The Finance Blogger

If you have been charged with a DUI offense, most people will want to find the best DUI attorney they can. No one wants to be convicted for driving while under the influence of alcohol. They may lose points, they may lose their license, their car or even go to jail.

There are all kinds of issues that have to be dealt with and actually some are personal that we do not even think about until it is too late. The potential impacts of being stopped and charged with a DUI offense include the following:

• Charged with DUI
• Spending the night in jail
• Having your car towed
• Paying the towing fee and the storage fee
• Costs to get your license back
• Legal fees for the court case which can run into the thousands
• Penalty fees for the conviction
• Being forced to use a breathalyzer in your car every time you want to drive
• Losing your driver’s license for a year or more
• Embarrassment at the office, your friends, your family etc
• Impact on your job if you need the car to work

Best DUI Attorney

It never seems to end with so many things that can impact your life just because you had a few drinks too many. It really is not worth it to drink and drive and this is if you get stopped by the police. If it does, you need the best DUI attorney you can find.

It Can Happen to You

Imagine what happens if you are in an accident and have been drinking. All the above and you lost your car, damaged someone else’s car and hopefully no one got hurt. Why take the chance at all. Stick to one drink at the most or do not drink at all.

We were at a party not too long ago and we were discussing the issues around drinking and driving. Several stories were told but one really got my attention. This guy needed a divorce lawyer after this one in addition to the best DUI attorney he could find.

This fellow was on business in another city and went to the bar to have a few drinks. He met a lady who worked for the same company and they hit it off and after a few more drinks they decided to go back to her place. On the way they hit a police cruiser that was parked along one of the streets. He was ok, some bruises, the lady that was in the car was pinned under the dash and had to be cut out using the jaws of life.

Other Impacts of Drinking

The next morning he went into the office and was upfront with everyone that he had been drinking and had an accident, totaled the car and was charged with a DUI. Everyone felt badly for him until one of the managers spoke up and asked about the lady he was with. There was total silence in the office and no one felt sorry for this guy since he was married and his wife was expecting.

Turns out that the lady he picked up was friends with some of the people in the office and they heard about the accident from her along with the full story. She did not know he was married and did not know that his wife was expecting. After that the entire office found out and someone told his wife.

Now he had all of the issues we discussed above to deal with in addition to handling his divorce and all that goes along with a messy divorce. Did the drinking make him do it, probably not. But it sure helped him along the way.

Consider the consequences of drinking too much and make the smart decision so that you do not need to hire the best DUI attorney available.

Collection of debt is something that most people really do not ever want to have to deal with. Debt collectors specialize in collecting debt from people who have been unable to repay their debts. Or perhaps have decided that they have other priorities. Once a loan has gone for several months without the monthly payment being received it can be quickly turned over for debt collection. As a result next thing you know you are getting these obnoxious phone calls asking for money. These people are really not nice. They will give you a difficult time until you pay up. They will harass you until you at least make a plan to repay the debt. The debt collectors only make money when they collect.

Debt Collectors – Collection of Debt

Debt collectors can also come after people who have a payment that they should have paid and for whatever reason have missed the due date. For example, failure to pay your hospital bills, x-ray charges, etc. These can also trigger these kinds of calls and nasty letters in the mail.

Depending on the size of the debt, whether it is secured or unsecured, debt collection will take various forms. They may be quite troubling to many people. For example, let’s assume you purchased a car and took out a loan when you bought the car. The loan would have been secured by the car that was purchased.

Deciding to Miss Payments

If you decide to miss payments on the car loan, debt collection may start with phone calls. However, they then gradually proceed to more drastic action. At the worst point after all negotiations have finished, if in fact there are negotiations, the debt collection process will move to a point where they move to repossession of the car.

Basically, this is the last resort. The lender needs to repossess the car in order to sell it. They use the proceeds to recover the loan and all fees associated with the cost of the loan and repossession.  Don’t ever allow your debt situation get to this point. Take action and pay your monthly payments. Also, talk to the lender to negotiate or renegotiate the loan.

Missing Payments on Your Mortgage

Car loans are bad enough and no one certainly wants to lose their car and have it picked up in the middle of the night by a tow truck because they have not met their monthly payments. But what about your home? Many people over the last four years have been dealt a blow from the economy, losing their jobs and barely finding enough money to put food on the table, let alone pay the mortgage every month.

Housing Market Impact

When you are not working and unemployment runs out and your savings run out, most people will try to sell their homes to get out of under this crushing debt. They will move into apartments or back with their parents. Unfortunately, the housing market also fell and it fell big time. Homes were worth half of what they used to be and the mortgages on these homes were higher than what the home was worth. Even if the home was sold, there was still a mortgage that had to be paid.

The collection of debt became really complex. How do you collect from someone who has lost their job and has no assets? The banks were in trouble now and this is where the government stepped in and bailed them out, but they did not bail out the little guy. Consumers all over the US still owed a debt and they had no way to repay it, so they declared bankruptcy and walked away from everything.  We have seen homes that still had all of the furniture in them, clothes in the closet, and even food in the fridge. One home had a wine rack still full of wine bottles, none of which were very expensive. These people have no assets left and collection of debt is impossible with these consumers as well.

How Long Will It Take to Recover My Credit Rating

It can take several years for the shadow of bankruptcy to be lifted and depending on the circumstances you may still owe money as well. It is a decision not to be taken lightly and should be discussed with a bankruptcy lawyer. Your credit rating will be nonexistent and you will not be able to obtain a loan for any personal loans or mortgages. You may not even be able to obtain a credit card for some time. These are difficult times and everyone wants to avoid debt collection and bankruptcy at all costs.

Save

Have you ever had a debt collector come after you for debt collection? The writer has for a rather surprising event that took place in our lives. We had to use a hospital that was out of state. We were unfamiliar with their procedures relative to billing. All of the insurance information was provided when we checked into the hospital.  During our stay we had x-rays. Also a number of other tests needed to be completed to diagnose the problem. Each test is billed separately and invoiced separately which was a big surprise to us.

Separate Businesses Not Passing Information for Billing Purposes.

Little did we know that the hospital and the x-ray department were actually separate business entities within the hospital. The hospital did not pass the insurance information along to them. Six months later someone came after us by phone for debt collection. The amount was only $250, however, the x-ray department deserves to be paid for the services they provided. But what a surprise when you receive an automated call for debt collection. You have no idea what it is for.

We hung up on the automated caller five or six times. Then decided that they were not going away so we had better deal with this. We accepted the call and were connected with a debt collector agent who rudely explained the problem to us. From his perspective, we were deadbeats who were not paying our bills. Once he understood that he was not going to get paid unless he provided us with the information needed to get our insurance company involved, he was much more polite.

