Personal Finance, Loans & Insurance

You will see many lenders these days offering 0% APR credit cards. If you are thinking of applying for a 0% APR credit card, it is well worth taking the time to research and compare all the offers and benefits available. Although many company’s offer 0% interest credit cards, in most cases it is for an introductory period only. You should take the time to compare the agreements and conditions carefully, as these vary considerably from lender to lender. It’s also important that you take into consideration the permanent rates that the lender charges. While 0% interest credit cards may look tempting, it’s no use entering into an agreement if you struggle to make payments because the permanent rate is too high.

The benefits of a 0% APR credit card may seem obvious, you don’t pay any interest! But many of the 0% interest cards also offer other benefits. Some come with reward schemes like rebates, others with cash back offers. The reward scheme applies to your purchases, where the lender may give you a percentage of cash back for every dollar you spend. They may also have a reward scheme where you can accumulate points depending on how much you spend. These points can then be exchanged for merchandise which the companies offer to their customers. While the points on offer are strictly in favor of the card company, you can still save on the retail purchase price of these goods, which is a benefit.

If you are currently paying interest on your current card or cards, why not think about changing to a 0% APR credit card? If you have a few cards the monthly payments can soon become a considerable sum. You can save yourself money by changing to one of the 0% interest cards. Just think, instead of paying out maybe $100 or so a month in interest, you could be paying out a lot less while reducing the amount you owe.

Most banks or credit card companies will allow you to transfer the outstanding balance you have on your current card to one of their 0% interest credit cards. That means you could consolidate all your outstanding balances on your current cards by transferring them to your new 0% APR credit cards. Some lenders may have a limit on the total money you are allowed to transfer. It’s important that you read the terms of the offer and understand them fully before committing yourself to an agreement. You don’t want to be penalized by any fees you may have to pay if transferring a balance.

The new lender you have transferred your balance to, may have a time limit on their 0% interest credit cards. If you want to keep your payments low, or keep reducing your balance then you should think about changing your card or transferring the balance before the 0% APR credit cards offer runs out. It is worth checking your agreement at this stage just to make sure you will not incur a fee for transferring your balance to another card.

If you’ve done your homework and chosen the correct card in the first place, this shouldn’t be a problem. You should start to look for your new 0% APR credit cards, or card, a month or so before your offer terminates. This will give you time to apply and be able to transfer your balance as soon as your 0% interest credit cards offer ends.

There is an important fact about a 0% APR credit card that most people overlook. Most agreements state you must make ALL your 0% APR credit card payments on time. If you make a late payment on your 0% interest credit cards then the offer becomes invalid immediately.

Since God knows men were claiming they are much better drivers than women. This doesn’t mean this statement has to do anything with reality though. There was no debate around this subject but some men actually did take women’s side on the matter. They confess their wives and girlfriends are driving more carefully on the road.

So let us analyze the situation and try to point out the traffic violation circumstances and both sexes being involved. Who do you think is more likely to end up with a fine – men or women?

To clear everything up we addressed this question to the independent experts who happens to be an insurance company worker.

“Men in general have certain driving habits that could lead them to an accident on the road. Nowadays especially, when teens start driving from the early age of 16, young boys try to make a big impression while on the road. They are not careful enough. Young girls protect themselves more. Insurance companies have to be very thoughtful when quoting rates for young people of 16 to 25. They can create problems for everybody.” – the insurance company employee says.

There is a database that we actually did check upon the research. This is what it showed – in 2008 women resulted having no traffic violations against only 64% of men. The official numbers also provided for us also show that if women ever have any traffic violations on their record it is only as many as one or two, while men usually have more than 3.

Traffic STATS were making their own calculations for AAA statistics back in 2007. This is the information they came up with. It is a fact that men have a higher risk of having a fatal income during their road driving experience. According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the National Household Travel Survey the number of men that died on the road is significantly higher than those of women – 175,094 for men against 82.371 for women.

Traffic STATS also reports that men are generally more willing to provide risk on the road by making deliberate forbidden stunts and creating risky situations for other drivers involved in the situation.

