LowerMyBills – Auto Insurance
No Tickets In The Last 3 Years? Then You Pay Too Much For Auto Insurance!
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bills
Need Help to Manage Debt Better? Bill Consolidation Loans Tips and Advice
Debt is something that no one wants to deal with and most people try to avoid. However, many people fall into debt because of situations that they can’t control and others fall into debt because of bad decisions. Once you are in debt, trying to get out can be an endless circle of paying just enough to cover the interest and never getting ahead.
Some fall into the avoidance trap, hoping that if they ignore their debtors long enough they’ll go away, but that doesn’t happen in the real world. The best thing to do is to deal with it head on. Bill consolidation loans may be the answer to your debt problems.
When you have multiple debts it can be very easy to find yourself paying more than you can afford and hardly covering the interest charges. The higher your debt, the higher the amount of interest that you are paying. If you are paying several credit card bills, the interest you are paying may be more than you can even handle in a monthly payment. Bill consolidation loans can lower your payments and ensure that the bulk of your payment is going towards what you actually owe as opposed to interest. The hundreds of dollars you are paying every month can be reduced significantly and allow you to start breathing easier.
Debt consolidation loans come with their own interest rates but if you do some research you can find one with a low interest rate that will benefit you the most. You can start by making inquiries at your local banks. A bank that you’ve done business with for many years may be able to work out a good deal for you.
But don’t stop there. Go online and you’ll find many loan and banking organizations that specialize in bill consolidation loans. You can arrange everything online with a professional who will take all of you income and assets into account and work out a plan for you that will help you get out of debt. Bill consolidation loans can be arranged safely and securely online if you do your research and make sure you are dealing with a reputable company.
Bill consolidation loans are more common today than ever and loan agencies have to be competitive to get your business. You have many options to choose from and you should take some time to look over all of them carefully. You’ll want to find a company that is able to give you the best deal, allowing you to have more expendable income and helping you to pay off your debt in a quick and less painful manner.
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Financial Emergency? Quick Cuts to Put More Money in Your Pocket
Batten down the hatches! If you’ve just suffered a reduction in income, gotten a huge medical bill, or otherwise have a desperate need to tighten the financial belt immediately, here are some frugal tips and money saving tips that can give you immediate relief to your financial problems.
If you’re looking for ways to just get a little extra spending money, these suggestions may seem a bit harsh, even painful. But, if you’re facing tough economic times, these cuts could be your first line of defense to stop the hemorrhage of funds from your budget. These are changes you can make TODAY to add to your bottom line and save your financial well-being fast:.
Downgrade or cancel your cable and/or Netflix subscription. It’s not going to save you from going bankrupt, but canceling your monthly cable bill or DVD subscription plan can help put groceries on the table. While you’re at it, take a look at any other monthly recurring charges for entertainment, such as magazines, golf club memberships, and any other charges simply for fun.
Cancel your gym membership. Wait. I know what you’re saying; “Doesn’t exercise help with stress management?” Well, yes it does. But if you’re stressed about finances, adding to that stress isn’t going to help. Consider instead of a gym membership taking up a regular walking, running, or other home exercise routine. These are simple fitness programs and are perfect for combating stress – and they don’t require a membership fee!
Cancel your home phone line and extra cell phone lines for the kids. First, kids don’t NEED their own cell phones. You may be wondering why I’m suggesting that you cancel your home phone instead of your main cell phone. Here’s why: Most cell phone plans have cancellation fees that far outweigh the savings you’d get from canceling your service. Not so with your home phone. Go ahead and cancel your home phone and rely on your cell only. When you think about it, when was the last time you picked up the home phone? Chances are you use your cell most of the time anyway. Even having a stripped down land line of $20 a month adds up to $240 a year. Can you think of something you could buy for $240?
Increase the deductible on your auto insurance. One phone call to your insurance agent and you can save a chunk of change – sometimes in the form of a rebate if you’ve pre-paid your insurance for the quarter or year. When you add up the difference between the cost of a repair and the premium you’re being charged to cover a low deductible, you’ll most likely see that you can quickly save the difference. In short, you’re paying for that possible repair month after month in the form of the low deductible. Raise the deductible and put the savings aside in your emergency fund. You’ll come out ahead every time.