Debt Collectors Have a Tough Job, but Do not be Rude

These guys have a tough job to do with debt collection activities. They do run into a lot of people who really do not want to pay their debts or possibly do not have the money to pay what they owe. Talking to rude people who have no interest in talking with you is a tough job in my books anytime. Nevertheless, once he found out that he would be able to collect, and just had to provide the proper information he was fine.

Debt Collection Can Take Many Forms

The example we discussed was relatively simple compared to many situations. Sometimes just finding the person who owes money can be a difficult thing to do. Once you have found them, there is the challenge of getting them to acknowledge that they owe money and that they need to pay it back. Most people are honest and when you confront them will work towards making arrangements to repay their debts.

Unfortunately, there are other consumers who have no desire to pay their bills and in fact plan to escape the debt collection process whenever possible. These are the tough ones to deal with and many times debt collection involves some form of harassment including taking them to court to make them pay up.

They will harass you on the phone, send threatening letters, and if it is a large amount of money may even start recovery procedures if there is equity involved such as a car or a house. Picking up a car and selling it to recover the debt owed is a common approach for many collection agencies. Taking over homes is more problematic, to recover the cash involved in the mortgage, however, you need to get the people out of the house before it is sold. Court orders are sometimes needed to make people move out so that the house can be sold.

Debt Collection Process

All this is very difficult, however, it is part of the debt collection process and each situation will be different. Knowing the laws in your town or city can also help with regards to understanding what a debt collection agency can and cannot do. Know your rights. Understand the alternatives when it comes to debt collection. Eviction can make a huge difference in your life in terms of the assets you retain during a debt collection process.

Save

There is hardly a business today that does not have the need for a merchant credit card. Most business transactions that are done today with their customers are either debit or credit card transactions. If you do not have offer this service you run the risk of losing business. Long gone are the days when people carried enough cash around to pay for whatever they purchased. Checks are also not generally used any longer. Besides, there is too much opportunity for fraud with people trying to pass bad checks. Small business operators all the way up to large businesses must have the means to accept business credit card transactions today.

Merchant Credit Card – How are the Fees Determined

This service is typically offered by a number of financial institutions. There are various levels of fees that may be charged.  Before we get into the fees, the service you purchase will usually be for a defined term up to three years in length. They may have cancellation charges if you decide to opt-out of your contract before it is completed. Be careful of the credit card companies that claim to offer to no cancellation fee. It is usually somewhere in the fine print that many people do not bother to read.

The fees that are charged are also based on the number of transactions you expect to process each month. Also, the amount of money that is anticipated to be processed and your company’s credit rating. Volume of transactions can affect the amount of processing needed and communications required. Support for fraudulent transactions etc are usually a percentage of total transactions and also the type of business that you are in.

Amount of Transactions and the Average Size of the Transactions

Large transactions with a small number of transactions will be treated differently than a large number of transactions and a large amount of money being processed. Providing an accurate estimate of the number and type of transactions will have an impact on the fees that you will eventually pay. The company’s credit rating or your credit rating in the case of a sole proprietor also will impact the fees that the financial institution decides to charge.

Type of Business

Sometimes even the type of business that is applying for a business credit card service will affect the fees. Different businesses have different reputations for fraud, for numbers of transactions and the size of those transactions. All of this is taken into account prior to the final fees for your merchant credit card account being finalized.

What are the Fees for a Merchant Credit Card Service

First, there can be an application fee from $0 to around $500 that is charged to all customers. Next, there are statement fees that are charged for printing or making a soft copy to send to the merchant. Usually, there is a transaction fee that is calculated per item based on a fixed rate or a percentage of the amount up to some agreed to the maximum per transaction. There can also be a fixed or variable cost per month for these services whether you use them or not.

Business owners should compare several services that offer merchant credit card accounts. Then select the one that makes the most sense for their business. The number of transactions per month, the fixed fees, the variable fees, and the fees that are considered a minimum amount unless some threshold is achieved.

Not all merchant accounts are the same. They do not all charge the same amount. Sometimes you may have noticed that some businesses will not accept certain credit cards for example. This is due to the fact these cards charge the merchant too high a fee for processing a customer purchase through this particular card. It can be very frustrating to learn that the item you wanted to buy cannot be bought since the store owner will not accept your card.

Consider all of these issues before you make your decision. Review which merchant credit card service to utilize and always ask your bank for a negotiated discount to the fees.

For many more posts about managing credit cards, click here.

Many people are concerned about paying probate taxes on their estates. They would like to minimize the probate taxes. Many would like to leave as much money as possible to their estate and their heirs. They simply do not want to leave cash to the government. As a result, they will adopt many schemes to avoid paying this tax. Everyone should take steps to minimize the tax they pay legally. They should be thinking of this all of the time. You can be sure the tax department is thinking of ways to tax us more every day!

Estate Planning Probate – Government Tax

Governments levy a tax on the estates of people who have passed away under specific rules and guidelines. Depending on the size of the estate and the planning that is done ahead of time, probate tax can be reduced from thousands of dollars to hundreds of dollars. Makes sense to do estate planning for probate taxes.

There are legal methods to avoid probate taxes and to set up your estate in such a manner that the probate taxes are minimized. We will list a few here and then discuss several in a bit more detail. Regardless of what you read here or anywhere on the web, we urge readers to contact a lawyer and an income tax specialist to make sure that what you are doing is legal to start with and secondly is in your best interests as well. After all, you want to remain protected while you are still alive.

Estate Planning Probate – Reduce Taxes

Here are some of the things you can do to reduce or eliminate taxes:

Anything that is jointly held will automatically usually go to the remaining person. This can include cars, homes, investments, and personal items. Most couples will own their own homes jointly. As a result, there will be no probate tax generated when one of them passes away. Once the remaining spouse passes away, probate tax on the home for example will be generated. Unless you make the home in joint ownership with another person, usually a child.

Some people will go as far as transferring the asset to the child with the understanding that the asset will remain for the personal use of the parent. In most cases, there is nothing wrong with this, but every once in a while you hear about a child taking advantage of their parent and leaving them destitute. Talk to your lawyer and other family friends before you take this serious step.

Add a Child to Property Ownership

Adding a child as a joint owner appears to be a better solution since when the parent passes away the asset is automatically transferred to the child as specified by local laws. This also avoids probate tax and is a great way to conduct estate planning of probate taxes and minimize them. The danger here is if the same child has power of attorney and can make decisions on your behalf. Again discuss these issues with your lawyer and close advisers.

The laws vary a great deal in many countries. They all have various probate tax laws and while what we have discussed will usually work for many people in many countries, it is important to obtain legal advice regarding your rights as well as current probate tax laws in your country or state or province.

