Entries Tagged 'Cache Money' ↓

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Credit ratings are a method of rating which is unique to each lender and is devised by them in order to rate a prospective borrower. It is not necessary that a lending company has to provide credit to an individual irrespective of his ratings. Similarly, there is nothing called a credit rating blacklist and since most of the parameters of evaluating a borrow is similar, a person with poor credit rating tends to face denial of credit in most places.

Banks tend to reject individuals with very good credit rating simply because they loose an opportunity to make money when they offer credit to someone who has always pays back on time. If you are looking to borrow money from a bank, then the best way would be enter into their system via a current account holding and let them come to you to sell other financial products.

Credit ratings are determined by the application form of the individual in which a number of financial questions relating to personal assets, family members and pay is requested. Banks and lending institutions tend to maintain records of previous transactions with them and refer it to determine customer type. Other than that, they also have access to Electoral Roll Information, financial data and court data which provides relevant information about the borrower. However, there are some records which banks and lending institutions do not have access to and that is medical and criminal history, savings account details, student loans, child support and any credit accounts opened before 1994.

You can even check your records both online and by postal request available with agencies and ensure that correct data is featured there. Online viewing can be done for free if you sign up for the agency’s free trial and then request cancellation once you have downloaded the required information. Correcting data available via these agencies are independent credit rating agency can help you improve you chances of getting loans without a headache by nearly 30%. Once you have the data, cross check all the factual and financial information mentioned there and if you spot an error then you need to correspond with the agency to get it corrected by suppling supporting documents.

Some tips on how to improve your credit rating include joining an electoral roll, limit the applications to loans, generate proof of financial stability and avoid getting caught in the circle of rejection. Do not hang on to credit cards you no longer use or accounts which are not operation. Make attempts to repair your credit and avoid late payments at all costs. Joint bank accounts and credit histories can hurt your credit rating. In your quest to repair your credit, do not attempt to choose illegal or so-called legal means to settle debts with the lender even when a CCJ has been served.

It is difficult to avoid student debt. The best way is to manage the debt in such a way that it does not become a burden to you later on. Student debt is not similar to standard debt. The differences are:

1) start repaying only after you are done studying
2) don’t have to pay till you are capable to pay it
3) if you don’t earn enough, then you are not forced to pay your student debt
Students can benefit from the latest offers which are available to them and cashing on to them is likely to result in lower costs.

The student loan amount does not attract standard interest but relates only to the inflation rate. It is one of the cheapest forms of loan you can get and you are very likely to need it to meet your educational expenses which include tuition fees and incidentals. The first step towards education is to understand what it is going to cost you and identifying the cheapest mode to fund it so that you do not create a burden on your future income.

Understand the meaning and effect of interest results in their evaluation of long term impact and at this point you will understand what compounding means. Once you have the concept of interest in place, you can draw up a list of places which you should go to for your loans. The first choice is very apparent, it is the Student Loans Company (SCL) which is a government funded organization and the cheapest one around. Their rate of interest is related to the inflation and the lowest around.

If SLC does not work for you, then the next place is the Interest-free Overdrafts Student Bank Account which is ideal for most students. However, you do not have the same advantage as the SLC since it starts charging a commercial rate of interest the minute you are out of college. If the Overdraft also is not an option worth considering, then you are left with the external source of debt which has no advantages like the student loans and is like any other loan and that too at a full rate of interest.

If you have a good academic record, you can make an attempt to take on a grant or a scholarship but these are limited in number and need a lot of paperwork to be done. a bit of research should be able to help you generate relevant scholarships which you can apply to. Saving and putting something away while you are in your student life can also help ease the debt burden. Don’t be quick to throw away cash at the next attractive offer which comes your way….. This might sound like a student tips articles but be frugal, create and work with a budget and limit the costs of your entertainment as well. Don’t buy anything which you don’t need.

Odd jobs during student life can also give you a bit of cash in your pocket and try and work out a student discount in the services you buy. Be aware of your tax obligations as well and be as financially savvy as you can before you step into your career.

Nectar Credit Cards features one of the most attractive reward programs. A 1000 Nectar point is awarded with the first purchase. For every other pound spent in sponsored store customers can earn four Nectar points and one Nectar points for every pound spent elsewhere. These features have made Nectar Credit Cards a very choice for the shopping savvy customers.

