Sadly for many Americans this year and many more come 2009, pink slips have, and will continue to be given in record numbers.

Between layoffs and salary cuts, payday loans and other sources of payday loans are what consumers are turning to for the extra cash they need.

If this sounds like you, we have some helpful advice and resources for you to turn to, to lessen the financial strain and economic impact to yourself and your household.

Finding Gainful Employment

What would you do if you were laid off tomorrow?

Have you lost your job? If so, finding your next source of income is your primary concern. However, before you fill out your first application or type your first cover letter you need to file for unemployment benefits.

It is imperative that this course of action be taken immediately as it takes two to three weeks before your unemployment benefits will kick in.

Handling this first will get the ball rolling so that you will have some income coming in, in the near future provided you don’t find employment first.

There are other benefits that you can apply for as well, providing that you meet the qualification criteria. To find out what you can qualify for, visit workforcesecurity.doleta.gov.

Local Resources

Your community likely has an organized unemployment center that will grant you access to resources such as the Internet for sending out resumes as well as a localized job bank of local employers looking to fill positions within their own respective companies.

These centers will put a lot of resources at your fingertips including classes such as resume building and interviewing skills to help enhance your professionalism and make you more attractive to employers. Visit Careeronestop.org to find a local career center in your area.

Controlling Your Debt

Consumer debt will become an immediate concern if your job is lost. Obviously you will want to protect your credit by staying current on your debts but this is not always feasible in the event of job loss.

If you find your debt is spiraling out of control or you borrowing short term payday loans to try and stay on top of your expenses, you will want to get in touch with a credit counselor who can help manage your debts on your behalf with your creditors.

This will help minimize your debt load as well as lower your minimum monthly payments helping you brave the storm until you get back on your feet.

A good place to start on your quest for debt counseling is the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or NFCC.org.

Mortgage and Foreclosure Assistance

If you are struggling to make your mortgage payment you will need to contact your lender and negotiate payment terms that will be more convenient for you. Do not be afraid to ask for leniency. Your lender will be pleased that you called and more than willing to cooperate with you as a foreclosure will only cause losses to you and your lender.

Before you call to negotiate terms, take a careful look at your finances and what you will be able to pay each month as your bank or lender will ask you specifically what amount you can afford to pay. Whatever information you give to them, you will want to do your best to follow through to avoid possible repercussions.

There are also some government programs that can help as well. HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has a free and helpful guide to help you avoid getting foreclosed upon. You can find the guide on their website at hud.gov

You can also go to Hopenow.com or call 1-888-995-HOPE for additional resources which will prove helpful to your situation.

Posted courtesy of Personal Money Store, your payday loans source!

In the first article “Payday Loans | Will The Truth Please Step Forward” we had addressed the accusations against the payday loan industry in regards to high interest rates.

Now we are going to talk about another accusation that is typically aimed at the payday loans industry in order to discredit their reputable services. This issue is in regards to trapping consumers into a cycle of debt.

We as consumers make the wrong decisions that lead us into debt. No one else!

Opponents profess that because of the high interest rates, consumers are not able to pay back the loans they borrow from payday lenders thus incurring additional fees and penalties, which trap them into a never ending cycle of debt.

Although there is no doubt that consumers do get caught in cycles of debt, we need to ask why before we point fingers!

Payday loans lenders offer some great services but unfortunately, they do not balance consumers’ checkbooks. Only adults can apply for these loans so it would be fair to say that if an applicant misses or fails to make their payment according to the terms that they have agreed to, it would be their fault, not the industry’s.

Granted, there are some slime balls out there fixing to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers, but you will find this type of activity in any existing industry.

Many places that offer payday loans to consumers such as Personal Money Store, encourage their customers to exercise the responsible use of money. Spending some time on this blog will adequately prove this point.

Payday loans are not discriminatory, anyone can apply and are given the right to do so but are also asked to meet the terms and conditions of borrowing the loan.

The Payday Loan Industry has been accused of preying on the poor!

Payday Loans Prey on the Poor

Another accusation is that the payday loans industry preys on the poor.  I guess that depends on what you consider poor. One of the criteria that the industry has when approving applicants for payday loans is that they have a job! The demographics show that the average applicant for a payday loan makes between thirty two and thirty eight thousand a year. That puts applicants on par with most of the American Middle class.

What may make the industry a little more vulnerable to criticism is the fact that loans are able to be given so quickly and with fewer qualification criteria than would be expected from a bank. So naturally, with a larger number of people who are applying under perhaps more desperate circumstances, there are bound to be those who end up not meeting their terms and are therefore penalized.

