Steps to Repair Your Credit

By William Blake

Having bad credit is a problem that will really affect every aspect of your life. Many of your hopes and dreams will be unattainable if you have bad credit. Even taking care of life's necessities becomes more difficult if you do not have good credit.

Do not feel that because you have blemishes on your credit now all hope is lost. There are steps that can be taken to help repair your credit scores and help regain and maintain a good credit rating.

Check Your Credit Score

Before you know how to repair your credit you need to know the exact condition of your credit right now. You can request your credit report on line and it can be sent to you via e-mail or regular mail. You can also ask your bank if they can get you a copy of your credit report. By reviewing your report you will understand where your problems and then you can begin to take steps to fix them.

You will need to see how much you are owing and to where, and make sure that there are no inaccuracies showing on your credit report. If you do see there are some mistakes, you will need to take care of these immediately because they will be negatively affecting your credit score even more the longer you leave them.

Pay Off Your Creditors

The next step is the get your debts organize and start working towards paying them off. Of course you can not pay all your bills off at once. But try to attack them one at a time. You want to start with the higher interest rate debts which usually are your credit card debts.

You should try to pay off one card at a time, and the basic rule is that you should just pay more than the minimum payment. This way you are not allowing interest to accumulate, and it will therefore help you to pay them off faster.

Plan to Make Wiser Decisions

After you have accomplished the difficult task of paying off your credit cards decide that you are not ever going to be back in that situation again. Work hard to establish good credit by avoiding new credit card debts. If you use credit cards in the future pay the balance in full every month.

These are steps that you can personally take to repair your credit and they are free of charge. You will save money and repair your own credit at no extra cost to you.

About the Author:

Thinking of trying to lower your payments or the balance owing by negotiating credit card debt yourself? Be sure to visit the Debtopedia website to get some helpful information & advice first.

Play The UK Lottery

By Tom Martens

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the games and lottery terminology, and you'll soon be on your way to playing. Being new to the UK Lottery is no excuse for not playing.

If you'd like to begin playing lotto games online there are many to choose from including uroMillions, Lotto and Dream Number as well as a selection of instant win games.

EuroMillions consistently offers huge jackpots thanks to the participation of nine European countries. Jackpots usually start at 9 million and grow as the jackpot goes unclaimed. You play by selecting five main numbers, 1-50, and 2 Lucky Star numbers, 1-9. You can play up to four lines on a single play slip or up to five slips with multiple tickets. You can play the same numbers for as many as four weeks. All you have to do is match three numbers in the correct combination to win from one of the 12 prize levels. If you match the five main numbers and the two Lucky Star numbers you win (or share) the jackpot!

Generally tickets for the EuroMillions are sold everyday until 11 p.m but for the fridays when tickets are sold till 7 p.m. You can watch the results on BBC One at 11:35 p.m on fridays or the results are readily available online from 10 p.m onwards.

Lotto works in the same fashion. You can pick your own numbers, 1 to 49, or play online, choosing "Lucky Dip" for random number generation. One play slip has up to seven lines of numbers, multiple tickets have up to 35 lines. You can choose how many weeks you want to play, and which draws. Up to eight weeks can be played, starting with the next draw date. Winnings will be determined by the number of matches on you card

You can also play Dream Number on your Lotto play slip or by itself. The Dream Number is a 7-digit number that gives you the chance to win up to 500,000. There are scores of Instant Win games including those based on Scrabble, Monopoly and those based on upcoming holidays and events. Prizes range from 8,000 to 100,000 and more. Playing is simple and winnings are, obviously, instant!

By learning some of the terms you can get even more comfortable with playing the lottery. Here are a few you should know. A bearer instrument is any item, paper lottery tickets included, that gives the person possessing it the right of ownership. The person who has it in their possession, regardless of who bought the ticket, has claim to any prize won.

Bonus Ball - An additional number selected after the primary numbers are drawn, as in the UK Lotto game. It has no bearing on the winning jackpot number, but can earn a better prize for the runner-up.

RNG - Random number generator; software that generates numbers in a random pattern. Rollover - The term used to describe what happens to a jackpot fund when no player wins it. The amount is usually added to the fund for the next draw.

About the Author:

Tom Martens is the content coordinator at UKlotterytickets.co.za. South Arica's primary portal to the UK Lottery.

