How to Choose the Correct Credit Card

Find the Credit Card That's Right for You

Choosing the correct credit card is a difficult decision that is based on many factors. There are thousands of credit cards available of the market today, and each one has different payment terms, interest rates, and rewards perks. Sorting through all of the different offers can be time consuming and complicated. Fortunately, there are ways to save time when looking for a credit card.

Start by deciding which issue is most important to you: interest rate or rewards. If you frequently carry a balance on a credit card from month to month, then you'll want to find a credit card with a low interest rate. If you usually pay off your balance every month, rewards will be a more important factor when deciding on a credit card.

Whether you're looking for cards with a low interest rate or great rewards, start by looking through the cards listed at Fatwallet.com. Ideally, find about five or ten cards with offers that interest you. These cards should have great interest rates, low or no annual fees, and/or a great rewards program. Don't worry about the details on these cards just yet.

Make a spreadsheet from this list with a row for each of the cards you are interested in. On the sheet create a column for each of the following categories:

• Name of the card
  
• Annual fee
  
• APR, otherwise known as the interest rate
  
• Rewards program
  

Depending on what you're looking for, you may want to break down the rewards program column into several different columns specifying how points are earned and how the points can be spent. People who frequently incur late charges or fees for going over their balance may also want to include these columns in their spreadsheet.

Next, start eliminating cards with the worst deals. If you carry a balance, be sure to eliminate the cards with the highest interest rates. For people shopping for a good rewards card, eliminate cards with poor programs. For cards with annual fees, make sure the rewards will make up for the fee. If it doesn't cross the card off your spreadsheet.
Finally, read the fine print for each of the remaining cards, make sure your spreadsheet accurately reflects what you will actually pay, and make a decision.

Presented by Fatwallet(dot)com, providers of cash back, HP coupons, and the best deals!

What Happens if I Default on My Student Loans - By Stephen Moore

Graduating college is big step toward a new life and career. It can also mean paying back school loans less than a year after you graduate. Repayment typically begins 6-9 months after completing school. If you do not have a good source of income or job to start payments, you can default on the loans.



Federal Student Aid Program Loans

You can obtain federal loans to pay for schooling. The Federal Student Aid Program is strict about loan repayment for Direct Stafford, Perkins or Direct Plus loans. You qualify for these loans if you have limited income through your parents, or qualify because your own income meets a certain criteria. Unlike federal grants, you must repay these types of loans.

Private Loans

You may qualify for a private loan depending on the institution you attend. These loan types have strict repayment criteria. Sallie Mae is the largest private loan provider; however, banks typically offer loans to students as well. Defaulting can lead to the same problems as federal loans. Private loan holders generally consider one miss payment as late or delinquent. If you miss nine consecutive payments, you default.

Defaulted federal and private loans result in the loan holder, school or bank to:

• Call your home and mail notices as attempt to collect on defaulted loans.

• Send your loans to collections. Collections attempts to obtain payment arrangements or any type of payment from you. The loan holder adds collection fees to the amount owed on the loans.

• Report all defaulted loans to one or more credit agencies. This action may prevent you from obtaining credit from other parties. For example, a car loan or credit card denies your application.

• File for wage garnishment through a court of law.

• Obtain the right to intercept your income tax return as long as it takes to satisfy the loan(s).

• Take away lower interest rate options on your loans.

• Prevent you from applying for forbearance and deferment of the loans.

• Prevent you from applying for income-sensitive and other repayment options.

• Block you from getting other educational loans.

Preventing Defaulted Loans

Avoid problems like these by applying for a forbearance or deferment before the first late payment. Forbearance allows you to stop or lower your monthly loan payments due to hardship for several months to a year. When you do begin payments, they can be higher due to interest fees accrued while in forbearance.

Deferment options allow you to postpone payments for up to one year. With deferment, loans like Stafford, do not accrue interest. Other loans may add interest each month and you are responsible for this after deferment. With forbearance and deferment options, you can pay the interest every month if you can afford the low payments. Your loan holder does not penalize you if you stop paying on the interest.

Income-sensitive, income-based and several other options also help you when you cannot repay full monthly payments. These options lower your monthly payment based on your yearly income and family size. All options, including forbearance and deferment, can prevent defaulting on your loans.

Stephen Moore is a writer at privatestudentloan.org.

