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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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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This guest post is by Denise O’Berry, author of Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success a book about how to get, manage and keep your cash flow on an even keel and where it belongs — in your business.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

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I’ve been self-employed for several years and without question, one of the biggest challenges has been to find quality and affordable health care coverage. I currently have a policy in place, but I have my doubts regarding how comprehensive the coverage would be in the event of an actual medical emergency.

So I was pretty excited to find a promising website called HealthCompare.com that takes a lot of the guesswork out of finding the right health insurance plan for you or your family.

The HealthCompare site is very user-friendly and super easy to use:

First, you fill in your zip code so their system can locate appropriate plans available in your area.

Then, you are asked to select from 3 different coverage options: individual, family or children-only. In addition, you are also asked to clarify whether you are looking for permanent coverage (ideal for self-employed individuals like myself) or short-term coverage (for those temporarily out of work and looking for affordable alternatives to COBRA coverage).

Next, you are asked to fill in a very brief questionnaire re: your gender, date of birth, if you are a full-time student, whether or not you use tobacco, your current monthly premium amount and when you would like your new coverage to begin.

From there, simply hit “Show Me My Plans” and their system will return a number of plans available in your area that match your needs.

If you find one that seems like a good fit, you can start the application process online right away.

How quick and easy is that??

Ready to get started?

Simply follow this link and enter your zip code: Low Cost Health Insurance. Compare Blue Cross, Aetna & More. Plans From $50/month.

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When it comes to Merchant Cash Advances,  we’ve now covered the good, the bad . . . and now its time for the . . . you guessed it – the ugly.

In my opinion, the nastiest part of the Merchant Cash Advance industry stems from the fact it is unregulated. (No, I’m not a huge advocate for more government regulation) – but when used incorrectly or fraudulently, this product has the ability to put merchants out of business.

It really comes down to cash flow – and, more importantly, the predictability of that cash flow. In the current economy, margins are tighter than ever. Therefore, if a merchant enters into an agreement that opens the door to unpredictable fluctuations in retrieval amounts (the percentage of sales recouped on a daily basis to repay the outstanding advance) – it creates a recipe for disaster.

Here are a couple of pointers to keep in mind before signing on the dotted line for a Merchant Cash Advance:

1.)  Make sure the funding company spells out clearly in their contract that they CAN NOT change the retrieval percentage at any time during the repayment period.

To illustrate: If you agree to a $10,000 advance with a payback of $13,500 over a projected 7 month turn with a retrieval percentage  of 15% – that funding company should be unable, by contract, to increase that 15% if the payback period extends past 7 months. Some companies reserve the right to do this  - and their unfortunate clients could find that 50% of their daily processing receipts are seized vs. the 15% they had agreed upon up front.

2.)  Select a company that won’t approve a funding that exceeds a certain percentage of your GROSS sales (not just your credit card processing volumes).  This is a biggie – and the better, more reputable firms in the industry strictly adhere to this principle. The typical ceiling rate is 8.99% of gross sales – meaning that approximately $91 of every $100 your business generates will remain in your company’s coffers. If a company does not express concern about this – shop around until you find one who does. You will probably get less money from a firm who follows this guideline, but you won’t be put in a position where you are giving up 20 or 30% of your total gross sales to repay the advance.

3.) DO NOT, under any circumstances, agree to pay any origination fees, closing costs, application fees, statement fees (related to the advance) or any other miscellaneous fees or add ons when applying for a cash advance.  Did I state that strongly enough?  There are some less-than-ethical sales agents out there who are more than willing to pad their own pocket at your expense.  Any type of fee like the ones noted above will go STRAIGHT into the sales rep pocket, folks.   I’ve seen agents add originiation fees of 10% onto the Cash Advance amount …  so on a $50k funding – they add ANOTHER $5,000 on top of the the already expensive cost of the money itself.  These agents then receive their full commission (typically 5 – 10% of the entire payback amount), plus the $5,000 they charged in made-up fees.

I’ll say it again – this product is NOT a loan. It is a true sale – ALL of the above fees are related to loans and don’t (or should’t) apply in the Cash Advance world.   Any agent who tries to tell you this is just the way it is – is not telling the truth. The more reputable funding companies will not tolerate this practice from their reps if they find out about it.

Run, don’t walk, away from any agent who tries to tell you otherwise.

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Yesterday, we covered the positives of a Merchant Cash Advance as a source of working capital for your business.   To recap: they are fast (funds are usually available within 5 – 10 business days); unsecured; don’t show up or tie up your personal credit; and are available to those with less-than-perfect credit and in industries that traditional banks won’t touch (i.e. restaurants).

Now, let’s look at the downside….

