Let’s start this week with Sustainable Life Blog’s Trade Borrow or Steal? An off-beat story of how the author’s office mates swap stuff. Elk meat, jam, beer, a whole lot of trading going on. Now, this may sound like bartering to the IRS, but I wasn’t planning to tell.
At Stupid Cents, a guest post on the 5 Things That Have No Effect on Your Credit Score. I’ve written a number of articles on the componants of your credit score, it’s interesting to see what many assume impacts their score, but actually doesn’t.
One Frugal Girl asked Would $10,000 Change Your Life? I agree with her, that it would be nice to have an extra $10K, but it wouldn’t be life changing. I can’t help but think there are those for whom $10K would wipe out some high interest debt, maybe saving them $2K a year for years to come. For others, it might be seed money to start a new business.
Smart Money published 10 Things Prepaid Card Issuers Won’t Tell You. A nice article with some things that you’d expect about fees, rules, etc, but what caught my eye was the subtitle “Suze Orman and A-Rod are pitching these popular products, but experts say beware of the pitfalls.” Amen to that.
At No Debt Plan, Kevin wrote How I’m Saving 22% to 42% On My Mortgage Interest Through Refinancing. It’s pretty amazing how the monthly payments multiply and a bit of effort to refinance can save a huge chunk of the interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan.
And last this week, at Careful Cents, How to Use Balance Transfers to Save Money and Pay Off Debt. The Credit Card issuers are lending again, and many offer balance transfers for minimal fees and a zero interest rate. Taking advantage of these deals might save you thousands of dollars in interest over the year the zero rate applies.