HOW MUCH DOES DAMAGED CREDIT COST YOU?Example 1. $25,000 Auto Loan 5 Years (60 Months)Perfect Credit- Rate=10% Payment = $531.18 Cost of Bad Credit= $0.00
Fair Credit- Rate=14% Payment = $581.71 Cost of Bad Credit= $3031.18
Poor Credit- Rate=20% Payment = $662.35 Cost of Bad Credit= $7870.82BAD CREDIT AUTO LOANS ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO MORTGAGE LOANSExample 2. Mortgage Loan $100,000 30 Years (360 Months)Perfect Credit- Rate 6% Payment $599.66 Cost of Bad Credit $0.00
Fair Credit- Rate 9% Payment $804.83 Cost of Bad Credit $73,861.12
Poor Credit- Rate 14% Payment $1028.62 Cost of Bad Credit $154,425.60HOW LONG IT TAKES TO REPAY A LOANExample 3. $500 Credit card balance at minimum payment of $10 per monthInterest rate 16% Number of months to payoff debt 83. Interest you will pay over time $329.42
Interest rate 19% Number of months to payoff debt 94. Interest you will pay over time $431.08
Interest rate 21% Number of months to payoff debt 120. Interest you will pay over time $698.50
Interest rate 23% Number of months to payoff debt 168. Interest you will pay over time $1,174.36WHY THE CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES WANT YOU TO HAVE BAD CREDITThe Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA’s) want you to have negative and derogatory items on your credit report because the worse your credit is, the more money they make.Credit scores called FICO scores (FICO stands for Fair Isaac Company, the company that developed the credit scoring model) are between 300 and 850. There is no credit score below 300.Let’s say that you are applying for a car loan and you have a FICO score of 825. This is considered to be excellent credit that presents no risk to the lender. The lender will pull one credit report from each of the CRA’s for about $4 each. Each credit reporting agency, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union will send your credit information to the lender and each CRA will make four dollars. You will get your car loan immediately.Now let’s say that your credit score is only 525. The dealer will start looking for lenders who will make a loan to someone with a risky, low credit score. The lower the FICO score, the riskier the loan becomes and the harder it is to get. The dealer may have to try as many as 20 lenders to find one who will make the loan. Each of the 20 lenders will pull your credit reports and pay $4 each, so each of the Credit Reporting Agencies will now make $80. They make $4 if you have good credit and they can make as much as $80 if you have bad credit. Do they want you to have bad credit? You bet they do.They gather and report information about everyone they can and sell that information to potential creditors. They get their information from creditors, public records, criminal records, hearsay and anywhere else they can. The worse it is for you, the better it is for them. It is in their best interest for you to have bad credit.Experts estimate that 79% of the adult public has at least one false, misleading, inaccurate, negative item on their credit report.Information Supplied by CreditorsCreditors can inadvertently transpose a social security number or account number on your file and send false information to one or more CRA’s. The CRA’s computer database will simply list it under your name and payment history. There are no checks or safeguards in place to verify the accuracy of the information being recorded and distributed about you.Information Supplied by Criminal RecordsCriminal records stay on your credit report for life. There is no expiration time limit as there is for bankruptcy, foreclosure, late pays, charge-off’s etc. The reason criminal records are permanently kept in credit reports, is because they expose mistakes you have made and speak about your judgment and character and whether you are a responsible individual.Information Supplied by Public Records.Public records can cause misinformation to appear on your credit report. If the house you live in has ever been in foreclosure, even if you were not the owner at the time of the action, your name may be associated with the foreclosure. Will the Credit Reporting Agencies volunteer to remove this false information from your credit report? Absolutely not.You have to prove to them that it was not you. It is in the Credit Reporting Agencies’ best interest for negative and derogatory information to be on your credit report. It is up to YOU to monitor the information that they sell and distribute about you.If you have a fairly common name, it is quite likely that someone else’s credit information is mixed with yours. You could be paying increased payments and higher interest for someone else’s mistakes. If your name is Smith and you live on Main Street, you had better be keeping an eye on your credit reports.Mistakes on tax records and false information supplied by public officials can show up on your credit report.For example: If you go to the public bankruptcy records on the PACER website and search for the last name “Smith” in the state of Utah, you will find over 5,500 listings and many of those names will be exactly the same. Some will be in or near the same geographical area. This can result in bad credit for these people whether they actually have justifiable derogatory credit, criminal or public information. They will be cross linked with someone else and the victims will never know until they are denied credit.They may have you listed as having lived at an address you never occupied. That incorrect address may have a name listed which is similar to yours. Nevertheless, someone else’s bad credit information can show up on your credit report.Again, if you have a common name, the CRA may have listed false information about you. It is a good idea to look up your name in the telephone book, on Google, anywho.com and similar people search websites to see just how common your name is in your state, county city, town and zip code. The more names you find which are similar to yours, the closer you need to look at your credit report.The CRA’s often ignore a middle initial. For example: If you are John J. Smith in Capitol Heights, MD. 20743 and there is a John A, Smith in the same 20743 zip code, you may be subject to someone else’s bad credit.COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY CRA’sAccount you didn’t open, showing identity theft
