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From The Budget Coach
Tips & Information:
Expanding Your Money Vocabulary...
Inspiration For The Month
Your Question Of The Day
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From The Budget Coach
Welcome to my "Common Cents Budgeting Tips" Newsletter.
If you are receiving this newsletter for the first time, please note that all previous newsletters are now available on the website for your convenient viewing. Visit www.moneytracker.com/articles.htm
I'm delighted to have the opportunity to share these tips with you. Remember, you are a vital part of this whole exchange and if you ever have questions or some valuable experience or resource you want to share with others, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Many of the new sections that were added to The Budget Kit workbook over the various revisions these last many years, came from insightful readers and clients like you who wanted to help make a difference.
Remember to email me at judycents@moneytracker.com with any tips, resources or comments you would like to share as well as any questions. Working together is how we can all make a difference in our financial lives.
Have a fulfilling and prosperous day!
To Your Success,
Tips & Information
Expanding Your Money Vocabulary for 2005
Every
start of the year seems to renew that desire to make changes. I hope
this is your year for following through on all your financial goals,
and finally experiencing a debt-free and stress-free lifestyle.
This
month my goal is to provide you with a few simple reminders of some of
the latest changes that could impact your personal finances. You may
already be aware of these changes, but if not, please make a note of
them and stay alert throughout the year as you handle your financial
affairs.
Universal Default Clause
(One rotten apple could spoil the whole bushel)
Okay,
I grew up on the farmlands of Wisconsin, and just couldn’t help adding
that apple metaphor for what is now happening to our credit situation.
Basically,
the Universal Default is a clause in fine print on many credit card
applications that says they have the right to change the terms of the
agreement. This means that even if you have maintained an excellent
payment record with a credit card company and have a super high score
on your credit report, your rock bottom low interest rate could
suddenly be tripled or more without your knowledge.
How can they do that?!
One
rotten account is now starting to spoil all the other accounts. For
example you have a few missed or late payments for a credit card, car
loan, or utility bill. When this negative information shows up on the
credit reports, the “Universal Default” clause can immediately be
invoked on your other credit card accounts, even though the negative
situation is totally unrelated to the accounts with the excellent
credit history. Once this happens, there is no easy solution for
changing it back. The best approach is prevention.
After
reading about this last year, I had mentioned it to a client, so she
would stay aware. I was concerned because she was recovering from a
death in the family and making a lot of financial changes, as well as
being late on a few payments. Two weeks later she called, after opening
her credit card statement and being shocked to see that her interest
rate had quadrupled!
Resolution for 2005 - Find your glasses and be sure to read all the fine print on the
Cardmember Agreement under the APR section. Make it a point to pay all
your bills on time and even extra early if you can.
For more information go here.
Check 21
Remember
that “float” you always counted on when you started writing checks on
Tuesday, knowing your paycheck would be deposited on Friday? Times up!
Check 21 is changing all of those juggling games we learned to play in
the past. Payments are now being processed much faster.
A
new federal law known as the “Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act”
- “Check 21” for short - makes it easier, faster and more efficient for
banks to electronically transfer check images instead of physically
transferring paper checks. Those of you who have my latest book may
recall how I talked about the new “cashless” society in my 4th edition
of The Budget Kit.
How does
this impact you? You guessed it - the float time is gone. Money will be
deducted from your checking account almost as soon as the check hits
the bank. This means you may either have to bite the bullet and start
balancing your checkbooks more regularly, or start using online banking
to check your balance every day. Before you write checks and before you
use your debit card, be sure you really have enough money in that
account.
Resolution for 2005 – Eliminate the practice of using the “float” when writing checks. Be
sure you always have money in your account and avoid those overdraft
charges.
For more information go here:
FACTA -
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act
This
new act was finalized by the Federal Trade Commission and requires that
all three credit reporting bureaus provide consumers one free copy of
their credit report, upon request, once every twelve months.
If
you have been putting off getting a copy of your credit report, because
of the cost or confusion, this is your opportunity to finally obtain a
copy and review the accuracy of your report. Beginning September 1,
2005, free reports will be accessible to all Americans, regardless of
where they live. Until then, there is a phase in period across the
country which has already started on the West Coast and is moving
towards the East Coast.
Resolution for 2005 - Order a free copy of your credit report and review it carefully.
For more information:
Free credit reports web site and phone number, shared by
Equifax, Experian and Trans Union go here:
or call 877-322-8228 Federal Trade Commission information on free credit reports by visiting here:
Phishing
(Is someone phishing around in your bank account?)
Who
knows how they come up with all these silly terms! The point is, to
know what can happen to you if you are a victim of this latest email
scam.
It usually starts off
with an email message which appears to be from your bank or another
trusted business. The goal is to trick people into sharing personal
financial information, such as account numbers, passwords, Social
Security numbers and other data.
Below is a copy of a fraudulently email I received this week that looked like it was from my bank.
We recently have determined that different computers have logged onto
your Online Banking account, and multiple passwords failures were
present before the logins.
(At first it was a bit tricky for me,
since I actually had been using another computer and had forgotten my
password the first time before successfully trying again!)
We
now need you to re-confirm your account information to us. If this is
not completed till January 20, 2005, we will be forced to suspend your
account Indefinately, as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes.
We thank you for your cooperation in this manner
Click below to confirm and verify your Online Banking Account:
Note: If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choice but to temporary suspend your account.
Because
I had almost fallen for this scam once before, my guard was way up and
I noticed the poor spelling, and overall tone of the message. I
immediately called my bank to notify them.
The
first time, I was not so quick. I clicked to confirm. After all, the
logo, the look, everything looked like my bank's familiar web site and
I had no prior knowledge or experience to suspect otherwise. However,
as I continued to fill out information and got to the last field asking
for my password, I suddenly realized something just was not right!
Thank goodness, my bank had a live customer service department at 11:30
at night for online banking. I was advised to immediately close out of
my account, close out the browser and then totally change my account
information.
Someone else I recently heard about was not so lucky. He did fill out
one of these forms and did give the password. Nothing happened . . . at
first. Three months later, $25,000 disappeared from one of his
accounts!
Here are the recommendations from my bank:
- Be suspicious of emails with urgent requests for personal financial information.
- Do not fill out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information.
- Do not reply to email messages that ask for personal financial information.
- Avoid using links in email to get to Web pages, especially if you
suspect a message might not be authentic.
- Ensure that you only use secure Web sites to submit credit card or other sensitive information.
- Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure
that all transactions are legitimate.
Resolution for 2005 – Remember that your legitimate financial institutions or other online
companies will never ever ever ask you for your passwords and financial
information through email.
Be careful out there!
Thank you so much for being part of my online “family”.
Have a very abundant and fulfilling 2005.
For more information, feel free to contact me at
judy@moneytracker.com
Judy Lawrence's Common Cents Budgeting Tips (c) Copyright 2004-2005,
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