You don’t have to give up anything. There are actually ways in which you can save a significant amount of money in your phone bills. One of it is by finding the right home phone providers.
So how can you find the best home phone provider that is suitable for your needs?

Tip 1:
Search for the best phone service provider. In searching for the best service provider, you shouldn’t depend on televised advertisements. Most people rely to the popular phone providers in making their judgment. Make the most out of the information that you can find on the internet. Utilize business directory. This way, you can thoroughly examine the competition in the market and make a better decision.

Once you find the home phone provider of your choice, ask around your area for any existing subscriber. If the phone provider that you chose does not service your area, continue searching for other service provider that fits your criteria. It will be easier if you can ask your neighbors of their trusted phone providers.

Tip 2:
Second important factor that you should consider is the subscription contract. Most phone providers include six or twelve month contract in their phone plans wherein the cost of calls will be at a fixed rate, but you’ll be under their service for a certain period time. Downgrade and termination of service would usually require fee on the subscriber’s part as indicated in the contract.

In examining phone plans, always look for these two factors: cost of line rentals and the call rate. These two factors are the determinants of your monthly bill. Some phone providers include mobile and internet plans in their services. Consider bundle subscription to save money and get better services.

Tip 3:
In cases where you have a current subscription to a phone provider and you want to change service provider, make sure that you review your contract about termination of service conditions. Contact their customer service department and fixed the necessary adjustments to make sure that you would not unconsciously breach anything agreed upon previously.

You can use all these ideas to compare your phone pricing but it means nothing unless you can sustain and continue to hold a quality service. Get my FREE advice to making the right choice for phone services at: Compare Phone Plans Australia

Always Get A Police Report
Susan called the police to get a report documented for insurance purposes. The young lady driving the other car presented her insurance information to the police officer. The car belonged to her Mom but Brittany had a policy with State Farm. Everything went smoothly and the next morning Susan called State Farm to initiate the claims process against the other driver who was at fault.

Unpleasant Surprise
The State Farm representative found no record of a current car insurance policy for Brittany. It appeared as if she had applied for one and received some paperwork but had never paid any premiums so the policy was cancelled. Yes, Brittany had presented false insurance information to the police and the officer took it at face value without verifying the policy.

Tracking Down Mom
Susan isn’t the type of person to roll over in situations. She will find a way to hold you accountable. She called the home phone number of Brittany and left a message. A day passed with no response. Susan called back and left a more stern message. The next day Brittany’s mother called back. The mother apologized for the situation and promised to make good but she wanted to handle the situation outside of the insurance. Guess she didn’t have any either. Like mother, like daughter.

Uninsured Motorists Are A Big Threat
In some states, as many as one in three drivers are uninsured. This creates a tremendous amount of financial risk for the rest of us that obey the law. In addition, our car insurance premiums are inflated because insurance companies build in the cost of claims resulting from uninsured motorists into the premiums of those that do pay.

Police Were No Help
Susan was convinced that the fact that Brittany had knowingly presented false insurance documentation to the police officer at the accident scene was grounds for criminal charges. Susan called the police officer that wrote the report. He was sympathetic but offered no help. The law was not on Susan’s side in this case.

Repair Shop Drama
Susan brought her SUV into a reputable repair shop to get an estimate. The repair shop must deal with a lot of these situations because they offered to allow Brittany’s Mom to set up a payment plan for the repair. Susan sent the estimate to Brittany’s Mom and waited for her to go to the repair shop to prepay the bill which was about $900. Several days went by without any action. Susan was anxious and escalated the effort to chase down the money.

Nice To Have A Lawyer Friend
Susan called Mary, an acquaintance, who was a lawyer and asked for advice. Mary was very kind and offered to place a phone call to Brittany’s Mom. Getting a phone message from a lawyer must have put the fear of God into Brittany’s Mom because the next day she showed up at the repair shop to settle the bill.

Lesson Learned
Car accidents happen everyday. Sometimes you cause the accident and other times you are an innocent victim. Either way, you have to take matters into your own hands to hold people accountable. If you’re lazy and procrastinate, you are only hurting yourself. If you find yourself in a similar situation, mentally prepare yourself to take the bull by the horns and chase all the parties involved (police, insurance, repair shop, other drivers and their family) until you get the outcome you deserve.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

1. Increase Your Deductible
We recommend bumping up your deductible to $1000. I can’t remember the last time I saw a car repair bill that didn’t approach $1,000 so when you speak with your car insurance representative, ask them to quote you the savings for all the deductible levels and make the best choice for your situation. Take whatever savings you generate and stash that in a rainy day savings account.

