One Phone Call to Lower Your Credit Card Interest Rate

All it takes to lower your credit card interest rate in many cases is a simple phone call. A 2002 study found that over half the people who had good credit and called their credit card company to get a better interest rate were able to do so with the average person reducing the rate

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How to Get a Loan With a Bad Credit Score

If your credit score isn’t good you’re apt to get less-desirable terms, and you’ll pay a little more than the average consumer because the lender is taking on a greater risk.
Here’s information you can use to learn how lenders evaluate you, understand a few of the tools they use to make their choices (such as

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Tapping into Your Home Equity – Home Equity and HELOC Loans

Is it a good move to pay down high-interest credit card debt using a lower-interest home equity loan or line of credit?
The short answer is: no.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at the height of the debt leveraging in 2007 Americans had more than a trillion dollars in outstanding home equity loans. It was estimated

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Manage Your Credit – Get Free Credit

The credit industry is retrenching. Lenders are separating out the “haves” and “have-nots”.  So now is the time to tune up your credit record.
Getting credit is similar to any competition – it’s all about the score. The highest rankings merit the lowest rate and make the difference between getting a card, line of credit or

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Debt and Money Management

How We Get Into Debt
There are two primary ways. One is through overspending and poor money management. No one really teaches us about financial literacy. A lot of folks learn through trial and error and the school of hard knocks. What they learn from their parents tends to be wrong-headed. It’s easy to get caught

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Your Credit Score – What it is and How it’s Created

Credit scores are largely misunderstood. For instance, your precise score matters only when you’re in need of new debt, like a home, auto or education loan or a new credit card, which should be a fairly rare occurrence.
You don’t have just one score, but many. Your FICO score, the one developed by Fair Isaac Corp.

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Household Debt – 3 Steps to Reduce it by 20 Percent

This info from New Zealand is applicable no matter where you live. We have common human traits that encourage spending and the borrowing that promotes it. This from New Zealand’s Dominion Post:
Household debt could be cut by 20 per cent if people did not try to keep up with neighbors, stopped buying on

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A Credit Card Rate Increase? An Action Plan

When your credit card company notifies you of a rate increase what do you do?
If you pay your balance in full each month the rate increase won’t affect you.
If you maintain a credit card balance get out a calculator and run some numbers to see how the rate increase will affect your monthly payments.
If you have  a small

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Debt Relief by Repairing Your Credit Score

When banks are tightening credit standards it is especially important to ensure that you are taking steps to improve your credit score.
Order your credit reports and dispute any mistakes.
Your payment track record accounts for about 35% of your FICO score.  So pay your bills on time.
If you have had some credit problems then be patient

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Credit Card or Debit Card

It’s a question we face daily that still leaves most of us mystified: “Debit or credit?”
1. Credit costs you less. Some banks charge customers for so-called in-store “PIN-based” debit-card transactions. Fees range from 25 cents to $1, depending on the bank. By choosing a “signature-based” transaction, you sidestep these fees.
2. Credit won’t result in a

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Debt Resources

Services
Credit Counseling
Visit debtadvice.org to begin your search for a nonprofit credit counseling agency. This web site is provided by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. The NFCC sets guidelines for fees that member agencies can charge consumers and requires agencies to provide services free of charge if a consumer can’t afford to pay.

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Credit Card Debt Management

Debt management begins by not avoiding the problem. That starts with opening up your credit card statements and paying the minimum payment. Some people try to manage their debt problem by not opening statements. The outcome of that approach is a reduced credit rating and higher interest charges.
So open up those statements

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Repair Bad Credit

If you get off track and your credit score is in trouble there are a few things you can do right now to get back on track. Here is a short list of three critical things you should be doing to maintain and improve your good credit.
Before you look at the list reflect on how

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Trouble Paying a Mortgage – Refinancing

If you are having trouble making mortgage payments you are faced with difficult choices.
If you have a variable rate mortgage and you have savings available you can take some of your savings and use it to pay off or pay down your mortgage. That will reduce your mortgage payment the next time the mortgage

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How to Control Debt Starts With a Check on Your Credit Score

Debt management starts with getting your credit score on track. And the way to do that begins with finding out what your credit score is and what information credit reporting companies have on file about you.
Start by getting a free credit score. Visit these sites to get a free score:
Credit.com
CreditKarma.com
At this site

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Credit Counseling for Debt Relief

If you need debt relief you can get help from a nonprofit credit counseling agency. As you seek help do so carefully.
Readily available are “debt-settlement services” that offer to help settle debts for a fraction of what is owed, in return for high upfront fees. These companies can drag down your

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Free Credit Report

You can get a free credit report once a year from each of three credit reporting companies.
1. Visit annualcreditreport.com and select only one of the three credit reporting companies. Get the free credit report and review it, looking for errors.
2. Plan to visit annualcreditreport.com again in four months and get another free credit report

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Get a Better Credit Card Rate

Debt Relief
Getting a better credit card rate will go a long way toward helping you get debt relief.
Start by asking lenders for a better interest rate. Talk to your lender to get a lower interest rate if you have an outstanding credit card balance and a FICO score greater than 720.
Credit Card Debt
Credit card

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A Costly Credit Card Situation: A Balance and a Two-Cycle Card

Good credit card debt management is to maintain a zero balance on all of your credit cards. If you do have a balance you’ll want to make getting to zero balances a high priority in your debt management program.
Credit Card Debt
When you decide to leave a balance on a credit card for one month

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Reduce Credit Card Fees

If you’re not able to obtain a no-fee credit card then the next good option is to get a secured credit card that charges no fees (or low fees).
These credit cards require you to maintain a savings balance that “secures” the credit card. Over time, as you make payments on time, the credit card company

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