The MAJOR drawback when it comes to a Merchant Cash Advance is that  they are expensive.   Very expensive.  Take our earlier example – you would payback $14,000 on an advance of $10,370 (structured to be paid back within 7 months).   That is a fixed cost of $3,630 to use the money for 7 months!  Unless you’ve got a very specific use for that money that will result in a solid return on investment (ROI) – this kind of money might not make sense for your business.   (We’ll discuss a variety of scenarios where the use of this money does make sense in a future post).

The natural inclination here is to frame that fixed cost in terms of a corresponding interest rate – but that isn’t accurate.   Because this isn’t a loan – (remember – its a true sale involving the transfer of an asset) – you are actually looking at a discount rate.   In most cases, the discount rate on a Merchant Cash Advance is anywhere from 26 – 40%.  In some cases, it can go as high as 50%.  Most retailers are familiar with this concept and actually use it as a standard practice in their business.   For example, if a tire store offers a “buy 3 tires and get the 4th one free” – they are using a 25% discount rate.    By the same token, restaurants promoting a “buy one lunch, get the second one free” are offering a 50% discount.  In these cases, the merchant has evaluated (hopefully!) the impact of making this trade off with the positive outcome of bringing in the additional business.

This same concept applies with a Merchant Cash Advance.  If you can use this money to make more money than it costs – it makes sense.   If you can’t, it doesn’t.

It really is as simple as that.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at some other drawbacks to the Merchant Cash Advance (hint:  the industry is unregulated and there are plenty of seedy characters running around) and how to find a reputable funding company (they exist, but do your homework first).

Til Then,

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The Merchant Cash Advance is a rapidly growing source of alternative working capital for small businesses.  With a Merchant Cash Advance, a merchant sells a percentage of his or her future credit card receipts in exchange for an upfront lump sum amount.

Here’s how it works:

Let’s say your business does $10,000 a month in credit card sales and a funding company is willing to purchase 20% of those receipts over the next 7 months. Under this scenario, you could be expected to bring in $70,000 over 7 months. 20% of $70,000  is $14,000.  The funding company would then divide that $14,000 by a factor rate (typically around 1.35 for a 7 month program) to come up with the lump sum amount you would receive.  In this case, the upfront amount would be approximately $10,370.00

So, you would get $10,370 wired into your account in as little as 7 to 10 business days vs. waiting for that money to come thru your door in increments over the next 7 months. Many business owners find it helpful to have a lump sum of money on hand for a number of reasons, including tackling necessary renovations, paying taxes or ordering inventory.

The collection process for a Cash Advance is completely automated as the funding company will add their rates (20% in this example) to your credit card processing rates.  Then, each evening when you batch out your processing receipts – 20% will automatically be deducted and sent to the funding company until the entire payback amount($14,000) is collected. The remaining 80% would go to your account as it normally would. No fixed monthly payments (no checks to write), no hidden fees, no late fees, etc… (IF you are working with a reputable company!!!)

Other positive aspects of the Merchant Cash Advance include:

1.) A Merchant Cash Advance is unsecured.  That’s right.  There is no collateral involved.  Therefore, if you default or fall behind thru no fault of your own, you won’t lose your home or other personal assets.

2.) A Merchant Cash Advance won’t show up on your credit as an outstanding loan or line of credit.    Why?  Because it ISN’T a loan or line or credit.  This type of agreement represents a True Sale in that an asset is sold for an agreed upon price.   The asset in this case is a percentage of your future Visa and Mastercard sales.  The price is what the funding company is willing to give you now in exchange for the final payback amount.

3.) Your eligibility does NOT live and die by your FICO score.  It is a consideration in the overall underwriting process – it is just one of MANY factors that are evaluated.   A low credit score may account for anywhere from 5 to 15% of the decision, but it can be overcome if the underlying mechanics of the business itself are strong.

There are also a number of drawbacks related to the Merchant Cash Advance.   Check back tomorrow to find out what they are and to see if this type of funding might make sense for your business.

Til Then,

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Yes, it really is possible to pick up college textbooks for cheap prices – but, check out this doubly cool concept:

We Plant a Tree Every Time You Rent

Chegg.com, the #1 college textbook rental company, plants a tree for every textbook you rent.

Talk about a win-win – you (or your student) can pick up those mandatory college textbooks for cheap prices (according to their web site, their average customer saves over $500 per year) AND you can feel good about helping the environment!

So check out this link (or share it with anyone you know who could benefit from saving money on college expenses):

We Plant a Tree Every Time You Rent

Let me know what you think!

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Learning how to budget and save money is pretty simple. It requires an honest assessment of where you are financially and a clear vision of where you want to be. From there, it is a matter of determining how your income relates to your outflow – and finding ways to make sure the first number is always a bigger than the latter.

Notice I said figuring out how to budget and save money is “simple” – I didn’t say it was going to be “easy.”

Get Out of Debt Now! Speak Today to Counselors Who Can Help.

