By financen | July 28, 2008 - 5:11 pm - Posted in Credit Card

When you have a credit card issued in your name, you make purchases by your credit card and are responsible to make the payments for those purchases on a certain billing date. If you have other authorized users of your account, you are responsible to pay for the purchases done by them as well. Credit card company will collect the payments from the original applicant to whom the credit card was issued. They will not contact any other authorized users on that card unless the original card holder is not able to make payments.

There are number of problems that may arise by using a credit card. For instance, if you have lost your card and a purchase is made by your credit card, you will be held responsible for that unauthorized purchase. It’s a very good idea to keep a list of all the credit and charge cards, including the name and address where you used the card so that you know the transactions reflecting on your statement on a certain date. If your credit card is lost or stolen, you should immediately contact the customer care of the credit card company so that they get your card blocked or canceled. The credit card company will issue a new credit card in your name with a different account number. However, they will issue the new card only if you have been making payments on the previous card. They will not be issuing cards to those who defaulted on their payments.

Unauthorized charges are another risks associated with the credit cards. You should safeguard your card and personal information with complete responsibility. Most merchants will only print a portion of your account or the credit card number, but some may print the receipt with complete information. If your account number falls into the wrong hands, unauthorized purchase could be the result. Don’t allow anyone to take your credit card away from your eyes, otherwise it might fall into the wrong hands and they will use your credit card number and the three digit number at the back of the card to make any online purchases.

The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you the right to withhold a payment to the credit card company if you have got defective merchandise or inferior services from any online purchase. However, you are required to pay for the other items to the credit card company. You are not responsible to pay for the disputed item until it is fully resolved by the merchant from whom you made the purchase. The credit card company cannot report derogatory item because of non payment of that disputed item.

Errors and omissions are expected. It is important that you review your statements thoroughly before making the payments. Credit and charge card billing errors are governed by the Fair Credit Billing Act. Turn the back side of the statement to see more information on the calculation of finance charges and your billing rights. If you discover an error in your statement, notify the credit card company immediately and get it investigated.

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By financen | July 23, 2008 - 5:05 pm - Posted in Credit Card

Business credit cards are not just for companies who are large enough and fairly established in the market. Companies that are smaller in size and have intermediate sized operations can also take the benefits of the business credit card offers to the large companies. In fact, in today’s economy, almost every company will not be able to afford the monthly cash flow life and business cycles.

Business credit cards offers a host of benefits from simplified bookkeeping to limiting and tracking monthly operational expenditures to every small scale and large scale business operations.

In addition to the variety range of business credit card offers, small operation companies are able to project an air of legitimacy and credibility. This perception is manifested in all groups of people from the company vendors to the employees and owners. It is very important to have at least one business credit card so that you can think forward for your business and expand its size.

There are a huge number of financial organizations that have business credit card offers for almost all companies. As a savvy business owner, you should be thinking about the importance of these cards for your business growth. The business credit card offers rewards and perks that will have a tremendous positive effect on your organization. It will also help in building a strong credit history for the growth and expansion of your business. Therefore business credit cards will happen to be the best fit for your company operations.

Business credit cards will improve the cash flow of your business. You will be able to pay all the expenses of your business by your card in a month and later pay the outstanding balance at the end of the billing cycle. This will give you interest free money during the card’s grace period. You will not have to be worried about the liquid cash needed on certain expenses in a month. Additionally, business credit card offers perks and benefits, such as flying miles, purchase protection, or a myriad of other features.

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By financen | July 10, 2008 - 6:38 am - Posted in Money and Banking
  • Money talks; hence you must save it.

Money talks, hence we all should plan our finances properly by creating investments. Those of you looking for short term investments must look for cash investments. Such investments will create the foundation of the investment pyramid and represent the least volatile asset category.

Experts say that people looking for short term investments consider cash investments to be the safest and reliable method. They often look it as a tool to strengthen their liquidity position and financial security. Cash investments generate lower return than other investments options. Savings and checking accounts are an example of cash investment or a short term deposit that is good for six months maturity period.

Maximize the performance of short term investments. Money defines your position in the society. You should concentrate on maximizing the short term cash investments’ performance to get the maximum investments.

Short term cash strategies are designed keeping in mind that the investor will need their money in the near future for some emergency needs. Therefore they will invest their money on deposits that have lower risks and are readily available.

