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The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.

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Carnival Roundup

Misc

I spent this week in my home town with my family: my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, kids, uncles, aunts, and some cousins from Tennessee that I don’t see often.

In the evenings, after the kids were put to bed, we played Cards Against Humanity: A Party Game For Horrible People.

If you are a horrible, dirty-minded person, with a sense of humor that would make your grandmother blush–and you have friends to match–get this game.   Then play it where you can’t wake up the neighbors.   Seriously, it’s more fun than a super soaker filled with cat pee.

Live Real, Now was included in the following carnivals recently:

Yakezie Carnival hosted by Write and Get Paid

Carnival of Money Pros hosted by I Am 1 Percent

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #39 hosted by My University Money

Carnival of Retirement #26 hosted by Write and Get Paid

Totally Money Carnival #72  hosted by MammaSaver

Festival of Frugality #342  hosted by Help Me to Save

Carnival of Money Pros hosted by Simple Finance Blog

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #38 hosted by My University Money

Yakezie Carnival – Summer Vacation Edition hosted by One Cent at a Time

Carnival of Retirement #24 hosted by Making Sense of Cents

Yakezie Carnival – Arachnophobia Edition hosted by See Debt Run

Carnival of Money Pros hosted by Broke Professionals

Totally Money Carnival #70 hosted by Young Adult Finances

Yakezie Carnival – Sushi Edition  hosted by Free Ticket to Japan

Festival of Frugality #340 hosted by See Debt Run

Carnival of Money Pros hosted by Financial Product Reviews

Yakezie Carnival – Birthday Edition hosted by 20’s Finances

Festival of Frugality #339   hosted by The Frugal Toad (My post was chosen as an editor’s pick!)

Thanks for including my posts.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great weekend!

Sunday Roundup: Varsity Punk

Misc

Löwenmaul
Image by stee via Flickr

I moved this roundup to Sunday to give myself a bit more time to track my weight-loss and push-up goals, since I weigh in on Saturdays.   Yesterday, however was super busy.  It was all good, but full.

Starting Friday:  After work, I rushed my oldest to the B-squad wrestling tournament, where he took first place in his weight bracket.  When I got home, I fell asleep almost immediately.

Saturday, we woke up and rushed to the varsity tournament.   It was his first time wrestling varsity.   Now, he wrestles for a youth league.  Participants vary from 3rd to 8th grades.    My son is 11, 5′ 7″, and 150 pounds.  Guess who he wrestles?  Almost exclusively eighth graders.  He lost both of his matches, but he put in a great showing.  He lasted a round and a half against the top-rated kid in his bracket and managed to get quite a few points.

After that, we rushed home, made dinner for some friends and went to a movie.   Red Riding Hood is worth seeing.   We got home at 1 and immediately fell asleep.   This is the first time I’ve had the computer on at home since Thursday night, other than to check movie times and prices.

30 Day Project Update

This month, I am trying to do 100 perfect push-ups in a single set.  I’m recording each session in a spreadsheet.  I am currently up to 91 in a set and 261 in a session, spread across 5 sets.  I’m expecting to be down in my next session, since I’ve totally slacked off the few days.

Weight Loss Update

I am on the Slow Carb Diet.   At the end of the month, I’ll see what the results were and decide if it’s worth continuing.   For those who don’t know, the Slow Carb Diet involves cutting out potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, and dairy in all their forms.   My meals consist of 40% proteins, 30% vegetables, and 30% legumes(beans or lentils).    There is no calorie counting, just some specific rules, accompanied by a timed supplement regimen and some timed exercises to manipulate my metabolism.   The supplements are NOT effedrin-based diet pills, or, in fact, uppers of any kind.  There is also a weekly cheat day, to cut the impulse to cheat and to avoid letting my body go into famine mode.

I’m measuring two metrics, my weight and the total inches of my waist , hips, biceps, and thighs.   Between the two, I should have an accurate assessment of my progress.

Weight: I have lost 40 pounds since January 2nd.   That’s 2 pound since last week.   I’ve dropped 7 pounds in March, while doing an insane amount of push-ups and packing on a few pounds of muscle.

