Tips of the week:
1. You should treat the problem and not the symptom. This stands true for debt consolidation as it does not actually treat the problem.
You have to find the root causes of the problem and take steps accordingly so that the problem does not arise again. This also holds true with debts. You have to find out the reasons behind your debts and change your financial behavior accordingly. Don't bank entirely on the solution in the form of debt consolidation. Change your attitude towards finance.
2. Education with purpose is a great thing. So, don’t just go to the college to collect a degree!
Education should not only be considered as a way to obtain a degree. Its ambit is more broader than that. You should have a purpose and goal for obtaining education. Real education helps inculcate best of the human traits and it makes a person humble and down to earth.
3. A budgeting plan will only work in a family if everyone follows it. It does not make sense if one person follows it and the other racks up debt.
If you are in a family, you should design a budgeting plan for the entire family. All the family members should stick to that budget plan. If someone in the family follows the plan but another member in the family racks up debt, then there is no use of keeping such a plan. In order to make a family budget plan successful, all the members should follow some good financial practices. It is a collective effort and not the responsibility of a single person in the family.
4. Small businesses often fail. So do not over-commit while starting a small business. Take steps to grow over the time.
If you have started a small business venture, you should not expect it to grow overnight. There is no magic to convert a small business into a big one, in a very short span of time. You should not be over ambitious and should not over commit. With your honest hard efforts, with baby steps and with right strategies, your business will grow gradually over time.
5. Behavioral change will help you in get out of financial problems. So, it's better to not waste time with tricks and schemes.
You can't get out of financial problems by following short-cut tricks. To permanently solve your financial problems, you have to change your financial behavioral pattern.
Queries of the week:
1. What steps can you take to motivate yourself to build your credit?
Credit building is a continuous and time-taking process. By following some best financial practices, you can improve your credit situation. You should not default in making payments and you should make payments on time. Control your expenses so as to keep a lid on your debt level.
2. What steps should you take in order to be wealthy this year?
I would put serious efforts to control my expenses. I have set a monthly budget. I will try to stick to my budget. This will help me build up substantial amount of saving. I will use that saving for investment purposes.
3. When does an SOL clock restart for a debt?
Debts have an expiration date, which is known as the statute of limitations (SOL). Once the SOL period is over, debt collectors can't no longer collect the unpaid debts from you. So, before you agree to pay off an old debt, make sure that the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. The time period starts on the account’s last date of activity and varies by state.
4. How should you deal with an online mortgage company?
Check out the necessary license and registration before working with an online mortgage company.
5. What steps will you take to avoid high cost loans in 2014?
The rate of interest on a loan does not depend upon you. Whatever be the type of loan, make sure that the loan is affordable to you.
Active rain posts of the week:
1. Acquaint with low or no down payment mortgage loans
During the boom time of housing market, no or low down mortgage loans proliferated. But, as the housing market collapsed, this type of mortgage started to take retreat. Now, as the real estate market has started to show some signs of recovery, this type of loans has re-appeared. For USDA and VA loan, no down payment is required at all. For FHA loan, a down payment of only 3.5% is required. If you don't have the capability to make a very large down payment, you can think of these low or no down payment mortgage loan options.
2. How marriage can hinder your chance of getting a mortgage loan?
It is said that marriages are made in the heaven. But, sometimes your marriage can jeopardize your prospects of getting approved for a mortgage loan. Poor credit of your spouse may hamper your chance of getting a mortgage loan. Even the high debt levels of your spouse may come in your way of obtaining a mortgage loan. So, it may be a wise decision to get approved for a mortgage loan first prior to getting married.