Apply for a Credit Card

So you have received a credit card offer that allows you to transfer your current balances from other credit cards to this new credit card at an interest rate of 0%. Sounds good, right? Maybe, but there are some definite pros and cons to the idea.

The most important part of the offer is how long does the 0% interest rate offer last. These offers do not usually last for a long time. Some companies offer it for three months and some will offer it for up to one year. So make sure that the rate offer is actually worth the transfer.

You are probably thinking that no interest for even three months is better than paying interest for those three months. That is only true if you are actually going to save money. See, most balance transfer offers require a transaction fee for each transfer.

Transfer fees differ for each credit card company. Most of them charge about 4% of the actual amount transferred. But they usually have a cap on that amount. That means that if they have a cap of a $75 fee you will pay 4% until reach the $75 limit. Remember that fee is for each transfer.

If, for instance, you only owe $1000 and are currently paying 9% interest and you want to transfer the balance over, you will first pay a $40 fee. If the rate is only for three months, you did not save any money, it actually cost you money to do the transaction.

But if you could borrow, say $8000, you would pay the transfer fee of $75. If the offer is for anything over three months, you will actually save quite a bit of money. So do the math before you jump on the offer.

The biggest pro to this is, if they are offering you a high enough credit limit that you can consolidate a few very high interest rate cards on to the 0% interest rate card. You can, even after paying the fees, save a lot of money. This is especially true if the length of the offer is for nine months or more.

One thing to check with first is what the interest rate will be after the promotional time period expires. This will let you know if you can just keep this card or are you going to need to shop around for a better card two months before the rate expires. Usually, if you are a good payer, the interest rate you will receive will be pretty reasonable.

So there are a few pro and cons that come with a 0% interest rate offer. Just check first and make sure the rate out weighs the fees. If that is, in fact, the case, go ahead and consolidate some of those high interest rate cards and save yourself some money.

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You’ve probably heard the old joke that a weekly budget is just something to help you explain why the money ran out about Tuesday. To small business owners, keeping a lid on costs is no joke. Consequently, small business owners are ever vigilant about cutting corners to make ends meet.
One way to stretch your small business budget is through vendor savings programs. More commonly known as reward and/or discount vendor programs, vendor savings programs are offered by business credit card providers to help small business owners save money on necessary purchases. With them, you get everything from free travel to cash back, helping you to grow your small business more efficiently.

Cash Back

Most of the major credit card companies offer programs that will fit your small business needs. For example, the American Express OPEN Small Business Network offers up to 5 percent cash back that can add up if you consider you might spend $10,000 over the course of a year. Doing so would net you $500 in cold hard cash - not bad for the cost of doing business. What’s more, cash-back bonuses can generally be applied directly to various vendor accounts, allowing you to use your cash-back rewards for such things as paying your phone bill.

Business Debits

MasterCard offers its small business customers a MasterCard Cash Rewards program via its Debit MasterCard BusinessCard. The card provides cash-back offers to support small business debit cardholder activation efforts, while also providing usage-incentives for infrequent card-users. Additionally, they offer creative services targeted to business card users, such as help in developing customized direct mail packages in which they will handle rewards fulfillment and cover postage costs for users. The card also provides targeted discounts at a number of leading business merchandise providers, such as Office Depot, Pennywise.com, The New York Times and IBM.

They also allow Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cardholders to earn one reward point for every $2 in small business debit, signature purchase transactions. Equally important, according to a company statement, is the feature that allows cardholders to combine points earned from Debit MasterCard BusinessCard transactions with purchases made with personal MasterCard debit cards, accelerating your ability to accumulate points. In addition to free air travel on any airline with no blackout dates and built-in extras (e.g. free travel insurance), points can be redeemed for electronics, hotel stays and travel packages, as well as discounts at Home Depot, Office Max and Best Buy, among others.

Outside the Box

If you really want to get creative when it comes to leveraging these types of programs, you might consider using some of the available rewards as employee incentives. Giving free mileage or gift merchandize to staff members to reward their hard work is sure to boost morale, enhance loyalty and garner you some good will, which is sure to come in handy at some point.

