Say no to Minimum Payments on Credit Cards

For years, the low monthly minimum payments required on credit card balances allowed consumers to spend far more than they could really afford—causing many to have serious financial difficulties and a bad credit score!

Lately, however, some credit-card issuers have started to raise the level of the minimum monthly payment.

Let’s be clear: an increase in the monthly minimum is actually good for consumers, as they will be paying off their credit card debt sooner. But that can still cause some real hardship in the short-run.

Holders of MBNA MasterCard, for example, have seen their monthly minimums rise as much as seven-fold, causing a severe financial squeeze.

Many of those cardholders relied on MBNA’s introductory low-interest rate of 1.99%, only to see that rate escalate dramatically – to as high as 16.99% -- if they miss a monthly payment.

New rules

Federal rules introduced in September 2010 force credit-card companies to tell cardholders how long, in years and months, it will take them to pay off their outstanding balances if they pay only the minimum each month.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has a credit-card payment calculator on its Website (www.fcac.gc.ca) that shows how much of a difference it makes to pay more than the monthly minimum.

For example, paying only 2% of your balance every 30 days barely covers the interest, and leaves almost nothing to whittle down the principal. On a balance of $2,000 or more, it would take you about 30 years to pay off the existing debt even if you never charged another item to the card.

If the monthly minimums rise to 4% of your balance, you will cover the interest but it will still take 10 to 12 years to pay off the balance even if you do not add any new charges.

Try a personal bad-credit loan

It would be better to take out a personal loan or even a bad-credit personal loan, for example, at Prudent Financial Services. That way, you will pay all the debt within one to four years, depending on the amount you borrow. Most loans of $1,000 or less at Prudent are paid off within the year if payments are made on time.

Other options

● Start paying cash for purchases and stop buying items that you can only finance on your credit card.

● Do some ruthless budgeting: identify areas to cut costs.

For further information please contact Prudent Financial Services http://www.prudentfinancial.net

Prudent's Gift of Giving photo contest.

Enter Prudent's Gift of Giving photo contest on Facebook.

Each day a $50 gift certificate is given away.

Every dollar will be matched in your name by Prudent to Sick Children's Hospital.

Click on the Photo Contest tab to the left to upload your favorite holiday photo, with a brief description.

Your name will then go into a draw. Daily winners announced Mon-Fri for the next four weeks.

If you want to watch a video on how to load your picture copy and paste this link in your browser http://vimeo.com/32646390

Good luck!

How to Build Credit for New Immigrants or If You Have to For Yourself

It’s very difficult to know where to start to build credit when you don’t have any. Financial institutions and creditor’s see new immigrants and people born here who have no credit at all as a high risk since they often don’t have any history to support their request for credit. If you search Google for www.canada.creditcards.com you will find more helpful information to help you along. Here are a few simple ways to get your credit started and to improve your credit so that lending Institutions and Creditor’s will start to give you a chance and approve you for credit.

Understand how credit works.

Get a credit report through Equifax or Trans Union to see what you have associated with your name. Sometimes you may not know you already have some positive credit created and sometimes you will find out you have a few things that are looked upon negatively, that you can then take care of.

Use Cheques & Open a Bank Account Savings with Overdraft in Your Name

When you do this you automatically start a paper trail the Banks can track that, will put you in a good light with creditors. Make sure your Ckeques don’t bounce and your overdraft is always paid, showing responsible payment histories.

Have your work Cheques deposited into your account and pay your bills through the Bank.

Once again this is all recorded and will show a good history of bills being paid on time or at least the minimum balance being paid. Your utilities (electric bill, gas bill, phone and internet) will also support a positive payment history.

Apply for a secure Credit Card through a Bank

This is a credit card that will hold (even a minimum balance of $500.00) until you have shown that you can use it, pay off the balance owing or minimum balance creating good responsible history that lending companies can track. Once they have seen you are responsible you can ask them to turn it into an unsecured credit card and continue showing the banks you are worthy of credit as you pay the minimum or complete balance off each month.

Remember the sooner you start your credit history the more positive credit you can generate. Many accountants will tell you that the best credit obtained is the longest credit history that indicates you have a job or income revenue coming in and that you are responsible for making payments to support your request for a loan or more credit.

For more valuable information please visit http://www.prudentfinancial.net/

Rebuilding your Life after Losing a Job or Bankruptcy

While plenty of reports today have talked about the recent upswings in our economy, there are still some issues and people have undeniably suffered as a result. If you've lost a job or gone through a bankruptcy, there are plenty of effects that it may have on your family and your life. Keep in mind that it certainly isn't the end of the world, but you may need to take a moment to prepare yourself and your family for the changes on the horizon. From seeking a loan after bankruptcy or a loan after a proposal to changing some of your daily routines, there are numerous considerations to make.

If you've lost a job, the first thing you'll be focused on is finding a new one. And if you've recently filed for bankruptcy then eventually you'll want to rebuild your credit through a loan after bankruptcy.