Debt(s) discharged in bankruptcy, but still showing a balance
Wrong name, wrong address(es) or wrong account numbers, wrong Social Security (SSID)#
Never late, but shown as late
Paid and closed account shown as open and unpaid
Re-aged account
Unauthorized inquiries with no permissible purposeThe “Big Three” CRA’s have victimized many consumers with false credit reports. These cases include mixed credit files, identity theft cases, re-aged collections, public records mixed, and numerous other reporting ills.Staggering StatisticsOne-quarter of all credit reports contain errors serious enough to result in people being denied credit, access to favorable loan rates, and-in some cases-jobs, according to a report issued Thursday by a consumer group.The group, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), criticized “the big credit bureaus and big business” for tolerating “big mistakes in credit reports.”"Those mistakes ruin the financial reputations of hardworking Americans,” said Ed Mierzwinski, PIRG’s consumer program director.• Credit files are updated 4.5 billion times each month by the Credit Reporting Agencies and mistakes happen• Twenty-five percent (25%) of the credit reports contained errors serious enough to result in the denial of credit• Seventy-nine percent (79%) of the credit reports contained mistakes of some kind• Fifty-four percent (54%) of the credit reports contained personal demographic identifying information that was misspelled, long-outdated, belonged to a stranger, or was otherwise incorrect• Thirty percent (30%) of the credit reports contained credit accounts that had been closed by the consumer but incorrectly remained listed as open and unpaid.Where to get your free credit reports[http://www.annualcreditreports.com]Beware of many of the advertised “free credit reports” with a catchy tune that you hear on the radio and TV. In many cases all you get is a “Tri-Merge” report that is almost useless. You will get tons of email spam soon after.Will Pulling My Own Credit Report Lower My Credit Score?No, getting your own report is considered a “soft” inquiry because you are not applying for credit. Applying for an auto loan, credit card or mortgage is a “hard” inquiry and becomes part of your credit history.Look at your reports very closely and check for wrong addresses, wrong Social Security Number (SSID) wrong account numbers, closed accounts that are showing as open and any other mistakes. Verify that all accounts listed are yours. Look for unauthorized inquiries into your credit that have no permissible purpose. Those need to be removed from your credit report.If you find errors, do not use their “convenient online dispute” process. This speeds up the debt verification process for them. Any disputes you make are to be done only by certified mail.WHAT CAN BAD CREDIT AFFECT?A poor credit rating can affect auto loans, mortgage loans, credit card rates, automobile and other forms of insurance rates, your employment and other aspects of daily life.BEWARE OF JUNK DEBT BUYERSJunk Debt Buyers (or JDB’s) will buy an old debt from many years ago for pennies on the dollar and attempt to collect the full amount of the debt from you. They will buy debt from a creditor that was charged off as many as 20 years ago or longer, that is no longer even listed on your credit report. Junk Debt Buyers are scavengers and bottom feeders. They will call and try to intimidate, harass and embarrass you in an attempt to collect that debt. They will send you threatening letters known in the industry as “dunning letters.”There are several important points to remember concerning Junk Debt Buyers.1. In most cases, if the Statute of Limitations has passed and you cannot be sued for the debt, no matter what the collection agent tells you on the phone or in a letter. If you are sued, an expired Statute of Limitations is the best defense.2. Debt reporting and the Statute of Limitations are based on the Date of Last Activity (DOLA). If you make a payment toward this debt, the Statute of Limitations is violated and this debt can be placed on your credit report, where it will remain for seven years, and you can be sued for this debt. Never make any payments on an old debt that is outside the Statute of Limitations.3. Junk Debt Buyers will deliberately re-age your debt, falsely reporting to the CRA’s that
there has been activity on the account, thus re-setting the date of last activity. Make them prove it.Statute of Limitations on DebtsThe Statute of Limitations for credit purposes limits the amount of time that you can be sued for a debt. There are two important locations for the Statute of Limitations. The first is the state you live in and the second is the state where the creditor is located. The application you signed to apply for the credit may have a Choice of Law clause which names the state where the creditor is located as the state where the Statute of Limitation applies. If there is no such clause or your state law does not allow such clauses, then the Statute of Limitations applies in your state.Oral Contract: You agree to pay money loaned to you by someone, but this contract or agreement is verbal (i.e., no written contract, “handshake agreement”). Remember a verbal contract is legal, but much more difficult to prove in court. Unless an oral debt was recorded or made in front of witnesses who are able and willing to testify, I wouldn’t worry about being sued.Written Contract: You agree to pay on a loan under the terms written in a document, which you and your debtor have signed.Promissory Note: You agree to pay on a loan by way of a written contract, just like the written contract. The big difference between a promissory note and a regular written contract is that the scheduled payments and interest on the loan also is spelled out in the promissory note. A mortgage is a good example of a promissory note.Open-ended Accounts: Are revolving lines of credit with varying balances. The best example is a credit card account. Note: a credit card is ALWAYS an open account. This was established under the Truth-in-Lending Act:When does the Statute of Limitations begin?It begins six months after you made the last payment or the DOLA (Date of Last Activity) on the account.Many people will be intimidated by collection agents threatening legal action and make payments even after the Statute of Limitations has expired. This is the worst thing they could do.