In these trying times, with so many Americans being laid off, hours cut, salaries froze, investments lost, mortgage challenges and so much more, I’m often asked, “How can I make some money?” Months of research have led to 5 ways that the average American can raise money with the least impact on their family. Sure the simple answer of get another or part time job may work for some but not all. In one case a woman taking on a part time job, after paying gas and child care was only brining home under $100 a month. There has to be a better way that allows her to be home with the kids and still bring in at least $100 a month.

If you need some cash quick or want a little extra each month try the following suggestions:

1. Sell Your Talents: We all have talents that others could use and make us money at the same time. A friend recently shared how she started to bring in an extra $80 a week by giving piano lessons. A neighbor of hers had to cut back on their children’s piano lessons, the place they were taking lessons at required a certain amount of lessons a week and they could only afford half of what was required. So my friend is now giving lessons to her neighbor and others in the sub division. Others have started mending clothes, repairing cars, typing resume’s and the most interesting sell of a talent is a previous student who is making money helping people make money by handling their sale items on line (see number 2). What talent do you have that can bring in a few extra dollars?

1. Sell Your Stuff: With the technology we have today you could have a good old fashion garage sale without ever leaving your home. Selling on E Bay could turn into a part time business, or you can simply sell the items you no longer need. I had a client that made over $3,000 selling collectibles she no longer wanted to dust; she said that the proceeds covered almost six months of groceries. I met a man a year ago that sold an old comic book collection, the price he got for that collection allowed him to pay off his mortgage. Yes, pay off his mortgage. If you are not internet savvy you can go with the traditional garage or yard sale to make some extra money.

1. Sell Your Time: Instead of a part time job, what about a temporary job. Substitute teaching, census work, or utilizing the service of a temp agency. Many folks work on the days they want, at the times good for their families and bring in $100-$600 a week doing temp work. Recently an owner of a healthcare temp agency shared how they are struggling to find people to fill temp positions. Make the call; see what you can find to meet your time and family’s needs. Check out usajobs.gov for areas looking for census workers. Call your local schools to see if they need substitute teachers many schools now do all the scheduling right on line so the control of your schedule is at your fingertips.

1. Start a Business: Even a business at part time hours can bring in a few hundred dollars a month. Maybe that talent of yours that you thought only friends and family members would pay for can turn into a small business. The owner of the healthcare temp agency I mentioned took her knowledge and years of experience and bought an existing business that is now booming, even in this economy. A graphic designer earns enough each month to pay his monthly mortgage payment from his small marketing business. If you choose this way to raise money, just make sure you do it right. Take a class or the very least read a book on starting a business and make sure you create a business plan. Many local community colleges have departments that provide assistance, mentoring, networking, etc. to new business owners at minimal to no cost.

1. Check your taxes: If your income was greatly reduced over the last year, you could get some of the tax dollars back that you paid in previous years by averaging out your income; this requires you consulting with a good tax preparer/accountant. A few realtors I know are taking advantage of the income averaging, since two years ago they sold more housed then they could count and in 2008 they sold less than a handful. While you are there have them check your deductions one too many is cash you could be getting every payday.

There’s always ways to save money, by cutting costs but sometimes we need to increase the money coming in just to make ends meet, looking into these different options can bring in that needed cash. The key so many people are looking for is way to do it with minimal cost to their family and children in terms of time away from them. Anyone one of these suggestions can work for you. We all have those “gotta have” items we paid premium dollars for that now can make us some money and we have options that will allow the time required to be what’s convenient for us and our families. Utilizing just one of these suggestions can help you get the cash you need

Sherry Ridge
http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-finance-articles/i-need-cash-5-ways-to-raise-money-734736.html

1. Pay your bills first: It’s important to put the money aside to pay your bills as soon as you get paid. That way you will be sure to have enough money to pay them. Don’t go out and buy things, not even groceries until you’ve put the money aside for your bills. Most of your day to day expenses are likely to have some flexibility in them, you can limit how much you spend on coffee a day or buy a less expensive cut of meat, but the power company wants all their money.

