I am part of the committee in charge of organizing next year’s exhibition.  Now, this is an event that happens each year and something our town expects.

This year, I decided to be a volunteer and see what the other side of the exhibition is like.  I have ended up on the finance committee and am in charge of securing mobile ATMs for next summer.

Now, having no idea where to get them or what they were (I would say I am a little naive), I decided a good place to start would be to call a local ATM rental company and see what they had to offer.

I contacted a few of them and asked them to fax over proposals for mobile ATM machines.  I will have to go over them to decide which company we will be going with.  I need to figure that out in a couple of days, as we have a committee meeting next weekend and I need to present my findings there.

There are many people that have excellent credit scores and many people that have credit problems.  For those of you that have a good credit score - this article is not for you.  The rest of you should listen up.

If you are like many people who are behind on their credit card payments and bill payments, you may be feeling some stress.  Let me change that - a lot of stress.  You may be feeling overwhelmed - and afraid that there is no way out.

Most of you know about bankruptcy and the fact that it would solve your problem.  On the other hand, it also limits your ability to get a loan or a credit card for quite a few years - depending on your age and situation, this might not be the best idea.

I have a different suggestion for you.  Do you know what a debt negotiation program is?  Well, the simple explanation is that by enrolling in the program, your debts will be cut in half, you will just have one simple monthly payment, and your stress level will decrease.  For example, if you had a lot of credit card debt, if you were to take advantage of credit card negotiation services, they would reduce your debt and payments substantially.

You can also take advantage of credit and bill consolidation help if you are having problems keeping up with your bills.  This is very similar to the last method I discussed, but your monthly payments are less and you can expect that half of your debts would be reduced.

These methods are designed to help relieve your short term stress and get you out of debt in less than three years.  By using either of these methods, your credit score will decrease a little, but it will save your score from the damage it would receive from you going bankrupt.  Just be sure to talk to a professional before you decide what to do - they will help you make the right decision.

I have obtained a payday cash loan from time to time when my finances are running low.  Now, I know that these usually are not the best options in terms of getting money that I need, but I am not here for a lecture.  Usually I only use them if I have a short term money crunch and I pay them off as quickly as possible.

It was not until recently that I learned that there can be some payday loan legal issues.  I was unaware that the laws on the maximum interest rates and fees that you can pay on your loan.  They are in place to essentially protect you from being ripped off and taken advantage of.

These laws are usually easy to keep track of, but be sure you know that they vary state to state.  Not all payday loans are created equal, and before you get one, be sure you know your legal rights - or you may end up getting taken advantage of.

My friend Jill bought a house about two years ago.  It was a large home, magnificent, but the maximum that they could afford.  Things were running smoothly until her husband Brad was in a car accident.

The accident resulted in Brad becoming paralyzed.  Now, this meant that he could no longer continue his practice as a podiatrist, and unfortunately they did not have any disability insurance.  With the settlement from the accident months away, they were getting farther and farther behind on their mortgage payments.  Their bank even called a couple of times to threaten that their home would become one of their repossessed properties.  They didn’t know what to do, and they were looking at the loss of their home.

It just happened that on the night they had exhausted all their option, a telemarketer from a local real estate investing company called.  They were looking for home owners that were in distress and needed cash for their property.  Now this is exactly what they needed - so they let the telemarketer tell them about their service.  He said it was a sell and rent back program - basically they would buy their house from them so they could solve their money problem, and rent it to them so they wouldn’t have to move.

They signed up over the phone and the transaction was done in less than a week.  Their home was not repossessed and now things are going better for them now.  If not for that call, I don’t know what they would have done.

I attended a house hunting seminar that was put on by a real estate firm in town.  It was free to the public, so I thought it would be in my interest to attend.  They were covering the process of finding a house, getting a mortgage, and purchasing a home through a realtor using the Internet - it definitely had some potential.

The presentation ended up lasting about an hour.  They showed us some of the websites that the public could use to look at real estate - independent of the place you live.  They also touched on the benefits and risks for finding property through an online option and some great tips on how to get a good home through an auction.

They touched on applying for a mortgage online and showed us a real world example of an online application.  They used the Connecticut mortgage rates in their example to show what a family could afford for a mortgage based on their income.  We also learned how much you can save if the interest rate on your mortgage drops half a point - man was I surprised.

At the end of the presentation there was an open question and answer period.  They were also looking for people that were interested in purchasing a home - I guess that is why the presentation was free.

I can remember as a child sitting at the supper table talking about business.  My parents owned a couple of businesses and they talked about different challenges and situations they faced as business owners.  They covered everything from employees to finances and that is where I have learned a lot of my business sense.