Save Money Purchasing Top Stub Checks - Budget Your Money

By Helen Sammersholdt

Searching for some new check designs? Purchasing your top stub checks or side tear personal checks online instead of going to the bank is becoming more popular; it save money. You can choose your own designed check from a selection of themes that best matches your needs and personality.

Check categories cover a huge range of themes such as Americana scenes, fun checks, cartoon themes, rainbow designs, clouds and waves scenes, ocean and seashore scenes, various sports teams as well as specific sports, boats, sailboats, naval battleships, aircraft carriers and all types of boat, planes, cars, motorcycles, universities and colleges, wildlife, all breeds of dogs, cats and other pets and many more themes too numerous to mention.

You'll get a kick out of looking over the great designs offered for top stub and side tear checks. There's really a lot to choose from considering all the categories and artists that have lent their work to check designs. Record keeping using stubs offers simple to use notations that keep you accounting visible. For business concerns there are computer and various forms of desks sets available.

One can enhance the design of their personal check by adding a slogan, a symbol or monogram. It can add that extra bit of distinction to your check.

Adding a message or byline can serve to add extra character to your checks as well. Perhaps using a shadow print as a background graphic will add the level of visual flair you want to create. There a gigantic number of fonts and typeface styles that create the type of overall impression you might be looking for.

You might even think of adding a photo shot. A choice vacation scene, you're favorite pet or scene might do the trick. If you are involved in a business you can insert a photo of the location or some promotional graphic. It's a cheap way to enhance your visual presence.

When it comes to choosing commercial check printers you?ll find many to choose from. They operate independently and have different artists and graphic configurations and palates to choose from. The highlight from ordering direct from the manufacture is the large selection and the savings (usually in the 50% area). You'll get immediate delivery and cut out the bank middleman charges.

from an ample choice of lettering styles from the very popular standard block lettering to calligraphic alphabets and numbers are available. When you complement the general feel and look of your

About the Author:

Before you're almost out of checks you may be contemplating about running to the bank to get side tear personal checks. But you can order checks online and save the middleman bank markup. There is no need to let the bank profit from your purchase. Click: http://www.topstubchecksonline.com

How To Make Money On Options Using Theta Decay

By Walter Fox

For many market traders, looking for a trend or some other market anomaly in order to consistently make money is the financial holy grail. Though there are a number of market systems that claim to be consistent enough to make you money, the reality is that most strategies aren't as trustworthy as they could be, which can cause you to lose your hard earned capital.

A widely touted stock option trading strategy out there in common use today is the idea of "theta decay." At first glance, the name isn't indicative of something positive, but in reality, the concept capitalizes on a well known fact about option trading - options expire on a set date.

Because option trading instruments have a finite life span, their value would tend to change as they come closer to the strike date. In analyzing trends in trading of options, the spread of prices that exist between the issuance date and the strike date is shown to get smaller as the issue nears expiration.

The reason an option trading system using theta decay analysis works is because there is a more perfect information system in place for options than stock issues. Option trading is a more information efficient market because of the expiration date. Keen traders who keep up with the information flow can stand to make big gains from a system using this analysis.

How does one benefit from theta decay in their stock option trading system? The answer is simple - you take advantage of the time value of money, and its tendency to change faster closer to the expiration date. Analysis shows that the time value of an option drops linearly until the last thirty or so trading days prior to expiration.

During that final month of trading days, theta decay techniques come into their own. It is during that time period when the time values start to drop even more precipitously. By holding the right positions, however, you stand to make money on that fall.

Imagine, for example, that you have an option approaching expiration and hold a short position while also selling an inverse call option. You could realize two separate gains. The first of these comes when you sell the call at a premium relative to its actual value. The second can result if the option does not finish on the positive side in money.

As you can see, by tracking expiration dates and perfecting your timing, you can make theta decay a profitable technique. It is true, as with any system, that improper application of the strategy could lose you principal. But for those who have a good feel for the market and the ability to track option market information, theta decay remains a potentially lucrative and non-commonplace device worthy of being added to your market toolkit.

About the Author:

TheScienceOfTrading.com provides 90 free minutes of videos on option trading systems and provides a complete and detailed stock trading course for beginners to experts.

