As the economy gets better, I am beginning to see balance transfer offers in the mail more often. One of the best offers right now is the 0% balance transfer for 15 months from Citi Platinum Select MasterCard. Balance transfer is a tempting option if you’re in debt and want to transfer your balance from higher annual percentage rate credit cards to one with 0% interest for as long as 15 months. Or perhaps, you just want to put off paying for that big purchase for a few months, and be able to do so at your own pace without paying finance charges.

However, you have to be cautious when dealing with balance transfer offers. If used correctly, they are awesome. Sadly, most people just end up paying the balance transfer fee, accumulate more debt, and when the honeymoon is over, they still have the original debt they transferred. So, the first important thing is to make sure you don’t fall into this trap. If you feel unsure, you’re probably better off not doing the transfer even if the math made sense.

Balance Transfer Fee

If you decide to go for it, then makes sure the fee doesn’t end up costing you more than the interest payments. For example, the Citi Platinum card has a balance transfer fee equal to 3% of the amount of each transfer, but not less than $5 and not more than $99. If the finance charges on your current card are going to add up to more than $99, then it probably makes sense to transfer.

Adding New Debt to the Old

If you’re going to do a balance transfer, do yourself a big favor and put all of your credit cards away for the duration of the interest free period. The whole idea is to pay down your debt. If you keep making purchases with your charge card account, it’s very likely that you’ll put off paying down the transferred balance. Next thing you know, the interest-free period is over, the APR get jacked up, and you are back in the same shitty spot all over again…or worse.

Shop Around

Not all balance transfer credit cards are created equal. The offer I mentioned above is very good, but it’s in your best interest to shop around. Here’s a list of 0% balance transfer credit cards you can start off with, but if you can’t find the right card there then keep looking.

Your Credit Score

Before you get too excited about these offers, make sure you read the fine print. More often than not, the advertised offers are only available if you have a good credit score — don’t be surprise if the interest-free period is not as long as you thought it would be.

Also keep in mind that opening a new charge card account can temporarily lower your credit rating, as will closing your old accounts (it’s usually best to keep them open). This can affect your ability to borrow other money or find affordable insurance premiums. You should thoroughly assess your financial situation before you open a new account.

Pay On Time

Balance transfers often take a few weeks to complete. Remember you will need to pay at least the minimum payments on your current credit cards until the transfers go through. Once you have your new card, you’ll also have to make sure that you also pay on time. If you’re late with your payment even once, you can kiss your interest-free period goodbye and possibly end up in a very tough spot.

Overall, credit card account balance transfers could be beneficial — e.g., reduce your monthly minimum payments, help you pay off you debt faster, save you cash on finance charges, etc. But before you jump in with both feet, make sure you know what you’re doing.

Finally, when searching for the best credit card for balance transfers, make sure to use a reputable credit card comparison website like www.1-2-3-CreditCards.com. For these types of cards I would advise that you start with Discover credit cards or Chase cards

If you are not one of the elite few in the state that is able to splurge on hundreds of thousands of dollars for a summer vacation in Europe, you are perhaps keeping notice of much money is going in and out of your wallet. If the average individual is aware of her or his spending habits, you can be rest ensured that financial institutions like credit card organizations and Credit card lawsuit are as well. When things begin to fall through the cracks and you start spending way more than you get, then you end up in a mountain of debt. When you can’t allow to pay a substantial amount of debt, you could be summoned to court by a collection company
. The process usually unfolds as follows:

First Hearing

You may have known the story from a friend of a friend, and are now puzzled that it is happening to you. You get mail or a phone call calling you to court for a payment that you have long thought forgotten. In exchange for panicking, especially if the quantity due is large, here are several items to pay attention to. First, is the mail authentic? Be sure that the court summon has a court address, otherwise it may be an forgery and you may end up needless worrying yourself for a payment that is not really yours to make.

So, you realize that the summon is actual and you really do have unpaid bills to a credit card collection agency. The one decision that a court is able to really perform is to favor the side of the creditor. There is no real profit being present in the hearing, as nothing you can say will make a real debt pass by. Just wait for the mail and follow up on the payment.

Second Hearing

Let’s imagine you fail to keep to the payment plan outlined by the court hearing. You will get another summon, and this one you are not allowed to miss. At this hearing, the court will dispute the reasons why you didn’t pay. With no a proper defense your financial future is at risk.

