If you have been paying attention to the news (particularly the news related to loans, mortgages and credit cards) then you have probably heard a lot of people using the term “credit crunch”. You may have a vague idea what this term refers to but do you really have an understanding of what the credit crunch is and what it means for you? If you don’t, this is something that you should take the time to learn now because it could seriously impact the choices that you make with your credit card applications and use of loans.

A “credit crunch” refers to a trend in the banking or credit card industry. This trend is to change the terms of loans to make it more difficult for borrowers to get good loans. There are two ways in which this may be done. The first is to decrease the overall number of loans that are being made available to borrowers. The second is to increase the interest rate or otherwise adjust the terms of available loans to make them less appealing to borrowers. The credit crunch may include either of these methods and often implements both.

A decrease in the overall number of loans being made can be done through a few different ways but the most common is to increase the requirements that make it possible to get these loans. During a credit crunch, people who found it easy to get credit cards in the past may find themselves being turned down when they make new credit card applications. To deal with this, borrowers need to improve their own credit reports. This will allow them to make sure that they can still get loans even though they are harder to get. If you want to survive a credit crunch, a good method is to focus on improving your own credit so that lenders will want to loan you money despite the crunch.

The second part of the credit crunch is more difficult to deal with as a consumer but it can also be mitigated by improving your own credit score. This part is the part where less favorable terms are offered to borrowers. There is only so much that you can do about this as a consumer because of the fact that minimum interest rates are out of your control. (Credit card companies that previously offered 9.99% interest rates may now only offer 15.99% interest rates and you can’t do much about it.) However, a better credit score still leads to better terms so you’ll want to make sure that you keep yours good.

A credit crunch results in fewer good credit card offers being made available in the market. However, there are still good credit card offers and loan options out there even during a credit crunch. Keeping your credit score high and being careful to compare credit card offers carefully before choosing the ones that are right for you are key methods towards surviving a credit crunch with little damage done to your finances.

As a credit card holder, there are some terms that you should know inside and out. Most of these are terms that you get used to as you start using and learning more about your credit cards. For example, you probably already know what the “interest rate”, “APR” and “finance charge” each refer to. However, there are some terms that aren’t as commonly known but which are just as important for credit card holders to add to their financial vocabularies in order to make sure that they truly understand everything about their credit cards that’s good to know. One of those terms is “universal default”.

Universal default is a term that refers to a highly questionable (but unfortunately) common practice among credit card companies. The practice is for companies to change the terms of a credit card from the good terms to the default terms based solely on the fact that you as a borrower have defaulted on other loans. For example, let’s say that you have two credit cards – one that has a 19% interest rate and one that has a promotional interest rate of 5%. You miss a series of payments on the 19% interest rate card but pay the other one off in a timely manner. With universal default, the lender of the 5% interest rate changes the terms of the promotional deal to the default terms of the card (let’s say that’s a 22% interest rate) based solely on the fact that you have defaulted on the other credit card.

The practice of doing this is considered to be a very controversial issue. Most people believe that they should only be penalized for defaulting on credit cards by the credit card company to whom they have defaulted. In other words, they feel like it would’ve been fair for the lender of the 19% interest rate card in the above example to penalize them with default terms and fees but that it is unfair for the lenders of other credit card lines (such as the above 5% credit card lender) to also change the terms when no missed or late payments have caused that specific credit card to default. The practice is so controversial that Congress has considered implementing laws against that but those laws have not yet been approved and therefore universal default practices still continue.

As a credit card consumer, it is very important for you to know about universal default because it can have a huge impact on you if it’s something that you become a victim of. You want to make sure that you are making on-time payments to all of your credit card companies because you may risk universal default if you default on even one of these loans. This can cause you to fall into a bad situation where you can’t pay off any of your credit cards because the terms are so unfavorable to you. This may not be fair but it’s the reality of credit card lending today and something that you need to be aware of.

