A Tentative Personal Finance Blog

Most store purchases today involve using some form of plastic payment, and that means big bucks for the likes of Citigroup, MasterCard, American Express, and other issuers of credit, debit, and charge cards. More and more vendors, including big names McDonald’s, Home Depot, CVS, and Walgreen are now even permitting quick, no-signature credit card transactions.
I […]

Just a notice out to all members of the CitiCard AAdvantage Credit Card. I checked my balance online this morning and received this note:

A review of this account has shown recent high- risk activity. Please contact our Customer Service Unit at 1-800-950-5114.PHAN,DY

XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

[…]

As of July 1st, 2007, the interest rates on student loans are scheduled to increase. Although less than one percent, the resulting repayment quantity can rise significantly over the life of the loan. So, college graduates can definitely use information on how to make student loan repayment less painful financially.
First, and most importantly, consolidate. Interest […]

Mistakes, snafus, grievous errors… we’re all guilty. But Mom’s advice to “Say sorry” only helps so much when you’re talking about costly mistakes that may harm your credit. When you’ve missed a payment, you need to go beyond sorry and straight to damage control. Here’s some straight talk about what to do:
1. You miss […]

A reader at Get Rich Slowly asks:
I refinanced my house a few years ago at a great rate (5-3/8%). At the time, we had a lot of equity in the house so we borrowed against it in order to build an addition.
After we were finished, we had a significant amount of money left over, […]

A recent piece in the New York Times discussed the number one cause of stress in America: money woes. It also offered a bit of advice on how to deal with it that might run counter to what is traditionally considered good manners: “Talking about it might be taboo, voyeuristic or impolite, but money is […]

This month’s issue of Money Magazine contains an article with credit card recommendations for a variety of spending types. Here’s the run-down.
For big spenders: Blue Cash from American Express.
This card offers an introductory 0% APR on purchases for six months, but the best feature is the cash back reward program. The program offers 5% cash […]

From Creditslips.org, via Consumerist: If everyone in the U.S. spent zero percent of their personal income on food, shelter, taxes, and medical care for one year, the savings wouldn’t fully cover our collective mortgages, credit cards, car loans and other personal debts. Granted, this figure lumps all debt into one category, without accounting for the […]

What are your financial goals? If you are like most people, you may have a general idea of what financial goals you’d like to achieve, but you haven’t taken the time to truly form a plan to achieve them. If you don’t know exactly what your financial goals are or how you’re going to attain […]

Anyone with a large credit card debt or any other types of consumer debt, would understand the anxiety and stress involved with owing money. Perhaps you’re overwhelmed with debt, or know someone that’s hard pressed financially due to debt. What can you do about it? You may be surprised to hear this, but getting […]