The Wong Ohana

• Be aware that Credit Card agencies have the legal right to change your interest rate at their whim, or if you have made any changes in your recent purchasing activity.

This is a very powerful statement - and its TRUE. So UNDERSTAND IT, and take precautionary actions to ensure that you always know what you are being charged. Something you do on Card “A” can cause Credit Card Company “B” to make a change in your rates - so be diligent and stay on top of it. KNOW what your rate should be, and VERIFY each month that it hasn’t changed.

Just because you haven’t used that card recently doesn’t mean that they aren’t watching what you are doing everywhere else. They can change your rates anytime they want to, so make sure that they don’t, or if they do, make sure you know about it as soon as possible so you can call them and work out a better rate.

If you make a large purchase like a car or a hot tub, that can change your debt to income ratio - - - even if you didn’t use Credit Card “A” for that purpose, you may find that your rate has changed because of it. Call them and work it out. You can ask them to lower the rate back down again.

If you weren’t checking your monthly statement (which you WILL be doing NOW because you know better, right??), you would never have noticee the change. You think you should be paying 7%, but you could actually be paying 12% because of something you bought somewhere else. And that could have been happening for months and months and you’d never be the wiser. They are NOT required to notify you that they changed your rate! And if they are nice enough, because you have asked them NICELY to help you, you can ask that they make it retroactive back to when they raised it. No guarantees that they’ll do it, but it has been known to happen, and you lose nothing by ASKING.

Filed under:Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, Personal Finances on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Now, I have been known to play a game affectionately called Credit Card Bingo in my house. I have a couple of cards that I use strictly for the purpose of moving funds back and forth to get the best rate available. I NEVER charge on these cards. I don’t even keep the card in my purse - its locked up in my file cabinet with the statements. You have to be very controlled, diligent, and a good case of anal retentiveness will come in very handy if you choose to play this game. It is not for the lighthearted, the reckless, or anyone that cannot control themselves where their money or budget is concerned.

I DON’T recommend that anyone do this, but I have found that for myself, in my own personal situation it has served me very well.

Here is how the game is played:

First and Foremost, I keep an Excel Spreadsheet with all my Credit Card information on it. I have Balances, minimum monthly requirement, amount actually paid, interest rate, promotional offers and expiration dates, total indebtedness, etc. all on one sheet.

When I get the mail from the mail box, I don’t sit on the couch, in the back yard, or at the kitchen table to open it - I don’t do it watching TV, or having a conversation with my husband. I go straight to my desk and open up my Excel Sheet, THEN I open the mail. This way, I never forget, and I don’t have to keep track of what has been entered and what hasn’t. Only after I have made my entries, and paid the appropriate bills from my Bill Pay do I file my paperwork and statements - and I keep ALL my paperwork. I have files and files of archives in the garage going back years including the first mortgage papers from the first house I bought and all refinances in between.

When I see a bill from a Credit Card company I open it up at my desk with my Excel Spreadsheet open. The first thing I do is to type in the new balance. I then CHECK THE STATEMENT to make sure that my interest rate is as it should be. If there is any discrepancy, I call the Credit Card Company immediately before doing anything else. Next I check to see what the minimum due is, and what I have marked on my spreadsheet that I paid last month. I also color code the column that I have calculated is in my best interest to pay off first. That is where any extra funds go at the end of the month. I always pay the minimum due, PLUS any interest due, PLUS what I feel I can afford as extra to the principal. This is the best way to get things paid off quickly. If you don’t have a program for paying down your credit cards it can take you up to 40 years if all you are doing is paying what the credit card company decides is your minimum requirements. Why do you think they do it that way? It keeps you paying and owing them forever. And while this may be in the best interest of the credit card company, it most certainly is NOT in your best interest - so I never recommend paying only the minimum posted on your statement! Always pay more, even if its only a dollar. ALWAYS pay more.

Once I’m sure that the interest rate is as it should be, I check my spreadsheet to see when my promotional offer ends. If its 1-2 months out (I never transfer balances unless I get 9 months or longer on a promotional offer. Less than that just isn’t worth the hassle and trouble) I’ll call the Credit Card company and ask if they’ll extend my offer. If they say “No”, I stay NICE and POLITE and ask if I can speak to a Manager. If that doesn’t work, I’ll ask for THAT person’s Manager. If it still doesn’t work, I’ll ask if they can extend it IF I make another balance transfer (there is usually no minimum transfer required, so you can transfer as low as $100 from another card and get your offer extended. I also ensure that there won’t be a balance transfer fee. Even if they only extend if for a couple of months, that’s a good thing. I make a note on my Excel File of the new expiration date, and call them again in a month or two.

When a promotional offer expires, I use another card to transfer the balance to. Always make sure that the offer you are transferring TO is better than what the standard rate will become if the promotional offer expires. If not leave this one alone and wait until you get an offer in the mail.

I find that as soon as one card is paid off, they will start sending offers out, so once you start doing this, you should start receiving regular offers in the mail. Always try to move enough funds to create a zero balance or as close as you can get so that you will pay the remainder off in a month or 2. This will keep the offers coming. Also, try staggering your offers if at all possible. That way you never have to make a dozen calls all in one day, but it does also mean that you will always be calling SOMEONE, so its a kind of double edged blade.

Its always a good idea to keep a card with a zero balance solely for the purpose of moving funds when your promo rate expires. Then if you don’t get an extension, and you have no new offers, you at least have somewhere you can transfer your balance to, because typically your zero balance card will have a lower rate than what your balance will revert to once the promotional offer ends.

I also find that even if they are insistent that they have no new offers that you qualify for - once you take that balance and transfer it to another card, you’ll get a new offer in the mail immediately with a better offer than you were asking for in the first place. Go figure! But it never fails.

As soon as a card is paid off, they are getting nothing from you, so they will do whatever they need to to retain or re-capture your business. So when you move your funds off one card onto another DON’T close down your account. Just pay it down to a zero balance and then wait patiently. It won’t be long before they make you another offer which you can then use to transfer another balance back to them again.