Reduce your childcare hours. Childcare can be one of the biggest line items in your budget outside of housing and car payments. In fact, it can easily out-pace your car payments. Cutting your childcare hours even by a few afternoons a week can make a huge impact on your budget. If you’ve lost your job, you most likely will assume these extra hours, but if you still need coverage, work out a swap with friends or family members for a short time.
If you did each one of these items this month, you would very quickly see a reduction in your expenses. They say “Desperate times call for desperate measures”. Take these steps this month and maybe next month won’t feel so desperate.
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Using Your Computer to Store and Maintain Your Financial Records
In this day of technological advancement, more and more people are throwing away their paper records in favor of electronic methods. This is also the case for financial records. As more banks begin to offer online banking, the days of the checkbook register and monthly paper statements are becoming a thing of the past.
Even from the comfort and safety of your own home, you can keep your financial records accurate and up to date all on your home computer. There are a wide variety of financial programs out there for personal use, which make things surprisingly easier than ever before. The newest programs available allow you to scan receipts, tax returns, checks, and other documents and file them away – without the need for a bulky filing cabinet filled with papers and labels. With these financial programs, it is easier than ever to find the past records you need – without having to search through page after page, folder after folder. You store your documents on your computer and label them accordingly for quick-click access to your financial information.
The safety available for these programs is outstanding. Password protection and encryption, along with other safeguarding methods, assist in letting you store your personal information without the fear of identity theft – only those with your password and information can get into the program to see your private financial files. You can even send messages to your financial institution, and compile and send in your tax return without fear of having your private information harvested by a third party.
Taking advantage of these new programs helps to keep your financial records accurate through a method you might not have thought to use before, a method many people use daily for many other purposes – your computer.
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Credit can be a wonderful thing. But when it gets out of hand, it can wreak havoc on our finances. This is especially true when it comes to credit cards. Charging up a large balance is bad enough, and by the time you add in fees and high interest rates, the debt can be overwhelming.
In a perfect world, everyone would use credit wisely and pay off balances within a month or two. But in reality, cardholders often build up a mountain of debt and fail to realize it until it’s unmanageable. That’s when it’s time to put the plastic away and work on paying off the balance. Here are some tips to help you do that.
1. Rework your budget, eliminating unnecessary items. Even little things like that cup of coffee you buy on the way to work every morning can add up. Once you’ve decided what you can do without, add up how much you’ll save and add it to your monthly payment.
2. Volunteer for overtime, or get a second job. Put all the extra money you make toward your balance.
3. Reduce your overall interest rate. If you have a low interest card that allows balance transfers, transfer the balance of a higher interest card to it. Even if you can only transfer part of the balance, you will save some money and be able to pay everything off more quickly.
4. Put lump sums of money that you receive toward your credit cards. These may include tax refunds, bonuses or settlement proceeds. This can save you a lot of money in interest.
5. Put your raises toward paying down your debt. A raise is money that you were living without before, so you should be able to continue to live without it until you’ve paid off your credit cards.
6. Sell stuff. Get rid of that extra vehicle, or have a garage sale. We all have things sitting around that we could do without, and those things can make us money. Use the extra cash to help pay off your credit card debt.
7. Snowball your debt. This simply means paying the minimum payment on all but one card, and paying as much as possible toward that one until it’s paid off. Then you move on to another card, paying the minimum payment plus what you were paying toward the previous one. Repeat until all balances are paid in full.
8. Get help from friends and family. A loan from someone who is close to you can help you get out of debt, and repayment terms are usually much more favorable. But it’s still important to have a repayment agreement and follow it carefully.
9. Negotiate with your creditors. If you’re having a hard time paying off your balance, they might be willing to lower your interest rate. You may be required to stop using your card while the lower rate is in effect, but a moratorium on charging until your finances are in better shape is a good idea anyway.
10. Talk to a credit counselor. If you are several thousand dollars in debt and can’t afford your payments, credit counseling could save you from bankruptcy. A credit counselor will negotiate with creditors on your behalf, and can usually get you lower interest rates and reduced payments. Once it’s all set up, you make one monthly payment to the credit counseling agency, and they forward the appropriate amount to each creditor.
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According to the American Banker’s Association, the average American family carries $8,000 in credit card debt. While a lot of companies claim they can magically make this debt disappear, there’s no substitute for formulating a realistic plan to get it paid off. High interest rates and late fees can complicate matters, so it’s important to make a plan and commit to it. There is no quick fix – paying down any debt takes time – but there are several viable options and techniques that can help.