In fact, in an effort to capture the Christmas high spenders, the American Express championed the Nectar Credit Cards as an ideal choice for customer planning huge Christmas shopping. A survey conducted by the American Express reveal that nearly forty three percent of all credit card holders do not benefit from any loyalty or cash back schemes. Using the Nectar credit card, customers can get extraordinary rewards for their expenditures.

The Christmas season gives the ideal opportunity to utilize such sensational credit point schemes. In fact, research indicates that each shopper spends an average of four sixty pounds. Festive shoppers are expected to spend around one thirty pounds on food and refreshments, and around two sixty pounds on gifts. All these figures, add up to quite a significant amount.

For families shopping Nectar credit cards is an ideal solution. For economic getaways, ebookers.com is the answer. For gifts for friends and family, Nectar partner Sainsbury and Debenhams, offer the best deals. And in return of all that expenditure, customers get valuable ‘double dipping’ benefits.

Nectar credit card offers a great four credit point for each pound spent in Nectar sponsor stores. This makes online purchases more attractive. The Nectar e-stores feature a large range of gift and other services. Every second around nineteen Nectar cards are used in seventeen major companies offering Nectar points. Since its inception in 2002, Nectar credit cards have awarded over one billion dollar reward to point collectors. In 2006 Nectar started using the Scene7 eCatalog to introduce an interactive version of its paper based loyalty catalog. This provides the most easy and comprehensive guide for online shopping for Nectar card holders. The Scene7 eCatalog allows the customers to produce their own online catalogue in lowest cost possible. Customers who do not wish to have their own catalog can avail the full-service option.

If you’re a young entrepreneur using the internet (or even just your computer) to help you make money whilst still at school or college or university then, firstly, well done.

You’re one of the new entrepreneur elite leveraging the (relatively new) power of the micoprocessor and the global reach of the internet to sell and promote your wares.

Having been an entrepreneur myself since my teens and having made it my mission to soak up as much business know-how as possible, the following top ten is a list of things I would do again if I could go back in time to my university days; as each and every one would have helped to shape my business as it stands now.
So no matter how established your business you may find the following ten tips can help you to improve your business practices, stretch your financing reach and increase your net worth!

Tip 1 - Reality Check

The first tip for a successful business is to stop and take stock of how far you’ve come so far.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just doing a little web design on the side or even serving up a few web pages of your own to concentrate on arbitrage, the first step to releasing your full potential is to check where you are, appreciate how far you’ve come and then to plan the route ahead.

When I was at Uni I was all over the place, doing a little web design here and there but not really cncentrating on any one thing.

To make your plan bulletproof you need to research your choosen business field to see what other opportunities are open for you. Ask yourself these questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• Is there a niche you can grow into?
• If you dedicated an extra two hours to your business each day what else could you acheive?
• What ideas have you put on the backburner that now need to be actioned?
• If you had a member of staff (!) what else could you acheive?

Some of the questions, particularly the last one, might frighten you, but in order to grow your successful business you need to always be aware of what you’ve done in the past, what has worked and what the next step will be.
Tip 2 - Money for Nothing

You may not be familiar with the Dire Straits song Money for Nothing (fear not, Im sure it’ll be remixed soon with a deep, thumping beat) but a student loan offers you just that; free money.

It’s not completely free, of course, but you can play the system to earn yourself literally hundreds of pounds over the course of your education.

Student Loans come with an extremely low interest rate; usually the cost of inflation. Have a look at your highstreet banks or search the web and you’ll find several local/online banks offering saving accounts with rates 2 - 3 times the national rate of inflation.

All you need to do as a young businessman is borrow the money in the form of a Low Rate Student Loan and then invest it into a high rate Saving Account; or better still, a tax free ISA.

The discipline to this ingenious scheme is that your leave the money to accumlate in the saving account and do not spend it; not even a penny of it. The second caveat is that you pay the Student Loan back as soon as you leave education, keeping all the interest earned for yourself.