You can keep this game up indefinitely - I’ve been doing it for almost 10 years now, and I only have one card with an interest rate higher than 9%. At present almost all of them are 4% until the balance is paid in full, except for a Discover card that I lucked out on. They were offering a 0% interest rate until the balance is paid in full as long as I make a minimum of ONE purchase each month. What I did was to sign up for their credit card protection program for $2 per month which qualifies me for the program and continued 0% offer. I pay only the minimum on that card, and concentrate on the others in order to get them paid down sooner. That 0% balance is coming down, but I’d rather pay off something that is charging me interest - that one was a no-brainer.

I’ve also noticed recently that all the new offers from Discover now require 2 purchases per month (no minimum amount) so if you are good about following rules, you could buy a candy bar each month, sign up for the credit card protection program and still make out like a bandit! The catch on that one is that the new purchases will be at the normal interest rate, not the 0%, and since Credit Card companies have a policy of always paying off the lowest interest rate first, if you have multiple rates on one card, those purchases will continue to grow each month until that 0% balance is paid in full. That’s why you want to keep the new amount going onto your card as low as possible and less than $2-3 per month if at all possible, otherwise you are negating your 0% rate by racking up a higher balance that is getting charged a regular interest rate.

SO, if you want to think about this a bit, please keep in mind that there are a few rules you MUST follow.

• Never make a purchase on these cards. They are for balance transfer only
• Keep your balances low enough so that if you do run out a promotional offer you can afford the payment with the higher interest rate until a new offer comes in the mail. It shouldn’t take too long once you pay off one of your cards. Which you should be continually doing.
• Never use a transfer offer that requires a balance transfer fee UNLESS the total of the promotional interest rate PLUS the 3% transfer fee is STILL lower than what you are presently paying.
• Never use a transfer offer for a period of time less than 9 months
• Try to hold out for those “until paid in full” offers. These are the treasure you are looking for. In this case it might be worth it to pay for the transfer fee if the promotional offer is low enough. Save these for larger transfers. If you are trying to move $5,000 or more, it is probably going to take you longer than a year to pay if off, so the transfer fee will only affect your first years’ rate. After that, you can calculate on the promotional offer, so if its a 4% or 5% offer, that would be a good rate to lock in until your balance is paid in full
• You must NEVER be late - not even ONCE!! This will negate any promotional offer
• You must NEVER miss a payment - not even ONCE!! This will also negate your promo offer
• You must keep track of when your offers expire and check it every month so you’ll know which one you need to move next
• You must have a Credit Score high enough that will allow you to have 3 cards solely for the purpose of moving funds around. And if you can manage another one that will always have a zero balance that would be good too.
• And you MUST have the ability to do all of this WITHOUT stressing out, or SCREWING UP!

This is a game, but it has very strict rules and like I said above is not for the lighthearted! Be very careful should you think this is something you might attempt. It can have extremely good results if you are good at managing your money, but it can have extremely DIRE EFFECTS if you blow it!

When making a balance transfer - be aware that in the event that you are not transferring an entire balance, but just a portion of it, you will be creating another bill coming in the mail. So while you may be paying less “interest”, your monthly requirement may have gone up because you are now paying 2 credit card payments each month instead of only one.

On the good side of this coin, this will have the effect of paying your total indebtedness quicker because you ARE paying more monthly, but you have to make sure that you can afford this additional payment before making the decision to do the transfer.

Another good piece of advice I can offer is that if you get a 0% offer like I just did for 9-12 months (remember, we don’t want to accept any offers less than 9 months), and there is a 3% transfer fee, in reality, this is NOT a 0% offer, but a 3% offer. Now a 3% offer is pretty good - and should be less than any other card you have (if its not, please contact me IMMEDIATELY and let me know who is charging less than 3% - this is NEED TO KNOW information! hahahhahaha!).

My advice in this situation would be to calculate out exactly how much you can afford to pay per month. For example, you have gone over your bills and realize that you could afford $150 per month maximum added to your budget. I’d take that $150 and multiply it by 9 (for a 9 month offer), or 12 (for a 12 month offer) - you get the idea - and then transfer EXACTLY that much +$150 onto your new card. This will allow you to pay off the balance within your promotional time frame with just $150 left on the card (that you can afford to pay, right?) that will be charged at whatever the new rate will be, which will be nominal because no matter what it is, its only being charged on that $150 balance once. And in reality, it won’t really add exactly $150 to your monthly bills, but a little less, because you will have reduced the “old” card by the amount of your transfer, so the liability on that card has decreased. I do calculate my budget on that full amount, though because I always believe in leaving a little “wiggle room” when it comes to figuring out your budget. This ensures that you have not been overzealous and made things too tight!

SO, Remember not to transfer over more than you can afford to pay as your new minimum payment, and make sure that you STICK to that amount regardless of what is listed on the bill as your payment amount. Its very tempting when that bill comes in to pay only the minimum amount they have listed which will be CONSIDERABLY LESS than the $150 you have allotted, but don’t be suckered into this. If you’ve calculated on $150, then PAY THE $150 each and every month! This ensures that you got the full benefit from this offer and basically moved approx. $1350-$1800 onto as near of a “free loan” situation as you can be.

Actually, the only thing that would be better is if you actually found one with NO balance transfer fee. They are out there, not easy to find, and they come few and far between, but if you get into the habit of reading all the small print on the back of your offers, you may stumble onto one. If you do - - - GRAB it, it may be awhile before you get another one!

Don’t gamble with your Credit, or with your Money. If you are not 150% POSITIVE that you can handle this don’t even attempt it! If you have to read this 2-3 times to understand it, then don’t attempt it! If there is anything here that is even the slightest bit fuzzy or that you have to think over, don’t try it.

And NEVER do something just because someone else said it worked for them.

