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Why You Should Rent to Own Your Home

Douglas Manning — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:13:37 +0000

If you are weighting the decision between continuing to rent and getting a rent to own home you will want to read this article. We are going to be taking a look at some of the key benefits of renting to own. After reading this article, you should have a better understanding as to why renting to own can make sense.

Close Fast!

If you need to move quickly, getting a rent to own home is a great solution. There is generally no lengthy application process like when you get an apartment. And, of course, it is much faster and considerably less hassle than when you buy a home and go through the mortgage process. In fact, sometimes you are able to move in as little as 24 hours!

Bad Credit is Ok!

Sellers that offer rent to own houses are less concerned with where you have been and more concerned with where you are going. People who look for rent to own homes generally speaking would like to become a home owner but do not presently qualify for a mortgage. Sellers understand this. As such, your bad credit will not stand in the way of you getting your dream home.

Stop Throwing Money Away on Rent!

When you rent, you are literally throwing money away. Your payment goes to pay your landlords mortgage payment each month. They build up equity and you walk away with nothing!

When you rent to own, you start building up equity from day one. A part of each payment accrues in an account and is credited towards your purchase price. This means that when it comes time to get your own mortgage, you may not have to come up with much of a down payment. (You should always be prepared to make a down payment though – just in case!)

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Destroy That Outstanding Balance With a Credit Card Debt Settlement

Douglas Manning — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:55:41 +0000

Negotiating a credit card debt settlement is a way to make an agreement with your credit card company regarding the outstanding balance on your account with them. You agree a monthly payment plan, with no new interest to be added, the account gets closed, and at the end of the repayment period, you are debt free.

It’s not that hard to arrange. You simply call the credit card company and ask to speak to the department that deals with debt settlements. If they are unclear, you say that you wish to make an plan as to how to pay off the remaining balance, by way of a settlement.

However, before you do this, you will want to know how much you can afford to offer each month. Draw up a spending plan. To do this, take a piece of paper or a computer spreadsheet package like Excel or Open Office and list your income and expenses, by item. Total these and see how much, if any, you have left at the end of each payment period.

You may also need to embrace frugality, which means to be smart about what you purchase and at what cost. There are some good ways to cut back on your spending.

Some people clip discount coupons from the local newspaper and glossy magazines, but you want to be careful that you are not just getting a discount on the expensive branded product and that the own-brand at the supermarket is still cheaper. Some things you can just reduce expenses on by buying in bulk.

A credit card debt settlement is one good approach to take to get a handle on your finances and take back control. Making that call is a little off-putting, but you can make great strides in putting yourself back onto a good path when you do. Don’t wait.

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Get Out Of Debt With These Debt Consolidation Options

Douglas Manning — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:11:06 +0000

As a recovering debt addict, I know what it is like to be struggling under a mountain of debt. Fortunately, through a combination of increasing income and smart debt elimination techniques, I was able to pay off a massive amount of debt. One technique that I used to clear debt was credit card debt consolidation. Indeed, millions of consumers explore debt consolidation options each year.

Here are some of the main options for consolidating your credit card debt:

Transfer balances to a low interest credit card. These interest rates can run as low as 2.9% to 7.50% if you have very good credit. Even in our economy today, you are still probably getting some pretty good balance transfer offers. I expect that the number and type of offers will improve over the next few months. Beware of those balance transfer fees. Some are as high as 4% with no cap on the amount.

Use balance transfer checks. Credit card issuers still mail out balance transfer checks with their monthly statements. Many offer a low interest rate for the life of the loan. You still have to pay a balance transfer fee, so be careful.

Open a HELOC (Home equity line of credit). If you own your home, and still have equity left after the mortgage bubble burst, you can get a HELOC. It is not usually wise to make a habit of taking equity from an appreciating asset to pay for consumptive spending, but, in this economy, you have to do what you have to do.

Negotiate with your credit card company. Credit card companies are still reeling from the defaults over the past several months. You can try to use the current economic climate as leverage to negotiate lower interest rates by threatening to close the account and pay off the balance.

Remember, these credit card strategies are only available to consumers with good credit scores.

Consumers with bad debts or poor credit scores will have to explore other means to achieve their debt consolidation goals. Even if you have bad credit, it makes no sense to procrastinate and do nothing. As your credit debt begins to spiral out of control your efforts to consolidate your credit cards becomes more difficult.

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Apply For A Credit Card: Know Your Credit Score

Douglas Manning — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:12:13 +0000

Credit cards today are a necessity.

You need one to stay in a hotel or rent a car. You will need to have a minimum of one credit card in order to establish revolving credit with the credit bureaus.

Perhaps you have accumulated too much credit debt and need to consolidate it onto one lower interest card. In any case, you may find it necessary in the near future to apply for a credit card. With so many different offers around in the new credit environment, you need to educate yourself in what to look for.

Credit Card Offers: Offers, Offers Everywhere – Not A One To Take

You can find offers to apply for credit cards everywhere from online to in your mailbox. If your credit rating is good, you can apply with your bank or any major credit card company.