How to Create a Budget

The first step toward learning how to budget and save money is to figure out how much you are spending on fixed and discretionary expenses each month. Fixed expenses would include your rent or mortgage and installment loan payments; whereas discretionary expenses include items like entertainment, personal care and clothing. Also, don’t forget to factor in all those items that pop up occasionally throughout the year (i.e., veterinary expenses, car repairs, hair appointments, real estate taxes, etc..).

You’ll want to be as detailed as possible while making this list, but it can be difficult to recall everything from memory. Therefore, I normally look at a year’s worth of bank statements AND credit card statements to make sure I am on track.

(Even then, I still include a “miscellaneous” category to help plan for the unexpected. )

Then, take a hard look at how much money you are bringing in each month after taxes and other automatic deductions are removed. This part can be scary – particularly if you find what is coming in each month doesn’t fully cover what is going back out.

If you find yourself in this boat – don’t panic! You CAN reverse this trend – and you’ve already made that all-important first step by becoming aware of your situation.

Is Debt Weighing You Down? Sign-up today and get out of debt.

Tomorrow, I’ll share with you a simple Excel spreadsheet I use to keep track of my monthly budget and show you how you can create one for yourself.

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It seems the Internet is overrun with information re:  mortgages for bad credit borrowers.


Of course, this isn’t surprising considering the overall economic climate (and the recent real estate meltdown) here in the United States.  With unemployment and foreclosures at or near record levels, there is a genuine need to help those who’ve stumbled financially regain solid economic footing.

As a result, many savvy mortgage companies have come to market with products that promise to make mortgages for bad credit borrowers more available. While these mortgage programs may serve a legitimate need, borrowers still need to make sure they do some due diligence before signing on the dotted line.

In other words, regardless of your current credit rating – you should still thoroughly research any mortgage provider before placing your trust – and financial future – with them.  Comparing interest rates and doing research on the company in question is a good place to start.

Also, don’t be afraid to go with your gut – if someone is offering or promising you something that seems too good to be true – odds are… it is.

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Yesterday, I described how my new storage unit, I mean “apartment,” was piled floor-to-ceiling with boxes after I moved from my larger home into a smaller 6-month rental. The one-car garage that came with my apartment didn’t fare much better. It, too, was crammed full of stuff and I had no idea what was where – not that I would have been able to get to something even if I did know where it was.

Throw in 3 excited and nervous dogs – and the hottest week of the entire year – and you’ve got one miserable moving experience!

For days, I felt like I was bailing out the ocean with a thimble, but thank goodness my teenage niece and sister-in-law were there to help as we tried to create some sense of a functional and livable space. Fortunately, my new apartment was close to a Goodwill donation center, which made the process of freeing up space a little easier. Plus, my niece was about to move into her own apartment, so she laid claim to a bunch of stuff I was only too happy to get rid of at that point. (Nope. I’m not missing the irony that I paid to move all that stuff only to give it away days later). Even so, the next 6 months were pretty stressful as I tried to live around boxes and counted the days until my new place would be ready.

The worst part about this whole miserable, stressful and needlessly expensive process was that it could have been avoided – even though I had less than 10 days from closing on my former home until I had to vacate.

Hindsight being what it is – here is what I would do differently:

• As soon as I got access to my new apartment, I would clean the kitchen and bathrooms so they were move-in ready. I would also measure each room in the rental and write down all the dimensions. Remember, if your items are in larger rooms in your current home, you might not realize how much space they need. Taking detailed notes of your new floor plan will be a huge help when deciding what furniture will comfortably fit in your new space. Trust me, too much furniture in too small a space is something you’ll want to avoid.

• Rent a storage locker. I thought I was saving money by skipping this step. Wrong!

• When evaluating what to put in storage (i.e., what could I absolutely live without for several months?), I would be more ruthless.  I thought I had done this before moving – I really did – but considering the boxes and truck loads of stuff I gave away AFTER I paid to move it – I was wrong. Next time, unless an item has significant sentimental value (such as a gift from someone I love or a family memento), if it hasn’t been used (or thought of ) in the last 6 months to a year, I would donate it.

• Before the movers arrived, I would rent a separate uHaul (or borrow a truck from a friend) and load up all the kitchen and bath items I would definitely use over the next 6 months and get those areas completely set up in advance. I would also stock up the refrigerator with snacks and beverages to make moving day more tolerable.  I would also use this truck to make a trip to the storage locker for all items I wouldn’t need in the future and had survived the “should-it-stay-or-should-it-go” phase. No sense paying a mover to make two stops if you can find someone to help you get this stuff out of the way in advance.

• Pack up valuable, breakable and other personal belongings I don’t want the movers to handle and move them myself the day of the move.

These simple steps might be intuitive to a lot of people, especially if they’ve moved frequently (or recently).  However, as someone who hadn’t moved in a long time, I ended up paying a lot more than I should have in terms of time, frustration and money. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes and save yourself some time and money on your next move!

Til Next Time,

P.S. Do you have any great cost-saving moving tips? If so, please share them by clicking on the word “Comments” below!

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