Finally, consider the fact that using a business card to save money and earn discounts can also help you manage cash flow and streamline accounting paperwork, which frees up your time so you can concentrate on growing your small business by leaps and bounds. That, small business owners might agree, is the biggest reward.

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Have you fell victim to identity theft? If you have your not alone as identity theft is now the number one crime in the U.S. There is an array of different forms of identity theft, but internet identity theft is by far the biggest problem. With hundreds of thousands of credit card transactions going through the internet on a daily basis and hackers becoming increasingly knowledgeable, it is getting to the point where it is risky to shop online.

There are several ways you can go about preventing identity theft to make sure you don’t add to an already astounding stat. One of the biggest ways people give in to identity theft is by submitting personal information through scam emails. You probably have seen them and have maybe even fell for them, but thousands of scam emails claiming to be from the IRS, banks and Paypal are circulated throughout the internet every day.

Inside these emails, they want you to submit personal information such as a credit card number or your social security number. The purpose of the email is to get you to submit your information to renew your account or check your bank status. All they are doing is trying to get your personal information and use it against you, thus identity theft.

As hard as it is to believe, it is possible for you to make purchases without truly making them. It is vital that you check your credit card statements every month and look for any unidentifiable purchases. If you make any purchases online, there is the potential for your credit card number to be hacked and for the hacker to go on a shopping spree.

Identity theft is a scary crime because it is possible for you to be a victim of it without even realizing it for several months. By that time it may be too hard to find the person. Although you are not held responsible for any of the unauthorized charges, it is a major pain to work everything out. You have to work out your credit report, replace your credit cards and even potentially close and open a new bank account.

Identity theft is just as bad of an inconvenience for the credit card companies as it is for you. Every year credit cards experience losses of 50 billion dollars a year. In an attempt to solve this, many credit card companies are coming out with new software that can better detect identity theft and internet identity theft. Some software now checks for unusual purchases, such as large expenditures in a short amount of time.

While there are various ways you can fall victim to identity theft, internet identity theft has become increasingly troubling over the past few years. With a rise into the number one crime in the U.S., it is vital that you are careful when purchasing or submitting any personal information because you never know if you may be the next victim of identity theft.

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A higher score can give you more financial options and many favorable credit offers. If you already have a good score, you can still improve it. There is no way to instantly boost your credit score. But improvement is possible, no matter what your credit history includes. With patience, time and tenacity, you can get the credit score you desire.

Seven ways to start improving your credit score today

1. Check your credit report regularly. Correct any incorrect information you find on your credit report as quickly as possible. Incorrect information is an invalid reflection of you as a credit consumer.

2. Learn what your current credit score is as it appears on your credit report. You can get your credit score by contacting any credit reporting agency, such as Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. These credit reporting agencies allow you to quickly get your credit score, along with your credit report, for a small fee. Remember, each of these 3 credit reporting agencies will have slightly different scores.

3. Have as few open credit card accounts as possible. Don’t open new accounts that you don’t need. The more open accounts you have, the lower your score - even if your accounts have a zero balance. Why? If you have an open account, it is assumed you could charge on it at anytime. Therefore, even though you have a zero balance, the account is viewed as debt you could possibly incur at any moment.

4. Try to keep account balances on your credit cards as low as possible. The higher your debt to balance ratio, the lower your score will fall. High balances on your account may negatively affect your score because you have a greater chance of missing payments.

5. Make all of your payments on time. Past Due accounts will be listed on your credit report. Usually, you have 60 days before this happens. If you cannot pay your bills on time, call your creditors as soon as possible to explain the circumstances and work out a payment schedule you can meet. If you are having trouble paying due to circumstances such as serious illness or unemployment, submit (in writing) an explanation to the credit reporting agencies. This explanation will be added to your credit report. Remember, the sooner you deal with your payment problems, the more cooperative creditors will be.

6. Minimize the number of inquiries on your credit report. You can do this by not applying for multiple credit cards over a short period of time. Apply for new credit accounts only as needed. Each time an inquiry is made on your credit report, it is listed. You may lose as much as 5 points from your credit score for each inquiry.
7. If you have a bad credit history, consider opening new accounts and then paying them off on time. This establishes a positive credit history for you and shows that you now handle debt responsibly.