Age really does matter most of the time for everything. When you are young – you don’t want to listen. You think you know better than anyone else around you. You want to prove people wrong by doing some things your own way. This is a very bad attitude to have while your roadway trip. Kids at the age of 16 that just got their license are more likely to die during an accident on the road than those men who are over 25. The same is for women. Young girls that are 18-22 have more road accidents than ladies over 25. It is also true that most things come with the experience.

There is also such opinion that men show much aggression while they are in charge on the road. They express it directly while women can express it indirectly if they decide to.

It is important to remember that auto insurance is not just a leaf that you can carry around in case you need it one day. Your attitude towards the car is much more important than anything. There is no guarantee that you will end up in an accident but it is better to be protected. Don’t think men need auto insurance more than women. Both do!

Commerce and technology, combined as a one package – this is what online credit cards are. With the advent of internet, the knowledge and communication barriers were broken. Also, with internet, came the concept of e-shops or virtual shops that existed only on the internet. You could shop at these shops by making use of their online credit card payment-acceptance ability. Once the online credit card payments were verified and approved, the goods got delivered to your door. This is what we call convenience at its best.

With more and more e-shops getting setup everyday, online credit card usage is becoming even more popular. The possibility of receiving online credit card payments has given a totally new dimension to shopping. Now, you can not only shop from the comfort of your home, you can even get discounts on these products. This is really amazing. No need to bother about the weather, no need to worry about the traffic jams or any other thing. Just go to an e-shop, select a product, make use of their online credit card payment-acceptance facility to make the payment and be ready to receive the goods at your doorstep.

With online credit card processing facility, starting a business (an online business) has become just unbelievably easy.

However, there is nothing without pitfalls. One of the pitfalls of online credit card usage is the possibility of online credit card fraud. This online credit card fraud can happen in two ways. The first one is related to the company, on whose website you made online credit card payment for purchase of goods; this company itself could be fraudulent i.e. it could take the online credit card payment from you but not deliver the goods to you. Moreover, they could use the details of your credit card (received through the filling up of online credit card payment form by you) for fraudulent purposes. The second type of fraud is committed by fraudsters who use various softwares/devices to capture the details of online credit card payments (as you enter them on the online credit card payment form of a website). These softwares are popularly known as spyware and these fraudsters as online spies. The spyware works by capturing keystrokes or taking screenshots of whatever you do on your computer and then passes it on to the spy. However, there are anti-spyware softwares available which can be used to counter such spyware.

So, the advent of online credit card usage facility is a boon to us. However, you must exercise caution when making online credit card payments e.g. don’t access your bank accounts or make online credit card payments from internet cafes (unless you are absolutely sure about the credentials of the internet café).

Individuals with problematic credit histories often suffer unfairly from high mortgage, insurance, and car loan rates. On top of that, they have difficulty getting approved for credit cards. The whole situation can get extremely frustrating. Frequently, I get emails from consumers wondering what they can do to rebuild their credit. The first thing I tell them is to get a credit card designed for people with bad credit. The second thing I tell them is written in bold: READ THE FINE PRINT.

There are only a limited number of credit cards for individuals with bad credit. At first glance, many look the same. They all help build and rebuild your credit by reporting to the major credit bureaus on a monthly basis. They all provide you with the Visa or Mastercard you need to make many purchases. And they are all necessary evils that can save you thousands of dollars in mortgage and car loan rates in the future. However, you must read the fine print before applying for one of these credit cards, as they often charge high yearly fees, set-up fees, and even monthly fees. Here, I will examine a few examples of charges current “bad credit” credit cards bury in the fine print. Of the three major cards I will examine, only one stands out as consumer-friendly.

“Bad Credit” Credit Card #1: This credit card charges a very low interest rate for an unsecured credit card. However, your first fine print glimpse reveals that there is a one time setup fee of $29. Not too bad. So far, since the next charge is a one time fee of $95. So far, we’re up to $124 in expenses. That’s got to be it, right? No. Add in another $48 for the annual fee and $6 per month in account maintenance fees. That’s brings the cost of your new credit card to $244 the first year, and $120 each additional year. This is no small change, and a card such as this should be considered only if you cannot be accepted for a better unsecured credit card for bad credit.

