MySpace and Facebook
An Identity Thief’s Goldmine
Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are an identity thief’s dream come true. Where else can people be so willing to divulge highly detailed personal information to a total stranger. As a result, cyber criminals are easily stealing identities to plunder bank accounts and exploit credit ratings.
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Universal Default
Another Sleazy Credit Card Trick
A sleazy credit card tricks is Universal Default. As the name implies, “any” activity on your credit that is considered negative is cause for the terms of your agreement to be changed. And it is irrelevant if you made every payment on time. It is as if you are reapplying for credit on a daily or weekly basis.
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401k Loans
And Loaning it to a Friend
Suppose you had a friend who was in dire need of money and the only available cash that you had access to was what was inside your 401k. Would you take out a loan from your 401k so you could help out a friend? If so, what are the risks  involved in borrowing money from your retirement?
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Your Credit Score
Do Lenders See the Same Score?
There are quite a few television and Internet advertisements about credit scores. And many of these ads claim that the score that they sell to you is also the same score that lenders see when you apply for credit. But just how true is that? Are creditors really seeing the exact same credit score?
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Oppressive Car Loans
The Never-ending Sinkhole
Cars are becoming never-ending financial sinkholes that drown consumers in debt. And it is starting to become commonplace for people to have never owned their car outright even though they may have gone through several vehicles and have made consecutive monthly payments for more than a decade or longer.
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Scorning Free Money
Turning Down Fringe Benefits
I am often shocked whenever I meet people who turn down free stock or very generous stock purchase plans from their employers. There are also others who do not maximize their 401(k) matching or even participate in it. Why do some people scorn free money from their employer?
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Consolidation Loans
Is it a Benefit or a Danger?
For anyone saddled by debt, especially from numerous high-interest creditors, a bill’s consolidation loan is the simple solution to solving a serious problem before it gets out of hand. But is the issue truly resolved or is a bigger problem merely delayed until it finally blows up in your face?
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Bankruptcy And Credit
Raising a Bad Credit Score
Suppose you have a recent bankruptcy which resulted in a crummy credit score. And because of past events, you are avoiding getting back into any debt whatsoever. What can you do to improve your credit score especially if you are interested in buying a house in the future?
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Make That Payment
Or Your Car Might Not Start
Finance companies that cater to subprime consumers for auto loans have adopted a novel approach to thwart defaults and repossessions. They have begun to install high-tech electronic boxes on top of dashboards of the vehicles that specifically monitors whether or not car payments have been made.
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Retirement Quiz
The Responsibility of Retirement
Who has the greatest responsibility for your retirement:

• Your Employer
• Your Spouse/Domestic Partner
• The Government
• The Retirement Fairy
• Yourself
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Hey S*** Face
Abusive Bill Collectors
Debt collections company Nationwide Collections sent a letter to S*** Face, who is someone who had a delinquent account. And for people who have been harassed by abusive collection agents, the only difference here is that this bill collector actually put the profanity in writing since it is usually done verbally.
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Too Much Debt?
Obvious Signs of Disaster
It is easy to know when you are in the hole with your finances. After all, money is tight and you don’t seem to be getting anywhere with your bills. However, there are obvious signs that you may be in over your head with too much debt. Here is how to identify if you are heading towards financial disaster.
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Buried in Debt?
Tips to Dig Yourself Out
Are you buried in debt? Are you struggling to pay the most ordinary and mundane bills like the groceries, utilities, mortgage, and everything else? And is there simply no way to pay unexpected expenses like a car or home repair or medical bill without paying all of your other overdue bills even later?
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High Interest
Better Credit Score Saves Billions
A recent study analyzed industry data on 352 million credit-card accounts. Their analysis concluded that a consumer could save an average of $76 per year on their finance charges simply by improving their credit score by 30 points. In total, that could translate into a staggering $16.4 billion of savings nationwide.
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Inquiries Gone Wild
Inquiries and Your Credit Score
Everybody and their grandmother wants to check your credit. Your car insurance company wants it and so do your utilities like the phone and cable companies. And so does your cell phone company. And even the security monitoring service for your burglar alarm also wants to check your credit.
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Zeroing Out Debt
Does it Harm Your Credit Score?
Contrary to common sense, smart debt management can lead to negative consequences to your credit score. Wise management of your debt may put more money in your pocket but it will hurt your credit score if you do not already have a very long established credit history. Sound confusing? Well, it is.
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Debt Ratio
Ignorance is Not Bliss
For people concerned with their credit, there is sometimes an obsession with their three-digit credit score. Although the credit score does play a significant part of the lending process, there is a two-digit number that can be just as important but far too many are simply unaware of it. It is your debt to income ratio.
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Secure Your Workplace
Prevent Identity Theft
I am often amazed at how casual and careless so many people are when it comes to their own workspace at their job. They treat their desk at the office as if it was as safe and secure as their own home. Yet, such carelessness becomes a very easy target for identity thieves to exploit.
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Mortgage Ignorance
Unknown Types of Loans
34 percent of homeowners didn’t know what kind of mortgage they have. Too many consumers do not know what they were getting themselves into when they signed across the dotted line. And if they didn’t know what kind of hole they dug themselves into, they certainly will not know how dig themselves out of it.