2. Make your payments on time: Every late payment can hurt you, and in more than one way. Many utility companies report your payments to the credit reporting agencies, so ahistory of late payments can hurt your credit score. It also costs you more if you pay late. Late fees may be small but when you’re working on reducing debt, every dollar counts. Three dollars a month in late payment charges on three bills works out to over a hundred dollars a year.

3. Write down what you spend: Managing and paying down debt is all about taking control of your money. You can’t control what you don’t know, so it’s important to keep a journal of how much you are spending and what you’re spending it on. Do it before you make your budget and you’ll be able to see what you really do spend money on, rather than guessing and coming up short because you forgot to account for something when you wrote up the budget.

4. Know your credit report: Your credit report is your scorecard in the fight against bad credit. If you don’t know where you stand it’s hard to move forward. Most countries let consumers see their reports for free at least once a year. Take advantage of this, you might find a debt on there that you already paid which wasn’t reported to the agency. Reports of unpaid debts can really hurt your credit, so it’s important to make sure those are accurate.

5. Pay creditors who report to agencies first: Some creditors report each payment you make to credit reporting agencies, while others only report information if they send your debt to an outside collection agency. If you have to postpone one of your bills past the due date, it’s always better for your credit score (all else being equal) if you pay the one that reports regularly as it will have the biggest impact on your credit score.

6. Pay your bills when you have the money: don’t wait until the due dates: A lot ofpeople think the due date on a bill is the day you are supposed to pay it, not the day by which the creditor wants to have received the money. Paying bills as soon as you get paid removes the temptation to take some of the money back to spend on something else. Once it’s gone, so is the temptation to take the money and spend it elsewhere.

7. Ensure your creditors notify credit agencies when bills are paid: If you do have unpaid bills, it’s important not only to pay them but also to make sure those payments are reported to the credit agencies, otherwise those payments won’t help repair your credit. Talk to the creditor about this, and if necessary don’t hesitate to follow up with the credit reporting agency yourself.

8. Always pay something: Even if you can’t pay all of your bills at one time, always make a payment of some kind on each bill. This not only shows your good faith to the creditor by proving that you are not ignoring the debt, but it also reduces the amount you’ll have to pay when the next bill comes due. If one month is hard to pay now, two months will be harder to pay in future. Making partial payments helps reduce the effect of late payments piling up on each other.

9. Make a budget: Budgeting is an important part of controlling your money. It helps you see the big picture and gives you a plan with defined steps to focus on. It moves the what of reducing your debt and improving your credit into a plan of attack. Budgeting is the how of debt reduction, it’s where you write down the plan you’re going to follow to get your finances under control. You have to start somewhere, and budgeting is a good place to start.

10. Save your pennies and other coins: It’s amazing how much money we carry around as loose change in our pockets, and it’s money we often don’t think of as money. Half the time it gets spent on a candy bar because we’re bored rather than anything one needs. Turn it into an asset by dumping your change into a jar every night once you get home. It’s amazing how fast it will add up, and that’s money that can be used for emergencies, or to pay down a debt that suddenly jumped to the top of the pile.

11. Communicate with lenders: This is one many debtors ignore. Your creditors only want your money, and most of them are more than happy to work with you so long as they get their money in the end. The catch is that you have to keep them in the loop. Telling them what’s going on and offering payment plans helps convince them that you’re not planning to default on the debt. Yes they want their money, but that doesn’t mean you have to put them in an adversarial role.

12. Know your rights: Both debtors and creditors have rights, but creditors are usually much more aware of their rights than debtors are. Knowing your rights gives you as a debtor a way to deflect harassing collection calls and a measure of control in the situation. It also lets you tell when an overzealous collection agent is making threats they can’t back up.

13. Set goals: Every task needs milestones, something to let you feel you’re progressing and prevent the enormity of the situation from becoming overwhelming. Repairing yourcredit and reducing debt is no different. Setting manageable goals like paying off one credit card within a year will help keep you focused and moving forward on debt reduction. If you’re looking to build credit, getting a credit card within a year is a good goal. It doesn’t matter what the goal is so much as making sure it’s attainable and working towards it.