Keep in mind however that the payday loans industry is a thriving business and would not be so if it habitually took advantage of customers. One happy customer will tell another person whereas one unhappy customer will tell ten.

In Conclusion

Despite the unfair claims and bogus accusations made against the payday loans industry, I personally don’t believe there is good reason to place legislation against it. Leave the decision to the American consumer. They can say yes or no, and the industry will survive or die by their decisions.

Simply put, if you don’t like payday loans, don’t get one, and don’t be a lemming among the critics until you understand the issues.

You’re not blowing it all on clothes and payday loans are you?  With the trouble in the economy and the financial pressure that many are feeling today, American consumers are beginning to wise up.

USA Today quoted some interesting statistics based upon a survey asking consumers how they would spend an extra thousand dollars if given to them. The results were as follows,

• 31% would save it
• 24% would pay off debt
• 20% Would splurge!
• 16% Would spend it on necessary essentials

What would you have done with an extra thousand dollars this month?

It seems that most of the population is now making financially smart decisions. Paying debt, saving money, and spending it on essentials is what we should be doing. Especially now, and especially since the amount of average debt has grown exponentially, and more and more people are getting payday loans.

If you are among the 20% group who have, or would have chosen to splurge with that money, you should truthfully answer the following questions:

Are your debts paid?

Do you have a savings buffer?

Are your immediate needs provided for?

If the answer to any of the above questions is “NO”, then you have made the wrong decision. There is nothing wrong with splurging, but unless you can really afford to do so, all you are doing is enslaving yourself. The average American owes over $8000 in consumer credit card debt and that sum is rising, and so are the amount of people going to payday loans for financial help.

There are many bad habits that lead us into debt. I have outlined a few below. If you can personally identify with any of these, it would be wise for you to begin exercising a change in your financial habits in order to avoid any monetary pitfalls in the future.

What does “budget” mean to you?

Do you currently have a budget or plan of action for your monthly expenses and financial goals. If not, you need one! Some tend to think that a budget is just for those who are poor and need help making their expenses each month, but in reality we all should have a budget. Whether you make 20k, 100k or even more each year, a budget can help you to identify how much, and where your money is going. Without a budget, your ship may be afloat but you won’t be the captain.

Charging Purchases

It wasn’t that long ago that we all dealt in cash. The beautiful thing about cash was that if you didn’t have enough for what you wanted, you simply could not buy it, and that was the end of it. Today, we have too many options like Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. If we don’t have any plastic we can go draw some quick cash from a local brick and mortar, or online payday loans store.

All these luxuries that we have come to enjoy have their place and can be used responsibly to our own financial benefit. However, this is where discipline and responsibility are lacking with many consumers today.

If you use your card for all your monthly purchases, be sure that you do not go over the limit at which you can afford to payback at the end of the month. This may prove to be difficult and if so, get back into the habit of using and balancing a checkbook. With a checkbook your remaining balance is always before your eyes, and spending more than we can afford each month is more easily avoided.

Another alternative that I personally have found very useful from an accountability standpoint is putting a email notification on my credit card account. If your credit card provider provides this service to you via your online account control panel, you can get an automatic email notification when your balance reaches a set predetermined balance. Doing this will help you to avoid slipping further in the hole each month.

Paying off credit accounts

When paying off credit card debt, many try to pay off there lower balances first. This is usually a psychological game we play to make our progression to financial freedom feel faster.

If the interest rates on these lower balances are the highest of your credit accounts, you are following the right path as you always want to pursue your highest interest rates first as these will cost you the most over time.

Late Payments

One of the worst habits that will lead you into debt quickly is procrastination, being habitually late on your payments will not only add hefty late fees and charges to your already existing balance, but it will also raise the interest rates on your account. If the existing balance in the account is quite large, this could cost you hundreds of dollars in interest fees over the time it takes you to pay off the balance.

Minimum Payments

If you only pay the minimum payments on your account, then it would be safe to assume that you may never get out of debt. Minimum payments may make you feel like you are saving money because you have more in your pocket after paying your bills, but the amount you will pay in the long run for minimum payments will have you paying the maximum amount possible.

This can be demonstrated by the following scenario,

Let’s say you have a credit card with a $1000 balance on it. The APR is 18% and your monthly minimum payment is calculated at 2.5% of your current account balance.

If you chose to only pay the minimum payment of $25 each month until your account was paid in full, it would take you 153 months or just under thirteen years.

On the other hand, if you set your sights on paying off the debt by paying $100 each month or $75 dollars above the beginning minimum payment, it would only take you eleven months to pay your balance off .

