From the day we first figure out what a “Piggy Bank” is, our life changes. We start to understand the importance of money and how to manage it, somewhat. Later on in our lives, we understand what a “Pass Book” savings account is and begin to plan financially. Later, we open our first checking account and have now come to a higher level of respect for that Financial Institution (Bank) that now has become part of our everyday existence. Then the day comes when we go to this great institution and ask for a loan. At this point, we sometimes come across a loan officer or assistant manager that now goes through a rapid change and develops the personality of a “Carrot”. Expressing such phrases as “Hmmmnn, are you a depositor?” “Do you have Good Credit?” “I don’t know why don’t you fill this out and call me in a week?” Do you have any Assets?” Now after suffering through this intimidating session, you complete the form and make that call. After not getting any responses for a week, you show up and pointedly ask the officer the status. He or she replies, “You’ve been declined for credit reasons and perhaps you can try again in a year.” Shocked, you quickly respond with, “why? What problems do I have?” Now this distinguished person replies, “I can’t tell you. You’ll have to write the credit reporting agency at this address and they’ll mail you the reasons why.” You say, “Why can’t you tell me? I have identification and it’s my information? He or she says “sorry.” “Well how long does it take?” “About three weeks or so” is the response. Nothing like feeling like you’re a Citizen.Welcome to the world of Credit! Now comes the rest of the education. It takes 7 to 10 years to get your credit back. Rubbish! It takes seven years to get beyond a car repossession. Not even close! Can’t purchase a home within 7 to 10 years after a foreclosure or bankruptcy. Not True! Have bad credit cards and loans, therefore can’t get a car or a mortgage. Crazy! It takes 5 to 7 years to rebuild credit. Unbelievable! Better off going to a debt managing service. Sorry, but no. Won’t have used any credit for years and just pay cash so I can qualify again. No, again.!The best person to help you get creditworthy again is yourself! By the way it takes months not years. If you believe credit bureaus are objective, than I have a lot of “Ocean Front Property” I’d like to sell you in Tucson. The money is collected by them from one side of the table, so who’s side do you think they’re on? We’ll talk about Credit Bureaus in another post later.The Collection process is a system designed to intimidate. Collection agents are famous for their distorted legal advice. Good responses to an agent. Things like, “If you don’t pay by Friday, we are taking legal action’ “Hmmmnn, does that mean I’ll get arrested? “If you don’t have the money, you’ll have to get it from your parents.” “Uh, they are both dead.” “We’ll attach your pay check.” “I’m collecting unemployment.” And it goes on……Good question you might ask an agent if they are really mean. “I wonder if I can ask you something?” “What”. “When was it when you first discovered that you couldn’t hold a real Job?’ But hey there are some good agents out there, I think but not many.The first thing one has to do is to decide to take charge of their destiny and don’t listen to the “Can’t Do People”. There are 2 distinct types of bad credit accounts or trade lines, “Closed or Open.” Closed means paid! Open means there is a balance. Charge Offs on credit cards are either open (balance) or closed (paid or settled) now there is one myth that claims that on a bad account, it drops off your report after 7 years. True and False! If the account is “Closed (paid), it drops after 7 years. If it is “Open (balance owing)”, then it can continue forever! Let’s look at different bad account names. There are collection accounts, loan accounts, charge offs, repossessions, judgments and foreclosures. They are either Open or Closed. Hmmmn, you might say, how can a car repossession be open or closed? Well technically, they took the car but resold it but there can still be a balance owed. Usually, the car company just writes off the loss, however there are a few that try to collect. The fact is that they usually auction them off at a few cents on the dollar and the argument can be made that there was no attempt to collect Fair Market Value and the borrower should not be “nickled and dimed.” The Foreclosure, however, can have a deficiency if the property was sold at a loss to the bank. A huge amount would probably be cured by a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Remember, all accounts can be settled for significantly less! Discounts are not unusual to be as low as 10% of the principal balance. Guess what happens when you settle? It becomes “Closed”. Although, a closed bad credit account can be reported for 7 years, it does not hurt your credit because you became responsible enough to correct the problems. All mortgage lenders and creditors can see 7 years of your credit life but are more concerned about the last 12 to 24 months. Conventional mortgage lenders will lend on these situations as long as the bad accounts are closed or paid (even if settled for less)! Third party debt relief. Most lenders and creditors take a diminished view of needing outside assistance to get your credit life in order. A respectable view is taken when you take charge of your affairs and correct it. This is the important part. It takes months not years to rebuild. Some credit is better than no credit. You have a multitude of options but the first step is taking a deep breath and ending the pain and harassment. When it’s over you’ll look back and relate to that famous song, “Is that all there is”?