“Bad Credit” Credit Card #2: This credit card charges a very high interest rate for an unsecured credit card. This can’t be good. But the setup fee is only $29. Maybe this card isn’t so bad. There is that pesky monthly maintenance fee of $6.50 per month which brings the cost of this unsecured credit card to $107. Maybe we’ve found a bargain. Not quite. The annual fee is a whopping $150. Yes, $150 every year. That not only brings the initial cost up to $257, but you will also pay $228 a year just to maintain the credit card. There has to be a better offer.

“Bad Credit” Credit Card #3: This credit card is available as both a secured and unsecured credit card, based on the issuer’s review of your credit history. The interest rate is average, even competitive. Now, the fine print reveals that there is a one time setup fee. However, based on your credit, this fee can be as low as $0 or as high as $49. So far so good, especially if your credit is not that bad. But, there must be a huge annual fee. Not exactly. The annual fee for a secured credit card is only $35, and for an unsecured credit card, this fee can be as low as $39 or up to $79. So far, the cost of this card ranges from $35 to $128. Now its time for the monthly maintance fee. This one has to be huge. Or not. Its $0. That means the most you could possible be charged to obtain this credit card is $128, about half of what competing cards are charging.

Clearly, there are substantial difference between “bad credit” credit cards. Of the three offers we have examined, only one doesn’t take you to the cleaners. In fact, “bad credit” credit card #3 provides great value. All positive changes to your credit history and credit score will translate into lower loan rates, lower credit card interest rates, lower insurance rates, and ultimately, thousands of dollars in savings. The path to rebuilding credit has its costs, but in the long term, rebuilding your credit with a “bad credit” credit card is the fastest and most cost-efficient way to correct the often unfortunate circumstances that have damaged your credit in the first place.

Almost immediately President Obama took control of the White House, the combined majorities in both chambers were used to enact the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. As has become the norm, the Republican party opposed the law. So, now that we have one year of experience, it’s interesting to revisit the Act to see whether this allegedly socialist measure has worked for good or the evil predicted by the GOP. The purpose was to help the millions of children whose parents had fallen on hard times and could no longer afford private family health plans. In effect, the recession was creating an underclass of children who were potentially uninsured. By making an immediate transfer of funds to individual states, local governments were able to expand their own medical coverage programs to admit more families in need. The current estimate is that about 2.5 million children were allowed into either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This was achieved by a simple change.

All but two of the 50 US states have used the additional federal funding to cover a family of four where the parents earn up to $48,000. This is significantly more than the national poverty level and allows more people into the state schemes albeit, in all but nineteen states, the parents must pay a small monthly premium and some out-of-pocket expenses. Despite increasing the family income threshold, the extent of the coverage has actually reduced in fifteen states. The politics of entitlement is always a complicated affair. The CHIPRA process has required some states to dismantle some of their bureaucratic barriers. Fast track or express lane procedures have been put in place to avoid long waiting lists and delays. With streamlined enrollment, children have been added to the programs on the basis of immediate need, with the follow-up work of verifying family status and income being completed later. The President’s wish to make the children the main focus of attention has been respected.

At an administrative level, there is an improved system for the exchange of information between states, and between states and the federal agencies. The intention is to create a full Electronic Health Record for every child so that, no matter where the child presents with symptoms, his or her records can be made available. If this system can be implemented, the expectation is that the quality of pediatric health care will improve and medical costs will be reduced as the flow of information will improve diagnosis without the need to go through detailed tests every time. There is a budget of $33 billion allocated to cover development of an improved health care delivery service for children.

This is a good report card for the first year of additional and targeted funding. Even though some state governments have resisted the federal plan to increase accessibility to Medicaid and CHIP, the number of children newly admitted is encouraging. So, if none of the quotes you receive when you use this site’s search engine offer you cheap health insurance, do not give up. Federal and state funding is available to ensure that your children get the medical treatment they need when it is needed. Of course, this is not going to help if your family earnings are too high. In such cases, the only cheap health insurance available may have more limited coverage. If you have to pay, shop around to find individual doctors or clinics who quote the lowest prices for different treatments. Money can be saved if you take the time to use the internet search engines.