Paying as much towards the principal of your balance each month as possible is key to getting your revolving credit balances payed off. If you would like to see how long it will take you to pay off your debts at set set monthly or minimum payment, you can use the calculator at Bankrate.com.

By taking steps to identify and correct these habits now you will save tens of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime, and less chances where you find yourself in need of payday loans. Take the step and you will be glad that you did.

"Keeping Up With the Joneses" is not necessary

America needs to stop “keeping up with the Joneses” because they are not a real family, and if they were, they would be broke and in desperate need of payday loans and credit repair. In fact, the Joneses to which the common phrase refers to are comic strip characters. In the early 1900s, cartoonist Arthur Momand created a comic strip, and the Joneses were neighbors of the comic’s main characters. Although frequently mentioned, the Joneses were never seen. Those Joneses may have had nice things, but they certainly didn’t have credit card debt.

Keeping Up With the Joneses

The American tendency to “keep up with the Joneses” has developed into a horrible habit of trying to satisfy an insatiable desire for material goods. Your want for material goods is limitless, and you cannot afford to quench your every desire. Yet, if your neighbor gets a new car, you need a newer, better car. If your neighbor builds their kids a jungle gym, you have to build your own kids a bigger, cooler jungle gym. Regardless of whether or not you can afford it, you make the purchase with or without payday loans. Americans need to throw out the mentality that having all better, more expensive possessions than their neighbors means they will have a higher socio-economic status. This way of thinking has to stop because American spending is out of control, and Americans are falling deeper and deeper into debt.

Credit Card Debt

Why keep trying to one-up the Joneses if it means your credit card debt is going to be bigger than theirs, too? Buying things you can’t really afford certainly won’t move you up on the socio-economic ladder, especially when your debt starts to catch up to you. People across the nation are feeling the affects of the credit crunch, and credit card debt is at an all time high. In 2002, total credit card debt in the U.S. was $60 billion. Between 2002 and 2005 that figure jumped to $735 billion, and by 2007 the average credit card debt per household was $8400. Over 40% of households spend more than they make. If your household falls in that 40% category,it’s time to take a look at your spending habits and reevaluate.

Credit Repair and Payday Loans

Americans are so accustomed to making purchases with credit. The American addiction to credit cards and material goods is ravaging the U.S. financial system. It is no wonder that America is facing a financial crisis. By the end of 2007, the total consumer credit debt reached a staggering $2.5 trillion. 2.5 trillion dollars! That number isn’t even comprehensible.

Chances are, you might feel like your debt total isn’t comprehensible either. You just can’t wrap your head around the thought that you owe so much money. One of the first and most important steps you can take to overcome your debt is making a budget. Stop living outside of your means, and start spending less than you make. A budget will help you accomplish reasonable spending. After you create a budget, you should take steps to improve your credit. There are credit repair resources available and payday loans to help boost your budget at your disposal. When you get credit repair help and eliminate your debt, the Joneses will be jealous of you.

Burdened by debt collectors? Know your rights.

Apart from the war in Iraq and the global war on terror, there is a new war that is being fought by Americans today. The war against consumers, who have payday loans in their arsenal to fight off a temporary expense.

We are all aware of the current credit crunch and mortgage crisis that our country is enduring. Consumers who were already over extended financially with their creditors just a few months ago, are now falling delinquent on their payments or defaulting on their loans.

This has given money driven collection agencies a window of opportunity to make extraordinary profits depending on their ability to collect on these debts.

Financially strained consumers have been emotionally attacked by these agencies in pursuit of these debts. Verbally abusing debtors with profanity and threats of jail time or imprisonment are among such attacks. One woman recently committed suicide. The note she left behind explained that she could not deal with the pressure brought upon her by her outstanding debts and did not want to go to jail.

Clearly this type of verbal harassment is neither professional or permitted under law. Just because you have defaulted on your debts does not give anyone the right to treat you inappropriately. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires debt collectors to treat consumers fairly and forbids obscene and inappropriate methods for collecting debts, which most payday loans lenders rigidly adhere to.

Knowing your rights

Although a collector has the right to collect a debt that you are responsible for paying, there are boundaries that they have to stay within. If you are currently being harassed you should know what these boundaries are because failure on the part of the debt collector to stay within these boundaries, may open a door in your favor.

Permitted Contact

A debt collector may contact you by mail, by telephone, telegram, or fax but they are not permitted to contact you at times or places which are inconvenient for you unless you agree.

Collectors may also contact your place of work unless your employer does not permit such calls. Although they may contact other known acquaintances or yours, they are not permitted to slander your character or disclose any information in regards to your debt.

