Credit Cards

By Chuck Saletta, The Motley Fool
According to a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management, some 83% of HR professionals think that personal financial challenges have at least some impact on employees' performance. Those same HR professionals aren't blind to economic reality -- 80% of them believe that employees at their organizations are facing more financial challenges than they were five years ago.

And it's not a stretch to connect the dots: How you manage your own money can have an impact on the work you do for your company.

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Internet bidding sites have been spreading like forest mushrooms after a warm rain in late May recently. E-Bay has almost become an afterthought.

It all began when people decided, for example, that to sell a car as a trade-in when buying a spanking new vehicle is shortsighted. The dealer offers you a price. That price will, in the best of cases, cut into the new car's price but, eventually, you'll find out that car dealers aren't in the business for your beautiful (insert colour here) eyes.

This realization (and not only about cars) has led to all kinds of lists and sites that let you sell your older product (or buy one) for prices considerably more to your liking. You're not supporting a dealer's overhead, after all (this brings us back to cars, but only because they're such an easy example).

But the lengths some of the bidding sites go to these days must raise an eyebrow or two.

Maybe you've picked up the phone recently to hear the following recording or something like it:

"Are you more than $10,000 in debt? We can help! Press #1 now to get connected with one of our agents and they can help cut you're debt in half for only a quarter of the cost."

Well, unfortunately a lot of these debt reduction agencies are nowhere near who they claim to be and most end up costing you money instead of waiving your debts. This is why The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has issued a consumer warning against those telemarketing calls and advertisements claiming to come from debt reduction agencies or anyone who claims to provide "debt reduction," "debt relief," "debt settlement" or "debt renegotiation."

"Unfortunately, people do not always see the benefits that debt reduction companies lead them to expect-and some people wind up even deeper in debt than they were before," says FCAC Commissioner Ursula Menke. "If an offer to reduce your debts seems too good to be true, it probably is."

The usual setup promises that the company can work out a deal with your creditors so that you're able to pay back only a small percentage of what you actually owe for "pennies on the dollar." It's quite the offer, but it may actually turn into a Faustian bargain.

Related Links:

• Debt Settlement or Credit Counseling?
• What is Debt Settlement?
• It's Never Too Late to Get On Top of Your Debt
• Debt Reduction: Five Steps to Freedom

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It's nearing the end of the month and you've either received your credit card statement from Christmas or the dreaded mail is about to arrive. Have you taken a deep breath and braved opening the envelope, or are you resigned to letting it collect dust for now and deal with it later?

If you have the courage to open your credit card statement up, you'll notice something new - a measure the government forced companies to report a few months ago. And, if you carry a balance on your card, it might be a scary number to look at. There's a little box either on the side or back of your statement that now has to tell you how long it will take for you to pay off your credit card balance if you only make the minimum payment. This month's mini money make-over features Jeffrey, who's looking at a whopping 134 years and 7 months to pay off his credit card. Yes, you read that right. He's currently 37 years old, and if he doesn't learn a simple trick to financial freedom, his debt will outlive him by decades.

Budgeting doesn't have to be a horrible experience.

So says Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach®, a personal finance expert, television and radio personality, and the author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom.

"Unfortunately, most people have a total misconception of what a budget is," says Khalfani-Cox, who once had $100,000 in credit card debt, before paying it all off in three years and turning her financial life around. "Millionaires know that a budget is really a spending plan of action. It's a way to help you manage cash flow and achieve your financial goals."


In addition to being a regular contributor to WalletPop, Khalfani-Cox has appeared on such national TV programs as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil.


"The reason most people can't stick to their budgets is because they blow their money month after month on LIFE," explains Khalfani-Cox, an acronym that she breaks down in the video below.

We don't know when, but interest rates are almost certainly going up this year.

I hate to foist yet one more January goal-setting article on you, but what if you could position things so you wouldn't find yourself in a post-holiday debt hole again at this time next year? (Higher rates mean all of your post holiday debt will be that much more expensive to carry.)

"Many people do not plan for their holiday spending in their budgets, even though it is a major annual expense," says Jeffrey Schwartz, executive director of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada. "As a result, these expenses often end up on credit cards that can take well into the New Year to pay off."

If you've overspent at the holidays, he offers the following tips to help get back on track.

You're such a swell guy, why don't we give you a credit card, all shiny and new, with perks galore? And don't you worry one bit, you're pre-approved, just fill in this and that and those things over there.

Most of us have got such mail at least once a year. For others, a week isn't over if we don't get at least one such offer.

What should we make of it? If it's unaddressed, should we ditch it forthwith? And if it's addressed, and not only that, addressed directly and properly to us, should we bother opening the envelope? Or should we write on it "Return To Sender, Address Unknown, No Such Number, No Such Zone," just like Elvis used to sing?

Or are we going to miss out on something perfectly great?

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We all know companies and people the world over are competing for the money in your wallet. Would you believe there's stiff (and growing) competition for your debt too?

Unfortunately you probably shouldn't go running out to jump in with the first company that promises to settle your debt difficulties (were it only so simple!)

Still, if you troll websites like Facebook, if you've ever keyed some debt-related query into Google or if you listen to the radio, you've undoubtedly seen or heard advertising from companies promising relief "if you qualify." (Note: As discussed earlier, any claims that such programs are part of some government-backed initiative are complete balderdash – be careful!)

If the debt-freedom prospect appeals and you are looking at this as one of your options to getting there, one of the first things to know is that there's a difference between companies who negotiate debt settlement deals with your creditors and the more traditional not-for-profit credit counseling organizations.

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People working in retail fear most cashier jobs will disappear once the so-called "wave-and-pay" technology takes over. No need to fear right now. For now, it's the automated checkouts that should scare them. The "wave-and-pay" applications are still too scary to most customers. They are afraid its developers still haven't rid it of serious security breaches.

British newspaper Daily Telegraph's Digital Media Editor Emma Barnett says that, for example, the loudly trumpeted Google's Wallet application has been a flop, so far, and she cites research figures to prove her point.

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