What's the Difference Between a Bank Loan and a Title Loan?

Many people experience a situation in which they need cash to make a purchase, but they do not have enough on hand. 

A bank loan or title loan can be used to generate an influx of cash for a situation such as a home repair or payment of a medical bill. 

There are some important differences between bank loans and title loans that you should understand before signing your name on the dotted line.

Bank Loan Requirements

Bank loans are provided by a lending institution that must operate under the terms of federal laws for interest rates and other loan terms. 

In order to get a bank loan, you may have to provide proof of your ability to repay the loan. This would come from copies of your pay stubs. If your income is low, you may need to have a co-signer. 

The bank will also check your credit score. A low credit score can mean a high interest rate.

Prerequisites for Bank Loans

Banks will scrutinize your finances and calculate your income to debt ratio before agreeing to a loan. 

The bank loan can be secured, such as with a mortgage. In a secured loan like a mortgage, the deed to your house would go to the bank if you fail to pay. In an unsecured loan, the bank is taking a gamble on your personal finances. 

The interest rate for an unsecured bank loan is usually higher than the interest for a secured loan.

Title Loan Terms

The terms of a title loan are different from a bank loan. With a title loan, the title to a piece of property owned by you secures the cash that is loaned to you. 

For example, you could put up the title of your car. If you fail to repay the loan, the lender gets the title of your vehicle. To get a title loan, you must own the property free and clear. 

Some companies, like American Cash Advance and Title Loan, know that the property cannot have any liens on it. Title loans also come with interest fees, which can be tied to your credit score.

Before taking out a loan, be sure to read all of the fine print. You will need to know the terms of the loan, such as payment schedules and what could happen if you miss even one payment. 

Understanding how these loans work will help you to make the best financial choice for your situation.

Drowning In Debt? 3 Strategies To Make Bankruptcy A Little Less Terrifying

The new millennium did little to bolster people's ability to earn an income and pay off their bills each month. In fact, the first decade of the 2000’s was fraught with inflation, high unemployment numbers, and stagnant hiring.

Even with the economy slowly getting back on its feet, many people are still struggling with their finances. When liquidating or consolidating your debts through the federal court system is your best option to regain control over your money, you can make filing for bankruptcy less scary by using these three helpful tips.

Organize Your Bills

Your first step to approach bankruptcy in a calm and orderly fashion calls for you to organize your bills. Gather any and all documentation for bills related to:

• medical expenses
• credit cards
• utility charges
• payday loans
• bank or car loans

As you organize and gather your bills, you should ensure that you have proof of the original creditors' addresses and contact details. Keep your bills in a folder and bring them with you when you meet with your attorney.

Decide the Chapter

The United States Court website shows that more than 900,000 people filed for bankruptcy in 2015 alone. Out of those 900,000 or more cases, many of those were total liquidations of debts. Others were consolidations.

How do you know which chapter is right for you? You can decide between a Chapter 7 and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy by deciding your own ability to pay off the bills even after they are consolidated with the court.

Can you make on-time monthly payments over the course of four to five years? Would the monthly payment hurt your budget and become another expenditure on which you could potentially default?

If you file for a consolidation Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you do not have the option of defaulting on your payments. If you miss or refuse to make payments, you could incur legal consequences that could range from a lien put on your house, car, bank account, and paycheck to jail time.

Focus on the Future

Finally, you can make bankruptcy less scary by focusing on the future. You may feel embarrassed or sad over your financial state. Consider working with professionals, like those at Demers Gagnier Inc., to help you move forward from your debts.

It is important that you look ahead rather than at your past mistakes or misfortunes. Resolving to move forward lets you deal with filing bankruptcy and helps you anticipate what the future has in store for you.

Filing for bankruptcy may be necessary to rebuild your finances. Make it less scary using these three simple tips.

Wealth Wisdom: 3 Creative Ways to Teach Your Child about Finances

One of the most important things you can do as a parent is teach your kids about money. It’s possible to teach children as young as three years old about the basics of saving or spending money. 

So why hasn’t every adult mastered basic finance management concepts? It’s because we, as a society, are not teaching them. 

Public educational offerings do not include lessons in proper money management, and children are left to educate themselves unless their parents can teach them what to do. So what should you do? 

Teach your kids some valuable lessons with these ideas.

The Value of Clichés

There are a number of timeworn phrases that describe some simple truths about money management. Instead of just repeating the phrase, why not get creative about teaching your children why they’re true? Here are some examples:

· “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” If money grew on trees we’d all have a lot more of it, and it’d be worth a lot less. 

However fruit does grow on trees, and that can help teach your kids the value of working for their money. Spend the morning picking fruit at a pick-your-own orchard. That afternoon they can sell their fruit at a roadside stand (lemonade optional). 

