Credit Repair Scams And How To Protect Yourself
It is unfortunate that the recent credit crunch has caused a rapid rise in unethical and often illegal credit repair organizations. The credit repair industry as a whole is currently under close scrutiny by The Federal Trade Commission as they are working closely with local states to shut down companies that over promise and under deliver. These companies prey on people who are on the verge of bankruptcy and often make their situation worse.
If you find yourself in the situation that your debts, interest rates and credit rating are fast spiraling out of control you need to make intelligent decisions and steps to quickly improve your situation. If something sounds too good to be true it usually is so you need to use care as you take the steps to fix your bad credit, reduce your debt and get back on your feet.
If you're looking for some decisive steps to get started you can sign up for our Free Step by Step Credit Repair course delivered directly to you via email.
If you find yourself in a situation where you're prepared to pay someone to help fix your credit rating you want to look for an established company that does not have complaints logged against them by the Better Business Bureau, your state's Attorney General or the FTC.
Other danger signs to be wary of:
- Offers to "create a new identity" as these often include fraudulent social security scams.
- Claims to remove accurate negative information from your credit report - you can only remove inaccurate negative information (a good idea).
- Claims to be able to remove liens, debts and bankruptcies.
- Outrageous guarantees about how quickly or effectively they can turn your credit around.
- Asking for money up front before services are rendered - people have often signed contracts and send regular payments only to find the company is not using the money to reduce their debt but to pay their up-front fees. Only after they receive the several thousand dollars do they then begin to work for the client. Unfortunately, by that time the situation is usually much worse.
A legitimate credit repair firm can provide many of the following services:
- Have full disclosure about fees that they charge, including a small startup fee and pay as you go services that you can cancel at any time risk free.
- Give credible references of people they have successfully helped to provide proof that they know what they are doing.
- Have established relationships with the big three credit bureaus along with most creditors.
- Reveal that they can only remove inaccurate information on your credit report.
- Provide comprehensive counseling on budgeting and income requirements for debt servicing.
- Clearly reveal that it can often take 3-6 months and sometimes a year or more to do a complete credit repair process.
Unfortunately, there are times that due to complete loss of income and high debt there is no way for even the best of companies to repair a poor credit score. If a credit repair company finds that your situation is beyond their ability to repair it is their duty to let you know this information as soon as possible in the process and to give you advice on the best way to proceed.
Click for our Free Step by Step Credit Repair and Debt Analysis course delivered to your email
Legal credit repair is within the rights of every consumer - even if you have fairly good credit you want to review your report from time to time and remove any inaccurate information through a legally-acceptable channel. Our credit repair and debt analysis course has detailed steps on this process.
If you believe you may already have been a victim of a fraudulent credit repair company, immediately report the case to the Attorney General in your state, visit www.fraud.org to report your experience and file a claim with the Better Business Bureau.
Protecting Yourself From Identity Fraud
Your identity is extremely valuable. You need it to prove who you are for various purposes in your day-to-day life, such as opening a bank account, obtaining a loan, getting a credit card, purchasing goods or services, applying for a passport or driving licence, or claiming benefits. If a criminal gets hold of your personal details, they can do exactly the same things in your name without your knowledge. And it's not rare for this to happen - the problem of identity theft is increasing all the time and the Home Office estimates that it costs the UK economy £1.7 billion a year.
It's therefore extremely important to keep your personal information safe. There are lots of things you can do to protect yourself from identity fraud. This practical factsheet provides some useful tips and information on how to do this.
Ways in which your identity might be stolen
A house burglary in which personal documents are stolen.
Handbag or wallet theft.
Fraudulent internet or phone banking scams in which you inadvertently give out personal details to fraudsters in the belief that you are being contacted by a legitimate organisation such as your own bank.
Post in your name being delivered to a previous address of yours and used to commit fraud in your name.
Having your post stolen or redirected without your permission.
Internal systems fraud - for example, payroll data from employees of the Government Tax Credit Office was stolen in 2005 and their details used to falsely claim benefits.
Criminals raking through your rubbish to find personal information.
How will you know when your identity has been stolen?
Often people first find out about it when they are refused credit because their credit rating has dropped.
You're not receiving any post at all, or key documents or letters you have been expecting do not arrive.
You receive bills or invoices for goods that you didn't purchase.
There are some transactions on your bank account that you don't recognise.
You have received solicitors letters or letters from debt collectors that have nothing to do with you.
You apply for benefits and are told that you are already claiming.
You receive correspondence from a government agency demanding repayment of benefits when you have never claimed anything in the first place.
Who loses out?