The majority of time that you spend trying to learn about your credit cards is going to be spent figuring out the rules that you have to follow in order to make sure that you don’t ever get penalized for the inappropriate use of your card. For example, you may spend time looking into the fees that are associated with going over the limit on your card so that you can avoid that problem on specific cards. While it is certainly important that you know about the rules that you have to follow when using each card, it is equally important that you be aware of the fact that you have rights when it comes to your credit cards. Make sure that you do research into your rights when it comes to unauthorized charges, billing problems and your own inability to make payments to the credit card company.

One of the biggest areas of concern when it comes to credit cards is identity theft. And one of the most important rights that you have is the right not to pay for charges that you didn’t make. If you ever become a victim of identity theft or even just notice a single unauthorized charge on your credit card, you should report it immediately. Be aware that you have the right to pay only a small fee (typically $50) on these types of charges. If the credit card company tries to hold you responsible for paying more than this amount on unauthorized charges, you have legal options designed to keep that money in your pocket. If you didn’t spend it, you don’t have to pay it.

Another common area of credit card use that people don’t realize affords them some rights is the situation of purchasing items on a credit card that are defective or never received. For example, you may order an item online using your credit card and be billed for the purchase but either not receive the item or receive an item that is damaged. Ideally, you would contact the seller and resolve the issue. However, if the issue is not resolved this way then you have the right to go through your credit card company to dispute the charge. Learn more about how to do this here.

Finally, you should know that you have some rights even when problems with credit card companies are somewhat your fault. For example, if you are unable to pay your bills, you still retain some rights. Of course, you’re still responsible for the debt. But you have rights in regards to how credit card companies and debt collection agencies can treat you or deal with you regarding the issue. These rights are outlined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a document that you should read carefully if you ever find yourself in the position of having outstanding debt that you can’t pay off. As a credit card holder, you definitely have a lot of responsibilities to worry about but you should also be aware of the fact that you retain some important rights, too.

You probably think that you know almost everything that there is to know about your credit score. This is something that the average person has been taught to learn because of the importance that it plays in taking steps forward in our lives. The individual who owns a business is going to be even savvier than the average consumer in this area because a good personal credit score can be crucial to getting the loans necessary to launch a business. But did you know that your personal credit score isn’t the only credit score that matters when it comes to doing business? There’s also such a thing as a business credit score and it can be equally as important as the personal credit score to moving a business forward over time.

When you start earning money and developing credit as an individual, the information is tracked using your personal identification number (your social security number). The same thing is true for the business. As soon as you’ve gotten an employer identification number and started to use it on financial documents, the information is being tracked. That information leads to a file which is considered to be your business credit report and it ultimately leads to the creation of your business credit score. This score is easier to understand in terms of the numbers because it’s a simpler rating system than your personal credit score. A personal credit score ranges from 300 to 850 which can confuse people. In contrast, the business credit score ranges from 0 to 100 with 75 or higher being a good credit score. That’s fairly easy to keep in mind.

So now that you know that a business credit score exists and that it’s important, how can you make yours better? The first thing to do is to get some information about your existing business credit reports. There are four major business credit bureaus that track this information. Two are the same as two of the personal credit bureaus: Equifax and Experian. The other two are Business Credit USA and Dun and Bradstreet. Just like you need to see your personal credit report to make sure it’s accurate, you need to see your business credit report to know how to improve it.

The one important difference between the personal and business credit score is that businesses lending money to another business aren’t required to report that to the credit bureaus whereas personal credit lenders are. As a result, you may find that businesses lending you money in the past didn’t report the information which means you may have a positive business credit history that was never reported. The quickest way to improve your business credit score is to ask these lenders to report the information to the credit bureaus. From that point on, it’s just a matter of making sure that you always use your Employer ID Number when getting business loans and that you request the information to be reported to the business credit bureaus. And make sure to stay on top of payments so that the business credit score stays high!

Many people who start a new business think that they can avoid going in to credit card debt. It’s certainly true that there are other means of obtaining money for your business. You can get investors to give you cash loans, you can open up a business line of credit and you can use other methods to reduce the amount of money that would need to go on a credit card when launching a small business. However, at some point, your small business is going to need a credit card. And it really makes sense to get one sooner rather than later.