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Managing Your Credit Debt

Buy now and pay later. It’s become the American way. There’s no doubt that a credit card can be a powerful and useful tool. However, as more and more Americans discover every year, too much of a good thing can lead to big trouble.

According to CardWeb.com, the average American family owes over $8,000 in credit card debt. Remember, this is an average. For every family that’s way below this average, there’s another family that’s way above the average. Where you fall in relation to this average can help you determine exactly how serious a problem your credit card debt really is.

It’s important to recognize that no matter what you do, you’re not going to get out of credit card debt over night. It probably took you several years to accumulate the debt you have now, so it’s understandably going to take you some time to get this debt under control. The good news is that as soon as you start, you’ll begin to see both financial and psychological benefits.

Change your spending habits

The first step in gaining control over your credit card debt is understanding how you use your credit cards. Do you save them for unusual expenses like automobile repairs and medical bills? Or do you routinely find yourself reaching for your credit card to pay for a TV Guide, a bag of Cheese Doodles, and a bottle of shampoo?

If you use your credit cards to pay for simple, everyday items, your debt is sure to creep up. You should make a commitment to reserve your credit cards for significant and/or unexpected expenses.

Stop using all your cards

Once you’ve established smart usage guidelines for your credit cards, you need to apply those guidelines. In other words, stop using your credit cards. This may seem obvious, but it’s the most important step you can take to reduce your credit card debt.

Do you have any cards that are maxed out? Cut them up into little pieces. After all, they’re of no real use to you. They only represent temptation every time you get a few dollars paid down.

Each time you look at your credit card statement, you probably grumble over the fact that a huge portion of your minimum payment was applied to interest, reducing your actual balance by only a small amount. The way to combat this effect is to pay more than the minimum amount. Even if you can only pay $10 extra each month, this is an important step, because every extra dollar you pay is applied to your balance. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your balance begins to drop.

Transfer balances to Lower-interest credit cards

One popular approach is to transfer your high-interest credit card debt to some lower-interest loan - either a home equity loan or a low-interest card. This can save you a lot in interest, but be careful. This strategy requires quite a bit of discipline.

If, for example, you use a home equity loan to pay off your credit cards, the only thing keeping you from running those credit cards back up is your own will power. If you’re careless, you could find yourself in a worse position than you were before - maybe even with your home ownership in jeopardy.
The rise in credit card debt has also given rise to the so-called credit counseling industry. These firms promise to negotiate with your creditors for reduced interest and payments. While some of these firms are better than others, it’s important to note that your creditors are not legally required to negotiate with these firms. Most creditors will negotiate because they know the alternative - bankruptcy.

File for Bankruptcy only as a last resort

Bankruptcy should be used only in the most extreme cases. While having your credit card debt completely erased may seem tempting, bankruptcy has several long-term, negative effects. The most obvious is that your credit is essentially ruined for several years, meaning it will be difficult if not impossible to obtain credit even when you really need it.

This may not seem so bad, since your goal is to get out of credit card debt anyway. However, on a more practical level, bankruptcy means having to live completely on an all-cash basis. If the car breaks down, you either pay cash or don’t get it fixed. When it’s back-to-school time, you either write a check for the kids’ new clothes or send them to class in worn-out items from last year.

Once you get your credit card debt under control, it’s just as important to keep it under control. The popular thinking is that you should never charge more than you can pay off at the end of the month. This is, of course, easier said than done.

A more practical approach is to impose your own limit on each card, regardless of its actual limit. For example, if your card has a limit of $2,000, you may choose to impose your own limit of $850. That way, you’ll always have your credit card debt under control, and you’ll have plenty of cushion in case of emergency.

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Your credit card is a powerful tool for the management of your financial life. It can help you to extend the value of the products and services you need by obtaining them before paying for them. It can reduce the need for cash or check in places far from home, and allow you to conduct personal and professional business by phone, mail or Internet over long distances. Cash Advances

Like all-powerful tools, though, it needs to be used carefully. And that’s especially important when using the ultimate power of your credit card: it’s ability to give you immediate cash in large amounts. The two most popular ways of obtaining cash from credit cards are through the ATM machine at your local bank, or by filling out and cashing a check-like document that is often attached to your monthly credit card statement. Last year the amount of cash borrowed from just one major credit card company totaled more than 104 billion dollars. That was an eight percent increase over the previous year, and it tells us that credit card users are increasingly seeing the easy use of plastic as a substitute for the discipline of using banks and credit unions for borrowing.

