Money and Personal Finance Tips

Simple way to build credit
Using a credit card responsibly over time can improve credit. But if you have bad credit or no credit history, you can’t get a card. Enter the secured credit card. With a secured card, you make a deposit to the credit card company and that deposit becomes your credit line. Then, you can use the card to buy an item every month and then pay off the item each month. This way, you build a history of paying for what you buy. That’s good credit. In some cases, credit card companies will eventually upgrade a secured card to an unsecured card.
Secured cards are different from pre-paid debit cards. Debit cards are not reported to the credit bureaus, so they do nothing for your credit.

Sears warranties still valid
Now that Sears has officially entered bankruptcy court, consumers that purchased the company’s Kenmore brand of appliances in recent years are left wondering if their warranties will be lost, according to CNBC. Fortunately, in an official statement, representatives have said that all guarantees, warranties, and protection agreements will be honored as usual and their PartsDirect site is still open for business. In fact, when major companies go out of business, consumer warranties aren’t usually impacted because most states mandate they be backed by outside insurance companies so that some amount of coverage can be guaranteed.

Easy trick to limit shopping
According to Consumer Reports, using credit cards will increase the amount of money you spend on a purchase because it makes the purchase less painful and speeds up the shopping process.
One way to slow things down is to create a buffer between the buying impulse and the checkout button. You can do this by simply removing saved credit card information from web browsers and online stores such as Amazon, according to The Simple Dollar. Actually having to take the card out of a wallet and type the information creates a powerful disincentive to purchase.