Minimizing probate tax is an important part of estate planning and we think that most people will want to at least look at this issue and make a decision regarding what they need to do to minimize probate taxes. Do not wait until it is too late. Your health may fail all of a sudden and some locations have laws in place that will include any transaction completed in the last two years of life as part of the estate for probate purposes.

Many people find life insurance estate planning complicated and emotionally draining. It really does not have to be either of these things. With a little help, it can be simplified by answering the following questions. This is preparation for when you pass away. You will want to make sure that your estate is in good shape. This is the adult responsible thing to do as a parent and an adult. Make sure that your family is looked after when you are gone. It is emotional, but it is something we all have to face at one time or another.

Life Insurance Estate Planning – Basic Questions

For example here are some of the basic questions that consumers should ask themselves which will help them decide if they need life insurance as part of their estate planning and how much insurance they really need. Here is our list of questions:

• What are your current debts and how will they be paid
• Will your estate have enough funds to pay these debts
• How many dependents do you have
• How long will you need to provide financial support for these dependents
• Will your current assets be sufficient to cover all of the above

Depending on your answers you may need to add some life insurance to make sure that your estate will have sufficient funds to cover each of these issues mentioned above. In addition, many people want to leave some form of legacy to their heirs and this is sometimes an amount of money that they know will be put to good use and will help them in their own lives.

For this reason, some consumers will also increase their life insurance coverage to provide some money for each of their heirs. This is certainly optional. Many consumers say they plan to spend everything before they die and that is ok too. We just believe that you should cover your debts and provide for your dependents so that no one needs to suffer for any reason.

People will also provide for their pets to make sure they go to a good home and that they are provided with food and lodging for as long as they live. Pets are part of the family and in some cases rank above other family members, It is hard to believe that this is the case for some families, but that is the way it is for some people.

Life Insurance Estate Planning – Wills, Executors, Division of Assets

Whatever you decide to do is your business; however, there is one area that we feel very strongly about when it comes to life insurance estate planning. Make sure you have a will and have appointed a set of executors to carry out the wishes of your will. Otherwise, the government will step in and make decisions that you might not have made had you been able to.

We also believe that the assets should be divided evenly among your heirs and you should not favor one or the other. Treat them equally and they will remain friends for life. Treat them unequally and they will become distant over time which is something we really do not think that anyone would want to see occur.

Life insurance estate planning does not need to be any more complicated than that. However, if you are more comfortable with working with a financial adviser or your lawyer this is ok too. Many have had a lot of experience in this area and can make suggestions regarding the preparation of a will and how much insurance you may need. Always seek independent advice from experts about life insurance. A life insurance salesperson will usually recommend that you need to purchase insurance. Ask for and obtain independent advice to obtain the best answer.

Looking for Debt Relief – Debt relief for consumers who have found themselves with high balances on their credit cards and/or personal loans can sometimes be obtained by consolidation this debt into one low-interest personal loan or mortgage. Consolidate your debt to lower your monthly payments. The interest rate will be lower than most credit cards. The payments can be spread out over a longer amortization, which will make the payments lower. This is one approach that can be used by consumers to get control of their monthly budget. Also, put in place a plan to reduce their debt. This form of debt relief is used by many consumers.

Consumers will also take drastic steps at times to put them in a direction that will ensure debt relief. They will cut up all of their credit cards and only spend cash when they need to purchase something. They will also focus on paying down all of their debt as quickly as possible. This could be at the expense of many other things that consumers usually spend their money on. It can be pretty drastic. Sometimes it places a good deal of hardship on the consumer as well as their families. We will take a closer look at both of these scenarios.

Looking for Debt Relief Through Consolidation

Consolidation of debt works well when you have several high-interest rate loans or balances on credit cards that can be consolidated. Consolidate them into one low-interest rate personal loan or secured mortgage using the equity in your home.

Suddenly you go from paying 18% or higher interest to a low-interest rate of around 5% using today’s rates. Depending on the amounts that are owed and the existing monthly payments, consumers can save hundreds of dollars a month in interest charges and thousands per year. These savings can be translated into lower monthly payments.

On the other hand, consumers can keep the payment levels the same and put the extra money towards paying down the principle much more quickly saving them even more money. This is an additional method of achieving debt relief quickly and saving money at the same time. Ask your lender to calculate the difference in payments, the amount of interest paid and how quickly you can achieve debt relief by employing these methods.

Debt Relief Through Expense and Budget Control

This approach is considered by many consumers as being much more difficult. No one wants to limit their lives and avoid doing things that their friends and family are doing, but sometimes to achieve debt relief, severe measures need to be taken. For example, reducing restaurant meals, giving up smoking, and doing without a lot of things that many of us have come to expect can save a great deal of money, and if you put it toward debt relief, it can make a difference.

Sometimes by following this approach, you can reduce your expenses by as much as $100 a week, which is $400 a month. Even this amount can actually help to repay your debt much more quickly than it would otherwise. Set an objective, establish a budget, and decide just how far you can go with your family and your expenses.

Some people have already followed this approach and find they still are not achieving the kind of debt relief they are looking for. This is where a combination of both expense reduction and debt consolidation can sometimes make all of the difference. We talk more about this in the next paragraph.

The Best Approach

Probably the best approach is a combination of both of the above debt relief strategies. Consumers can achieve debt relief. Consolidate all of their debt into one low-interest rate loan. At the same time, manage your expenditures to avoid further debt and even reducing their debt through extra payments. It can sometimes take a lot of perseverance. However, when you finally achieve debt relief, it can be wonderful. Suddenly you have money available for all kinds of things. Since you no longer need to make those high monthly payments!

Speak with a lender about debt relief consolidation methods and ask them to do the calculations for you that will help you get to your objectives for removing all of your debt.

For more posts about what to do about debt relief programs and what to do about it, click here.

There are lots of low interest credit cards available on the market. However consumers need to pay attention to the fine print. They need to make sure that these low interest rates remain in effect for a reasonable period of time. Also hat there are no hidden charges to be aware of. There are many credit cards that will offer low interest rates for a specified period of time. They revert to the regular rates. Some cards will offer 0% interest rates on any balances that are transferred from other sources for up to 10 months. Then the interest rate on any Lower Interest Credit Card unpaid balance goes up to 18%. If there are any charges during that time that go unpaid this amount is also at the 18% rate. Only the transferred amount will be interest free.

If you manage your credit card debt carefully, consumers can actually take advantage of these lower credit card rates and avoid paying interest on the balances. The trick is to make sure that there is no unpaid balance at the end of the month that could trigger an interest charge. The fees and charges seem to fall into several categories for debts that are transferred from other accounts

•        Zero Interest, Zero Annual Fee
•        Low Interest, Annual Fee
•        High Interest , No Annual Fee

Some will charge regular 18% interest on any charges for goods and services to the card if you do not pay the balance of these charges at the end of each month. There always seems to be a catch to many of these lower interest rate cards and consumers need to really examine the details before they begin to use them.