If you do not wish to be contacted by the collector you can notify them in writing. By law they will have to adhere to your request and again, cease contacting you except for to confirm the very request which you have made. This request will not make void your debt as you could eventually be sued, but they will have to stop the ongoing contact and or harassment.

If you have become a victim of identity theft the collector may be trying to collect a debt that is not yours. If this is the case you can write a letter telling them the debt is not yours and they will have to cease contact except to confirm your request, or to send proof that the debt is indeed yours.

If identity theft has occurred, it is very likely that the creditor will have compelling proof that your identity was stolen. You may then have to send in an Identity Theft Affidavit. You can read more about how to acquire such an Affidavit or fraud report in another blog article called “Identity Theft | Protecting Yourself From Your Evil Twin“.

If you have chosen to get an attorney, the attorney must be contacted by the creditor. The debt collector has no right to contact you personally once you have assigned yourself representation, which can be worth getting payday loans to have on retainer.

The collector is also responsible for sending you a written notice detailing the debt you are believed to owe and to whom you owe it. This should be done within five days after contact.

Knowing you have rights is the first part of dealing with your collectors. We will continue this discussion more tomorrow in “Debt Collectors | The War On American Consumers Part 2″

Debt, we almost all have it. American is buried in it with the average citizen, man, woman and child owing over eight thousand dollars of consumer credit debt alone. To add to that we have mortgage, student and auto loans to take into account. We have become a nation obsessed with credit, burdened by debt, and in the middle of current and pending national crisis, and the middle class is running for payday loans.

How can we cope is a question that many Americans are diligently seeking the answers to. We are a want it now society which has not learned to prioritize are money or our spending habits to insure our future economic health. To make matters worse we are about to enter a new crisis that many are not aware of, which is the Retiring of 78 million baby boomers.

Baby Boomers will be the last recipients of Social Security benefits. What will you do?

Consumer and government spending is catching up with us!

If you have not started to think about your financial future, now would be a good time. The chances of you receiving any Social Security when you retire is highly unlikely if you are not currently receiving it already or are at the tail end of that generation which was born between 1946 & 1964.

By 2030 government spending will have to decrease by 60% or the average Americans taxes will need to double to compensate for funds which we the government has been borrowing from the Social Security fund. This looks grim as i tend to think the later would occur before the former. How will you fair if your taxes double?  It will take more than payday loans to solve this problem!

Speculation by some think that Americas middle class which are those of us which make under a hundred thousand a year, will be wiped out. Small business’s would be forced to close their doors or be consumed by the larger and more established corporations.

They are no sure fire solutions at the moment, just a pending national crisis that I believe has been pushed off for the current generation to deal with and live through.

With the current credit crunch, recession and growing unemployment, many don’t have the means to adequately prepare for there futures without the help of the Social Security. Could this recession be leading us into a depression?  We aren’t prepared to deal with a disaster on that kind of scale – no one ever is – and if it happens, no amount of payday loans will get us out of the mess that was created for us to deal with.

What Can You Do Now to Start Taking Control of Your Financial Future

1. Refrain from accumulating any additional debt. If you are currently over extended consider moving to a smaller or cheaper home. Refinancing may also be a good option if interest rates provide you the opportunity to do so. If so, try to refinance any of your higher interest rate debt into the loan.

2. If you have a car payment you may want to consider trading it in for a cheaper model or even better yet for something you can own out right. Also consider that insurance is cheaper on older vehicles and if a car is a sedan (4 door) it will be less expensive than a coupe (2 door). You can quickly reduce your debt load by $300 to $500 dollars per month by compromising for an older reliable vehicle versus a newer one. These savings alone can make a significant difference in your paying off other debts and or investing in your financial future.

3. Devise a plan to eliminate your current debt load. There are many things you can do to save money and make headway on your debt. The article entitled “Saving Money From One Payday To The Next” will show you a few of the many ways you can start saving money today.

4. Credit counseling or loan consolidation may also help you tackle your debts quicker. If you find you are in way over your head, some of these credit counseling companies will negotiate your debt with your creditors so that you will only have to pay back a percentage of you currently owe. This will come at a cost to your credit so you will have to decide if the benefits are worth it after taking your current circumstances into account.

5. If the company you work for currently has a 401K option, you may be able to get a certain dollar amount matched each year by your employer. This is free money! Take advantage of this opportunity and be sure to get the highest dollar amount as matched by your employer deposited into your 401k each year

These are just a few tips but they should get you thinking and heading in the right direction. Take control of your financial future today or you will be wishing that you had when things really take a turn for the worse, and the worst of payday loans would have seemed wonderful in comparison.