The Escape

So, how could you avoid the collection agency credit card court summons altogether? You could consult with the creditor and try to pay a less amount up front and whole. For most creditors, chasing after you through the legal scheme is already a clear-cut sign of their determination to get you to pay up. Try to reduce the burden, especially if you stay in a permanent financial crisis.

Fetch realistic recommendations in the sphere of retirement investing – please make sure to go through the web site. The time has come when proper info is really only one click of your mouse, use this chance.

Why It’s Important to Invest in Health

In order to save money, you must be willing to spend money on your health.

Spend money to save money? To many people, this sounds counterproductive at first – how can spending be conducive to saving? They seem to be at odds. However, one of the best (and often overlooked) ways of saving money down the road is to invest in preventative measures to avoid or reduce future expenses. It’s actually more common than you might realize…let’s look at some examples.

• Medical Insurance (in applicable countries)
  Rather than be slammed with $10,000 in hospital bills if something bad happens to them, most people are willing to pay a monthly fee (some even hundreds of dollars per month) so the the major bill is already paid if and when anything bad were to happen.
• Doctor Visits
  Rather than finding out about a disease or health condition when it’s too late and/or unbelievably costly to fix it, most people will heed their doctor’s recommendations to get a physical regularly, even though they’ll need to pay for the office visits.
• Computer Backups
  Rather than lose all their data and have to pay for expensive data recovery services, many people will invest in some sort of backup solution for their electronic data, whether that involves buying external hard drives and doing it themselves or hiring a computer expert to regularly conduct backups for them.

Clearly, spending money on preventative measures to save money in the long run is a much more commonplace practice then it might seem at first. It’s one of our basic principles at The Saving Blog and something we’ll often suggest.

Today, we’re recommending that people invest (and it doesn’t have to cost much) in taking care of their health – through preventative health measures, preventative wellness, and preventative nutrition. In addition to regular visits to the doctor, it’s important to take these other steps to avoid problems from arising later. Here are some of our suggestions:

• Take a MultiVitamin
  Chances are you’ve already heard this somewhere. But seriously, this is one of the least expensive investments you can make, and it will ensure that you’re getting all the nutrients you need. Even with a healthy diet, you might be lacking in certain nutrients and minerals, and not even aware of it, which can lead to malnutrition and other complications down the road. With our recommended MultiVitamin costing only 12.5 cents a day, this one’s a no-brainer. Click here to order it now.
• Buy Filtered Water (or invest in water filtration)
  While this may have slightly higher up-front costs, don’t let that deter you. In addition to chlorine, there are tons of other potential poisons in your drinking water. It’s fairly inexpensive to buy multi-gallon containers of filtered water at a local supermarket. If you’d rather filter your own water, at minimum, run it through a pitcher filter before you drink it. Be sure that you buy the appropriate filtration for your type of water. Ideally, invest in a larger filtration system that can also filter the water you cook with and bathe in as well.
• Stick to Water
  This isn’t even an investment – it will save you money now! But while we’re on the topic of water, don’t drink other garbage like soda pop and sugary juices (or at the very least, not regularly). All these are less healthy for you than water and are very poor ways to spend your money, especially if you’re hoping to avoid future medical bills.
• Buy Less-Processed Foods
  This is for two reasons. First, the more “whole” a food is, the more filling it will be, and therefore, you’ll go longer before getting hungry again. Don’t believe me? Try it yourself. In addition, it’s basically common knowledge that many of the preservatives and processing agents commonly used in today’s processed foods are terrible for your health. So make a healthy choice and get more value out of the money you’re paying for food.
• Kick Unhealthy Habits Now
  What are some of the unhealthy habits you’ve developed that are costing you money and health? Smoking? Fast food? Addicted to sweets? Even if you need to invest in products now to help you break these habits (nicotine gum for example), you’ll almost assuredly save money down the road. Spend the money and kick your bad habits now so you don’t throw away money indulging on them for the rest of your life.

Hopefully these suggestions have given you some good ideas on ways you can invest wisely in taking care of your health now to avoid future health-related costs down the road. Remember, almost any investment you make to your health will almost always pay off later. So here’s to your health…and future savings!