Regular Lower Interest Credit Card

In addition to low interest rates on money transfer from other debt credit cards, some cards truly do qualify as low interest rate cards. The typical store credit card is usually at 27 or 28% interest rates. Regular bank credit cards will range around 17% to 19%. There are credit cards that offer their products at much lower rates. At the time of writing these low interest rate cards were ranging around 11% for unpaid balances. This is a very low rate for any credit card product. There is usually one catch which can change this rate depending on how much you use the card and what unpaid balance you carry.

These cards will charge an annual fee for their card from $30 up to as much as $100 a year. This is an effective interest rate charge, however it is very difficult to calculate the effective interest rate.

Features, Insurance and Other Services

In some cases these additional fees may well be worth it to some consumers. For example if you travel a great deal and charge the trip costs to this card, you may be covered for health insurance, trip insurance, car rental insurance and build up points that can be used for purchases. These points can be used to buy products from a catalog or they can be used to pay for trips, airfare, hotels and rental cars. Depending again on your use of the credit card these points can be very valuable to many consumers, paying for many products and services.

Credit Rating Requirements on Lower Interest Rate Credit Card

Consumers who want to be approved for one of these cards usually must have good to excellent credit ratings. If you want one of the lower interest cards, your credit rating should usually be in the excellent range. Of course it never hurts to ask. Sometimes people will be approved even with poor credit ratings allowing them to reduce their overall interest costs and save a great deal of money.

There are so many credit cards it is difficult to know which one is best for every reader. Our advice is to list all of the features. Then decide if these features will benefit you. Compare to your current credit card that is being used by your family. If there is not an improvement, then do not bother with the credit card product. Holding a lot of credit cards may cause your credit rating to drop as well. Be careful before you decide to amass a lot of credit cards in your wallet.

The job of a drunk driving attorneys is to somehow get the charges reduced to the absolute minimum. This may even include having it reduced and eliminated altogether. But most people are happy to get their license back, pay a fine and a second chance. This works well for people with first offenses since the judge is probably going to give most people a chance as long as there is no major accident and you are apologetic.

The lawyer’s fees will be expensive, but then not having a criminal conviction is worth a lot when you are facing possible jail time, loss of license and significant fines. Finding the right drunk driving attorney is vitally important in situations like this. Making a bad decision to drink and then drive will only get much worse if you make another bad decision and hire a drunk driving attorney who does not have the experience and drive to help his or her clients.

Drunk Driving Attorneys

A friend of ours is looking at $5000 to $8000 to pay a drunk driving attorney to get his charges reduced so that he can avoid a criminal charge and keep his license. He needs his car to get back and forth to work so this is really extremely important that he not be convicted.

In addition to the legal fees, there may be a fine that he will have to pay in addition to the towing fees when he was initially stopped by the police. He had to also pay for three days of storage for his car in the impound lot. By the time he is done, he will have paid close to $10,000 all because he made a really bad decision to drink and drive.

Breathalyzer

Another friend of ours was able to retain his license and not receive a criminal conviction, however he had to agree to install a breathalyzer in his car instead. At first you might think that this is a good thing and not a really big issue. Better than being placed in jail or losing your license for a year.

This is all true, however these things are not cheap to  install. In addition you must blow into them each time before you start your car. Apparently also after driving for something like 30 minutes he also has to stop and blow again just to be able to keep going. Long driving trips can be a problem and he is always looking for someone else to drive. Can’t say I blame him, but who wants to deal with this sort of issue?

He also has a criminal conviction which prevents him from going to some countries. They have restrictions about letting you in if you are a criminal even if it is for DUI. Always have a designated driver and do not drive if you have more than one drink. A taxi is far cheaper than a DUI conviction.

Interview Drunk Driving Attorneys

Interview drunk driving attorneys, ask for references and make the best decision you can. This is one decision that will impact the rest of your life in addition to the immediate situation. If you end up with a criminal conviction, your insurance is going up. You may not be able to leave the country. You may not be able to find a job as easily. Many companies will not consider hiring anyone who has a criminal conviction regardless of the type. If you are drinking and driving, get your act together. Avoid a DUI and the need for a drunk driving attorney to have your sentence reduced or eliminated. Take a taxi, have someone else drive if you must drink. That extra drink is just nor worth it.

Consolidation loans are a really great tool for consumers and business people who would like to reduce their payments into one easy to manage monthly payment and usually save money at the same time. You may have several loans at various interest rates. Or perhaps a couple of credit cards with unpaid balances. You are likely paying too much interest and your monthly payments may also be higher than they need to be. Consumers in this situation can apply for consolidation loans. If you have a good to excellent credit rating you can save hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.

Debt consolidation may also help to improve a consumer’s credit rating as well. With only one loan instead of several and lower monthly payments, they will be more affordable. The ability of the consumer to meet all of their monthly payments is quite a bit higher which reflects positively on their credit rating. Anytime you miss a payment, your credit rating will slip several notches. This makes it more difficult to obtain a loan and driving the interest rate up as well. Demonstrating that you can meet payment requirements over an extended time frame also helps your credit rating.

Secured Consolidation Loans

A popular method by consumers to enable debt consolidation is to use the equity in their home as collateral. This ensures that the consolidation loan is secured. It allows the lender to provide a much lower interest rate to the consumer.  With low rates, the consumer may even find that their monthly payments decrease by several hundred dollars a month. This reduction can be very helpful with their monthly budget.

Consumers must realize that if they are unable to pay their monthly payments they could lose their homes. If they have used their home as equity for the mortgage or the loan, they could lose their homes. The lender will have the right with a secured loan or mortgage to sell your home. This happens in situations of nonpayment to recover the remaining amount that is still owed.

This can be very catastrophic for everyone and consumers should make every effort to meet all of their monthly payments. If you find yourself in this situation, talk to your lender and attempt to work out a solution that keeps you in your house without losing it. Eventually, you will need to make all of the payments on what you owe.

Avoid Credit Car Debt

Use consolidation loans wisely and once you have consolidated all of your debt into one loan, avoid running up the balances on your credit cards again, or you will be faced with exactly the same problems you just got out of. Credit cards have very high-interest rates and consumers end up paying a great deal of money for interest charges if the unpaid balance goes beyond the due date.

In addition, as soon as you pay less than the full balance by the statement due date, interest is calculated on the unpaid balance from the date the items were first charged to the card. The amount of interest is often much larger than most people expect and then it is even more difficult to pay the total amount owed.