Credit card companies in turn are increasingly willing to loan cash. It can be a very valuable service for their customers. But credit card companies are also increasing the fees and interest charges for cash advance. Your monthly statement gives you some of the fine print on how those charges are billed, but in most cases it doesn’t tell you what those charges are. If you don’t know it’s always a good idea to call the customer service number on your statement and ask. It’s no different than shopping for the best terms on a loan among banks and credit unions before signing on the dotted line.

The Cost of Buying Cash

When you use your credit card to buy new shoes or the latest CDs those products are yours to keep. You can use them for years to come and pay for them over a few months if you wish. But when you use your credit card for cash advance to pay for daily necessities like groceries and gasoline y ou will pay much more for that privilege. And you will have to give it all back as quickly as you can.

If you borrow $500 from one of the major credit card companies in the United States at contemporary rates, for example, you will be charged 3% of that amount (or a minimum of $5 for smaller loans) as an upfront transaction fee. You’re interest rate (APR) for the loan will be set at 19.9%. If you determine to pay off the loan in four months your costs in fees and interest for the purchase of $500 will be $35.88 or more than 7% of the loan amount. If you pay it off in 8 months the cost will be $53.24 or nearly 11% of the loan amount.

But that’s not all. If you read the small print on your statement you will learn that in most cases payments you make to your credit card company will be applied first to lower interest charge purchases before they begin to erase your debt for higher interest borrowing of cash. For example: If your credit card balance of $1000 includes a $500 cash advance and you pay back only $200 per month it will be three months before your payments begin to cover the advance That’s three more months that the credit card company can charge you 19.9% interest on your original purchase of cash.

Why does a credit card company with a typical 12% APR charge for goods and services charge nearly 20% plus fees for cash? They say that it is because cash transactions which require delivery of a product by the card company - cost more to process than other purchases, and because frequent users of cash advance are more likely to default in repayment of their loans.

Plan Ahead

Plan Ahead when You Use Cash Advance, and Increase Your Financial Power
Cash advance can be very useful in many cases, especially those that give you flexibility in managing your day-to-day life. But you have to plan ahead if you are going to use the service. First, be sure you understand the rules and fees. Second, save on interest charges by having a plan in place to repay the money and its additional fees and interest at a definite time in the near future. Credit card companies will be the first to tell you that this is a service to be used only as necessary and with a disciplined schedule for repayment. They know that those borrowers who don’t have a plan to repay the cash advance in a timely way are more likely to fail to repay it at all.
How can you use cash advance to enhance your financial health and power? Most credit counselors know that the more discipline you can gain over the ways you earn, spend, invest and save the more you can make your money grow and create the assets you will need as a foundation for life’s many pleasures and surprises. Those same counselors will tell you that the best lesson you can learn from the use of cash advance is that if you need to use it often especially to pay for essentials like groceries and gasoline something is wrong in the financial management of your life, and it’s time to find a better strategy for earning and spending your money.

When that strategy is working well for you, the next time you go to your local ATM to get cash you will be able to use a debit card, instead of a credit card, and take the money from your own assets rather than borrow it from someone else.

“I don’t remember charging those items. I’ve never even been in that store.” Maybe you never did charge those goods and services, but someone else did, someone who used your name and personal information to commit fraud. When imposters take your name, Social Security number, credit card number, or some other piece of your personal information for their use, they are committing a crime. Identity theft is the fastest growing financial crime. One of the first things the FBI discovered about the September 11 hijackers was that as many as half a dozen were using credit cards and driver’s licenses with identities lifted from stolen or forged passports.

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Are you tired of fighting high credit card fees? Why not lower your interest payments by transferring your balance to another card. Balance transfers are one the smartest and easiest ways to reduce credit card costs. Just be sure you understand the terms and conditions of the new card, so you can maximize your savings. Guide to Balance Transfers

Before you run out and switch credit cards, consider whether you want to keep your current card. If you do, simply ask for a lower interest rate. Tell your credit card company you’ve found another card with a much lower rate and you’ll have to transfer your balance if they can’t cut you a deal. However, be prepared to do so if they refuse your request.