This has worked for me, but that doesn’t mean it will work for you! I am the kind of person that balances my checkbook every month when the statement comes in, in addition to checking periodically with my online statement. If I am off by .24 cents, I’ll spend hours or days with a calculator and my checkbook until I find out what happened and where my error is. I WILL call the bank if I think the error is on their part. I WILL call the Credit Card Company if I think I can get a better offer, or if I feel they can do better, or if my rate hasn’t changed in a year or more. I have no problem asking for a Manager, and I can maintain my cool and be nice and polite even when I feel like driving a dagger through the heart of their first born child!

I am the person my boss and husband will put on the phone when there is a problem, and they will run and hide, stay out of my way, and offer me treats until my issue is resolved to my satisfaction! But that’s just me!

Please exercise EXTREME CAUTION when handling your financial affairs!

Filed under:Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, FIX / REPAIR Your Credit, Personal Finances on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Another sure fire easy way to increase your Credit Score is to ask a close family member that does have good credit (and make SURE they have good credit, you don’t want to make a mistake here!) to add you to their card. Odds are that perhaps your parents, or a favorite Aunt or Uncle may be able to help you out here.

Once you have ascertained that THEIR Credit Rating is sufficiently better than yours, ask them if they would call their Credit Card Company and request that YOUR NAME be added to their credit card. This takes just the amount of time to make the phone call.

You can assure them that they don’t have to give you a card, or access to their card, and you certainly don’t want to ruin your relationship by actually trying to use their card, but just by adding your name to it, you will begin to get the benefit of any activity including past history on that card.

This is another fairly easy way to increase your Credit Score. Of course, you have to have incredible trust in this person, and vice versa because you are doing what is called riding “piggy back” on their credit. And believe me that if you blow this opportunity, you will burn bridges that you may never be able to rebuild, so be sure that not only are they trustworthy enough to maintain their credit rating, but YOU MUST also be trustworthy enough not to do anything both you and they will ever regret!

And if you yourself have a good Credit Score, this is also a fantastic way to help out your children when they are just starting out. You can add them to your own card (and not necessarily tell them, you don’t want your teenagers out spending on your Credit Card without your knowledge). This will start building up their own credit so that when they are ready to make their first purchases as an adult, they will already have a good credit score.

And don’t forget, its a whole lot easier to ADD someone’s name to your card than to REMOVE someone’s name from your card. If you want to remove someone, you actually have to close down the account completely and get a new card! So don’t do this frivolously, or without a lot of thought behind it!

Filed under:Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, FIX / REPAIR Your Credit, Personal Finances on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

One thing everyone wants to do is to improve their Credit Rating, but few people actually know how to do this. Its not really as hard as you think. You can raise your Credit FICO Score just by doing a few easy things - and it doesn’t take long at all.

Something that people ARE aware of is that the 3 major credit reporting agencies watch everything you buy, and then adjust your Credit Score accordingly each month. But what a lot of people DON’T realize is that there are a few things directly under your control that you can get chang to improve your score.

I used to think that if I had a high credit limit that automatically meant good credit. Not necessarily so! Now if you DO have a good score, you WILL get offers for higher limits because the Credit Card Companies want you to spend money using THEIR card and not someone else’s, so they’ll offer you a higher limit in the hope that you’ll rack it up to the max (which sadly a lot of people end up doing). Now here is something you may not know. What the Credit Reporting Agencies are looking at is not how high your maximum limit is, but its HOW MUCH of that limit you have used. They really don’t want to see you at maximum usage. What they want to see, and will reward you for is “UNUSED Credit“.

For example: If Person A has a Credit Card limit of $1,000, and has charged $800 on it, their Credit Score will be lower than Person B who has the same Credit Card limit of $1,000 and has only charged $300 on it. You will be rewarded for using LESS of your total limit and end up with a higher Credit Rating.

So, what does this mean to you? Try to keep your Credit Cards at a 30%-40% maximum usage of whatever your limit is. This will raise your Credit Score. If you have an extra card, or get a new offer for a reasonable rate, transfer some of your higher balance card over to the new one, and watch your Credit Score rise.

If you don’t have another card to use for transfers, or if you don’t feel that this is the right move for your specific situation, you can always do it another way. Simply call up your Credit Card company and ask them to increase your limit. By increasing your limit, you are actually doing the same thing as reducing your debt level. Just don’t be tempted to now USE that higher limit for purchases. Remember we are working on lowering your debt to credit line ratio, not giving you more buying power! By increasing your limit, even a little bit, you will raise your Credit Score.

If you have $3,000 in debt, your score will be higher if it is spread out over 3 different cards each with a $3,000 limit than the same $3,000 in debt on ONE Credit Card with a $3,000 limit. So keep those cards in check and keep the balances as low as possible.

I used to try to pay down my cards, then call and have the limits lowered so that there wasn’t all that extra unused credit on each one. I thought this was a good thing to keep my limits lower, when actually it was the worst thing I could have done. Its better to have a higher limit with a lower balance. They want to see that you are in control of your spending and are not “maxed out”.

Now when you call and ask for a limit increase, remember that they will ask you how much you want it raised to. This is a tricky question, because odds are that if you go too high, they will tell you that you’ll receive an answer in the mail. This means you’ve been denied. Now you have to wait 3 months before you can call again - so be smart, and don’t go for the gold! Typically if you’re approved, they’ll tell you right there on the phone. So remember to ask to have it raised just enough that it will still fit within your budget because they will be looking at that when they decide to either approve or deny your request. You can always call back in a couple of months and ask to have it raised again, so better to do it in small steps than to try for too much and get denied.

So, the bottom line is, to Raise your FICO Score - - -

Either Lower your overall debt on each card, or raise all your limits. Both will result in raising your Credit Score! And believe me, its a lot easier and faster to just call the Credit Card Company and ask to have your limit raised, than it is to pay down your cards overnight!

Filed under:Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, FIX / REPAIR Your Credit, Personal Finances on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Something else that will help you build your credit is to pay off your card completely periodically.