Some information about the k-1 visa

The k-1 visa is the visa that is known as the dual intent visa as well that is usually issued to the fiancé or the fiancée of a person already residing in US. The general rule for the k-1 visa is that a foreigner must marry a US citizen who should also be the petitioner of the k-1 visa within the 90 days of his or her entry. 

Once the couple gets married, the foreigner can become the lawful permanent citizen of the US. He or she would also be known as the green card holder. Although the k-1 visa is also known as the non-immigrant visa, it offers some of the very important benefits of immigration and is thus processed by the immigrant visa section of the US embassies and consulates all over world.

In case the k-1 visa holder does not marry any US resident within 90 days of his or her entry into the country, then he or she must leave US within the next 30 days. Usually a majority of the application for the k-1 visa gets approved. In the year 2009, 95% of all the k-1 visa applications were approved.

Some of the requirements of the k-1 visa application are as follows:

Both the fiancées must be lawfully married in the state of residence from where the petition was filed. They both must be of the legal age for marriage and not already married to anyone else previously. As per the defence marriage act, the same sex marriage is not eligible for the k-1 visa process. Some people are not allowed to apply for the k-1 visa like those who have certain untreated communicable diseases, people who are criminals of moral terms, those who are addicted to drugs, people who are associated with terrorism or people who were earlier deported from US.

Hire Purchase: What is it and Which are the benefits

Hopefully you are trying to budget and save each week, spending less than you earn and exercising new found financial responsibility in these economically volatile times. However, sometimes it just seems downright impossible to save for everything we want and need, like a car for example. Saving up the entire purchase price of a new car which suits your business, family or personal needs means a lot more years spent waiting for the bus in the rain.

However, there is an alternative to a high interest rate, unsecured personal loan when you want to get into a new car, and that is using a hire purchase contract.

What is Hire Purchase?

A hire purchase agreement is a type of lease, where you can take possession of a car by hiring it over the repayment term and when you make your final payment of the term, the title of the car is transferred to you. As a result, you are not the owner of the car until you have made all payments on the repayment schedule, however, you can still claim the depreciation of the car and the interest on the loan repayments as tax deductions if you are using the car for work.

The hire purchase agreement has a balloon amount included in the contract, which is the amount you will have to pay to the finance provider at the end of the hire purchase agreement term. With a balloon payment to make at the end, your monthly repayments are lower because you are not making repayments on the full purchase price, but instead on the purchase price less the balloon amount as your finance provider will get back that amount at the end.

Having a balloon in the hire purchase contract does mean you need to have some way to come up with that payment at the end of the term, and balloon payments are usually covered when you sell the car at the end of the term to upgrade to the next model. That is why it is important you choose a balloon amount which is less than what the car will be worth at the end of the term. At the same time, you don’t have to choose a hire purchase agreement with a balloon amount.

A hire purchase is ideally suited to people in business who can claim the expenses of the hire purchase agreement on tax. To be able to claim your vehicle as a business vehicle it needs to be used for work more than 50% of the time.

Benefits of a Hire Purchase

If it sounds like you would be suited to using a hire purchase agreement to get yourself into your next new car sooner, consider the other benefits available to you:

• Your choice of term. You can choose a hire purchase term from 12 months up to 60 months.

• Fixed low interest rates. The interest rate on your hire purchase can be fixed for the entire term which means your repayments will stay the same and can be easily budgeted for. You’ll also qualify for lower interest rates because the lease is secured against the car which remains the legal property of the finance company until the end of the lease, therefore providing better security than a standard personal car loan.

• No GST. There is now GST charged on the monthly hire purchase repayments, but if your business is registered for GST you can still claim the GST which is included in the purchase price of the vehicle.

• Guaranteed funding. With a business overdraft you can be required to repay the amount you’ve borrowed on demand of the bank. However, with a hire purchase you are guaranteed that a hire purchase agreement can’t be withdrawn for the term of the agreement.

• Finance the entire cost. With a hire purchase agreement you can obtain finance for the entire cost of the vehicle including any extras or accessories you choose. While a deposit may be required on the hire purchase, you can also usually use other business assets to raise this amount.

Tax Advantages of a Hire Purchase Agreement

If you are a sole trader and your business uses the accrual method of accounting, you can claim the GST in the vehicle purchase price and over the hire purchase agreement as a lump sum when you lodge your next BAS. If you are a sole trader who uses the cash accounting method you can claim the GST evenly over the term of the hire purchase agreement. The balloon repayment amount is never subject to GST.

Even if you are not registered for GST, the company providing your hire purchase lease can claim capital allowances and pass on the benefits to you in the form of a reduced rental cost.

