There are many financial tools on the Internet.  However, many major credit card companies offer financial management tools even if you are not a customer.  Some of the sites listed below are open to anyone:

1. Chase Blueprint is a personal finance tool tied to select Chase cards that allows customers to determine how they want to apply payments across their statement balance.
2. American Express Money Manager Tool is free to American Express cardholders. The newly-launched Money Manager Tool helps users stay on top of their finances by giving them a complete view of all their accounts, credit cards, and loans in detail and have a big picture view of your money management. Users can link all of their personal financial accounts in one place, and customize graphs and budgets so they can monitor their spending and budgeting the way you want to.
3. Capital One MoneyWi$e is a partnership between Consumer Action, an advocacy group, and Capital One.  This website offers helpful tools and articles specific to your money goals, whether that is educating your teen on credit or learning how to build wealth.
4. Wells Fargo Smarter Credit  is open to all anyone, and has learning tools, articles, tips, and information aimed at helping consumers establish/rebuild credit, reduce debt, get more credit, and manage and protect credit.
5. Discover’s Spend Analyzer offers online tracking and spending of purchases for Discover customers. Users can categorizing spending, comparing spending patterns over time, and sorting transactions by detail so you can manage how you use your Discover Card.  Analyzer only tracks spending of Discover card, and not all of  financial accounts. One unique feature is the “Paydown Planner”, which helps create a plan for reducing your Discover card’s balance and get you out of debt.

Below is an interesting 20-minute video about the consumerist American society by Activist Annie Leonard. The video’s intent is to expose “the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.”  The video has 7 chapters: Introduction, Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption, Disposal, and Another Way.

Video: The Story of Stuff

Today the Senate voted overwhelmingly to provide the unemployed with up to 20 additional weeks of unemployment benefits and expand the first-time homebuyer tax credit to include a much larger pool of people entering the weak housing market.  

The bill will help over 1 million unemployed people who will run out of unemployment benefits by the end of this year.  The unemployed will get 14 additional weeks of benefits, while states with unemployment rates of 8.5% and above will get an additional 6 weeks.  It’s estimated that 7,000 people run out of unemployment benefits every day.

In the hardest hit states the unemployment could get up to 99 weeks of benefits with an average payment of about $300.  This exceeds the previous record of 65 weeks in the 1970s.

The bill passed 98 to 0 at a cost of $24 billion also provides tax relief for struggling businesses. The bill extends to all businesses that have losses in 2008 and 2009 to request refunds for taxes paid on profits over the past five years.

Additionally, as part of the bill, the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, set to expire this month, will be extended and expanded to include a $6,500 tax credit for people who have lived in their current residences at least 5 years. The $8,000 tax credit is extended through June 2010  as long as buyers enter into a binding contract before April 30, 2010. The income ceiling for qualification has been doubled to $125,000 for individuals and is available for homes purchased at or under $800,000.

Related Article: 13 Things to Know About Unemployment Insurance

Many people are confused as to the legality to repairing their credit.  First, it is helpful to understand what is illegal to repair your credit.  

1. It’s illegal to change your Social Security number to get a clean credit.  If any company offers you this as a type of credit repair, you should immediately report them to the proper authorities.
2. Disputing every item on your credit report, regardless if you know it to be true or not is illegal.  Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, only items that are unverifiable, misleading or inaccurate should be disputed.  Items that you know to be true and reflect your credit history should not be disputed.
3. It’s illegal for any credit report service to charge you for services not completed.  This will protect you the consumer of any fraudulent companies that charge for services they never complete.

So, what exactly is considered legal credit repair?

Legal Credit Repair involves removing negative items from a credit report. There are several different methods of going about this; however, the most common and effective are as follows:

“Goodwill” Negotiation – Negotiating with creditors to remove negative items from your credit reports for mild late-pay accounts. No law exists that requires negative items stay on your credit reports for any amount of time.  As a result creditors have the ability to remove these items if it works to their benefit, even if it simply pleases a customer.

Credit Disputation – The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers the right to contact credit bureaus directly and dispute items on their credit reports. Consumers have the right to plead “not guilty” to negative information on their credit reports and the burden of proof is on the credit bureaus, just like in a court of law.  Consumers can dispute any and all items on their credit reports that they believe is inaccurate, unverifiable, or misleading. If the credit bureaus can not verify that the information on a credit report is correct, then those items must be deleted.

A good source to get help repairing your credit is Lexington Law.

Most people don’t realize that having a poor credit score will cost them hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month.  The reason they aren’t aware is because most people don’t run the numbers.  If they did, they’d be surprised!

Many people with bad credit when purchasing a car or home don’t realize that if they had better credit their interest rate would be lower, thus their monthly payments would be lower.  Many people purchase cars and homes and just look at the monthly cost and not the interest rate.  

