Thankfully Social Lending Loans Don’t Require PPI Claims – But You Still Might be At Risk!

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Social lending is here to stay, and many people have been enjoying the fruits of this “revolution”. So now is the perfect time to make sure that you focus on what matters — the little details. The things you might not have considered before someone mentioning them to you. Things like payment protection insurance, for example.

Payment protection insurance is supposed to be a plan that will take care of your outstanding loan payments for up to 12 months while you find work or get through another financial hardship. However, many people have woken up to the fact that PPI just isn’t doing that for them. They file claims and expect to be taken care of, only to find that their claim was denied. It’s been shown that over 95% of the PPI that was sold to customers is not suitable for the person due to an excluding factor. Self-employment or even receiving other sources of income while you’re unemployed can deny you your PPI claim. That’s not something that makes people feel really good about the insurance plan, does it?

Well, one revolution usually bleeds into another. If you feel like you were deceived by payment protection insurance, you can always fight back. PPI claims are definitely the way to go, even though you might feel like it’s silly to make waves. Most social lending loans aren’t going to have PPI attached to them, but that doesn’t mean that you’re out of the water yet.

You see, it’s all about getting representation and fighting back against the lending institution that let you enter into the PPI scheme in the first place. You are entitled to compensation, and you need to make sure that you fight for that right. Sure, it can be a little awkward being the “squeaky wheel”, but we all know which wheels get the grease, now don’t we?

You are also not alone in this journey, either. A lot of people are waking up to find that they’ve been deceived by payment protection insurance, and they’re pretty angry. Of course, it makes sense that they’re angry — they’ve been paying into a system that isn’t going to take care of them. They’ve been sending extra money towards loans thinking that if the worst really does happen, at least they have peace of mind. When someone takes away your peace of mind, things can get really bad.

Take back the power today and file a PPI claim — why wait another moment?

Will debt management affect my credit rating?

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We are going to look at two questions in this article: firstly, what is debt management, and secondly, will entering debt management affect your credit rating?

If you’re already familiar with debt management and how it works, you can skip straight to the second section of this article, which looks at how entering a debt management plan can affect your credit rating.

What is debt management?

If you’re having difficulty repaying your unsecured debts – such as credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts, etc. – every month, it’s important to find a way of repaying your debts at a rate you can afford as soon as possible.

A debt management plan could be one suitable option. If you can’t make your repayments to your unsecured lenders as originally agreed, a debt management plan could allow you to make one payment per month, following a repayment plan that’s tailored to what you can actually afford.

You could choose to draw up and follow your own debt management plan, but if you agree one with the help of a professional debt management company, they could also deal directly with your lenders on your behalf, which can take away much of the pressure of phone calls and paperwork.

So how exactly does a debt management plan work? It’s an informal (non-legally binding) agreement between you and your unsecured lenders, in which you – or your debt management company – will ask them to accept reduced monthly payments you can afford every month.

If your repayment plan is accepted, your unsecured lenders may also agree to reduce or freeze interest and other charges on your debts, so they won’t increase as you’re repaying them.

However, it’s important to remember that making lower repayments every month means you’ll also be paying off your debts for a longer period. And if your lenders don’t agree to freeze or reduce interest on your debts, it could end up costing you more in interest overall, since your debt will have longer to accrue interest.

Will debt management damage my credit rating?

As debt management is only an appropriate option if you actually can’t afford your original repayments, chances are you’ll already be in financial difficulty before your agreement is accepted.

So your credit rating may have already been damaged. Whether or not you actually enter a debt management plan, failing to make the payments you agreed to when you first took on a debt can affect your credit rating for five years, potentially making it harder and/or more expensive to obtain further credit in that time.

personal loan

Essentials Things to Consider in Personal Loans

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When you are planning to get a personal loan, you will find out that it is not that easy to instantly make a decision as there are lots of things that have to be considered.  There is a need for you to ask yourself several questions before finally arriving at a decision.  Here are the questions and answer them intelligently so you will end up landing on a loan that’s perfect for you.

1.    How much money do I need?

Before determining the money that you need, you first have to know where the money will be used so you know exactly how much do you need.  After you have determined the amount of money, you are now ready to shop around for personal loans.  You have to gather several loans mainly for the purpose of comparison.

