1. Set a Target
Shoot for having three to six months of your regular expenses available for unforeseen emergencies.

2. Make Your Money Work as Hard as You Do
Keep idle cash in an account that pays interest.

3. Slim Down Your Checking
Keep just a little more than you need to pay the bills until your next paycheck, and move the extra to a savings account that pays more interest than your checking account.

4. Put Savings on Autopilot
Set up an automatic monthly transfer into your savings account, and you’ll be surprised how quickly the cash stacks up.

5. Boost Your Rate
Some savings and money market accounts pay competitive interest rates. Get the best deal for your average balance.

6. Say No to Fees
Find checking and savings accounts with no minimum balances and few, if any, nuisance fees.

7. Look for Freebies
Some checking accounts provide free checks. Credit cards often offer rewards. And some banks give cash rebates when you use their debit card. USAA does all three and even offers rewards on debit card purchases.

8. Make Every ATM Your ATM
Find a bank that refunds those pesky ATM fees.

9. Balance That Checkbook Online
Take advantage of banks that show your transactions online. This allows you to balance your account when it’s convenient for you, rather than waiting for your monthly statement in the mail. By viewing your documents online instead of receiving paper statements by mail, you lower your risk of identity theft.

10. Get Overdraft Protection
We’re all human — avoid fees by having overdrafts covered by your credit card or savings account.

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“I never knew when I was going to get approved or rejected,” DaMarcus said. “Most times, I was rejected. I knew I had to fix my credit, I just didn’t know how or if it was even possible.”

Yes it’s possible, according to several bankers, lawyers and financial experts. They say by taking an aggressive approach a person can fix his or her credit within two years.

Keep your spending in check

The trick is avoid future financial problems, and sticking to a budget. The WaMu personal planning center suggest spending at least two months writing down every expenditure, and at the end of each month compare your total expenses with your income.

“If you’re overspending, you have to cut back or find more income,” the center advised. “As best you can, plan how you’ll spend your money each month.”

Know what’s in your credit report

You are also going to need to order a copy of your credit report to determine what’s inaccurate or out of date, and then request that the credit bureaus fix the information. Everyone is allowed at least one free credit report each year. To order your free report, go to www.annualcreditreport.com, and either order your report directly or download a form to mail in your request. You can also call 877-322-8228.

You are also entitled to one free copy of your credit report each year under any of the following circumstances:

• You’ve been denied credit because of information in your credit report and you request a copy within 60 days of being denied credit.
• You’re unemployed and looking for work.
• You receive public assistance.
• You believe your file contains errors due to fraud or you are (or you think you are) a victim of identity theft.
• You’ve been denied employment (or another adverse employment decision has been made) based in whole or in part on information contained in a credit report.
• Your report has been revised based upon an investigation you requested.

If you’ve already ordered your free report for the year and don’t fit into any of the six circumstances, you can still order a report from websites like freecreditreport.com.

Look over the report and try to bolster the negative information with some positive ones. Send copies of recent statements and copies of canceled checks to credit bureaus to show you pay on time for accounts that might be missing from the report. Also have your employment history, place of residence, phone number and date of birth added to your report. It could help to show a sense of stability.

Pay as you go

Another way to accelerate the rebuilding process is by having at least three active credit lines open. It’s true that it takes credit to build credit. Car loans and mortgages go a long way to rebuilding credit. However, if that’s out of reach try getting a store card or gas card. They are easier to get than major credit cards. You can also consider getting a cosigner or applying for a secure credit card. Websites like AccountNow and All-Access make it easy.

Finally use the credit you obtain monthly. It doesn’t help if it’s sitting in your wallet. Make small purchases and pay them off to avoid interest charges.

The experts say by following these steps, within two years a person can repair their credit to the point they won’t be turned down for a major credit card or loan, and in about four years qualify for a mortgage.

That’s good news for DaMarcus. “At least, I know it’s not hopeless,” she said. “I just have to try.”

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They urge people to sign up now, to take advantage of their low introductory rate and to not miss out on “this limited time offer”

However, stop for a moment before filling out that form and signing up for a credit card that may or may not get you into a sticky situation later.

You better shop around

As with every thing else, know the facts, then search and compare. Websites like CreditCards.com and CreditorWeb make it easy by allowing consumers to compare side by side different credit card offers.

The next step in choosing your credit card is to stop and think about how you plan to use it and your spending habits. Are you someone that pays your bill in full, monthly, or do you carry a balance, and do you plan to use the card for cash advances?

All these play a part in the type of card to get. If you pay your bill in full each month, then a card with no annual fee and a long grace period might be best for you.

However, if you get cash advances or carry a monthly balance, then the key factors to look for are the card’s cash advance fee and the annual percentage rate.

Know what you’re paying

The annual percentage rate (APR) is the interest rate one pays if they carry a balance, take out a cash advance, or transfer a balance from another card. It must be disclosed before signing any paperwork. A single card can have several APRs. There can be one APR for purchases, another for cash advance, a tiered APR that has different rates for different levels of the balance.

Also, check if a card has a fixed or variable APR. A fix APR doesn’t change or change very little. However, the credit card company must tell you before increasing the fixed APR.

A card with a variable rate means the APR changes from time to time. It’s usually tied to another interest rate.

A credit card company’s method of calculating an outstanding balance can make a big difference in the finance charges you’ll pay. The most common method is by using the average daily balance, which is basically taking the account balance at the end of each day’s business and adding all of these balances and dividing by the number of days.