14. Leave some money for extras: No matter how much debt you’re carrying, always make sure to put some money in the budget for extras and entertainment. Yes there are free alternatives to entertainment, but never having money for treats such as a five-shot Mocha, a night at the movies or a new book or CD is sure to frustrate you and get you off your budget. Put in some money, not a lot, but enough so that you can treat yourself on occasion and it will be a lot easier to stay on your budget.

15. Pay cash: Don’t buy things with the swipe of a card if you can avoid it. Pay cash before using debit or credit. The thing about debit and credit payments is that the expenditure is invisible so you don’t really notice how much you’re spending. If you pay cash you have a much better feel for how much money you are spending which lets you keep more control of your money.

16. It’s not a good deal if it’s more than you can afford: How many times have you gone into a store and seen a ten-pound bag of something at only twice the price of the two poundbag? It may be a great deal, but it’s not always a good buy. Remember, you’re still spending more money, and that has to come from somewhere. Also, if you’re not going to use it all before it goes bad you might find you’ve bought ten pounds and thrown away eight- and then you’re wasting money. Buy based on your needs, not just how good the deal looks.

17. Pay off high rate cards first: If you’ve got two credit cards that you need to pay off, take the one with the higher interest rate and pay it off first while making the minimum payment on the other card. Interest is lost money, so the faster you pay off the card with the higher interest the more debt you’re losing for the same amount of money spent. Even a 2% difference in credit card interest rates can make a huge difference.

18. Consolidate your loans: Loan consolidation is a great tool if you have access to it. If you can get all your debts combined into one monthly payment you’ll often find you’re paying everything off much sooner. Not only will a bank often give you a lower interest rate than credit cards, which means more of your money is going to reduce the debt rather than just service it, but making a single payment is usually cheaper than writing out half a dozen checks every month.

19. Cut up your credit cards: An important part of getting out of debt is making sure you don’t incur more debt, and this is where cutting up your credit cards comes in. You can’t cancel the account before you pay it off, but cutting up the card makes you that much lessable to use it, especially if the CVN on the back isn’t on your statement. Then you won’t even be able to use it online. Part of taking control is reducing temptation.

20. Ask to have your credit limit lowered: Credit cards are useful to have, but it’s important to stay out of trouble when using them. One way to keep control of your credit card spending is to keep a low limit like $500 on the card to make it that much harder to get into trouble. If you get a card with a high limit and are concerned you’ll run it up and not be able to pay, call the company and see if you can get the limit lowered to something you can keep ahead of.

stephan clingman
http://www.articlesbase.com/debt-consolidation-articles/20-ways-to-decrease-your-debt-716286.html

In a sense, the entrance to SFGT is a window into the person who leads the company, Dudley Fitzpatrick, CEO. Open the big front door of the old town house on Walnut Street and the first thing you notice is three old stone steps. Couldn’t they afford new steps?Then you see the second door. It’s all glass and through it you see the modern reception room,the classic furniture, the attractive receptionist and the small oriental rug in the center of the beautiful wood floor. “I get it,” you think to yourself.

When you meet Dudley and chat with him, you really get it. He’s a traditionalist, like the steps and the beams on the ceiling. He’s confident and assertive, like the stately furniture and the offices themselves. He’s tasteful, like the oriental rug and like the conference room on the fifth floor. You go there for the interview after a trip on the modern elevator.

And Dudley’s a trip.

This is a man who knows where he’s going, who wants to do it the right way, who has strong feelings about his beloved business. Notice that I didn’t say “his beloved advertising business.” He has different views about that way of looking at the business of marketing and advertising.

Life and career are quite different than he would have anticipated when he graduated from Miami University in Ohio. He got a degree in Mass Communication even though he says he went there primarily “to play hockey.” While there, he discovered that “movies were more fun” and decided that he would like to write movies. Off to New York, he “bummed around for over two years” trying to connect in the film business and finally had to get a steady job.

He decided to settle for “30 second movies” and he landed a job in the creative department of one of New York’s biggest agencies, now known as Ammirati Puris Lintas. There, he worked exclusively on television and participated in network spots for Heineken, Diet Coke, Lysol and Mennen.

The agency was account-service dominated which influenced his firm belief that “strategy and creative are really the same thing.” That is an idea which continues to drive his work and the agency’s intentions.

