Credit – Dividends and What to Do About Them

Published in January 25th, 2009
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If your policy is issued by a mutual company or as a special policy by a stock company, you will receive annual dividends. You have several choices in their use. Which one you select is of importance in your estate picture.

• You can take your dividends in cash. Since a dividend is considered a return of a part of the premium, there is no income tax on the dividend receipt until they exceed the premiums paid.

• You can apply them to your premium payments, thus reducing your annual payments to the company.

• You can leave them to accumulate with the company, and receive in return a guaranteed rate of interest on them. This interest rate is often increased because of increased company earnings. The accrued interest is taxable, and must be reported annually, whether or not you withdraw it. You may withdraw it at any time (at which point you would owe tax), or leave it as a savings account.

• You can buy additional paid-up insurance with your dividends. This is an attractive option; the insurance is at “pure cost” (meaning there is no overhead or “loading” charge); therefore, it is cheaper than insurance purchased in the ordinary way. The additional insurance will have a cash value like any other type of permanent insurance and often this cash value may be used to pay the premium on the policy, or it may be used to purchase additional paid-up insurance. Continue reading this post…

Catalogs With Instant Credit Can Give You a Better Credit Score

Published in January 17th, 2009
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There are several ways you can boost your credit score. You can pay off your debt; transfer your balance, etc. But there is a way that few people think of and that is by using catalogs with instant credit. Using these catalogs with instant credit has its ins and outs and so must be used carefully. Before you use this method you need to know how your score is calculated and what your score represents to potential lenders.

Your credit score is the way a lender measures your risk as a potential borrower. They do this based on your borrowing history. Now an important element of this calculation is based on your outstanding revolving credit. This is known as the credit utilization score and the lower it is the better.

Increase your Available Credit

So, if you can’t pay down your outstanding debt quickly then you only have one other option to improve your credit score and that is by increasing your available revolving credit. This is called using catalogs with instant credit. When you receive the additional credit and it is reported to the credit reporting agencies, your credit score goes up. This may happen in as little as a month or two, which is really fast.

You see getting new credit cards, especially now may be a little difficult but you get the same effect when you use catalogues that offer instant credit. Usually you can only use the credit to buy merchandise from that catalog. That’s ok though, because you are not really going to buy all that merchandise, unless you are required to make a purchase with your membership.

Before you join any catalogs with instant credit, you need to find out whether the company reports to credit agencies. If this is so then your credit score will go up and usually in a quick time frame.

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TransUnion Credit Report – Understanding Your Credit File

Published in January 17th, 2009
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Credit reports from TransUnion are important when it is sought. This report emanates from one of the three credit reporting agencies identified by law as the valid reporting agencies on the matter. Contained in the report is the credit transactions made by an individual within a given period. It may also include fraud preventions data as well as other information on the financial background of an individual. Within minutes upon a request made, the agency would be able to provide you with the information sought to be retrieved. This, once obtained, can provide for a definite financial background check on an individual.

The content of a Trans Union Credit Report is the summary of credit activity, which can be obtained from many sources. Upon confirmation of the requesting party’s identity, having a hard copy is also an option. The request may also include the FICO score of an individual, as this would be the weighted average of all the transactions undertaken by the individual being background checked.

The Trans Union Credit Report consists of six main portions, divided as follows:

a) Personal circumstances – These include name addresses and contact numbers, if married or with or without children.

b) Transactions summary – This is the itemization of all credit accounts contained in the credit report. This would provide a quick index of accounts that have been transacted within a given period.

c) Outstanding Account Record – This provides the details, by particular credit areas of the transactions undertaken by the individual. The credit areas are real estate, revolving fund accounts, collectibles, installment credit and the other credits entailed.

d) Other available information – These include all publicly available credit information about an individual’s activities. Most often, these are the result of judgments, fines, taxes and other fees paid for and outstanding for an individual.

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