When it comes to insurance costs, your credit record can be just as important as your driving record

When it comes to insurance costs, your credit record can be just as important as your driving record
As a smart consumer, it should be no surprise to you that
your credit report can affect the interest rate you get on
a car loan. The better your credit score, the better your
rate. But did you know your credit can also influence your
auto and home insurance premiums?

It's called insurance scoring, and it can drive up—or
drive down—your insurance premiums.

Insurance companies believe there is a correlation between
credit history and the likelihood of someone filing a
claim. So now, almost 90% of auto insurance companies, and
an increasing number of home insurers use credit
information to determine your premiums...or if they should
even insure you at all.

What is your insurance score? You can order your insurance
scores any time by clicking here. Your insurance score
takes into account factors such as your outstanding
debt...length of credit history...payment history...and
amount of revolving credit (the credit card balances you
carry over month to month).

You might be thinking: "Hey, this sounds a lot like a
credit score." Well, you're right. The two are very
similar. However, while both insurance and credit scores
look at the same characteristics of your credit report,
insurers place more importance on the factors that show
long-term stability. They place emphasis on how regularly
you pay rather than how much you owe.

Can you improve your score? Keeping your credit healthy can
be a big boost to your insurance score (and your credit
score, of course!). Here are a few quick tips for a stellar
score:

* Limit the number of credit cards you apply for—aim
to apply for only the ones you know you'll need

* Pay your bills on time—sounds simple, but it is a
huge factor in your score

* Be responsible—keep your balances well under your
credit limit

You'll find more ideas on how to improve your credit at the
Credit Learning Center.

Stay in the driver's seat One of the best ways to ensure
your credit is helping (and not hurting) you is to check it
regularly. By checking your credit report frequently, you
can stay on top of your information easily.

By making a real effort to improve your credit, you could
lower your premiums quite a bit, especially if your credit
wasn't up to par in the past. And that could mean a little
extra money in your pocket every month.

Just keep in mind that your insurance score is only part of
your premium equation. Things like your age, driving record
(for auto insurance and home property value (for home
insurance) might also be factors. Ask your insurance agent
for the complete scoop on your premiums.

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TransUnion's TrueCredit.com empowers consumers to manage
their credit health, providing information on
credit-related issues that range from the significance of a
credit report to identity theft protection.
TrueCredit.com's offerings include educational materials,
free monthly newsletters and online products, including
credit reports, credit and insurance scores, credit
monitoring, debt management tools and identity theft
insurance services.

The Differences Between Secured Debt and Unsecured Debt

The Differences Between Secured Debt and Unsecured Debt
When filing for bankruptcy, it is important to consider
whether the debt you owe is a secured debt or an unsecured
debt. The court's ruling will depend on what specific type
of debt you owe to your creditors.

How does a secured debt differ from an unsecured debt? As
the name suggests, a secured debt uses a form of security
for the money owed. The security may be real estate
property such as a home or a lot. The borrower signs a
contract that agrees to surrender this property in case he
fails to pay off his dues. Thus, the security or collateral
serves as protection for the creditor against the risk of
default. The most common examples of secured debts are car
loans and mortgage loans.

On the other hand, with an unsecured debt, the borrower is
not required to submit any form of security or collateral
to his creditor. The creditor will grant a loan approval
solely based on the borrower's credit history. An unsecured
debt has a higher interest rate than secured debt because
it puts a higher risk for the lender. Usually, credit
cards, department store cards, and other similar debts are
unsecured because they are not tied up to any property.

How does your type of debt affect bankruptcy? If you're
filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the borrower has the option to
choose whether he wants to keep his property and pay his
creditors instead or surrender his property as payment for
his debts.

In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, the borrower is allowed to keep
his property provided that he agrees to pay back all his
debts to his creditors. The borrower will then be subjected
to new payment terms that will be arrange by his lender.
The bankruptcy court allows lenders to charge up to a 10%
interest rate to give the borrower the chance to pay back
more easily. If the borrower was paying a 15% interest on
his loan before filing for bankruptcy, the 5% less interest
will be a tremendous ease to his load. Moreover, if the
borrower's debts are less than the value of the property he
submitted as security, he has the option to make repayments
without any interest.

With an unsecured debt, if an individual has already filed
for bankruptcy, the creditor will have to stop all its
attempts to collect debts from the borrower as the ordered
by the bankruptcy court.

