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Are You Dealing with Maxed-out Credit Cards?

Credit cards are convenient for making purchases quick and simple, and holding one or more cards is a sign of individual credit worthiness and responsibility. With little more than a swipe, a person can access the full range of goods and services to meet his or her needs and desires. Credit cards are an excellent tool, especially if the balance is regularly paid off. Sometimes, for a number of reasons, users need to carry a balance from month to month. Over time, this can decrease available credit and lead to a card that is maxed out.

What is the Worst Thing That Could Happen to Your Credit in a Divorce?

If more married people knew how badly their finances could be devastated by divorce before they gave up on their marriages, they might think twice about going through with the big split. In a better case scenario, disentangling from one another financially alone could require many years. Risks to credit exist until this financial separation process is finally over. Prospective divorcees need to prepare themselves for the unexpected and unwanted shocks that most always happen in divorce court and afterward so that they are not caught with their proverbial pants down.

Is a Perfect Credit Score Worth It?

Consumers across the nation have the terms “FICO” and “credit score” embedded into their brains. These terms refer to a scoring system that judges a person’s reliability with creditors. Creditors use this main scoring system as their gospel for making crucial credit decisions. While they may use other factors in their decision-making process, creditors weigh an applicant’s score the highest in their procedures. Consumers are under the impression that they must all set their heights to achieving a perfect credit score. Is a perfect credit score worth it? 
 

Top Ways to Lower Your Financial Stress

If there is one common thing that can keep people up at night, it is financial stress. Regardless of your age or income level, you may worry about if you have enough money to pay certain bills, how you will afford to send the kids to school, or if you are saving enough for retirement. These are just a few of the common concerns that people face about their finances. While some may think that the answer to their financial woes is to increase their income level, the fact is that financial stress is common across all income brackets.

4 Credit Card Myths to Stop Teaching Your Kids

Personal finance "experts" are a dime a dozen these days. Simply mentioning something like credit cards will generally cause people to jump at the chance to educate you with their very best advice.

So as you might imagine, kids today are hearing a lot of advice about credit cards - from parents, teachers, schoolmates, commercials...the list goes on. So what credit card myths have your children probably been taught already?

Here are four you should make sure your kids never learn:

Are You Cheating On Your Budget?

A new year often brings along new budgets as we seek to get a better hold on our personal finances in 2016.  A household budget helps finances run smoothly, eliminating surprises and setting a clear path for every dollar that comes into the house. However, some people have a hard time making their budget work for them. If anyone feels trapped by their budget or feels like it just never works, they might actually be cheating on their budget. This can happen consciously or subconsciously. A successful budget requires complete honesty and recognition of the natural desire to enjoy life.

Trouble Getting Started on Paying Off Debt? Try the Snowball Plan

The Snowball Plan isn’t your typical paying-off-debt plan; it’s designed to jumpstart those who have found themselves in a lot of debt and feel hopelessly overwhelmed. If that’s you, have hope - you will pay off your debt, soon.

How to Deal with Tricky Money Situations

Anticipating the financial challenges that life might throw your way can be difficult, and that’s why it’s a good idea to think about such situations far in advance. Most families at some point are going to have trouble making ends meet, and how you elect to address those problems will have a major impact on how long they might last. When is it wise to use credit cards to bridge a monetary gap? Should you consider seeking a loan from a family member? Are you saving enough during the good times to handle a possible bad stretch?

Can Student Loan Debt Jeopardize Retirement?

If you have student loan debt, could it hinder your chances of retiring the way you want to or retiring at all? The answer to that question depends on what type of debt you have, how much student debt that you have and what your retirement timeline is. In some cases, cosigning on a student loan could have an impact on the length and quality of your retirement.

Are You the Right Age for a Mortgage?

Thanks to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, mortgage lenders are prohibited from using factors such as age, race, color, sex, nation of origin, marital status or receipt of public assistance as cause for denial of a borrower's loan application. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about your age before applying for a mortgage.

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