* Prioritize
Make the payment of your credit card debt a priority. Without this basic first step, you will likely find it only too easy to keep running from the situation or accumulate more debt. Unless you address your debt head-on, it will continue to eat away at your family’s budget and even your relationships – according to PRLog, excessive credit card debt may be a leading cause of divorce.
* Create a family budget
This is not as daunting as it may seem. First, gather the family’s financial records: bank statements, utility bills, etc. Then, list your family’s total monthly income followed by its total monthly expenditures, such as a car payment and mortgage. This way, you will have concrete numbers to work with in regard to your credit card debt.
* Pay the debt with the highest interest rate first
Lay out all your credit card statements in order of highest to lowest interest rate, and focus on paying off the highest interest rate card first. On the highest rate card, pay as much over the minimum payment as you can each month. When that one is paid off, move to the next highest interest rate card.
* Work with the credit card company
Because they are unsecured creditors, credit card companies tend to be willing to negotiate the interest rate or other aspects of your credit agreement. When you explain that your intent is to get your debt paid, most creditors are willing to listen and work with you. When you call, have your household budget and latest credit card statement from that company handy.
* Think outside the box – do you really need to spend money on that?
What if you can’t find that extra $20 or $100 every month to dedicate to your debt payment? It never hurts to get creative. Go back to your budget and detail all expenditures – even those for which you don’t have a paper trail, such as a daily cup of coffee on your way to work or eating lunch out. Make your coffee at home and bring it to work in a travel mug, and save up to $3 a day – that’s $60 a month you could put toward paying off a credit card. And that’s just coffee.
Brown bag it for one week a month and save the $10 a day you were spending on lunch out. In one week, that’s another $50 saved. And that waiter or waitress who brings you your lunch might be working to pay off his or her credit card debt – waiting tables is a viable option for bringing in some extra cash with flexible hours.
Often, we just don’t realize where our money is going. Taking the time to sit down and evaluate just how much we have and where it’s being spent is not magical, but with commitment it can bring relief and eventual freedom from debt.
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According to an article written in USA Today by Noelle Knox two years ago, “Almost 280,000 Americans lost their homes through foreclosure last year. But that’s not the surprising part. This is: Half of them never even talked to their lenders.”
Today, the amount of foreclosures has increased by 79%. This is an astounding number, and fears that it may increase even further are widespread. As early as March of this year, Bloomberg.com stated that as many as 1.5 million more Americans may lose their homes, another 100,000 people in housing-related industries could be fired, and an estimated 100 additional sub-prime mortgage companies that lend money to people with bad or limited credit may go under, according to realtors, economists, analysts and a Federal Reserve governor.
If you have fallen behind on your mortgage payments or cannot pay at all, here are some suggestions.
* Call your bank or lender immediately advising them your payment will be late.
* If you can refinance, now is the time to do so.
* Contact a financial planner to assist you.
* Check out a reverse mortgage.
Keep in mind that the last thing a bank wants to do is to foreclose on your home. With the sub-prime mortgage crisis causing this mess, banks can ill afford to take in additional bad mortgages. Talk with them to ascertain if you can arrange a payment schedule, reduce the interest on the loan, or renegotiate the terms.
According to Ms. Knox, banks may be willing to engage in the following:
* Refinance – Allows the homeowner to refinance the current loan into a new loan. For example, you could refinance from an ARM into a fixed-rate loan.
* Repayment plans – Long-term “catch up” plans that allow homeowners who have fallen behind to pay more per month on their mortgage, gradually bringing their loan up to date.
* Loan modification/restructure – Agreement to change the interest rate or other terms of the loan.
* Forbearance – To postpone the interest or payments on the loan for a fixed period of time.
* Quick sale – Allows the borrower to sell the property for less than the loan, and consider the loan paid in full.
The fear of defaulting on a mortgage has most homeowners in a state of angst. However, you can delay the worst possible scenario by utilizing the suggestions made by Ms. Knox.
If you find that you may fall short in paying your mortgage, contact your bank or lender as soon as possible to discuss your concerns. There’s a good chance that you and the bank will be able to find common ground that is satisfactory to you both.
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