Why Use a Balance Transfer?

Balance transfers can provide card holders with a number of advantages. Transferring balances to a lower rate credit card can drastically reduce your interest rate and fees. Credit card companies charge varying interest rates on balance transfers and purchases. The most common rate is 0 percent for six through 12 months.

For example, the Chase Ultimate Rewards MasterCard and Citi Platinum Select MasterCard charge no interest for 12 months on balance transfers and purchases. The Discover Platinum Card and the Hess Visa from Chase drop the introductory rate after eight and six months, respectively.
Some cards link the introductory annual percentage rate (APR) to billing cycles. The GM Card and Fifth Third Bank Cash Rewards MasterCard, respectively, charge 0 percent APR for the first six and four cycles.
Transferring balances can also give you access to more perks. For example, you may be able to get a new card that has no annual fee, a longer payment grace period or cash back on purchases and other rewards. Some cards also offer car rental insurance, identity theft protection programs and money saving discounts.

How to Transfer Balances

Credit card companies commonly use low interest rate balance transfers to attract new customers. There are three main ways to transfer the balance on a card. One way is by simply filling out the paperwork provided by your new card issuer. Or you can contact the credit card company that you want to transfer a balance to and make arrangements for a balance transfer.
You can also shift balances by writing balance transfer or convenience checks. These simple checks look and act like regular checks. You simply write a check for the amount of the balance transfer and send it to the company you want to transfer a balance from. Some checks have an expiration deadline, so make sure you use them within the appropriate time frame. If you don’t, you’ll be charge the regular interest rate set for your card.

Regardless of which transfer method you use, you can only transfer as much as your credit limit on the card you are transferring allows.

Transaction Cost and Other Fees

Banks generally treat balance transfers like cash advances and have similar transaction fees. There’s no fee for balances transferred in response to special offers. But for Citi Platinum Select and many other companies, the transaction fee for balance transfers is 3 percent of the amount of each balance transfer, with a $5 minimum and $50 maximum. Keep in mind that a small amount of funds may not be worth transferring because the transaction fee may outweigh your potential savings.
In addition to standard transaction costs, banks also charge special fees that can take you by surprise. Some of the most common special fees include:

* Late fees - Some banks wait a few days before assessing a late fee, but many impose it the day after the payment was due. Companies either charge a flat fee, such as $10 or $15, or a percentage, such as 5 percent, of the minimum payment due. To avoid late fees, mail off your payment so it arrives in plenty of time before it’s due. If you pay your bill at the bank’s branch or ATM, find out how long it will take to process your payment. Sometimes payments made at a branch or ATM aren’t credited for a few days.
* Over-credit-limit fees - Most cards assess a fee if you charge more than your credit limit. These fees are charged each time you go over your limit, so you could be hit with several of them during the same billing period. Banks typically charge $10 or $15 for this fee or up to 5 percent of the amount you’re over your limit. These fees are in addition to interest charges.
* Lost card replacement fees? If your card has been lost or stolen more than once and you need a new one, some companies will charge you for a replacement. These fees are range from $5 to $10.

Making Payments

After you transfer balances, be sure to make all your payments in full and on time or you’ll automatically be hit with higher fees. Generally, there’s no grace period for repaying balance transfers, so interest will accumulate immediately. (No interest will actually accumulate if you have an introductory 0 percent APR.)

When making payments, it’s important to understand that the payments you make will first be applied to balances with lower or promotional balances and then allocated toward higher APRs. That means you’ll be paying down 0 percent balance transfers before you even touch the balance on regular purchases which can be charged at a rate of 9 to 18 percent. As a word of advice, consider using a different card for your regular purchases and pay off the balance each month. Keep your balance transfers restricted to a separate card.

After the Promotional Honeymoon Ends

You need to keep a close eye on the promotional period. As soon as it expires, normal interest rates will apply. The standard variable APR for Citi Platinum purchases (8.99 percent) will be applied to all remaining purchase and balance transfer amounts. Likewise, the standard variable APR for cash advances (19.99 percent) will be applied to all remaining cash advance amounts. If you default on Citi Platinum’s card agreement, the company can immediately increase the APR on all balances including any promotional balances to a variable default rate of 28.99 percent.

