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Congratulations! After being in debt for what probably seemed like an eternity, you are finally completely free from all debt. Now you’re probably wondering what you should do from here, right? A common problem for those newly freed from debt is what to do with their new found financial freedom.

Remember when you finally got out of your parent’s house and began your journey on your own? When you went out and did (in excess of course) all those things you could not do while under your parent’s roof? Just like that kind of behavior will land you right back in Mom and Dad’s basement, going overboard with your newfound money is a quick way to land you back in debt. If you

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Certain actions can negatively affect your credit score, such as hard inquiries, accounts in collections, tax liens, bankruptcies, and foreclosures. And these topics come up frequently in the Credit Advice center, a community-powered Q&A forum. Credit Karma users use the advice center to ask or answer questions all about credit scores, debt, credit cards, loans, and more.

Last week we hard credit inquiries and accounts in collections, and this week we’re discussing how negative actions with credit over-utilization and tax liens affect your credit score.

Here are responses to common questions about credit over-utilization and tax liens.

Credit Over-Utilization

• Credit card utilization has become a popular discussion topic since it is a simple way to impact your credit score. F

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It is beyond doubt that the credit report holds the key to any customer’s financial well being. This report plays an important role in all walks of life including finding a job, renting an apartment, obtaining car insurance and above all, while availing any type of loan from banks and financial institutions. All lenders today look into the credit report to establish the credit worthiness of the applicant and assess the risks they need to take if they approve the loan application.

It is imperative to ensure that all the information present on your credit report is accurate and updated at all times since this information is used to calculate your credit score. E

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Entrepreneurs play an essential role in reviving a dying economy in recession-stricken places and countries. Because business ventures give employment opportunities to many people, the government is more or less encouraged to fund aspiring entrepreneurs. But not everyone is lucky to have enough funding for their business. Some people have to shell out their own money—which is a major challenge for people who do not have deep pockets.

Credit cards can be a viable option for business-funding needs. It becomes better, more preferred alternative to bank checks because credit card payments are secured by the bank that issued that card. It is also convenient and usable in most stores nationwide, even worldwide. T

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Credit card Q&A: “Why are credit card rates going up?”

Thanks to recent legislation, credit card issuers have had to make adjustments to protect profit margins.

It started with the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, which stamped out a number of lucrative practices, including arbitrary interest rate increases, double-cycle billing, and negative payment hierarchy.

Shortly after came the so-called Credit Card Act II, which banned inactivity fees and barred credit card issuers from charging a penalty fee that exceeded the dollar amount of the associated misstep.

These changes, and a number of others, forced credit card companies to bump interest rates higher and do away with fixed rate credit cards.

Nowadays, most credit cards are variable, meaning the rate can change when the prime rate is changed, or for other reasons.

Additionally, credit card rates tend to be higher than they were a few years ago, meaning card holders are paying more in credit card finance charges if they carry a balance.

So what do you do to combat the higher credit card rates?

Well, if you must carry a credit card balance, consider executing a balance transfer, which allows you to move your high-APR debt to a 0% APR credit card.

Doing so could save you thousands of dollars that you’d be paying in the way of interest to the credit card issuers.

Most credit card interest rates start in the teens these days, and that’s for supposed low interest credit cards.

Standard credit card APR can be in the mid-teens to the 20% range or higher, meaning carrying a balance can be very expensive.

Balance transfer example:

If you were to move the debt via a balance transfer, you’d incur a $90 balance transfer fee, but you wouldn’t pay any interest for the first 18 months from the transfer date.

Put another way, you’d avoid roughly $50 in monthly finance charges (using simple math) for those 18 months, assuming your balance was steady.

That’s a huge savings, and illustrates why carrying a credit card balance doesn’t make a lot of sense. Fortunately there a

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Entrepreneurs play an essential role in reviving a dying economy in recession-stricken places and countries. Because business ventures give employment opportunities to many people, the government is more or less encouraged to fund aspiring entrepreneurs. But not everyone is lucky to have enough funding for their business. Some people have to shell out their own money—which is a major challenge for people who do not have deep pockets.

Credit cards can be a viable option for business-funding needs. It becomes better, more preferred alternative to bank checks because credit card payments are secured by the bank that issued that card. It is also convenient and usable in most stores nationwide, even worldwide. T

Read more…