Credit Reporting Agencies look very favorably on you when you pay a card in full. One thing that I recommend in order to be able to take advantage of this is to get a gas card for your car. Its one of the easiest Credit Cards to get. Even a teenager just starting out with no credit at all will be able to qualify for a gas card. In fact that’s one of the things I recommended to my own kids to get started building their credit when they were teens. If you have a gas card and charge your gas, then pay it off every month, you’ll build credit a lot faster, and improve your score quicker than if you buy something large like a car and just keep paying the monthly payments.

If you are concerned about budgeting for this, then just start out using your card once a month. That way you’ll know that you’ll always have the money to pay it off when the bill comes in. Another easy way to budget for this is to make your purchase, then when you get home, take the cash you would have used, and put it into an envelope and seal it. Designate a drawer in your desk for these envelopes and then each time you use the card, repeat this and fill another envelope until your bill comes in the mail.

This just ensures that its not as easy to dip into that ready cash for incidentals when the wallet is empty. It has to be safe so that you’ll have money in the bank to pay your bill. So as stupid as you’ll feel - SEAL THAT ENVELOPE! Its not that you can’t get into it, but it should make you think twice before you attempt it!

You can do the same thing with a Department Store Credit Card like Target, JC Penny’s, Sears, etc. These are all very easy to qualify for. If you just buy some makeup, a new wallet, pair of socks, kleenex, toilet paper it won’t cost much. At Target you can even get a slice of pizza or hot pretzel - anything small so you’re not racking up debt (THIS IS THE KEY!!!). You have to be able to trust yourself not to use these cards for purchasing power, but just for helping to improve your credit. Make very small purchases, it doesn’t matter how little you spend as long as you pay it off each month.

By charging on a regular basis and paying the card off each time, you will be amazed how fast your Credit Score will start to rise. Its an easy and do-able trick for raising your Credit Score quickly.

Now, some Credit Card Companies will have a fee for exceeding a certain amount of payments per month.  SOME Credit Card Companies will do this, but not all. It only takes a phone call to ask if they report the Credit for all authorized names on the account. If they say they report on only the Primary on the account, you can REQUEST that they report for all authorized users.

Once again, its a question of knowing what you can request. Its really amazing. when I say that everything is negotiable, I really do mean EVERYTHING!

Did you know that you can also call and request that your annual fee be removed? They will be more apt to do this if you have been a member for a number of years in good standing. All you have to do is to tell them that you are getting multiple offers from other Credit Cards that don’t require an annual fee and that it certainly would make their card more enticing to keep if they could please remove the annual fee so you don’t have to transfer the funds to another company.

Now, you may have to ask for a Manager or Supervisor, but you should eventually get to the right person who will be happy to remove that $25 or $50 charge in order to keep your business. Now you might not think its worth it for a small amount like that, but if you keep that card for 15 or 20 years, do the math! It adds up. And if you think $25 is too small to make a phone call for, I’ll send you my eGold number and you can just transfer it to my account because I think $25 is a lot of money, and will make any number of calls to get it back if I think I’ve paid it unnecessarily.

If you think that there is ANYTHING different about your card that other cards offer or don’t offer, don’t automatically think, “Well MY card doesn’t do that”. CALL THEM UP AND ASK! I can’t stress this enough. There is very little that you can’t call and request a change on! And if you’re very FRIENDLY and NICE, they will typically be very friendly and nice back to you. Maybe the first person won’t help you, so go to the next one, and the next.

Treat this Credit Card Game just like being a teenager on the dance floor. Don’t go home just because the first girl won’t dance. You have to keep asking. You’ll eventually find one that will.

I helped a friend with her credit a number of years ago by putting her name on my card. Unfortunately she also had buying power and misused that power to the degree that I had to eventually call the Credit Card Company and tell them that she no longer was authorized to purchase, yet because I never closed the account and opened a new one, her name is still on the authorization form. To this day, 8-10 years later, she still benefits from the benefit of my excellent Credit Rating. I know this for a fact because she called me on the phone and asked why I had changed the lmit on my card, because this was affecting her credit. I had to explain to her in detail that what I had done was actually helping her credit and that it was her not paying her bills on time that was affecting it in a negative way. She won’t fully understand this until the day I get this card paid off in full and can close it completely. THAT day will be a rude awakening for her, to be sure because she will then have to rely on her own activity to establish her credit, which I know from her history will fall into a deep dark hole very quickly.

Every positive action on your credit card can counter a negative, so the benefit of all my good credit over the years on this card has helped her rating incredibly! She has since purchased a new car and gotten a nice apartment. Before I helped her out she couldn’t even get a gas card her credit was so bad, and she was living in a room in someone’s house because she couldn’t qualify for a rental agreement. Her car was repossessed due to non-payment, and she had NO Credit Cards at all because she couldn’t qualify. By just adding her name to one card, it made a big difference in a very short period of time.

All you have to do is to make a phone call and ask the Credit Card Company whose Credit Report will be affected by their reportings. I’ve found that very few these days only report to one authorized member. And if that is the case, ask them to change it - Its really that easy.

Filed under:Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, FIX / REPAIR Your Credit, Personal Finances on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Here is another cool tip that I use for finding the best Promotional offers.

Whenever I’m ready to make the last payment on a Credit Card, I NEVER mail in that final payment. Of course you can do that, but you won’t get the benefit of what I’m going to tell you now. Instead of writing a check, Call the Credit Card Company (is anyone surprised by now at this recommendation?). When they answer the phone explain that you are ready to make your final payment, and you’d like to know how much the payoff amount is. Its really as simple as that!

The ball is now in THEIR COURT. And they do know what to do with that ball! They are very good at playing these games. Your goal is to get as good as they are so you can win once in awhile! Keep in mind that they want to keep your business. They definitely DON’T want you to pay off your balance and stop making interest payments, so now they are going to offer you a “deal” if you will transfer a balance.