2. Protect Yourself From Uninsured Motorists
In real life, you get exposed to startling facts about the number of people rolling the dice and driving around without car insurance. You need to protect yourself from them. Purchase uninsured motorist coverage as part of your policy. This insurance kicks in even if you or a family member are hit by an uninsured driver while you are walking or on your bike.

3. Stand Under Your Umbrella, ella, ella
Rihanna is no finance expert but what do you want to bet she has an insurance policy in place to protect her assets from lawsuits? You should too. Mistakes happen and you might cause an accident someday. An umbrella insurance policy provides you additional protection above and beyond your auto policy. An umbrella policy is very inexpensive; costs only pennies per day; but provides big protection. Be sure to ask for a discount if you buy it through the same company as your car insurance.

4. Obscure Insurance Discounts
If you haven’t already got driver insurance discounts, what are you waiting for? There’s money save; go get it. If you work at home at all and telecommute, let your insurance company know because it could result in a discount. Also, if you sacrifice part of a weekend and take a safe driving course you can earn even more brownie points which result in more dollars in your pocket.

5. Ditch Collision Coverage?
How old is your car? At what age does it makes sense to lower or drop your collision coverage? The answer depends not only on the vehicle age but also on how much, if any, is left on the car loan. If your car is totaled, most insurance policies pay out on the depreciated value of the car, not what it is actually worth. This could create a shortage between your settlement check and what you owe the bank. If this concerns you, then ask your carrier about gap insurance.

It is a good idea to contact your insurance carrier on an annual basis to conduct a quick review of your policy. Also, if you switch cars mid-policy be sure to review what the appropriate coverage is for the new vehicle. Finally, ask about the availability of any new discounts.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

According to this study, the median transaction size of a check that resulted in an NSF transaction was $66. If a customer repays this overdraft in two weeks, the APR (annual percentage rate) is 1,067%. This is more than double the APR on some payday loans. Even the most expensive payday loans are usually between 650% and 780% APR.

Many payday loans are at least $500 and some as high as $1500. These loans are typically repaid in two weeks. Using these facts to compare apples to apples, the two week bank overdraft of $66 results in a 1,067% APR while a two week $1500 payday loan can be acquired for 780% APR or less. The consumer that chooses the payday loan also avoids the time and hassle of dealing with several bounced checks and check charges.

The FDIC study uncovered other disturbing news. A large percentage of banks studied by the FDIC have procedures in place which increase the frequency of customer overdrafts. For example some banks display account balances on ATM screens only after the overdraft has occurred. Also, some banks have a policy of paying large customer checks before small ones. The banks justify this policy by saying that most consumers’ largest checks are their mortgage or auto loan and that they are protecting their customer from being late on these particular payments.

Meanwhile, the bank simply earns more money when it bounces the other smaller checks that were written for groceries, the doctor, the babysitter and the cable TV company. Is it really coincidence that this practice happens to generate millions of extra fee income dollars for the banks?

Many consumers that choose to use services like Springtime Cash Advance and apply for payday loans can avoid the questionable practices of the banks altogether. The payday loans can be applied for online from the convenience of home. Consumers end up paying a much smaller fee for the access to cash through a pay day loan service than what the bank would charge to cover all the overdrafts.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

The bank informed the consumer that someone had indeed reported the card as lost. This was an attempt to steal identity and potentially ruin the consumer’s credit. The bank immediately closed the credit card and reissued a new account number to protect the consumer from any unauthorized transactions. This gentleman and his wife were victims of identity theft.

However, thanks to their credit monitoring service, the problem was caught fast and further damage was avoided. Without the credit monitoring service, who know how many thousands of dollars in transactions could have happened before anyone caught on to the theft. That could take an entire billing cycle.

We live in an age of electronic transactions and with identity theft taking place every 3.5 seconds, anyone can be a unwitting victim. Given the situation we have uncovered about the victim in this particular situation, we believe the modest monthly fee for a credit monitoring service to protect from identity theft can save consumers a lot of time, money and aggravation down the road. These identity thefts will continue because unscrupulous people feel they have very little chance of being caught. It just makes sense to spend a few bucks to protect your consumers financial future.

It is not easy to build up a credit record that is respectable and it certainly does not happen overnight. Your number could be up without warning and then you are hit with the ramifications of the damage the identity thieves are created in your financial life both now and in the future.

It is not easy to recover from these intrusions into your financial privacy and once compromised, your identity and the rewards of financial responsibility have vanished. It takes many consumers years to unravel all the havoc that has been created and recover from the impact. Make a smart choice and do some research on the service monitoring companies that can offer you some peace of mind.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

Times Are Tough For Lenders Too
How bad is it? Right now, based on reports from industry insiders, payday loan Internet operations are experiencing a 20% to 30% default rate while brick and mortar banks are closer to 10% to 20%. In other words, as many as 3 out of 10 payday loan customers fail to live up to their end of the bargain. The funds were not present in the bank account on the due date and the loan goes bad.