Your post-introductory APR will depend on your credit history. If this interest rate is significantly higher than the rate on your old card and you have a remaining balance, you’ll wind up losing money. Of course, you could always transfer your balance to a new card with a lower promotional rate. Just be careful not to entangle yourself in a vicious cycle that could backfire later.

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Although at times it seems as if the credit card companies have dominance over everyone, Congress continues to remind us that they have the final say in the way things are run. With Congress looking at several issues that deals with credit card companies, there is sure to be some kind of regulations on policies in the coming years.

As the internet continues to develop, more and more people are using credit cards for an array of different things. Credit cards are used for everything from purchasing clothes or computers online to gambling and online auctions. With the freedom that is allowed thus far, Congress is bound to step in and begin regulating online policies.

One way Congress is helping people with credit cards right now is through the fair debt collection practices act. This is a law that was passed by Congress which regulates the methods collection agencies can use to collect money from debtors behind on their payments. For instance, collection agencies are not allowed to contact relatives or employers of a debtor, and they are not allowed to contact the debtor by phone before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.

While it is vital that you try and pay off as much of your debt as possible, sometimes debt piles up on you. With the FDCPA, it allows you to buy some time try to come up with the money without legally being contacted if you choose not to pick up the phone. If any collection agency does break any of the rules set, you have the ability to take them to court.

One of the main areas of concern for Congress is internet fraud and identity theft. Through online auctions, gambling and online stores there are thousands of credit card transactions a day. However, there are also hundreds of reported identity thefts around the world every day. In fact, identity theft has climbed to the number one crime in the U.S.

Congress continues to look into what protection online sites are providing their customer with and what regulations they are going to have to make. The further the internet develops, the more websites are going to have to adjust to fit the needs of their customers. While things are alright at the time being, many sites won’t be good enough in time with a growing number of people purchasing items online.

What types of regulations Congress will make to protect you and your credit card is still unclear. There has been continuous research and discussions regarding how Congress will make things safer online and only time will tell what types of regulations they set.

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Identity Theft occurs all the time

“I don’t remember charging those items. I’ve never even been in that store.” Maybe you never did charge those goods and services, but someone else did, someone who used your name and personal information to commit fraud.

When imposters take your name, Social Security number, credit card number, or some other piece of your personal information for their use, they are committing a crime. Identity theft is the fastest growing financial crime. One of the first things the FBI discovered about the September 11 hijackers was that as many as half a dozen were using credit cards and driver’s licenses with identities lifted from stolen or forged passports.

If you care at all about the privacy of your financial information, your credit history, your portfolio, your charge card numbers, you can protect yourself from criminals determined to exploit that information. The theft can be as simple as someone stealing your credit card number and then charging merchandise to your account. The situation can also be as elaborate as a thief using your name, birth date, and Social Security number to take ownership of your credit card and bank accounts, or even set up new ones.
People who place their Social Security and driver’s license numbers on their checks are making identity theft fairly easy. With one check, a con artist could know your Social Security, driver’s license, and bank account numbers as well as your address, phone number, and perhaps even a sample of your signature.

Types of Identity Theft

Identity fraud can range from passing bad checks and using stolen credit cards to taking over another person’s total financial existence. While situations as portrayed in the movie The Net are indeed rare, people do need to be aware that they can easily become a victim. The ease of obtaining Social Security numbers from more than 3 billion credit solicitations a year make identity theft a fairly simple scam. Each day, more than a 1,000 people have their identities stolen by a con artist applying for credit in the victims’ name. After obtaining a loan or running up credit card charges, the thief typically disappears never to be seen again, and leaving a ruined credit rating that may take years to correct. Protect Yourself from Identity thiefs

Protect Yourself from Identity thiefs

Banks and other financial institutions work to protect the identities and privacy of their customers. Customers are constantly reminded that the slight inconvenience of being asked for identification, or having an account balance checked, may protect you and others from financial losses.
Efforts to protect yourself from identity fraud may include the following:

* Shred or burn financial information containing account or Social Security numbers;
* Use passwords other than maiden names;
* Don’t put your Social Security number on any document unless it is legally required;
* Check your credit report once or twice a year to make sure it is correct;
* Have your name removed form mailing lists operated by credit agencies and companies offering credit promotions;
* If you become a victim, notify the credit card company and other businesses with specific details. Also, file a police report to provide documentation of the scam.