Finding the lowest interest rate credit card can be complicated since there are so many factors to consider. They make it this way sometimes to confuse us as consumers. Yet if you do a little homework you can quickly pick out the deals that make sense for your particular situation. The credit card companies are trying to cater to everyone’s specific needs and increase business. They make money with every transaction and especially if you carry a balance past your due date.

Lowest Interest Credit Card

There is a balance to all of these attributes for a credit card in addition to low interest rates for credit cards. Consumers will have to take into account all of the costs before they make a decision regarding which credit card to select. Some of the factors to take into account are:

• Annual fee
• Retail rate
• Balance transfer
• Cash advances
• Travel benefits
• Other benefits

Annual fee –

the annual fee for a card varies from zero dollars to several hundred dollars a year. However many cards that charge a fee are in the $30 range. These fees often offset the interest charges that are forgone for debt transfers from other cards. They also help to defray costs associated with benefits that you may receive for travel etc. Consumers will have to compare the benefits received compared the interest rates that are charged.

Retail rate – the retail rate is the rate charged for retail purchases charged to your card and the balance is carried over to the next month. This is the rate that most people will pay for all of the overdue balances on their cards. Store cards will charge as much as 28%. Most cards charge in the 19% range and low interest rate cards will charge in the 12% range for overdue balances.

Balance transfer –

As an enticement, credit cards will lower the interest rate they charge on balances transferred from other cards. There is usually a grace period of a number of months were this rate applies. Then the interest rate will revert to the higher retail rate. The interest rate on balance transfers can be as low as zero % to 10%,. This depends on the card and the credit card company.

Cash advances – sometimes cash advances are need to get you through a difficult financial period. These are known as cash advances and many companies will charge the retail rate or even higher from the date the cash advance was taken out until it is paid off in full. The rate can be higher than the retail rate in many situations.

Travel benefits – with all of these charges that we discussed above, there may be other benefits that are considered useful to some consumers depending on their life style. Travel benefits, health benefits when traveling, points for purchases and insurance for purchases may also be of interest.

Other benefits

Depending on the card there may be other benefits that are attractive to consumers as well. Depending on your life style and your personal needs, when you look at all of the costs and benefits, one card may stand out from another. This card will match your current needs, your long term needs and your life style making it a perfect card for you.

With so many cards available, and so much competition for your credit dollar, these credit card companies are offering great deals and it is definitely worth it to take the time to select the best one to that gives you the lowest interest rate and the best overall deal. We made a small spreadsheet so that we could list all of the options and the benefits along with the interest rates they were offering so that we could make sure that we put the most money in our pocket and not the pocket of the credit card companies. If you can, always pay the balance in full each month to avoid any additional interest charges. This is by far the best way to reduce your overall interest charges.

Save

Ever wonder what life insurance and estate planning have to do with each other? Well I did until I started looking into it. One day I was trying to figure out if I should keep the life insurance I have had for the past 30 years. I initially purchased it to have insurance in case something happened to me. The family would need money to survive. I wanted to make sure that my wife would be ok financially. Also that my kids would have enough money to go to university. I ran through all of the calculations at the time to make sure there would be enough money.

Estate Planning Life Insurance – Update Your Insurance Needs and Plans

Well that was 30 years ago and I still have the same insurance and was wondering why I continued to keep paying for this insurance. I spoke to my financial adviser about it and he suggested that I take a look at my current cash flow and determine what the impact would be if I passed away. The kids are fine and out working. They are on their own, but my wife is not and would need to be able to pay the bills etc.

So by asking what the impact on the cash flow would be if my income stopped my adviser triggered me into doing some estate planning and life insurance. So when I calculated the change in income, I quickly realized that my wife would not have a very good life if something happened to me and my pension stopped etc. the answer of course is life insurance which would provide enough capital to sustain my wife in her current lifestyle.

A Life Insurance Illustration

An illustration is probably appropriate at this time. You will have to use your own numbers of course and I have used easy numbers to illustrate, however you will get the idea. Let’s assume that the family income would drop by $10,000 a year if you passed away. Probably not realistic, but this is an easy number to use. Basically you need enough life insurance to generate this income. If you decide to live on the income only, then you would need $100,000 invested at 10% to generate $10,000 a year in income, so in this example a $100,000 life insurance policy would be sufficient. Today most investors would tell you that you would be lucky to generate 5% on your investments, so you would probably need $200,000 in life insurance. This would go indefinitely as long as you never touched the principle.

Now lets assume that you are 65, your spouse is 65 and you will live to the age of 90. You want to draw the maximum income you can. Under the same assumptions you have $200,000 in insurance, how much can you draw assuming a 5% interest rate? The answer will be $200,000 divided by 25 or $4000 a year plus a declining interest income. In the initial year the income would be $4000 principal plus $10000 in income. The following year you would take out another $4000 and the interest rate would generate .05 times $190,000 or $9,500, a drop of $500.

How Much Life Insurance Do I Need

With all of this analysis I conclude that I still needed to have life insurance to ensure that my wife would have sufficient income after I pass away. The amount I need does decrease the longer I live. The other reason for estate planning and life insurance is that you want to pay all of your debts when you die. If you owe $25,000 to a credit card or personal loan, then your estate needs to pay this amount before anything is paid out to the survivors.

We have come to the conclusion that we need to do estate planning for our life insurance needs every year taking into account the income needed if one of us were to pass away  and also to take into account all of the debts that we may have. If there are no debts then estate planning is made a bit simpler as far as life insurance is concerned. Hope this helps our readers.

We all seem to have credit debt issues these days, particularly with the number of credit cards that are carried by adults in North American. I read a statistic that suggested that there are many credit cards in use in North American. So much so, that there are more than there are men, women and children that live on this continent. Every bank has multiple credit card products to offer to their customers to fit every lifestyle choice. Every major store chain has loyalty credit cards and every oil and gas company that sells gasoline has their own credit card as well. They are very convenient to have. No wonder we have such credit debt issues as a culture.

The major difference between the store chain credit cards and the bank credit cards is that the store credit cards charge as much as 10% more than the banks do for their credit cards. The banks are charging around 18% on unpaid balances for credit card debt, while the store chains with credit cards that are billed as loyalty cards are charging upwards of 28%.

Every time you buy something at a store and do not use their credit card, you start getting the sales pitch. They offer free gifts, low interest rates for the first 6 months, even points towards air travel or hotel stays. These are great deals as long as you pay your balance each and every month. As soon as you leave a balance, that interest kicks in and now that great deal has become an expensive deal.

Are Loyalty Cards good Credit Debt

Loyalty cards do have a lot of advantages. They often offer points towards travel or to the purchase of specific products and services. They sometimes offer free health coverage and travel coverage while travelling. Some will offer insurance on anything you purchase and they will double the regular warranty of whatever product warranty was on the item. These are all excellent benefits and many people take advantage of them every year. And really that is the important point. Only take a loyalty card if you can repay the balance each and every month and if it has something of benefit to you that you will actually use.

