The following is a guest post by new Yakezie challenger Finance Wand.
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The new year has recently passed, with lots of hope for all of us. We all have gone through financial stress for the last few years and now it is the best time to think about your financial fitness for the year 2012. The market has its own rules to follow and there may be changes in those rules in 2012.
Here are 5 tips for your personal finance in 2012 to take care of your financial fitness:
Negotiate with your banker: Many a times, with the coming of the new year, the bank comes up with new fees. Most of us will walk away from that bank if we find that our bank is charging us excessive fees. But it will be a better option if you can try to negotiate with your banker so that you can avoid these fees. Banks wants to retain their customers. So, if someone genuinely wants to retain the accounts with them, the banks may give special facilities to them. Your negotiation skills will play a big role here.
Be prepared with all documents while purchasing home: Your home is the biggest asset of your lifetime. So, when you purchase a home and take out a mortgage, you should keep all the documents ready. You will be surprised to note that many home purchase deals fail because the home buyers cannot provide the lender with the required documents. You should make a duplicate copy of all of these documents so that you can furnish them in case the lender loses any of the documents.
Make your credit cards active: You may have frozen your credit cards in order to save money and control your spending. As a result, your credit card company may have marked those credit cards as inactive. Inactive credit cards do not contribute to your credit report in any way. Thus, it will be better to contact your credit card company and try to make them active. Instead of avoiding the use of credit cards, it will be better if you can make disciplined use of them. If you make small purchases using those cards and then pay it off on time, then it will have a positive effect on your credit history.
Check your credit report: Whether you have a good credit report or bad, it is very important to check your credit report at least once a year. This will let you know what kind of items/accounts you have on it. You may dispute any type of wrong information that you find on it which will in turn help you in improving your credit scores.
Take care of your credit before you refinance: Good credit is always considered golden, especially in today’s market. You need to have good credit to refinance with the good interest rate. Avoid making late payments on your credit cards or auto loans just before mortgage refinance as it affects credit badly.
If you keep in mind these tips, you will find that your personal finance is at a good standing in 2012. Your finances will be in control and you may have also improved your credit to a great extent.
Jonny: My experience, knowledge and network of financial professionals makes me a more valuable resource for individuals and small businesses, I am trying to improve their current financial position as well as their future prospects. Check out my blog on personal finance and budgeting.
I wrote about a way to check your credit score for free just a few weeks ago. I found it incredibly helpful and your readers may to.. http://tamingourfinances.com/the-real-free-credit-report/
Some good tips here Jonny. I would put “Check Your Credit Report” right at the top of my todo list.
Thanks Tushar for commenting and thanks to Kevin for publishing my post..
Cheers!!
Guys
We check out credit report once a year. You can get it for free this way. We always like to make sure everything is accurate.
@prairieecothrif You can check it 3x a year if you pull a different report every 4 months. I typically pull Equifax in Jan, Experian in April, and Transunion in August. Fortunately, no identity theft yet.
Thanks for the reminder on these things. I definitely need to check my credit report (I think I’m almost due for a free one again). I also need to dust off some of the old credit cards and make sure to keep them active.
Good reminders. I actually just checked my credit report after my identity theft scare. Apparently someone else in another state was trying to pull No. 3 (Make Your Credit Card Active) without my authorization. So far so good!
I recently starting checking my credit report and found some irregularities, so needless to say it is now scheduled in my calendar for every 3 months.
Thanks for the reminders. I’ll be checking my credit report soon. I always like to do that in the beginning of the year.
@FaithFinance That’s Great!!
Thanks everyone for all your comments. 2012 is going to be a year when all of you want to rectify the financial mistakes that you may have made in the last year. I am glad I could provide a good article that turned out to be helpful for you. Credit reports are very important aspect of managing your personal finance and it is absolutely important that we keep a check on that. I hope to provide more tips on managing personal finances.
Jonny!!
@JonnyPean Thanks for the great post, Jonny! 🙂
@InvestItWisely Welcome Kevin..