Tip 3 - Multiple Bank Accounts

I’ve had friends who fought with their girlfriends over money, constantly! For me money has never been an issue. I don’t mean Ive never been skint or in desperate need of a few extra pounds! I mean money management has never been an issue. My secret is that I’ve always had multiple bank accounts. As a young entrepreneur, multiple bank accounts are your friend!

By using multiple bank accounts you can keep your bills and your spends seperate. Using multiple accounts you can easily see at a snapshot what money is disposable, what is reserved for bills and taxes and what is invested for your future (read saving accounts). Read more about manageing multiple accounts here.

Tip 4 - Use Student Credit Cards Wisely

When I was a student I had only one student credit card and I hammered it regularly! Big mistake.

As a young entrepreneur you need to realise that the money you spend on a credit card is not your own and that delaying repayment (or worse still failing to repay) can land you in hot water.

Student Cards can, however, be used to help you grow your business. If you need a short term loan then a student credit card is ideal. Most credit cards give you between 30 and 50 days worth of free credit before they require repayment. This means that if you need to buy some more stock, some incredibly priced advertising and extra server space, you can place it on a credit card and have 30+ days to make the money and repay the debt interest free. Only if you don’t make a repayment in full will interest start to accrue on your debt.

This trick, which can also be applied to non student credit cards, allows you to borrow money for short periods of time, for free. Thank you Mr. Credit Card!

Tip 5 - Managing your debt

Debt, especially for a student businessman, is practically a fact of life, but managing that debt can set you apart from the rest.

The most important issue when trying to manage your debt is to know how much you owe, what interest rate you are paying and to know that you wont be adding to that debt with any irrational purchases!

The key to managing your debt is to consolidate your debt into a single amount with a single (low) interest rate. For example:

If you have three Student Credit Cards but have not headed my advice about using them as short term interest free loans, then you could find yourself with debts such as:

Card A: £500 @ 18%

Card B: £700 @ 14%

Card C: £150 @ 19%

A quick solution is to transfer your debt from Cards A & C to Card B. Card B, despite having the most debt currently on it, has the lowest interest rate meaning that you will pay less in repayments.

Next, think about getting a Student Loan, not necessarily from the Gorvernment (with their low, inflation based interest rate) but from a High Street Bank. You’ll be able to get a much lower interest rate and, if managed properly, will see the loan repayment leave your bank account before anything else; meaning that you wont accidentally spend it!

Tip 6 - Using your position

As a student you already get discounted CD’s, DVD’s and movie tickets but you’d be surprised what else your student discount will get you!

One of the best Money Saving Tips I have discovered is the haggle the price of a product or service down. For me, this isn’t always easy as the vendor is often thinking “Why should I give you a discount?” But if you are a student you’ve got the perfect excuse as to why you need that extra few percent shaved off the price of the new stock you need. So be pushy and show them your NUS card!

Tip 7 - Free Business Seminars

As an attending student of a college or university you’ll know how easy it is to cut class! As a lecturer this means that your class size is fluctuating to such a degree that so long as you have an audience, you’ll preach your topic.

If you are running a business but have only basic business acumen then you can take advantage of this system by turning up for the business lectures and recieving a little free schooling!

Most faculties have a timetable of when their lectures will be and on what topics. Simply find your Business Faculty and locate a timetable. Make a note of all the lectures on which you could benefit. They might include:

• Book Keeping
• Profit and Loss Systems
• Business Ethics
• Business Principles
• Employees Rights

and if you’re trading internationally on the internet might also include

• International Business Strategy
• Taxation Systems
• Importing and Exporting Duty

Soak up all of this advice for free whilst you can. Once you leave education, you’ll pay a pretty penny for it.
Tip 8 - Using your resources

My Student Union was constantly a hive of activity. We had printing shops, internet access, coffee shops, a magazine publishing company, secretarial offices, butty bars, conference rooms and hundreds and hundreds of students!

As a young entrepreneur you need to know how to use your resources in order to reduce your business overheads. This involves making the most of your surroundings.

If, for example, you are a web designer, you’ll need to think about how to promote your services. Firstly, who is your target audience. If it’s small businesses then you need to think how you can attract them.

