Have you seen the commercials for the ZYNC Card from American Express? I’ve got to say, I was curious about the card when I heard about how you can tailor the card to fit your lifestyle. As an American Express card user, and fan, I had to look into the Zync card further. Here’s what I found:
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Ever hear of the Schumer Box? It’s actually an important piece of information that you will find in a credit card application and something you need to be aware of when considering a credit card.
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It’s been many moons but I remember my first credit card. It was a retail card for A&S (remember that store?). I forget what I was buying (a sweater maybe?) but there was a discount offered if you signed up for their card. “What they hey,” I thought. Why not sign up and see what happens? So I did. And a few minutes later I was the proud owner of a new credit card! Ahh, memories.
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Most of us don’t move through life in pre-determined stages, but there are still some generalizations we can make about money and age. These ideas for what to do with your money in your 20s, 30s, and 40s come from my new book, Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, which was just published by Ten Speed Press.
Invest in your career. Your career is the one place where it makes sense to splurge. This might mean investing in the services of a career coach, or taking a leadership development class. It could mean something as seemingly superficial as working with a personal shopper to make sure your wardrobe helps you look and feel good at work. Or perhaps purchasing some guide books about your chosen field. Investing in your career now, when you have time, can pay off hugely later.
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When you are purchasing a new home one of the terms you are going to come to know is mortgage escrow account.
“But what is a mortgage escrow account? What’s the purpose of it when owning a home?,” you may be thinking to yourself.
Great questions.
Before we get into what a mortgage escrow account is let’s look at what escrow, in general, is…
Escrow is widely used in many business transactions where the buyer and seller cannot make a simultaneous exchange of money and goods or services and neither would want to deliver first without the guarantee to receive later (neither party wants to risk being the one left without the dough).
To resolve the trust issue between a buyer and seller, a third party, known as the escrow, can work on behalf both the buyer and the seller to ensure that once a party fulfills its contractual obligation, the escrow will release to the party what it entitles from the transaction.
Such escrow service is also standard practice in real estate transactions where the buyer deposits money with the escrow and the seller delivers title documents to the escrow, and the escrow firm will not release the funds to the seller or convey the title to the buyer until both the funds and the documents are placed with the escrow.
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SmartMoney is reporting that we should expect to see more 0% APR credit card offers available for those who have credit scores of 720 and above. Balance transfer offers are also on the rise.
It wasn’t long ago that credit card companies cut out 0% APR offers and balance transfers since those with better credit tended to also be less profitable as they usually paid off their balances. According to the SmartMoney article, credit card issuers are hoping that the more credit-worthy will spend with their new cards and keep a balance beyond their introductory offers.
Ask anyone with kids and they will tell you – going out with the family can be expensive! Think about it – every activity you might do yourself is multiplied by the number of people in your family. Going to the zoo by yourself could cost you $10, for example, but for a family of five that could be $50 just to walk in.
Have you seen the latest commercial for the new Volkswagon Jetta? In the ad (called Moonighting), the main character, Tom, is working as a nurse (? I think) and he sees some ads for the new Jetta. He then goes through the classified’s and proceeds to take on a number of jobs in order to afford the new car.
Here is what we see Tom doing to earn money:
A loan that has been popping up more often these days is the Reverse Mortgage. This mortgage works differently then other types of mortgage loans in that it works in reverse in a way. Let me tell you a little more about reverse mortgages…
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We know how important a credit score is these days, don’t we? Yet many people still insist on doing what they can to destroy their score. Since some want to have a train wreck of a credit score here are five guaranteed ways to lower your score:
1) Pay your bills late. Here’s a good one to lower your score. Pay your bills late, especially loans and credit cards. And I’m not talking a few days late, I’m talking 90-plus days late. Wait until you get a collection notice, why dontcha? (According to Credit.com, accounts 90-days late can damage your score up to 7 years. Bingo!)
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