Credit debt can be expensive especially at the high rates they charge and these charges can wipe out any advantage that you may have gained from the points or the insurance offered by the card. Look at all of the offerings and ask yourself whether you will really use these things to your advantage before you add another card.

What Impact Does Having Multiple Credit Cards Have on my Credit Rating

Credit rating calculations are actually very complex. The calculation is dependent on how much you owe, your history of meeting your payments, how often you apply for credit and how much unused credit there is available to you. Someone who has many credit cards, may find that their rating has dropped a bit due to all of the credit cars that carry and are shown against them. Every time you apply for another credit card, this is another potential debt and another claim against you. People have found that if they apply for several cards at the same time, their credit rating actually drops due to all of the applications and the potential for increased debt.

What is the Best Approach to Credit Debt

First of all always pay all of your monthly payments on time every month for everything. Never miss a payment. Secondly most people will have a mortgage payment, a personal loan for the car, and perhaps two credit cards. With several years of meeting all of your obligations without fail, your credit rating should be in good shape.

Consumers who have to debt and never had any including credit cards would actually have a poor credit rating. They do not have any history to show what kind of borrowers they are. Sometimes it is a good idea to borrow some money and pay it back every month just to establish a good credit rating. Consumers who have missed payments and owe a lot of money to credit card companies and lenders, will typically have a bad credit rating.

With a bad credit rating it is much more difficult to obtain any kind of loan and if you do the lender will charge a higher interest rate to reflect the increased risk of the loan. Try to manage this and never go into debt unless there is no other choice.

Save

Company credit cards provided by your company are useful for employees and corporations for many reasons and both can benefit from having a credit card that has the company’s logo on it. Employees do not like to charge things to their own personal credit cards and invoice the company. Cash flow is a problem. Depending on the amount in question, many employees may not have sufficient available credit on their personal cards. In addition, they have to wait a few weeks to be reimbursed for the expenses. They may even have to pay interest charges as a result if they do not have the cash to pay the balance before the due date.

Company credit cards solve this issue nicely for employees. It is a separate card. The card is in their name and can affect their personal credit rating. The company is on the hook to pay the balance within the prescribed time frame as agreed on in a contract between the company and the credit card company. The employee is still required to provide an explanation of all expenses and obtain approval. There is no personal money involved. The company still receives 30 days of use of their money by having these expenses charged to a credit card and not having to provide a cash advance.

Purchasing Personal Items

Sometimes employees will use the company’s credit card to purchase personal items. This may be a mistake sometimes when they just grabbed the wrong card to pay for something. On other occasions, they might have maxed out their own personal cards and are using the company’s credit card instead. This is against the rules for most companies. However, they get away with this by attaching a check with their statement. The check is payable to the credit card company for the total expenses that are considered personal. Supervisors frown on this activity. They discourage it whenever they see it. However, it does happen often. As long as you pay your share when it is due; there is usually no major problem.

Personal Expenses

Another situation where personal expenses find their way onto a company credit card is when a combination of personal and business expenses wind up on one bill and the person pays for the entire amount on the company’s credit card. This is also common and easily corrected by calculating the amount and writing a personal check to pay for the personal portion. Again supervisors do not care for this type of transaction since it complicates the tracking of expenses and the approval process. Companies that apply for tax rebates must also account for the split of personal and company expenses in their calculations, which of course complicates everything.

Negotiating Company Credit Card Plans

Whether you are negotiating for a large company or a small one, there is always an opportunity to negotiate the best deal for your company. Negotiate before you sign and look for benefits that will be valuable to your company and to your employees. If you can save money or get to use money for a longer period of time then it is a benefit. If your employees receive benefits as well then this can be claimed as an employee benefit to make it more attractive to work for your company.

Many credit card companies have standard offerings. You may just have to go with what they have to offer, however again it never hurts to ask.

Match Your Company Credit Card with Your Business Cards

Company branding is important for all business owners. Matching your company’s logo on your business cards, your letterhead, on advertising that you do, and on your credit cards is just one more thing that many companies do to enhance their corporate image. Flashing your company’s logo every time you charge something can be great advertising. Especially if it communicates your business name and the product or service that you deliver.

For more details on how to use credit cards, click here.

Save

Consumers are always looking for loans for debt situations they find themselves in or perhaps to purchase new furniture, a new car, etc. Most consumers carry more than one credit card. They use them occasionally to purchase things in their everyday life. You might have a credit card for groceries—another for gasoline for your car and a third for all other purchases. Many stores are trying to obtain your business by offering loyalty credit cards. These credit cards are debt as well. They also carry a very high-interest rate with them on any unpaid balance.

What is the difference Between a Loan and Debt?

Debt is money that you owe to somebody. Debt can be for many things. However, the average consumer will have debt for their car, debt for their home, and debt for their credit cards. Some will also have debt in the form of personal loans. Debt is money that you owe on anything.

Loans are also the money you owe, and loans are debt. It might be a mortgage loan on your home. Loans are usually provided when you borrow money to purchase a car. Every time you purchase something with a credit card, you borrow money at credit card rates.

What kinds of Loans for Debt Are There

Credit card debt or loans is the easiest to describe. When you charge something to your credit card and do not pay this amount at the end of the month, the total owed is carried over to the next month, and you are charged interest on everything you have not paid at high-interest rates. These rates can be around 18% for regular cards, with store and loyalty cards going as high as 28%. These are very high, and if you pay the minimum payment each month, most of your payment will be interest payments and very little to the amount you owe.

Personal loans come in secured and unsecured variations. A personal loan is a debt that you owe to a lender. A secured personal loan is a loan that is secured with some asset that the lender can use to repay the loan if you cannot meet all of the payments. An unsecured loan is not secured with anything, and there is no link to your home, car, or other asset. Secured loans charge a lower interest rate than unsecured loans, much lower than credit card rates.

Mortgage Loans

Mortgage loans are different as well. These are debts and loans; however, they always use your home or building as collateral. As a result, they are always secured and carry a very low-interest rate compared to all other loans and debt. Personal loan payments are usually spread over five years or less. Mortgages, on the other hand, have their payments spread over 25 years or more. With low-interest rates and extended payment periods, the monthly payments are usually relatively low compared to personal loans for the same amount of money borrowed. Mortgages are usually much more significant than personal loans for the average consumer.

What are their Rates for Loans and Debt

We have already discussed credit card debt and the interest rates for that kind of debt. Personal loan rates and mortgage rates vary a great deal and are dependent on the bank rate that the federal bank establishes. These rates have been at historic lows for the past 3 years and are expected to stay that way until the beginning of 2014 when they will rise. This is a long-term forecast; anything can happen over the coming year. Mortgage rates have been as low as 3%, and loans have recently been as low as 8%.

