Aug07

Free Credit Scores Updates With Credit Karma

The old maxim, “If it is too good to be true, it probably is,” holds up especially well in the world of personal finance. The concept of getting free credit scores has been mined by con-artists and scammers repeatedly. Unfortunately, most of these scams are perpetrated by well known companies and by the credit reporting bureaus themselves.

The free credit score scam usually goes like this. A company offers to give you a “free” credit score. To get your free score you have to sign up. If you don’t read every word on the screen or printed on the page very carefully (especially the ones in fine print), you might think that you are just signing up to get a free credit score. Gotcha!

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SAY the word ‘fire’ and many of us think of summer bushfires.

However with winter here, dropping temperatures mean thousands of Australians are reaching for the electric blankets and switching on heaters to stay warm. This leads to an increased risk of home fires caused by faulty appliances.   

Which is why it’s worrying to know that only about half of Australians check the safety of their appliances at the beginning and end of winter, and that approximately 1 in 3 people don’t have a home fire escape plan in place.

What’s even more staggering is the roughly 60 per cent of people who dead lock doors and windows and don’t leave the keys in the lock– this can be deadly in the event of fire.

So it’s important take some time to make sure you and your family are prepared in case there is a fire. Or better still,

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INSURANCE group RSA beat market expectations today when it announced a 9% increase in net written premiums of £3.8bn for the six months to June 30.

The business, which employs about 1,200 staff at its Old Hall Street and Mercury Court offices, also reported pre-tax profits of £302m, compared with £301m in the same period last year.

The COR, or combined operating ratio which is a measure of premiums taken compared with payouts, was 94.8% against 93.5% previously, reflecting weather related claims and the Chilean earthquake.

But chief executive Andy Haste hailed the figures today, saying: “We have delivered a strong top line performance and a resilient underwriting result in what has been a tough six months for the industry, with significant weather losses and the earthquake in Chile.

“Premium growth is driven by targeted organic initiatives and the benefit of recent acquisitions.

“The resilience of our underwriting result is a testament to our strong and diversified portfolio, our relentless focus on underwriting discipline and our prudent reinsurance and reserving policies.”

He added: “We are excited about the group’s prospects. We expect to m

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Out of the 88 negative rating factors that can hurt your credit score one in particular that I would like to cover in this post are inquiries.  < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

In the credit scoring system credit report inquiries are given two types of classifications one being ‘soft inquiries’ and the other ‘hard inquiries’. Let’s co

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Waving your phone in front of a cash register in order to pay for an item may seem unimaginable, but phone payments are coming soon to a retail store near you. According to Bloomberg, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are creating a new partnership that will allow customers of these carriers to pay for purchases using a smartphone. Not only are Visa, American Express, and MasterCard shaking in their boots, but the three mega-companies may also be left in the dust by Discover – the one company that just happens to have a piece of the new phone payment pie.

Even though Visa and MasterCard currently have an 82% share of the credit card market, this percentage may soon begin to decline. D

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Though not the most modern of stores, it nevertheless provided residents of Newtown with a place within walking distance of their homes where they could choose from a far greater selection of produce, meats and bakery items than the mom-and-pop markets and convenience stores that dominate the area.

So the move to shutter the Winn-Dixie at the southwest corner of the Trail and Myrtle Avenue this fall is a major blow to the neighborhood and its residents, half of whom live below the poverty line, according to the most recent census data.

Winn-Dixie corporate officials last week announced the store is one of 30 “underperforming” stores being closed.

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