Thursday, March 20, 2008

Avoid Insurance Risk


Most people are inviting trouble regarding their insurance cover by not providing genuine information while applying for it, according to the recently published Sainsbury's Finance research.

Around 1.12 million people have accepted that they deliver false information intentionally, whereas some 12.59 million people admitted that they would just make a guess while applying for an insurance policy. And this way people do invite a lot of trouble when the bank urges them to make sure that the information that they give are correct, and if unsure of the exact details, they ought to take time & check it. Also, providing false information could make an insurance policy invalid at any point of time. There are insurers who would demonstrate leniency even if there are inaccuracies that are unintentional.

According to a survey, it has been found that Home Insurance is at the top in the dishonest list. Almost 18% people with home insurance have confessed that they gave false information, whereas 15% people with car insurance accepted of delivering false details and this was followed by another 2 insurance segments i.e. travel and pet insurance with 12% and 4% respectively. Also the survey disclosed that the people have different reasons for giving inaccurate information. Another fact which had influenced a lot is their lack of time to check their personal information while applying. This is further affected by the reason that it takes a longer time to accumulate the correct information (according to 8%) as also their wish to obtain a lower premium or save their pocket (according to 4%).

Steve Johnson, Head of Insurance at Sainsbury's Finance suggests that its better to take time and provide accurate details while applying for a policy. People can use online facilities like applying online, retrieve online quotes and modify details if required.

So guys avoid insurance risk and keep yourself tension free from now onwards.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Nine Credit Card Safety Tips

I hope all of you are holding credit cards. Here are some points which are very much important for all credit card holders, so spare your valuable time to read them and save your credit card from all unexpected incidents:

credit-cards-safety-tips

1) Keep all your important documents like credit cards, passports and bank statements etc. in a secured and locked place.

2) Note down all your credit cards, bank account numbers and related phone numbers in your small personal notebook, so that you can inform immediately in case of your credit card loss or theft.

3) Try using one credit card, if necessary then you can use one for your business purpose and one for personal use, also keep checking your both accounts weekly.

4) Write the "Check ID" instead of signing on your credit cards.

5) Avoid giving out any sensitive information like pin no., password, account no., SSN through email. For this purpose directly drop in the website. Also do not give out your Drivers License Number and Date Of Birth until it is necessary.

6) Use secured and locked mail boxes while sending or receiving mails.

7) Never use a debit card or Visa/Master Check card, since recovering deceitful accessed funds from these accounts can be extremely troublesome.

8) You should limit your checks information to your first initial, last name and address, not more than that.

9) Note down these 3 websites www.experian.com, www.equifax.com, www.transunion.com and visit for details about establishing and to report initial fraud alerts on your credit reports.

I would like all my readers to view this funny commercial on Credit Cards:

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Worried about your debt ! Want to get out of it? Read................

pay off debt,debt free,debt consolidation

In America, almost all house holders are under the debt trap, whether its small or big in size. And they find it difficult, when they have to pay off other expenses like mortgage, credit card, and car payment. And this would cause them to get pushed into the debt cycle and thus consume a fair share of their monthly income.
There are several debt consolidation companies available in the market, which assure you to get rid of your debt easily. But it would be good if you try it out yourself first.

1) Evaluate your debt:
First you have to find, how much debt you owe? The amount varies from person to person. If the finance onhousing debt is more than 20% on your total monthly income, then it is the case of over-extension. And if you are one of them then do not panic.

2) Set up a monthly budget:
Take a pen and paper, and note down your monthly incomes and household expenses every day. At the end of the month, sum-up the expenses, and divide them into 2 categories necessary espenses (e.g. food, utilities, rent) and unnecessary expenses (e.g. entertainment and meals out). Now you have the clear picture of your spendings. Try to cut unnecessary expenses as much as you can.

There are some more ways to reduce unnecessary expenses like bringing food from home instead of going out to the restaurant at the lunch time. Even you can reduce some transportation costs by leaving your personal car at home and opting for public transportation, which would save the car parking costs. This will certainly help you to find the way your money flows. You can save some bucks from your utility costs than before e.g. you may turn off the lights when not needed or try to make less long distance calls etc.

3) Pay-off your debt:
Now onwards every month, you can save some bucks, which you can use to pay-off your debt. But here you have to analyze whom to pay-off first.

* High interest rate debt - You should consider paying off high interest rate debt first. Assume you owe loans $1000 from two different lenders, which charge 20% and 8% respectively. Now, suppose you have decided to pay-off a total of 6% per month. If you have decided to pay-off 4% towards the higher interest rate and 2% towards the lower interest rate, then that would be saving some dollars in terms of interest.

** Transfer high interest rate debt to a lower interest rate - You can do this by consolidating your several debt into a single and lower interest rate. It will save some dollars in terms of paying the interest and also in the form of postage & paperworks costs.

*** Go for only long term - Homes, education, washing machine or computer will be there even if the debt is paid off, so it is better to borrow only for a long term and make the best use of debt, as this only gains in value. You should avoid using credit card for concerts, vacations or motels, lest you end up paying more in terms of cost of these items.