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Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance:

We all have financial fears. I was reminded of this as I read a guest post by Ashley at Wide Open Wallet on Being Frugal. The post was excellent, outlining some of her financial fears. And it got me thinking about my own financial fears. So, here they are, and what I plan to do about it:

Losing a lucrative regular gig. I have one client that accounts for a little more than 1/3 of my monthly income. It’s a regular, monthly gig that is quite lucrative. I worry that some day (especially in this economy), the company will decide that getting rid of the corporate blog would be an excellent way to cut costs. In which case I will be in some serious trouble. What I plan to do about it: Look for other, small opportunities that can be leveraged into larger opportunities should the need arise. I also plan to build my emergency fund so that we can keep up with expenses for a couple months while I look for replacement income. It might also help to look at our budget and try to arrange things so that we are living on 2/3 of our income, rather than 3/4 of it.
Having something happen to the car. We’ve paid it off, and I really, really, really don’t want another car payment. Plus, we only have one car, so if it dies, it makes things sticky. Happily, we have relatives in town with extra vehicles.…

Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance:

SO, I’ve had a bit of a rough go with the debit card the past few days. For me, it started on Friday, when a purchase I was trying to make with the debit card was rejected. First thing I did when I got home (after using one of my husband’s credit cards for the purchase; I don’t carry credit cards with me normally) was check my online account balance. Everything appeared to be in order.

I should have looked deeper.

I went to the bank Saturday morning to talk to someone about this. They looked at my account history and found that, thanks to a bank error, a deposit that I brought to the bank and handed to the teller well before 3 p.m. on Wednesday did not get “made” until Thursday. All of the bills that we paid on Thursday (mostly direct withdrawal), therefore, put us into the negative, since only $100 is available the day the deposit is made. By Friday, though, everything was “available” and we were well into the black.

On Saturday, the bank people assured me that everything was fine, and they didn’t understand why the card hadn’t worked, but that it should be in good shape for sure now. The bank also began the process of refunding all my fees.

But, unbeknownst to me and to the bank teller, a hold had been placed on my debit card Thursday, at the national level, when the account went “negative” and the fees started adding…

Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance:

While it is possible for you to get a free credit report once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus, you often have to pay for your credit score (creditkarma.com offers a free credit score), and for any additional views. (Exception to that is when you are denied credit, in which case the agency used must provide you with your credit report if you ask within 60 days.)

Now, however, it is possible to check your credit report and your score from TransUnion, as much as you want, for six months. The reason? Apparently a clas action lawsuit settlement resulting from TransUnion’s practice of selling consumer profiles to third parties. At any rate, you can go to listclassaction.com to sign up.

Hat tip for this story: My Two Dollars.

Tags: credit bureaus, credit-report, credit-score, free credit score, free-credit-report, TransUnion

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Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance:

When it comes to personal finances, sometimes we need to remember to get back to the basics. If we focus on some of the “bigger” things like investing or crushing debt, sometimes we can get discouraged. Also, sometimes we lose sight of some of the basic truths of personal finances.

I came across two great posts recently that address two personal finance basics that we would all do well to remember: saving money and taking good care of our credit.

Saving money

This is a big one. And I’m not talking about clipping coupons and getting a “deal” on something you might not have bought in the first place. I’m talking about setting aside money and saving it. Gather Little By Little has a great reminder post on great ways that you can start saving money now by making it a priority — and making a plan.

Credit

Credit is another foundation of your personal finance success. Having good credit is essential to help you save money on loan interest charges and insurance premiums, and even can affect whether or not you get a certain job. Single Guy Money offers a great overview of the importance of credit and tips for improving your credit score, which include such items as:

Maintain a good payment history.
Try to have more “good” credit.
Longer credit history.
Avoid new credit.
Maintain a low debt to credit ratio.

Can you think of any personal finance basics that you try to remember?

Tags: Credit, improving credit score, Personal…