You - your credit rating could be damaged and you might find it difficult to obtain credit in the future. You will also have to prove to the organisations demanding payment from you that you are not responsible for them.
The government - the public purse suffers from billions of pounds worth of fraudulent tax and benefit claims every year.
Financial organisations - the companies with whom your details have been falsely used to obtain money may never be able to recover what was stolen in your name.
How to protect yourself against identity fraud
Don't throw anything containing your name and address and/or other personal details into the bin without shredding it first. This includes bills, bank statements, benefits statements, receipts and even unwanted post and junk mail.
Always let your bank and other organisations of which you are a customer know when you move house.
Don't use your mother's maiden name as a security password.
Check your credit rating with each of the three UK credit agencies at least once a year. (These are Experian, Equifax and Call Credit.)
Don't use the same password for all accounts.
If you're worried that someone else could easily intercept your post, arrange to collect important items rather than have them posted to you, e.g. credit cards or cheque books from your bank.
Cancel stolen credit cards immediately.
Contact the DVLA or the Passport Agency immediately if your driving licence or passport have been stolen.
Don't give out your credit card numbers or other personal information over the phone if people nearby could overhear.
Check your bank and other financial statements regularly to check for suspicious transactions.
If you receive a phone call or email from what seems to be a legitimate organisation requesting personal details, check it's genuine before proceeding. The best approach is to take their phone number and call them back. Banks will never ask you for your PIN or login details for their banking system.
Ensure your computer is safe for making online transactions - get anti-virus software and a good firewall for protection, and only ever enter personal details onto secure sites (with the prefix https in the address).
What to do if your identity has been stolen
Contact the organisations with whom the fraud has been committed to explain what has happened.
Inform the police.
Get in touch with the Royal Mail if you suspect your mail has been intercepted.
Contact CIFAS, the UK's fraud protection agency, and register with their protection service to help prevent future fraud.
Get credit reports from the three credit checking agencies to identify exactly what has been done in your name.
Benedict Rohan works as a freelance finance writer. Remortgages
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Opting Out Credit Card Offers
You are the boss and you may exercise your right to choose what you want to have with your credit line. A client will always have a choice on what options, offers and other services he want to have together with his credit card and what are those he do not want to add up to his payments.
Can all the unnecessary or unwanted offers be eliminated out from your credit account? It may take a little time, but it can be. What are the sweats worth for?
Credit card companies are very fond of charging fees on their clients through offers. They would offer tricky benefits and services that may lead later on into insurmountable debts. These offers are actually the ones not to be entertained by clients and be eradicated when no longer feasible.
Here are three possible ways of eliminating credit card offers:
-Through E-mail – There are lending companies that offer online banking. You can contact them through their e-mail and request for the termination or elimination of the offers that you do not want to avail. You can also e-mail them personally and ask your company to remove your name from the list of the respondent of the offer that they have.
-Through personal request – this maybe the most appropriate way of letting your credit card company cancel the offers that they give to you. By visiting their office, you can personally let your name be removed from their list. You can choose to be removed temporarily, a maximum of two years inactiveness or permanently.
-Through 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) – this number is the one you have to call in order to remove your name from the list. Like the other ways, you can request to remove your name temporarily or permanently.
There are times that upon application and upon choosing an offer, you may receive other several offers from the credit company that you have signed with. There are instances that several days after your application, you can still receive one and the same offer from the credit card company. This problem is often true to most of the banks and other lending companies. This is because a delay in their system occurs. The minimum working days for the system to renew are six days. With this length of time, you may possibly get the same annoying offer. Once you have receive the same offer from your credit card company, it is better to ignored it and delete it.
There are agencies that are reported with such complaints. These offers create other charges when mistakenly clicked and approved. Make sure that aside from you can delete every offer in your mailbox; you can have the choice to put an end to it.
Authorities are happy about the agencies making room for the debtors' right to choose which offer they would probably want to have and those which they deem not so beneficial. There are government officials who have posted statements and warnings about the scams going on with credit card offers and the elimination of these.
Offers are not generally bad, however, there are offers that are no longer feasible and do not suit your interest and needs. These are the ones that must be stopped and be eliminated from your mailbox to prevent further problems.
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Affiliate Programs: Are You Another Online Victim?
Those Aspiring To Make Money Online, Be Aware
Trying to make a decent income for my family has made me fall a victim of these merciless people. I am not going to mention names here, but I want to let you take precautions before it's too late. I have run into debts in the name of trying to make money online using other people programs.