Short term cash investments yield greater returns. It can be done by taking advantage of the four structural inefficiencies on the yield curve. The term premiums on the investments can be increased by expanding their portfolio’s duration.

Prefer greater spreads for getting higher liquidity premiums on the bonds. Securities such as floating rate, callable corporate securities, and adjustable rate mortgages are not readily bought in the secondary market and therefore pay their investors higher yield premiums. Since these securities have short durations and comprise only a small portion of the entire portfolio, investors can hold them to maturity with minimum risks. A careful bled of selected bonds into the portfolio increase the possibility of higher yields and lowers risks on account of diversification.

  • Money talks, so build it well.
By financen | July 6, 2008 - 4:09 am - Posted in Payday Loan

Payday loans are cash advances on your salary. People avail such cash advance loans during dire emergencies and the loan approval is instant. It requires little or no documentation or credit checks.

  • Cash advance loans have its positive and negative aspects. They are as follows:

1) Anyone can avail a cash advance loan. These types of loans are not based on credit reports or scores. Even if you have a bad credit, it is easier to get an online cash advance loan.

2) Cash advance loans help you cover the emergencies like unforeseen car repairs, a house leak during a storm, a car break down, or a sudden accident or illness.

3) Cash advance loans can be applied over the phone or even online.

4) Cash advance loans can be approved instantly and the money will be available to you within 24 hours.

5) A cash advance loan is immediate cash fluidity but ensure that the full amount is returned to the lender on salary day and not just 25%. Often rollovers
mean that you will be paying financing fees time and again.

6) Cost of cash advance loans is very steep. Borrowers will pay almost $15 for every $100 borrowed.

7) Cash advance loans come at very high APR. It can be as high as 500% and that too for the money borrowed for just 15 odd days.

8 ) If you are rolling your cash advance loan, it will lead to high interest payments which will amount to much more than the amount you actually borrowed.

9) While applying for cash advance loans, it is very important to read the terms and conditions thoroughly. Often people overlook the terms and conditions on the fine print and this leads to the borrower forking out much more than he bargained for.

10) Cash advance loans have limitations and only small amounts starting from $100 to $1000 can be borrowed.

As a borrower, you must make sure that you are not paying too much on interests alone on the principal amount. It is always suggested to take a loan from a reputed and established financial institution. Don’t sign the documents without reading the terms and conditions. Ensure that the stop- gap loan is paid back in full on payday.

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By financen | July 3, 2008 - 10:35 am - Posted in Bankruptcy

Filing for bankruptcy may provide an instant relief to the people in debts who are been regularly threatened by their creditors to pay their bills. You can get your debts discharged after filing bankruptcy. Though it may stop the creditors and collection agencies calling you repeatedly to pay your bills, it can also cause a deep damage to your assets and credibility. You can even loose your car and house once you filed for bankruptcy and everybody needs these two things for their existence.

Once the process of filing for bankruptcy has started, you and your family may be in the situation of losing control over your financial assets because it will be taken over by the trustee or the official receiver and the presiding magistrate. He will start liquidating your assets to pay off your dues to your creditors.

Be aware that while you are in the process of filing for bankruptcy, your financial credibility will be at stake and it will take a long time to rebuild your credit history. The blemish of filing for bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for ten years and it will be too hard to get new credit in the initial years.

Talk to your creditors and try to work out a repayment plan before taking the decision to file for bankruptcy. If you have managed to work out a repayment plan with your creditors and fail to stick to the plan, they will report your untrustworthiness to the credit bureaus and the missed payments will be reported on your credit report for seven years.

The blemish remarks on the credit report will make it very tough for the individuals to get any mortgage or any other credit such as a card or a loan for years to come. Even if you manage to get a loan with bad credit, the interest rates will be very high. It will become absolutely impossible if you just pay little over the minimums because the maximum portion of your money will be eaten in interests and fees only. Nothing will go towards the principal amount.

The consequences of filing for bankruptcy can be dangerous. If a tenant files for bankruptcy, his landlord is informed. The employment prospects are ruined beyond easy redemption. Bankruptcy will discharge all the unsecured debts but you will still be responsible to pay back the secured debts like you car loan or home loan. If you don’t pay the monthly payments, your car and home may get repossessed. Bankruptcy will not discharge your taxes, medical bills, student loans, fines and penalties imposed due to the violation of any law. The best course to avoid bankruptcy is to budget your finance in a proper and more meticulous way and seek credit counseling before it gets too late.