Archive for the ‘credit/debt’ Category

You know you’re shopping at an independent store when a Labrador retriever lies happily sprawled out in the back aisle.

Small Business Saturday, the Nov. 26 shopping day driven by American Express, focuses on local, independent retailers. For many it’s a welcome respite from the big-box chaos on Black Friday.

If you’d rather spend your hard-earned dollars at local mom-and-pops and you have an American Express card, simply sign up to get a free $25 statement credit you can use toward Small Business Saturday. Registration is limited. Credit cannot be used at large or national chain stores. View the sign-up page for more details.

– By Lauren Davidson, Atlanta Bargain Hunter

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Continue reading Get a $25 credit toward Small Business Saturday »

Consumer expert Clark Howard’s column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Walmart is reintroducing layaway to help shoppers play Santa Claus on a cash budget this holiday season.

The nation’s largest retailer is the latest to breathe new life into this very old way of shopping. Sears, Kmart and Toys “R” Us have all done layaway plans for the past few years and are doing them again this season.

Here’s how layaway worked in the past: You’d go into a store during the fall and put a deposit down on a sale item that you wanted to give someone at Christmas. (Traditionally, your deposit was noted on a piece of carbon paper in the days before the computer era.) Then you would pay additional money toward the outstanding balance in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Usually by the second week of December, you’d be required to have finished paying off the balance in full. If you didn’t …

Continue reading Clark Howard: Use layaway option for debt-free holidays »

Consumer expert Clark Howard’s column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Looking for the best credit card in America? I’m still standing by a prior recommendation if you’re someone who pays your bill in full every month.

Consumers have been shedding credit card debt at an incredibly fast pace. I read in Barron’s that the outstanding balances at the nation’s biggest credit card issuers are down by 20 percent to 50 percent from their peaks three years ago. Sure, a small percent of us defaulted, but the larger majority of us paid down those balances.

Now the banks have credit card portfolios that aren’t as profitable. So for those with solid credit scores, you’re probably having your mailbox bombed with pre-approved offers for new credit.

My wife must have a better credit profile than me. It’s not unusual for her to get three pre-approved offers a day. All the offers she gets are …

Continue reading Clark Howard: Do you have good credit? Then get rewarded »

Thinking about opening a new credit card? Stay away from these nine, which have been deemed the “Credit cards from hell” by CNNMoney.

Among them? The Hooters MasterCard, with an APR of 25.45 percent and an annual fee of up to $48 for the first year, plus $4 per month after that.

But it’s not the worst on the list. Not by a long shot.

More from the story:

That makes this card among the worst in terms of restaurant-branded credit cards, according to John Ulzheimer, personal finance expert at SmartCredit.com.

“Even if you have excellent credit, it looks like you’ll get a rate of more than 16%,” he said. “You can definitely find a better card than that with excellent credit — and if you’re credit isn’t so good, you’re certainly going to get hit with that 25.4%.”

Have you ever gotten sucked into using a “credit card from hell”? What didn’t you know before you signed up for it?

4/26 update: Looking for other ways to save money? Read about Stephanie Barr, Atlanta’s own couponer, who …

Continue reading Run away from these credit cards »

Certified financial planner Wes Moss provides personal finance advice and accessible investment strategies. His guest post appears here weekly.

I received an invitation to be on Q100 FM’s Bert Show last week and was asked to provide ideas that could help anyone make 2011 a better financial year. The guidance I offered can help anyone, regardless of age or circumstance. And while I only had time to talk about three of the ideas on air, here’s the full list of 10.

1. Write It Down – Today is the first day of the rest of your financial life, which makes it the perfect time to write down your goals on paper. As the saying goes, if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get there. Make time to map out your course for 2011 (and beyond) in every area of your life, including personal finance. There’s a strange power in doing so, plus you can refer back to these goals over the years to make sure you are on track.

2. Go on a debt diet today – Yes, all that …

Continue reading Wes Moss: 10 exercises to get in better financial shape »

It’s the debt-free way of living. Never use credit cards, always use cash and avoid getting sucked into those rewards programs, right?

