1. No fix term – you may pay account for years with no expiration
2. Small payments – looks attractive, but can cost you 10x more than what you borrowed
3. Variable minimum payments – payments change when your balance changes, but try and keep paying the higher amount
4. Tricky interest rates – introduction rates are great, but pay attention as they will and can change
5. Changes in terms!! – miss a payment or be late on a payment and you will know what this means
6. Large late and over limit fees – and… once you miss that payment or charge over the limit you can be hit with lots of fees

It is critical to properly manage your credit cards, but be educated on possible traps that can hurt you!

Cell phone numbers will become public and available to telemarketers. This may cause not only an inconvenience, but an additional cost to you! To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list It will only take a minute of your time.. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

When you prepare your budget you can also add in budget estimates that will represent the position you will be in if you stick to your goals.  This inspiration to continue will be good for those days when it seems that the end is not in sight as it can do when dealing with financial problems especially when money is still tight.  Once you begin to start reaching these minor goals it will give you the encouragement to continue on with your credit repair program and it will also help you to become conditioned to better financial management.

Setting goals is made easier if you create a comprehensive budget where you can track all your income and expenditure and you should look at resetting the expectations of your goals on a regular basis in an effort to boost your credit score in less time.

Even small goals like getting various aspects of your finances organized will help you to stay focused and get things done in less time.  Be realistic when setting your
goals, as you should be reaching them as often as possible.  You can always review them on a regular basis and in doing so make the necessary changes to your budget to help you calculate any changes that you can make to speed up the process of repair.

All good businesses have budgets that help them to remain on track and if you manage your finances in a businesslike manner you are more likely to succeed in reaching your goals and never having to worry about poor credit reports again.

Before you get to the stage where you need to consider bankruptcy you will probably be in a position where your credit score is very low anyway and there is little concern for any further damage that will be done to it.  Even though bankruptcy will show up on your credit report as a negative account it will at least give you the chance to start rebuilding your life with a clean slate where you will not have to repay the debt or possibly only a portion of it.

Immediately after the bankruptcy is discharged, it is critical to start rebuilding your credit.  Yes, you need to get back into debt again but this time small manageable amounts.  These small steps will allow you to continue rebuilding your credit score where you might never have been in the position to do so if you had continued to struggle under the overwhelming burden of excess debt.

Many successful business people throughout the world have faced bankruptcy in their career so even the best of them can come unstuck.  You need to look at all your options and consider what is the best for your long-term financial outlook rather than what you or other people might think.

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what people’s opinions are as you have to do the best for yourself in your life and financial problems aren’t something that should dictate the quality of your life when you have done all you can to resolve them.

January 7, 2012 – Vision Conference, www.2012visionconference.com

January 29, 2012 – Sisters 4 Sisters Monthly Meeting at the CEO Business Cafe in Greenbelt, Maryland

April 14, 2012 – Heal a Women to Heal a Nation Conference in Baltimore, Maryland – Register HERE

April 5, 2012 – BWCC Regional Business Showcase & Tasting – Register HERE

April 19, 2012 – Prince George’s Community Federal Credit Union – Success Series Seminar, Increasing Credit Scores One Point at a Time – Register HERE

April 28, 2012 – St. John’s Community Church, Women’s Ministry Black & White Tea – Drew Freeman Middle School – Contact Michelle McNair at 301-512-7138

Credit with Chris 2011 Events:

November 2011 – Coalition of 100 Black Women Annual Luncheon

September 2011 – Empowered Women Financial Class

Monthly Workshops and other community events

Even the cost of driving down to the local fast food outlet uses additional petrol and that can add up to a sizeable sum over the course of a year.  It’s the little things that sometimes matter the most at the end of the day as they are the expenses that can be the difference between paying the bills and having to pay late fees.  Consider how much the total cost of smoking cigarettes will cost over the course of a year and you begin to see how much more difficult life can be when money is wasted on items that are adding no value to the quality of your life.

I’m sure you can find things that they waste money on regularly and would be happy to do without if the alternative was a life free from the stress of financial burdens.  Impulse spending and spending of the small change can account for a relatively high percentage of most people’s income and if this money was applied to debt reduction, credit score would soon rise to more favorable levels.

A good budget will quickly show where these ‘money leaks’ are and allow you to plug them and channel the money into more constructive areas.  It might take a few weeks of diligently tracking all of your spending for these expenses to surface but once you do you will find you can break the bad habits.  It might be all you need to do, to start heading in the right direction.