• The date of the payment updates the DOLA, violates the Statute of Limitations and will reset the clock at the Credit Reporting Agencies. Items can stay on your credit report for 7 years. If it is year 6 and you make a payment, this late account will now stay on your credit report for another 7 years!• Do not agree to pay for items which have been discharged in bankruptcy, regardless of what a collection agent may say.Know the Statute of Limitations for YOUR state and keep a copy of your credit application so you know what the creditors rights are. Do not be intimidated by collection agents. Here is what the Federal Trade Commission says about Time Barred Debtshttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt144.shtmWHAT IF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAS NOT EXPIRED?If you are in danger of being sued and collection agents are calling, you may still have options.1. Dispute the debt. Make them prove that the debt exists. If they cannot prove it exists within 30 days, the tables have turned in your favor.2. Try to work only with THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR. If you decide to make payments, ask the original creditor to pull the debt from the collection agency and pay the original creditor directly. This does not always work but sometimes it does.3. Whether you work with the collection agency or the original creditor, do not pay anything unless you get any agreements you have made in writing.4. Pay nothing to anyone, unless you get in writing, that the collection agency or original creditor will update the Credit Reporting Agencies to show payment on the account. In many cases you can pay them in full and they will not report that fact to the CRA’s and the account will remain listed as open and unpaid for the next 7 years even though you paid the debt in full. It is up to you to make sure it is reported correctly.DEALING WITH COLLECTION AGENCIESFirst, if they call you, DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEBT or even admit there is any debt. Tell them that you don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about.Second, tell the caller that you do not discuss your personal financial information with strangers over the phone and that if they have anything to say to you, it must be by U.S. Mail. Then, hang up. Do not give them you current address or address of a relative or friend.If and when you get a letter from the collection agency, immediately return a letter to them telling them to:1. Cease and Desist any and all telephone communications with you.2. Cease and Desist any and all attempts to collect this unknown debt, and that3. This letter serves as notice that any and all future phone calls made to you by them will be recorded and that no further notice will be given. This letter is to be sent CMRRR (Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested)4. Make a copy of this letter and keep the CMRRR slips for your records. A CERTIFIED MAIL TRICKMany collection agencies will refuse to sign for certified mail in an attempt to get around the law. Here is a trick I use to get my clients free from the phone and mail harassment.Send the Cease and Desist letter in a box and send it by Fed Ex, signature required. They will not suspect that there is a letter inside the box, especially if you put something in the box to give it some weight. Once they sign for the package, the legal requirements to be considered as delivered and in their possession, have been met.If their harassment continues once you are in possession of the signed delivery receipt, you can sue them under The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.CAN I REPAIR MY OWN CREDIT?”Credit Repair” is a relative term. There is no magic wand that anyone can wave over your credit report and take you from a 500 credit score to an 850. You can have untrue, out-dated information, incorrect addresses, wrong account numbers, closed accounts shown as open, etc. removed from your credit reports if you are persistent, methodical and have the time to do it. It will take you a good amount of time and effort and the Credit Reporting Agencies are quite reluctant to remove negative and derogatory information. They will present you with many road blocks so you must be persistent.If you choose to have a company which specializes in credit services work on your credit, be careful of their claims. If they want you to apply for different identification or tax ID numbers, be advised that you can be prosecuted for this activity.Any company which guarantees that all negative items will be removed are not being truthful. Some companies will dispute all negative items listed on your credit report and your credit will go up until the items are verified, usually within 30 days and then your credit will go right back to where it was before you started. Bankruptcy and foreclosure can sometimes be removed if they cannot be verified but they usually are verified rather quickly.A good credit services company will closely examine your credit reports from all three major credit bureaus and begin the process of using the existing federal laws to force the credit reporting agencies to remove items which do not belong there.If you do not have the time or if you do not wish to confront the agencies, then hire a professional to go to bat for you. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain as long as the company you hire is reputable.