In more simple terms and cutting through the fancy name Joint Venture Brokering is essentially where you find a product on a site and match that product with knowledgeable marketers who will, and in most cases actually want, to sell the product, making you money from the brokering of the sale.

To be a successful Broker you will need to follow some basic tricks which I have outlined for you as follows:-

Trick One: First off, just kick back, relax and make a list of all your favorite hobbies, pastimes, interests and passions. Ask yourself:

Let us face it. Most of us own at least one credit card if not more. Getting a bill every month is always an agonizing experience because that makes us realize how much we have spent. Often we end up realizing that we didn’t need to spend that kind of amount or worse still, realize that we cannot afford to pay the entire amount due that month. So we end up making the credit card minimum payment, hoping to clear the balance next month. We repeat this exercise the next month too, and the next month and the next month…till we are caught up in a vicious circle where we pay only credit card minimum payment. This doesn’t bother many of us since making credit card minimum payment doesn’t affect our credit report. We seem to take it in our stride and let the to-be-paid amount to pile up till we have a huge credit card debt to pay off.

Credit cards can save you hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars every year – if you use them instead of letting them use you.

Yes, they carry sky-high interest rates and, yes, they make it too easy to go into debt as you load them with impulse purchases you would never make when paying cash, but if you exercise some common sense and maturity they can save you a lot of money.

Examples? I didn’t pay for a round trip cross-Atlantic flight on Delta because of points I got from my credit card. Likewise, I earned five free nights at Sheraton Hotels and (so far) one free night at a Hilton.

When applying for low interest credit cards, can you believe that you know what you want. Whatever it is quite clear. The lower the annual interest rate, the less money to pay, right? In fact, this is not always the case. In fact, a factor that should be considered is whether the APR is variable or fixed. Then you can make a much better decision in choosing between the available low credit cards on the market.

Low interest credit cards with variable rates

Trying to keep your head above financial waters can be difficult. All you know is you have gotten yourself into a sticky situation and you don’t know how to stop or fix it. Where do you begin to look for help? Is there an easy way out of this financial hole you have dug for yourself? The best place to look is to yourself and not to the many scams that are out there today.

Fun and purchasing a home are probably two concepts that cannot be further apart.

Instead of being fun, purchasing a home might prove to be nerve-wracking and stressful. This is understandably so since this is an investment that spans a lifetime – a whole set of generations even.

Buyers are intimidated by the various dimensions that make purchasing a home troublesome – the legal aspects, the financial aspects, dealing with brokers, agents, insurance, and others purchase concerns.

But dissecting these roadblocks and adding some spice to you choice of property could make this life-changing decision an enjoyable one.

How emotions impact credit is a subject that few people think about but more and more therapists are talking about. As a Pastoral Counselor I have long known that there is a powerful link between our emotions and our money. We may think that money is all about our rational selves but, in fact, our emotions very much determine our financial decisions. If you want to repair your credit, you have to deal with both the emotional and mathematical sides of handling your money.

You may not know it, but every time you take out any kind of loan or credit or pay something back, it gets counted on your credit rating. Who keeps a record on you will vary according to where you live, but the big three credit reference agencies are Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. They will provide your credit rating to any company that is thinking of lending you money.

These are many ways to build credit overtime…but it is important to know there are no quick fixes. Here are a few tips:

1. Get into the habit of paying utility bills on time;

2. Similarly, make monthly payments on outstanding debt obligations on a timely basis;

3. In the case of credit cards, it helps that your monthly balance is reported to the various credit agencies. Choose issuers accordingly. Also, develop the discipline of paying off monthly spending or at least pay a little more than minimum payment required;