The FCC has decided to question the wireless service providers through questionnaires so that the customers are enlightened about the ETFs. This will enable them to be prepared for making such payments or take services from wireless service providers who do not charge ETFs. They can also use the information provided by the FCC to choose the service providers that provide the best services at the most economical prices.

A few days earlier you might have heard that canceling T-Mobile’s Nexus One is going to cost you $500, which is quite a painful amount! The major part of the fee is supposed to be going to Google as an equipment recovery fee. The T-Mobile’s ETF will cost an additional $50. So on the whole, you’ll be charged $550 which can be quite pinching.

Congratulations to FCC for taking the initiative at a time when more than 80 % communication companies are charging meaningless fees and customers are paying up in an equally insensible manner. This responsible step of FCC comes as a great relief to harassed customers who find the fee pretty burdensome on their weak pockets.

There is a necessity for more transparency in the fee policies of the service providing and facilitating companies. The criterion for payments should be stated in simple terms so that the customers understand them without any doubts and are not taken by surprise by fees that are not mentioned in the contract. The companies should provide about the termination charges at present and of prorated charges. All service providers are expected to be consistent with pro-rated charges. The pro-rated fee should be calculated on the length of time of the contract divided by the fee.

The FCC wants its answers from Google and the service providers by the 23rd of this month. However, the FCC wants to keep the answers confidential. Then why is the FCC not obliging to the requests for transparency of the information obtained? Well, the FCC knows its reasons best. But do you think it should keep the reports confidential or should it make them transparent?

For Construction Work

Paying up for construction work with a credit card does seem an odd proposition doesn’t it? Yes it does seem, provided you don’t know how to use it tactfully. As usual, you can pay your contractor with real cash or check. But you can always buy the raw materials like cement, bricks, metal etc. using plastic money can’t you? These days, many contractors are also agreeing to accept payments for building permits and other construction works.

For Paying Childbirth Bills

Of all the unlikely situations for using your credit card, maternity bills payment is something that you might really find an unexpected treat! Imagine paying up all those high pregnancy bills of your wife! That can be quite a big relief isn’t it? Apart from pregnancy bills you could use the credit card to pay up adult therapists and health clubs.

For Paying Adoption Agencies

Paying up the adoption agency fee with your credit card is something that you might not have thought of till now. You can pay up the adoption attorney and also the birth mother charges with your credit card.

For Paying Up the College Fee of Your Children

Many colleges don’t insist on cash payments. They accept bank checks and also credit cards. So if you think paying in plastic, is the easiest for you, you can always pay up in that. There are no hassles regarding that. These days even schools accept credit card payment right from kindergarten level to the high school level. Many private tutors don’t mind getting paid via credit cards.

For Bail in Prisons

This is one of the most uncommon usages of the credit card that I have come to know of! If you’ve offended law some way and want to avoid spending a night in jail, pay up bail money with your credit card! You may not be able to access your bank during the emergency. But you always carry the cash card with you don’t you?

For Funerals

Hey! You don’t need money only for living in this world, but also for going out of it! Today, one might have to make arrangements for one’s own funeral! So if you want your mortal remains to be bid farewell in the way you desire during the funeral process, pay up at funeral homes for it . You can also opt for funeral insurance. You need not pay up for yourself but also for any loved one too.

For Church Donations

If you want to make some contributions to your church, and are not carrying enough cash to put on the church plate, you can always pay with your credit card. Make direct payments or pay up at websites such as MyChurchDonations.Com or HolyProcessing.com.

I can return back the purchased items to the store I suppose. But then I seem to have lost my receipt in the holiday emergency (You know, a lot of relatives flooding your house with bag, baggage and gifts and you are so absent-minded about managing small things). So, the store will not accept the item and refund me my money. Ah! I can always give the item to my credit card issuer who’ll accept it within 3 months of the purchase. Mark this friend, even if you happen to lose the receipts of items or bought them online or even if the return date expired, your credit card issuing company can always come to your rescue if it’s got the return protection policy. Just read the fine print and it’ll be probably mentioned there, if the company has it.