?Be Well Equipped for Retirement Planning

By William Blake

There are a lot of variables to consider when planning for your retirement. It is one of the most important things you will ever do and it should be considered very early in life ??" as early as possible. One of the best ways to develop a good plan is to equip yourself with the right planning tools. For example, it is important to know the approximate amount of federal annuity that will be due you upon retirement. How can you determine that information? A federal retirement calculator is just what you need.

The federal retirement calculator can only approximate what will take place. There is no way to definitely foretell the future. However, this useful tool will give you a good guideline by which you can figure what your retirement will be.

This calculator is useful for employers who need to determine certain benefits for their workers such as benefits paid to family members upon the death of the employee or annuities in CSRS, FERS or CSRS-offset retirement.

The federal retirement calculator is not a tool that can be used to estimate all variables of retirement. For example, it would not be helpful in determining life insurance or health insurance during retirement or in calculating the annuity amounts for those who do not work full time. It is best to stay within the perimeters of what the calculator is designed to do.

What Else Can Help?

Besides the federal retirement calculator there are other retirement planning tools that you can take advantage of as well, including the QuickAnswer retirement calculator which helps assess your progress towards retirement, the standard retirement calculator which tells you how much you should save for retirement, the RRSP accumulator which tells the power of compounded investment returns, post retirement calculator which estimates your retirement income, and the RRIP calculator which helps you to build a productive and successful withdrawal strategy.

A few others that estimate useful information that will help you develop a plan for your retirement are the life expectancy calculator and the annuity calculators.

Retirement is one of the most major and important times in anyone's life, and it is an issue that you should be thinking about early on in your life. The earlier that you can begin to plan and prepare for your retirement the better off you are going to be and whether that means using a federal retirement calculator or other retirement planning tool, the more you can do the better.

About the Author:

Looking for the fastest way to pay off debt? Stop by the Debt Reduction Academy website, where you can claim your free 5 day mini course "Operation Money-Find: How To Find Money To Start Paying Off Your Debt This Month". Grab your copy now at http://www.debtreductionacademy.com/minicourse.php

Real estate short sale is an unpleasant experience for an owner

By Rem

The term 'real estate short sale' is being bandied about more and more as of late. Anyone who has read newspapers or watched TV has probably come across some sort of stories about the declining real estate market leading banks to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure. Real estate prices have dropped dramatically, and the sell time has risen as well. Detroit is one such example of this. Declining real estate markets are the primary reason for the rise in short sale real estate opportunities.

Banks undergo a real estate short sale when they let a property be sold for an amount of money that is less than what it is worth. There are two conditions that must be met before a bank is likely to approve this: Number one, the property's sale price has to be incapable of covering the outstanding mortgage balance. The second condition is kind of obvious, but it dictates that the owners will be unable to continue making mortgage payments on the property.

Let's look at an example property that was bought five years ago for the rate of 217,000 dollars with an adjustable rate mortgage. Additionally, the owners took out a second mortgage of 10,000 dollars, which brought their total owed to 227,000 dollars.

In a five year time span, the amount the mortgages would have been paid is negligible. Let's also believe that the property is in a part of the country where the market values have fallen to 215,000 dollars for similar properties, and that the adjustable mortgage interest rate has risen from seven to eleven percent. Additionally, we end up with a real estate short sale situation once one of the owners has lost their job.

In avoiding time delays and expenses, the bank will probably decide to go with a short sale. The reason for this is that the banks believe it is better to get the property off their books and accept a smaller amount of money they are guaranteed to get than to accept an unknown amount in the future. This is generally how a real estate short sale works, though there are other complications that can arise from having owners and lenders not agreeing to the terms of the sale.

A real estate short sale is not a very pleasant experience, but it certainly isn't the worst experience they could have. If nothing else, it certainly beats being forced to accept a foreclosure on your credit report. These short sales can give the smart real estate investor a great buying opportunity.

About the Author:

Also have a look at Home Deals Blog and Save On Home Blog

Ways To Good Credit

By Michael Benifez

Today's credit crisis is resulting in a more difficult road for consumers to getting a loan and obtaining good rates. Lenders are becoming increasingly cautious and are making more declines than ever before. If your credit rating is less than stellar, you can pretty much guarantee you're not going to get the best rate on the loan you're hoping for, that is if you can get the loan at all. If you improve your credit score, you can insure your lending status. There are five basic steps for improving credit.

