Tips on Investment, household finance, credit cards, consumers, credit repair, taxation, and more.

The PPI Scam. For many borrowers, the cost of Payment Protection Insurance has increased the cost of borrowing greatly; many of the borrowers were coerced into taking up the insurance including some who were not eligible to benefit in the first place.

If you believe that you were misssold The first thing to do is gather all the facts together. You can either do it yourself or use a reputable company to do it for you, either way many PPI claims are successful, so do not let the loan company put you off they will try all kinds of tricks but keep persevering. - R Stephenson

ChexSystems. I manage a credit resource site that helps people overcome their problems with ChexSystems. If you've never heard of ChexSystems, here's a brief description: ChexSystems is consumer reporting agency that holds information on individuals with negative banking histories.

Much like the credit bureaus, ChexSystems abides by the same rules that are set forth by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Today over 80% of all banks subscribe to ChexSystems' reporting services. This is bad news for the millions of consumers who are currently unable to open a new checking account due a mark on ChexSystems.

Fortunately, there is help! I've compiled some powerful information and resources to help these people escape the clutches of ChexSystems. The best part is, it's absolutely free. Please visit www.chexaccount.com for free ChexSystems help and bad credit resources. -- Steve Baik

- Finance and Investing Tip: Invest, Don't Gamble. Foolproof advice from the great Will Rogers. "Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it." -- Submitted by Ken McIsaac at www.32keys.com Ken

Some advice submitted by Chris Robbins  I run a consumer credit web site that helps people with bad credit  locate products and services. I get many emails from people trying to clean  up their credit. The one thing I tell them is that there is no quick  way to fix bad credit. Do not fall for scams that claim to clean your  credit file in 30 days. This just will not happen. However, you can  dispute information in your credit file and the creditor is required by  law to verify the disputed information within 30 days. Information that  can't be verified must be removed. Follow these steps for legitimate  credit repair that you can do for yourself. 

1) Obtain your credit report from EACH of the three credit bureaus:  Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. It is cheapest to purchase your  reports online directly through the credit bureau's web site rather than  going through a reseller (who makes a profit). Once a year you are entitled to a free credit score report. The websites are:  www.experian.com  www.equifax.com  www.transunion.com. 

2) Check for accuracy/errors. Make sure all of the accounts listed are  YOURS. Make sure all closed/paid accounts have been reported as such.

3) Dispute inaccurate information through EACH bureau. This is a very  important point. Since each credit bureau is independently owned and  operated, they do NOT share information. You must dispute inaccurate  information with EACH one separately. Just because you file a dispute  with Experian does not mean it will be corrected in the databases of the  other two credit bureaus. Disputed information that can't be verified  MUST be removed, by law, within 30 days. 

4) Finally, the best way to build and repair credit is to obtain  credit! Fortunately there are bad credit lenders who will grant small loans,  secured credit cards, and unsecured credit cards with low credit  limits. Proper use of the credit privilege provided by these lenders is  reported to the credit bureaus and your credit scores will improve over  time! Visit http://www.creditchampion.com  for a listing of bad credit  lenders.

5) Do NOT fall for credit repair scams! The only way to repair credit  is by following the steps above. You can do all of this for free  (excluding the cost of your credit report purchased from each of the three  bureaus). 

6) Finally, reduce your balances on existing credit cards to 75% or  less of your available credit (30% is preferable). This is one of the  most important points of all! High debt to credit ratios will have a  significantly negative impact on your credit rating.

Chris Robbins http://www.creditchampion.com  

Credit Cards

Credit Card Repair: There are so many people in need of credit repair today. Part of the problem is with the amount of money that financial institutions will loan people. Financial institutions will keep loaning you money until you are only able to make your minimum payments. Once you are in this position the financial institute stands to make the most from you because you are making mostly interest payments. Normally people are able to make their payments in this situation but all it takes is a major car repair, home repair or some other necessary major expense to put you in a situation where you can no longer make your minimum payments.  