2.    How much do I need to pay?

When you see ads about personal loans, creditors usually post low interest rates, but the rates don’t usually apply to everyone.  The rates might only be referring to people with high salaries and good credit scores.  There are so many factors that you have to look into when it comes to interest rates.  Interest rates that will be applied on your personal loan will basically be based on your monthly income, on your other outstanding loans, and on your credit record.  All this information will clearly tell the creditors what type of borrower you are.
You must also be aware that there are other fees that companies will require you to pay like processing fees, pre-payment penalties and administration fees.

3.    Should I choose a secured loan or an unsecured loan?

Some people prefer secured loans because they are more flexible than unsecured loans.  In a secured loan, monthly payments are lower as the interest rates are very reasonable, but it can also be very risky as you may lose the property that you’ve used as collateral in case of non-payment of your personal loan.  If you do not want to risk your property and you think you can deal with higher interest rates, then the unsecured loan is right for you.

4.    How long do I intend to pay my personal loan?

If you’re planning to loan a big amount, you might want to repay it for a longer period of time so you can afford the monthly installments.  But if you think you can afford bigger monthly installments and you want to reduce the interest on your personal loan, choose a shorter mode of payment.

credit card debts

Use Your End of the Year Bonus on Paying Down Your Credit Cards!

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If you’re looking for fast ways of paying down your , don’t worry — you are completely in good company! You just need to make sure that you look into all of your options, and we do mean all of your options. For example, you might have just received a year end bonus from your job. Does this mean that you should run out and immediately spend it on the latest and greatest fashions or even the latest cell phone? Definitely not. You will need to think about how to best use the money to make your life easier. For example, you can pay down your credit card debt quickly with your bonus, as long as you follow a few simple steps:

First and foremost, you will want to make sure that your credit card debts are actually current. This will make it a lot easier to pay money towards the principal of the credit card, rather than just the interest. If you can pay early in your cycle, you will actually save a lot of money on interest as well. This is because when you pay early you are shaving off days where interest is calculated. After all, you can’t really calculate interest on a day where there is no balance to be had, right?

From there, you will also need to make sure that you send in the payment as soon as possible. This is where it helps to have your bank account already connected to your credit card company’s payment site. If you have a debit card, then you can make a one time payment. You don’t want to go with a money order, because you will be at the mercy of the post office instead of actually having things together.

As a side note, you might want to think about going with automatic payments through a checking account or even off your debit card. This will help you stay on track even after you use your bonus to pay down your credit card bills. This will also give you the good credit history to ask for a reduction on your interest rate, or even to ask for an increase on your rate limit. If you show the company that you can handle more responsibility, then you will definitely get anything that you request.

Finally, you need to make sure that you keep the momentum going. Surely there are things that you can do to bring in extra money. For most people, this means either making more money, or cutting back on expenses and using the savings towards your credit card payments. One thing that a lot of people do is switch down their cable subscription, since most of us are far too busy to actually sit down and watch television.

Overall, taking care of your credit card payments is something that you will need to make a priority if you really want to have the good financial history necessary to move forward in life. With the tips in this guide, you shouldn’t have a problem working towards a brighter credit future!

credit card issuers

What do credit card companies do to attract and retain more clients

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There is a lot of competition in the credit card arena and many different cards for consumers to choose from. In order to succeed in this crowded space, credit card issuers need to provide solid customer service and reward their most loyal customers. Credit card issuers can serve and reward their customers with a number of initiatives.

Longer Grace Periods

The grace period on the credit card is the period of time between the closing date of the statement and the date when the payment is due. Some credit card issuers have been reducing the number of days customers have to pay their bills, resulting in increased late payments and increased charges to customers. Credit card issuers can differentiate themselves by offering a longer grace period than their competitors, giving customers more time to pay without incurring any additional fees or charges.

Lower Fees

Fees for things like late payments or going over the pre-established credit limit have been on the rise in recent years. One thing credit card issuers can do to attract more customers and provide better service is to lower those fees to less than the industry average. Waiving fees for long term customers who make a single late payment can also foster customer loyalty and provide better customer service.

Better Rewards

Many credit cards allow their cardholders to earn reward points that can be redeemed for gift cards, special event packages and even cash. Credit cards issuers can make their cards more attractive by using a simple formula to calculate the points earned, as well as offering bonus points for spending in certain categories. For instance, many credit cards offer a higher percentage of points for spending on groceries, gasoline and other popular categories. Some credit cards also use a tiered system that rewards those who spend more on their cards with a higher percentage of rewards and cash back, or access to special award categories.