Why They Want You to Have Bad Credit
Knowledge of the Basic Foundations in Personal Finance Is Your Most Important Asset
Personal finance involves the application of the basic foundations in personal finance. It is important that you know the proper way to budget, save, and spend your financial resources. Through personal finance, enormous debts or monetary issues can be avoided.Personal Finance PlanningWhen people manage their finances, they consider financial risks and possible events when they make monetary decisions. Personal finance planning allows people to consider various ways of obtaining financial security such as obtaining savings or checking account, investing in stock markets, managing income tax payments, and settling credit card debts.Several areas make up personal finance planning. These areas should be addressed, so that people can prevent financial woes that can affect their standard of living. They need to make the right decisions when spending or investing. It is also essential that they take into account future events that will require them to have some cash or financial resources. The following are among the recommendations in planning personal finance.1. Determine the financial position or situation.Effective personal finance planning involves the understanding of the monetary resources and net worth. Individuals should be aware of their net worth or the balance sheet that contains all the assets with deducted liabilities. They should also know the cash flow in the household, by deducting all possible expenses to the expected annual income. When they analyze their financial position, they can determine the time-frame when they will accomplish their personal goals.2. Consider getting adequate protection from insurance.After individuals determine their financial situation, they should consider obtaining protection from emergencies and risks. The common risks include property, disability, death, health, and liability. They need to understand the type of coverage they should have for the insurance, as well as the payment terms for the policy. Those who have insurance can have adequate protection from risks, and they can also avail of tax benefits.3. Manage income tax returns and avoid accumulating tax debts.It is necessary for individuals to determine the payment date and amount of the tax they need to settle. The government provides incentives such as tax deductions for those who pay their taxes according promptly. These benefits can be a great help to most households, and individuals can prevent severe burdens associated with tax debts.4. Accumulate properties and make investments.Many people should also consider saving enough money, so they could acquire valuable items that can upgrade their standard of living. For instance, they should try to purchase their own house, start a business, save for retirement needs, and pay for education fees and other expenses. Before they invest on properties, they need to secure their finances. This way, they will not end up experiencing debts or financial problems after acquiring properties.5. Save money for retirement needs.Aside from having short-term life savings, individuals should allocate funds for retirement and future needs. They can expect financial security and stability even when they are no longer employed, as long as they have accomplished their retirement plans.Personal finance can help individuals meet their current needs and prepare for future risks. They need to understand financial principles that can help them manage their resources and prevent monetary problems.
The Basics of Web Site Promotion
Having a web site on the World Wide Web does not automatically grant you instant traffic without web site promotion. Just like in the offline world, you need to advertise and do some form of promotion to let people know more about your business and the services you offer. Without promotion, potential customers will not notice you and within a short time you will go out of business due to a lack of sales. The same is true in the online world as well, although both have different methods of promotion.There are many types of web site promotion that you can use to attract web traffic to your site. You can devise a strategic Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plan that will draw paid traffic to your site. SEM can include Pay per Click (PPC), AdWords, Banner Exchanges, Banner Advertising and many others which all fall under the category of paid traffic. Another form of promotion known as Social Media Optimization (SMO) is basically the process of optimizing your site so that it can be easily linked to and shared across various social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and many others. This allows you to spread your message even further to parts of the world at a pace so rapid that it beats traditional marketing hands down.You can also use another form of web site promotion known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). These techniques enable your site to rank highly on the search engine results page ( SERPs). Ultimately, you want your site to be ranked on the first page for keywords that your site is trying to target. This will allow you to attract traffic from organic searches to your site which is free. SEO can be both On Page and Off Page. On Page is where your web page contains the keywords you are trying to promote. Off Page is where links with your keywords point back to your web site. The only cost involved in getting your site to be ranked would be the cost spent on link building. One of the most important factors search engines use to evaluate your site’s ranking is the number of incoming links that are pointed at your site. The more quality incoming links your site has, the higher it will rank on the Search Engine Results Page.There are many other ways you can build links to your sites, including Article Submission, Video Submission, Social Bookmarking, commenting on blogs, creating forum profiles, or creating pages on HubPages.com or Squidoo.com. You could even go a step further by building a complete link wheel for your site. This means that you will not only build your first tier of links to your site but you will also build a second tier of links that are pointed to the first tier links. The whole point of link building is to get the search engines to recognize the importance of your site by the number of popular votes from other sites. This method alone can significantly boost your search engine rankings and help you beat your competition.The only problem with link building is that it takes up a lot of your precious time and can distract you from your main focus on your business. Fortunately, there are various companies out there that specialize in link building and web site promotion. Depending on your budget, you could easily outsource the entire promotion and marketing of your site to a qualified SEO consulting company that will not only save you time but money as well.