The important thing to do is to have your spreadsheet in front of you (I do hope you have a spreadsheet with all your outstanding debt on it for easy reference!). If you don’t have a spreadsheet, either make one up quickly, or write down every credit card you have, what your outstanding balance is, the interest rate you are paying, and the date that interest rate expires if its a promotional offer. If you don’t have this information at your fingertips, then I highly recommend you start compiling it - this is very important if you are going to be responsible about managing your money and starting a serious debt reduction program! And believe me, they will have all this information in from of THEM before they start talking to you, so you’d better be prepared!

The next tip is also very important. NEVER accept the first offer - its like buying a car. The more you decline, or tell them that their rate just isn’t attractive enough, the more offers they will make and you’ll be surprised that it just keeps getting better and better. Believe me, they WANT your business.

They’ll probably start out offering a very nice rate, but for only 3-6 months. Your counter to this offer should be, “I’m sorry but 3-6 months isn’t really a long enough period of time to do a balance transfer, do you have anything with a longer term?”

Next they’ll offer you something a little longer, now you counter with, “But I already have existing offers for a lower percentage, is there anything you can do about the rate?”

Now you have them working for their money. The next question you want to be sure to ask is if there is a balance transfer fee. And no matter what they say, ALWAYS ASK if there is ANY WAY they can eliminate that balance transfer fee. They may not be able to eliminate it altogether, but they may come back with an offer of a fixed limit. In other words, they’ll want to charge you 3%, but they may be able to fix the limit at $50 or $75. What this means to you is that if you transfer in excess of $2,500 to their card you will have reached that $75 fee, but anything over and above that is basically free money with no transfer fee.

This is where your spreadsheet will come in handy. Look at the balances you have. Compare your interest rates, and how long they will last. If you have a 4.9 for the life of the balance, pass that one up, but if you have something at 10% or higher, that would be good to look at for a balance transfer.

Another thing you will want to ask them is what the rate will jump to AFTER the promotional offer ends. Compare the rate they are quoting you with your current rate. If this rate is lower than what you are already paying, then go ahead and transfer your entire balance if you can (depending on the limit you qualify for).

If the rate they are quoting you is higher than what you are paying, then figure out how much can you afford to pay monthly. Calculate this out to the term of the promotional offer and make your balance transfer amount approximately that amount or just ever so slightly higher. This give you the best possible scenario for being able to get the maximum benefit from the offer, yet you won’t ever be charged the full rate once the offer expires. That’s the important part. you don’t ever want your rate to expire and end up paying more than you started with. That would negate any benefit from using the promotional program.

My golden rule is never to accept a balance transfer for less than 9 months. If I can find one for the life of the balance, I’ll go for that one, but definitely not less than 9 months. Never pay more than 9% on any card ever! There are too many promotional programs out there that have excellent rates, you just have to start calling to find them! The majority of my cards are at 4.9% for the life of the balance. I have just 2 that are higher than that, so its these 2 that I keep moving back and forth to get the best rates until they are paid off. I keep my rates as low as possible at all times.

Right now our current debt is due mostly to a couple of larger purchases for our home that we made over the past few years in addition to a TON of dental work, and car repairs that we had to finance. Once these are all paid off, then I hope to remain as close to debt free as possible. We’re working towards that goal, and should be there in just 3-4 years if all goes well, and the river don’t rise!

Just today, I called to make a final payment on one of my cards. They offered me up front a 6.9% rate for 6 months for a balance transfer. I followed all the steps above, and after about 15 minutes I ended up with a 1.9% for 9 months with a 3% balance transfer fee capped at $75. This means that I basically got 4.9% for 9 months (which includes the 3% fee) - not a bad deal just for the time it took to make that phone call. I also asked if they could please put that amount in my checking account, and that way I can apply it where it will do my budget the most good, and I’m not charged the “cash” rate - it just gets applied to my promotional offer of 1.9% (another good trick to know - but you have TO ASK for it). It should show up in 5-7 business days.

One more important thing you want to do. Ask them if they would please allow you to make your final payment (remember the reason for your call in the first place??) PRIOR to the balance transfer being applied.

This is a very important final step because what it does is to bring your account down to a zero balance so that your entire resulting balance will be at the new rate. If you forget this important step, you’ll end up with that last payment amount remaining at the old rate and being charged every month because it is the credit card company policy to pay down the lowest interest rates first. You don’t want that last bit being charged at your old rate for the duration of the 9 months, so remember to make that request. And when they agree to make that payment on the phone for you (and they will happily do this), don’t forget to ask if they would be so kind as to remove any fee for making that payment over the phone.

My goal is to get everyone in the habit of making those phone calls, and to realize that you CAN lower the amount of interest and fees you are paying! It really is amazing what you can get just for the asking!

Filed under:Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, Personal Finances on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

There are tons of programs out there that are supposed to help you reduce your debt, but most of them will either cost you by way of buying a book, paying for a membership program, or charge you fees for refinancing, or consolidating your debts.

There is a way you can do this yourself at NO ADDITIONAL COST!

That’s right! You can reduce your debt and not pay a penny more than you are already paying right now! Hard to believe, but its true!! I’ve been doing it for years and by using this very same method in addition to paying additional amounts to my mortgage whenever possible - - - to date, I have personally reduced the amount of interest I’ve paid on my mortgage SO FAR by $160,248.75.

That means that if I look at what I “should have paid” to date and compare that number with what I have “actually paid” to date, I’ve paid $160,248.75 less than what is shown on my amortization schedule.

That is not a made up number, something I’ve read in a book, or heard in an infomercial on TV - I just opened up my personal file and copied what I have written down on my most recent mortgage statement! So when I tell you it can be done, what I’m really saying is that IT CAN BE DONE, I have PERSONALLY DONE IT, so I can say that YES, this really does work, and I’m happy to tell you how to do it!

This method can be used to pay down your mortgage, your car payment, in fact any large loan that has regular monthly payments, charges you interest, is amortized over time, and has no pre-payment penalty. Anybody got anything like that? I’m sure that a lot of you probably have multiple situations like this!

