Tags: banking, budget, business, checking, credit, Credit Education, credit inquiries, credit score, Credit Scoring, credit tip, dominate your destiny, entreprenuership, Money Tips, saving, Wealth

We all make them – MONEY MISTAKES. It’s easy to fall into the traps and snares that credit card companies, banks, and other lending sources are so good at enticing consumers with. We are inundated with special offers, cash back, rebates, guarantees, rewards and so on. Buyer Beware! These tactics and offers are designed to keep you in debt. We recently did an episode on The Credit and Finance Show about common money mistakes.

These mistakes include:

• Paying on minimums on your credit cards. This can cost you thousands of additional dollars in interest and fees.
• Buying a brand new car. AAA auto in a study states that concluded that the average new car depreciates $3,392 per year.
• Smoking. This is a costly habit that costs an average of $2000 per year. The health costs are immeasurable.
• Keeping a drafty attic. You can often find low cost services that can help with insulation if you cannot do it yourself.  Beware of spending too much on high dollar energy savings items.  Weigh the costs against the savings.
• Ignoring your student loan. Student loans do not go away. If you are unable to make your payments call the lender and let them know.

Other resources:

12 Obscure Websites That Can Save You Money

Avoid These 7 Cash Back & Credit Card Traps

Many of us make common money mistakes that can not only cost us thousands of dollars, but can also affect our credit rating rating. If you have made financial mistakes, like many of us have, we can help. Call us today and start changing your life from fear and frustration to happiness and relaxation.

Tags: budget, business, collections, Credit Education, credit score, credit tip, debt collection, finance, money, saving, Wealth

Everyday hundreds of Americans apply for a home  mortgage. Unfortunately, many lenders do not instruct their clients on the do nots of home financing. Consequently, before the loan process is complete, an approved buyer becomes unapproved.

Chuck Bricker of Bank of America  and his team has put together a list of what they call  “Thou Shall Not”.   According to Chuck Bricker of Bank of America the following  things  should NOT be done between the time of submission of your home loan and closing.

Chuck Bricker goes on to state, “Some of these may seem very rudimentary and even silly, but I promise you that each one is from at least one real life event in my years of experience.”

Thou Shall Not:

1. Quit your job.
2. Overdraft your checking account.
3. Stop paying your rent or mortgage.
4. Change employers or compensation structure with current employer, at least without notification to your loan officer first.
5. Open any new accounts – including to finance appliances, etc, for your new house.  Tempting as it may be, get the keys first, please.
6. Make any CASH deposits to your account(s).
7. Liquidate any major accounts, like 401k, without, first, getting proper instructions on documenting the withdraw or loan & deposit into your checking account properly.
8. Get gift funds from a friend or family member – Contact me first for proper instructions on how to transfer the money from donor to you & document it for your loan file.
9. Do anything that will result in a new collection, judgment or tax lien, etc.
10. Finance a new Harley Davidson & make your first excited phone call about the new purchase to your me, your loan officer.  Sorry, I probably will not share in your excitement.
11. Change your marital status without notifying your loan officer.
12. Change your target closing date without notifying me first.
13. Forget to inform me that the home has a huge hole in the roof that could second as a shower when it rains.
14. Withdraw a large sum of money from your account(s) to make a major purchase – appliances, automobile, Michael Jordan rookie card, etc.
15. File bankruptcy.
16. Stop making payments or pay late on your current debts.
17. Get an loan of any type for your down payment.

Situations that reflect these items above do sometimes arise.  If a client has the possibility of experiencing one (or more) of the above items – or anything similar – please contact  your loan officer.  There are others involved in helping during the loan process, such as  processors, assistants, etc… According to Chuck Bricker, for matters like the above, your loan officer is best equipped to help you navigate potential problems.

Finally, Chuck Bricker suggest that if you have applied for a home loan and perceive any bumps in the road, be proactive and up-front with your loan officer.

Tags: banking, credit, Credit Education, credit tip, Home Buying, home purchase, money, Money Tips, Real estate, saving, savings

On April 12, 2010 at 10:00am on BlogTalkRadio on The Credit and Finance Show Credit Expert Victoria Finch and Finance Coach Jeff Dalverny will be joined by special guest Chuck Bricker of Bank of America.Chuck has been in the banking industry for over a decade and will provide insights into home ownership, lending changes, and information for those facing possible foreclosure. For more information click here.

Tags: banking, budget, business, credit, Credit Education, credit tip, finance, Home Buying, home purchase, low downpayment, money, Money Tips, Real estate, saving

Today on  the Transform Your Credit From Good to Great show, Co-Host Jeff Dalverny and I spoke with special guest Scott Doerhman of  The Finance Coach in a episode called Taking Control of Your Money.

There were several nuggets from the show that I thought were very important.

1. Families need to budget monthly not yearly and divide by 12. Each month your needs change. For example, some months children are out of school and usually requires more food to be brought into the home.
2. Put your budget on paper. By writing down your budget, adjustments can be made if necessary.
3. Look at your cash flow. Many people do not know how much they actually make and/or  bring home monthly.
4. Have a goal. Studies show that when we have set goals and we write down our goals we are more likely to achieve them.