While in New York, he was recruited to a Los Angeles agency, Dancer Fitzgerald-Sample. He took the job and became their youngest ever vice president but he admits that he probably took it because making movies still had some intrigue for him. At D-F, he worked on their efforts to get accounts to supplement their Toyota business. The agency landed Pioneer Electronics which became one of his proudest successes. His campaign, “Catch The Spirit of a True Pioneer,” led Pioneer to great success.

Dudley created and produced the first music-video commercial in the industry for his client, Pioneer. It was a takeoff on West Side Story. Because it reflected the social realities of that era, it was selected to be part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s Cultural Mores Section.

Both Dudley and his wife, Tanice, were raised in New Jersey. They live there now, in Pennington, with their three children: Aubrey, Drew and Tess. The two older children go to The Lawrenceville School, Dudley’s alma mater. The proximity to New Jersey was one of the reasons he responded to an opportunity at Lewis Gilman and Kynett (now Tierney Communications.)

He was very impressed by the quality of LG&K’s work. As vice president and group creative director, he participated in what he calls their “glory years” but was one of the victims of one of their many top management changes.

He and a good friend at LGK, Bob Schell, were both let go with quite limited severance. Fortuitously, they were contacted by Herr’s Potato Chips which offered themthe account if they wanted to start an agency. That was in 1992, the beginning of what is now SFGT. Herr’s was with them for 12 productive years. Today, the agency has 30 people and serves eight accounts. Interestingly, two of their accounts, Tylenol and Sunoco, are deeply involved in NASCAR racing.

Dudley feels that their work with NASCAR is one example of why he prefers not to be thought of as a traditional advertising agency. He insists that the agencies which rely primarily on “advertising” for success are on the wrong track. His vision calls for an agency which is deeply involved in all aspects of a client’s marketing communications activities. For SFGT’s clients, NACAR is one (important) ingredient in all-inclusive programs for the clients’ core consumer markets, for clients’ public relations focus and for clients’ employee pride.

When asked about the account he is most proud of, he winces and reminds me that he’s proud of every account. Prodded, he volunteers that he is particularly proud of the work SFGT did for the opening of the Constitution Center. His feelings of patriotism seem to be reflected in the positioning they created for the Center, “The Freedom To Be You. It All Starts With The Constitution.”

Oddly, he says that the “dumbest” and the “smartest” things he ever did in business are actually the same thing. “The smartest thing I ever did was to surround myself with my two partners: Sarah Lenhard, Managing Director and head of Account Service and Dan Reeves, Managing Director and Executive Creative Director.” The dumbest thing? “Not bringing them on board sooner.”

That supports his conviction that the toughest part of the ad business is finding, hiring, nurturing and growing with good people. He worries about that because he finds it difficult to find candidates with outstanding talent, valuable experience and a good cultural fit. He also worries about the possibility that good clients may be losing confidence in agencies. He says, “Agencies have to be emotionally able to have complete confidence in themselves in order to be secure enough to warrant meaningful collaboration from clients and in order to provide optimal service.”

Dudley Fitzpatrick is confident. It’s apparent. Think about the old stone steps leading into the agency. Sure, they could afford something new but “old” has character and character is what he wants to project. It’s apparent when you take the elevator to the spiffy conference room on the fifth floor. That’s another, positive message to visitors. It’s apparent when you hear his straight forward answers to direct questions. Yes, Dudley Fitzpatrick is confident about his agency, about his vision of the business he’s in and about himself.

Malcolm Brown
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/profiles-of-the-powerful-advertising-exec-dudley-fitzpatrick-10487.html

Applying for home loans can be a difficult and time consuming task that is rewarded with joy and elation once you are finally in your perfect home. But, there are some obstacles that can stand in your way unless you are on the lookout for them and know how to get them out of your way, so that you can be a home owner.

The trouble can begin when mortgage companies look at your credit report when trying to qualify you for home loans. Due to the monitoring services offered by the credit reporting agencies (I.e. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion), a collection agency can know when you are shopping for home loans, so that they will know exactly when to place a collection on your credit report (even collections that are not rightfully yours). By putting these true or false collections on your report right before you close on a home, they can force you to pay it because you may not be able to finalize your home loan until the claim is taken care of.