Why Owning a Smartphone Will Help Your Business And Your Life
Smartphones are a hype, yes – but they’re the practical kind of hype. In fact, the very few business magnates who stray from technology actually find smartphones to be the most enjoyable, intuitive, and certainly the most practical piece of electronic device they’ve used. Apart from the usual SMS and telephony features, smartphones are capable of:1. Fetching emails without prompting your username and password every single time.2. QUERTY keypad and touch screen capabilities, making it easier for you to type and not get your fingers stressed out.3. Opening word processing and spreadsheet applications (and not to mention slideshows), resulting in full-scale editability for important documents without turning on your desktop/laptop computer.4. Expanded storage of up to 64GB in some high-end smartphones. This way, you can store as many documents, videos, and pictures as you possibly can without worrying about storage space.5. Gaining nearly full functionality of almost every website, including social media networks. Uploading photos and videos are also done in a snap, as long as you have a good 3G or Wi-Fi connection. 4G speeds on mobile devices are nowadays are now tantamount to the speeds of desktop/laptop computers.6. Crisp clear photos and videos, exuding rich quality and vibrant colors. Smartphones seldom come short of high-end cameras, with some even exceeding the 10 megapixel quality commonly utilized by camera-only devices. High-resolution photos and videos will prove useful for sellers who don’t want the hassle of bringing (or even owning) a camera with them.7. Compass, Maps & GPS for easier navigation. Google Maps can easily be accessed through your smartphone, ridding you of long-winding drives that lead nowhere near your itinerary. Apart from being easy to use, most location-sensing applications are free. Nokia recently announced that its maps feature is free for lifetime use, as long as the user is accessing it from a Nokia device.8. Tons of free (and paid) business, social, and leisure applications. Nokia’s Ovi Store, RIM’s Blackberry App World, Apple’s iTunes Store, Samsung’s BADA Marketplace, and Google’s Android Market offer millions (and rapidly multiplying) applications. From time-consuming games to real-world business solutions, the hundreds thousands of developers the world over have it made for you.9. Style and simplicity. Gone are the days where a geek looked utterly faux pas because all of the peripherals he’s wearing inside his pockets. New smartphones are now nearing the processing power utilized by laptop/desktop computers. Soon enough, smartphones will raise the bar and hopefully rid the world of bulky, carbon-dioxide-emitting machines we currently call “computers”.Smartphones for sure cost more than economy phones. Purchasing a smartphone is a tough decision for the regular consumer, but I assure you, it will change the way you do business. In effect of their trendiness and demand these days, the gap between the price of regular consumer phones and smartphones is narrowing.
Businesses Online: How to Succeed!
Our technology is fast-paced. We see developments here, there, everywhere! Further improvement is inevitable. Reinventing current high-end technologies keeps up with the growing demand for all-online lifestyle.Very few among the population in this world do not know the opportunities the internet presents to us. But there are those who specialize in utilizing this very effective medium to expand their market base and to improve the cash flow into their businesses. World Wide Web, now one of the most commonly used medium for marketing, advertising, selling and purchasing of products and services is being improved further so it becomes more relevant in channeling the mentioned business propaganda. The current generation’s obsession to an all-online type of living makes it easier for entrepreneurs to reach out to select target markets to offer the services and or products they are providing.Many websites nowadays have a sort of mechanism incorporated with them linked to other sites that encourages increase in profit to other businesses. This type of mechanism creates a web of profit generating sites that each provides certain product or service. This may be considered partly marketing.How is the internet relevant to businesses?Businesses online obviously co-exists with the World Wide Web. Though the internet is totally independent of e-commerce it is important to understand that somehow the net is getting world-wide recognition and usage due of the many other transactions that are done online. Entrepreneurs needs to move and push their products or services out to the public and had to look into the available routes to channel these advertisements to make the public know that they exist in order to increase sales. It is detrimental to any business that the cash flow is stable so the entity remains solvent.How are businesses able to get to the web?Certain processes are required before a certain site is established for the convenience of making online transactions possible. This will include development of the website, setting up all required system functionalities that are necessary in completing customer purchase and subsequently maintaining the system that has been set up to ensure that possible challenges are brought to a minimum.Technically there are more steps to take in putting up a site and start operating online. The aid of web developers will be required depending on the complexity of the requirements that the business needs. Web developers will need all relevant facts to successfully process a transaction so they are able to create an efficient system ensuring customer satisfaction and securing the business’ increased profitability through convenience and accessibility.The accessibility of the product and services being a click away gives any entrepreneur the edge over their competitors. Customers always think “is it easy?” or “is it quick?” or most often “is it secured?” Considering these potential client concerns will help the entrepreneur in building a user friendly site that will encourage customer confidence and trust.Additional processes will have to be followed to complete the website and when done the entrepreneur is ready to take on clients to carry out their business plan.
5 Situations When Personal Loans Can Save the Day
With a rock solid credit history, you can successfully apply for personal loans and expect a swift processing of the same for meeting temporary financial glitch in life. Personal loans are all-purpose loans that can be availed as secured or unsecured loans. These can be used for multiple reasons and the purpose need not be disclosed ever to the lender.The interest rate of loan depends on the tenure and credit score of the borrower. These can be drawn for a few months to several years as per your requirement.5 situations when you can use personal loans as a smart financial move:
When you have immediate cash needs: It is practical to use short-term personal loans to bridge the shortage of funds in your life. You can use the funds to support any of the sudden cash emergencies like medical expenses, home repair or funding a foreign trip. The purpose of loan doesn’t affect its interest rate, however your income and duration of loan does. All you need here in a planning stage is to have a strong back up plan for repaying the loan. The repayment will improve your credit score and add to your future worth at the same time.
To avoid bad credit situation: In case you have lost a job or face a sudden spurt of personal expenses such as a wedding or some other expense in your life, you can take recourse on personal loans. Bad credit is a situation you should always avoid. If you have shortage of funds, rather than missing a loan repayment you can borrow some funds. The idea is to not let the score fall for temporary financial challenges.