If your identity has been taken, you’re first likely to learn about it when checks start bouncing or a collection agency begins calling. The damage isn’t so much in dollars, since the financial institutions are liable for the unauthorized charges. Rather, the fallout may include a checkered credit history, which could prevent you from getting a mortgage or a job not to mention the countless phone calls and piles of paperwork you’ll need to go through to correct the situation. Guarding against identity theft is much like locking the door and activating the burglar alarm when you leave your home. By and large, the crime is a low-tech operation, despite well-publicized instances of hackers breaking into websites and stealing millions of credit card numbers. Usually, someone fishes a bank statement or credit card offer out of your trash, or a dishonest employee peeks at your personnel file.

To protect yourself, you may want to sign up for a credit monitoring service. At $40 a year, Credit Watch from Equifax is a bargain. The company scans your credit report every night and sends you an email alerting you to ay activity, such as a new credit card issued in your name or credit check by a car dealership. The price includes six full credit reports a year.

Report Identity Theft

If someone has stolen your identity, the Federal Trade Commission recommends that you take three actions immediately:

* Contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit bureaus. Tell them to flag your file with a fraud alert, including a statement that creditors should call you for permission before they open any new accounts in your name.
* Contact the creditors for any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Ask to speak with someone in the security or fraud department, and follow up in writing.
* File a police report. Keep a copy in case your creditors need proof of the crime.
* If, after taking all these steps, you are still having identity problems, stay alert to new instances of identity theft. Notify the company or creditor immediately, and follow up in writing. Also, contact the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which provides information on how to network with other identity theft victims. Call 619-298-33396, or visit www.privacyrights.org.

The U.S. Secret Service has jurisdiction over financial fraud cases. Although the service generally investigates cases where the dollar loss is substantial, your information may provide evidence of a larger pattern of fraud that required its involvement. Contact your local field office.

Finally, protect your identity by giving it a lower profile. For example, remove your name from junk mail and telemarketing lists by going to the Direct Marketing Association’s website at www.thedma.org/consumers/privacy.html. Call 888-567-8688 to stop receiving pre-approved credit card offers.

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While credit card debt is a major distributor to millions of bankruptcies every year, the sad part is that it can be easily avoided. Too often people get themselves into trouble by applying for credit cards without researching what kinds of interest rates and fees are tacked on to the card.

People tend to look solely at what they will be putting on the credit cards themselves. By the time you add up all of your charges along with all of the fees and interest rates, it can be overwhelming to make full payments on time. And that is where credit card debt comes into play.

What do most people do from here? Spend even more and dig them into an even bigger hole to try and get out of. It can be difficult to not run up high charges on your credit card, especially if you have a high limit on the card. However, the biggest factor to getting out of credit card debt is spending less.

Getting out of credit card debt is rather easy if you have some self control. To begin with, it is vital that you cut down on your spending and start spending less than you make. This is not going to completely eliminate your debt all at once, but this will be extremely beneficial to you in the future.

If you have a good credit report, there will be a number of options you have to get out of credit card debt. You can take out a home equity loan, a second mortgage or a personal loan. Once your credit score begins to nosedive, things become much more complicated. It may be to your benefit to call a reputable credit counselor if you do have a poor credit score.

If you do opt to talk with a credit counselor, make sure to meet with them in person. You will get a lot more out of meeting with them in person and can ask many more questions. A credit counselor will be able to help you come up with strategies to help eliminate your credit card debt on your own. Because this is their job, they will have a wide variety of options and strategies that can be used according to your specific situation.

Another feasible option is to transfer all of your credit balance to a card with a lower interest rate. Sometimes interest rates are extremely high on certain cards, but not so much on others. This allows you to cut down the cost of interest and focus more on paying off your charges.

You know yourself better than anyone and you know how you got yourself into this mess. It is vital that you take the time to write out how much you’re making and where your money is going. In doing so, you can plan ahead and cut down on your costs to help reduce your credit card debt as quickly as possible.

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