Loans and debt are pretty much the same thing. That debt describes everything you owe, whereas loans describe specific types of debt or money borrowed. Consumers should always try to minimize their debt as much as possible and minimize the interest they pay by consolidating their debt into one low-interest loan.

For more posts about how to handle debt management issues, click here.

What possible defense can you have for Drunk Driving Defense when the police have stopped you and charged you with a DUI? You just blew on the breathalyzer and are well over the limit. You cannot walk straight, and you are slurring your words. Can you get off your charge? Apparently, not a lot, but that does not mean you will not have your charges dropped or reduced. A defense attorney must craft the right story for the judge and/or the jury if there is one that will minimize the charges that you will eventually be convicted of.

A Real-Life DUI Charge

A neighbor’s daughter has been charged with DUI over the legal limit of .08, which carries a criminal conviction if she is convicted. They have of course, hired a lawyer and are now figuring out the best approach to take when her case comes to court. She has no prior convictions that we know of, and she has no tickets for speeding or anything like that. She is pretty clean as far as the law is concerned; however, she does have a couple of accidents that she has been involved with—none of them had to do with drinking while driving.

This time it was a simple random stop of a bunch of kids in a car, and next thing you know, she is charged with DUI and will face license suspension, time in jail, and a criminal conviction if something is not done to defend her. She is pretty worried, as she should be, and her parents are as well, in addition to being pretty upset about it. Turns out she was supposed to be the designated driver that night and did not live up to her obligations. The kids were lucky they were only stopped and not involved in an accident that could have hurt them badly or worse.

Drunk Driving Defense

Her defense if there is one, will focus on minimizing the charges and giving a young adult a chance. No priors, history of being in trouble, and not even known to the police. A case of bad judgment, perhaps some bad influence from friends. The mercy of the court and a promise that this will not occur again might do the trick. This is the core of the story. However, the defense lawyer must work to bring out these attributes and substantiate them for the court.

Whether the judge will buy this story is any ones guess.  The lawyer will know the right buttons to push with the judge. Also, those they should stay away from. The judge knows this, too, and some of the decisions will depend on how he or she feels that day, whether he or she thinks this kid needs a solid kick to get moving. Also, to follow the law when it comes to drinking and driving.

First DUI Offense

This is a first offense. There is a good chance she will get off with a fine if the lawyer does his job right. She will still need to pay the lawyer, which will be very expensive. Probably over $5000, and then there is her dad she has to deal with. She will be lucky ever to drive the family car ever again.

We wish her luck and have a pretty good idea that she will never let this happen again. It will be too bad if she is convicted. Since her parents just bought a house in Florida. She cannot visit them if she is a convicted criminal. Everyone is distraught for various reasons, none of which are good.

Many people wonder how to get a low interest credit card because all they have ever heard is that credit cards have high interest rates and consumers should never carry a balance on them over the end of the month. This is true for the majority of credit cards. But there are new products on the market that lenders are offering their best customers. In effect this is a line of credit at a lower interest rate that can be used just like a credit card. Sometimes these cards will come with an annual fee. Also a number of benefits that consumers may find interesting.

These benefits can include such things as travel insurance, rental car insurance, health insurance. Also purchase insurance and points that add up over time that you can use to purchase various things. These points can be used to purchase travel trips, and make hotel reservations. As well as purchase various goods that they will offer via an online catalog. The trick as always is to make sure that you always pay the full balance at the end of the month to avoid paying interest.

Consumers Must Apply for a Low Interest Credit Card

Sometimes we receive offers in the mail from credit card companies that tell us we are pre-approved for their card. All we have to do is fill in the card application and sign on the dotted line to apply. This is the point where you really need to pay attention to the offer and the fine print. Some of these low interest credit cards come with low interest rates for a short period of time. Such as six months and then they go back to the prevailing rate for credit cards which can be around the 18 or 10% range. Store credit cards can be even higher at 28% on unpaid balances.

The attraction of course is the low interest rate. There are other advantages that many cards use to sweeten the pot and entice customers to apply for their card. These include the benefits that we discussed at the beginning of this post.

When you fill in the application for a pre-approved credit card, one wonders is it really pre-approved or will they run you through a second evaluation and then accept some and reject others. Our suspicion is that yes they do review your application, your credit rating, and your work history and income level and then decide to approve the card. Pre-approval means that you are approved for the low interest credit card subject to a final review of all of the information provided to them via the application.

Consumers can Apply Online for a Low Interest Credit Card

There are other ways that answer the question, how to get a low interest credit card. If you have not received something in the mail, consumers can apply on line for a credit card. A simple search for this term turns up all kinds of credit card companies willing to provide you with free credit cards at low interest rates, some with an annual fee and some without a fee.

As writers we are concerned about these applications and that you have to provide all of your personal information to what is essentially an unknown source. This could be an attempt to gather information to be used for other purposes than a credit card application. We suggest that readers be very careful about who they provide information to and how it is being used. For the record this site does not collect any personal information about any of our readers.

Protect your credit card when you are using it. Always know where it is and only use it at reputable locations. In fact never let your credit card out of your site. Use the pin whenever you can to avoid theft of your number and personal information. There are many people out there these days trying to gain personal information they can use to make money.

Apply for a low interest credit card only on recognized sites. Or go to your local bank or financial institution to ensure that your personal information will be properly safeguarded.

Save

Cash flow is the number one thing you should manage when it comes to dealing with your money, regardless of whether you own a business or just managing your own personal finances. If you manage your cash flow and always make sure you have money to pay your bills, your chances of going bankrupt are much lower! Your chances of missing a payment are also low, and you will not take a hit on your credit rating either when you forget to make a payment or do not have sufficient money in your account. Consider the four rules of cash flow management.

Four Rules of Cash Flow

Manage Your Cash Flow

Managing cash flow is just as important as managing debt, and interest rates, and loans. In fact, we feel that managing cash flow is far more important than any of these other areas since if you evaluate the impact on your cash flow each time you consider a loan or a charge to your credit card, you will usually make the right decisions. We wanted to write about this idea of managing cash flow because we felt that it was so important. Managing debt is clearly important, but as we indicated, debt is really secondary to managing cash flow when you take into account credit ratings and even quality of life. Always make sure you have sufficient funds available to pay your bills and expenses.

There are four rules for dealing with cash flow:

• Give every dollar a job.
• Save for a rainy day.
• Roll with the punches.
• Live on last month’s paycheck.

