Bounty Hunting - Today I am Riding with a Bounty Hunter
So the other day I was in an Austin Chase coffee house near Seattle Washington. I struck up conversation with the guy in the table next to me and found out that he is a “Bounty Hunter”. Intersting, so I dove deeper into what it is he does, and what a bounty hunter actually is. He collects debts from bad loans, car loans, mortgages etc.
So he asked me to go bounty Hunting with him today, so I am meeting him at the Austin Chase in a few minutes. I will keep you updated as far as my day of Bounty Hunting.
Watch out… The Bounty Hunter is coming.
Here are some Bounty Hunter links of interest:
How I became a Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunting
5 steps to better credit scores
Filed under: Credit Cards, Credit Score, Loans, Misc, Save Money
You are done with school. Guess what? Your grades still matter. Your credit grade will save you thousands or cost you thousands. Good credit score equals better loan rates. Lower credit score and you may pay out thousands more in interest.
Here are 5 steps to better credit.
5 steps to better credit
- Correct blatant mistakes. Your credit score is only as good as what shows up in your credit report. Review your reports from all three credit bureaus for accuracy once a year as well as several months before applying for a loan. You can now check your credit score yearly at no cost to you. Changing a mistake on your report - such as a payment that is wrongly labeled as late — can take 30 days to three months, sometimes longer. This is easy to do, and can greatly improve your credit score.
- Pay your bills on time - ALWAYS. This is always a good practice, and it’s especially critical that you make prompt payments close to the time you need a loan. That’s because a late or missed payment in the last few months is likely to lower your score much more than an isolated late payment five years ago. Pay bills first, then eat. Simple as that. You already bought it and you owe it, so pay it.
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Reduce your credit card balances. A heavily weighted factor in your FICO score is how much money you owe on your credit cards relative to your total credit limit. Generally, it’s good to keep your balances at or below 25 percent of your credit card limit, said Jeanne Kelly, founder of The Kelly Group, which helps clients improve their credit scores.
- Pay off debt rather than just moving it around. Since the ratio of your credit card balance to your credit limit is key, closing out an account and transferring the balance simply means you increase that ratio, which is likely to lower your score. In other words, say you owe a total of $2,000 on four credit cards, each of which has a $2,000 limit. Your total credit limit is $8,000, of which your total balance ($2,000) accounts for 25 percent. If you transfer all your balances to two cards and cancel the other two, your total credit limit is reduced to $4,000, and your $2,000 balance now accounts for 50 percent of that limit. Pay it off, don’t move it around.
Credit Card Users Lack Interest
Many users are paying for Christmas this year with plastic. Whip out the old credit card and say Charge IT! Those same consumers when asked what their credit card interest is have no clue. Over 60 percent of credit card users do not know the amount of interest they are paying.
When you go grocery shopping you shop around, some even use coupons for the best prices. Others will go a ile down the road for gas that is a penny cheaper. Yet the thousands they pay in interest goes unnotices.
Pay attention to your rates, ask for lower interest, and often times you can cut your rate in half. Demand service, demand better prices, pay attention and you will get it.
Christmas credit binge looms
Don’t let your credit card debt get out of hand this Holiday. With credit card minimums doubling, it could hurt in January.
SHOPPERS have been warned not to let their credit card debts run out of control this Christmas as figures show an increase in the numbers of people applying for cards.
Credit information provider Baycorp Advantage said there will be 875,000 applications for credit cards in October, November and December, up 90,000 or 11 per cent on last year.
Baycorp managing director Andrew Watt said there had also been an 8 per cent increase in the number of personal loan applications.
The figures showed there was an increase in the appetite for credit this Christmas, Mr Watt said.
Credit card applications for the whole year would be 15 per cent higher than in 2004, he said, fuelled by the introduction of new products and increased competition among lenders.
“Competition is delivering benefits for consumers but we encourage consumers to make sure they have carefully considered their finances before applying for a new card or loan,” Mr Want said.
“Consumers need to be realistic in considering whether they can meet repayments every month because, even with a good credit history in the past, defaults on repayments can cause problems accessing credit you may need in the future.”
Australian Consumers’ Association (ACA) senior policy officer Nick Coates said consumers changed their spending patterns at Christmas and many people let their credit card debt get out of hand.
“The concern there is that you get disciplined credit card users who repay their monthly balance in full, month in month out, and at Christmas time that changes,” he said.
The Rest
More money saving tips
[tags]Christmas, credit, save money, credit card[/tags]