Consolidate multiple payments: When you have multiple payments to be made every month, it is better to simplify the process by consolidating the loan into one personal loan. By consolidating loans, you just have to pay a single repayment and that will pay for other loans. Availing short-term loans for bad credit is a practical means to mend mounting debts and save a financial mess.
Additional funding for students: Being a student it is not always easy to keep a track on your expenses. Sometimes you need funds for reasons that your education loan misses to pay for. Herein you can apply for short-term loans for students as these are readily available. The short-term loan can also be used as a right way for building a good history.
Business funding: Every new start-up or a business entity needs positive inflows. You need to maintain adequate supply of funds for maintaining sound terms with your suppliers and business associates. The short-term personal loans can be used as business loans to keep the flexibility of operations in your business.
In all of the above cases, personal loans can be used to better manage your finances. However it is prudent that you carefully read terms and conditions of a loan agreement and do not sign a very expensive loan. In case you find yourself unable to make a mind on the loan terms, you should contact a loan broker for a financial advice. He would guide you on the ways to manage your funds and keep your credit score healthy.
Auto Loans for Those With Bad Credit – Exploring Your Options
Bad Credit Does Not Mean No LoanBad credit should not call a screeching halt to getting a car loan. Lending enterprises are out there that will approve a car loan even for those with no credit, poor credit, or even bankruptcies. Some car ads you see for auto loans for those with bad credit seem to promise a car no matter what the state of your credit reports. Believe it or not, many of those are grounded in the truth, but you need a guide to understanding your options and how these loans are engineered.Process Is About the SameYou can get a car loan through direct financing and the process is much the same as for auto loans made to those with good credit. Of course, borrowers with bad credit may be asked to come up with a larger down payment and endure interest rates that are somewhat higher. Down payments can range form 20% to 50% and interest rates can range from 5% to 26%. Generally, auto loans for those with bad credit can have rates ranging between 7% to 18%. Two to four years is usually the range for amortization for auto loans for those with bad credit as opposed to 5-7 years for those with excellent credit. At least taking on such a loan does provide the opportunity for you to improve your credit standing.Poor PlayersPlenty of abuse occurs in the market for auto loans for those with poor credit. Dealers will inflate car prices or pump up interest rates. If a dishonest dealer sells a car for $5,000 that usually goes for $2,500, then takes a down payment and plugs in an interest rate of 24-26%, the buyer then has an overpriced car and a loan that is unreasonably high. Often, the buyer defaults, further ruining his or her credit. Or just as bad, ends up paying two or three times the worth of the automobile. Do diligent research before buying any car so you will not pay more than the market demands.Good PlayersSometimes buyers can find dealers who are anxious to get certain cars off of their lots and can make a good deal. Concessions for lower down payments or interest rates can be made for those who want auto financing for those with poor credit. You may find this particularly true for new vehicles financed by a financing arm of certain manufacturers. The amortization process for newer cars can be longer as well.Shopping Online for the Best Rates and TermsShopping online makes finding auto loans for those with bad credit so much easier. The internet even has a dealer networking system engineered to make shopping a breeze. Simply click on one of the many sites advertising car financing. You will be required to divulge certain information. These facts will be passed on to dealers willing to deal with those who have poor credit. You can work with these dealers to get decent financing even with bad credit.Spurring CompetitionThe internet has another interesting feature. You can make one submission for an auto loan for those with bad credit. This personal and financial information will be forwarded to a lacework of lending resources willing to finance your loan. Even with poor credit you may have lenders competing to offer you the best rates, terms and conditions.Do Not Be DiscouragedWhile it is true that almost everyone with bad credit who is seeking vehicle financing with little or no down payment is going to be turned down, it is not always the case. Anyway, do not be discouraged if you are turned down for an auto loan for those with poor credit. You should hang in there, persevere, and set about with a plan to improve your credit ratings. You will eventually be able to land an auto loan in spite of your poor credit history.
How To Create An Effective Life Coach Marketing Plan
Marketing your life coaching services effectively is something many coaches hope to achieve, but many fall short. The main problem is that most people have no clue just how to begin.Someone might assume that finding a job as a coach is the way to get started, and would end up preparing for that while not seeing they are on the wrong path. It is extremely vital to understand that working in a coaching job and marketing your life coaching services are two completely different challenges. We will study what exactly you need to do to market your life coaching services effectively.Although this article can help you start selling your life coaching, you first need to make sure that life coaching is ideal for you. Selling life coaching effectively is not suited for just anyone, and you should think about it before proceeding.The easiest method to make sure you are suited as a coaching entrepreneur is to ask yourself a few questions:
Are you comfortable talking to people?
Do you have a unique perspective to share?
Can you make fact-based decisions quickly?
