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Resolve to avoid credit pitfalls

There's no better year to change bad habits, cut debt along the way

By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer

Published on Sunday, Jan 13, 2008


Here's a different spin on financial New Year's resolutions. It's what you should not do in the new year, provided by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Northeastern Ohio.

These are resolutions you SHOULD break:

• Apply for every credit card you receive in the mail. (This makes your credit score lower.)

• Charge everything, even those items that you could easily pay for with cash. (This runs up a large debt load.)

• Don't open the monthly statements from your creditors in a timely manner. Instead, wait until it's convenient for you. (This equals late charges.)

• Open store charge accounts simply because they'll give you 10 percent off today's purchases. (These accounts usually carry a higher interest rate than a general-purpose card and could affect your credit score. Also, one more charge card is one more temptation to spend.)

• Take advantage of all ''buy now and pay later'' offers, and then ignore the due dates. (The zero percent interest will probably skyrocket to double digits if you don't comply exactly with the fine print. Also, the interest will probably be applied all the way back to the date of purchase.)

• Make a habit of taking cash advances through your credit cards. (These are at a much higher interest rate than normal charges.)

• Use the convenience checks that come in the mail. (They're a temptation to add to your debt load.)

• Transfer balances to a new credit card with a low interest rate, and then charge, charge, charge. After all, it's a low rate, so what will it hurt? (The rate will probably go up in a few months. Then you'll owe the balance you originally transferred, plus all the new charges. You're worse off than when you started.)

• File for bankruptcy. After all, your neighbor did this and lives like a king. (He's not telling you the whole story. What interest rate is he paying? Yes, you'll be extended credit after bankruptcy, but you'll pay for it.)

• Buy a new car and finance it for the maximum number of months. (Your debt might outlive your car.)

• Never save a dime. Hey, tomorrow will be better. (Tomorrow probably holds as many bumps in the road as today.)

• If you get in a bind, rely on money from payday loan companies. (Interest can reach into the triple digits.)

• Carry your Social Security card or anything with the number on it in your wallet. (This is the gateway to your identity and will be a real bonanza to the thief who steals your wallet or purse.)

• Count on someone else to make your financial future secure. (There is little job loyalty, divorce is rampant, Social Security is uncertain, and baby boomers are the first generation to retire without a pension.)

By avoiding these pitfalls, you can start the year out on the right financial foot.

On the flip side, here are some ''to do'' resolutions, from the Ohio Credit Union League:

• Pay off a credit card. Set a goal to pay off all credit-card balances this year by budgeting for larger payments than the minimum or pick up a single card with a hefty balance to pay off. Doing so can improve your
credit score and your long-term financial wealth.

• Budget. If you're wondering where all your money went in 2007 or looking for ways to cut spending, put together a monthly budget and stick to it. The Ohio Credit Union League has a Web site that has a budget work sheet and lots of educational games and financial lessons for children and adults at http://www.moneyandstuff.info.

Here's my own two cents: I've noticed that some people I speak with don't know how to balance or ''reconcile'' their checkbooks to find out exactly how much money is in their account, once all of their outstanding checks and payments are made. Many think that checking their bank account balance online or looking at their monthly statement means they're reconciling their account. That's not true, and can really cause problems with overdrafts if you start writing checks or withdrawing more money than you have.

Bank statements usually have the reconciling work sheet on the back, or if you use electronic money-management programs, there's usually a reconciling function. If you need a refresher, enter ''check book reconciliation'' or ''checkbook balancing'' into your favorite Internet search engine and you should be able to find a lesson out there. Or check your local library for a financial book that can give you a refresher.

• Save. Saving is more difficult for some than others, and the amounts people are able to save vary. Saving just $100 a month, or about $25 a week, translates to about $1,200 a year. Doing so for 10 years equals about $12,000, even without earning interest.

 

According to the Simple Savings Calculator on http://www.bankrate.com, that savings would be $1,236.40 after one year and $16,840.32 after 10 years, with 6.5 percent interest.

Here's another interesting calculator on Bankrate.com: a lunch-savings calculator. If you brought a bagged lunch for 20 work days a month (that's essentially every day most months), you'd save $867 in a year, assuming a lunch out costs you $6.50 and a bagged lunch costs you $3, for an expected return of 6 percent on what you've saved. In four years, that'd be $3,793. Even if you brown-bag it for only 15 days a month, that's still $650 saved in a year or $2,845 after four years.

 

Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at
330-996-3724 or blinfisher@
thebeaconjournal.com.

 


Get the full article here.


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