I also promised the link regarding Parents’ 5 other card choices for college-age children. Click here to read the article in full posted on creditcards.com.

For more information contact The Finance Coach at 317-858-7270 or call Integrated Credit Specialists LLC at 317-527-1440.

Tags: budget, business, credit, Credit Education, debt collection, finance, money, Money Tips, saving, savings, small business

Today credit is more important than ever. Financial institutions are supposed to loosen their lending requirements, but the opposite has happened. As recently as 18 months ago,  you could qualify for prime lending with a 720 credit score. Now,  in most cases, you need at least a 750 credit score.

As lending requirements go up, so must your credit knowledge. When it comes to credit what you don’t know will hurt you. Below I have listed  five reasons I believe consumers do not get the credit help they need.

1. Credit denial. “My credit is not THAT bad.” Your credit may not be THAT bad, but if your score is not a 750, you need to work on it.

2. Procrastination. “I’ll get around to it.” The fact is that many consumers do not get “around” to working on their credit and the financial damage continues.

3. Timing. “I am not going to apply for credit, so I can wait to fix my credit.” Credit restoration can be a long, drawn out process. If you wait until you need it, it may be too late.

4.Affordability of credit repair. “I can’t afford to pay someone to fix my credit.” The fact is, there is nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you cannot do yourself. If you are not going to take the time to work on your own credit, you cannot afford not to get help. Which brings me to number five.

5. Underestimating what your credit is costing you. Even with today’s rates you could be paying more than over $3400 per year in interest on a $200,000 home if your credit score is a 620 versus a 760. That’s OVER $280.00 per month. Could you use an extra $280.00 per month? For more information see mortgage calculators on banrate.com and myfico.com.

Do not play into the hands of the banks by not working on your credit. If you do not have the time, knowledge, and patience to work on your own credit, hire a professional. Working with the right professional will save you thousands of dollars in the long term.

Tags: Credit Scoring, credit tip, FDCPA, homebuyer, Money Tips, saving, savings

As a Credit Specialist, I am often approached with questions about credit cards.  Having credit cards are essential in maximizing a good credit rating.  Credit Utilization is 30% of the credit score and the mix of credit you have is 10% of your credit score. If you have no credit cards you are missing out on major components of the credit score.  What you need to know:

• Ideally you want to have 3-4 major credit cards.
• Major credit cards are best. You don’t need to have a bunch of department store charge cards.
• Keep the balances down to around 10% of available limit. If you can’t manage that, keeping balances at 30% of limit is still acceptable.
• DO NOT exceed 50% of available limit or your credit score will take a BIG hit.
• Keep credit cards in your name separate from your spouse.

Here’s what I suggest:

• Keep credit card spending within limits described above.
• Have a spending plan. For example: I will use XYZ credit card  to purchase only gas for my car this month.
• Pay your bill on time.
• Pay the balance in full if you can when you get the statement.
• Spread the balances out among your cards, but keep one for emergencies.
• Make sure you use your card at least once every three months so that it will not go unrated on your credit report.

In conclusion, you MUST have credit cards to optimize your credit score. Credit cards are not the problem.  It is the misuse of credit cards that create problems.

Tags: budget, credit, Credit Scoring, credit tip, homebuyer, money, saving

We are bombarded daily by advertisers claiming to save us money if we purchase their services in a bundle. I call “foul”. Typically these bundle discounts are only available if you purchase another service. For example, I have cable television and I only have their “stater plan”.  However, anytime I call with a question. They try to sell me a “cost savings package”. For x amount of dollars I can have t.v., internet, and telephone.  In this particular case I can have it all for a low $99.00 per month for 2 years.  Folks this is NOT  good deal. Here’s what you can do.

1. For Internet: Check with you local internet provider and tell them in detail what you use your internet for. You may be surprised to find out you are paying for features that you do not use. Try out different speeds. In most  applications, you probably won’t notice a huge speed difference.
2. Love movies? Don’t pay cable or other services for movies that you are usually are too busy to watch. Consider joining a movie rental service such as Net Flicks or Block Busters. Movies are delivered to your door. You can rent several movies at a time and keep them for as long as you want. Or better still find a RED BOX movie dispenser and rent movies for $1.
3. Once you have internet, I suggest looking into the MagicJack for phone service. They sell them at Walmart and  many other retailers. The Magic Jack costs approximately $40.00 and the service is good for 1 year and only $19.99 per year after the that.

Here’s my breakdown:

• Cable television   $29.99 (75 channels)
• Internet                  $40.00
• Home Phone:        $1.67 ($19.99 per year)

Total:                            $71.61  per month

Monthly Savings: $27.34 per month Yearly Savings: $328.13

Bottom line, if you have to spend money to save money, you are NOT saving money.

Tags: budget, credit, credit tip, money, saving