



Improving your credit score can improve your quality of life in a number of ways With a good credit score, you'll get better interest rates on credit cards, better rates when you buy a car or even when you buy a house. You may even find that people with higher credit scores qualify for lower car insurance premiums and may even find it easier to lease an apartment.
Your husband loses his job. You're asked to take early retirement five years before you're prepared for it. The mortgage payments are too much to pay now that your hours have been cut. Any of these things are hard enough to weather, but downsizing your life makes it much worse. That's why it's so important that you do it right.
For consumers, the opportunity to exert control over their money often seems tenuous. The banks control the interest rates for loans and credit cards. Retail stores and supermarkets control the prices that goods are listed for sale. Insurance companies set the premiums from car insurance to life insurance. Nonetheless, it is possible for consumers to exert some semblance of control over their money simply by using a few steadfast rules for strategic buying.
There are not many situations worse than waiting for possible redundancy. Today, that threat hovers over many people; some of them will be able to take it in their stride, having savings they can fall back on, or their mortgages paid off. Others will be facing the prospect with genuine fear; fear for their families, their home, their future.
The credit freeze affects more than just banks and Wall Street. It trickles right down to your wallet. What can you, someone hoping to purchase a home, do to survive the current economic downturn? Read on for a few tips to help you make it through the credit crunch. The Credit Freeze and You Buy a new home and a mortgage loan moves in with you. The current lending climate is frosty at best and frozen down most avenues making it nearly impossible to borrow money. Small and large businesses are in the same fiscal frenzy wondering if the money will be there to pay employees Losing a paycheck, as unemployment rises, presents a problem that cannot be ignored. Survival Tips Keep your income from disappearing. If you hear even a whisper of an imminent lay-off or shut down, brush up your resume and start looking. Do not wait to receive a pink slip before you make a move toward a new job. You may find that small, local banks are still lending money where the giant institutions have come to an abrupt halt. If you're job is secure and you're set on buying a home immediately, look into local banks with liquidity and available lending money. Getting a loan during the credit freeze will be harder than ever. If you must buy a home, be prepared to be scrutinized with a high-powered microscope. On the other hand, sterling credit and a sizable savings account may get you a bargain. Hunker down and live frugal until the freeze ends Save as much as you can and stay away from using credit cards to pay for what you do not need. It's a simple equation: the more money you save while waiting for the thaw, the larger down payment you can offer making your loan less. That's making an ice cream deal from frozen credit.