If you’ve never had a credit card, trying to get one for the first will probably be very difficult because you have no history and thus you’ve built up no trust. So, a common tip I’ve read is to be put as an authorized user on someone else’s account so that you can begin building your history.

Unfortunately, unless the other person is a spouse, the company is not required by law to report the card to the credit bureaus - they can do so if they want, but they can’t be compelled to do so. Some companies do report the authorized user to the credit bureaus and so that can be a way to begin building history, but it’s not universal. Call ahead before you are put on as an authorized user if you’re using it to try to build your history.

Think this will ever happen in the states? Barclaycard will automatically lower your interest rate if you make more than the minimum payment… I wonder if companies in the US will follow Barclaycard’s lead?

Bouncing a check sucks, besides the ridiculous not-sufficient-funds fee, banks can cut you loose if you bounce one too many checks. With the spread of information with the advent of the internet and a mysterious black list database, banks could deem you and your account to be more of a liability than an asset and actually close your account. I’ve never heard of this but I’ve never bounced a check and never known anyone to bounce more than a check or two by accident - never done in an attempt to play the float.

If you ever bounce a check and are forced to pay an NSF or any other fee, be sure to kindly ask them to reverse the charges. If it’s your first (or at least the first in a long while), they’ll like it remove it without incident. If they don’t, threaten to take your business elsewhere… and if they let you leave, then leave.

3. Bouncing a couple of checks can cost you your bank account.
Not only can your own bank kick you to the curb, but it can put you in a financial database that acts as a kind of black list, says Rutter. Result: For up to five years, other banks could be leery of giving you an account.

A host of technological advances have exacerbated the problem. Among them: widespread use of debit cards, which don’t necessarily stop working when the account is empty and new financial regulations and processing methods that have cut the “float time” (the period it takes to process a check) that many people build into their bill-paying schedule.

Use online banking or toll-free numbers to keep tabs on your accounts, especially if you’re a debit card addict.

This is part of a series of articles taking a closer look at the tips provided by Bankrate’s Debt Counselors’s 15 tips article.

Source: Bankrate

This is part of a series of articles taking a closer look at the tips provided by Bankrate’s Debt Counselor’s 15 tips article.

2. If you co-sign, that debt is yours.
If your son or daughter wants you to co-sign for a car, apartment or loan, just say no, says Trent Graham, manager at GreenPath Debt Solutions. Debt counselors see this one a lot. Often, the other person defaults, leaving the co-signer to pick up the payments. Having to suddenly shell out an extra $350 per month can really squeeze a family budget.

This lesson should be part of Personal Finance 101 - if you sign a loan, you are responsible for it. If you co-sign a loan, you are also responsible for it. The reason why the lender wants you to co-sign isn’t because they just want you to vouch for the credibility of your child or friend or neighbor - they want you to co-sign because they want your assets and your ability to pay to back up the loan. If that person isn’t credit worthy enough to get the loan in the first place and will require you to put up your credit worthiness, perhaps they’re not ready for the loan.

Source: Bankrate

This is part of a series of articles taking a closer look at the tips provided by Bankrate’s Debt Counselor’s 15 tips article.

1. Freebies are lethal.
Those low introductory offers sound great, but they are designed to get you hooked on the service. The ploy works way too often, says Elaine Rutter, a certified consumer credit counselor with the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Central Pennsylvania.

“I see people with cable, Internet and cell phones paying several hundred dollars a month,” she says. The consumers tried the service at the initial low price and kept it on even after the bill went back up to the normal rate.

Be sure you can afford the extra bill with your current income and budget.

This refers to not only teaser promotional rates for credit cards but all sorts of services. I think it’s crucial for a savvy consumer to check what the rates are after a promotional offer, if they’re the same as what you’re paying now then by all means snatch up the offer.

In many cases, especially with 0% balance transfer offers, you’re just looking to get a 0% respite for a year or six months so that you can catch up or pay off a bigger chunk. I think in those instances it is very important to take the deal if you can because in the end it will help you. This tip is just warning you about seeing a “too good to be true” teaser or promotional rate and then getting suckered in after the rate ends.

This is part of a series of articles taking a closer look at the tips provided by Bankrate’s Debt Counselors’s 15 tips article.
Source: Bankrate