This also illustrates you have to spend money to make money, as they’ll have to pay for the fruit they picked before they can sell it.

· “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Teach your child the importance of researching products and investment opportunities. 

It shouldn’t be difficult to find a spam email they can easily do a little research on and discover to be a scam.

· “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Teen children will grasp this lesson quickly by using the following method. Ask them to do the shopping (and maybe the cooking too) for all the meals on a given day. 

Give them a reasonable budget, and allow them to plan the meals and make the purchases. 

Explain that it’s important that they come in under budget. When the shopping is complete and the meals are finished, ask how much money was left. The money leftover is theirs to keep. 

It’s a lesson in frugality they’ll remember.

Clichés tend to stick around because they represent ideas that bear repeating and are still true today. You really do “get what you pay for.” Pass on that wisdom to the next generation.

The Value of Pretend

Children love to play pretend and mimic what they see adults doing. Take the opportunity to explain why you go to the bank, tell them about why you are choosing to buy one thing and not another, and when you pay the bills let them “pay bills” too. 

One of the easiest ways to introduce money into a child’s world is to create a “shop” where they can use real coins to buy real items from a pretend store. 

Set aside a low pantry shelf as their store, just be sure to supervise the game enough to hold them accountable. Nothing should go for free.

The Value of Stories

We often tell our children the story of the three little pigs, but what about applying that story to their piggy banks? Multiple piggy banks give a visual representation of progressing towards goals and budgeting funds. 

In the story of the three little pigs there is a house of straw, of stick, and of stone. A “straw” piggy bank would be money that is for spending on whims and candies—things easily blown away and gone. 

A “stick” piggy bank could represent saving for bigger purchases. The money is still spendable, but for things of value that will last a bit longer and cost a bit more. It is the way to save for a remote control robot, concert tickets, or a trip to space camp. 

The “brick” piggy bank is the security money saved for the sake of learning to save. This should be that largest of the three banks and children should be encouraged to put more of their incoming funds into this bank than the other two. 

It can help to discuss the money in the third pig as part of your child’s college fund, and point out that once they are through college they will need to continue saving like this for emergencies and for their retirement fund.

Teaching children how to save, how to earn, how to budget and how to share gives them a better understanding of the value of currency. 

Part of your job as a parent means preparing them to face the world, and life in the real world requires an understanding of money. There are plenty of resources available online to help you teach financial skills to different ages. 

Explain to your kids about credit cards and repaying credit card debt. Help them understand why and how you are budgeting your income. 

By sixth grade, most children have all the math and reading skills necessary to complete a tax return. 

Have you ever considered letting your kids do your taxes? It’s never too early to teach them skills that will help them succeed.

Don't Let Moving to a New Home Destroy Your Bank Account

When you're moving your family, it seems like your bank account takes a hit. From the payments made to the utility companies to the gas that you need to purchase for the vehicles to get your belongings back and forth, all of the expenses seem to add up quickly. 

Make a plan before you begin moving so that you can save money instead of spending it while making sure your family has everything in order. 

You Have To Eat

Going to a restaurant or getting food to bring home might seem like a good idea, and while it is if you get the inexpensive foods, it can become pricey over the weeks and days leading to the move. 

Prepare foods ahead of time, storing them in your freezer so that you can easily heat them up in the evening. This will allow you to save the money that is spent on gas to get to the restaurant and the money that is spent there. 

Coupons and Discounts

Look for coupons whenever possible. Some moving companies, such as Wheaton World Wide Moving, offer discounts that are worth looking into. 

Some companies do such discounts based off of whether or not you use multiple services, such as the movers packing and unpacking after transporting. 

There are coupons for packing supplies that you can get as well to save money on everything from tape to trash bags that you might use to hold blankets or sheets. 

Bundles for Utilities

One of the things about moving is that you have to get new utility services started. This can take a huge chunk of money from your bank account, especially if you have to pay deposits for each service. 

Consider bundling your services as much as possible, such as cable and internet. This will save on your monthly bill as well as the installation fees that you need to pay as everything can be done at the same time. 

Selling What You Don't Want

Instead of spending money, you can make money for your bank account when you're moving. As you go through each room, make it a time to sort the items that you no longer need. 

Consign the nicer items, and have a yard sale with the items that are mediocre or that you can't sell at a consignment store. An added benefit is that you can count any donations on your tax return. 

Moving is an exciting time. It's also an expensive time as you have to pay for connections for services and items needed to move. 

If you get the family involved with the move and ways to save money, then you can begin to pad your bank account instead of spending money.

5 Crazy Ways Millennials Are Making Money

As the newest generation coming of age and a rather large and significant one at that, millennials are a crafty bunch. 

