Unclaimed Property Blog

You pay your monthly minimums but the debt just doesn’t seem to decrease. Here are some effective ways to reduce the debt.

The first thing you should do is pay more than the minimum. Paying the minimum which is usually 2% to 3% of the outstanding balance, maintains a balance rather than decreasing it. Banks bank on you making minimum payments since the longer you take to repay the charges, the more interest they make. Also with less cash you have the more likely to add to the credit card.

Are you aware that you have rights when it comes to debt collection agencies? The following data will help you to understand what can be done when the debtor calls keep coming.

The first and most used method of dealing with those pesky debt collectors is to use caller ID and/or screen the calls.

Are you aware that there are different types of collections? One is either a creditor or a third party debt collector. A creditor is an employee of your bank or credit card company while a third party debt collector is someone who is being paid to collect a debt for the original creditor.

In October 2005 Congress passed some new bankruptcy laws. What does this mean to you? Read on and find out the most common consumer applications.

If you are considering filing bankruptcy the first thing you need to know is that there are two basic types of personal bankruptcy actions, they are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy has also been referred to as “no assetâ€? bankruptcy. Under Chapter 7, a debtor’s debts are discharged, or in layman’s terms, they are wiped out by the court and the debtor is not required to pay off those debts.

When a collection agency calls do you feel you have to respond? Do you know how to protect yourself ?

When they call you can avoid talking to them by hanging up, screening the calls and you can make it legal with a “cease and desist letter.”

If your decide on this tactic be sure you include your name, address and account number with the letter. The basic communication you want to get across to the agency is “do not contact me further about this debt.”

The phone is ringing; once again, its a collection agency. Do you know the rules that they have to abide by?

Yes, it is true there are laws regulating their actions. Here are what collection agents may not do:

Sometimes we don’t think we have enough assets to have a will. Well, rethink that and make your will.

There are many ways in which people have assets that they are not really aware of. You may have stocks, bonds, insurance policies, 401K or Roth IRA, savings accounts and property or personal belongings of value.

Here are some do’s and don’ts about wills:

Many people do not want to talk about death, so writing a will is not something that is done prior to death. There is another way that you can protect where your assets go, read on for the information.

It is not being advised that you not make a will as there isn’t any substitute for a will. Estate planning is also needed. At this point in life if you have not taken the time for either of these needed actions, there is “payable on death” designations of savings . This is a simple way to make sure at least some of your savings are paid to your loved ones when you die.

Pull out your telephone bill and take a look near the bottom of the bill. Buried in the bill under the label “access fee” or “federal line charge” is an excise tax you pay to the government each month. Read on to find out more about this fee and the controversy it is causing.

Currently as written or noted on your telephone bills the 3 percent tax on long-distance calls seems like a typical service charge. Further research has found it is actually an outdated war tax that was passed in 1898 to help pay for the Spanish-American war.

There are some things we do others don’t know about and should be left that way. What about your financial records? There may be a need for someone to know how to access your accounts. Time to think this matter over.

The idea of gathering your key personal and financial documents and information into one place may seem disastrous. Then storing this sensitive data on the internet may send shivers up an down your spine. But not having a remote, off-site backup of your important documents is what should really scare you.

Having your identity stolen can be unnerving. What if you know the person? This brings up many questions on who to trust.

Identity theft experts have discovered a small but growing proportion of identity fraud is perpetrated by parents. Some victimize children who are old enough to establish credit in their own right. Others use the Social Security numbers of their minor children to set up fraudulent accounts that the victims might not discover for years.

Two years ago you almost never heard about parent perpetrators . Now Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center, gets “several complaints a week� from victims or from other adults who have uncovered the crimes.