11.9 Percent Interest on Credit Union Credit Card

Today I went to the credit union at work to follow-up on previous blog that credit unions had better interest rate than do banks. Amazingly the articles that I've been reading are extremely accurate. Also, no penalties, and their rates are without regard to your BAD credit rating.

A friend of ours has Discover Card and their rate is 29.99 % not including penalties and other charges. Imagine having to pay only 11.9 % even on balance transfers up to $10,000. That's about 2/3 less. One could continue to pay what they were paying on that bank card (a.k.a. bad debit) and pay off that balance transferred in no time.

Discipline and consistency is the key though.

Credit Unions May Have Lower Interest Rates

The Credit Card Disclosure Act which goes into effect on Feb 22, 2010, prohibits raising the interest rates during the first year a credit card account is opened, ban interest rate hikes on existing balances and require promotional rates to last at least six months.

Congress gave the industry nine months to prepare for the changeover. Many banks, as expected, used this time to put the squeeze on their current customers and boost income from new cardholders.

My bank that I have been with for nearly 20 years, notified me by mail on Christmas eve. Angry, I thought I would check into credit untion rates and move all of my accounts as soon as possible. I'll post a blog on my findings soon.

You’d be smart to check a few credit unions. The Safe Credit Cards Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts compared credit cards issued by the largest credit unions to those from the biggest banks. Credit unions had both lower interest rates and lower penalty fees.

“The advertised interest rates were 20 percent below what they were at the banks and penalty fees were half as much,” says project director Nick Bourke.

You can compare rates at sites such as lowcards.com, bankrate.com, credit.com, cardratings.com and creditcards.com.

Free Credit Card Payment Calculator

I found this free credit card payment calculator on the web on procalcs.com .

Punch in the numbers and get shocked. Copy and paste all of the following link into your address field.

http://www.procalcs.com/credit-card-payoff-calculator.html?CURRENTBALANCE=%248%2C000.00&PAYMENT=%24200.00&INTERESTRATE=15.00&COMPUTE=COMPUTE&CALCULATORID=PC02&TEMPLATE_ID=www.procalcs.com_1&PostBack=true#results

Do something for 2010 and call the credit card company and ask them to reduce your interest rate.

I put in $8000 owed @ 29.99% interest and paying $200/month and it calculated that it would take about 26 years to pay off and $56,000 in interest over that time. These are real numbers that should prompt someone to address their spending.

Top things to Do In January to Start Your Year Off Right

Be specific with each goal.

1.) Contact your human resources department and make sure they have your home mailing address correct. They'll need to send you your W-2 for the tax year.

2.) Exercise at least 30 minutes each day.

3.) Update your beneficiaries for life insurance policies.

4.) Set your health goals for 2010.

5.) Set your financial goals for 2010.

6.) Schedule six month dental check-up.

7.) Schedule your 2010 preventive medical exams.

7 Steps To Overcome FEAR

7 Steps to Overcome Fear

Many times what keeps us from succeeding, or even starting something that will change our lives is FEAR. Eliminating debt, creating wealth, loosing weight, quitting smoking, exercising, etc., are avoided because of FEAR. We make excuses, but really it is FEAR.

Dani Johnson writes "7 Steps to Overcome Fear."

1. Doubt – don’t open the door or make an agreement with it. Make a decision whether you are going to agree with faith or agree with doubt.
2. Be 100% committed. Commitment destroys fear and doubt. Stay with your plan and fight through adversity.
3. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals, people with vision and dreams who are awake and stirred to do great things.
4. Keep yourself moving forward in action mode. Lack of action creates idleness which opens the door to fear.
5. Stay involved by plugging into tools that increase your skills and feed your belief system. Listen to conference calls and CD’s, attend seminars. Protect and feed the growth that you are experiencing.
6. Practice your core skill sets daily. Focus on your highest and best use of time, the activity that gets you the greatest results. If you’re in any kind of sales profession, that means spending most of your time attracting (advertising and interviewing) and talking (presenting) to new prospects.
7. Make the decision to never quit. Once quitting is not an option, there is no room for fear.

You can’t afford to live in fear. The future of our families and our nation are relying on you stepping up to your potential, taking action and building a future. Get the skill you need to get more and do more and you will fear nothing.

What Good is Wealth Without Health

What good is wealth if you aint got your health? If you are loaded with doe and can't walk through a Nordstroms or Gucci store to spend it, what good is your money? If you are loaded with doe and can't help others, what good is your money?

Health Tip - Make a few changes to your diet over time and make a big difference. Reduce your consumption of bleached white floor and bleached white sugar. Instead switch to organic.

Wealth Tip - Many poeple tend to save money in traditional very low interest generating instruments. A better option would be to eliminate debit with any extra money. It may not be wise to invest money at 2% to 4%, while paying on debit at 10% to 29.99%.

Famous Quotes

Famous Sayings

The richest people in the world look for and build networks. Every one else looks for work.