Ideally, your response to these questions is a “yes.” These habits are typical among those who market their life coaching services effectively, so you have now taken the initial step towards being an effective marketing entrepreneur!Following are some suggestions to start you off:Create a customized report or bookMarketing your life coaching services starts out with letting others know what you do. Mentally, you need to become personable, as well as an authority in your niche or field. Working on creating a customized report or book each day can help you concentrate on achieving your goals. Carving time out of your routine to write this customized report or book assures that you would be equipped when that time comes to share it with others.Blog on a regular basisBlogging on a regular basis helps you market your life coaching services by sharing bits of information with those who are looking for help or solutions to a problem in that particular area. Understandably, it can be hard to get in the routine of writing a daily blog, so perhaps you can start out by blogging on a regular basis, whether it is every day or once a week. This should quickly become a force of habit..Speak to local groups and clubsThe key to doing well with marketing your life coaching services is being able to speak to local groups and clubs. Many coaches, however, don’t know how important this really is! By simply standing up in front of a group and telling your story, i.e., how you had the same problem they have now, and how you applied your unique solution to that problem, you will not only get their attention, but their names and email addresses as well (and you should get these)!Offer each member a free gift – either on the spot in exchange for their card – or through an online opt-in page. This way you will have them on your mailing list and can stay in touch and offer them advice, tips, and offers from time to time that relate to their interests. Establishing a relationship is easily the most important piece of your marketing puzzle!Marketing your coaching services effectively involves a little bit more than waking up one morning to say, “Hey, I need to market my life coaching effectively.” Maybe that’s a good first step. But to be successful you have to take action!Successful Life Coach Marketing TraitsIn the event you have chosen to embark on a journey to market your life coaching services effectively, be aware it is a tough road ahead. If it were easy, anybody could achieve it. Most people who elect to market and sell their life coaching end up not really following through… or doing it poorly.With that said, what exactly do we know to this point? Ultimately we know that marketing coaching services the right way is no easy task like already having one of the few coaching jobs out there. Marketing your life coaching services requires that you be personable, have some authority to back up what you say, as well as be a leader. Now I will move into exactly what you need to know in order to make all these things happen.Marketing has a tangible quality to it, or as Tony Robbins is fond of saying, “success leaves clues.” Any action that you prepare ahead of time will end with a decidedly better outcome. You’ll discover the strength that lies in your mental preparation will bring you the rewards you seek.If you examine people who have done well in marketing – either recently or long ago – you will discover that the three things they share: love of people, a unique message, and the ability to take strong, immediate action towards success. They saw what they needed to do, and did it… not for their own vanity or glory, but because they felt that withholding this unique information or coaching would actually deprive their prospective clients of success or happiness!When you realize that this type of personality is needed to successfully market life coaching services, you have to decide that either you fit this description… or that you will learn and develop these traits! There is very little you can do otherwise.Ask yourself once more: Are you comfortable talking to people? Remember that question, because those who have previous marketing success all have one thing in common: they are personable. You, too, must be likeable or personable if you hope to be successful as a life coach.Is your message unique? Or are you simply rehashing phrases, techniques and teachings of everybody else in your field? If you are unique, you have a marketing chance. If not, you fall under the category of “commodity”… and will be competing only on price! The prospective client might ask “If Sally Smith over there is selling the same coaching as you, who will coach me for less??”You don’t want to compete on price! This approach will only shatter your self-esteem and leaves you ultimately broke. Learn to develop an approach based on your own unique experiences… and how your solution can also help your clients in a way that can never be found elsewhere!If you don’t have a unique method, do you at least have a unique perspective to share? If so this means that others with your perspective will be attracted to you simply because you share their experiences. People are attracted to those who are like them. If you show that you also suffer from similar problems and have fought your way back, they’ll be interested!Life Coaching is Not for EveryoneIf you’ve made it this far, congratulations! Many coaches reading this usually stop after the first two paragraphs because their inner dialogue is yelling at them “marketing is too hard!” or even more insidiously “Just start coaching and people will come.”Those that listen to this kind of self-talk inevitably lose out. They spend a lot of time and money in the process of letting life bat them around until they are defeated and broke.Don’t be one of those coaches. If, in a moment of honest self-reflection, you have determined that you are really not cut out for marketing your own services, save yourself a lot of time and money and get a job now doing something similar, like career counseling or teaching. Becoming a successful life coach demands a knack for marketing. If you don’t have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, don’t fret. Just be glad you found this out early enough!For those who are ready to act, however, marketing your life coaching services should come naturally… just let everyone know what you do!