1: Obtain a copy of your credit report. You can't repair something you don't know is broken. Once you have a copy, you will be able to determine your position and whether or not improvements can be made. You can get a free report from each of the three bureaus once a year from annualcreditreport.com. This website is owned by the credit bureaus themselves and designed to provide you with your entitled report once every 12 months. Many sites online have very similar names, so be extremely cautious when you're typing the address.

2: Review your report and remove anything that's outdated. Carefully review your report and keep and eye open for inaccuracies. You have the right to get incorrect data removed from your file. You may also request that any negative data be deleted, but you will be required to provide proof for your request.

3: Make sure credit card balances are low. Substantial outstanding debt will adversely impact your FICO score. Do NOT max out your credit. It will only serve to cause you problems in the long run. Why not check if there are any balance transfer cards available so you won't be forced to max out your existing card. Lenders tend to favor people who carry manageable debt on their cards. Here's a tip: Don't pay off your entire balance each month. Believe it or not, that may hurt your chances with a lender and may also hurt your credit score. Lenders make money by charging you interest your balance; if you're not paying anything in interest each month, you're not an asset to the lender.

4: Build on your credit limit. Lenders will generally assign you a credit limit, meaning you can't charge more than that amount. Earning credibility with lenders will help grow that number. You should also be aware of your 'debt to credit ratio'. Your 'ratio' is determined by the debt you carry on a high limit card. If you have a limit of 15 thousand dollars, you should strive to keep your debt on that card under or around 50%. In other words, you shouldn't carry more than about $7,500 worth of debt on that card. In America today it's a common problem for an individual's debt to credit ratio to be too high.

5: Pay your bills on time and enjoy the benefits of having zero interest on outstanding balance. It may sound simple, but it is imperative to maintaining a good credit rating. A mere few late payments will negatively impact your credit score.

If you're determined and you start right away, it won't take too long before your credit is back and track and you can get back to living worry free.

About the Author:

For more information about balance transfer zero interest. Drop by today at http://www.everlife.com/balancetransfercard.php.

Need to have Credit card for online transaction

By Mike Taylor

In case you own a website where you provide products and services to your customers, then you need to have online credit card processing authorization. There are many online business owners who do not provide the service of online payments just by looking at the expenditures that they may have to bear.

But unfortunately, they don't seem to realize that they are passing up a lot of money by not offering the service. Approximately 90% of all online purchases are done through credit cards, and the rest 10% of internet buys are carried out through bank account transfer, money orders, or paper checks. Yes, credit card dealings will cost a few cents more than usual dealings, but it is way better and convenient than any other mode of transaction and should be considered as an important business investment. There are many methods of online credit card processing. This article will focus on two particular modes of credit card payments, they are- PayPal and merchant account.

Let's begin with merchant account. This is a kind of account that is offered by a merchant bank that has the authority to carry out payments from credit cards like MasterCard and Visa. To avail a merchant account is quite time consuming, as it requires you to fill up a lengthy application. The bank may also check your credit history before sanctioning a merchant account to you. You are also required to go through and agree to the terms and conditions of the bank. Availing a merchant account doesn't come free; the bank is most likely to charge you a monthly fee and a percentage of every transaction you make. You may also be asked to pay a set up fee depending upon the rules and regulations of the bank. In many cases, the companies discharge the setup fee for their new clients.

PayPal is another great way to process online payments. For those online business owners who are unable to obtain a merchant account for themselves, PayPal can be an excellent option for them. PayPal is pretty much the same concept as Merchant account as it allows them to take credit card payments over the internet. But that only downside of PayPal method of payment is that a customer willing to make an online transaction needs to make his /her payments through their PayPal account. Most people who often shop on the internet do have their own PayPal account, but there are many who don't. This is a reason why many businesses that deal with online transaction have both PayPal and merchant account for the convenience of their customers. PayPal accounts, like merchant accounts charge a percent of your transactions.

The two ways of processing credit card payments that are discussed above are considered to be the most efficient and popular methods of taking payments online. In case you want to opt for the merchant account, beware of scams and it is wise to check the fine print thoroughly before finalizing anything. Although merchant account and PayPal are the best ways of carrying out online payments, it is always advisable that you do your research to find out which method suits you the best.

About the Author:

Get the more details about Online Credit Card Processing, credit card processing online payment methods, No Bank Merchant Account Credit Card Processing Services, Vital Credit Card Processing.