Most prime credit cards are out of reach from consumers with bad credit.  The few credit cards that are available (known as “sub-prime” credit cards) typically require expensive setup fees or recurring monthly fees, often require cash deposits, offer very low credit lines and most of the time don’t report as positive credit activity to the credit bureaus.

Let’s take a look at automobile financing and determine the cost of poor credit. If you plan on financing a car, you will end up paying $5,000 to $9,000 more because of your bad credit. The higher the interest rate, the higher your monthly payment which adds up to significant money over the years.  See sample calculation below.

Another area where having bad credit can really hurt is your home mortgage.  A typical house will cost you $50,000 to $130,000 more in interest if you are buying the home with poor credit. See sample calculation below.

Improving your credit score is vital before making major purchases.

Related Articles:

• Frequently Asked Questions About Credit Repair
• Can Negative Information on Your Credit Report Be Erased?
• Repairing Your Credit

With the Internet you can really save money on certain services like your telephone by using Skype and Magic Jack.

You can also get rid of your satellite or cable service for a one time fee of $49.95 with Satellite Direct TV. All you need is to download software to your computer.  You don’t need a satellite dish, receiver or any additional equipment.  All you need is Internet connection and the software.   With some additional equipment you can record and watch the service on your television.

The service features:

• No subscriptions or monthly fees
• No hardware to install
• No bandwidth limits
• Access to over 3,500 high definition (HD channels
• 24/7 unlimited access
• Auto Channel Updates
• Available on Mac and PC

For more information visit Satellitedirect.tv.

If you are applying for a loan, obtaining a copy of your credit report is the first place you should start.  Your credit report more than likely is the first thing a potential creditor will look it.  Even if you pay your bills on time and have a good credit score you want to ensure that all the information in your credit report is accurate and up-to-date.

Studies have shown that many credit reports contain inaccurate information what could affect your credit rating and even cause your loan application to be rejected.  If you discover a problem, you can fix it before potential creditors access it.  

You can get a free copy of your credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. You are entitled to 1 free credit report within a 12-month period from each of the three agencies.   This free credit report doesn’t show your score, but will show items listed on your credit report.  To get your score you will have to purchase your credit report from services such as Equifax.

Before applying for a loan, check your credit report for the following items:

Clerical Errors
Credit reports sometimes contain errors that are a result of clerical (human) error or a computer glitch.  These may include late payments, payments not credited, or data mixed in from a credit file of someone with your similar name.  

Excess Unused Credit
The fewer charge accounts you have the more attractive you are to a potential lender.  You may want to consider reducing the number of revolving charge accounts listed as active in your credit report.  Lenders sometimes view too many revolving debt as a negative when considering a loan application.

Inactive Accounts
If you have accounts you have stopped using, it’s a good idea to close these accounts if you don’t plan on ever using them.  When you close an account, make sure your creditor notes the account as “closed at consumer’s request”; otherwise, a potential lender might assume the creditor closed the account for other reasons.

Credit Card Accounts
Well managed credit cards may improve your chances of getting a loan at a good rate, especially a mortgage loan, where lenders use stricter qualifying guidelines.  It’s also advised to keep credit card balances around 75% of the available credit limit.  Ironically, credit cards with high credit limits are viewed as potential debt, while maxed-out cards make consumers less desirable credit risk.  Both of these scenarios could limit your ability to get a loan.

30-day and 60-day Late Payments
If your credit report contain a couple 30-day late payments entries that are accurate, lender may over look the occasional late payment if you explain the situation and your credit score is good.  Try to avoid late payments over 60 days because it will raise a red flag to some lenders.  Even if you obtain the loan, it may come with a higher interest rate and will less favorable terms.

Most lenders are interested in the last two years of data on your credit report.  Therefore it’s a good idea to maintain on time payments and verify that the payments are credited properly on your credit report.

Avoid Unnecessary Inquiries
Every time your credit report is accessed by a creditor it is noted on your credit report.  Most inquiries stay on your credit report for up to 2 years.  Inquiries made by you, for drug screening, pre-approved credit offers, background checks for employment are not reported on your credit report.

Excessive inquiries may cause lenders to think you are trying to get credit due to financial difficulty or you are taking on more debt than you can repay.  However, lenders do realize that some inquiries are a result of shopping around for the best loans and will overlook a block of inquires within a recent period.
 
The key to smart credit management is to fully understand how your credit report affects your financial future.  Reviewing your credit report is a vital part of financial planning and is one of the best ways to ensure you meet your financial goals especially when it involves major purchases.  Unknown inaccuracies on your credit report could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in the long run because creditors my grant you loans with higher interest rates and stricter guidelines.

Related Articles:

• What is a Credit Report?
• How is Your Credit Score Determined?
• Get Your Free Credit Report and Score at Quizzle.com
• Top 4 Credit Reporting Products
• Get Your Free Credit Score From Credit Karma