If you do not have your own products, or if someone cannot let you browse the products you are about to buy online, or program they are asking you to join, before making a choice whether you want it or not, forget it , chances are that you are just about to become another online victim.
Every affiliate program on the Internet is promising to make you rich online, are the promoters really rich as they claim? If they were really rich, and if they really know quick methods of making you rich, why are they online trying to hunt for someone to make rich! The only reason why they are online is not to make you rich but rather to hunt for people to make themselves rich. How? Scamming you of course! Draining your bank dry on monthly dues promising to make you rich in return. They tell you that they will only give you part of what you are giving them of you sign in another person, so because you want to get rich also you go hunting for that person that will help you get your commissions, and the cycle continues. When you go to their forums and ask who is becoming a millionaire using the program, likely, you will get no straight answer.
The truth is that if they were suddenly becoming rich in no time, their neighbours will surround them with curiosity wanting to get that rich, they will not look for people, people will look for them, everybody will want to have an audience with them, their appointment books will be so full they will hardly have time to have an audience with anyone, leave alone spending time on their computers spamming people for prospective Signups.
Signs that you are about to become an online victim
* The scammers are very clever people, their sign-up pages are mostly very long, with enticing, sweet, juicy stories about those who have used their programs and become rich, but actually giving you very little information about what they are about to offer you.
* They are so quick to get their hands on your contacts or email address as this is their mainstream to stay in business. The terms and conditions are cleverly concealed. You never get to know the nasty bits before you get to sign up. Even when you sign up, they don't live up to their promise, sometimes they give you broken links or get eBooks that are very shallow that information is written by someone who has lifted I t from someone else and does not really know what they are talking about, or cannot handle the topic exhaustively.
* "Sign up now and I will show you how to earn $1000 everyday". So you have seen the slogan many a time! After sign up they will start giving you links to promote so that you get paid if others join through you, most of them you have paid them through so many of their other affiliate programs, you expect your money to be working for you, but you are lost, what you are giving them is for their pockets, get them more people to rob so they can give you a share of what you have helped them get in their game.
* Create your own money-making machine in a few simple steps that I am going to show you. Sign up now! Why can't they tell you about the programs before you sign up so you make an informed decision? Later you find yourself working with systems you don't understand, you get stuck with products and programs that you don't want. They have already chosen for you the programs to join or products to sell, all you need to do is give your credit card details to start earning money. Its supposed to be an autopilot, at the end of the day, you will be exhausted trying to make money with programs that nobody wants to join, and you keep paying your monthly dues to several programs within the system hoping that one day you are going get few sign-ups and start making money like the gurus do.
* "Your email will not be collected or sold to any third parties". The truth is that they are email collectors and they are selling it off to cash in. Where do you think those who are promising to get you million viewers are coming from? In fact as you sign up, you are being counted among them. The moment you give out your email, you open your inbox to lots of junk mail. Obviously they give you unsubscribe option, but that is only a strategy they are using to know which e-mail addresses are active. You are only opening up to more unwanted mails. Do not follow those unsubscribe instructions, if you get an email you don't know its source, delete it.
* "A limited Time offer, if you sign up by midnight, you will get a Mr A video on how to outsmart the Google ad words or create your own Winning Campaign", plus many more bonuses that are hard to resist. This is their strategy to create need for urgency in you. We all love Free products, don't we? and we all love to save don't we? The lure of thinking you are getting products worth $600 for Free just for a probably $40, is too irresistible. The scammers know also that if they give you as much time as you want, you will have enough time to research about them, know who they are and change your mind. To Scammers, Even if they will only make $10 off you before you discover they are scammers, it's enough because you are not the only one they are making $10 from, millions have fallen victims, and for them it quickly adds up.
* "This is a one time offer, you are only going to see this page once"- again the need for urgency strategy and playing on man's fear of losing, we really never want to lose those one in a lifetime chances, Do we?
* Sign up is Free. They always tell you sign up is free, but there is always a catch, you will later find out you are only signing for a few days, and they will not sign you up unless you have filled in your credit card details so that when your trial period expires, automatically, the money is taken off your card. Or they will ask you that it's a prerequisite to join another paid program they recommend for you to benefit from their free services of helping you to become rich. They are very clever, they know that your are very likely to forget to cancel your subscription and you will only remember after they have deducted their first instalment. Of course they will be gone with the cash by this time.
* When you want to unsubscribe, a page pops up "do you want to permanently unsubscribe and you email blocked not to subscribe again?" A strategy designed to cause fear in you so you change your mind. After unsubscribing, the same will automatically tell you that you are welcome again to join or immediately offer you a chance to subscribe again. Some will give you a limited time offer, if you wanted to change your mind and subscribe again you had only 48hours to contact them and renew your subscription.
