Are you maximizing the benefits on your job as part of your debt reduction plan? If you haven’t paid much attention to the types of employee benefits offered by your company, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Find out if your employer has any of the following programs that can help you avoid debt.
Debt counseling and financial classes
Knowing that many workers are struggling in this economy, some employers are setting up special workshops or classes aimed at improving budgeting skills, paying off credit card debt, or getting on track with saving for retirement. Find out if there are free workshops or referrals to debt counseling or other financial professionals who can help you.
Health savings accounts
Pretax contributions to a health savings account (HSA) can allow you to reduce the amoung of take-home pay that’s taxed. Money stashed in HSAs can be used for medical expenses as needed and avoid running up high health care bills. Medic
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Tax payers who struggle to repay underpaid income tax will not be charged interest after the UK’s top tax man admitted that HMRC “could have done better” to prepare people for demands of millions of pounds of back-tax.
Around 2.3million tax payers are believed to have underpaid tax under the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) system, although around 900,000 that owe less than £300 will have their debts written off.
That leaves around 1.4 million people owing about £2bn, or £1,428 each on average and Permanent Secretary for Tax Dave Hartnett admitted that the tax authorities could have handled the problem better.
HMRC has confirmed that those who need extra time to pay back-tax of more than £2,000 will not be charged interest.
Appearing before the MPs on the Treasury Committee with Dame Lesley Strathie, HMRC chief executive, and Bernadette Kenny, director general of personal tax, Dame Lesley said that she had “empathy” for those facing underpayments and wished to make it as easy as possible for them to pay.
“Where people need time to pay, they will not be charged interest,” she said.
Your Trajectory
The Dollar Stretcher Blog
by Gary Foreman
gary @stretcher.com
Heard this recently and thought that it sounded true. Especially in the area of our personal finances. “We determine the trajectory of our lives based on the decisions we make when times are tough.”
Let’s start by considering what a trajectory is. According to the Random House dictionary it’s the “curve traced by a projectile object or body in its flight.” In other words, for this quote it’s the path that we’re on. I picture the trajectory of a missile in flight. I don’t know it for a fact, but I’d bet that the course corrections are very, very small. Yet, they can make a big difference in where the missle flies and lands.
Why does such a small change make such a dramatic difference in the end? Because the direction has been changed. So the longer we go in that direction the greater the distance between where we are and where we would have been. Think of the missile example. Even a one degree c
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Most people never thought that they would get so deep into debt they couldn’t pay their minimum balances, but it happens to the best consumers. When you are no longer able to pay the minimum balances on the debts it can get stressful and debt counseling may be the best option for you. Having some basic knowledge and tips about debt counseling will help you be as successful as possible when you come out the other side.
1. Be realistic about what you can afford. Debt counseling will walk you through the process of looking at your finances and your credit and you’ll then need to choose a course of action for repayment. Whether it is a lump sum or monthly payments, really think about what you can pay to settle the debt so any contract does not become null and void.
2. Be as civil as possible with the creditors. If your creditors call as you are going through the credit counseling process, but as polite as possible. Let them know that you are attempting to solve your debt problems. As your debt counselor what their protocol is for contacting and dealing with creditors, as they will often become the liaison.
3. Be
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Interest rates have been kept at 0.5% by the Bank of England for the 18th consecutive month, despite calls for an increase.
Rates will be kept at the record low rate for another month at least, a decision which didn’t surprise the markets, but the Bank of England is under increasing pressure from some quarters to increase the rate in order to curb inflation. <
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The governor of New York is investigating credit card marketing practices that target college students. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has asked that all colleges and universities in the state “submit any exclusive contracts they currently have with credit and debit card companies so that his office can examine them for problematic marketing practices,” according to a statement. The attorney general also asked schools to adopt policies that would help their students avoid credit card debt.
Burdened by credit card debt
“Today’s students are facing a growing mountain of debt that can burden them long after graduation,” Cuomo said. “As a new school year begins, we want to make sure that colleges and universities are doing all that they can to help students avoid financial dangers. Especially
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