Recently in General Category

We just saw these statistics online and wanted to share them with our readers:

• 40% of Americans say they live beyond their means.
• 50% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
• Only 32% of American parents talk to their children regularly about personal finance.
• Only 21% of graduating high school students participate in financial literacy courses.
• In 2008, students surveyed by the Jumpstart Coalition scored lower on basic financial literacy test than their predecessors in 2006.
• 20% of employees are unable to carry out normal work activities three days per week due to financial concerns.
• 43% of adults at the lowest level of financial literacy live in poverty, compared to 4% of those at the highest level of financial literacy.

Sources:
Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov
JumpStart Coalition: http://www.jumpstartcoalition.org
National Endowment for Financial Education: http://www.nefe.org

A relatively high percentage of credit reports contain errors. These errors can lower your credit score and cost you big bucks in terms of interest rates or qualifying for an interest-only mortgage loan rather than a 30-year traditional fixed-rate, for example. Therefore, it's a good idea to check your credit report for mistakes.

Look for the following:

• Identifying information that has you mixed up with someone else's activity
• Incomplete information
• Accounts that don't belong to you
• Payments reported as late but that you paid on time
• Debts paid in full that still show an outstanding balance
• Late payments and other negative events that took place more than 7 years ago, 10 years for bankruptcy

Credit scores are used by creditors and lenders to determine whether they will lend you money and what terms (interest rate, how much, etc.) you will be offered. Boosting your credit score will result in considerable savings - better loan terms and lower interest rates. Interest only and other subprime mortgage loans - those with less than stellar terms sold to borrowers with low credit scores or not enough money - have resulted in foreclosure for many homeowners when they couldn't afford the hiked payments.