Alban Smith is a recognised personal finance writer with 3 years experience writing for financial blogs. When he is not contributing, Alban writes guides and articles on how to compare car loans

The Options for Spouses for Expatriates - By Marc Castro

Because of the increased economic interaction between countries and nations, many individuals of one country choose to work in another country. With this choice, the individual’s family is uprooted from their home and would start living their life for the next year or so in a country alien and foreign to them.

The move is just the first step for an expatriate’s family. Once they are in the foreign land, adjusting to the weather, conditions and other living issues are also matters that they all need to accept. For the spouses, it is the boredom of not being productive as the days pass by in their new homeland.

On the contrary, an expat’s spouse can have many options to make their days fulfilling and productive even when living in a far away land. Here are some suggestions that this can be achieved to make the stay in the foreign land better for all.

Being Employed. This can be done even before the expat spouse moves to the country of assignment with their spouse. Sending out resumes to known companies or recruitment agencies can help get the ball rolling in finding a job in the new country of residence. Once they reach the country, interviews can be done and an expat spouse can be employed in no time at all.
Working from Home. This is another option for expat spouses. Here, the individual can be employed online and make their home as their office for work to be done on the Internet. What is important though is having a computer and a dependable internet connection to be able to work online from home.
Joining a Charity. Many think this is absurd but joining a charity or activity can help channel restless energy and meet other people in a foreign land. As a foreigner, your presence would be very important as you can then solicit friends and relatives back home for support that the local charity so badly needs.
Engaging a Hobby. Pick up a hobby that you have been meaning to do but did not have the time back home. This can be as simple as cross stitching or as complex as modern dance, finding a way to pass the time while enjoying yourself is important to wile away the time far away from home.
Managing the Household. Since you are an expat, your living conditions would be better off compared to the average local family. So managing your household is important to make your new residence truly a home safe and comfortable for your family. If you have children, then participating in their activities is also one way to make your bonds stronger and better while living in a foreign land.

As can be seen, there are many ways for an expat spouse can be productive even on a dependent visa of an expat. Being employed, either formally or from home, undertaking a charity, taking up a hobby or managing your household are some ways that an expat spouse spend their days in a foreign and exotic location. Soon enough, after being engrossed, you would have been able to pass the time while on location and enrich yourself in the process.

For a more comprehensive discussion on the travails of an expat family, do visit us at Women Suffer Stress When They Move Abroad, Study Shows please visit the author’s site The Expat Forum

Bad Credit Debt Consolidation Loan

The importance of debt consolidation loans can be properly appreciated by the most annoying people with bad credit history. Fiscal consolidation loans designed for people with poor credit score is a method which can protect against falling debt situation even more. Debt consolidation loans for people with bad credit have become a wonderful solution for those who were in need of money advice that really works.

Debt Consolidation Loans for people with bad credit are available for people to solve their financial problems. People can live a safe financial, just take out a loan to pay off many other loans. This is done to obtain a lower interest rate or a guaranteed interest rate. Some people take the help of the financing plan as debt consolidation loans for people with bad credit for the benefits of a loan. This means that you do not have many debts to pay each month, but only a specific one and is easy to clean.

Debt consolidation loans for people with bad credit are a solution for those people who have bad credit history. People who have a bad credit history can be compared to a situation in your financial history, due to a number of unsecured loans, which at one time were not paid. People were unable to pay their debts, and I did not get the loan, they had to take the help of some kind of solution. Until you receive any help, do not pay their debts, so your credit crashed. Debt Consolidation Loans for people with bad credit should be considered by borrowers with poor credit history. Borrower can get an amount up to a range of £ 1000 - £ 25,000 with a repayment term of 6 to 10 months. If you're thinking of applying for a debt consolidation loan for people with bad credit need not have property or valuable assets that can cover the loan.

If the borrower defaults on the loan amount, the borrower is no risk of losing the property but the lender is for legal reasons for paying the lender back and forth is not. When applying for debt consolidation loans for people with bad credit, the borrower asks the basic requirements such as proof of residency and proof of employment. Like a payday loan, debt consolidation loans for people with bad credit became very structured and strictly monitored by the safety and welfare of clients looking for a loan. However, help provide short term relief of the tax burden.

Stephenie Meyer is a financial advisor to loans for 90 days. To learn more about debt consolidation for people with bad credit consolidation loans for people on benefits, pay day loans for people with bad credit.