By implementing these changes and providing better service to their existing customers, credit card issuers can gain market share and improve their perception in the eyes of customers. The credit card industry is rarely at the top of customer service surveys, but there are some things issuers can do to make their products more appealing, and more useful, to their customers. And if you’re on the customer side, you can only benefit from more competition – but of course, you’ll have to do some asking around to get the best!

Shares ISA

Leverage The World of Social Lending to Jumpstart a Stocks and Shares ISA

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Social lending is powerful, and as it grows into an established lending channel people are truly beginning to realize how effective social lending can really be. You can use it to not only clear the way for great things through clearing your debts, but you can use the world of social lending as a delivery system for the garden that you wish to create in your life.

We’re not being too abstract here — when you’re trying to recover after a stressful financial situation, you are going to have to plant new seeds. In order to grow great things in your financial life, you have to have money in order to do this. If you know that you have a steady income, you can always create a social lending proposal that you can use to fund an investment account. While this is one of the newer ways to actually turn social lending into something effective in your life, it’s going to be a method that you might want to try for your own needs.

The best investment is going to be through a Stocks and Shares ISA. This is actually an investment account that uses pre-tax pounds, thus saving you a lot of money when it’s time to turn things over to the Government. Paying the tax-man is something that most people don’t like doing, so why not skip some of the payout if you can? It’s better to pay yourself first anyway.

A Shares ISA will increase savings because it pushes more money around a fund that is well managed and thus more likely to see high returns when compared to other investments. The trouble that new investors often run into is that they don’t really know enough about the subject of investing yet to really feel comfortable. Even if you feel like that, there’s no reason why you can’t push forward and truly create something wonderful and uplifting. It’s just a matter of really wanting to make big things happen in your life, after all.

A Shares ISA is also nice because it’s automatically diversified, and if you want to make changes there are some settings that you can adjust yourself. Or you can allow the fund managers to have more control. It’s completely up to you, and you can always change your options at any time. Another point about the ISA system that you can always transfer one ISA to another type of ISA or even to another company — the possibilities are endless, so check them out for yourself!

Social Lending

A Return to Really Getting Your Proposal Heard in Social Lending

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Social lending isn’t just a trend — it’s safe to say by now that social lending is definitely a strong revolution that is going to be around for a very long time. Instead of having to run to the banks and beg for the funding that you need, you can actually find regular people that really want to help you get back on your feet. Even though we would like to pretend that money doesn’t really matter, the reality is that money matters a lot more than we really want it to. Instead of thinking that you should skip over the lending that you need, you can turn to social lending. It’s all about community and helping regular people do amazing things.

Yet there’s one part of social lending that scares people away from the practice, and that’s definitely the proposal. A proposal is simply the formal request for the funds you need. You will need to spend a lot of time writing out your proposal, because you don’t want to turn people off from an otherwise great idea.

First and foremost, you have to understand that the proposal is essentially your dream on a plate, served up to your potential lenders. You have to make it sound appealing — even if all you want is a debt consolidation loan to get your family back on track. You need to give some background and maybe even tell a story. The more you can connect with your audience, the easier it will be to actually get the money that you deserve. If you don’t get a connection within your audience, they might feel that the money really isn’t going to change things in your life.

Now, your first approach might be to hide information, but this is not a good idea at all. Credit information will come out in the end, and if you weren’t up front with your credit situation, you won’t have any real chance of getting your proposal funded. It’s better to lay that information out truthfully and explain your situation. If you have circumstances that led to your credit problems — divorce, death, etc — then you should admit them openly.

Overall, these are the true keys to getting your proposal heard in social lending circles. If you apply these principles to your strategy, then your chances of having your proposal fully funded are definitely quite high!

Borrowing Money

Borrowing Money

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Borrowing money is something which is relatively easy these days. Gone are the years where you would have to dress up smartly and plead your case to the bank manager so that you could afford to buy a new fridge. These days it is a lot easier to borrow money and it is almost the norm to use credit to buy things.