You’re half-right. If you’re in debt, it’s wise to stay away from credit cards. But if you pay off your cards each month, using them for holiday shopping could have huge benefits.

Check your cards to see what bonuses you might be ignoring, but here are the main benefits.

Product protection: Credit cards will usually let you return items the manufacturer won’t and can include travel insurance of up to $2,000 a year if you have to cancel airline tickets.

“More and more people are shopping online these days with credit cards,” said John McCosh of CredAbility, an Atlanta-based nonprofit credit counseling service. “And a credit card protects you if the delivery is wrong.”

Card protection: If a card is lost or stolen, many issuers will cover part, if not all, of any fraudulent charges. But if you lose a lot of cash, it’s …

Continue reading Credit cards’ extras can help your holiday shopping »

Consumer expert Clark Howard’s column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a new weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Retailer expectations of sluggish Christmas sales are creating a lot of opportunities for holiday shoppers.

Walmart has introduced free shipping on 60,000 items with no minimum purchase required. This new sales ploy even allows the purchase of big electronics items. Additionally, the prices at Walmart’s website are, in many cases, cheaper than at its brick-and-mortar stores.
But there’s both more than meets the eye and less than meets the eye to this deal.

On the positive side, you can score great deals on products that go well beyond the inventory in stores. But it’s not equivalent to Amazon’s free shipping. Walmart can take up to five days to get your shipment underway, not delivered to you. Amazon, however, will often have it to you the next day. Yet Walmart’s prices will probably undercut …

Continue reading Clark Howard: Deals on shipping can still be costly »

The average credit card debt carried by metro Atlantans is down nearly 13 percent  since the recession began. At $5,946, the average balance is its lowest since the second quarter of 2002 according to credit reporting agency, TransUnion.

If you raised a brow, it’s understandable.

Behind the pretty numbers is a rather ugly reality, says CardHub.com chief executive officer Odysseas Papadimitriou. Nationally, charge-offs — accounts that are ordinarily 180 days delinquent and have been erased — have grown. While credit card debt decreased $12 billion in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, banks charged off $21.8 billion over the same period, according to the Federal Reserve. That means consumers actually accumulated $9.8 billion in debt.

“It’s trending the wrong way,” Papadimitriou said. “The alarming thing is that it’s 250 percent higher than the same quarter last year. Consumers are going to end the year with $26 billion more in debt than 2009. The …

Continue reading Average Atlanta credit balances lowest since 2002, but delinquencies climb »

Every week, our team of certified financial planners answers your questions and share their thoughts on relevant issues of the day like saving for retirement, college planning, budgeting, reducing debt, refinancing and more.

Ted Jenkin of oXYGen Financial

Today, planner Ted Jenkin from oXYGen Financial discusses five disaster financial moves consumers often make — and can avoid.

1) Buying More Home Than You Can Afford- This is my top one as it will truly cripple your long term financial plan.   Years ago, I had heard of a very simple financial ratio called the primary obligation ratio. It said that your mortgage payment shouldn’t be much more than 28% to 34% of your total gross monthly income.   Use that statistic in conjunction with putting 20% down on your home purchase and you will typically avoid this number one financial disaster.

It is impossible to squeeze into a home financially like you would a car or some other one-time purchase.  Many people forget the cost …

Continue reading 5 disastrous financial moves and how to avoid them »

A fire-breathing debt monster causing nightmares is a sure sign of financial trouble. But not all distress is so pronounced. Danger lurks, even in more quiet environments. There are indicators that you could be in over your head, with or without the sleepless nights or upset stomach.

Among the most disconcerting behaviors is denial. Flipping quickly through the pages of bad book is a lot easier than trudging through one bad line after another.

“Not sitting down and adding up what you owe is a dangerous sign,” said Alan McKnight, an Atlanta-based certified financial planner with Kays Financial Advisory Corporation. “A lot of people think they can out-run it. They say, ‘If I can just make a little more, I’ll fix it.’ The problem, with credit especially, is that it can overwhelm you. It’s almost impossible to out-run it.”

It’s not impossible to turn things around, though. McKnight said the first step is paying close attention to your money-related habits. Here are at …

Continue reading 7 signs of debt trouble: When you’re in over your head »