Money Articles

Credit Scores

• http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/moneymag/25_rules/index.html?cnn=yes - 25 Rules to Grow Rich By
• Paying old bills can hurt your credit - Settling some old debts can actually harm your credit score. Here's how to do the right thing the right way.

• New threats to your credit score

• 4 credit-scoring myths - Looking to buy a house? Make sure you know what will truly hurt and help your case with lenders -- and don't fall for the misinformation mortgage lenders can spread.

• One late payment can doom you
• Credit card companies and insurers are looking for reasons to increase rates. A single late payment charge could ripple through all your unrelated accounts.
• "Why should that matter?" asks Howard Strong, author of "What Every Credit Card User Needs to Know." "It doesn't harm them in any way. It's ridiculous. It's just a way to knock up rates."
• "We're looking at risk factors. If we see someone become delinquent with another creditor, that may be an indicator that they are about to become delinquent with us," says Maria Mendler, a spokeswoman for Citibank. "We may need to adjust our credit decisions accordingly."
• "A consumer with bad credit is going to pay 20% to 50% more in auto insurance premiums than a person who has good credit," says Clarence Smith, assistant vice-president at Conning & Co.
• Credit card company credit reviews: "Some may do it monthly. Some may do it quarterly. Some may do it yearly," says Martie Edmunds Zakas, corporate vice president of communications for Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus. "Some never do it."
• Someone with a flawed driving record and clean credit record could actually end up paying less for auto insurance than someone with a spotless driving record and a spotty credit record.
• "An insurance score is going to be less concerned with your propensity to take on new credit and more interested in how long you've been managing credit," says Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair, Isaac and Co. "Insurance scores focus on issues of stability."
• "I don't know anybody who will show you an insurance score," says Gerri Detweiler, author of The Ultimate Credit Handbook. "It's still a bit of a mystery to consumers."
• There's no uniform standard for insurance scoring. One companies formula may be very different than another company.

Debit Cards and Credit Cards

• Money - How Good Is Debit - March 20, 2006 issue - Recent security breaches aren't stopping debit-card consumers. Shoppers now use debit as often as they pay cash, and more frequently than they charge or write checks, according to a new study by the American Bankers Association and Dove Consulting.

• Hosed at the gas pump by your credit card - You may have topped off with just $20 worth of unleaded, but the debit-card transaction could freeze as much as $75 in your account, sometimes for days.
• Each big oil company has a different policy: Shell says it preauthorizes just $1 for gas purchases, for example. Chevron says it has a $1 hold that ensures a card is active. British Petroleum preauthorizes $75 when customers use debit or credit cards, said spokeswoman Sarah Howell. The same policy applies at its Amoco and Arco stations, Howell said. Hess asks for $75 as well.
• “If there’s a block on your account and you have checks come in against your block, you could suffer bounced-check fees,” says Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group
• “Is the money technically unavailable? Yes,” says Chet Bridger, a spokesman for Buffalo, N.Y.-based M&T Bank.
• “If the hold extends beyond the time of purchase and covers an amount greater than the amount of purchase, then the hold has to be disclosed to the consumer,” says a California Attorney General Bill Lockyer spokesman, Tom Dresslar
• The National Association of Convenience Stores estimates that 80% of gasoline transactions as of October 2005 involve plastic, up from just 54% in 2004.

Debt Collectors

• Palisades Collection LLC - Links And Info About This Debt Collector

Tax Related

• Claiming And Deducting Per Diem Allowances For Travel Away From Home
• http://stopthelie.com/taxes.html

• http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/Avoidanaudit/P33918.asp - IRS dirty dozen list of tax scams that get their attention

• The tax man and the debt collector team up - IRS to use private collections to collect back taxes. Arrangements awards them with 25% of amount collected.
• Example of private collectors collecting on student loans: Among other tactics, private student loan collectors have charged excessively high collection fees, coerced consumers into payment plans they couldn’t afford, threatened to seize disability payments and other assets protected by law, and lied by pretending to be Department of Education employees, said Loonin, another staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center.
• Everyone knows that an unpaid creditor can leave a mark on your record for years to come. But now, even your health club or local librarian can lower your score.

• What if you can't pay the IRS? Your tax return is done, but you realize you don't have enough cash to pay Uncle Sam. Don't worry. You're not alone, and you won't go to jail. The IRS has some options as well as some more forms for you.

High Gas Prices

• http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/01/Autos/driving_for_mpg/index.htm - Driving slow saves gas - accelerate slowly from green, and stop more gradually can boost gas mileage by 35% in town.
• Testing gas saving tips: http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/01/Autos/tipsandadvice/gas_saving_test/index.htm
• http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/02/pf/extreme_savers/index.htm - Extreme savers dealing with gas price hikes

Jobs

• http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/03/pf/pay_hike_jobseeker/index.htm - Top paying in demand jobs - legal IP law, .NET developers, accounting

Other

• http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2005/12/01/8364591/index.htm?cnn=yes - How domainers make as much as $1,300 a day off of type in traffic
• New York Unclaimed Funds
• Example list of people whose funds are being held by State of New York
• New York Unclaimed Funds

• http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Articlebankrate.aspx?cp-documentid=454847>1=8187 - Flipping houses is not the easy thing it's made out to be.
• Forget no-money down and other late-night TV fantasies. In the real world, flipping requires deep pockets -- and plenty of hard work.
• http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Articlebankrate.aspx?cp-documentid=421682 - Housing bubble, top 30 cities to watch
• http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Articlebankrate.aspx?cp-documentid=421723 - 10 cities where prices will deflate

• Saving for two retirements on one income
• How To Sell A Car You Don't Own
• How To Beat A Speeding Ticket
• Gasoline Saving Pill

• 7 Ways To Make 1 Million - From a successful songwriter to a first-generation entrepreneur, these millionaires' paths to wealth are diverse, but what they share is 24/7 commitment. Common traits:
• Seize an opportunity.
• Have a fallback.
• Learn from your experience.
• Take a chance.
• Forget stereotypes.
• Simple ideas work.
• Find your niche.

• Turn your surplus stuff into cash online - If you thought your choices were a yard sale or Goodwill, welcome to the 21st century. Check out the best ways to sell online --- as well as a few old standards.

• The hidden costs of too much stuff - It’s not just the gear, the gadgets and the gizmos. It’s the bigger house, the wasted energy and the missed opportunities that come with them.
• SDA, the Senseless Desire to Acquire.
• Buying without stopping to consider:
• Is it necessary?
• Can I afford it?
• And the most important: What is this new thing really costing me?
• Ahluwalia, from NAHB, says most people’s spending is motivated by what they see around them. “We did a focus group on why people renovated their kitchens,” he says. “They said it was because their friends had done it.”