The method that favors credit card holders is the adjusted balance. Your balance is taken from the previous statement, new charges are added, payments made are subtracted and the figure is multiplied by the monthly interest rate.

An explanation of the method can be found on a billing statement, but if you don’t understand, call the card company.

Watch those fees

Finally look at the fees a credit card company charge under certain circumstances. There are annual fees, cash advance fees and balance transfer fees, to name a few. All of these make a difference in how much you pay. It’s a cliché, but read the fine print in your credit card agreement to see if there are other fees and charges

Just remember: when choosing a card, shop around for the best plan to fit your needs and make sure you understand the terms before accepting.

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Someone from Las Vegas had made purchases they never heard of, using their money. No one was immune. Reporters, businessmen and police officers all became victims, and all they did was put their ATM card in the wrong machine.

It’s that easy to suddenly have your identity stolen. Identity theft dominated the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint list. Thirty six percent of the number of complaints the agency received in 2006 were about identity theft. The losses total billions of dollars each year, while financial institutions are the ones that take the hit upfront, consumers indirectly pay through higher fees.

The best method of identity theft protection is vigilance. Start by checking your credit report and your bank statements regularly, and consider the services of companies like LifeLock and TrustedID which monitor public records and the three major credit bureaus.

However if this is something you would like to manage yourself, and not put it in the hand of some one else consider these simple steps:

* When going to an ATM be very careful and guard your PIN number. When you step up to the ATM make sure no one is looking over your shoulder or can see as you enter your pin number. Look around to make sure no one suspicious is hanging around the ATM, and for “skimmers” – electronic devices that read and record your account number and PIN. In the Central Florida case, police officers believed a skimmer was used. As a precaution use only bank or bank-branded ATMs.
* Remove your name from mailing lists of pre-approved credit cards by calling 888-5OPTOUT (888-567-8688). It’s toll free. Leaving your name on these lists makes it easy for thieves to steal envelopes from your mailbox and open up new accounts in your name. Then they can run up a huge bill. Another option is to get a locked mailbox.
* Thieves can also steal your identity from your discarded mail. It’s called dumpster diving, so shred all financial records, including old credit card receipts, bills or bank statements. Look for a shredder that chops the paper into confetti as oppose to one that creates long, thin strips. It’s more secure.
* Your computer, while helpful, can also be a doorway for thieves. Never respond to an email saying there is a problem and the bank needs your account information. It’s call phishing and scam artist use it by pretending to be banks, stores or government agencies.
* Protect the personal information on your computer by using strong passwords with a combination of letters, numbers and symbols. Make sure you have a firewall and software to protect you from spyware and viruses, and never download or install software from an unknown site or click on links in pop-up windows or in spam-emails.
* When shopping online, be careful about entering your credit card number or other personal information. Read the websites privacy policy, and if it doesn’t have a privacy policy, don’t shop there. Another safety symbol to look for is the little padlock at the bottom of a browser window. It indicates that your information is encrypted and protected against hackers.
* Finally never give out personal information, like your social security number over the phone or via e-mail. Also don’t carry your social security card in your wallet. It’s a big key to identity theft.

At first glance identity theft protection may seem like a lot of effort, but it’s nothing compared to the violation, fear and frustration you would feel if a thief took your identity.

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When you live on a budget, you know penny for penny what you spent that $100 on. In fact you will find by spending less than you earn your debt disappears.

That’s because the first step to getting out of debt is setting a personal budget, and you start to set a budget by tracking your expenses.

Keep a daily log of everything you spend. Get a little notebook and carry it with you. Every time you buy something, write it down, penny for penny in your notebook.

For those who want something a little more high tech and savvy, use home budgeting software like Mvelopes. It tracks your spending electronically as it happens.

By writing down all your expenditures, you begin to see where your money goes, what you are spending it on and why.

You might discover you spend $5,000 annually on eating out. At which point you will have to make a decision. Do you want to continue spending money on eating out, or do you want that dream vacation. Living on a budget comes to decisions like this day by day — the leather jacket or the phone bill.

Once you track your spending habit, it’s time to track your income. How much money do you have coming in? What is your gross monthly income? This shouldn’t include a bonus or overtime pay, but include any source of income that you can rely on – your salary, a part time income or interest from a savings account.

Finding hidden savings

Now add up the cost of your basic needs. This includes anything from the light bill to gas money. The key is to see if your monthly expenditures are more than your monthly income. If it is, you have a problem, and it’s time to cut expenses. Go back to tracking your spending and look for luxuries you can cut back on or not do all together. Try buying store brands instead of name brand products, as well as used items. Also look at those credit cards. If you must use a credit card, choose that card wisely. Use a card that gives back to you, like a no-fee card with a rewards program.

Another important aspect of living on a budget is making sure to pay yourself first. Establish a savings account and have part of your paycheck automatically go into it. This could be used for unexpected emergencies. Also consider doing the same for a retirement account. The whole idea is take care of you first and being prepared should the worse happen.

Finally, the key and must important aspect to living on a budget is sticking to it. If you don’t have it, don’t spend it. A couple of tricks to staying true to the budget is only carry the amount of cash you would need and setting up a secondary account to pay those basic bills.

Once you get paid, immediately transfer the money for the bills into the secondary checking account. Don’t procrastinate. It could derail you. The idea is that once the money is into a separate account, you won’t see it and it will be easier to avoid spending it.

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