* If you have been trying to market online then you know what I an talking about. Probably you have tried many programs promising to make you rich unsuccessfully.
The problem is, they are not making you rich, and they are making themselves rich. The moment you give them your credit card details you have given them permission to steal from you on constant basis.
If you really want to make yourself rich online, I recommend that
* You join programs that are completely free to join, no catch up whatsoever. If they really promise it's free, join and see what happens and get time to know as much as there is to learn about them before you start upgrading to paid subscriptions.
* Look at the programs, how are they advertising themselves, are they giving you long stories and testimonies about how so and so joined and make thousands in a few weeks without telling you about themselves exhaustively?
* Are they allowing you to agree to their rules and regulations before taking your email address or are they quickly prompting you to signup?
* How is the credibility of the program you want to join? Take a few seconds and run a search on the engine and see what is their on the internet about them. And also see who thy are associated with. Are they people or companies that you would like yourself to associate with?
Affiliate Programs that I will recommend
Linkshare.com:
If you have your own website you can get thousands of links from linkshare to promote on your site. They only deal with high end companies so rest assured you are in the right hands.
Tradedoulber.com:
Operates in the same manner like http://linkshare.com
http://websites.ws
This site offers you a chance to a have a domain name plus web hosting or sitebulider for $10/month. What you do with the site is up to you.
The reason I recommend those two is because they have strict rules and regulations governing their affiliates and merchants. The links you get are absolutely free of charge. It's up to you to decide how and where to promote them to get money.
Discover How an Identity Theft Criminal Gets Access to your Personal Information
Identity felt is where a criminal obtains your personal information such as Social Security number, credit card numbers, bank information, address, phone number, and birthday. While the methods used to obtain this information are numerous and varied, certain protective steps can be taken to reduce the chances of this crime happening. In order to protect yourself from identity theft, it is important to understand how a criminal get your information, why it is often difficult to detect your stolen information, and how someone can minimize the possibility of becoming an identity theft victim. It is the goal of this article to explore how an identity theft thief gains access to personal identification and what someone can do to prevent it.
The methods a criminal may use to obtain your personal identification are as varied as the victims themselves and while there is never a guarantee of not becoming a victim, there are certain steps one can take to greatly reduce the danger. While identity theft criminals have developed many ways of gaining access to your personal information and are continuing to come up with new ideas all of the time, the most widely methods used are still the easiest ones to block which can make prevention easier. Below is a list of the most widely used methods an identity theft criminal will use to gain access to your personal information.
1. Dumpster Diving: This the process where a criminal digs through trash, hoping to find discarded items such as credit card bills, bank account statements, and other mail which may include sensitive personal information.
2. Skimming: This is a process where a criminal sets up a special storage device that captures your credit card information when making a purchase.
3. Phishing: This is a newer technique that became available with the advent of the Internet and email. A criminal will pretend to be a representative of a financial institution and will send emails stating that your account appears to have been compromised and lead you to a website where you can straighten things out. This is a scam and you will be asked to verify certain personal information that the thief should not have.
4. Pretexting: Once a criminal already has some of your information, they will contact your bank or creditors and using a bogus excuse will persuade the institution to supply additional information to them.
5. Physical stealing: This is the oldest method around and is just as it sounds. A criminal will simply steal somebodies wallet or purse to see if any sensitive information can be obtained.
Once a criminal has access to the above information, they can, and often do, take steps to guarantee that you wont be aware of any activity until it is too late. Crimes such as this include opening a bank account using your name and Social Security number but with an alternate address so you are not aware of the new account or stealing your credit card number then submitting a change of address so you dont get any bills showing suspicious transactions. Some people may catch on fairly quickly with the credit card scheme because they are no longer getting expected billing statements but often times the new bank account scheme doesnt get caught for quite some time. Either way, the victim may not realize what is going on until they start getting notices from bill collectors for debts that they did not incur and by then it may be too late for a simple solution. Once you know how a criminal can steal your information and hide the fact from you, you need to understand what steps you can take to minimize your risk.
