Financial

Investing - Loans - Consumer Protection - Fraud - Debt - Credit Rating - Swindles - Mortgages - Credit Cards

Advice and Tips on Saving and Investment

Improving Your Credit Score

Subject: Sage advice.  Never invest in anything that eats  omeomy   

You’ve checked your credit score and found it to be less than stellar. The problem is, you will soon be in the market to buy a new home or new car. You’ve got to take steps to improve your score or you risk paying higher interest rates or even worse, not qualifying at all. Credit scores are used by lenders to indicate a person’s credit worthiness......more

The above was taken from an article by Steve Baik who has an a very useful website dealing with all matters financial - www.creditservicer.com - - Read on

Thinking of investing in shares or property. First do a reality check. Do I have credit card debt and /or outstanding loans? Deal with those first. The return from investment is not likely to be more than the interest you are paying.

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 saying

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 -- levitator@nospamnetscape.net

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

Be wary of signing anything that isn’t completely filled in. Don’t accept oral promises, get everything in writing.

Consumers. 

• Putting your signature to a piece of paper is something we all do many many times in the course of a lifetime.  Most times the act of signing a piece of paper has little effect, there are times, however that a small squiggle on a piece of paper can change a life dramatically and usually for the worse.

• 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. 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  Keep all the relevant paperwork such as contracts, guarantees, warranties, or receipts. --

• 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

Swizzle

Guaranteed stock market linked bonds. UK Investors should check the small print. The performance of the bond could be dependent on not one but several entities performing well. A bit like winning a lottery!

Fraud

Prime bank Instrument Fraud, (PBI) The perpetrators convince their victims that there is a hidden international market in bank instruments. Victims rarely complain.

Debt

In the UK, for an independent debt counsellor visit www.adviceguide.org.uk

Credit Rating

Patience is needed to improve your rating.  Ignore the organisations who claim that they can clean it up overnite. Find out about your credit rating - US: www.experian.com www.equifax.com In the UK www.experian.com www.equifax.co.uk 10 May 2004

Mortgages

Subject: Offset Mortgage. Hi there, I noticed your site and love the format. Not something I’ve seen before. If I may, I’d like to offer a tip about how an offset mortgage can save you thousands of pounds. We are an online reviewer and advisor of Offset and Flexible mortgages. You can see our site here – http://www.offsetmortgagecentre.co.uk I hope it’s suitable for inclusion in the Financial section of your site Hope to hear from you soon, Kes

Credit Cards

Credit Card Companies Are Out For Your Money You're probably thinking "Tell me something I don't know" but in this time of low interest rates you might be thinking that you've got a great deal since credit card interest rates are low. Wrong. Credit card companies have a cut-off as to how low their interest rates will go. So when interest rates are low for lending, that doesn't mean your credit card rate will be low as well. If you don't know, or aren't sure, if your credit card company has a minimum interest rate just look at the fine print on your next credit card bill. If you can't read that small of print, and most of us can't, give the customer service a call. If your credit card company does have a minimum interest rate then I'd plan to look around and go with the credit card companies that don't. Because when the interest rates drop, you should get a break on your credit card rate.

The fixed rate on credit cards actually rose in the last twelve months. Why? Because the credit card companies have been actually losing money due to record numbers of delinquencies and bankruptcies. Those who can't pay now for their purchases in the past are sticking their bill to the rest of the credit card holders. 

So you may think that you want to get that credit card insurance being pushed by credit card companies that will pay your bill if you become disabled or unemployed. Not so fast. The average payout on a credit insurance policy is 30-50%. The National Association of Insurance Commissions actually recommends a payout of at least 60%. Payouts for debt cancellation and debt suspension is in the 1-3% range. That's definitely not worth the premiums. Get enough regular life insurance and disability insurance to cover your debt as their premiums are much cheaper and have greater payouts.

Beware of a credit card company trick that I recently ran into. I mailed a payment a week early but yet was still charged a late fee. Impossible I say. I found out the payment had to be in the credit card company's processing center by a certain time on the due date. Think of my credit card payment making it's way through the mail, to a P.O. box, then getting picked up, sorted, sent to the processing center, opened and recorded. And this has to be done by a certain date on the due date. Ouch. I suggest mailing in your payment at least two weeks early. -- CB - 10 May 2004
Christine Breen owner of:  1Stop Credit Cards

Useful links:
www.car-insurance-express.co.uk  - Directory of UK car insurance providers
www.experian.com www.equifax.com  - Your credit rating in the USA 
www.experian.com www.equifax.co.uk - Your credit rating in the UK
www.lendersmark.org - Some really useful articles on Debt, Tax, Loans etc. Use the very useful calculator to set payoff goals.

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