1) Never give your checking account number and the routing number to any unknown person. If you are going to make payment transactions with a company, make sure that you have researched on that company with the local authorities and the Better Business Bureau. If you are thinking of doing business with some company for the first time, give your checking account information only if you have initiated the transaction. Scammers will take the bank account number from you and withdraw funds by creating a demand draft. This is also known as remotely created check. They might also try to do an electronic transfer if they get the access to your account. Don’t give our credit card or the debit card number to anyone whom you don’t know. If you fell into the hands of a scammer, they will take out all the money from your checking account and make your account overdrawn. You can get your name removed from the telemarketing calls by registering on the National Do Not Call list on the website https://www.donotcall.gov

2) Review your monthly statement: When you review your online statement, make sure that you check all the debits, automatic payments, and other withdrawals. If you see an unauthorized transaction, notify your bank immediately and dispute it.

3) If you face any problems with your checking account, notify your bank immediately. The sooner you alert your bank when you face a problem, it will get resolved at the earliest. In some cases, your bank will request you to notify them in writing. Keep everything documented and get the problem resolved by the bank as soon as possible. If any kind of fraudulent activity is taking place in your checking account, then you should contact the attorney general’s office.

4) If you don’t have enough funds in your checking account, don’t write any checks or authorize debits by any company. This will cause your account overdrawn and your bank will charge a NSF. If some company is authorized to take out the money on a certain date when you don’t have the funds ready in your account, then you should call the company and work out prior arrangements to change the payment date.

5) Know your rights under consumer protection laws. Every consumer has certain rights under the federal electronic fund transfer act. If you face any problems with your checking account regarding a demand draft or an electronic transfer done, then you should be able to use your rights under the EFTA.

Bankruptcy is a legal process governed by the federal laws that will discharge most of your existing debts with the creditors. There are some debts that will not get canceled in the bankruptcy process. If the most of your debts are the ones that cannot get legally discharged, will it be still worth filing for bankruptcy and have the blemish remark stay on your credit report for seven years?

When a debtor files for bankruptcy, the creditors are given a chance to recover a certain portion of their money as designated by the court. If the debtors do file for bankruptcy, creditors are legally required to stop all collection attempts which provides a temporary relief to the individuals. The real problems start after the bankruptcy is filed. It will be pretty tough to get new credit in the beginning years and if any lender offers you new credit, you will be charged very high interest rate on the amount borrowed. Your employer may not allow you to continue the job and new employer can refuse to hire you in his company. It will be difficult to find a place to live if you do not have a home.

One of the possible ways to avoid bankruptcy is to sell your assets and see if you come up with some money to pay off the existing debts. If you are going to file for bankruptcy, the assets will be liquidated anyway. It will be a good decision to arrange some money by selling your assets and repay your creditors.

If you own a car, try selling the car if it’s worth, and buying a less expensive car. You may be able to use the rest of the money towards paying your existing debts. If possible, try to have one car in the family if you have more than one. You will be surprised to see how much money you can save here.

If you own a home and have a mortgage, consider selling the home to live some place less expensive.

Sell any belongings that you don’t need. This will help you to arrange some money to pay off your existing debts without having to file for bankruptcy.

Increase your income: It is very important to have an extra source of income in order to relieve some of the money pressure that you are experiencing. For this, if you have to do a second job, do not hesitate. You need to be aware that you’re doing all this for a temporary period of time. Once your existing debts are paid off, you will have a better control on your life and you won’t need to take so much stress and fall into debts.

There are many ways to earn extra money like getting a job at night if you are working in the daytime. You can also find jobs on the weekend, or finding ways to earn money from home on your computer or selling some personal items on the ebay.

You can also find odd jobs like doing something for your neighbors (lawn mowing, dog walking, errand service), writing articles for the website owners who pay their content writers. Everyone has some experience and skills that can be used to make some decent money.

It is impossible to get approved for a good credit card at zero percent interest rate if you do not have a good credit history in your favor. And you can establish good credit only if you are using a credit card. Because of this no win cycle, most of the people are not able to build their credit ratings and apply for best credit. The fact is that there are cards available for people with different credit ratings and you should be able to rebuild your credit history using those cards.

If you are applying for one of the top 10 credit cards, you may get approved for a credit card according to your present credit ratings. While a student will naturally apply for a student card, a person who is not a student and has a non-existent or bad credit history will apply for secured credit card or a card with a co-signor.

Secured credit cards: when you apply for a secured credit card, you deposit cash up front in a savings account or CD. You will get a credit line as per the funds deposited into the account. The card issuer will maintain a lien on the deposit account. If you do not make timely payments on the secured credit card, you will lose the deposit amount.

Unsecured or regular credit cards are more commonly used than secured credit cards. If you have good credit ratings, you should be able to apply for best credit.com from the top 10 credit card companies. With an unsecured credit card, the issuing bank has no legal rights to take away your assets if you have defaulted in your payments. They can either sue you or force you to file for bankruptcy during their collection attempts.

A secured credit card carries a higher interest rate in comparison to the unsecured credit cards. These types of cards are good for rebuilding your bad credit.