• Can you print flyers (using your student discount) and give them to employees on their lunch break at the local cafe?
• Can you have professional letter heads printed and contact the HR depatments (Universities tend to keep a list of these to help their graduates find work) of local businesses promoting your services?
• Can you offer your services to fellow students in other departments? All it takes is an eye catching poster placed on the Faculty Noticeboards and you’ll soon find out.
• What about that first meeting? Do you want to hold it in your dorm (that answer is NO!)? Can you make use of a conference room attached to your student union?

How about if you’re a club night promoter?

• Can you use the onsite printing facilities to get your flyers created cheaply?
• Can you use the masses of bored students to hand out flyers on your behalf? Can you target them as a potential customer?
• Are their attractive girls from the Sports Faculty that could help you promote the night?
• Is the Student union itself available for hire so you can host the night?

Using the resources ‘in house’ will save you an incredible amount of money.

Tip 9 - Outsource to grow

One of the lessons you’ll soon learn is that as a small business you can’t do everything. If you are a lone entrepreneur making a living online then the thought of outsourcing may seem a little scary. But the fact is that very few one man bands can manage to grow a sustainable business over the long term.

Outsourcing repetetive or complicated tasks can leave you free to concentrate on the core of your business (making money or advertising to help you make money). The beauty of your current environment (and this goes back to Tip 8 - Using your resources) is that you wil be surrounded by people with talent who, because of their inexperience, will work for very little. As a college entrepreneur you need to make the most of this opportunity.

The English Faculty - You’re new copywriting team

The Math & Accounting Faculty - You’re new book keepers

The IT Faculty - You’re new SEO link builders, web page designers, researchers of new and upcoming trends

The Business Faculty - You’re new learning centre!

Tip 10 - Manage your wage

The final tip is the most important of all. In order for any business to grow it needs funds. Funds to get more stock, funds to hire more freelancers, funds to market your products and services to a wider audience.

Have completed Tip 1, you’ll have a good idea of what you can do to improve your business and, perhaps more importantly, whether you want to.

Some entrepreneurs will funnel all the profits earnt back into the business to help it grow; sometimes going without a wage whilst the business gets established.

Other entrepreneurs will use the entire business profit to fund their lifestyle, knowing that if business dries up, they’ve had a blast whilst they could and have no regrets.

Having analysed your business you’ll know which one of these two camps you most closely associate with. You now need to manage your wage accordingly.

If you are all about growing your business then you can’t take a huge wage. You can treat yourself every now and again but you can’t starve the business of funds so that you can live the high life; your business wont survive.
Similarly, if you’re living for today you shouldn’t keep vast sums of cash tied up in stock or advertising. Experiment with stock levels and advertising budgets so that you can bring in the same amount of work with decreased spending. This way, if your business folds, you wont be out of pocket.

One Final Tip

Money is important but it ain’t everything. You should use your time at college to grow friendships that will last a lifetime. Friends, Family and Health should always be put above making a (quick) buck.

Credit cards are a lucrative business for their suppliers. So much so that many UK card companies are willing to spend a healthy amount to attract new customers. This articles outlines how you can get your hands on the latest gadgets (and other premium items) by spending an incredibly small amount on your credit card.

Freebies or incentives are given to new UK credit card customers in many forms, either via cashback credit cards, loyalty credit cards or, more likely, in the form of free goods such as money off vouchers and the latest gizmos and gadgets. As a new customer you can legally get your hands on these items by spending no more than a couple of pounds on your new credit card. sound too good to be true? Well here’s how you can snag yourself some CD’s, a voucher and even an iPod!

Free £15 with Amazon.co.uk

New customers who apply for the Amazon.co.uk credit card will receive a £15 voucher for use at the Amazon store. The credit card offers 15.9% APR, a balance transfer offer and the ability to earn loyalty points at Amazon.co.uk

Free Sony PulseBeats

New customers who apply for the Sony platinum credit card will receive a huge 2000 pulsebeats (SONY branded layalty points) for use at Sony’s online store. The credit card offers 15.9% APR and a 12 month balance transfer offer.

Free iPod Shuffle

New customers who apply for the Citi Bank Life of Balance Credit Card will receive a brand new iPod Shuffle! Carry over 1000 songs in your pocket with Apple’s flagship product. The credit card offers 16.9% APR and a life of balance transfer deal.

Money off at Argos, Dell and more!