Follow these, and you should not have to deal with high debt, interest rate charges, and short cash situations. If you are living on last month’s paycheck, it means you have this month’s paycheck to deal with emergencies. If you are saving for a rainy day, then this money will be there for that emergency. You will really not need this month’s paycheck to get by.

Surplus Cash

Make your money work for you. If you have surplus cash, don’t spend it; put it to work, earning you money on investments or paying off debt to reduce your overall interest charges. There will always be surprises in your life. You just cannot get away from them, and you never know what they will be or when they will appear.

While they may be frustrating, your emergency funds will help you get past the problem and on to dealing with the next. You may even use all of your emergency funds. You may have to begin saving all over again to get that cushion in place. Look at it this way: at least you had the emergency fund in place to deal with it. Now, you can get on with your life and rebuild it.

Manage Cash Flow

Manage your cash flow in this manner, and you should be able to deal with just about anything that comes your way. This takes a lot of discipline and is not for the faint of heart. The temptation to use your emergency funds is really high, and most people will succumb to this temptation at some point and then realize that the emergency was not as bad as you thought. Try to build up your emergency fund as quickly as possible to get you and your family back to that safe place again.

Most people will need to build several emergency funds over their lifetimes, and this is probably okay as long as you have it there when you really need it. An emergency fund can really provide peace of mind when you are stressed about paying bills and short of cash. Only use your funds when it is really an emergency and not just something that is leaving you a little short. The money can go really fast, and it is hard to replace it. So, really take the time to make a decision about how you will use these funds.

For more cash flow ideas, click here.

Save

Many consumers are just not aware of how much money they can save when they consolidate a combination of personal loans, mortgages, and credit card debt. Consolidation of this debt can save hundreds of dollars in interest and reduce your monthly payments significantly, as well. This step can make your financial life a lot easier. It can release money on your monthly budget for other things that you or your family may need.

What Kind of Debt Can Be Consolidated?

Basically, any kind of debt can be considered for consolidation. Sometimes, the lenders will not even ask what the money will be used for. They are more concerned about your ability to repay the loan. Credit card debt carries a very high-interest rate, varying from 18% to as high as 28% recently. If you are paying interest at these levels, it will cost a lot in interest. It can take you much longer to repay the debt.

Unsecured personal loans are next in line in terms of interest rates and are much lower than credit cards. They are still high due to the fact that they are unsecured. The monthly payments can be high as well due to the short terms associated with these kinds of loans.

Secured Personal Loans

Secured personal loans are secured by equity from a car or home. They are the lowest interest-rate loans you can obtain, Next to mortgages, which are always secured against your home. These loans also have a short payback time compared to mortgages. Typically, they are five years in length, whereas a mortgage can have a 25-year amortization. Secured loan monthly payments will be lower than unsecured loans. But still much higher than a mortgage payment for the same amount of money that you borrow.

Finally, mortgages are secured by your home’s equity. As a result, they have the best available interest rates in general. They also have the longest term, with 25 years being the longest you can have in Canada. We have seen 30 and 35-year mortgages advertised in the US. The longer the amortization, the lower the monthly payment.

How Much Money can I save When I Consolidate Debt?

The answer is that it really depends on the amount of debt you have, the current interest rates you are being charged, and the amortization of the debt. It also depends on what kind of debt consolidation loan you can arrange or negotiate. If you have a lot of credit card debt, which is consolidated with a mortgage, most people will see a significant drop in their monthly payments and the interest that is being paid.

Chat with your lender and ask them to calculate for you the amount of interest you will save if you consolidate all of your debt into one low-interest-rate loan or mortgage.

How Do I Obtain the Best Consolidation Loan or Mortgage

There are two ways to find the best consolidation loan or mortgage. One is to surf online and search for loans and mortgages that offer the lowest rates or to meet with various lenders at banks that you deal with. In both cases, it will take a bit of work and time for you to meet with these people or surf the net, apply at several online lending companies, and then wait to see what is offered to you. If you have the time and knowledge, most people will find this very rewarding and helpful in terms of saving interest and reducing your monthly payments.

The other method is to hire a mortgage broker or a loan broker to find the best financial loan product for you. They will take all of your information and review it with their lenders, who can provide the best terms and rates. In most cases, they will be able to find borrowers with good credit ratings and loans to consolidate their debt and save them a great deal of money. Many clients use this approach every day to save them money on their debts. Customers of lenders can also do a quick online check or check with their local bank to compare what is being offered and satisfy themselves that they are, in fact, getting the best deal.

What do you do when your children’s in-laws are well off and shower them and the grandchildren with gifts? As a grandparent, you would like to spend time with your kids and grandkids. You want to provide them with some of the things you know they will like. Kids are young and immature. Sometimes, they just do not understand when someone gives them something they really think they want and is expensive vs. something that is a lot less interesting and a lot less expensive.

How do you compete with rich grandparents? We think that the answer is that you do not compete in showering gifts on to the kids. We think that you can make a far stronger relationship with your kids and your grandkids by being there to help them when they need help.

Grandparents and Grand Kids

Grandparents come in all shapes and sizes, some with money and some without money. They all have many strengths and weaknesses. We have found that what is important to little children is much different as they become older. In fact, we noticed that with our grandchild, it really does not matter just how rich a grandparent is.

In fact, what really counts is the amount of attention that you pay to them and how you treat them. You can give all of the gifts you want and pay for lots of things. But what it really comes down to is the quality time you spend with your kids and grandkids.

We think that whether you are poor grandparents or rich grandparents, it really does not matter. It is the amount of quality time that you spend with them that counts. Even little children can tell when you are not paying attention or just tolerating them. When they see that you genuinely like spending time with them and love them, it really does not matter how many things you give them. They know that you care and will gravitate towards you any time that you are around. This is what’s so great about being a grandparent, regardless of whether you are rich or not.

Not a Competition

The other thing to remember is that it is not always a competition. In fact, it should not be a competition at all between grandparents. Spoiling the child with all kinds of gifts is not going to teach them anything other than that you can be counted on for expensive gifts. Would you rather be counted on to be at their hockey games, their sports activities, their plays, or whatever things that they are in? They will naturally gravitate to you and be more comfortable being around you. You will have more time to bond with them, and they will appreciate this and just be comfortable around you.

Kids are not stupid. They quickly pick up on who gives them gifts, and who spends time with them, and who is there when they need something. Whether it is a ride to the store, an ice cream cone, or just a phone call, the kids know the difference between someone who is there for them vs. someone who showers them with gifts and then leaves.

Our bottom line is do not worry about the rich grandparents; focus more on being there for your kids and making sure they have time to get to know you and bond with you. Babysit, going to their games, and being involved in their lives are the best ways to show that you care. There is a fine line, though, where you must not try to replace your kid’s roles as parents. Let them fill the parent role, and you fill the grandparent role, and everything will be fine.