Borrowing money and incurring debt is a process that all Americans do today, even though most frown upon it. Auto loans, credit loans, payday loans, and various other types of personal loans have contributed to the loan frenzy today that has the average American in $8200 of consumer debt. That being said, there has been more fortunes made off of borrowed money then any other way, so don’t think borrowing money is bad because it is vital to your financial success.

The key here is what you are borrowing the money for. In this article I will help you to understand the good and the bad of borrowing. There is good debt and bad debt. Be sure to understand the differences between the two.

"A home purchase is an example of good debt"

“Bad Debt” is debt that is accrued that has no potential equitable value or investment return”

.

What I mean by this is that you will never see a return on the money borrowed. An example of bad debt is consumer store credit cards. What ever you charge on those cards will only depreciate overtime, plus you have the revolving credit balance that further taps you r wallet with interest charges. Financing a new automobile is another great example of bad debt. The moment a car drives off the dealer’s lot, it has already depreciated to some degree or anther and will continue to do so as each day goes by. Sometimes autos will depreciate so fast that you end up in a position where you can’t sale them for the amount you still owe on them. Bad debt loans will never return a profit to you where Good debt loans will.

“Good debt is borrowing money that is going to prove equitable over time”.

With good debt you will usually get a profitable return on your money. Perhaps the best example of good debt for anyone to possess is personal home loans and for more reasons than one.

When buying a home an individual may pay $750 on their monthly mortgage payment. A hundred dollars will go towards the principle amount and the other $650 will go to the bank in the form of interest (yes, they are paid well). The advantage here is that the equity or value of the home may be rising at an average of $1000 each month which means that you are in all reality getting paid $250 dollars a month to live there. You won’t get to see this profit until you sale the house but none the less, it is a real cash opportunity. I like to think of it as forced savings.

This also opens up widows of opportunity down the road for you to leverage your equity which is the difference between your homes value compared to what you owe left on your mortgage. Lines of credit and other possibilities are more easily established when you have established equity in your home.

In contrast, renting an apartment you may pay $600 a month for rent that you will never see a return on. Renting does nothing for your financial health.

“Know matter what the loan is or where the money is coming from, what it is used for is the key factor”.

Another great example of this would be payday loans or a cash advance. Most scoff at these types of loans however they are very easy to obtain and can get you out of some real trouble as well. Payday loans are short term, usually no more than 2 weeks and charge you about $15 dollars for every $100 dollars that you borrow. That can sound steep, however if for one reason or another you hit some hard times and need an extra $100 to pay your mortgage to avoid a $75 late fee, you will save yourself $60 in fees by borrowing short term payday loans. You will also potentially save a bad mark on your credit report.

Conclusion:

The smart use of money will save you thousands of dollars and make you many thousands more. I hope this helped you understand the differences between good debt and bad debt. There are many more examples I could use but I think you’ve got the picture.

To your financial success,

You wouldn’t need payday loans if you had a personal bailout, now would you? And, a 700 billion dollar bailout! Clearly a figure that is difficult to comprehend.

If you watched 60 minutes last week, you now have a clear picture of just how this bailout came to surface. The very ones getting bailed out are those who have steadily contributed to the crisis – seems unfair to give them government payday loans.

Where is the accountability? Where is the justice?

Should we, the American people, have to pay for the greedy misconduct of these banking institutions? The tax payer is going to have to pay for this 700 billion dollar bailout and what do we get in return? A worsening economy.

The banks are now tighter, which means businesses have a harder time with obtaining their loans, resulting in layoffs and or wage reductions. This, of course, results in less consumer purchases which hurts business and well, the merry-go-round goes round and round.

Just imagine

Now imagine if they would have split that 700 billion dollar bailout among the American taxpayers. I believe the figure came out to be something like 200k per household which would have changed the course of the economy significantly and reduced the need for payday loans. What would you have done with an extra 200k in the bank? Most of us would have payed off debts.

An iPhone, laptop, 53 inch HD plasma

I personally would have paid off my mortgage loans and my credit card debt and had 40k left over to invest as well as pick up a few things that i have been wanting for a long time, like an iPhone, laptop, and a 53 inch HD plasma, Oh YAA!

Yes, increased spending!

Assuming that most consumers would attempt to do the same, this would have lowered consumer debt, increased consumer spending, bailed out the banks, created new employment opportunities and so forth. Our economy could not have gotten a better kick in the pants, but instead the engineers of this bailout have done the contrary, leaving you and I with the bill.

My momma taught me . . .

My mother always taught me that there was no such thing as a free lunch and that is not what I am asking for. I always pay my bills and payday loans on time. However, it seems only fair to me that if the government expects me to pay for the mistakes of others, maybe they ought to think a little more about who they are bailing out.