Archive for January, 2010

Facts Behind Credit Card Debt

Sunday, January 31st, 2010



Are you in the habit of whipping out your plastic for every purchase?

Now days, most people have the same problem.

With gasoline and other everyday expenditure on a steady rise in cost, most Americans turn to credit cards to pay for their everyday expenses.

But with this influx of credit card use comes an influx of bills that become harder and harder to pay each month.

Sources of cash for many Americans are withering away, says Dick Reed, of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Atlanta. Reed has noticed a rise in business as more and more clients are mounting up credit card debt. He goes on to say that customers simply do not have a place to go and get cash. They are digging further into debt in order to pay for, not only standard everyday expenditure, but in order to make the minimum payment on existing debt.

National statistics exemplify this growing trend as the Federal Reserve reports that the average amount of credit card debt in America jumped 6.7 percent in quarter one this year and totaled around 957 billion dollars. Perhaps most troubling is that this increase developed in spite of the fact that most financial institutions are tightening the reins on lending.

In Atlanta, Georgia debtors reported, on average, 29,300 dollars worth of unsecured debt. The most of which was wrapped up in credit cards. This number is up over 4,000 dollars since the 2007 report. Debtors spend an average of 335 dollars on groceries and 242 dollars on gas, whereas one year earlier, those expenses averaged only 291 dollars and 181 dollars.

Many people admit that they’d rather not rack up credit card debt, but other options, like refinancing for lesser interest rates, are no longer readily available due to collapsing housing markets. This leaves many consumers with little option.

When faced with the rising prices of gas and food, many people find that they have no choice but to “charge it” in order to make ends meet.

People are unable to upgrade their income, yet expenses are increasing exponentially. Credit cards become the best way to compensate, says Sara Gilbert of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Lois Eldridge, a retiree in Arizona, has looked on in horror as her credit card bill doubled to 2,000 dollars in the last several months. High gas and food costs required her to charge these rudiments for the very first time last year.

She has been forced to reduce extra expenditures like entertainment, clothing, and eating out. Although this tactic has helped, she still charges an average of 100 dollars each month.

Lois was also forced to ‘come out of retirement’, so to speak, when she attempted to secure a job at the college in her area to complement her income from Social Security. Unfortunately, she learned that employers offered too little money, or informed her that she was ‘overqualified’ for the available position. Her only other option was a minimum wage job with a local retailer.

My earnings have remained the same even though my expenses are way higher than they were last year even taking into account my attempts at cutting back, says Eldridge, now 71, who has a plan to put her tax refund toward her outstanding debt. I am incredibly overwhelmed by the fact that I’ve had to use my credit cards. I’ve never needed to before. The last 6 months have been a constant worry.

She is not the only one in worry. Analysts declare that card balances and late payments are increasing dramatically, a sure sign that a large group of Americans cannot afford what they spend each month.

It seems that the most trouble seems to be in areas with a weak housing market where a large number of people are already under pressure with mortgage payments. With unemployment on the rise and employers unable to offer overtime, many people find they just don’t make enough to cover their bills.

Many claim they only use their cards for expediency sake and that they do in fact pay their statements on time, but it seems some fractures are appearing in that scenario.

Credit card delinquency rates reached a four-year in February, according to Moody’s debt ranking agency.

Once people have gotten behind, it’s growing more and more difficult for them to get back on track with their card payments again says William Black of Moody’s. We’re in a very taxing economic atmosphere. There’s a lesser amount of cash to go around.

In the meantime, credit card balances are sneaking up progressively, and have been since the beginning of 2006. They leaped nearly 9 percent during 2007. This is due to a growing number of people who spend more and pay less each month plus other exciting and attractive offers like Chase credit cards, 0% interest Visa card balance transfer, and more.

Another sad fact is, in spite of the troubles people incur with increasing credit card debt, the number of cards issued is also on the rise. At the close of 2007, there was a whopping 420 million credit cards in the marketplace, that’s up 7.6 percent from the year prior.

Growing balances and late payments are bad for the economy, which depends heavily on consumer expenditures, says Bill Hampel, of the Credit Union National Assn.

Many people will stop going to dinner or to the movies as they see their balances rise. This will injure the economy to a great extent.

If you’re buried in debt and can’t get out and would like to share your story, or if you’ve actually managed to climb out of the pit and want the opportunity to help others, let us know about situation, we want to help.

Instant Payday Loans Without Faxing – Easy to Get

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010



Many would not be familiar with the term payday loan, but those who are, know that it is a friend in need. Yes, it’s a loan that can help you to overcome all your emergency financial needs before your actual payday arrives. This loan can help you to clear some of your small financial needs that crop up in the middle of the month. This loan ensures that you are not left high and dry when you have to pay for your son’s summer project or our wife’s sudden demand for extra cash. But what actually is a payday loan? Well, a payday loan is a small loan that is disbursed by the banks and the financial institutions for a short period of time i.e. till your next payday.

Instant payday loans no faxing is a loan that is given without any mortgages or securities and you are to pay back the money on our next payday. This loan ensures that you are able to get hold of your loan within one or two days of your application. You can avail the loan at minimum or no paper work. Yes, contrary to the general belief or convention that a loan has to pass through stringent scrutiny of loan application, you can get access to payday loans without any hassles. This loan requires you to only submit your application and you would get the required amount of money on the same day.