New customers who apply for the Student Barclaycard will receive sizeable discounts at a range of UK highstreet stores. The credit card offers 14.9% APR and monthly prize draws for the latest goodies.

Now you know how to get yourself some free stuff from your UK credit card company, here are some rules to live by:

1. Only spend the minimum on this new credit card. Just because a brand new ipod (for example) is being shipped to you right now, dont think that spending more and more on the card will get you more and more incentives. It wont. Go into a supermarket, buy a sandwhich, a bag of crisps and a drink on your card and then stop. You will have spent enough to qualify for the credit card incentive. If you feel tempted to continue spending on this card then more fool you. There are better credit cards to use for regular spending.
2. Pay of the balance ASAP. So you’ve spent about £5 on your new UK credit card and your free CDs (for example) are on the way. The next step is to pay off your balance so as to not receive any later payment or interest charges. Do this now! The minue you forget is the minute your credit card company can double your monthly bill (assuming you did spend about £5)
3. The final rule is simply this. If you want to apply for several credit cards to benefit from the whole raft of free goods available, be sure to spread your applications over several weeks. Your credit score will then not be damaged and so long as you follow rule 2 (paying off your balance in full) you credit score should remain healthy.
4. Oh, bonus rule number 4. If after a few months your are happy and secure in the knowledge that you will no longer need these new UK credit cards, be sure to cancel them with the card company. No point having them hang over you if you have no need for them.

The Camino Browser for the iMac is my current, favourite internet browser. I found Firefox way to glitchy, constantly hogging up valuable system resources. The Optimised Firefox versions are pretty sweet though.

The second post in the Mungo Money blog and the first proper post in the Cache Money category.

Today I stumbled across Calacanis.com. Id heard about this guy before but could never figure out how to spell his name. So anyway, I find a series of posts about PayPerPost.com a (in my opinion) clever idea in blog marketing.

Calcanis goes on and on about how he hopes the idea fails, how he is disgusted by the idea and how, basically, he feels as though anyone talking part in the programme should be named and shamed and expelled from the blogosphere.
A fellow anti-PayPerpost activist posts a list of PayPerPost advertisers in an effort to name and (somehow) shame; much to the appreciation of the blog owner and fellow commentors.

I take issue with this, all of it.

I think PayPerPost is a great idea. Its an idea I had myself about six months ago but without the know-how and backing I didn’t proceed with the idea.

I agree with Calcanis and his cohorts saying that PayPerPost could be more (optionally) transparent but really, “a vile and disgusting advertising method” I think not.

Now its time for me to come clean. I am an earlier adopter of PeyPerPost - I use it to advertise Mungo Money.

“Why?” I hear you gasp. Simple, its a clever marketing idea that will help to drive a small bit of traffic and earn me some Google Juice - just like TextLinkAds.com or TextlinkBrokers.com.

Text links can be bought on both of these sites for the purpose of traffic driving and obtaining more links in the search engines such as Google. Thats right, you can buy organic looking links (shocking right?!). Problem is, the more widespread the use of TextLinkAds (and similar programs) the wiser the search engines become to it and the less these links give you Juice.

So Im advertising on PayPerPost for much the same reason as the other small “outed” businesses (you’ll notice there’s no Nike or Pepsi asking bloggers to pimp their business) are; its a clever, new, advertising medium that can get our message across for little to no money and get Google Juice whilst it’s still available. We don’t have massive advertising budgets to spend on Google Adwords or media buzz, for us every user counts.

So I say to Calcanis et al, give PayPerPost a break. They’re a new business setting up in a new medium. You can see from the lists of current opportunities that small advertisers are using this service to promote their small, unique services and that big business is not flooding the blogosphere with their “dirty little message”. PayPerPost has a future in this internet medium and I, for one, wish them well.
Update: A fellow brit, with more invested, says it better than I could.

This post WAS NOT brought to you by PayPerPost.com

Kinda cheesy but Wordpress chose the title so I figure it’s good enough for me.

Welcome to the brand new Mungo Money blog. In the following posts our aim is to educate and blog about news, tools and reviews of UK credit cards, personal loans and current accounts.

We’re going to try and keep the tone informal, fresh and lively whilst still bringing you the most up-to-date news from the UK personal finance industry.