilities paid and transportation to and from work.

2. Set-up a budget – you’ll never understand how to management your money unless you know to the dollar what’s coming in and what’s going out.

3. Put together a debt elimination plan – when you have a budget you can put together a strategy to pay off your debt faster because you see what’s in front of you.

4. Establish an emergency fund – this is very important because most people use a credit card for an emergency fund and that’s a problem. If you have cash on hand more than likely you’ll rarely have emergencies and if you do have one you won’t have to go into debt to take care of it. I recommend at least $500 to $1,000 accessible cash with no penalties if used. While getting out of debt.

5. Review for acceleration of your debt elimination plan – once you have the other steps on paper there are several options that will open up for settlement offers on credit cards, automobiles, payday loans, etc.

6. Action + Action + Belief + Concentration = Tremendous Results – nothing will happen without you taking definite action with belief you can accomplish your goals and a high level of concentration to keep you focused on your goals.

7. Start saving for life experiences…Fun, Retirement, Generational Wealth

Before you sign up for any debt relief program such as bankruptcy, debt consolidation or credit counseling please read this free consumer guide to getting out of debt at CLICK HERE!

5,000,000 Household 60 Days or More Behind On Mortgage Payments

As predicted the Mortgage Modification and the so called Moratorium on foreclosures due to improper paperwork filings we just a stall tactic by the mortgage companies to buy time before the stock marketing 4th quarter reporting.

Here are the 7 Steps to getting your financial house in order…

1. Stabilizing your household situation – you’ll never be able to pay any debt if you can’t ensure that you and your family has a roof over your head, food on the table, utilities paid and transportation to and from work.

2. Set-up a budget – you’ll never understand how to management your money unless you know to the dollar what’s coming in and what’s going out.

3. Put together a debt elimination plan – when you have a budget you can put together a strategy to pay off your debt faster because you see what’s in front of you.

4. Establish an emergency fund – this is very important because most people use a credit card for an emergency fund and that’s a problem. If you have cash on hand more than likely you’ll rarely have emergencies and if you do have one you won’t have to go into debt to take care of it. I recommend at least $500 to $1,000 accessible cash with no penalties if used. While getting out of debt.

5. Review for acceleration of your debt elimination plan – once you have the other steps on paper there are several options that will open up for settlement offers on credit cards, automobiles, payday loans, etc.

6. Action + Action + Belief + Concentration = Tremendous Results – nothing will happen without you taking definite action with belief you can accomplish your goals and a high level of concentration to keep you focused on your goals.

7. Start saving for life experiences…Fun, Retirement, Generational Wealth

Before you sign up for any debt relief program such as bankruptcy, debt consolidation or credit counseling please read this free consumer guide to getting out of debt at debtsolution.com/debtsolutionblog/getting-out-of-debt-consumers-guide-newly-released/”>CLICK HERE!