Let’s leave the politics of healthcare reform to one side and focus on a proposal to change the law to allow free market competition between insurers in different states. A policy consistently mentioned by the Republican party is to break the state monopolies in the insurance market. Since the 1800’s, the individual states have claimed the sole right to regulate the sale of insurance within their own borders. Each state has asserted the right to license insurance companies and to set the terms on which they can conduct business. This has led to a patchwork of different sets of regulations with each state creating unique laws. In turn, this forces an insurance company to set up separate subsidiaries to trade in each state. No licensed company can sell a policy to someone who has a residence in another state. There was a brief moment in 1944 when a decision of the Supreme Court allowed the possibility of federal supervision. But the lawmakers in Washington immediately changed the law to retain state control. Why is this a bad thing? The national insurance companies have divided up the states between them and choose not to compete against each other. This keeps the number of insurance companies in each state artificially low and, because there is no real competition, premium rates are higher than they should be for weak policy terms.

You are reading this article on the internet. When online, you can buy more or less any product or service across state or national boundaries. Although there are some restrictions, e.g. some states limit your right to import drugs from foreign countries, there is an almost free market where you can search for the cheapest price and buy whatever you need. There is no possible economic justification for retaining this historical privilege for insurance companies. All it does is preserve their ability to maximize their profits at your expense. For example, in Minnesota three insurance companies dominate 80% of the market for health plans. There is no doubt that, if more companies entered the market, the premium rates would fall. During his run for President, Senator John McCain was in favor of free markets for health plans. President Obama supports it and the proposal is in both versions of the healthcare reform bills currently stalled in Washington. But because the Republican party’s only policy is to oppose everything the Democrats propose, it seems even this simple change in the law may be lost. What will the result be? The anticompetitive behavior of the insurance industry will continue and you, the consumer, will suffer.

Could the law change tomorrow and allow everyone access to cheap health insurance wherever it can be found? The problem is that the states have different sets of regulations and compliance leads to different costs. The playing fields are not level. So, premiums are significantly lower in those states which have the fewest consumer protections. It would not be fair competition if people living in Minnesota, which has strong consumer protections, could all get health insurance quotes from states with little or no consumer protections. The only way in which there could be a free market is to have a single set of federal regulations for the sale of health insurance plans. Sadly, the political parties do not want to talk about this even though we would all benefit. In the US, the political elite’s interests do not match the needs of the ordinary citizens.

Looking around the news in United States, there is a story that the insurance regulators from five US states have just agreed a $2 million settlement with two Nationwide Life companies for failing to properly supervise the sale of annuities through one of their agents. This raises two questions. What exactly are annuities? and What can go wrong with them? An annuity is a variation on the traditional life insurance policy. As with any permanent policy, you pay a premium which is invested to build up a cash value. But, depending on the terms of the contract, you can receive payment of a lump sum or, more usually, a regular income from the insurance company before your death.

For most people it’s the same as saving for retirement, except you buy a pension that pays out after you retire. To ensure the maximum control over annuities, they can only be bought through life insurance companies. In every US state, there is a Department or Office of Insurance to regulate local insurance companies. As you will understand from the news story, if an insurance company acts against the interests of its policyholders, the states can step in to fine the company and order the company to pay compensation to the policyholders affected. In the case of annuities, this is particularly important because the premiums are usually deductible from income before tax. The states therefore have a direct interest in ensuring annuities are not used for unlawful tax avoidance purposes.

Annuities are more complicated than the traditional life insurance contracts and it is always a good idea to have independent advice before buying. In theory, this ensures the fees and charges made by the insurance company are reasonable and that the minimum guaranteed amounts are a realistic investment return on the premiums you pay. During the first phase of the contract, all benefits are deferred, i.e. assuming your life continues, no benefits are paid. But when the trigger occurs – this may be a specific date or an event – the investment fund begins to make payments either to you or the person you nominated to receive the income. This payment can continue for a set period of time or during your lifetime. There can also be benefits paid to your dependents on death. None of this should prevent you from getting life insurance quotes for annuities through sites like this. Getting information about financial products is always useful. But never buy an annuity unless you are sure you understand exactly what the life insurance company is offering.