Total Inches: I have lost  24 inches in the same time frame, down 1.5 inches since last week.   I’ve lost 7 inches each off of my waist and hips.   It’s time to go clothes shopping, which sucks.  I manage to avoid doing that for a year or more at a time, but now, my pants have stopped fitting.   When I cinch my belt to where it actually fits, my jeans have pleats.

Best Posts

The recording industry has sued Limewire for damages totaling more than the economic value of…Earth.

Making money line is easier when you’re not bing conned.  PT has a list of legit paying survey sites.

I’d love to raise chickens.  It’s technically allowed in my city, but only with a permit that the city refuses to issue.

LRN Timewarp

This is where I review the posts I wrote a year ago.  Did you miss them then?

I wrote Fall from Grace, a post about how and why I got into debt.

There was also a post on credit repair.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

You’re Gonna Die, Part 1 was included in the Totally Money Carnival.

Getting Out of Debt: The Prime Rule as included in Carnival of Personal Finance.

Financial Pet Peeve: Fees To Receive Paper Bank Statements was included in the Festival of Frugality.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

 

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What Can Cause Damage to Your Credit?

Business, Finance

Factors contributing to someone's credit score...
Factors contributing to someone’s credit score, for Credit score (United States). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Credit scores move up and down as new financial data is collected by the credit bureaus. Many factors can cause a credit score to rise or fall, but most people don’t have a clue what they are. Understanding what affects credit can help keep your number in a good score range, where it should be. But, even a bad score can recover more quickly than most people realize, even after a bankruptcy or default. Here are some factors that can help you understand why credit moves up or down:

Late Payments

About 30% of your score is made up from your payment history. This is comprised from things like credit card bills, auto loan payments, personal loans, and mortgages. At this time, bills like utilities or rent are not factored into your score, unless they are sent to a collection agency. If you are late to pay your credit card bill, it will show up on your credit file. One late payment will probably not have much of an effect, but a history of this over time can drop your score. It is very important to keep bill payment current as a courtesy to creditors and the benefit of your own financial history.

Credit Inquiries

One of the most misunderstood factors that can cause a credit score to drop are “credit inquiries”. An inquiry takes place anytime your credit is checked. This makes up 10% of your total score. What most people don’t know is that there are two different types of credit inquiries, “hard inquiries” and “soft inquires”. Only hard inquiries affect credit and happen when you apply for a new credit card, loan, or mortgage. Soft inquiries on the other hand happen when someone like an employer, landlord, or yourself check your credit report. These are not factored into your credit score at all. Hard inquiries are a necessary part of applying for a loan or credit, so an occasional inquiry will not cause damage. It can only cause problems if there are many hard inquiries in a short period of time. This can be a signal to creditors that you are in financial trouble and are desperately seeking cash.

Credit to Debt Ratio

Your total amount of available credit compared to the amount of credit you use each month, makes up your credit-to-debt ratio. FICO suggests that you use no more than 30% of your available credit before paying off your balance each month. For example if you have $10,000 of available credit spread across 3 different credit cards, the optimal amount to charge would be $3000 or less each month. Maxing out your credit cards can cause your score to drop even if you pay them off completely each month.

Age of Your Credit History

The length of time you have had an open credit account is a major factor of your credit score. It can help to open a credit card when you are younger by getting a co-signer. If you are the parent of a teenager, it may be helpful to open a credit card in their name, but only allow them to use it for emergencies. Having an open credit card in good standing for a long period of time can help build this history. The length of time that you have had credit makes up about 15% of your score.

Different Types of Credit

The last major factor that makes up about 10% of your score comes from the different types of credit that you use. These credit types include revolving, installment, and mortgage. The ability of an individual to successfully handle all of these credit types can show that they are financially well-rounded. This makes up about 10% of the total credit score.

About:
Ross is an investor and website owner.

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I just turned 2!

Misc

Update:  Over $500 in prizes!

Yesterday was my second anniversary here.   For the last two years, I have shared my thoughts, feelings, and finances three times a week and you have been there to watch and share as I figure out my financial future.

I appreciate it.

To show my appreciation, I’m giving stuff away.

Here are the prizes:

1 $100 prize

1 $75 prize

6 $25 prizes, courtesy of ThirtySixMonths, Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, Maximizing Money, Personal Finance Whiz, and Broke Professionals.