The concept is really very simple. Your interest payments are most probably given to you in a yearly figure. In other words, you pay 6% per year for 30 years on your fixed rate mortgage, or 9% per year on your car for 5 years - something like that. What is important here is that this figure is not charged to your account on a yearly basis. They are calculating it out and figuring up what to charge you on a DAILY basis, and it is this figure that is then applied to your account balance DAILY.

Now think about that. Its only a small amount each day, but it is added to your balance each and every day, day after day for years and years on end - so that after a year passes it AVERAGES out to that 6%, or whatever your APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is.

You can take years off your mortgage and save thousands of dollars by simply splitting up your monthly payment and paying it in frequent installments throughout the month instead of one lump sum.

For example: If your house payment is $1,000 per month, you will save a TON of money by making 2 payments of $500 paid twice a month, or even better yet - 4 payments of $250 paid weekly instead of writing one check for $1,000. The reason behind this is that each time you make a partial payment, your total balance is decreased so the next interest applied to your account will be calculated on that new LOWER balance.

There are special mortgages that will do this same thing for you. You’ve probably seen the bi-monthly mortgage that you pay every 2 weeks. The problem with this is that you are then TIED to that schedule, and you have twice the chance of being late each month if you fall on hard times. Not to mention the fact that you’d have to re-finance your existing loan to get this offer, which will cost you escrow fees, closing costs, etc.

You can do the same thing yourself without changing anything but the way you are used to paying your bills. It becomes really easy if you have an electronic bill paying system because you can just click on it and send a payment as often as you wish. If you are using the old snail mail, stuff a check in the envelope method, make sure that you take some photocopies of your statement each month, so that you can include a coupon with each check, just to make sure that your funds get credited to the correct account.

By taking it upon yourself, you can pay as frequently as you wish, so if you want to, you can send a weekly check. In fact the more often you make a payment, the more you will save because you are continually reducing the total amount that your interest is being calculated on. AND if you ever go on vacation, or have a tight week, you can go back to your monthly checks easily with no penalty.

Some online mortgage sites even have boxes that you can click on to indicate where you want the payment to be applied, so you can have the first couple of payments go directly to the principle and pay the last one to the interest - that will also help decrease your debt incredibly! As that principal goes down, so goes down the interest they are charging you!

If you’re incredibly anal retentive like I am, you can even print out an amortization schedule that will show you the “anticipated” payoff time period, and how much of each month’s payment goes to your principal and how much goes to the interest. It will give you a principal balance for each month until the loan is paid in full. Each month when I get my statement, I check to see what the actual principal is, and how much the “estimated” principal should have been had I adhered to a strict monthly check and not made any additional payments to my principal (which I always do). The difference is actually staggering as you can see from the figure I posted at the top of this thread.

Now you may haven noticed something I just said. I do make it a habit to pay in excess of my monthly payment amount every month. This also makes an incredible difference. In fact if you just make ONE ADDITIONAL payment each year, you can cut 7-8 years, and thousands of dollars off your mortgage. Now calculate the amount of your monthly payment X 12, and multiply that out by 7-8 years? What could you do with that kind of money? One simple extra payment each year will do the trick! Excellent usage of your tax return, or Christmas Bonus if you ask me!

One thing I always did was to designate my Christmas Bonus each year to put down on my Principal! This was always considered FREE money for me, and something I couldn’t budget on, so if, and when I got it, I sent it right to my mortgage company. Same thing for the Bonus checks I occasionally got from my boss. I spent years in the Commercial Real Estate industry and each time a big deal went through, my boss was in the habit of leaving a check on my desk which I sent right to the mortgage company. Now there were things I could have used that money for, being a single Mom, but I also knew that the difference $1,000 made to me today would be 10-fold or more over time, if applied to my Principal. I opted for the time method and look how much I’ve saved.

Now eventually, my own personal goal is to own my house free and clear, and I’m very close now. I know that a lot of people don’t agree with this, but I do, and I feel strongly about it. Some day in the not too distant future I will have achieved that goal, and that will be a day for celebration to be sure! And when I DO finally make that final payment, I will have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest LESS because of the things I’m doing now! Think about that!

I know for sure that there are many things I can do with the hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be in my pocket each month because I paid my mortgage down early. That’s money I will have every month because it isn’t being sent to a mortgage company! That’s because of a choice I made.

Splitting up your payments into smaller installments is a simple, easy thing to do, and it can make a HUGE difference in reducing your debt.

Now this is one of those things that fall into my basic philosophy that “Life is all about the Choices You Make”, but that’s another topic for another thread! Perhaps some people can’t afford to make those extra payments that I made, but EVERYONE can take the payments you are already making and split them up into smaller more frequent installments! And if you do just that one small thing, what an incredible savings you will make.

Remember - Life is about choices! Now what do YOU choose to do with this information?

There are a lot of ways to pay down your debts, but this one is particularly effective method, and it doesn’t cost you anything more than simply taking the time to sit down and do it!

So, now would be a good time to go into your Bill Pay and make the adjustment for your house payment. Change if from monthly to weekly, and change the amount from $1,000 to $250. Its easy to do. It takes only a moment of your time, and you will have just saved thousands of dollars, and years off your mortgage without any real effort or cost to you at all!!

By the way, if you want to print out an amortization schedule so you can keep track of your own mortgage, go to this site, click on “Simple Mortgage Calculator” and fill in the particulars of your own mortgage. You can then find out where you are by looking for your Principal Balance, and go from there.

This is also a great site for figuring out what your payments will be if you are looking to purchase a home by filling in the interest rate, term, and purchase price, it will give you a monthly payment amount. But don’t forget to add in your home owners insurance, property taxes and fire/flood. That isn’t added in here, just the basic mortgage amount.