In the news story, a financial advisory firm in Kansas acted as the agent of two Nationwide Life companies. It sold annuities and then later persuaded its clients to transfer to a new set of annuities specially created by the Nationwide Life companies. In all cases, this transfer caused a loss of investment value to the clients and resulted in them paying $10 million in fees. When complaints were made, the Nationwide Life companies have reinstated the original policies, refunded the fees and paid a penalty to the state regulators. As an aside, this is what should be happening on a regular basis to all the brokers who missold sub-prime mortgages before the housing bubble burst. If you think you have been missold a life insurance product through life insurance quotes obtained online or as a result of bad advice, complain to your local state’s Department or Office of Insurance. If your complaint is upheld, you will be compensated for all your losses.

More or less every site offers advice on saving money when buying insurance. One of the standard tips is bundling auto and homeowners policies with the same insurance company. If you check around the companies, the discount varies between 10 and 15% and, if you agree an increase in the deductible from $500 to $1,000 this increases the discount to 25%. At this point, many people are sold on the idea. A saving of up to 25% looks like a good deal and frees up cash in the family budgets for a whole range of other basic necessities. So is it worth it? The first question is whether you are getting the standard auto and homeowners policies. If you are starting off in the same position as the stand-alone policyholders, you have more protection. But there can be problems with limitations and exclusions if the company produces a single policy to cover both home and vehicle. You must read such a policy very carefully before deciding whether it represents good value for money. Secondly, what are the rules about overlaps between the two policies? Suppose, for example, you have a traffic accident while carrying your laptop and other property potentially covered under your homeowners policy. Is all the damage and loss covered under the auto policy or are you expected to file separate claims for damage to the vehicle and loss of household contents? This could make a big difference if there are separate deductibles on the auto and homeowners policies.

So, assuming you do bundle, how should you protect your interests? First off, never assume it’s enough just to buy the policies. When it comes to the homeowners policy, always make a full inventory of the contents of your home. You can do this by making a simple list and taking a few pictures using your cellphone. But it’s better to take a more professional approach. Go room by room, make a full inventory and record the purchase price and current value. Where you have the original receipts and invoices, put everything together in a file. If you want to store information outside the home, you can use a site like http://www.knowyourstuff.org/ which offers a free and secure service. Why bother? Because it gives you a realistic basis on which to decide how much contents insurance to buy, identifying any individual more expensive items that should be separately insured. More importantly, it saves time and effort should you have to make a claim. The faster you can make a comprehensive claim, the quicker you can rebuild your home and restock it with the “stuff” you have lost. Hopefully, your homeowners insurance pays for alternative accommodation while repairs are underway. Finally, never do any major repairs before the loss adjuster arrives. You bought all this coverage and you want the adjuster to see the full extent of the loss. That said, you should take emergency action to prevent the condition of the property getting worse like sealing broken windows and securing doors. This is the time to use your video camera to record the damage before and during emergency repair.

Homeowners insurance is always a balancing act between buying coverage against the most obvious perils and not making small claims to keep your record clear for the sad day when a big claim comes along. If you have bundled the policies, it’s more likely you will have to make a claim and this can produce a premium hike on both policies.

The lawmakers in Colorado are debating a change in the law to correct the gender discrimination currently requiring women to pay more than men to insure their health. The facts are uncompromising. In some 90% of all private health plans, women have premium rates 60% higher than men. This is so even though the statistics show women enjoy better health than men and make fewer claims. This is so even though the men used for comparative purposes are significantly older. And, if you feel you need any more confirmation of the basic unfairness, even men who smoke pay less than female non-smokers. As one of the women promoting the bill commented: insurers often refuse coverage because the applicant has a pre-existing condition. The way the premiums are loaded, it seems being a woman is a pre-existing condition.

