September 25th, 2009
Weekly Round-Up: Keep Yourself and Your Credit Healthy
It’s that time of the year again, and I’m not talking about the holiday season. The thermometer is slowly dipping and that means cold and flu season is already here! You know the drill—get a flu shot, avoid contact with sick people, wash your hands and carry hand sanitizer, get exercise to keep your immune system up, sleep and drink water regularly, and don’t over-indulge and over-party at holiday get-togethers. Plus, with swine flu on the loose, you want to be extra careful and extra caring of your body.
Now that you are all armed and ready to stay healthy and happy through Halloween and well into Thanksgiving, keep your credit report as healthy as your body and read ahead to stay in-the-know and financially fit to last you till Christmas!
Personal Finance
- Start filling up the piggybank with Wise Bread’s 51 unusual money-saving tips from readers.
- CNN Money teaches you how to make your money last.
- Saving again? Here’s a way to do it right straight from The Wall Street Journal.
- “What is a ‘good job’?”, asks The Simple Dollar.
- Get Rich Slowly answers the pressing question, when is it okay to finance fun?
Credit Scores and Credit Reports
- As lenders clamp down, credit scores take a hit explains USA Today.
- KDKA News suggests that keeping credit cards could help your credit score.
- The Arizona Daily Star points out that credit scores can be wrong.
- Credit scores: what you need to know now, writes The Wall Street Journal.
- Dallas News reports that employers increasingly use applicants’ credit histories in determining job future.
Credit Cards
- Houston Chronicle is on top of the story that new credit card rules may go into effect sooner.
- Can you believe credit card companies are simplifying deals, as MainStreet reports.
- No more free stuff for credit card applications reports MSNBC.
- How to break the minimum credit card payment mindset – Generation X Finance explains it all.
- MarketWatch writes on avoiding overdrafts.
Mortgage
- Home buyers are losing bargaining power: 5 things to know reports U.S. News.
- SmartMoney discovered 7 pieces of good news about the economy.
- Five Cent Nickel blogs on qualifying for a mortgage.
- Stimulus money for energy improvement at home writes The Seattle Times.
Debt
- The Dough Roller wants you to get out of debt.
- DebtKid lends a helping hand for you’re broke: do you pay your credit cards or your mortgage?
- Consumers slash debt by record amount in July writes The Washington Post.
Credit Karma
- The Motley Fool figures out ways you can Clean Up Your Credit and Save $100,000.
- Bargaineering mentions CK as one of the 7 Steps to Improve Your Credit Score.
- Credit Score Urban Legends – Busted! @ WalletPop.
- Weak scores may limit access to credit cards quotes CK on Freep.
I like to use the 10:10:80 method. Save 10 percent of your paycheck, 10 percent for tithing, then 80 percent for personal. So far so good!