Credit Problems and Poor Credit Can Affect Your Entire Life

Poor credit means more than not being able to get that fancy Jag you always wanted. As a stay at home mom, it is more serious than paying more for auto insurance, or not qualifying for a preferred rate on a loan.

Bad credit can affect every aspect of your life, from your living arrangements to your job to your family. Thats because the credit system was originally built on trust, and once you break that trust it can be a long hard road back to financial security.

You can hurt your credit in many different ways; by paying bills late, or defaulting on loans, or having a car repossessed or a home foreclosed on. Unpaid medical bills, early termination fees on mobile phone or satellite television services, all of these and many other factors can adversely affect your credit standing.

If you have poor or bad credit, you wont be able to get a reasonable rate on a car or home loan - assuming a bank will give you one at all. You might even have trouble qualifying for an apartment or house to rent, and some companies (particularly ones in the high end retail, finance or business arenas) reserve the right to deny employment based on an adverse credit score.

The assumption is that if you cant honor your commitments, you arent to be trusted, and this can hurt you in other areas of your life as well. If you are a stay at home mom, how do you explain to your children why people keep calling on the phone and knocking on your door?

Children are quick to spot a lie, and even quicker to see hypocrisy - and if you cant keep your promises, how can you teach them what it is important? Ethical and religious concerns can come into play here, as well, resulting in an enormous burden of guilt.

The best thing to do is be honest. Explain that you made a mistake, and it will take time to fix, but you are going to try to make up for what you did wrong. They can see how unhappy you are, and you can use this opportunity to come up with ways to save money as a family and get out of debt.

Learning how to manage your money and teaching your children by example may take time, but it will pay off as you start to raise yourself out of debt one month at a time. Your children will learn from watching you and be better able to implement these lessons in their own lives from the beginning.

The stigma attached to debt can drag you down into depression and cause severe damage to your self esteem. Dont despair - you can be debt free if you put your whole heart into the effort.

Trying to dig your way out of the quagmire may seem impossible, but with hard work and conscientious attention to every single penny that goes through your hands, you can rebuild your credit and regain your dignity as well as financial stability.

Author: Rayven Perkins has been a stay at home mom, surviving on one income, for over 8 years. Visit her site www.stay-a-stay-at-home-mom.com/poor-credit.html for more important information about the pitfalls of poor credit and ways to reduce your expenses.

A Reverse Mortgage For Your Retirement Years

Many older Americans retire each year and have no adequate resources from which to draw funds to pay for medical care or simply to make ends meet. These retirees may have thought they had planned well for their golden years only to find that their savings were not nearly enough. Health care is so costly and most retirees cannot afford the additional costs of home care or residency in a nursing home. In some cases, it may just be having enough money to pay the normal living expenses that keep rising. This is probably why reverse mortgages are growing in popularity.

These reverse mortgages or also known as home equity conversion mortgages are seen as an alternative financial source to be used along with federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid to help pay the escalating costs of medical care. These types of mortgage plans can be used by senior citizens to help pay common monthly expenses as well as health care and even be used to pay for luxuries like vacations or new cars.

The reverse mortgages are backed by the FHA and the HUD and these federally backed mortgage programs are tax free. Although most people who take a reverse mortgage are over sixty-two, the money they receive from it does not affect the amount of their benefits from SSI or Medicare.

The payments on a reverse mortgage are made to the homeowner instead of the homeowner having to make the payments. Reverse mortgages do not have to be repaid until the recipient dies or moves into a nursing home. At that time the home may be sold to recover some of the money. Even if the recipient has been paid payments, which have amounted to more than the value of the home the selling price will not exceed the value of the home. As long as the recipient remains in good health and continues to reside in the house the payments will keep coming to them.

A senior citizen who is looking into the reverse mortgage plan as a way to obtain assistance in their finances after retirement should examine every other option before making a final decision. The reverse mortgage can be a genuine source of relief for someone who is no longer in the workforce and has few other ways to get funds to cover a medical emergency or any other type of sudden need.

A retired person will usually have their home paid for and the equity that is available is what the reverse mortgage is based on. The money, which is paid to them in equal monthly payments, can be used for whatever purpose they need it for. Home health care, prescriptions, doctor bills, or transportation to therapy sessions; all of these are reasons to seek more funding.

The cost of almost everything is increasing on a yearly and sometimes monthly basis, so it is very important to find resources to help finance our daily lives. The amount of income that might have been sufficient ten years ago will definitely not be nearly enough in another two years. The benefits from a reverse mortgage can be used to pay off an existing mortgage, some other loan, or any other outstanding debt. Home improvement projects and improvements in the home for their safety are good reasons to consider a reverse mortgage.

About the Author

Joe Kenny writes for the UK loan and mortgage search portal, www.glitec.org. The site offers mortgages, www.glitec.org/mortgages/ or US residents visit rebuild for mortgages, www.rebuild.org/mortgages.html