Rate Reduction for Military

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides members of the military with special protection that caps the interest rate on their credit cards, mortgages and other loans at 6% while they are on active duty. To be eligible for the interest limits, you must have incurred the debts before you entered active duty, and your military service must affect your ability to repay them. Although people who took a pay cut to join the military can benefit from the law, it is most helpful for members of the Reserves and National Guard, who often must leave higher-paying civilian jobs for months, or even years, when called up. (Credit cards, mortgages and other loans taken out jointly with a non-military spouse also qualify for the rate reduction.)

For the full article click the link:  Rate Reduction for Military

How to Live within Your Means?

Start by creating a budget and sticking to it. Here's how.

My 6-year-old daughter was listening this morning as my husband told me about a nearly $600 million school that was built in Los Angeles. He had read about it in the New York Times and was shocked by the cost, in large part, because Los Angeles has serious budget troubles. He then asked my daughter, "Would you buy something if you didn't have the money to pay for it?" She answered no and said she knew that as early as age 2.

For the full article click the link:   Creating the Budget

Video Five Easy ways to budget.



Household Budget Worksheet

Get on top of your monthly living costs by projecting expenditures in various categories, and then comparing those projections to what you actually spend.

What happens if you default on a student loan?

Americans now owe more on student loans than credit cards. Given the nation's high unemployment rate and slow economic recovery, it's not surprising that the default rate on student loans also is up. (The default rate for students who entered repayment between fiscal years 2006 and 2007 was 6.7%, the highest since 1998.)

There are ways to ease the burden of student loans. But if you've already starting missing payments and are in default (or expect to go into default soon), Jane Bennett Clark offers these strategies in the upcoming October issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance:

Miss a single payment on a private student loan and you will go into default. Miss a few federal-loan payments and you will get dunning phone calls, but you won't go into default until after you have fallen 270 days behind schedule. Once that happens, the feds can demand immediate repayment of the full balance of the loan and wring payments from you by offsetting tax refunds and garnishing wages. Don't think Uncle Sam will drop the matter. The feds can and will stalk you indefinitly.

For the Full Article click the link:  Default on a student loan?   

Ease the Burden on Your Student Loans -

The last thing you want to do is default on your loans, which will hurt your credit score, make you ineligible for future federal student loans and may prompt the government to seize your wages (when you get a job) and tax refunds. Instead, explore the various loan-deferment and forgiveness programs.

You'll have more options if you have a federal student loan. You're entitled to a deferment (temporary suspendions of payments) if you can't find a full-time job or experience economic hardship. FinAid.org has a calculator to help determine whether you'll qualify for deferment.

For the full article click the link:   Ease the Burden

New ID theft targets kids' SS numbers

The latest form of identity theft doesn't depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid's number long before the little one even has a bank account.

Hundreds of online businesses are using computers to find dormant Social Security numbers — usually those assigned to children who don't use them — then selling those numbers under another name to help people establish phony credit and run up huge debts they will never pay off.

Authorities say the scheme could pose a new threat to the nation's credit system. Because the numbers exist in a legal gray area, federal investigators have not figured out a way to prosecute the people involved.


Click the link for the full article: Theft targets kids' SS numbers