With payday loan defaults that high, it becomes more understandable why lenders charge so much for the loans. They are risky. You end up paying more because so many other people choose to default on their loan without working out a repayment plan. Knowing how payday loan debt collectors think and the techniques they use to make sure you pay back your loan will help you be a more informed borrower.

8 Techniques Of A Payday Loan Collector
1) Personal References
On your payday loan application you must include at least two, sometimes three contacts and lenders prefer you use immediate family members. Lenders will call these numbers and verify they know you while you listen on the telephone line. That’s called peer pressure and it works.

2) Work Supervisor
Your lender may contact your employer using address and phone numbers found on websites like Google, GoogleMaps, 411, and TheWorkNumber. They won’t just rely on the employer telephone number you put on your loan application.

3) Human Resources
If they don’t speak directly to your supervisor, lenders may be forced to call your Human Resources department at work to verify your employment.

4) Checking In
Expect your lender to keep in touch constantly! Some use one-week reminders, the day before and the day of a payment due date. Lenders will call, email, fax and text message you. Lenders also use social media. If you have Facebook, Myspace and Twitter accounts, don’t be surprised to receive a friendly, non-specific message from your lender such as “Hey, this is Nancy, call me.”

5) Telephone Numbers
Lenders will call all phone numbers on the application. They will call your home even if they are on the telephone with you or standing in front of you. Why? To test if you answer. To check if they get a busy signal. To see if your voice is on the answering machine. Basically, to detect if anything strange is going on. The lender is simply protecting themselves because like we said earlier, 3 out of every 10 borrowers will default on their loan and do all they can to disappear.

6) Bank Statements
Lenders may ask you for at least your last 30 day bank statement. They know it’s easy for you to go online and access it. Your bank statement validates your direct deposits so the lender knows for sure whether your income is still coming in. Or, if you’ve lost your job, the bank statement will be absent your normal direct deposit prompting the lender to work out a longer repayment plan with you.

7) Negotiations
Always remember that the mind-set of a payday loan collector is to collect some money that day. Good, reputable collection agents never make threats. They never lose their cool! They remain calm and professional at all times. They will try to make a personal connection with you. A typical greeting from a collector should sound like:
“Hello Richard! How are you today! This is Nancy at XYZ
Cash Advance. I have great news for you! I’ve received
approval to set you up with a payment plan so we can help
you payoff your loan with us and improve your credit
score. How much can you afford today?”
Find Solutions
As a customer, you represent thousands of dollars in lifetime fees to a payday lender. The smart ones won’t tick you off to the point where you won’t ever do business with them. If they can’t get paid in full right away they will work with you to set-up a payment plan instead. When a payday lender calls to collect a debt, their goal is to work with you to get some money today, even if it’s only $20. They will always be focused on helping you figure out a way to pay down the loan. If it appears to be impossible to get a portion of what is owed today, they will get a promise from you such as $50 on March 24, (in other words, the date of your next payday).

Knowing these collection techniques will help you be more informed and aware of what is happening and why it is happening when you are dealing with collection agents.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

Here Is The Fact:
Debt relief services are rarely free of charge. Consumers should find out right up front just exactly what the costs of the service are and when these fees are expected to be paid.

Here Is The Fiction:
Debt relief companies can get negative information removed from your credit report. In actuality, there is no company which can do this if the negative information on your credit report is accurate.

Fact:
The offers for free credit reports that you see in the advertising media are often tied to an offer for a free trial of a credit monitoring service. There are several options for consumers to try out with the monitoring service.

Fiction:
It is extremely difficult for most consumers to address the inaccurate information which they find on their credit report. The truth is that the there are easy steps you can take to fix the incorrect items on a credit report and they are very simple!

Fact:
All creditors have the right to sue consumers in order to recover money that is owed to them. Liens on property or wage garnishment of a consumer’s paycheck are a possible outcomes of a lawsuit that the creditor has won.

Fiction:
A debt relief service company can prevent your creditors from filing lawsuits against you, the consumer, when you are delinquent on your debt.

Fact:
Credit monitoring gives consumers real time alerts when a creditor reports a new account on their credit report. Many consumers have been pleased with the advance notification provided by some of the new companies which deliver a personalized analysis of your credit report.

Fiction:
A medical office will not report a debt as delinquent or turn it over to a collection agency while the patient deals with a dispute with their health insurance over paying the bill.

Fact:
There is no guarantee that a creditor will accept partial payment of a debt.

