Finance Globe

Of all the financial-related things consumers are concerned about – making ends meet, saving for retirement, putting money away for kids’ college – the biggest worry is credit card debt, according to a survey from FICO, creator of the well-known credit score. Federal statistics, however, show that the amount of credit card debt has steadily increased throughout 2012, which brings some question about consumers’ financial priorities. TransUnion, one of the major credit bureaus, expects that credit...

If you’ve checked your credit reports – hopefully you have – then you know that a variety of accounts are reported to the credit bureaus each month. Credit reports include credit cards, mortgage (if you own a house), auto loan (if you’ve borrowed money to purchase a car), student loans, or possibly even debt collections. One of those types of accounts has a bigger impact on credit scores, which are based on credit report information. Do...

One of the main reasons for taking a balance transfer is to make it easier to pay off a high interest rate credit card balance. By transferring your high interest rate balance to a credit card with a 0% balance transfer rate, you eliminate finance charges for at least a few months and more of your payment can go toward reducing the credit card balance. It's too bad 0% balance transfer rates don’t last forever. By...

The Federal Trade Commission says it receives more than 200,000 complaints about telemarketing robocalls each month. Many of the complaints are from “Rachel from Cardholder Services” as part of a credit card rate reduction scam. Thankfully, millions of these calls will cease as the FTC recently gained a court order to stop five companies from making these calls. Rachel's ScamIn this credit card rate reduction scheme, the telemarketer claims to be from cardholder services and says...

Just a few years ago, banks were actually paying customers to sign up for new checking accounts. They were paying existing customers for referring friends and relatives. Meanwhile, existing bank customers enjoyed checking accounts and most of the benefits at no monthly charge. All that's changed.Sign-up perks are a distant memory and the number of free checking accounts is dwindling with less than 40% of banks offering a completely free checking account, according to a Bankrate.com...

Credit cards come with several different APRs: one for purchases, sometimes another for balance transfers, and a higher APR for cash advances. The highest APR of all is the default or penalty rate. The default rate is only charged in certain circumstances and thankfully, there are ways to avoid the expensive APR. Regular APR vs. Default APRTypically your transactions will get the regular rate for that type of transaction, e.g. purchases get the purchases APR, balance...

“Seize the day”, “Live for the moment”, and “You only live one” are feel good quotes that can mislead people into thinking only of today, not for the future. Much of today’s society is built around convenience. Business models and technology makes it easy for you to live in the moment. For example, you don’t have to meals because you can just pick up a microwave dinner or fast food on the way home from work....

When a business is struggling, it has to make big changes to keep operating. As opposed to laying off employees, the company may choose to administer pay cuts either to a couple of departments or across the board to all employees.You don’t have to accept a pay cut. However, refusing it may leave you out of a job. Depending on the job market (which is not that promising at the time of this article), it may...

These days, you can hardly shop without being asked to sign up for a store’s credit card. Saving 10% may be enticing, particularly on larger purchases, but declining the offer may be a better idea. Here’s why. Just a One-Time Discount You only save 10% the one day you apply for the credit card and only if you get approved for the card. Sure, getting a discount on a purchase is a good thing, but you...

It’s so important to be able to recognize the signs of financial trouble. If you can tell when you’re heading for disaster, you can stop what you’re doing and prevent something terrible from happening. A paycheck to paycheck lifestyle Living paycheck to paycheck can seem ok as long as all your expenses are being paid each month. But it’s like walking on a tight rope: one false move and you could fall to financial ruin. For...