Credit cards with a co-signor: When you apply for a credit card with a co-signor, the other person having good credit ratings guarantees payments to the credit issuer if you are defaulting in your monthly payments. This can be a risky move for the person with good credit ratings because if the co-signed debt goes into default, the co-signor with good credit ratings will be asked to pay the balance in most cases. If payments are not being done, the person with good credit ratings not only affects his credit ratings, but will be asked to pay the full balance.

Repairing Your Credit: Everyone must check his credit report and see whether all the items reported on the credit report are accurate in all terms. If you find any inaccurate items which can be quite obvious, because the credit reporting agencies handles billions and billions of consumers’ credit information, make a note of all the inaccurate negative items and get it investigated immediately. You are entitled to get a free copy of your credit report if you have been denied credit, insurance or employment. You can also request for a free copy if you can prove that

(1) you are unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days

(2) you are on welfare or

(3) your report is showing inaccurate items because of some fraudulent activities.

There is no charge when you are disputing any inaccurate information on your credit report. Simply fill the dispute form and submit it with any supporting documentation. Once you find your credit information to be accurate in all terms, you can apply for a credit card with confidence. Make sure that you use the credit card responsibly and make timely payments. This will enhance your credit history in the long run.

If your life is gone out of control because of credit card debts and you jump to debt consolidation as a solution, the first thing that you need to do is to live your life without the plastic. Being in debts can be like a serious wound that will take long time to heal. If you are putting a bandage on it by going for a debt consolidation, make sure that you handle the underlying cause of the puncture, otherwise the bleeding will start again. Take steps to stay away from debts and make sure that you don’t have such wounds again.

Overspending and unemployment may be one of the basic reasons of falling in debts. If you don’t manage your finance properly and overspend what you have left, and are hit by unexpected reasons like unemployment, it is time to fix up this situation now before it gets way out of control. Debt consolidation will be a good step to combine all your debts under one monthly payment and pay off all your creditors one by one.

A nicely planned debt consolidation method will reduce your monthly payment burden and set a fixed payoff schedule to your creditors. You will be able to sleep well at nights and stop the phone call from ringing continuously.

Change your spending habits when you are considering debt consolidation as an option. You can’t spend too much at one end and consolidate your debts under a payment plan. Your main intention should be to reduce your existing debts, not to create new ones. Debt consolidation will fail if you are not controlling your spending habits. Any debt reduction strategy requires a serious lifestyle change. You should have the perfect control on your finance and staying out of debts.

The real estate market is pretty slow and stable in the last few months but it has definitely caught a lot of attention in the media. While the national markets are making big news, sellers should focus more on local trends.

The nationwide real estate market does not have a major significant role in the real estate industry. It is a discussion by the communities usually based on averages. However, in unique circumstances, the averages are entirely different.

For example, the real estate market in Stockton, California is a complete nightmare. Most of the houses are either in foreclosure or distressed. This has been the worst scenario ever. That being said, does it represent a national trend?

There is nothing in the national trends in the real estate market. This is perhaps the worst real estate market since a long time. The market in Jacksonville is perhaps strong. Sales are happening. Hence they might agree to the national trends.

Every real estate market is a self contained local phenomenon. There is a small market inside every big market. For example, homes in San Diego are worth $500,000 range. There are more expensive homes in the range of $800,000 that are also getting sold and still carrying their value. Basically, homes above that price range are actually making good profits. In other words, we are discussing about two markets in the same geographical area but divided by price.

If you are a homeowner, these examples will teach you a lot of things. National and state trends do not make too much difference. You need to focus more on the market in your neighborhood. See how fast homes near your area are selling. Is the home value rising or dropping down? These are numbers that will help you in understanding the market value in real estate, not what is happening in just one area like Stockton!

People with bad credit can now get approved for business loans. These kinds of loans are not processed through the usual banking circles. They require a different kind of collateral such as account receivable collaterals. When you look for a loan with a bank, they want their customers to have an excellent credit and require collateral. If you want to start a business and your credit got screwed because of late payments, skipped payments, or a bankruptcy, then you should not go to a bank for loans. When loans are issued to borrowers, they will look into the future sales. And to get an idea, they will look into the past sales of your business. If your past credit history has not been good enough, then most of the banks will not approve your loan application.

When a lender is granting funds to the borrower, they will offer some financial assistance in the form of advice so that he does not have to go through any kind of financial crisis in the future. There are many lenders that will try to scam the borrowers by saying that they will remove negative information from their credit report. They advertise that they can remove judgments, bankruptcies, late payments, tax liens, collections, foreclosures and repossessions along with their offer of poor credit lending. When you are applying for any business loan, you should check the legitimacy of the loan company. There are many genuine loan companies who offer help to people with bad credit so that they can get back to their feet.

Nowadays, many lenders and financial institutions know that an individual’s financial situation can get worse anytime because of unexpected losses in the business, family emergency or any other unavoidable reasons. The possibility of poor credit lending is increased in the past few years. There was a time when business loans for people with bad credit were denied. Earlier, if anyone faced a loss in the business, he had to look towards private sources or his personal savings. The small business administration, libraries and bookstores offer guidelines for good business practices so that critical financial difficulties can be avoided.