There are many financial companies that offer their online support for the disbursal of these loans and you only need to log on to their site for the submission of the application. Here, you are required to fill the online application form and within 24 hours of its submission, you would be having the requested cash. Neither do you require faxing your application nor do you have to go through a credit check. As we have already mentioned that this loan is for the purpose of sufficing your urgent but small financial needs, so the value of the loan generally does not exceed the limit of $1500.

Instant payday loan is not the one that requires you to pass the stringent credit check or any other cumbersome paperwork, so you are handed your loan amount within 24 hours of the submission of your application. Instant payday loans no faxing does not mean that you have to wait in the bank’s queue for 2 hours or faxing our application and waiting for it approval for a week; online submission of application would get you your loan in a jiffy.

Payday Loans – An Expensive Form Of Lending?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010



In United States, ads in radio, television, newspaper, internet and hoardings all refer to payday loans. These loans may be handy but they come at a very high cost due to interest charges. These loans are known in various names like payday loan, check advance loan, post dated check loans, deferred deposit check loans. But their purpose are more or less same i.e. to offer small, short term, high rate loans.

The procedure in a nutshell, the borrower writes a check payable to the lender for an amount equal to the borrowing amount plus the fees. The company or lender pays the borrower the amount minus the fees against the check received and the fees are a percentage of the principal amount of loan taken.

Cash advance loan taken by giving a post-dated personal check is an expensive credit option. As an example, someone interested to borrow (say) $100 . He will have to pay the interest of (say) 15% for 14 days of loan period. That means he will have to write a post-dated check of $115 for getting the loan of $100. Once the stipulated period of 14 days expire, the lender will then cash the check and the borrower must ensure that the money is made available in the bank account or he will have to pay the cash.

However, if the borrower desires to extend the period, he may roll over the check by paying the fees or interest for another term of 14 days and so on. This way the interest or fees will mount in arithmetical progression. That means this payday loans suits to those who will be meticulous in repayment in scheduled time and borrow for exigencies only. One should remember and understand, as per the Truth and Lending Act, the lending Company must disclose the cost of the payday loans. The borrower must get in writing all the information about finance charges and annual percentage rate (APR).

Payday loans are widely discussed amongst salaried people and others, for its advantages and disadvantages. There are debates between the consumer group and financial companies especially lending companies. The former clamoring that the system is draining money from poor and enriching the powerful and rich while the latter affirmed that it is the ultimate in lending for customer’s convenience.

Therefore, the question is whether the pay day loan is good or bad. If we look into the positive side, it is the only easily and quickly small loan available for immediate and sudden needs although the rate of interest is high The Banks have no interest to cater to this segment at all. The personal loan facility that they offer is extremely cumbersome and time taking. The procedures sometime bordering to humiliation and the period of waiting is so much that the very purpose or intent of the loan is lost.

There are other aspects also which favors payday loan over others. A credit card deadline or check bounce prospects will amount to more overall financial losses. Further, by avoiding a bad credit report will keep your records clean for future bigger loan facilities from the bank. So, even apparent one time extra interest payment in payday loan is beneficial comparatively.

In the disadvantage side, the rate of interest is one on the higher side. It may be lower than credit card, but typical loan interests are much lower than payday loan. There are community loan, credit unions etc. which gives loan at a much cheaper rate. Payday loan customers are mostly uninformed citizens who are not aware of such facilities and gets easily impressed by the attractive ads of the lending companies.

Another disadvantage of the payday loan is, there are many one sided terms in the contract like automatic loan renewal on payday , hidden fees, high rate of interest for late payment etc. which are tactfully hidden in words in the contract . Some lending companies do not reveal their interest rates, which is illegal and forbidden by law. So, the borrower in proper assessment of contract clauses before finalizing the transaction should exercise extreme caution.

Store Cards Vs Credit Cards

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010



Store cards are offered by numerous retailers nowadays in the UK and everybody has no doubt experienced walking into a shop and being offered a store card. Most of the stores will even offer you a discount on the items you are purchasing at the time just for filling in an application form.

The way a store card works is similar to a credit card as you use the card to buy items instead of cash and then you make repayments either monthly or in one go if you would prefer.

Of course there is a major difference between credit cards and store cards as store cards can only be used in certain shops and chains and this obviously limits your choice when making purchases. There is however, a plus side to be seen here, as this would mean that you wouldn’t spend as much as much as perhaps you would do with a credit card.

There are however, other disadvantages with store cards such as the enormous amount of interest you have to pay if you choose to spread out your repayments on the card, as store card interest rates are even higher than credit card rates.

As well as these disadvantages, there are of course some benefits to these cards, such as; discounts at certain shops and on certain products there as well as a whole host of other perks on offer.

The only thing to do is to weigh up whether or not the limitations and high interest if you fail to clear your balance each month are worth the few benefits that you receive.