Speaking of finances, they always advocated getting an unsecured business loan for their financing needs.  You see in their day, deals were done at a slower pace.  Quite often they would use their line of credit to pay for those things they didn’t have the cash for.  Thankfully, they never had to get a business loan for bad credit businesses - they shared some of the horror stories about their friends that had bad experiences with those.

Now that I am old enough to own a business I do.  In fact I own several.  Most of the advice that my parents shared with me as a child is still valuable today.  The one thing that I do different is my financing.

You see, the speed of deals has increased substantially.  Deals are done here, now, and that’s it.  Traditional business loans cannot meet this requirement - it is a lengthy process to get approved.  There is a newer product on the market that is a great alternative to a business loan - a business cash advance.  Approval times are less than 24 hours and the money can be in your hand in as little as a week - all by filling out a simple form online.  Repayment can be a little more flexible with different options (such as payments tied to your business income) available.

The next time you need business financing, check out business cash advances: they are quick, easy and available.

You can talk to people anywhere and chances are that they will tell you that the Internet is a valuable tool.  It helps you find out things, get a phone number, and you can even order you groceries.  Did you know that the Internet can help you out with your finances as well?  Bear in mind I am not talking about making you money - rather ways to save it.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits in using the Internet is the ability to compare.  You can compare savings accounts and compare credit cards to find the best financial product for you.  This is one area where your bank is not as helpful - they will just present their products to you.

Another popular way the Internet can save you some money is with car insurance.  If you watch television you probably have noticed the swarm of car insurance commercials urging you to compare car insurance and save yourself money.  Quite a few of these companies also allow you to compare their products with their competitors giving you an honest picture from which to make your choice.  You can usually save money each year as the prices in this industry continuously drop.

Just like any other tool, the Internet is only useful to your finances if you use it.  So I urge you to try it out, see what you think, and save yourself some money along the way.

It seems my mailbox (my real life one, not email) lately has been pounded with junk mail.  Some of you may understand my paid with this as most of the junk mail ends up in the garbage.  This is too bad as countless trees are killed each year to print up this junk mail - it is too bad there is no way to opt out.

Enough with my rant.  Even through the endless pile of junk, once in awhile a jewel shows up.  That happened today in a free seminar offer I received.

What caught my eye is that the seminar was about home ownership.  Specifically, it was about home finance and the way things worked.  Being new to the whole house thing (we bought a house in the last six months), it would be nice to know what I should be aware of.

Some of the topics to be covered in the seminar are mortgage loans, home refinancing, and home equity loans.  Basically, they are covering the use of financing at all stages of home ownership.

So, I went online and filled out my application.  It is in a few days and I can’t wait.  I’ll just have to watch to see what they are trying to sell me (usually these free seminars are not just free - they usually try to sell you something).

I recently had a phone call that was different than any other phone call I have ever had.  This call was from a telemarketer calling about car loans and how they had the best product for my needs.

This caught me off guard.  I am sure you are familiar with telemarketer trying to sell you something or trying to get you to donate to some organization.  But, this would be the first ever call dealing with loans.

I just couldn’t get the guy off the phone….

No matter what I tried, he kept rambling on how one of their cheap loans would be a godsend for me.  I tried to explain to him that my vehicle was paid for, but that just didn’t get through to him I guess.

It was a little different as well.  They were not trying to take my loan application over the phone, but rather they were trying to setup an appointment with me (in person) to talk to one of their representatives.  It was kind of funny too that they would be willing to automatically approve me for a $5,000 unsecured loan, over the phone, with no questions asked.  I wonder what they do with bankrupt people…

I hope that this is not some trend that will continue.  Like I said, it was my first call like this ever - and I still don’t know what I should think about it.

For most of you home owners out there, you are probably familiar with mortgages.  If you have had your home for a while, you may have already renewed your mortgage.  If you have, great, if you haven’t it is a pretty simple process.  It is almost as simple as walking in and then walking out.

But what happens if you have bad credit.  Specifically, I would like to talk about what happens when you go bankrupt, and then have to go remortgage your home.  First off, this will definitely come up in conversation and if it doesn’t you should mention it.  They will appreciate your honesty - and you don’t want to be charged for fraud.

Secondly, you may have to jump through a few extra hoops.  Getting a bad credit remortgage is a little different than if you had good credit.  A big bonus will be in your favor if you have historically made your mortgage payments on time.

All I can suggest is don’t worry: just be honest and everything should work out.  Unless there are some serious problems, it is rare that they don’t approve you (since they leant you the money in the first place).  Good luck!