Suze Orman recently launched a prepaid debit card called the Approved Card. Now, I’m not a big fan of prepaid cards in general and prefer debit cards instead, but this coming from Suze Orman, deserved another look. I like Suze Orman. She does what a very few can do – break down complex financial topics [...]
For quite sometime, my credit score had been tottering at around 785, vacillating between a high of 803 to a low of 777. Here’s the thing. I had do debt. No student loans, no auto loans, no credit card debt. I have no explanation for the wild swings. But then the inevitable happened. Decided to [...]
A mortgage is probably the biggest loan you’ll be taking in your lifetime. Every little misstep will have repurcussions on your finances. Here’s a simple checklist to help you make an informed decision. Know your monthly payment A mortgage loan is a numbers game. There are various fees, taxes and, confusing terms masked to sound [...]
When it comes to easy money transfers, nothing beats PayPal in terms of popularity. The process is very simple to send money to friends and family: 1.Both the sender and the receiver should have a Paypal account 2.If the payment is for personal use, there may or may not be fees depending upon the source [...]
Is Financial Freedom Worth The Hype? One of the conveniences of capitalism is the easy availability of credit. You can buy almost anything on credit and applying for a credit card is easy! Some credit card companies give out free Pizzas just for signing up! Average credit card debt is over $15,000 today whereas the [...]
This is not a post on how to pay off your student loans! This is about tracking your student loan info. Did you know that the department of education has a central database (National Student Loan Data System) where it tracks information about your student loans? The NSLDS tracks all information from aid approval through [...]
The Feds took a lot of heat for the massive bailout of Wall Street. Politicians rode it all the way to the vote bank with their fake outrage and there were some who openly agreed that the bailout was necessary. Just Take It! But were the bailouts justified? In my opinion, yes. Letting large financial [...]
I was reading an interesting post at Well Heeled Blog and I thought I’ll share a similar experience I had years back. The general consensus is it is a very bad idea. I learnt this the hard way. Incoming search terms:Lending Money to Family and Friends
Ever noticed how when you swipe your debit card at the grocery, you have to choose Credit or Debit? Most choose Debit and enter their PIN to pay for the purchases. Did you know you can choose Credit and NOT enter your PIN? Incoming search terms:do you have to sign for a credit card or [...]
I bank with a credit union which is outside my state. There aren’t too many credit union ATMs around where I can withdraw cash without fees. Cash back from debit card payments are an option. But I’m wary of debit cards for the following reasons: You are not protected against fraudulent purchases the same way [...]