Much of their effort has gone towards coming up with and seeking out new and crazy ways to make money, whether on the side or as a primary income. 

In spite of the stereotypes, millennials are a very entrepreneurial generation, and here are five of the crazy ways they are actually making money.

1. Freelancing or Starting Their Own Businesses

Millennials are considerably more likely to buck the norm of being employed by someone else. 

Even if they are searching for full-time employment, many of them will freelance or start a business venture on the side to make extra cash and gain experience that will serve them well in traditional jobs. 

Or they might choose to remain self-employed and grow their own businesses.

2. App Development

As a generation always on their smartphones, many millennials find the opportunity to develop their own smartphone apps an attractive one. 

With a basic understanding of app development scripting, or even commercial software that makes creating apps easier for people without serious programming knowledge, many millennials are creating helpful, fun and cool apps for everyone to use.

3. Streaming

Live streaming, especially of playing video games, has grown exponentially in popularity thanks to big sites like Twitch and VideoGameBroadcasts.com. 

Often these videos are for entertainment value, but they can also be an educational walkthrough of how to play the game and uncover its lesser known secrets.

4. Driving

Whether with Uber, Lyft or other companies, many millennials (the ones who have cars, anyway) are acting as chauffeurs to drive people where they need to go. 

They've taken Uber and Lyft up on the offer to work on their own schedules and earn a flat fee in addition to the distance traveled after Uber or Lyft take their cut for providing the connection between driver and passenger.

5. Selling Photos

Millennials interested in photography are taking photos and selling the licenses to bring in some decent extra cash. 

The new app Foap takes an even more creative direction—it allows users to sell licenses to photos taken on their phones and then, when someone wishes to buy the license, the original taker of the image gets a cut.

Everyone else can learn a lot from the cool ways millennials have learned to make money. So perhaps try out some of these money-making methods for yourself and see why millennials are attracted to such crazy, different and creative ways to make money.

Seeking Financial Help: 4 Reasons Why It's A Step In The Right Direction

Your credit score can influence many aspects of your life. Having good credit can be the difference between getting approved or denied for a home loan. Having bad credit may even prevent you from getting a job or renting an apartment. 

Understanding the difference between good credit and bad credit is the key to knowing when you need to seek financial help. According to a study by Lexington Law Firm, many American consumers still do not understand their credit score. 

The study estimates that of all consumers with a poor or fair credit score, roughly 30% of them believe that the cost of credit repair is what is keeping them from taking action. 

To the contrary, the benefits of hiring a credit repair law firm can far outweigh the cost of living with poor credit. To help you decide if this path is right for you, here are 4 reasons to seek financial help:

Get Results Quickly

One of the biggest advantages of seeking credit repair assistance is that they take immediate action. Working on your behalf, the credit repair agency or firm will work directly with your lenders to resolve your credit issues. 

This means that you never have to worry about tackling the long and tedious task of repairing your credit because a dedicated team is already working on it. When dealing with your debtors, there are many laws and processes that you need to be aware of. 

Additionally, there are some situations that may require disputing or challenging items with the credit bureaus, collection agencies or original creditors. By enlisting the help of a credit repair firm, you are placing this responsibility in the capable hands of experienced professionals. 

They can review your reports, gather information and develop a plan to remove questionable items from your credit report.

Avoid Getting Caught In A Web Of Legalese

Another advantage of hiring a credit repair agency is that they have a thorough understanding of the law. They can leverage federal laws to help you get the credit that you deserve. Credit repair firms can ensure that creditors are in compliance with federal laws such as:

• The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
• The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA).
• The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).
• And other applicable statutes.

Enjoy The Long-Term Benefits Of Your Short-Term Investment

Once they have successfully repaired your credit, you may be able to get lower interest rates on loans or credit cards. 

Many lenders use your credit score to determine how much they will let you borrow and how much interest to charge you. Setting aside funds now for credit improvement may save you a lot of money in the long run.

Get More Time To Spend With The Ones You Love

Credit repair companies do all the hard work so that you do not have to. They spend hours combing over your credit report, searching for inaccuracies and reaching out to creditors. 

If necessary, they may be able to help you negotiate with your creditors or have negative items removed entirely. While the credit repair agency is hard at work repairing your credit, you are free to spend more time at school, work or with your family and less time worrying about your credit score.

The road to better credit can be long and bumpy. Luckily, you do not have to travel this road alone. Seeking financial help to improve your credit score may lead to more positive credit decisions and increased employment opportunities. 

If you need help choosing a firm, research credit repair company reviews so you can find the one that is right for you. Don't go another day with poor credit. Seeking financial help can be your first towards getting organized financially and in life.