Thrifty Spending

By William Blake

Living a frugal life is not just about saving. You also have to learn how to spend what you have in the best possible way. Now that you have mastered the savings side, what should you do with all that money? Here are some great ideas:

Make a list of your needs, wants and desires when it comes to your finances. Include any estimates that you may have (or use guesstimates if you have nothing tangible to go on). Be sure that you number them in the order of importance. Then start tackling your dreams one at a time.

Paying more than the minimum payment on your mortgage each month or even just making one additional payment each year could mean that your mortgage gets paid off in half the time that it would if you always paid the minimum. Doing so will also save you lots of money in interest. When you make such additional payments, make sure that the money is being deducted from you loan's principal. Once you have the mortgage paid off, you can use the money you were accustomed to spending on that on whatever else you want.

Use your savings to tackle home projects that have been calling out for attention. They can be big projects (which could require hiring a professional), or small (but not necessarily simple) like purchasing and hanging the ceiling molding in the children's room. You can choose to use the money to enhance your home and complete projects that have been long overdue.

Buy a newer pre-owned car. Even if your current vehicle is in good condition, you can get a newer pre-owned one. Your old car can be donated to a church, charity, or friend. Remember, though, that a newer car will be charged more in insurance payments.

Go on a dream vacation. If you plan your trip during the off season, you will be able to do more with less money and thus enjoy your vacation even more than you normally would.

Even though been frugal does mean saving money in case of unexpected costs, it also important to enjoy the benefits that come from working hard to save your money. Thrifty people should also save some money with the intention of using it to enjoy themselves in some special way.

Your success as a frugal person needs to be honored. Using your savings (that are set aside just for such a purpose) is a great way to keep your motivation for the frugal life up at its highest.

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Remove Collections From Your Credit Report

By Justin Hutto

You must dispute a collection, to remove it from your credit report. This dispute needs to be filed with the credit bureaus.

You file a dispute by creating a dispute letter. In this letter you must identify the mark being disputed and provide a reason as to why it is inaccurate and should be removed.

A copy of this letter needs to be sent to each credit bureau. When the bureaus get a valid dispute letter they must investigate the disputed mark.

It is common for investigations to result in the deletion of a mark. This is because most lenders and collection agencies are unwilling to spend the resources verifying uncollectible debts.

If your dispute is verified then having a credit repair service can be very beneficial. They can use advanced dispute techniques to remove a bad credit item. These techniques include; debt validation, escalated dispute information requests, and creditor direct intervention.

What is a collection?

A collection is a lenders last resort to collect on a delinquent account. Typically your account will go to collections after 6 months of delinquency.

It is common for lenders to have an in house collection agency. However many also outsource and/or sell the delinquent debt.

These agencies will purchase your debt for a fraction of the balance or they will work together with a lender. This means they will collect on behalf of the lender and receive a percentage of all the money they collect.

An important tip to know is that if you get a collection on your credit report and just pay it, the negative mark will not be removed from your credit. Instead it will just change the status of the collection. The mark will remain and it will still be seen as a negative mark by potential lenders.

In sum you do not have to live with bad credit marks on your report. You can dispute them and have them removed by the credit bureaus.

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How Does Debt Consolidation Work?

By Eric Jilson

Living in today's world, it's almost impossible to function without using and managing debt. The unrelenting needs and never-ending changes in our financial lives require that we utilize credit in one way or another. When properly maintained and used, credit is a good thing for most people's financial lives, allowing them to purchase homes, vehicles, and other items they would likely not otherwise be able to get without years of savings.

Often, though, debt piles up rather than being paid and people begin to slowly feel their freedom being drained as the debt begins to take over their financial lives. Becoming always short of money, barely able to make payments on time, or being late because you just didn't have the money yet. Sacrificing lifestyle choices and worse, all begin to get worse as the debt mounts. Eventually this comes to a head and has to be dealt with.

Before it gets to that point, though, many people turn to debt consolidation to relieve the pressure and take off the stress. A debt consolidation and management program can reduce your debt, provide you with a means to get out of debt, and manage your credit to show you how to utilize it in a healthy manner that doesn't build your debt load, but instead lowers it.

So how does this work and is it really what it says it is?

Debt consolidation works by consolidating all of your debt into one loan at a lower interest rate, usually paying off your existing debt at lower rates than what's owed. This means your new loan is for a lower amount that you owed before and at a lower (usually fixed) interest rate. So now instead of many monthly payments at varying interest rates, you have one payment at one interest rate.

Some of these programs will, instead of setting up a new loan, set up a management program in which current debts are "fixed" with the creditors, lower payments and interest rates are set up, and your single payment to the management program pays all your creditors automatically. These are not "loans" but they are consolidations of credit under one management system.

Most creditors are happy to either cut what's owed in order to get paid off so they do not have to worry about a struggling client or to take lower interest payments in return for getting a more guaranteed monthly payment to service the debt. A creditor's biggest worry is that a debtor will declare bankruptcy and the creditor will walk away with nothing at all but an unpaid debt.

Some management companies will offer incentives to the client looking to consolidate their debt, making claims about how quickly the debts will be paid and how a "new start" will be had once it's done. In reality, it takes time to pay off these debts and, in the mean time, the person's credit is often on hold and unusable.

Further, some consolidation management companies take monthly payments, issue "cease and desist" orders as attorneys to creditors, demanding that they talk only to the management company about the client's debt, and then let the monthly payments pile up without being sent to creditors. They do this in order to pressure the creditors into taking even lower payoffs (in lump sums from this "account") and to collect interest on the money being paid to them as it builds in an account. While this is legal, it is deceptive and often ruins the client's credit for a very long time.

So finding a reputable and reliable debt consolidation and management firm is a must if you're in the market to consolidate your loans and want to manage your debts correctly. Consolidation is often the best and most effective way to reduce debt or to completely eliminate it and get clear of it as quickly as possible without totally destroying your credit.

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Personal Student Loan Consolidation: Why to Choose It

By William Blake

A rather large percentage of recent college graduates as well as current college students have many very real concerns to consider regarding their often excessively high student loans. Paying back money borrowed through student loans put an added stress on individuals who already have to pay for necessaries like rent, mortgages, car payments, and taking care of family members. Personal student loan consolidation is one way in which people can ease the burden of paying off their high cost student loan debts.

What is Personal Student Loan Consolidation?

The student loan consolidation process, regardless of whether you are consolidating private or federal loans, involves taking out a new loan. That means that the process of personal student loan consolidation will require you to borrow a new loan whose funds will be used to pay off all of your previously existing debt related to your student loans. Personal student loan consolidation is a great way to simplify your life financially.

Benefits of Consolidating

Besides making the entire process of paying back your student loans easier, personal student loan consolidation may cause your monthly payments to become lower. This is owing to the fact that your new consolidation loan may very well be charged a lower interest rate than your previous student loans had been charged. That lower interest rate will let you save money that can be invested or used to pay off your consolidation loan faster.

The Downside

Remember that there are some negative aspects to consolidating your private student loans. Even though you may be told that you will be paying less each month, it is important to understand that you might not end up saving any money. Be sure to check the details of your loan agreement before you sign anything.

If the term of your loan is exceptionally long, such as thirty years, you could wind up paying lots of extra money in interest charges. A shorter loan term will save you money.

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