Here are seven reasons that your small business needs a credit card:

1. You are going to have ongoing business expenses. The amount of money that you make in any given month is going to vary over time. Sometimes you’ll have plenty of cash to pay for the things that your business needs out-of-pocket. Sometimes you won’t. Having a credit card is going to make it easier to figure out how to pay for ongoing business expenses even when there isn’t the right amount of money coming in to cover those costs.

2. Credit cards make it easier to track spending and facilitate better accounting. When all of your business expenses are placed on a credit card, it’s super easy to see how much money you’re spending on the business. This is important for budgeting and financial planning. It is also useful when reporting earnings for taxes.

3. Your business needs a credit history. There is going to come a time when you want a big loan for your business. Perhaps you’ll want to open up a new office. Maybe you’ll want to purchase a big chunk of equipment. In order to grow your business, you’ll need to be able to borrow the money that the business needs. It is a lot easier to qualify for a business loan when you have already established a credit history for the small business through the responsible use of a business credit card.

4. The business can benefit from credit card rewards. Frankly, it’s always nice to get a little something back when you spend money. A business credit card that comes with a rewards program can give back to you in this way. You can use the business credit card to accumulate travel points or cash back which ultimately means that you’re spending less in the long run simply by using the small business credit card.

5. The business credit card enhances your credibility and reinforces your professional appearance. The small business often struggles to be taken seriously in the dog-eat-dog world of big corporations. The professional image is pretty hard to uphold when you go to a business lunch meeting and can’t even take out a professional credit card to pay for the meal.

6. You and your small business should be separate things financially. Many people who own their own small business just go ahead and put all expenses on their own personal credit card. This can be financailly confusing. It can also cause problems down the line if you encounter legal issues with the business. You don’t want to be personally penalized for business problems so you should have all business expenses on a separate small business credit card.

7. You might need it. You just never know when a business emergency will come up. It’s better to have the card and not use it than to need it and not have it.

What do you do when you receive a credit card statement in the mail or get an announcement in your inbox stating that your statement is ready for your review? If you’re like the average credit card holder in America, you look at the minimum payment that is due and write a check or schedule an automatic payment to cover that amount. That’s not smart. You should be carefully reading every single credit card statement in order to make sure that it’s accurate as well as to make sure that you fully understand what’s going on with your finances and where your money is going. Of course, in order to be able to do that, you need to know how to make sense out of your credit card statement.

The first thing that you’ll want to review on your credit card statement is the basic factual information related to the account. This includes the account number, the billing information and your personal profile information. This is typically available at the top of the credit card statement and needs only a quick look to determine that all of the information is correct. This is also where you’ll see the minimum payment amount due and the date that it’s due which is important so that you’re not late on payments.

The next thing that you’re going to want to look at is the transaction history. This is the part of the credit card statement that will tell you about each expense on the card since the last statement. You’ll want to review this part of the credit card statement carefully because this is where errors often come up. If someone has stolen your identity, this is where you’ll see it. If a business accidentally charged you twice, this is what will tell you so. Hopefully you kept receipts for all expenses that you can compare this part of the statement against, but at least go through and make sure that each expense makes sense.

After reviewing the transaction history, you will want to take a look at the summary box. This is typically at the top of the billing statement or at the very bottom of the billing statement. This area will show you what the previous balance on the card was, what the payment since that time has been, what the new charges (from your transaction history) are and what the new total balance is. Pay attention to this area. Make sure that your payment and transaction amounts were entered and calculated correctly. This is where you’ll find the total amount owed on the card.

All of this information is important to making sure that the bill is correct. However, there is also information on the credit card statement which can help you to better understand where your money is going. You’ll find that the statement shows a breakdown of the annual percentage rate that is being paid on different transactions. This will reveal the varying interest rates for purchases, balance transfers and cash advances on the card. It will also show you how much of your payment is going towards interest vs. how much is going towards principle. And it will reveal any additional fees that you’ve incurred. Reviewing this information can help you determine whether you’ve got a good card, if you’re having troubles that are incurring fees and other things that will assist you in changing your credit card habits in ways that benefit you.

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