Home Sweet Home Office

As the financial crisis continues it is imperative that we get our finances in order right away. Payments on credit cards, store charges and consumer loans need to be paid on time. As businesses suffer more losses they will begin to fear you – the one that owes them money.

Credit card companies are raising interest charges and in some cases they are lowering credit limits. This could be disastrous for a family and especially a business that depends on a line of credit to buy supplies and other necessary goods from day to day. Most credit cards allow you to pay payments online. Payments can be paid as often as 24 hours apart.

That may sound odd but my system works well. Instead of waiting until the monthly bill is due I gather recent receipts and pay them as I go. I still get the benefit of keeping a strong credit line open along with cash back bonuses (Discover gives one percent back on each dollar spent). By the end of the month most of the bill has been paid and I do not run the risk of a late payment with a thirty-nine dollar late fee.

I do not like opening store credit such as Sears. Most department stores accept major credit cards and those one time lost leaders are not worth the trouble of keeping up with yet another credit payment. Get these lines of credit paid off as soon as possible. Consumer loans such as a car loan may have a lower interest rate than most credit cards so take that into consideration when trying to get dept paid off.

Hopefully if you stay calm and steady your creditors will also. If you are like me you do not need any more headaches than you already have. I want to handle my own finances and I do not want a creditor panicking and trying to change my lifestyle.