With over a billion credit cards available in the market, consumers can really have a hard time in choosing the right one for them. From interest rates, to grace period, to loyalty rewards; there are so many factors to consider while shopping for one. It’s not unusual to get overwhelmed by the offers received from the credit card companies and they all promise ‘big’. Anyway, this article can be your shopper’s guide for credit cards.

1. Determine your type: What type of a card user are you? If you carry balance on your card, you may opt for one which has the lowest ARP  or atleast would have the lowest rate for the initial period, to avoid paying huge on interests.

Similarly, if you are planning to make a big purchase using your card, like paying for tuition or making down payment on a car, you may consider a card which would offer you the highest credit limit.

2. Check out the APR: The APR would depict the actual cost of your borrowing. This is the rate that you would be charged if you don’t pay your bill in full at every billing cycle. Often the annual percentage rate (APR) isn’t revealed by the banks. Hence, while shopping around for the card, keep in mind the APR.

The annual percentage rate on the cards may vary between 0% and 20% with the current average rate being13% (approx). There are some websites which would let you compare the rates of different credit cards. You may search these sites before applying for a card.

3. Credit limit: While shopping for credit cards, special attention should be given to the credit limit. If you have the habit of overspending, lower limit cards would be ideal for you, as it would keep you within budget.

However, if you are planning to make a big purchase with your credit card, then you might need to search for one which would give you the highest credit limit.

4. Grace period: Almost all the credit card companies would let you enjoy a grace period, within which you can pay your bills comfortably without  late fees. However, the days given as grace period vary widely amongst the credit card providers. Hence, if you want to enjoy more interest free days on your card, you may consider one with the longest grace period.

5. Late fees: If you are a general late payer of your credit card bills, your search should also consider cards with lowest late fees along with the other factors.

6. Loyalty rewards: Consider the loyalty programs of the credit card, like air miles, cash backs and the such. Some sponsored cards would let you enjoy special discounts when you make purchases from the sponsoring company.

7. Charges: Credit card companies have charges like- activation fees, annual fees, inactivity fees and the like, which they may or may not disclose. Though the recent changes would require the credit card providers to reveal their charges, you may still read between the lines to learn what wasn’t told to you by the creditor. Also, beware, as there could be other charges in disguise.

Always do your research before purchasing a credit card. You may approach to different banks or search online for the rates before making up your mind. Websites like- creditcards.com, bankrate.com and the like, would let you shop online by comparing the rates and offers of different credit card companies. Often a debt situation arises because of wrong decision involving credit cards. Also, it  is important to maintain a healthy credit repaying habit as the rate that you enjoy on the card would depend upon it.

When you go for a job interview, you’re actually selling yourself to a prospective employer and your worth to your future employer would depend upon your skills of negotiating your package.

It’s not unusual to feel shy to quote a pay when asked openly. That’s mainly because we often are not aware of our true value in the market. As a result you may agree to take a paycheck much less than what you should ideally get or loosing the opportunity altogether because the employer would learn that you don’t know your true value, hence lose credibility.

When the job market is tight, it becomes all the more important to learn your worth to manage a good job. Here is how you can evaluate yourself before going for a job interview.

Research the company: Knowing about the company before facing the interviewer is important. The overall idea about the industry can also give you a fair idea about the salary you can get. If the company is growing fast and operating in a field that would sustain in the long run, you may go for top pay. Otherwise, check your options.

Salary evaluators: There are sites available online which would help you in discovering your true value. Some of these sites would allow you to personalize your search based on geographical area, profession, experience, qualification and the like.

Evaluate yourself: Ask yourself about your strengths and weaknesses. Find out about the qualities that would put you before others.

Avoid salary negotiation: If not asked openly, avoid directly replying to a salary question. Also, you might try to push the ball back to the interviewer’s court.

If asked directly, however, counter question by asking the range. You must know what you can ask for.

Decline offer if not satisfied: Be prepared to walk away when not satisfied with the offer. But do it politely. It’s better not to accept an offer if unsatisfied as it would affect your productivity in the long run.

These are the few tips which can help you in securing a better paycheck. Also consider the perks and other benefits along with the salary to decide about an offer. Employees tend to perform better when they are financially secured.

We are living in the age of internet. We live and eat on internet. From staying connected to friends to transferring fund from one account to another, all is done with one click. Visiting the bank for a transaction has become a thing of the past. Doing businesses online is fast and convenient. But this has also given rise to online frauds and identity theft.

In the year 2009, Americans have lost around $559 million in online frauds alone. When you’re login in to your online banking account, there is a chance that a hacker is stealing your data at the same time. Banks are taking utmost care in protecting the data of their clients, but the hackers are always remaining one step ahead. However, this can be prevented with little practice and carefulness.

Check the security – Look for the padlock sign in your banking website. Also, more layers of security barriers would ensure safer transactions. Hence, if your banking site asks you several security questions and also requests password more than once, don’t lose patience, you’re entering in a secured area. These are done to prevent the robots and hackers from penetrating into your account easily.   Also, logout once you finish the transaction.