While it is virtually impossible to guarantee complete safety from becoming a victim of identify theft, there are some simple steps that a person can take to eliminate, or at least minimize the risk. First and most important is to always dispose of mail with your personal information in a safe way such as shredding or burning and never putting it in your trash where a criminal can find it. Next is to keep a vigilant eye on your credit history. New laws that have been written during the past few years require the major credit reporting companies to provide free credit reports to Americans four times a year and it is a great idea to take advantage of this. Reviewing your credit history on a quarterly basis gives you a great opportunity to look for discrepancies in your file and if you can manage to catch this type of problem early on, it is much easier to fix. You can and should also pay close attention to your monthly bank statements and credit card billing statements for suspicious activity and if you fail to receive billing that you normally receive, take action immediately and contact your financial institutions to find out why. And if you experience outright theft of personal property such as a wallet or purse, make it a point to cancel all debit and credit cards immediately.
After reading this article, it should now be obvious that anybody, including you, can be affected by the identity theft crime and while law enforcement agencies exist to protect us from crime, they are ill equipped in handling this type of crime. While they may be able to help you after becoming a victim, you will still have a long road ahead in repairing your credit. It is a far easier for an individual to take pro-active steps to avoid becoming a victim rather then trying to repair the damage afterwards. Whether you decide to take such steps on your own or employ an anti identity theft program is up to you but for the sake of you and your family, please take steps today.
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How to Avoid VA Home Foreclosure
Facing foreclosure can be one of the hardest things that a homeowner has to endure. Thinking about the prospect of losing the home that they have loved and created memories in can be extremely depressing. All of these emotions and the lack of answers can tempt many to run away from the problem rather than confront it and figure out a solution. The same is especially true with a VA home foreclosure.
The VA home loan is a loan that is only offered to members or former members of the armed forces. The loan is different from civilian financing in that it is guaranteed by the government. This means that if the owner can no longer pay for the loan, a VA home foreclosure will occur and the government will step in and pay off the mortgage. The home then becomes the property of the government and is often sold at auction for a small fraction of what it is worth on the real estate market.
A VA home foreclosure can be devastating not only to the homeowner's emotional well being but to their finances as well. If something is not done to stop the foreclosure process, they know all too well that they can lose your home and ruin their chances of buying another home. They may even have to file bankruptcy to avoid further legal action regarding the loss of the home.
In many cases, a notice of VA home foreclosure is received after a time period of financial hardship. The hardship may be over, but the homeowner is faced with an outrageous overdue mortgage payment and has no idea how to catch it up. If the homeowner can show his or her mortgage company that they will be able to continue making the payments and that the hardship is over, the mortgage company may reinstate the loan and allow the homeowner to pay the past due balance over a period of time.
If the financial situation of the homeowner has changed permanently, a VA home foreclosure can still be avoided and the home saved through refinancing the current mortgage. In many circumstances this will lower the payment enough so that the homeowner can now afford to make it.
Before the VA home foreclosure takes place, the homeowner also has the option to sell the home. This can be done through a real estate agent or by the owner himself. Selling the home will allow the owner to cancel out the debt and begin again with his/her credit standing in tact.
When a notice of foreclosure has been sent, the homeowner is not the only one who is aware of it. Many investors looking to buy inexpensive foreclosures may contact the owner to see if they can purchase the property. While many of these are legit, there are some scam artists out there who try to swindle a homeowner facing VA home foreclosure out of their home.
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How To Repair Your Credit?
Sad but true...a low credit score will keep you away from living a better life. Your credit score determines all your payments, like mortgage, car, insurance, and even your credit card rates. More over, most employers will also check your credit score when you apply for a job. A few negative items and you are denied of most of the things. Thus, having realized the significance of a good credit score for customers, credit repair companies have come into the scene-promising customers to help them improve their credit score and fix the negative items.How to repair your credit?· The first thing is to realize that you are completely capable of repairing your credit. No credit repair company will be able to do anything that you are not capable of. Instead of wasting your time and money on credit repair companies, prepare yourself for the task of repairing your credit.· In order to know what you are going to repair you will need to know all the information contained in your credit report. You will need to have the latest copies of your credit reports. Having a complete view of your credit history will help you know how to help yourself.· Read, review your reports, look out for the information which are incorrect or aren’t yours, check out for the errors that been made in reporting payments and late fees, your past accounts that are late, charged off or have been sent to collections· In case you find any incorrect information in your account, you have the right to dispute it, send a letter to the credit bureau informing about the incorrect entries. If you sent a copy of your report highlighting incorrect information it will be much better.· It is important to care of your past due accounts. Do what ever you can to stop your past accounts from being charged-off, and if you have charge offs, pay them, and work with debt-collectors to take care of your collection accounts.· Maxed out cards will cost you credit points, you should thus bring them below your credit limit and continue to pay the balance completely.· Now that you have cleared all your negative items on your credit report, work to create a positive information, you will need a new credit card to re establish your credit score, you can ask for your friend or your family to co-sign a credit for your best bet will be a secured card, and once you get that you must continue to make your monthly payments on time. Sometimes there can be inaccuracies in your credit report, which will lower your overall credit score. When it happens some people turn to credit companies to help them with credit disputes. Most repairing agencies will promise them with much more than they can obtain. No negative information can be removed from your credit reports, unless you can proof that the information is false. If you think that the information is false you can file a dispute and notify the credit bureau. The credit bureau will check the information and if found false will rectify it. If the information is accurate it cannot be removed from your credit reports. However, if you choose to use the service of repairing agency, you are paying for the same work which you are capable to do.These organizations are governed by the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Under this Act a credit repair company is obliged to you to give you a copy of your contract to view before you sign it, the contract has to include the payment that has to be made, a description of the services they perform on your behalf, the date by which the services will be performed, their name and the address, a statements about 3-day cancellation period. If the company does not provide you with the above, asks you to pay before the services have been performed, promises to completely remove all the negative items on your report, and asks you to create a new social security number, then you are being scammed.