The people who are paid to speak on behalf of the insurance industry usually fall back on the tried and trusted defense that women have medical needs specific to their gender. The most often quoted example is maternity and prenatal care. Ignoring the fact that men also have problems specific to their gender, such as erectile dysfunction, women are still quoted premiums 60% higher on policies excluding reproductive health needs. In other words, the discrimination persists even though the scope of the medical coverage is identical. So what’s going on? The answer, in this instance, is slightly complicated. If we start with auto insurance, it’s common knowledge that young men are statistically more likely than any other group of drivers to crash into another vehicle or some stationary object. Thus, where the policy discriminates between different groups of drivers, young men pay significantly more than women who tend to drive more safely. Not all auto policies do discriminate. By spreading the risk among a big group of drivers, the good subsidize the bad. But, most auto insurers do set different premium rates for different groups of drivers distinguished by gender and age. In medicine, it’s a fact that men fall ill and die, whereas women tend to recover from illnesses. This is one of the reasons why women have a longer life expectancy than men. But it also explains why women cost more. They survive for longer with chronic problems requiring continuing treatment. Thus, if the premium is a reflection of the likely costs of treatment over a person’s lifetime, it may appear slightly more reasonable to charge women higher premiums. Except this ignores the general rule that private health insurance stops at 65 as Medicare kicks in. The major long-term costs tend to occur after 65.

Colorado looks as though it may join the one or two other states with equality provisions. There’s no evidence from these other states that men now have to pay significantly more. For now, insurers simply make less profit. As a woman, it’s particularly important to research exactly what the different companies offer. Because of this, searching for cheap health insurance is a greater challenge. Always refer to the websites of the companies making the best quotes to see if there are additional discounts available or special policies for women. If there seems to be no cheap health insurance available, talk directly with the insurers to see whether the difference between the male and female premium rates can be reduced. Not everyone is lucky enough to live in a state committed to equality. It is for you to protect yourself as best as possible.

There are many different types of policy you can buy when insuring your vehicle. Because of the rapidly rising cost of the premiums, many more people are driving either underinsured or uninsured. It’s therefore wise to add the relevant coverage. In most clauses you can expect to see a promise to pay the damages for bodily injury or property damage which a covered person can recover from whoever owns or drives an uninsured motor vehicle. For these purposes, a “covered person” is you, a family member or anyone else inside your vehicle when the accident occurs. If you have the right to sue the owner or driver of the other vehicle, your own insurance company will pay the damages you recover (assuming that owner or driver does not have the money to pay you in full). The key consideration is the limit on the amount you can recover. All insurers put a limit on liability. This is usually a maximum and a provision to prevent you from being paid twice. So, if there’s another possible claim you could make under a workers’ compensation law or something similar, you must use that remedy first and only claim the additional amount from your own insurer.

Many people think the maximum limits on uninsured and other policies are inadequate and so buy an umbrella policy. As in the case of rain, this tops up their personal coverage. This is a two-way street. It can be a financial life-saver if your policy limits will force you to use your own savings to pay some of your medical expenses. Equally, it will protect your assets if a court orders you to pay damages exceeding your conventional policy limits to a person you injured.

This brings us to a new case in Texas where Sandra Gervais Laine sued Farmers. The facts are simple. Ms Laine was driving her mother home when a drunken, uninsured driver crashed into her car and killed her mother. She had an uninsured policy limited to $250,000 and an umbrella policy adding $1 million. A jury awarded Ms Laine damages of $175,000 for the wrongful death claim and exemplary damages of $1.5 million for causing the death of her mother while drunk. You might think this looks good for Farmers making a total payment of $1.25 million. Except that, under Texas law, there’s a fixed legal principle. An insured cannot recover from his or her own insurance company the exemplary damages awarded against another driver. So the most Ms Laine could recover was $175,000. The moral of this case is a hard truth. Everyone is assumed to know the law. So even if you read and understand the terms in the different policies offered through the auto insurance quotes, you can still be caught out because you do not know the law of your own state.

For most people, it’s not economic to take legal advice on all the different policies before deciding which to buy. Even if you could afford it, just how much of the law of insurance are you supposed to learn before you can make an informed decision? This leaves you with little real choice. When you receive the auto insurance quotes, read as much as you can. If there’s anything looking important you do not understand, ask the insurance company what it means. Before you sign up, the companies are always helpful. Get as much as you can clear before you sign. It’s usually too late to ask when a claim is being made.