In some cases, the lender can file a petition to the
bankruptcy court if there is any dispute about the type of
debt owed. If the bankruptcy court denies this petition and
declares that the debts are unsecured, the lender must stop
taking any action against the borrower. If the lender
violates this rule, he will be facing punishment from the
bankruptcy court.

Clearly, understanding the type of your debts plays is very
important. As the borrower, it protects you from any
violation from your lenders and it knowing what your
options are, will enable you to decide more efficiently
with regards to your debts especially when financial
difficulties arise.

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Liz Roberts is a loan consultant with NHBS Inc. offering
helpful advice on repairing bad credit. Visit our site
http://www.newhorizon.org/Info/securedcc.htm

to apply
online for a secured credit card

The Art and Science Of Comparison...Stock Research As If You Were Acquiring The Whole Company

The Art and Science Of Comparison...Stock Research As If You Were Acquiring The Whole Company
Years ago, I found myself the COO of a company in the quick
service restaurant industry. The board of directors charged
me with the responsibility to make that company
grow—quickly but within reason. We knew that the
quickest and best way to do that was by making competitive,
but sensible acquisitions; so I researched, negotiated and
bought as many other similarly franchised outlets as I
could; until the board said "stop....now work on
assimilating them."

Approaching these acquisitions I learned a few things about
buying other companies. The first key success variable was
how to value a prospective acquisition. This involved
everything from observations, discussions with others,
obtaining objective advice and research, to the direct,
face-to-face negotiation with the seller. A most important
facet of the analyses involved conducting comparisons
between the subject acquisition and others available
regionally. This meant conducting endless, time-consuming
comparisons, analyses and research of competition, other
options, financial projections and so on.

I was thinking about this time-consuming, mind-numbing,
floundering about in the stock data quagmire the other day,
in relation to the task of managing one's own financial
portfolio. If you're going to buy stock in one company
versus another, isn't this almost the same as me making
those acquisitions in the past...as if you were buying the
company? How do you make those decisions? Do you rely on
the advice of others, or do you figure out what to do by
yourself? Or do you just wallow about in this sea of data,
not really knowing what to do?

If you rely strictly on the advice of others, isn't that
the same as me not visiting those restaurant outlets, or
having them 'mystery shopped', or visiting there
anonymously? How do you really know for sure if you're
getting accurate, truly objective advice? If you are being
given specific advice, aren't others being given the same?
If this is so, won't that help force the stock's price up
by way of demand? Does that cause you to lose your edge?

But if you're doing your own research and you have some
'secret weapons' or tools to help you, won't that allow you
to find the best opportunities that others don't have or
yet even know about?

One such investor, Ian Campbell liked to manage his own
stock portfolio. But he found it painfully time-consuming
to do the analyses, pouring over piles of charts, other web
sites, trying to make sense of all the inputs for so many
different companies. Moreover, in many cases, the
information he wanted and needed was not there. He reasoned
that there must be thousands of investment advisers and
other investors who like him desired a solution. Campbell
has developed a website (stock researchdd.com) focused on
Small Cap Canadian Mining and Oil & Gas stocks. Among the
many things you can do with his website, is the comparison
of the companies embedded there. For instance, users can
compare companies in more than 40 different ways:
everything from 'Trailing 90 Day Volatility' on a daily
basis; to 'Interest Bearing Debt/TTM After-tax Cash Flow';
on a trailing 12 month's basis. Each comparison table is
automatically generated when selected by a subscriber.
Companies are ranked in the comparison table in either
ascending or descending order depending on the
characteristic the subscriber selected.

Using the drop-down menu in the website's Main Navigation
bar, company comparisons can be immediately generated at
any segregation level a member chooses. For example,
selecting Company Research -> Mining -> Gold -> Producer ->
Mexico from the drop-down menus will result in all
companies who produce gold as their main output, and who
operate principally in Mexico, being compared by whichever
characteristics the member-subscriber then selects. The
significance of each comparator is stated, along with how
it has been calculated originally.

This is amazing stuff. I sure wish I had a web site like
this when I was figuring out which companies to buy back in
the day. If you want to feel comfortable and secure that
you have the very best information available to make your
own buy or sell decisions, this should probably be a part
of your own stock research tool kit.

© Roy MacNaughton, 2008

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To learn more about this unique site for researching
stocks, go to: http://www.stockresearchdd.com
Roy MacNaughton is a writer and a niche marketing coach.
He's a seasoned marketer, with more than 30 years of
international experience, in six countries, including nine
years online. Check his blog at:

http://www.UmarketingU.com