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Is a Doctor Necessary to Place Credit Band Aid?
Walking into a clinic may be the answer for a physical injury but for credit repairs sometimes it's best to do your own medical analysis. Learn how credit repair clinics can transform your credit into a deadly incurable disease.
It used to be rather simple years ago to walk into a store and purchase whatever item one wished to take home. Modern day technology and little plastic cards with mega logos have been a life saver for some and a death penalty for others. Whether some may think it’s an invasion of privacy, creditors can look into your credit history and verify not only your payment punctuality but your credit score. This 3 digit number can determine your approval for credit or how low or high your monthly payments will be. Not only have creditors gotten into the habit of checking your past, but possible employers and insurance companies as well. This fascination to improve one’s credit report has made many think twice about getting it polished up. How Can You Recheck Your Credit Report?
If you feel that your credit report is incorrect then you have the right to have it rechecked. According to The Fair Credit Reporting Act, any person can recheck their credit report. Even though the process to review all the paperwork and have it resent is extensive, it’s worthwhile in the end knowing any modification can ultimately change your line of credit. How Do Credit Repair Services Tangle You Into Their Lies?
Nothing, almost nothing comes for free in life. Especially agencies who promise to erase your bad credit history just so you can start purchasing new items again. Yes it is true, they do all the nasty paperwork, review millions of numbers and mail out professionally typed letters, but some promise miracles and the point of the matter is, it’s not going to happen. How can these agencies promise to erase any record of bankruptcy in your credit report when the law states that such record must remain intact? It makes you wonder exactly what kind of service they are offering. They are only working honorably if they have substantial support from the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Federal Trade Commission states that there are not authorized credit repair clinics. People get easily tricked into signing or paying upfront for a service promised to clean sweep their credit report. Scams stating that your credit can be protected and repaired only turn out to cause more harm and end up disappearing once they have received your money. Some people have spent over $2,000.00 for credit emergencies. Take A Walk Through Credit Clinics
It is important to research a company you plan to share your credit report with first. Before anxiously signing away or reaching into your wallet to pay that miraculous debt removal fee, investigate with the Better Business Bureau and The Federal Trade Commission to see if the company has ever had any legal disputes or has had any unlawful transactions. These credit services must obey by the rigorous structures and show the way to the Credit Repair Organization Act. You should be well informed of the company’s name and business address, the turn around time expected for results, a description of procedures and possibility of canceling at any time without having to pay any fees. Do not let a credit service trick you into applying for a Federal ID Number in order to establish a new credit identity. This is a state felony and can cause you to do time instead of a fine. Negative records like bankruptcies and lawsuits cannot be erased from your records and remain for a maximum of up to 10 years. What The Acts Say?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Credit Repair Organization Act state that you are entitled to a copy of the Commission Credit File Rights under state and Federal Law. These credit repair services should be out to protect you, not run with whatever hope you have left of correcting your credit history. Be aware of scams and unwritten promises. Be specific about terms and fees involved in services. Even though it may take longer to look into a credit repair service clinic, in the long run your credit can become healthier and have no need to visit a doctor’s office!!
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Life Insurance – Pros and Cons of Whole Life & Term Life Coverage
“Do I need life insurance?” “Is whole life insurance a good investment?” “Is term life insurance risky?” Questions like these are posted in online communities on a daily basis. The answers vary widely, with the term life and whole life camps polarized. The tone of the debate is surprisingly strident. After all, the topic is insurance—not a something expected to inspire strong opinions, let alone strong language. But words like “rip-off,” “scam,” and “waste of money” fly back and forth, sometimes accompanied by rows of exclamation marks or worse. What is behind the brouhaha? And which camp—if either—is right?