Don’t store your information online: You may never store your personal information or passwords online, especially so in public computers. Also avoid accessing your account from computers located at airports, coffee shops and such.

Don’t save your credit card information: You may avoid storing your credit card information on online shopping sites. It may cause you little inconvenience to put in your information everytime, but it would save you from losing big in the future.

Avoid using same password: Many of us have the habit of using same password for all our accounts to avoid inconvenience, but at the same time it puts us at a greater risk of loosing our valuable information to online scammers. You may rather maintain a small notebook where you may note down all your passwords for different accounts.

Install anti-virus and anti-spyware: In your home computer always keep updated version of anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed.  Also use secured browsers while accessing your bank’s website. Firefox is considered to be safer than Internet Explorer.

It is not hard to protect your precious money with little carefulness. Often the bank would compensate the customer for any fraudulent activity in his account if it’s reported in a timely fashion.  But, often these frauds go undiscovered for a long time. Another way to prevent frauds in your account is by keeping close watch on your monthly account statement and informing the bank immediately of any unauthorized activity.

Debt Consolidation Care community has come up with a budgeting application to help people manage their finances in a better way. This newly-introduced application will assist them in controlling their income and expenditure in a more efficient manner. There is no denying the fact that a planned budget is important when it comes to managing finances effectively and paying off debts faster. Thus, if you have many financial obligations to meet and your monetary resources are limited, you can use the budgeting application to prepare your budget properly so you can have a better control over how you spend your income.

The DebtCC budgeting application is free and easy-to-use. You can budget your finances using the following simple steps:

• List your income – Make a list of your income from all sources like wages, interest and dividend earned, rental income, child support or alimony, etc.
• Plan your budget – Allocate your budget based on your net income and find out how much you can save after meeting your various financial obligations.
• List your expenses – List your current monthly expenditure towards housing, transportation, debts, etc.
• Get your budget report – Once you’ve entered the necessary information in the budgeting application, you can view your detailed budget report, both on a monthly and a quarterly basis, and find out areas where you can curb your expenses and maximize your savings.

This budget application is expected to help many people, who find it difficult to strike a perfect balance between their income and expenses.

So, if you are an existing member, all you need to do is log-in to your account and get access to the budgeting application at http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/personal-budgeting/ . In case you are new to DebtCC, you simply need to get registered with the community to take advantage of the budgeting application to manage your financial resources better.

A Statute of Limitations (SOL) is the maximum time allowed legally to a creditor to file a lawsuit against a debtor in a civil or criminal court. After the expiry of this period, no creditor can carry on any legal prosecution for an offense by the debtor. An SOL starts from the date of last activity on an account.

What are the types of debt contracts on which an SOL is effective?

Typical debt contracts are of 4 types:

1. Oral contract: This is a contract between you and the creditor where you verbally agree to pay off your debt. This is as legal as a written contract and you are liable to pay your debt if an oral contract can be proven in court.
2. Written contract: This is a contract between you and the creditor where you agree, through a written document, to pay off a loan to the creditor. This type of contract is duly signed by you and the creditor.
3. Promissory Note: In this contract you agree, in written terms, to pay off your loan. Not just that, such a contract has schedule of your payments and the interest you will be paying on that loan. A good example for a promissory contract can be mortgage loan.
4. Open ended accounts: These are rotating lines of credit with changing balances. An example would be credit cards.

You may want to check with your state laws to see if credit cards are considered as open ended accounts or written agreements because some states consider it so.

How does the Statute of Limitations protect debtors?

Creditors would like to pursue debtors for the money they owe for as long as possible. With an SOL in effect, debtors are protected from indefinite lawsuits filed by creditors. How the creditors report to the Bureaus also controls an individual’s credit score. The SOL has been made effective to protect debtors from long term damages to their credit reports by setting time limitations to the negative information reflecting on the credit report.

Here are 2 ways by which debtors may be protected:

1. Time limit: All negative information has a time limit up to which it can be reflected on an individual’s credit report. After this limit is up, those negative information are supposed to come off the report. Although the time for which these information can stay on your report is relatively long, you may get them removed by paying on your debts and not defaulting.

Generally negative information can be reported for 7 years. However, there are certain exceptions, like:

• Bankruptcy can be reported for 10 years.
• Information related to any legal action or a judgment against the debtor may be reported either for 7 years or till the SOL expires, whichever is longer.
• Tax liens remain on your report for 7 years from the sate they are paid.

2. Expiry of SOL: The FDCPA states that if you have a debt that is past the SOL in your state, you need not pay it back. However, whether or not you choose to pay depends on you as a debtor. Once the SOL is over, you are not legally required to pay back the money. You must remember that, if you do pay on that debt, it will have the SOL restarted.

Debtors should be aware of their rights. Check the SOL in your state to be protected from harassing collection calls.