Getting The Most From Your Investment: GO Zone Property Management Options
INTRODUCTIONIn Part 1 of this series, we went over some of the basics for getting a tenant into your newly purchased GO Zone property. In this article, we will go into more details on the options you have for getting that tenant and, more importantly, starting that cash flow as soon as possible.As you may remember, there is a lot involved with getting to that first rent check. All the marketing, potential tenant due diligence, and then management of the tenant after they get into the property can be very taxing on an individual.RENTING FROM LONG DISTANCEAll the previous discussions are further complicated depending on how far you live from the property. Take it from me, trying to do all the lease-up work and property management yourself from a long distance is an all consuming task; one which I do not recommend to anyone who has other obligations (i.e. a life). More on this shortly.PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGERSEnter the professional Property Manager. Typically, a property manager gets paid for both the lease up of a property, and also on the management of the tenant once in the property. During the lease up, property managers spend very real dollars advertising the property and thus they typically can command a lease up fee. In many locations (both inside and outside of the GO Zone), this typically equates to a charge of 1/2 of the first month’s rent.In addition, a management fee is also received by the property manager on a monthly basis and is a percentage of the monthly rent amount. For long term leases, this averages in the 10-12% range. Note that the actual management fee can vary widely depending upon the area where the property is located, the type of property, etc.OPTION 1: DOING IT YOURSELFIf you are like the overwhelming majority of GO Zone investors, you most likely do not live near your GO Zone property. In this situation, as a property owner and a real estate investor you need to think hard about taking on the property management task yourself.With the Internet, you may be tempted to do some of the marketing on your own. However, there still is the need for the local presence on the ground for showing the property to potential tenants, getting contracts and agreements in hands, reviewed and executed, and for knocking on the door when rent is late.In addition, if you are new to real estate investing and new to rental properties, it is probably not a good idea to try this on your own from a distance. It is usually recommended that you try your hand at self property management in your own back yard first before even considering the task of doing this long distance.OPTION 2: COMBO PLATTER 1Here is the case where you would pay someone else to lease up your property, and then you manage the property yourself. For this, you may get a property manager, licensed professional or other lease-up specialist to go out and market your property, find a tenant, do the tenant screening, etc.Unfortunately, not many professionals, rental managers, etc., want to do all this work and only get some of the front end funds. IF you can find someone to take on this portion of the front end business, you should really also consider the additional lease up time that may be required; especially if they are managing other similar properties where they also get a portion of the monthly rent that comes in.The only time that this situation works well for all parties is if you know of a real estate professional (or other person) that already knows of a tenant and does not have an available property to put them in.OPTION 3: COMBO PLATTER 2In this case, you try your hand at doing the front end marketing and obtaining the tenant yourself. Similar to the above situation, You figure that you may be able to save on some front end marketing costs (i.e. 1/2 of the first month’s rent as the front end cost) if you can do it on your own.However as previously mentioned, you not only need the local presence on the ground for the showing of the property and getting the tenant into contract, but there is still something to be said about meeting the (potential) tenant face to face as part of the screening and having someone who is geared up to do this on a day in and day out basis do this for you. The old expression of “Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish” comes into play here.OPTION 4: PAYING SOMEONE ELSE As implied by the above, this is where you let someone else completely to the front end work, get the tenant into your property, and completely manage the tenant and the property for you. As someone who is and out of state real estate investor, this is the most common path you will likely go down.From the GO Zone property point of view, you do want to have your hands in the pot some to make sure that you are involved in the management process. This may be as simple as working closely with your property manager on screening criteria, final approval of tenants (if outside of your normal criteria for screening), etc. Make sure, however, that you are very responsive in this situation as time is critical with getting someone into a property.When you hire someone else to completely manage your property for you, you are typically signing an agreement with them (usually for at least 12-months) that spells out all the terms, fee schedule, services offered, payment/rent collection and the transfer of funds to you (after expenses, etc.).OPTION 5: LEASEBACK WITH BUILDER (SEE NOTE)Remember that this article series is about getting your GO Zone property rented as soon as possible and getting cash flowing into your pockets quickly. While this option is not really a property management solution in the traditional sense, it definitely solves the issue of rent-up times.I will point out again (as I did in the first part of this series), that you should not run out and start getting properties that are offering lease back just on that merit alone. Remember that as an investor, the property still needs to stand on its own and “make sense” before a leaseback offer is even thrown on the table.Some property owners and builders may throw a long-term leaseback into the deal to sweeten things up and make the overall sale attractive. You need to ask yourself, how will the property rent out without the leaseback? Is this a situation where a developer may have excess inventory on hand and is offering a leaseback on everything to make the sale (and adding it to the pricing as well)? So as an example, condos on the beach in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Without the leaseback these do not seem like a very sound investment based on the strong competition from the casinos for short term rentals and given the fact that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is really not a hot beach destination. In this case a leaseback does not make sense.In the case where a builder of single family homes has 1 or 2 model homes that they would like to build, use as a model home, and would also like to keep that off their builder’s line, then offering a 12-month (with additional options typically) leaseback while building out that phase of the community makes perfect sense. Here you would only need to convince yourself that the community is where you would like to invest in.Advantages of this option, other than the obvious cash flow from day 1, is that you do not have to spend any funds on marketing fees or even on property management fees since you are dealing with the builder directly.Another advantage of this option is that if your tenant (i.e. the builder) is also using this as a model home, you have built in marketing for a home sale once the builder is finished using it as a model.SUMMARYThere are many different paths and options for you to consider when trying to rent out and manage your GO Zone property including:Doing it all yourself;
Having someone else find a tenant and you manage;
You find the tenant and have someone else manage;
Have someone else do it all for you
Find the right leaseback situationWhichever path you go down, make sure that you do your homework before the property purchase.In the next part of this series, the author goes over the key point of finding the right property management group to help you with getting someone in your GO Zone property fast.
There is an excessive amount of traffic coming from your Region.
#EANF#