One thing to keep in mind is not to be pushed into getting a store card just so you get the discount at the point of sale or just so that you can get rid of the pushy sales assistant, especially if you’ve got a bad credit history because you get refused for the store card and end up damaging your credit history even more.

If you are looking for plenty of choice in the types of cards that you can get and also where you can use the cads then a credit card may be more ideal for you. Nowadays, the majority of places accept credit cards both here and overseas.

You can make sure that the card is suited to your spending and repayment needs. There are also interest free credit cards available so you could even avoid paying interest altogether, just as long as you pay back the debt within the allocated time, otherwise, you will find yourself paying high interest rates.

Mortgage Rates

Thursday, January 21st, 2010



So my 12 year old daughter asks, “Why is it that any time there is good news about the economy they also say that there is pressure on mortgage rates to rise? Why does the good news also mean bad news?”

A fair question in my opinion. Scan the headlines – “Jobless Numbers Down – Pressure on Mortgage Rates”, “Promised Tax Cuts may see increase in Mortgage Rates”, “Third Successive Quarterly Economic Growth figures see Mortgage Rates set to Rise”. Then, of course, there are other factors totally out of our control which can also affect mortgage rates such as the recent global liquidity and credit crisis emanating from the US economy.

Mortgage rates are influenced by the official interest rate or Target Cash Rate as set by the Reserve Bank. When the Reserve Bank changes the official rate and in turn, mortgage rates, it is attempting to influence expenditure in the economy. When expenditure exceeds production, inflation results. Therefore mortgage rates are used as a tool to control inflation as a part of monetary policy.

Higher mortgage rates affect borrowers’ cash flows and reduce the amount of money that consumers are able to spend on goods. Lower mortgage rates have the opposite effect. And because lower mortgage rates mean that people have more to spend it puts pressure on prices due to increased demand it puts further inflationary pressures on the economy.

In the dizzy days of the late 1980s inflation was rampant and mortgage rates peaked at 17% per annum. The high mortgage rates severely limited housing affordability. Since those days governments and the Reserve Bank have tended to micro manage the economy to avoid major peaks and troughs. Small increases in mortgage rates, although politically unpopular, are an effective means of stabilising the economy. A little research into the history of mortgage rates in this country will reveal that, at current levels, they are still relatively low.

It should be noted, however, that when we talk about mortgage rates we are generally referring to “nominal” mortgage rates (as nominated in loan contracts, advertising etc). Economists, on the other hand, talk in terms of “real” mortgage rates. So what is the difference between nominal and real mortgage rates? Real mortgage rates take into account the effect of inflation so that Real Mortgage Rates = Nominal Mortgage Rates minus Inflation Rate.

In 1989 when the nominal mortgage rate was 17%, inflation was running at approximately 8% per annum. Therefore the real mortgage rate would have been 9% per annum. Today nominal mortgage rates are approximately 8% per annum and inflation is running at around 2% per annum so that the real mortgage rates are 6% per annum.

In fact if we research real mortgage rates in Australia over the last 25 – 30 years we find that they have hovered within 2% per annum and 10% per annum, compared to nominal mortgage rates which have been between 6% per annum and 17% per annum over the same period. Obviously it is much sexier for politicians to spruik about massive reductions in nominal interest rates.

So in summary, to answer my daughter, an occasional little pain with mortgage rates may lead to a huge gain in the overall scheme of things.

Faxless Payday Loan – 100 Percent Guaranteed Advance

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010



Faxless payday loan is an easy online loan provider, which helps in solving your financial problems. You can get rid of your money problems by filling a simple online application. Yes, fill an application and get money the next day in your bank account. Such instant fund arrangement has been made possible only because of faxless payday loan.

Why To Choose Payday Loan And Not Any Long Term Credit?

The emergencies can strike you in any form and at any point of time in your life. Such emergencies can be like small car repair expenses, credit card payments, hospital bills, holiday expenditures. They can easily solve these small money problems. However, for this, you need to submit the application and wait for it to be approved.

Faxless pay day loans are easy to qualify, as these requirements are very simple. If you fulfill the below mentioned requirements, then there are very rare chances of your application being rejected. The criteria requires you to be:
18 years of age or above

Employed at the time of applying and you should be working there from at least three months

Must be drawing minimum $1000

Must possess a checking or saving bank account at the time of applying a cash advance.

About Loan Amount, Duration And The Application Process

This is a hassle free program, which is given for a short period of time. The only difference between these programs and other traditional loans is the duration. These cash advance offers an advance for the duration for 2-3 weeks. Other traditional loans are borrowed for long periods of few years. The basic thought behind instant faxless payday loan is to help you in meeting up monthly expenditure or any sudden expenses.

The amount for which cash advance can be approved varies from $100 to $1500. It is not possible to borrow any other loan for such small amount; therefore instant cash loan is the only solution in your emergency conditions.

The procedure for applying begins from an online application form, which is available on the lender’s website. This application form is easy to understand and simple to fill in. It just requires your personal as well as financial information. Once the information supplied by you is verified, your cash advance is approved and the money is wired to your bank account the next business day.

If fax less pay day advance can easily solve up your financial issues, then do not hesitate in borrowing it. Consult the lender if required and put an end to your money problems.

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