29th May 2006
Buying a car is expensive; there is no getting around that. It's easy to pay as much for a new car today as one might have paid for a house a generation ago. But they are more complicated than they used to be and they are safer, too. Still, there is th...
26th May 2006
A home equity line of credit is a useful financial tool for homeowners. Unlike a traditional home equity loan, which has a fixed repayment schedule, the line of credit, also known as a HELOC, has a more flexible repayment schedule. It also has a more f...
21st May 2006
Most people who are of an age to care about their credit are aware that the three main credit bureaus, Experian, Trans Union and Equifax, maintain credit reports on them. The bureaus keep track of loans, credit cards and bankruptcies and make note of whe...
21st May 2006
Just a few decades ago, refinancing a home loan was relatively unknown. Most people decided to buy a house, got a 30 year, fixed-rate mortgage, and made monthly payments until the loan was paid off. Times have changed, however, and in today's mortgage m...
15th May 2006
The price of gas continues to climb, and with continued uncertainty in the Middle East, they will probably continue to do so. In California and elsewhere, prices for some grades of gas have long passed the previously unthinkable threshold of three dollar...
10th May 2006
Using the equity in your home to upgrade or improve the home itself is one of the most popular reasons for taking out a home equity loan. With some improvements, the value of the property increases by almost as much as the cost of the remodeling itself. ...
09th May 2006
These days, everyone seems to be concerned about his or her credit score. Lenders and credit bureaus have made it clear that the credit score, whether the new VantageScore model or the FICO score model, is a vital part of determining whether or not to ext...
07th May 2006
It's hard to get by in society today without a credit card. There are times when they are convenient, such as when you have just enjoyed a nice meal but don't have $100 in your wallet, and times when they are essential, such as when you want to rent a ca...
02nd May 2006
With Memorial Day around the corner, the great American travel season is here. During the summer, most Americans take at least one extended vacation, and four fifths take that trip by automobile. Unfortunately, this year, the price of gas is at record h...
02nd May 2006
A home equity line of credit is one of the most useful tools that a homeowner can have in his or her financial arsenal. A line of credit is a financial tool that is always there, allowing a homeowner to borrow money when needed for such emergencies as jo...
27th April 2006
With housing prices at an all time high, homeowners who have outgrown their existing home or feel that it no longer meets their needs have a dilemma. It would be great to move to a larger house, but the prices of larger houses are higher than ever. What...
25th April 2006
With the price of a new car getting higher and higher each year, many buyers choose to buy used cars instead. The price of a new car can easily equal a year's pay for many people, so buying a used car makes sense. But there are risks associated with buy...
25th April 2006
The credit card business is a competitive one. It is also a very profitable one and the combination of the two explains why you seem to find a pre-approved application in the mailbox just about every day. A new customer is worth a lot to the companies t...
24th April 2006
A lot has been written in the past few years about the importance of both credit reports and credit scores. The credit report is a listing of all significant financial transactions by a consumer and whether or not those transactions were completed on tim...
20th April 2006
The growing prevalence of identity theft and increased concern about good financial health has led many consumers to seek copies of their credit reports online. Doing so is certainly laudable; the more you know about how potential creditors and lenders s...