Fiction:
Debt relief companies can guarantee that unsecured debts can be paid off for “pennies on the dollar”.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

Now that people are looking to them for advice, there has been a large growth in financial newsletters and financial publishing sites. Unfortunately, many of these sites have contributing writers who have no financial experience. In fact, the financial advice given by some of these sites is specifically given because someone paid them to. They have been paid to promote a specific stock or company. Before you trust any financial advice newsletter or website, make sure to check their Terms & Conditions.

Sometimes people decide they need a loan if they are having a tough time making ends meet. Online lenders and payday loan institutions are pretty common. However, many consumers do not realize they are protected by their state laws from certain predatory lending practices. Borrowing from a lender online may void your state protection if they are in another state. After you learn and understand your state laws, consider borrowing from someone in your own state before heading to the internet.

Online, many people proclaim they have been helped by investment software. Some software claims to transform you into a savvy investor while others will just invest for you. However, do not forget to pay close attention to who is making claims about the software ability. If a well known and trusted financial institution is backing the software, it may be worthwhile. But if a program is making claims of making anyone wealthy and is advocated by someone you have never heard of, you should think twice.

For financial help or otherwise, the internet is the first place many go for their information these days. You may find helpful advice. But you are just as likely, if not more, to find bad information. Many people try to profit from the large number of people going online for information. Your first priority is to protect yourself. Many people think that companies like Western Sky Financial or Hot Stocks are trustworthy because they advertise on trustworthy websites. But these websites do not choose who advertises on their banners. It is important to research any person or company before you take financial advice from them.

If you would like to see more, check out Western Sky Financial Scam

It is nice for consumers to have so many payment choices when cash is short. If online layaway sounds good to you, keep the following in mind:
Some online layaway services only allow you to shop for products through their website which limits your selection.
Online layaway services vary in the rules on how to make payments.

Payment choices could be in any one of the following ways:
auto-debit from your bank account;
mailing a money order to the company;
charging a credit or debit card;
other channels online using a payment services company.

Pay attention to any transaction fees or cancellation fees the layaway service charges. If you decide that you do not want a product after all there may be a steep penalty fee. In addition to traditional in-store layaway plans, online layaway is gaining traction as more consumers consider it. Do your research, read the fine print and choose the program that works best for you.

Here is a bit of history about layaway. Department store layaway plans have been around for decades. Before the mass popularity of credit cards, cash strapped shoppers relied on layaway plans to set aside purchases at a store and make periodic payments toward the full price. Once paid in full, the customer could take the product home. Seems like a strange concept in our buy now, pay later world.

With credit card companies cutting consumers off, people are turning to other options. However, shoppers should be aware of potential drawbacks and ask the right questions of the store before signing up.

Layaway Tips
Ask for the merchant’s layaway policy in writing and check:
Layaway terms
how much time do you get to pay for the merchandise;
when are your payments due;
what is the minimum payment required;
are there any extra service fees for using layaway?
is there a penalty for missed or late payments?

Refund policy
can you get a full refund if you decide not to purchase;
is there a service fee if you cancel the purchase;
do you only get store credit for the amount you paid?

Layaway can be a great choice as long as you know the rules up front.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.

Hard inquiries impact you credit score, but usually in a small way. Your credit score is determined using 5 weighted factors. Inquiries represent only a 10% weight in your score calculation. Multiple inquiries for the same product type within a 45 day period count as one inquiry. This allows consumers to shop around for the best deal without having to worry about their credit score being adversely impacted. Credit monitoring services that are now available will email you each time there is an inquiry so you can protect yourself from unauthorized access to your credit.

Credit inquiries will have a greater impact on the calculation of your score if you have a short credit history with ‘”maxed out” balances. Then it appears that you are living on credit and looking for more. That represents more risk and your score will go down.

2.”Soft” inquiries
Examples of soft inquiries are:
Employer/Administrative (when you apply for a job requiring good credit)
When you request your own credit report through one of the 3 credit bureaus
Pre-screen target lists (when you receive “pre-approved” credit ard offers in the mail or at your bank)
None of these authorized “soft” credit requests are used in calculating your credit score.

How can you know quickly if there has been an inquiry on your credit? Sign up for a credit monitoring service now available online. Whenever there is an inquiry you will receive an email so that you can be aware of who is accessing your credit and help prevent your identity from being stolen.

Stolen identity is a downward spiral for your credit score, and without some safe guards in place you will quickly become the next victim of this illegal growth industry here in the United States. Consumers of financial products who depend on the credit reporting bureaus for providing credit scores in response to their bona fide credit inquiries have learned when it’s too late, in many cases, that someone has “cracked the code” and managed to steal their identity. Take heed and put a protective layer around one of your best assets, your credit score.

Nathan Randall, editor, DailyDollar Newsletter provides free daily advice on money matters plus coupons and discount codes. FYI…you can now access the DailyDollar Newsletter via iTunes podcast, YouTube video, and on Facebook and Twitter too.