If you have yourself in a situation where you are in credit trouble and are looking for credit repair you can get your credit repair going by adopting some good spending habits and knowing the situations when you tend to over-spend. Really all it takes is some self-control and some planning. Most people that run into credit problems don't have a written budget outlining all of their costs. Once you take the time to review what you are actually spending you may easily see areas where you can cut back. Quite often it is frequent spending on smaller items that can make a big difference between living month to month and getting ahead financially. If you have a budget written out you will probably find that you will start to limit your spending because you will realize exactly where your financial situation is and it will make it easier for you to stay focussed and avoid those spending situations that get you into trouble. 

For credit repair the process starts with you and how you think about spending. Just because it's payday, you don't have to go out and spend it all in a week-end, this kind of spending will lead to financial ruin. Taking some time to get to know yourself and where your spending weaknesses are is crucial to your financial well-being. Take a deep breath and take some responsibility for the situation you are in and as soon as you take responsibility you will have the ability to be financially successful in the long term. -- Colin McDougall.

About the author:
Colin McDougall is a very successful Canadian online business entrepreneur. His Crediteria Website - www.crediteria.com is the resource for all things Credit Card.

Investing.

"It is OK sometimes to pull all of your money out of the equities market. Oh and please don't put my name on the Website" -- London stockbroker 

Mony a mickle maks a muckle. (small, insignificant contributions can over time add up to quite a lot) -- Old Scottish aphorism

Loans.

Do not just accept that the rate of interest gives a true picture of the cost of the loan.  Ask what the monthly repayments are, then phone around and see what other companies are offering.  The APR is not always the true cost of the loan.  Most payment protection schemes can add greatly to the cost of borrowing and are in most cases almost worthless -- Dave Levitator

Household Finance.

   1.Keeping a record of all of your transactions, although taking a short while to enter, can save a lot of headaches and time later. A list checked against your bank statement is sufficient for those who are not financially minded.    2.Budget by putting by one twelfth of your normal yearly household bills in a bank account each month. Do this with items such as household insurance's,  gas and electricity, water, community charges, car insurance's and tax etc. When a bill comes in you can pay it with your mind at ease that the cash is there to meet the bill. Regards, -- Ian Richards. Jun 1999

Consumers

Be wary of signing anything that isn’t properly filled in. Also don’t accept oral promises, get everything in writing. - Timothy White, London

Consumers. Always read the small print on the front and back of any contracts before you   sign them. Ask for explanations for anything you don’t understand, and if there is anything you don’t like in the contract don’t sign it until the seller has changed the contract and initialled the changes. Keep all the relevant paperwork such as contracts, guarantees, warranties, or receipts. -- Anon.

Don’t Buy large items with cash. Credit cards can give free insurance, and additional rights. - Sebastian Henderson, Guilford.

Taxation

Income Tax Returns. Always remember to double-check your arithmetic. Remember to sign and date the return as well. - Anon

Quick Money Ideas: Reclaim deposits - You may have provided deposit money for services that is no longer needed. For instance, when you move to a new State, utility companies often require an upfront deposit. Once you a made a number of on time payments the deposit should be returned to you. Sometimes you need to ask for the money to be returned. It may not happen automatically. Some apartment rental agreements have provisions to return some of the deposit money if you renew the lease. Think for a moment of the possible deposits you have made that you may be due. This can be a great way to bring in some quick cash.

You may have made reclaimable deposits on your telephone service, cell phone service, electric service, apartment lease, and secured credit cards.

Debt

In the UK, for an independent debt counsellor visit www.adviceguide.org.uk Most of the information is specific to the UK but the debt information is good anywhere.

Credit Rating

Patience and discipline are the only things that can improve your rating.  Ignore the organisations who claim that they can clean it up overnite. 

US Credit Rating Organizations: www.experian.com www.equifax.com  www.transunion.com 
UK Credit Rating Organizations: www.experian.com www.equifax.co.uk 

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