a href="http://creditcard.christianet.com/">Credit cards are of everyday use for a lot of Americans. Even people with bad credit are getting secured credit cards so they can build their credit. The use of credit cards is not necessarily bad, but needs to be done responsibly. This means it is important to have a firm grasp on your finances and budget before using credit cards. Using secured credit cards is the safest way to learn to use credit cards in general.
Secured credit cards are not just for people that need to repair their credit. On the contrary, secured credit cards are a half step between a bank account and a credit card. With secured credit cards you have lower balances than with regular credit cards and the bank helps you out by holding you responsible for keeping enough money in your bank account to pay the balance on your secured credit cards every month. So, unlike regular credit cards you have someone to help you and keep you accountable for your actions.
History and economics show that credit cards can get you in a lot of trouble if not handled correctly. It is important to understand the terms of service with your credit cards. Some credit cards offer 0% interest, but only if you pay it off every month. Other credit cards give you cash back for purchases, but their interest rates are really high. These two examples don't represent all credit cards, but do represent that you must read the fine print before signing up with any credit cards.
Secured credit cards may offer you the added security of a lower amount you can spend and some help with having money available, but there is still plenty of trouble to get into with secured credit cards. God has a lot to say about credit and paying bank debts. He is very clear that all debts must be repaid. Knowing this you want to make sure that the system you set in place to pay your bills gets followed. Having a budget will not restrict your finances, but rather give you the financial freedom to save for things you really want to do and not have your life run by credit card payments or overdue bills.
Remember that God gives you the resources that He knows you can handle. If He has only granted you $15,000 a year, then there is a way to live a good life on $15000 a year. God would never make us suffer any further than He knows we can handle. If you are having a hard time understanding this idea, seek Godly counsel about your finances and any other area of you life you think needs fixing up.
For more information about credit cards and secured credit cards, visit: http://creditcard.chris tianet.com http://cred itcard.christianet.com/articles.htm http://www.christianet.com
About the author: Christian N, http://www.ChristiaNet.com http://blogs.christianet.com Featuring numerous life application articles and tips.
An Emergency Fund in Action: Our $500 Weekend
Direct your browser to just about any personal finance blog, and you’ll be able to find at least one post about emergency funds: why you should have one, how to build it, when you should start, and exactly how much (or how little) you should sock away. What I don’t see a lot of is emergency funds being used for, you know, emergencies. (A planned car purchase is not an emergency.) Maybe they don’t have many emergencies, or perhaps personal finance bloggers aren’t willing to admit it when their warranties expire. Whatever. Here’s some real life for you.Since the day we bought this house, the to-do list has included replacement of the basement door. It’s warped and in sad shape. The jam is a little rotten, and it lets in water during really heavy rain. Still, it opens and closes and behaves in a sufficiently door-like manner that we weren’t all THAT worried about it, until today. Today, that basement door went from a “to-do” to a “to-do now“. You see, Friday night, Boo (the resident cat and benevolent overlord) caught a mouse.For Boo, this isn’t a particularly unusual act. She’s a retired member of a hardware store extermination team, and it probably felt pretty good to shake the dust off the old stalk-n-pounce skills. She is a master mouser. For us, this isn’t so good. Nobody wants mice in their house. It’s just… oooky. *shivers*Dani did some research, and we poked around our basement, and decided that the first important step was to either fix or replace the back door to eliminate the wide gap at the bottom (and the ham-handed repairs of the previous owner). If you have mice, it seems, the first step to eliminating them is to cut off their points of entry. If you have any sort of holes in your house, it’s recommended that you stuff them with steel wool — apparently, mice don’t like the texture, so they won’t chew through it. Mice can enter the house through any hole larger than a US dime — like the yawning gap under our basement door.
Protect yourself against identity theft09Apr08
Identity theft is when someone uses, without permission, your personal information in order to commit any frauds or crimes. Identity theft is a felony that is becoming more and more common. That is because some of us are not very careful with personal information, making the job easier for those trying to steel our identity. We should always be careful with information like Social Security number, credit card number, birth date, employment information, driver’s license number, etc., because if they enter into the wrong hands the consequences can be very serious. People that have experienced identity theft spend months trying to repair what others have damaged, and in the meantime they cannot get a loan or lose a job opportunity or, sometimes, they can get arrested for something they didn’t do.
4/19/08
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