1 iPod Shuffle courtesy of Prairie Eco-Thrifter.

1 $25 Amazon gift card courtesy of Beating Broke.

A copy of each of the iPhone and iPad versions of the Pay Off Debt app from The Debt Myth

1 $20 Amazon gift card, courtesy of Money Crush.

1 $25 Starbuck’s gift card, courtesy of Mom’s Plans.

I’m also giving away some books, some of which have been lightly read.

Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey

Never Pay Retail by Sid Kirchheimer

Delivering Happiness (advanced reader copy) by Tony Hsieh

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

CreditCards.com Book of Cartoons

Women & Money by Suze Orman

To enter:

Follow the instuctions in the widget below.   Following me on Facebook, Twitter, RSS, or email will all earn entries.  Following any of the sponsors on Twitter of Facebook will earn you entries.   Tweeting about the giveaway as often as you like or linking to this page on your site will earn you entries.

There are lots of ways to enter and 16 prizes to win.

The drawing will be held on December 23rd, just in time to give you some cash before Christmas.

Good luck!

[Read more…] about I just turned 2!

Fixing Your Credit Report

Finance

Sometimes, negative things appear on your credit report.  Usually, they do a good job of maintaining

Credit card (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

accuracy, but mistakes do happen. The creditor or the reporting agency may screw up, or you may have your identity stolen.  If either of these situations are true, you’ll want to correct your credit report, making yourself eligible for lower rates on future credit and, occasionally, lowering the cost of things like auto insurance.

If you throw “credit repair” into Google, you get 18 million hits.   Most of those are either outright scams or hopelessly optimistic about what they can accomplish. As I said once before:

Credit Repair is almost always a scam. There are ways to get correct bad information removed from your credit report.  If the information is correct, those methods are illegal.   There are two legal methods to repair your credit.  First, stop generating bad credit.  Make your payments on time and eventually, the bad items will fall off.   Second, write letters disputing the actual incorrect items on your credit report.  There are no quick fixes, and anybody telling you different is flirting with a jail sentence, possibly yours.

There are ways to avoid the scammers.

  • Avoid advance-fee credit repair. If they are any good, you will pay for results, not intentions.  If they charge beforehand, they are already breaking the law.
  • If they insist they can erase the accurate, but negative information, run away.
  • If they tell you to dispute everything negative, even the accurate information, run away.
  • If they tell you to create a new credit identity, don’t just run, report them.  It’s a felony.

Legally, you cannot get valid information removed from your credit report.  Anyone who tells you differently is advocating a crime. However, according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you are entitled dispute incorrect records.

To verify the accuracy of your credit report, you need to see it.  You can get a free report if your credit is used to deny you for something.  This is known as an “adverse action” .  You have 60 days from the denial to request the report.  You can also get one free report from each of the major credit bureaus each year. I space out these requests so I see my credit report every 4 months.

If there is inaccurate information on your report, dispute it in writing.  Send a letter to the credit bureau that is reporting the error.  Explain the problem and politely demand an investigation.   They will contact the creditor, who usually has 30 days to respond.   In the meantime, send a dispute letter to the creditor, along with proof of the inaccuracy.  If the investigation does not go your way, the creditor will have to report the dispute status to the credit bureaus in the future.

If the negative items are accurate, there is only one way to get it off of your report legally:  Wait.    Most negative information can only be reported for 7 years, while a bankruptcy will be reported for 10.

Another way to build your credit in the face of negative credit is to start building good credit to overshadow the bad. Get a credit card.  Your first credit card from the bottom of the debt-barrel will probably be a gas card or a store-branded credit card.    That’s fine.  The main consideration is are low or nonexistent fees.   Don’t accept application fees, activation fees, fees for carrying a balance or fees for not carrying a balance.    Annual fees are becoming a fact of life, so look for low fees.   The interest rate does not matter.   You will be paying this card off immediately, meaning no less often that every two weeks.  Make sure every penny is paid during the grace period, and make sure your card comes with a grace period.   Some don’t.  Those are bad cards to get.

There are no quick fixes for bad credit, just good new habits and time.