The two sides do not even agree about whether a person needs life insurance. Whole lifers say, yes. You do not want the death of a family member to disrupt your family’s finances or jeopardize its future. It is hard enough to adjust to the loss of a loved one. Adding financial difficulties exacerbates the problem. With the skyrocketing costs of funerals, even children and seniors should have at least a small life insurance policy.
Not so fast, say the term lifers. The only reason to have life insurance is to replace the lost income of a family member who dies, and then only when the spouse or family is dependent on that income. If you are single with no dependents and no debts that might be transferred to your family in the event you die, then you do not need life insurance. If you are married and your spouse works, you probably do not need life insurance, either, assuming your spouse makes enough to support himself or herself.
The time for life insurance, term lifers say, is when the policyholder’s income is vital to the financial security of the family. If, for example, you have purchased a home together and your spouse could not pay the mortgage and other bills by himself or herself, then life insurance is in order. If you have children, you will want to have enough life insurance to allow your family to maintain its lifestyle after you are gone. This includes not only meeting day-to-day expenses, but also being able to follow through with plans for higher education. Insurance professionals recommend buying a policy with a face value 5-10 times the breadwinner’s annual salary to help family meet expenses for a period of years.
Whole lifers see problems with the term-life scenario. The view it as overly optimistic, even naïve. Many things can happen during the 20- to 30-year period covered by term life insurance that could extend the need for coverage beyond the policy’s end date. For example, children may be born mentally retarded, with severe autism, or with another serious condition that could prevent them from becoming independent when they reach adulthood. Children also can develop a disease or suffer an accident that disables them. A spouse, too, can become disabled. In these situations, the family will remain dependent on the breadwinner’s income long after the term life policy expires.
Term life insurance advocates point out that in such cases, the breadwinner can renew the term life policy, or take out a new one. Now it’s the whole lifers’ turn to say, “Not so fast.” By the time the second term life policy is needed, the breadwinner will likely be in his or her fifties or even sixties. Due to the age of the insured, the cost of a second term life policy will be much higher than the cost of the first was. With the added years come added risks of certain diseases. If the breadwinner is obese, has developed high blood pressure, a heart condition, diabetes, or another disease, the cost of the term life policy will skyrocket. If the individual has developed cancer or AIDS, he or she may not be insurable at all. In such situations, the cost savings realized on the first term life policy could be wiped out by the high cost of a second term life policy.
By contrast, the premiums of a whole life policy are set for life and do not go up with age or medical condition. A whole life policy cannot be canceled due to medical conditions, either. The policy remains in force until death, as long as the premiums are paid.
“Until death” is another advantage of whole life, its advocates maintain. Whole life gets its name from the fact that it insures the policyholder life until death. As a result, whole life insurance is guaranteed to pay a death benefit—the amount the policy pays upon the death of the insured. The death benefit can be increased—at certain points at no additional cost—as the policyholder ages. A small policy designed to cover the funeral costs of a child can be increased to provide adequate coverage during an adult’s peak earning years. Whatever the death benefit or “face value” of the whole life policy, the insurance company guarantees to pay it. As a result, the policyholder or his or her beneficiaries always receive some, all, or more than the premiums paid into the policy.
This is not the case with a term life policy, whole lifers point out. The term life insurance policyholder can pay premiums for 30 years, but if he or she outlives the policy—even by a day—then all of the premium money is gone. The only thing the policyholder will have received is 30 years worth of peace of mind.
Whole life insurance, by contrast, accumulates a value that the policyholder can access during his or her lifetime. This value is known as the cash value or the surrender value. The whole life policy holder can use the cash value as collateral for a loan, or even borrow some of it during his or her lifetime. The policyholder must pay this amount back. If he or she dies before it is paid back, then the unpaid amount is deducted from the death benefit. If the policyholder decides to cancel the policy, the insurance company will pay him or her the cash value, which is then known as the surrender value. Whole life, its proponents maintain, is not only insurance against death. It is an investment for life.
This is where the debate turns nasty. Term lifers often ridicule the investment features of whole life. Because whole life always pays a death benefit, it costs 5-10 times more than term life does. Term lifers argue that a person is much better off getting a term policy for the same face value that they would get a whole life policy, then saving and investing the difference in premiums. Almost any investment will return more than a whole life policy will, term lifer proponents maintain. Over 20 or 30 years, the difference can be vast. Buy insurance to insure, the term lifers say, and use the savings to invest.
