By Roshni Chowdhry, innovation & product development lead at SafetyNet
The idea of being rich appeals to most of us. What’s not to like about a world where your only money trouble is how to spend it? Plus, in a world where money is plentiful, you’re free to do all kinds of exciting things most
Credit Cards
Soft Heart, Hard Choices If you lend your credit card to a friend in financial need, trying to be helpful, there’s a decent chance that you’ll end up with increased debt – and possibly an ex-friend.
A recent survey by CreditCards.com found that 49% of Americans that have owned a credit card at any time
What’s the best way to pay down credit card debt? LaTisha Styles, Millennial Finance Expert and Founder of Financial Success Media, LLC, outlines two popular strategies.
“In the first way,” says Styles, “you pay off the debts with the smallest balance. That’s how you get quick wins.” This is known as the “snowball” method, because
Excessive Borrowing – Bad for Countries As Well As People? If you continue to run a balance on your credit card every month, eventually your overspending will catch up with you. Collective interest charges will send you into a debt spiral – where you can’t even pay off the accrued interest, much less the debt
Super Bowl LII (52 to you non-Romans) will take place at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, February 4. We could have had the Jacksonville Jaguars in their first Super Bowl appearance facing the Minnesota Vikings as the first team to ever play a Super Bowl in their home stadium – but neither team
What do you do when your credit card just doesn’t meet your needs anymore? Perhaps you have an airline or hotel rewards program that isn’t relevant anymore, you are paying annual fees that aren’t worth the benefits you receive, or you now qualify for a card with a better interest rate.
If you are in
Santa was not so kind to your friends and relatives this year, so you felt the need to fill the gap. You overspent on holiday gifts, and now you are stuck with a significant amount of holiday debt. Gratitude from gift recipients is a great feeling, but gratitude is not going to pay off your
How often are you asked at a retail outlet if you have a store credit card, and if not, whether you would like to apply for one and put today’s purchase on that card? These cards are examples of “instant approval” credit cards — cards that are approved or denied within a matter of minutes
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a higher credit limit on your credit cards? A higher credit limit could serve as a buffer for an emergency cash flow problem, saving you from searching for short-term loan options. Another advantage of a higher credit limit is a potentially higher credit score through lower credit utilization –
It’s no surprise why many Americans struggle with credit card debt – we spend more on our credit cards than we pay off at the end of the month. What are the expenses that drive that debt? It’s probably not what you think.
Based on a new survey from CompareCards.com by LendingTree, the majority of
Does your credit card bill contain a billing error? Did someone use your card fraudulently to rack up unauthorized charges? Have you tried and failed to resolve a credit card dispute with a vendor, such as a defective item that the vendor will not refund? These are situations where the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA)
The holiday season and New Year’s Eve are known for excesses, and for the subsequent regrets. We cannot help you with the traditional form of holiday hangover, but we can help you avoid the “credit hangover” caused from excessive holiday spending. With some forethought and willpower, you can make it through the holidays unscathed (at
Does your Christmas season usually lead to the January blues due to excessive holiday spending? It doesn’t have to be that way. With a combination of planning and willpower, you can enjoy a festive holiday without starting the New Year in a big financial hole. Consider these nine ways to celebrate while staying fiscally responsible.
Billionaires and the impoverished have one thing in common – momentum. Once you achieve high levels of wealth or debt, it’s very easy for either one to continue to grow.
A recent report by the Institute for Policy Studies highlights this point. The study found that three billionaires – Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Bill
Holidays are supposed to be a joyous time – but scammers can replace the joy of the season with the headaches of fraud. Help yourself and take some simple precautions to keep the Grinches out of your bank accounts during the holidays.
Phishing emails – Phishing, or emails with fake links designed to get your
Have you ever made payments only using your voice? Most people have at least given their credit card number out over the phone or have used automated phone payment menus – although the latter often leaves people shouting “REPRESENTATIVE!!!” at their phone attempting to interface with a human being.
Significant advancements in voice recognition technology
Credit scores are somewhat like IRS tax codes: we know they’re important; few folks fully understand them; and failing to successfully deal with either can cost you a lot of money. While most of the factors determining your credit scores, such as payment history, number of open accounts, and type of accounts, take months or
It seems like every time you turn around, there’s news of a new data breach – and the breaches continue to get larger with time. When breaches reach the level of affecting millions and even billions of accounts, it’s only a matter of time before your accounts are affected. How can you keep your accounts
It’s that time of year when the leaves change colors, pumpkin flavoring is crammed into everything imaginable (who needs Eye Drops with Pumpkin Spice?), and scary things come out on Halloween – but will you open your door on October 31 and be confronted by anything scarier than these hair-raising financial horror stories?
They Stole
Automatic payments from your bank account can be a great convenience, but they can also be a source of problems if you don’t pay attention. Do you check your payments on every bank statement? If not, you may be paying incorrect amounts or making automatic payments for a service or subscription that you don’t want
When you have a relatively large expense that you can’t cover with cash on hand, you generally have two choices to consider: revolving debt such as a credit card, or installment debt such as a personal loan. Which option works best for you?
Consider the difference between the two types of debt. Revolving debt has
What’s your credit card balance? If you choose to answer that question – and you probably shouldn’t, because it’s none of our business – you should answer it with a question of your own. “Do you mean my current balance or my statement balance?”
Do you know the difference between the two balances? Your current
Normally you are on time with your payments, but somehow you managed to miss one this month. What are the consequences of a missed payment, and how do you minimize their effects?
Missing a single credit card payment may not seem like a big deal, but, as Matt Schulz, Senior Industry Analyst at CredtiCards.com observes,
It’s tough living on the lower end of the credit score scale. If you have a credit score below 640 or so, you are generally given “subprime” lending offers for any form of credit that you request. From credit cards to auto loans and mortgages, you will be hit with higher interest rates and potentially
With more and more information stored online, more bad guys are just a password away from our personal data. As hackers have stolen financial information from large corporations like Equifax, Yahoo and even the Internal Revenue Service, identity theft is on the rise.
“Identity theft can trash your credit score because there’s the risk that
Have you ever seen ads for “Get Rich Quick” books? We suspect the only person getting rich quickly is the author selling his book! Perhaps the first page of the book reads, “The secret to quick riches is to publish and sell a book on getting rich quick.”
At MoneyTips, all of our eBooks filled
Like many people, do you need a credit card but struggle with the temptation to overspend? The convenience of being able to spend money that you don’t currently have is just too great.
Debit cards are a suitable alternative, but they have significant drawbacks – you can’t handle emergency expenses that go beyond the funds
According to the 2016 U.S. Consumer Payment Study conducted by the credit card service company TSYS, credit cards have displaced debit cards as America’s most preferred payment method. Why is credit the new king? The sheer number of credit cards plays a role, with 61% of Americans saying they have two or more credit cards
Have you been frustrated over the last few years with an inability to get credit? A recent survey by the Federal Reserve of New York suggests that while credit may be loosening, your frustration may continue.
Three times a year since October 2013, the New York Fed’s SCE Credit Access Survey assesses the state of
Credit card usage is dropping among the millennial generation. A surprising 67% of Americans between 18 and 29 years of age have no credit cards at all, according to a recent survey. That compares to only 45% of Americans between the ages of 30 and 49, and 38% of those aged 50-64 without credit cards.