This guest post is by Neil R Williams. Neil is a financial consultant by profession and a finance niche writer. He consults with clients to pay off debt and repair their credit.
He writes articles on many financial issues and problems, including debt settlement, debt consolidation, refinancing and reverse mortgages. He has been published on many financial sites and blogs.
Unfortunately, credit card debt is a way of life for many. Too often, people buy things they couldn’t otherwise afford with the help of credit cards. The problem arises when consumers become overburdened with their credit card debts and they fail to pay their outstanding balance on time. Often, they look to credit card consolidation to consolidate their debts and repay their debts more easily. The most common method of consolidating credit card debts is the balance transfer method. This way you can save a lot of money but there are some fine print traps.
Here are 4 smart tips to save money on credit card consolidation:
Fees on balance transfer: There are some credit card issuers who charge balance transfer fees on credit cards. The fee may be as high as 4 percent of the outstanding balance. This means the higher the balance you transfer, the higher the transfer fee will be. Beware of such extra fees on credit card consolidation through balance transfer method.
Teaser rate: Teaser rate is the interest rate offered during the introductory period. Make sure before opting for balance transfer, what your annual percentage rate will be after the introductory period expires. It is best to pay down the transferred balance before the teaser rate expires. Or else you may be subject to high interest rate where you will find it difficult to pay off your debt.
Check carefully: Your new credit card company may tell you that your balance is transferred. But it is your duty to recheck whether the balance has been actually transferred. Check with the old credit card company and ask them to give you a billing statement with a zero balance written on it.
Cancel old cards: There are plenty of people who have a habit of opening new credit lines. You should know that opening new credit accounts increases the risk of drowning in debt. Too many credit card accounts and outstanding debts lower the chance of your qualifying for a mortgage or a car loan. Most lenders view open credit lines as potential outstanding debt. So to save money, cancel old cards and close those accounts.
Credit card consolidation is the most common way to eliminate credit card debts. But it depends upon you on how much you can save while consolidating your credit card debts. These smart tips will help you to save those extra dollars on debt consolidation.
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Your sales are looking good and you’ve been working harder than ever. You pat yourself on the back with a huge congratulations because all that hard work to grow your business has finally paid off. And then you take a look at your bank account — which tells an entirely different story. Slowly you shake your head and wonder why there’s just not enough money to pay the bills.
.
Because you, like many small business owners, forgot that you have to get paid to have a real business. That typically means issuing invoices and waiting for payment. Perhaps you’ve forgotten to bill for what you sold or maybe past due invoices are collecting dust in a corner. It’s time to turn that around right now. Here are six tips you can implement right now to get you on the right track.
Don’t be an invoice laggard — If you must issue invoices to collect your fees, make sure you get them out the door as soon as the work is done.
Set up drip payments — When you negotiate a contract to complete work, set it up so you get paid by deliverable. That way you have cash coming in the door periodically rather than waiting until the project is done.
Hold the goods — If you provide a service where you can place the deliverable in a transition state before final delivery to the client, do it. Give them an opportunity to give the project a final okay followed by payment before you release the product.
Offer discounts — Provide an incentive for your customers to pay their bills. If you normally require payment within 30 days, offer a small percentage off (5% to 10%) if they make the payment in 15 days. Everyone wins with this strategy.
Get on the phone — If payment is due from customers within 30 days and you’ve reached day 31 without a payment, call the customer pronto. The sooner you take action, the sooner you’ll get your money. Old invoices don’t die, they just become noncollectable.
Diversify payment methods — Give your customers options for paying you. Offer check, credit card, paypal, money order, and cash (yes!). The more options you offer, the less excuses people have for not paying.
So there you go. Six things you can do today to start improving your cash flow. And here’s a bonus tip. Never forget that your company is not a bank. Whenever you do work and wait to collect payment, you are actually floating a loan to your clients. Do whatever you can to turn that around.
You can find more cash flow tips and tactics at Denise O’Berry’s cash flow blog.
Need to Make More Money? Grab Our Free eCourse:
"Set-It-and-Forget-It" Passive Income Strategies
Disclosure: I earn commissions on products I recommend on this site
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This guest post is by Neil R Williams. Neil is a financial consultant by profession and a finance niche writer. He consults with clients to pay off debt and repair their credit. 
a book about how to get, manage and keep your cash flow on an even keel and where it belongs — in your business.