Menturion

The concept of credit rating is as important as any other aspect
of credit cards. Well, maybe even more important than a lot of
other features. As you use your credit card, the credit card
supplier maintains not only the history of the transactions you
do (which he uses for billing purpose) but also your payment
history, credit limit used, etc. These details are then passed
on to credit bureaus that use all this information to arrive at
a credit rating for you. This rating is updated on a periodic
basis and is available to other credit card companies on
request. You can also obtain a copy of the same from the credit
card bureaus.

So how is this credit rating used? What is its importance?

Credit rating is used by the credit card companies, banks,
financial institutions and others for judging your credit
worthiness i.e. whether you are worthy enough to receive credit
(loans etc) from them. So when you apply for a mortgage or a car
loan with a bank or a financial institution, the first thing
they will do is get your credit rating from the credit bureau.
If you have a good credit rating then the approvals will be
smooth as butter. However, a bad credit rating might lead to
either rejection of your loan/mortgage application or land you
with a not-so-good deal i.e. higher interest rate, lesser loan
amount or just some difficult terms and conditions.

With a bad credit rating, you might not be able to get another
credit card or might land up with a debit card i.e. a secured
credit card which requires you to open a savings account with
the credit card supplier and your credit limit is basically the
amount (or 70-80% of the amount) you hold in the savings
account. The importance of credit rating can also be judged from
the fact that some of the companies have a credit rating check
done as a part of their recruitment process. They use your
credit rating as a measure of how responsible you are. Amazing,
isn’t it?

However, the good news is that maintaining a good credit rating
isn’t that difficult at all. It requires just some discipline on
your part. This basically translates into controlled spending
and timely payments.

Controlled spending: A lot of people consider credit card as
free money, not realizing that it is actually just borrowed
money. So first thing is to get this understanding correct and
the next thing is to control your urge to spend on your credit
card. Use cash some times so that you keep away from building
upon your credit card debt. Do not fall for all those offers
that are displayed throughout the shopping centers. They are
there as a marketing tactic to encourage spending. Remember that
these offers come and go all the time so this is not the last
time probably. Ideally, your spending must never surpass 70-80%
of the total credit limit available on your credit card. A
history of overspending on credit cards also leads to a bad
credit rating

Timely payments: Never default on your credit card bill payments
(or on the payments of any other loans etc). Not only do you end
up paying late fees and interest on them, these are also the
ones that spoil your credit rating to a great extent. You need
to keep track of your monthly statements and in fact enquire
with the credit card supplier if you don’t get the statement for
a particular month. Once you know what your billing cycle is,
you should make a note of the same in your diary. The next thing
of course is to make sure that you make the payment (unless you
can’t really make it). If you have enough in your bank account
and a regular income, you could set up a direct debit where-in
the credit card bill automatically gets paid from your bank
account.

This will give you an idea about the importance of credit
ratings. It really can’t be emphasized enough.

The rental market and Vacation Home sale market is unsustainable. Property prices are still rising by appalling amounts.

Yes that’s great on the surface, but match today’s house prices with what people are quoting for rentals. Anybody seen a 20 or 30% rise in their income from guests?

Anybody seen flight prices coming down?

Anybody seen car rentals coming down?

Anybody seen attraction prices coming down?

Any form of economics will show that if you have a home and have a mortgage of anything in excess of $1000 with all the associated costs like utilities, management,

taxes, replacement and upgrades, and if a home is being rented for anything less than $80 a night based on 35 weeks rentals that home is being run at a loss.

There is ample evidence to show that that homes are being rented for less than that. Fortunately there is also evidence that owners are sticking to their guns and getting what their home is really worth.

This is not a Last Minute syndrome. Because our site is so popular it’s easier for owners to stick out for the rates, but there are other rental sites that lead owners to desperate measures.

This is not to suggest that a market economy is wrong but too many have been left in desperate situations by false promises by a whole myriad of people.

The first reaction by owners is to cut prices. Unfortunately all that does is delay the final sad outcome.

It’s a fascinating insight as to how people operate their homes, and interestingly, its usually owners of less than 18 months who offer low prices.

The long-term owners, even though they could afford it in the main, are not lowering their rates unless it’s a special one off deal.

The long-term owners, feel they have seen it all before - potentially supply outstripping demand - so they wait until all the other homes are filled with cheap rentals, till they know they can get the price they need to survive.

Is this a good strategy? That’s for you to decide.

Although Florida has being full this year, experiencing what is probably one of the best seasons in the past 5 years, not too many owners are taking advantage of this.

Disaster looms ahead and the only winners in this situation are the realtors. The very people that probably got many owners in to the situation they are in now. Luckily at sites like ours, the owners are in control.

If the enquiries come through, its up to the owners to convert them to bookings, its up to them to decide on pricing, its their web site that is the brochure for guests to view, its their techniques for making sure converted bookings are satisfied.

As one of the most popular sites, our focus is on getting visitors, getting enquiries and not having too many owners competing for the same enquiries. And this we do quite well.

Vacation rentals are a business and like everything its supply and demand. It only takes one owner to drop the price below realistic levels to create a precedent. As always it should be your decision, because you know what works for you.

Hopefully this helps clarify a situation, which will cause a lot of heartache for people in the future unless rental rates improve.

Stewart Granville is a Florida vacation villas rental agent and operates the Florida Villas Rentals and Orlando Vacation Rentals sites

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

If you are considering purchasing life insurance, an overview of the available types should prove helpful. This article will briefly discuss the difference between whole and term life insurance, as well as some variations on whole life insurance.

The easiest way to understand the difference between whole life insurance and term life insurance is to look at what is meant by their names. When you purchase whole life insurance, you are covering your “whole” life - as long as you own the policy, it will pay a benefit when you die. What that benefit is depends on the value of the policy at the time of your death, but you own the policy even if you are no longer making payments on it. Whole life also accumulates a cash value on a tax-deferred basis. In addition, whole life can pay dividends throughout the life of the policy.

Term life insurance, on the other hand, is purchased for a certain term, or period. As long as you die within that period, term life insurance will pay an agreed upon amount to your beneficiaries. It will not pay if you cease to make payments or if you die after the term has expired. In addition, term life insurance has no cash value.

Two other aspects of whole versus term life insurance should be pointed out. The first aspect is that premiums for whole life insurance are higher to begin with, but remain steady over time. On the other hand, premiums for term life insurance are lower near the beginning of the policy, but increase over time. Another aspect is that you can borrow against the cash value of a whole life insurance policy. This is not possible with term life insurance, since it does not have a cash value. There are two variations of whole life insurance that need to be mentioned. The first is a more flexible form of whole life called universal life insurance. With universal life insurance, you can adjust (within certain limits) the premiums as well as the benefit amount over time to suit your financial situation. This is made possible by placing the premiums in a fund that accumulates based on the interest rate. As with normal whole life insurance, this type of policy has a cash value that can be borrowed against.

The second variation on whole life insurance is called variable life insurance. This type is similar to universal life insurance, except that the premiums in the fund are tied to the financial markets rather than to interest rates. While the potential for growth is greater with this type of insurance, the potential for loss is greater as well.

As you can see, there are some choices to be made when considering the purchase of a life insurance policy. Now would be a good time to use some of the other resources at this site to help you decide on the life insurance policy that is right for you and your family.

Mike Bell is the webmaster of the Life and Health Insurance option guide, a resource for life and health insurance answers.