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Other Risks
Small Stuff That Ruins Your Credit
Many different organizations are now using bill collectors such as your local library to a municipality for an unpaid parking ticket. In fact, the use of collection agencies by local and state agencies has exploded. And yes, they can still ruin your credit if you choose to ignore even the smallest of unpaid fees or charges.
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Tax Professionals
Knowing What to Expect
An acquaintance of mine once hired a Certified Public Accountant expecting to end up with a much larger tax refund than what he received from the previous year. Instead, all he got was an expensive bill from the CPA for a return and a refund that wasn’t much different than what he did himself the year before.
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Lose Your Check Card?
Better to be Safe than Sorry
Suppose you lost your check card? The first step is to immediately contact your bank to re-issue you another one even if do you get the card right back. Yes, it may be a hassle to be without a check card for a brief while especially in today’s modern world, but the consequences can be so much worse.
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Don't Be Gouged
Stupid Credit Card Tricks
Buried in the fine print of your credit card agreement are the instruments to inflict pain to your pocketbook. And pain is what you will feel if your credit card payment is a day or even an hour late. Not only can you get slapped with an outrageous fee, but your interest rates could also skyrocket.
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Disposing Personal Info
One Town Buries it in a Park
Think your personal data is safe. The city of Converse Texas regularly buries confidential personal records in a public park. The personal data included social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, addresses, phone numbers, photographs, etc; a treasure trove for identity thieves.
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Handwritten Letters?
Silly Credit Repair Suggestions
Perhaps the silliest suggestion I have ever seen about credit repair is to hand write all disputes to the credit bureaus. The purpose is that they will take your disputes more seriously because of the authenticity involved. This suggestion is a total wastes time and effort because of our modern business environment.
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Wealth
The Miracle of Compound Interest: Part 1
Can a very small investment give the ordinary person a phenomenal return, perhaps something like around a million dollars? Actually, it happens everyday by people who invest pretty close to nothing but do so from every single paycheck for the next few decades. That then becomes the miracle of compound interest.
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Debt
The Curse of Compound Interest: Part 2
How fast can your debt balloon out of control until it blows up in your face? Millions of people who are teetering on bankruptcy already know how bad debt is. But to add insult to injury, it is not the principal that crushes the debtor but the compounding interest that plunges the debt to the point of no return.
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Obsessed with Scores
A Credit Score is not Everything
There are over 30 million people who have  sub prime scores of 620 and below. And naturally, such a score makes obtaining the best financing very difficult, hence the fixation on improving a credit score. Unfortunately, a credit score may not be the sole factor that determines if you are approved for credit.
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Tax Refund Loans
Popular But Still A Rip Off
Tax refund loans are such a rip off, yet they are still immensely popular with millions of taxpayers. About one in 10 filers use them and that level of usage has been fairly constant for years even though the IRS has already greatly trimmed down the length of time that it takes to receive a refund.
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Rebuild Trashed Credit
Knowing What You Control
So your credit is trashed. Years ago you had plenty of credit cards and loans and everything was paid on time. Those days are history and it almost seems like another lifetime has passed you by but there are ways to rebuild your credit even with negative items.
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Use Cash
Limit Your Check Card
Like so many modern consumers, I rarely carried cash or my checkbook. Once I discovered how easy and convenient it was to get my transactions done with a bank card, I was hooked. And how wrong I was. The biggest drawback to a check card is that it is "too" easy to use on an everyday basis.
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Dump High Interest
Get Thee to a Credit Union
For people crushed by credit card debt, nothing gets their blood boiling more than outrageous interest rates and completely unreasonable fees and gimmicks from sub-prime lenders. But there is an alternative to traditional banking and high interest financial institutions. Credit unions might be the answer.
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Important Files
Just as Critical as Your Credit Report
A credit report isn’t the only type of file that you need to know about. Today, there are plenty of other huge databases that keep tabs on many aspects of your life such as your car, home, bounced checks, arrests, etc., that you may be totally unaware of. And that can cost you money.
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New Bill Collector Scheme
Bullying Innocent Consumers
Suppose that you have always exercised responsible credit behavior that resulted in a good credit score. Now imagine a bill collector unceasingly harassing you with an unpaid written off account that doesn't even belong to you. Unfortunately, some people just pay it off just to prevent their credit from getting trashed.
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Are Credit Bureaus Evil?
Consumers Lack Knowledge
Many people do not think very highly of credit bureaus and even a few think that they must be pure evil especially if they have a bad credit score. But regardless of how bad your credit is, the reason for such a negative viewpoint is because too many consumers really don’t know very much about them.
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Preserving Marital Bliss
Good Credit Marrying Bad Credit
Your wedding is right around the corner but your significant other has terrible credit while yours is pristine. What can you do to preserve your marital bliss while keeping your excellent credit score intact? First of all, the most important to remember is that marriage does not have to ruin good credit. Here's how.
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Marriage and Credit
Can Marriage Ruin Good Credit?
Suppose you have an awesome credit score but the person that you plan to marry has bad credit. Will marriage ruin your good credit rating as well as ruin your financial future? The answer is absolutely not although the confusion stems from a lack of knowledge about what a credit bureau really does.
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