Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Your Credit Report

In my last post, I suggested that you consider freezing your credit.  Another option would be credit monitoring.  I personally am not a fan of paying for a service that you can do yourself for free.  This is how you do this yourself.

You can review your credit three times per year for FREE!  The Credit Card Act of 2010 lets you have a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies once every 365 days.  I suggest that instead of you accessing your credit report once a year, that you access your credit report three separate times in a  year and do this yourself.

We make that easy for you.  If you subscribe to this newsletter, Money Choices (www.JillRussoFoster.com) you will receive a reminder email three times per year to access your credit report.  This will not be posted on social media, you will have to subscribe to Money Choices to get this reminder.  Do this today, as your next reminder is coming in a few weeks.  You can then see what is happening on your credit report and catch any suspicious activity.  Sign up today!

Consider A Credit Freeze

With all the news lately (and previously), it seems that every day there is another breach.  And these are only the ones that make the news!

So what should you do:

  • Consider a credit freeze (yes, there is a cost involved)
  • Check your bank and credit card accounts frequently (in my opinion at least once a week)
  • Make sure your user ID and passwords are different – no two sites should be the same.  If this is too many to remember, consider a password mana ger.
  • If you have used one of these companies that have been breached, change your password, request a new credit card – be proactive.

Nothing is 100% foolproof, but taking theses steps can lessen your risk.

With Interest Rates Rising, You Might Want To Consider …..

Welcome to 2019!

I hope you had a great holiday and are looking forward to another year beginning.

2018 was a challenging year.  The Federal reserve raised interests rates four times – yikes!  The stock market lost all of it’s gains for the year.  What does that mean to you? Rising interest can mean larger monthly payments.  Stock market loses could mean less money for retirement.  Let’s talk about what rising interest rates means to your wallet.

Mortgages / Home Equity Lines

Do you have a fixed or variable interest rate on your mortgage?  If you have a variable rate, that could mean your interest rate could go up.  For an adjustable rate first mortgages, they typically change at a certain point (see you mortgage documents), but most home equity lines of credit change as interest rates change.  High interest rates means larger payment is due.  This might be the time to modify to refinance to a fixed rate.

Credit Cards

Most credit cards typically have variable interest rates.  High interest means a larger minimum payment is due.  If you carry a balance from month to month, you may want to transfer your debt to a zero or lower interest rate credit card while you are paying down your debt.

You never know what is going to happen, so you need to be prepared for whatever life throws at you.  Be proactive and your debt paid off, so that interest rate hikes won’t hurt your finances.

Sticking To A Budget In The New Year

Happy New Year and welcome to 2018!

The reality of January has arrived, bills from the holidays are coming in, it’s cold outside and you have set your 2018 goals.  If one of your goals is to budget your money, then here are some tips that might help you stay on track.

Check out this great article by the Daily Worth about budgeting.

Are You In Credit Card Debt?

Are you one of the increasing many who rely on credit cards to live?

Since the financial crisis, we have seen consumer debt decline.  That’s a good thing.  But not anymore.  Credit cards debt has now hit the $1 trillion mark according to the Federal Reserve.  To read more, click here

For more tips, visit my website.

Have You Done This Yet?

What are you waiting for?

With the EquiFax breach and so many more, this is what you should do.  Jean Chatsky’s tips for freezing your credit.  Do this today!

Sing up for my newsletter, Money Choices and you will receive reminders three times per year to order your free credit report.

Take Time To Protect Your Identify Now

Well it happened again – this time EquiFax! This is not the first time nor will it be the last security breach.

Here are some suggestions that you may want to take to help to protect your identity:

•    Personally, I am not a fan of doing banking on my phone, so I don’t have these apps. But I do have many texts (one for each transaction) and this way, I can catch anything immediately. I will be adding my credit cards to this process.

•    In addition, I use two-step authentication for all my accounts. Having a code either texted or phoned to me to use to access my account.

•    Check your credit report. I am a firm believer of this and now even more so. If you need reminders to check your credit for free three times per year, sign up for my newsletter here and you will get email reminders to check your credit every four months.

•    Monitor your accounts. I typically check in a couple of times a month, both my bank and credit card accounts just to look for anything that I don’t recognize. If you don’t want to do this, make sure you reconcile your accounts monthly.

•    You may want to set up credit monitoring service and/or freeze your credit report. You can check out my article on Credit Freeze here.

•    Change your passwords regularly.They shouldn’t be easy to guess (use a combination of upper and lower case letters, number and symbols) and don’t you use the same password. Each account should have its’ own individual one.

Take the time now to protect your identity. It’s much easier to do this proactively than to deal with the turmoil of identity theft later.

Save

Save

Fees, fees and more fees!

How many credit cards do you have that charge a fee?

Do you pay:

annual fee?

foreign transaction fee?

balance transfer?

cash advance?

and more

We’ll you are not alone.  There are so many credit card to choose from, that you can avoid these fees by having the right credit card for this situation.  We have a card that we use for foreign travel – no fee.  We have a low interest card 8% with no fees for when we need to finance a purchase (that we know we won’t be able to pay off in full when the bill arrives).  So it’s understanding what your needs are and what credit card meets them.

CreditCards.com released a report listing what credit cards offer what.  This will help you to decide if you have the correct credit card for your needs and may help you to save money.

 

What’s does your credit report and score say

Do you ever wonder what your credit report and score sway about you?

It might help for you to think of your credit report and score as your GPA.  What you did in college was equated to a GPA.  The same is true for you finances.  What you did or didn’t do with most of your finances becomes your credit score.

Do you want to improve your credit?  Then you need to make changes.

What do you want to know about your credit?  I am working on a new program and want your input.  Tell me specifically what you would want included – what info, what steps and more.  Post your comments here.

Think you have bad credit

You may think you have bad credit, but you can change that by being informed.  Information is the key to understanding what to do and what not to do.  I truly believe that you control your own financial destiny.

To start, make a promise to be more informed – read more credible information, understand what is considered a good credit score and more.  Learn this information and take steps each and every week to improve your credit score from where you are now.  Make a plan!

If you credit is less than you desire, start by reading articles on my website, read this report from a survey that US New and World Report did with lots of helpful information that you may not be aware of.  There is more information out there, but make sure it’s from a reputable source.  Tomorrow, we’ll talk about your options.