So far I’ve not had any trouble with multiple payments, and I do it all the time (Thank God for electronic Bill Pay)- but if you do run into a situation like this, what is my cardinal rule, again???? CALL THEM up and ask NICELY and POLITELY, that they please remove this fee. And I emphasize the PLEASE. Explain that you were not aware of their policy, and will certainly stay within their guidelines in the future if they would please help you out by deducting the fee just this once.

I would be very surprised if you couldn’t get the fee removed. The objective is to be polite, but persistent! Smile laugh, crack jokes if you must, but get them on your side. They want to help you, so give them a reason to do so.

You can even request that they either remove the limit for your account, or perhaps even raise it a bit to allow for more transfers. You’d be surprised the things they will negotiate on, and you won’t know unless you ask them.

And once again if they refuse, keep transferring, or calling back until you find the one that will “dance with you”. I don’t know if they can change policy on something like this, but I’d certainly ask about it!

Sometimes I think I actually call my Credit Card companies more than I call my mother, but I NEVER pay fees for anything unnecessarily. Get used to calling that number, its not really hard, and it can save you a lot of money in the long run.

In fact I’ll be calling MY credit card company today to ask them to remove an “over the limit fee” imposed this month because my husband forgot to tell me he put all his dental work on the card, so I hadn’t transferred over the funds yet to cover it. Its a $39 fee, and yes, we did go over the limit, but I won’t be paying this fee because I’ll be calling them to request that they remove it, and I’m sure that they will. Hopefully its the first person I talk to, but if not, maybe the second one??? The point is to always call.

Filed under:Personal Finances on January 7th, 2008 | No Comments »

One of my favorite leis to make is this Crocus Flower Satin Ribbon Lei. It is often a favorite of all who see it, and while it takes a lot of ribbon, a lot of time, and a lot of patience to create, it is also one of my favorites.

I recommend that if you are interested in attempting this project that you buy all of your materials at one time. If you try to go back and get more after you’ve already begun, it might not be the same die lot, and while it may look the same in your living room, it will definitely show on your finished lei if the colors are not an exact match.

You can choose almost any color combination, and it will look beautiful since the crocus flower comes in a wide variety of colors. I like to use a variety of greens for the leaves, sometimes choosing a deep dark green and others a lighter green depending on the color of lei I am making. Its up to you what colors you choose, so just pick out what looks nice together, or what matches your outfit and it will be beautiful!!

I also like to buy my materials when they are on sale, whenever possible since it does take quite a bit of ribbon to make this particular lei. So what I do is to buy up as much as I can when its available, in lots of different colors, and then gather up all the materials for one lei, and put it in a large zip lock baggie like a “kit”, so that when I am ready to get started, I can just reach for a baggie, and know that there is everything inside to complete my lei. I can create lots of different “kits” from one shopping trip depending on which colors I buy, and how much of each. I always try to buy up as much of the green as I can whenever I find it as this is the one constant color that you’ll use for each lei.

I have made this lei in many color combinations, but the one that made me fall in love with it, is the purple. I saw it pictured in a book while shopping one day, and just knew I had to figure out how to make it - and I’ve been in love with it ever since! No matter if done in pinks, white, yellow, oranges, or purple it always turns out to be special - and each one is my absolute favorite, until I find a new color combination to try!!

I’ve tried different kinds of ribbon, but the satin really does turn out the best in my opinion, although I also have a few special ones I’ve done that turned out just as stunning with multi-striped netted ribbons - so the choice is yours. I’ll just show you how I do it, and then you can take it from there and create your own combinations in your own choice of colors. And I’m sure each and every one will be better and prettier than the last!

And that’s what keeps me making these!!!

So lets get started - - - Here’s how we make a Satin Crucus Flower Lei:

MATERIALS:

* 25 yards 5/8″ satin or acetate ribbon (the main petal color)
* 50 yards 1/8″ contrasting color satin ribbon (the inside petal color)
* 25 yards 1/8″ green ribbon (leaf)
* 1 yard matching grossgrain ribbon (match the main, petal color as close as you can)
* 2 kukui nuts, or 2 wooden beads
* Size 7 quilting needle (If you hate to measure like I do and can’t remember the size, pick out one approx. the length of your index finger, and as thin as you can get it)
* Quilting thread, or other strong, thick thread that won’t break easily. I like to try to match the inside petal color as closely as possible.

I like to get started by cutting all the ribbon into the appropriate size pieces first. This makes it so much easier to just get started on the lei whenever you’re ready, and you’ll be able to start and stop, or take a break whenever you want to - and you can always pick back up where you left off.

So lets begin by cutting the green leaf color into 250 pieces approximately 3.5 inches long. You’ll want to cut the pieces at a slight diagonal, which will result in having angled cuts on both ends. Your leaves will look much better than just a flat cut, if you take this small tip to create your angled edges. It also keeps the ends from fraying as quickly, which will be very important in your finished project.

I find that its best to cut one piece from a different color just the right size, and then use that one as my “measuring stick”. Also, remember that 250 pieces is a lot of pieces, so instead of trying to keep track of counting to 250 without losing count, or getting interrupted by the phone, the doorbell, or the TV program you are probably watching, I just count out 10, and make a small pile. If you lose count along the way, and eventually you will, its real easy to start over again and get caught up, when its only 10. When I get 5 of these piles of 10, I combine them into a larger pile fo 50, and put them aside . When I have completed 5 of these larger piles, I know I have 250 pieces.

This way if you DO get interrupted by a bathroom call or “whatever”, you can come back and see exactly how many large piles you have, how many small piles you have, and know exactly how many you have cut, and how many you have left to go. Its really a very ingenious way of keeping track if I do say so myself!!

Now that you have 250 little leaf pieces, put them into the baggie and set them aside. Typically, I use the same baggie that I had my ribbons in, so everything stays in one place, and once again everything you will need to make your lei will still be in your “kit” baggie. If you get tired of measuring and cutting, you can always stop, zip up your baggie and leave it for the next day, and you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off.

Next, you need to cut up your main petal color into 250 pieces the same length as the leaf pieces. Count them out the same clever way you did the leaves, with the same beveled edges, and when you’re done put them into the same baggie with the leaflets.