Surprisingly, even if your rating is not so good, there are actually even more credit card offers out there. Your email inbox is probably flooded with sites claiming to find the card that’s right for you. Companies can charge a lot more in interest and fees of customers that have a lower credit score.

Know Your Credit Score

Your first step in applying for any type of credit should be to know your credit rating. When you know what type of credit risk you are, you will make a better decision about the card that is right for you. When you have a good credit history, you can stay away from credit cards that have large annual fees, monthly service fees and even internet payment fees. When you are educated about your own credit rating, you will know what you qualify for, so you can walk away from these credit cards.

Know The Credit Card Terms

If you are more of a credit risk to a lender, you may have to pay the fees while you build up good payment history. There is a lot of fine print when it comes time to apply for these types of credit cards. There can be many clauses in the interest rate disclosures for these, so read them carefully. You may be quoted one low interest rate up front, but the fine print may say that should you make one payment late, your interest rate could double or even triple.

Beware Of Gimmicks And Fees

Many cards will sign you on for a 0% interest rate for a limited time on new cards or balance transfers, the accumulated interest will all be charged to your account. There are also those cards that will increase your credit limit every few months or so. In that fine print you will generally find that the increase in your credit limit may be $50.00-$100.00, but there will be a fee of $25.00-$75.00 to do so.

At the end of the day there are any number ways to apply for a credit card, but knowing your own rating is what will help you find the best credit card for you. Using your new credit cards responsibly will build you a solid credit rating, and that is a must for a successful financial future.

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Having Trouble Trying To Pay Down Debt?

Douglas Manning — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:00:27 +0000

You are as much to blame as the credit card companies. It is time for each of us to examine ourselves and determine how we have contributed to creating our own little mountain of debt.

There is a bill currently pending in Congress that would seriously curtail some of the worst of the credit card companies’ unfair lending practices. President Obama wants to sign the bill into law in the next two weeks. The law would prohibit interest-rate hikes on balances, stop the practice of putting the whole payment against low rate balances while the higher rates compound, and prohibit the practice of rate hikes when the borrower is late on a bill that is unrelated to the credit card company.

But, what about us?

What have we done to contribute to our collective, and individual, mountains of debt? Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons we are, at least, partly to blame for our credit woes.

Impulse Purchases Lead To Bad Decision Making

Americans carry almost a $1 trillion in credit card debt….And it all started with someone, somewhere, automatically pulled out the card and charged something on it.

Studies indicate that consumers are notoriously bad decision makers when they use their credit cards. The impulse to purchase something is harder to resist when it is as painless as signing your electronic signature and walking away. Merchant groups suggest that the average consumer spends 10-20% more when using a credit card than paying with cash or check.

No wonder we need legislation to protect us…..from ourselves.

Teaser Rates Lead To More Debt

A large portion of credit card users select their cards based upon the low introductory rate alone. Nevertheless, studies show that, despite the low rate, they end up paying higher interest rates over time. This is because most people, despite their best intentions, do not pay off the balance by the end of the teaser rate period. The rate increases and all of the interest that was saved is ultimately paid back under the new, permanent, higher rate.

Hidden Fees Take Their Toll

Most consumers miss the laundry list of fees, charges and hidden costs associated with owning a credit card mainly because we delude ourselves into believing that we will never miss a payment or be late in making one. But, often we do and the avalanche of fees and expenses pour onto the statement. The problem is that those fees, even if only a potential problem, have to be weighed into the equation when evaluating a credit card.

We Cannot Make Decisions Where The Consequences Are Substantially Delayed

As a culture, we are notoriously bad at understanding the consequences of costs where those consequences come much later than the decision itself. We tend to look disproportionately at the immediate gratification and assign more value to it.

Credit card companies, and merchants in general, are all too happy to oblige our character flaws.

Indeed, we engage in such irrational behavior as paying more for items even where a discount is offered for cash and there is no need to finance the purchase. It just does not feel like we are spending real money. We incur hundreds and thousands of dollars in interest charges each year while we have money sitting in a savings account earning 1% interest (if we are lucky).

Paying The Minimum Credit Card Payment Will Not Retire The Balance

Here is another psychological trick that the credit card issuers use to increase their profits.

Having a low minimum payment distorts our perception about how much we should be paying off.

As a result, we carry the balances longer and pay more interest.

The Solution to Credit Card Abuse? Different Type Of Disclosure

The problem with the fine print disclosures that we currently get with our credit cards is that it does not relay the type of information we need to properly assess the long term impact of our credit use habits. The current disclosure is not enough because it does not address the way we think about revolving debt.

We read the information, but it does not register.

Instead, the disclosures should be written in a manner that reflects the hidden credit cost in a way that we can process and understand. Legislation has been introduced that would, among other things, forced credit-card issuers to disclose on each statement the number of years it would take to pay off his balance and how much interest would be paid by only paying the minimum payment.

This modified disclosure would not only disclose the nuts and bolts terms of each card, but also how they impact us. Informing consumers of the real cost of using their credit cards, in a way they can comprehend, lets each consumer make an intelligent decision that could result in less impulse purchasing and lower overall balances and obligations.

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