1. You should focus on more pressing matters. Start by taking a long, hard look at your expenses. There are numerous things that may not be necessary which you'll have to cut back on. Showers instead of baths, washing laundry on the cold setting, and other options will reduce the amount of your power bill, for example.

2. Once you've reviewed your expenses and dropped unneeded ones, modified your daily routines, and bundled any bills that you can your next step will be figuring out other cost saving measures. Food is a major expense, and your family will probably have to stop eating out as often and begin eating at home. This alone can save you big.

3. Once you've adjusted your life adequately, you can start focusing on steps to rebuild your credit like bad credit loans. Financial organizations can help you plan your budget and even line you up with a loan after a proposal or bankruptcy to get you started.

Losing a job or a home can be difficult, and will likely require sacrifices from every member of your family. But if you stay focused and positive, it isn't an issue that is insurmountable. Start by figuring out some basic life changes to cut your bills and then meet with a financial company to see what options are available to you for securing your future. These two steps are the first towards regaining your financial footing and moving forward into the future. It may be painful and difficult, but it is certainly possible.

Fore more valuable information, visit www.prudentcreditrepair.ca

Should You Get a Payday Loan? - The Dangers of Payday Loans

You've probably seen them, whether on your morning commute or through an online ad – the ads offering you a fast cash advance in the form of a payday loan. They hype themselves up as bad credit loans that can help you get a quick influx of money when you really need it, often using nothing but a couple of recent pay stubs as the only requirement. But while getting a few hundred dollars may seem tantalizing, the truth is that whether you apply online or visit a brick and mortar location, payday loans are bad news for pretty much anyone who takes one out.

Payday loans are looked at with such a negative light by most financial experts that the government is actually in the process of cracking down on them.

• There are plenty of reasons, but the chief ones lie in their predatory nature and the huge interest rates associated with them.

• Their advertising likes to gloss over their negative aspects by claiming that they're bad credit loans are easy to get after bankruptcy, but the truth is that there are plenty of better ways to rebuild your credit than to do business with these lenders.

Consider that the normal payday loan is a two or three week loan up to around three hundred dollars.

• Now consider that when you calculate the overall interest you'll pay you end up actually being charged between three hundred and ninety, to eight hundred and ninety one percent interest – far more than even the worst bad credit loans.

• Current laws place criminal usury rates at sixty percent, but a few exploitable loopholes let payday loan companies circumvent these restrictions

• They also charge huge fees, often hidden ones that borrowers aren't even aware that they're paying until it's too late. Certain restrictions are already in place, but the problem is far from contained.
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Another issue lies in back to back loans which rollover debt and create a never-ending cycle of interest, debt, and danger. A borrower can't repay the entire loan, and it's rolled over into a new one until the interest is so high it's nearly impossible to get out of. Don't let yourself be fooled by flashy ads or the promise of bad credit loans made easy. These loans normally don't even report to credit organizations and won't help your credit in the least – they'll only put you in more financial trouble. Simply put, there are better options out there for anyone, regardless of credit history.

For more valuable information, visit www.prudentcreditrepair.ca

Conserve on Household Energy and put Money in your Pocket

Have you tried cutting down on your Tim Horton’s coffee every day to see how much money you save? Often it’s the little things that can save a lot of money year round. When energy prices are rising, you may ask yourself, “How can I reduce my costs and save money on energy?” The federal government is bringing back the popular eco ENERGY Retrofit for Homes Grants Program, which assists eligible homeowners to receive grants up to $5000.00. It is important to have an energy evaluation completed before any work begins. On average, the program saves 20 percent on the energy bill. Apart from applying for the Retrofit Program, here are a few helpful tips below that you could consider implementing to start saving immediately:

• Install dimmer switches to use less electricity. Keep your fridge and freezer full since food acts as an insulator to maintain a certain temperature. Install a Programmable Thermostat then set the temperature lower at night and when you are away.

• Install ceiling fans to keep the air circulating in your home and your air conditioner won't have to work so hard.

• Wash laundry in cold water - 90% of the energy consumed by your washing machine is used to heat water. Turn the dial to cold, and lower the bill. Line dry your laundry and let Mother Nature dry your laundry.

• Switch to CFL bulbs. CFL light bulbs use four times less energy than incandescent bulbs. Install Motion Sensors - motion sensors can be installed both inside and outside the home to ensure that lights only come on when needed.

• Turn Off Heat/Dry on Your Dishwasher.

• Install a Programmable Thermostat.

• Install Low Flow Shower Heads. The less water flowing through your shower head means less water to heat.

• Eliminate “Phantom” Electrical Use. A surprising 75% of the energy used by home electronics is consumed when they're turned off. These "phantom" users include: televisions, VCRs, stereos, computers, basically anything that holds a time or other settings. Plug all of these items into power strips and then get into the habit of turning off the strips until you use them.

Making your home energy efficient as well as saving money can keep your dollars in your pocket so you don’t have to stress about making high monthly payments. But if you can afford an energy audit, remember the government is willing to give you a rebate of half of the cost or up to $150.00 if you are not able to find a company to give you an estimate for free. For more valuable information, visit www.prudentcreditrepair.ca