NOTE: The inside petal color will NOT be cut, you’ll be using this as one long length, using a running stitch to create the loops that form the center of the lei. More about this later - just remember not to cut this ribbon at all.
Next, cut your grossgrain ribbon in half, with the same angled cut on both ends. This will be the tie that you’ll close your lei with.

Now, some people like to start immediately putting together their petals, and then add the ties last, but I like to start at one end with the tie and the kukui nut, and then just continue on down the lei completing it as I go along. Then when I reach the end, I just add the second nut and its done.

So lets get started, and make a lei!!!

“TO BE CONTINUED”

Filed under:Crafts, Hawaiian Crafts on February 5th, 2007 | 3 Comments »

This is a really fun lei to make and a nice lei to have. Its great for when you want something to match a favorite outfit, or when fresh flowers are Out of Season.

Depending on exactly which yarn you choose, how much yarn you use, and how tight you wrap it, you can create a very thick luscious lei, as pictured on the left, or a lighter, delicate look as in the white lei pictured below.

You can combine yarns for different textures, or colors. You can also use two differength yarns together to create a 3-D affect with the shorter yarn creating a center color, while the longer yarn will be the main lei color on the outside. This can create a very elegant look for just that special occasion.

Please check out DXShopping.com if you are interested in purchasing one of my leis, I will be adding more to my inventory very soon. I am also available for special orders, multiple orders, custom lei making, in addition to local lei making classes.

If you are interested in a specific color you don’t see pictured here, or on DXShopping, please give me your contact information, and I will let you know what I have available, or how long it will take to fill your order.

Malama Pono, a Hui Hou!

Aloha!!!

Filed under:Crafts, Hawaiian Crafts on January 29th, 2007 | No Comments »

The traditional Hawaiian Money Lei is something that is made and given to someone as a gift as opposed to using a money card, or a money tree. This can be for a shower gift, either Bridal or Baby, as a Birthday, Graduation, Anniversary, or anytime when a gift is appropriate, and is often times presented to the Bride and Groom as a wedding gift at the reception.

Sometimes when invitations are sent out, you can include phrasing such as “If you would like to contribute to the Money Lei, in lieu of a gift, please send checks to _____”. Whoever is in charge of collecting the money would then cash all checks and arrange to make the lei.

Keep in mind that it takes a fair amount of time to put together, so remember to allow for that. This can also be a fun “family or group” effort. You can have a Lei making party, which is a common thing to do when preparing for any big event. Serve snacks or refreshments, and have everyone get together and help in making and putting it together. This is not only fun, but also includes everyone in the gift giving process.
Also, don’t forget to make a list of “who donated how much” as the checks are collected so that they can use it to send out Thank You notes!

Depending on how many bills you have, this will determine the length of the finished lei. For a nice size lei you should have approx. 500-600 bills. If you fall short, you can add pieces of colored paper cut to size to match your ribbon color (Origami paper looks particularly pretty, and is the right thickness). Then just add them in intervals between the bills. You can also adjust the length of the lei by how tightly you push together the fans when adding them - so don’t fret too much on how many bills, or how long your lei will be, you can adjust it as you go.

You can figure out how many bills of each denomination you want to have by approximating how many bills you have to get started with. Of course, you will have the most $1 bills, then you can start adding in $5’s and $10’s, etc. appropriately to get the right number for your lei. If you have a lot of money, throw in a larger bill here and there for fun!

So let’s say you have cashed your checks into small-ish denomination bills, depending on how much money you have to use for your lei, and you’re ready to get started.

First, you’ll need to count how many individual bills you have, then cut equal amounts of colored 1/4 inch ribbon equal to the amount of bills you have.

If this is for a shower, wedding, or a party, you can match the colored ribbon to the color scheme picked for that event! Depending on how many people you have helping you, you can distribute handfulls or bowlfulls of bills and ribbons to each person.

Next take a long piece of ribbon, and measure around your neck how long you want your lei to be. Remember to add about 12 ” so you have enough at each end for tying it together. You’ll want it long enough to be able to easily slip over your head without having to untie it. And remember you can always cut off excess, but you can’t make it longer once you’ve cut it, so if you have to err, err on the side of longer, not shorter. Set this ribbon aside.
Now This is where your family and friends come in. Everyone should start folding all the bills (and origami paper if you are using this) accordian style down the length of the bill, in 1/4 inch folds until the entire bill is folded.

Once your bill is folded, take one of the cut ribbons and tie it around the middle in a double knot and drop it into a basket or bowl.

Once all the bills are tied up with ribbons, then you unfold each one on both sides, like little fans, and use the center ribbon to tie the fan to the long length of ribbon that you measured for your lei.

Now, you can either fold up all the bills in one process, then when done, attached all the bills, OR you can have a group of people folding bills and dropping them into a bowl, and have someone else pulling them out of the bowl and tying them to the ribbon thus building the lei as the bills are being folded. Its up to you, but either way, once the bills are fanned out, they are ready to attach to the long ribbon.

As you fan out and tie on each ribbon your lei is beginning to form. They will begin to twist and turn as you add them, which is a good thing, so don’t try to force how they lay on the ribbon, it will all work out just fine, and this will make your finished lei full. Also, don’t forget that if you are adding in colored papers as filler, you will want to evenly distribute them around the lei, so remember not to bunch them all up in one spot.

Once you have used up all your money, your lei is finished! Now tie the two ends together in a double knot, and cut the end ribbons the same length as the little ties.

Your lei is now ready to be presented to whomever you are giving it to!

I hope you enjoyed this little project. Its a lot of fun to do, and all you have to remember to do is call enough friends, and allow enough time to put it together!

Aloha!

A Hui Hou (until we meet again)
Margaret and Gilbert Wong
Married: April 18, 1998

Filed under:Crafts, Hawaiian Crafts on January 4th, 2007 | 2 Comments »