This tactic usually robs you of your disputing rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), because you are forced to choose between buying your home or challenging the account (which can take up to 30 days). Fortunately, if you have proof that an inaccuracy was the cause for a home loan denial you can go after the credit reporting agency for damages, but most consumers are not credit savvy enough to realize when they have an inaccuracy or when this inaccuracy has caused them to be denied credit.

So, how can you stop this before you pre-qualify for home loans? Some people go shopping for ‘fake’ home loans before they actually go shopping for real home loans. You can easily do this from home, without wasting the time of a home loan representative, by getting quotes from websites such as lendingtree.com. This way, if a collection company is monitoring your report, they will pop up when they see inquiries from the ‘fake’ home loans on your report. You can then take the necessary steps to validate the account before you shop for home loans. If the debt can be validated, you will know that you need to pay it before you really go shopping for home loans. If the debt cannot be validated, it will be removed form your reports. If you choose to do this, you should go shopping for your ‘fake’ home loans about 6 months before you plan to do your real home loan shopping.

Although this may seem like a tactic that is unnecessary, it is very common for debts to pop up on ones credit report while they are in the midst of shopping for home loans, because it is a guaranteed pay day for collection companies who otherwise may have no proof that you owe a debt. They would likely not hold this account for many month or years, waiting for you to apply for a home loan, if they could easily validate the debt. Even if you think you have no outstanding debts, there may be a company out there who thinks you do. Using this method, before you start shopping for home loans, will be better for your wallet than paying off a debt that was ran up by someone else.

anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/what-to-watch-out-for-when-you-are-applying-for-home-loans-72086.html

Finding a reputable credit repair agency to help you repair your credit is typically not an easy task. You will need to utilize as many resources as you possibly can at your fingertips and you will need to compare companies before making a decision to go with the right one.

A credit repair agency typically asks for a small fee up front or a nominal fee to be worked into the length of time it will take to pay off your debt. Some credit repair agencies go ahead and pay your debt off immediately and then you owe them money for a certain length of time. Many times the interest or equal amount of fees for this type of service cost more than nominal and at times can be unrealistic. Making sure you read all of the information on a contract and equally understand the entire process of what the company will be doing for you before signing or dating any type of contract.

Many credit repair agencies are only out to get your money and they are not really there to help you; the consumer. Getting the most money in their own pockets by charging you fees is one way that they utilize their services to get money from their victims.

While you are looking for a reputable credit repair agency, you need to ask them some hard questions about what they are going to be doing with your money and how and when they are going to be paying off your debt if at all.

Many time credit repair companies claim they will be helping you with your credit report to repair your credit rating when in fact they are doing nothing but monitoring your credit report. At this time you are still responsible for making all of your remaining payments on time and paying off your debt in a timely manner. The credit repair agency may only be available to watch for discrepancies on your report and they will not be assisting you in any way to clear items off of your credit report.

If a company insists that they can wipe away bad debt from your credit report or remove old judgments and bankruptcies they are mistaken. Many debts, unless disputed for valid reasoning can remain on your credit report for up to seven years or more even if they are paid off. If an item on your credit report has been paid off and it has been over seven years and it is showing as a collection account or an open account, you need to contact the company directly and also the credit reporting agency so that they can investigate further and proceed to remove the negative information from your credit report to repair your credit.

When choosing a credit reporting agency to repair your credit, you always need to make sure they have been in business for at least five or more years. If they do not have a location that you can physically visit or they move around a lot, this should be a red flag for you to not choose this company. By having your facts in perspective you can make a wise choice about deciding which credit repair agency to work with.

Joseph Feross
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-to-find-a-reputable-credit-repair-agency-708165.html

As you may know, there is a federal law that governs the types of actions or conduct a collection agency may take part in during the collection of a debt. The law is known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and it sets forth both protections for you the consumer and strict guidelines that the collector must follow.

For starters, the FDCPA sets forth that debt collectors may contact you by mail, telephone, fax or telegram, but may only do so at reasonable times, i.e. after 8 a.m. or before 9 p.m.

The Act further sets out that within five days after you are first contacted, the collector must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money that you allegedly owe; the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money; and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money.

