Build your credit

Your credit score is calculated by you paying your bills on time, and how much of the available credit you are using.  There are many other factors, but the most important is to always pay your bills on time.  If you do not have any credit and want to establish some, get a credit card and just buy your gas with it.  Each month make sure you pay it off in full.  Pay your bills on time and your credit should be established and very good.  Each year you can get a free annual report online, by multiple companies.

A bit of relief

If you have a Discover Card you should sign up for the July-September 2008, 5% back on all gas purchases.  It should help you out a little bit at the pump.  It will also save you a 5% on hotel purchases as well. 

Fees that I will not pay

• Paying my bills on-line electronically.
• Checks from my Bank.  They already make plenty of money. Get them free if you still write them.
• For a new cell phone every couple years.  There are plenty of companies that want your business so use places that will give you one free.
• Membership fees to clubs, except Costco because they rock!
• Free checking and savings accounts
• Annual Fees on credit cards.  There are plenty out there that have free reward programs.

Personal credit maxed out

I watched a documentary last night called “Maxed Out“.  A co-worker of mine gave it to me to watch.  It was a good documentary about personal finance, but at the same time it was pretty sad.  This show was about people who are completely “maxed out” on their own personal credit. 

Some people have paid interest for 20 years and for some reason still can’t get caught up.  It also goes on to show all the people out their how they keep spending and buy stuff that they can’t afford using their credit cards.  It was a good eye opening story of people all over the United States who are hurting because they never understood how their credit cards worked and credit in general.  This documentary talks about real estate, credit cards, foreclosures, bankruptcy, credit collectors, and so much more. 

I would encourage people to watch it just to see what is going on in the world.  After watching this flick it makes me realize that I need to be even more careful in the financial decisions that I make.

Eating out? 5% off

Eating out is going to give you 5% back during the month of February using the Discover Card.   You have to go to the site and sign up or actually call them to enroll and it is totally free.  I wish Discover would just auto enroll all the rewards during the year so we would not have to go to the site and sign up all the time.  So if you have the card and you eat out - go sign up and enjoy.