Being able to borrow money can be extremely useful. If we need money in an emergency, we can get it and so we do not have to worry about what will happen if our car breaks down and we need to repair it to get to work, we can just borrow the money. It is also useful to be able to have a credit card for online purchases and to delay the time until we need to pay off the debt. It is almost hard to imagine a world without credit.

However, there are problems with borrowing money as well. Unless you pay back your credit card each month or have an agreed overdraft limit, you may find that the cost of borrowing soon escalates. If you just have one loan then it may be easily managed but once they start to build up, problems can occur. It is easy to have several credit cards, an overdraft, student loan,. Mortgage and store cards and then suddenly find yourself in massive debt. The problem with debt is that it can be extremely expensive. So use it wisely, use it to your advantage and make sure that it does not take you over.

So think hard before you borrow money. It can be extremely useful, but also a menace. Make sure that you have the means to pay it back and that you are not spending too much. Use it just for necessary purchases and emergencies and make sure you think hard about the cost of your borrowing before you get in to debt. Also make sure that if you lose your means of paying your debt, such as losing your job, that you have a back up plan or some insurance to help you out.

Social Lending Agreements

The Importance of Repaying Social Lending Agreements

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Social lending might seem like the Wild Wild West to some people, but that doesn’t mean that you have to feel that way for very long. Once you get integrated into a social lending community, you’ll actually see it for what it really is — a network of people helping each other meet their goals and dreams, even when traditional banks have failed them. When you focus on profits without thinking about the people that need the financing, a lot of cases tend to fall between the cracks. Wouldn’t it be better if you could actually break out of that traditional mold and get the financing that you need to actually get things done? That would be nice, right? Well, you can do that with social lending — even if you’ve got plans to play Euromillions online and win big! Just because you want to win the lottery in the future doesn’t mean that you ignore the present. Once you won big money you can just pay off your social lending agreement right away.

That’s right — we cannot stress the importance of repaying your social lending agreement. We know that it might seem obvious, especially when you have a defined sense of right and wrong. However, the global recession definitely taught people one thing — it’s perfectly okay to strategically default on things where repayment would be an issue. You don’t want to carry that attitude back with you to the world of social lending. It’s just going to end up making you upset, and who really wants to do that? You’re better off really making sure that you focus on the bigger picture, and that’s going to involve really thinking about the impact of not repaying the arrangement.

You see, social lending is all about trust in ways that the traditional world is not. There is an assumption that a certain amount of loans are going to come up into default status. That’s why you really owe it to yourself to try to still push forward and honor the original terms of your agreement — if you default, you’re not defaulting on some major bank that has millions of dollars to blow. You’re going to be defaulting on people that trusted you with money that they could have used to better their own lives. Do you really want to let those people down?

If there are circumstances in your life that mean that you have to get forbearance temporarily, reach out and get help right away — don’t just hide; that’s the worst thing that you can do!

Personal Loan

A Personal Loan Helps You Achieve Your Dream Vacation

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What’s your dream vacation? Some people like to go out of town, while others like to go out of the country. Even if you’re somewhere in between, the power of the dream vacation is really hard to ignore. A lot of people feel that you have to save up your whole life for a dream vacation, but the truth is that it really isn’t like that at all. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to find the money to do what you want. Once you find the money, then the rest is pretty easy.

In the past, you used to have to save up a long time to get this accomplished. However, if you already have a bank account, then you can get a personal loan. Now, a lot of people don’t really talk about personal loans. They’ll take on car loans and even house loans, but something for themselves is hard to really justify. There’s no crime in taking some time for yourself and your loved ones. If you wanted to get away on a long vacation and you need a little cash to do it, why not get a personal loan?

The best way to get started is to make sure that you stop into the bank in person. If you have a branch in your area, then this is pretty easy. Of course, if you don’t have an offline bank then you will need to just get a representative on the phone that can further assist you. There’s no reason why you can’t get a personal loan just because your bank isn’t in the same town as you. Generally speaking a representative can pull your file and see why you weren’t approved for the loan. In most cases it can be a matter that is easily resolved — you might have to agree to a higher interest rate in order to get the funds, though. It really depends on your credit, as well as your ability to pay. If you’re someone that has a good credit score, then this isn’t a problem. But if you have a few credit challenges, you might have to pay a higher rate — it’s just what it is. Of course, if you’ve been using the same bank for years and years, then you might have a little bit more leverage than someone that’s new to the bank. Read more »

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