Per the FDCPA, a collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you are first contacted, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. (This is known as a dispute). However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed.

The Act also sets forth that if you have an attorney, the debt collector may not contact anyone other than your attorney (provided that you give the debt collector the attorney’s contact information). If you do not have an attorney, a collector may contact other people, but only to find out where you live and work if they do not already have that information. Collectors usually are prohibited from contacting third parties more than once. In most cases, the collector is not permitted to tell anyone other than you and your attorney that you owe money or any type of debt.

If you believe that a debt collector has violated the FDCPA, you have the right to sue that collector in a state or federal court within one year from the date that you believe the law was violated. If you win, you may recover money for the damages that you suffered, including Court costs and attorney’s fees. It is also recommended that you contact your state Attorney General’s office to file a complaint, and to likewise file one with the Federal Trade Commission.

Greg Artim
http://www.articlesbase.com/national,-state,-local-articles/fair-debt-collection-practices-act-677038.html

Anderson Financial Network or AFNI for short is a collection company. They collect for numerous companies, but one of their largest clients is Verizon. Amongst other things, AFNI have been known to try to collect on debts that are too old to legally collect on. Once a collection runs through its statute of limitations, the debt can no longer legally be collected on.

AFNI is classified as a junk debt buyer. A Junk debt buyer buys portfolios of old, sometimes past statute of limitations, debts for pennies on the dollar. Once they own these debts they practice less than desirable means to try and collect on them. They will send threatening letters, place new collections on your credit reports and call harassing you. They have even been known to call your relatives or your workplace to try and collect the debts. If AFNI is harassing you please make yourself familiar with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Perhaps the best weapon you can have for your defense would be the debt validation letter. You must demand that the collection agency validates, or proves the validity of the debt. If they cannot provide you with any sort of proof such as a contact then they must stop trying to collect. Usually, they will try to just send you a “statement” or even an itemized printout!

Consumers are urged to demand validation of all debts from a bottom feeder because the majority of them have nothing to back up their claims. By demanding debt validation, you are utilizing your rights under the FDCPA to make the collection agency prove that they own your debt. It’s not enough for them to send you an itemized statement or printout of the debt. Section 809 of the FDCPA specifically talks about debt validation and your rights.

If AFNI collection agency is reporting on your credit reports I suggest contacting Lexington Law Firm. They have helped over 600,000 clients remove negative items from their credit reports.

Shayne A Sherman
http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/afni-collection-agency-dealing-with-the-devil-709839.html

A collection agency is saying in their letter,"If you pay us by check or check by phone, your transaction will be converted to an ACH". Which from what i understand is automatic bill pay. They give my no other option of payment other than online which says the samething on the site. Is this legal for them to do? I can’t see how it would be.

No…No…No…..This means that you will give them unlimited access to your checking account….DO NOT do this! This is like giving the keys to your front door to burglar. In almost every case, when you give debt collectors your checking account numbers, it invariably leads to disaster in the form of negative checking account balances and hundreds of dollars worth of overdraft fees…creating a completely separate problem for you.

Tell them that you will ONLY pay via USPS money orders. If they give you a nasty attitude about this, state that following:
I am officially documenting that you are refusing a legal method of payment. I will be following up with documentation in a certified letter to your office regarding refusal to accept payment.
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How old is this debt…when did you default and last make payment on it? Is it credit card debt?

My house is in foreclosure. I was just wondering if a collection agency can garnish my salary if I am under foreclosure? Does anyone has gone through it? Is that true?
So if they do go through the court system and get authorized, they can do it? How will I know this is happening?

These are 2 different things. If you are in foreclosure this means you have not satisfied the terms of the loan and the lender’s option to recover his assets, the property, is to foreclose.
On the other side if you have other debts which were not backed by real estate property, the creditor, can obtain a judgment and then garnish your wages, and even attach this debt to the real estate property and be included in the additional defendants in the foreclosure case.

To be aware what’s going on with your case check the court docket for the latest changes and whether there is a new defendant included in the stated ones initially.

In law gets an annuity check each month and thinks this collection agency is going to get her government check. Can this happen?

If the collection agency first gets a court judgment, they can attach bank accounts. They cannot directly intercept a Social Security check.