Whole lifers respond that the return on a whole life policy is guaranteed at the outset, something than cannot be said for other investments. To earn greater rewards, the term life policyholder must take greater risks in the open market. Many investments will outperform whole life insurance, but not all will. Some investments lose money, as shareholders in World Com, Enron, Peregrine Systems, and many other companies can attest.
Even if the investment will pay out, it is not certain that the term life policyholder will actually make it. To do so, he or she must calculate the amount saved over whole life insurance; save that money every month, quarter, or year; research possible investments; and contribute to that investment regularly for 20 or 30 years. This makes sense for disciplined and savvy investors, but many others will find the endeavor daunting and time consuming. They may not start it, and if they do, they may not continue it. Whole life takes care of insurance, savings, and investment in one easy payment. Even if the returns on whole life are not great, saving something is better than saving nothing, and nothing is exactly how much many term life policyholders will end up saving.
Both whole life and term life have pros and cons. People who are financially savvy and disciplined will gain from the term life scenario. Those who need a convenient and simple mechanism for insurance and savings will benefit from whole life insurance. Deciding which is best for you requires an honest appraisal of your goals, your lifestyle, and your investing skills.
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Improving Your Credit History
Like it or not, we live in a world today where every move you make is undoubtedly recorded by somebody somewhere … especially if you’re making financial moves. Let’s say you subscribed to one of those 12-CDs-for-the-price-of-one programs a few years ago and decided that Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits wasn’t the record you wanted. Well, you tried to cancel, but of course this scam-gram wasn’t having that, so instead of letting you off the hook, the bombarded you with “final notice” letters. Of course, you ignore them and they eventually stop sending you letters. But did you know that this move will haunt your history?Even though the practices of these semi-legitimate services are shoddy at best, a failure to comply with the miniscule small print on the contract will leave your credit report blotched. And just when you’re financially stable, ready to move into that dream home but need the bank’s backing for a $200K loan, that little stain will turn into a mudslide and prevent you from getting a loan. How do you fix this? Think back…Whatever happened to pigeon mail anyway? So many of our conventional ways used to work just fine but were phased out for the latest and greatest. Well maybe pigeon mail isn’t the finest example, but what about the age-old savings account? That used to get a work out if you spotted something you wanted. And if you ever found yourself in a financial pickle, you could always go to your boss for a cash advance loan- no problem. These days it’s a little more complicated. The boss is three levels above you in the building and it’s our make-believe money in the credit world that is getting the work out. Hence our rising defaults and climbing credit debt, we need to start working to tie up those loose ends regardless of how painful it is to go against your principle and feed the kitty of a scam artist or unsavory business. Lenders should only offer money to reliable people. You may have 99 of 100 bills paid off in your life, but it’s always that one that does the damage. You can request a copy of your credit report from the proper channels and see which mistakes need to be corrected. After you know where you went wrong, begin by calling the people and setting up an appointment, either by telephone or in person, to express your willingness to repay the debt to get this situation behind you. The vast majority of collectors will be thrilled that you’re willing to pay, and all too willing to work with you. After all, their primary objective is to receive money, not to smear you for eternity. They don’t deal in spite; they deal in dollars and cents. And what makes the most sense is for them to work out a payment plan with you. But you have to make the effort; after all, it’s your credit report stained, not theirs.However if you find yourself on the line to an uncooperative lender only too willing to make life difficult, you will need to get your hands on cash fast. Try a fast cash loan if you find yourself in this type of financial predicament. As long as you stick to a reputable company, you can get a few hundred dollars in your hands within the day, sometimes wired to you bank in as little as an hour. Once you handle your problems and have your credit report cleaned, you should shine a little bit brighter in the eyes of lenders. But it’s no guarantee that you’ll receive a loan. If you find yourself here, having exhausted your options or simply don’t want to waste time with a bank, once again a cash til payday loan may work in your favour. Check that they don’t do rollovers, have a flat rate and nominate all of their fees up front or in their contract and you should be on the home stretch. Just remember, you don’t want to be reliant on this type of credit forever. We need to take it back to the days when credit was a little more novelty. No longer can we get swipe happy in our imaginary cashed up land. Your finances are very much real, and are very important to keep a close eye on.
Payday Cash Loan,Australia’s preferred short term lender, shares his insights on money matters. Founded in 2005 Payday Cash Loan has helped thousands of Australians with their fast
cash loans but that’s just the short term solution. Payday Cash Loans also helps people in the long run by providing budgeting tools, e-books and individually researched
articles on money matters and financial tips. The aim is to assist people in achieving instant and long term financial freedom.
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