The return protection policy of credit card companies is specially advantageous to those buyers who might want to return items bought from the store, after the normal period of expiry of the store’s return policy. American Express, Visa and MasterCard all have good return policies. They are going to take your goods if the store refuses to and you are going to get the cost price. But there may be some constraints and rules which seem to be fair enough to me. After all, the credit card companies are helping you in cashing on your items which may otherwise have been lying as a waste in your house. There may be limitations on the number of times you are allowed to return your gifts and refund your money or the time period in which you can do so. American Express also sees to it that every client is satisfied with the return policy. Visa’s return protection has $250 as the upper limit of refund for items returned and on the whole, in a year, you could refund about $1000 on the whole. It is necessary for the items returned to be in a good and working condition. If I’m not mistaken MasterCard seems to be offering greater flexibility when it comes to your claim on the goods returned. Not only goods that you are dissatisfied with, but also those that are damaged or stolen are worth a refund with the company. But the upper limit of the refund is up to $ 250 only and the claim should be made within 60 days of the date of purchase and only when the store from which it is bought refuses to accept it.

So, I’m going to my credit card company to get a refund on my extra timepiece, what about you?

The need for staying connected is so compelling that despite the recession people have bought electronic gadgets more than ever! In fact, those were the only items that were in high demand in the past holidays. The sales of laptops, cellphones, smartphones and other gadgets that allowed you to stay connected with the world of entertainment and socialization remained high. If you want to know which connectivity items were on high demand check out this Mintblog infographic.

If you go by demand, in the gone holidays, laptops and notebooks top the list. I’m surprised to note that smartphones which most of us are crazy about come last on the list. Was that because of their high prices? Amongst the first three items on high demand, are portable digital media and Mp3 players, and next, a flat pane TV figure up. I’m surprised once again, to find video games as the fourth strongly wished for item! Looks like people want to stick to the old but proven items of entertainment. The demand for a digital camera is exactly midway in the top ten list. The demand for the iphone takes a backseat by being 7th out of 10.

Now, let’s see the actual sales figures of the different items. Though laptops top the list of gadgets in demand, when it came to actual sales, Portable MP3 players/ Digital Media Players overtook them by topping the list. Again it could be the price or the necessity for greater media connectivity that made this happen. Video games that were third on the demand list, shot up to the second position in the actual sales top 10 lists. Though you find the sales of GPS gadgets occupying the 7th position in the list of 10, smartphones don’t figure out anywhere on the list!

Despite the drop in holiday shopping percentage over 2008, and 2007, by 3 % and 18 % respectively, there is a rise in the sale of gift items. Consumers have spent 13 % more on electronic gift items and as the sales price of these has gone down, the final conclusion is that consumers are getting more value for their money. So on the whole you as an electronic gadget shopper, has gained.

The first 20% can be saved by driving and maintaining your car efficiently. Here is how you can do that:

1. Remember that faster pace means more resistance against wind. This friction causes your fuel economy to drop.
2. Drive smoothly with patience, less fluctuation in acceleration, and minimum usage of brakes. That doesn’t mean don’t apply brakes and start bumping your car everywhere. Apply when necessary.
3. Use of overdrive except you are ascending a steep slope.
4. Make use of cruise control, which means drive at a stable speed with stable acceleration and not using brakes, when on freeway. You cannot do this on hilly areas.
5. Don’t drag your car much at lower gears. Quickly move to higher gears and keep the RPM low.
6. While on a slope, go at a higher speed before climbing, rather than generating speed on the slope.
7. Don’t overdo warm-ups. Newer cars generally don’t need much of idling. 1 minute is enough.
8. Merge everyday jobs with short trips. This will save much fuel. All you need to do is stay alert and plan how you can consolidate trips.
9. To increase efficiency of your car, the engine needs to be maintained properly. Poorly maintained engines causes a drop of 20-25% in fuel efficiency.
10. You will notice improved aerodynamics with smooth edges. Hence, always keep your car cleaned. Did you know that sunroof is also a distraction in smooth aerodynamics?
11. Use the Formula 1 rule. Lighter car = increased speed and better fuel efficiency. With increase of each 100 pounds, the efficiency drops by 1-3%.
12. Get rid of the ice on your car, it jams the engine, increases rough friction and increase weight of your vehicle.
13. The tire pressure is very important factor in fluctuating fuel economy. It’s important to keep it inflated at the right level every time. Over inflated tire can burst easily, which eventually reduces the mileage. Under inflated tires drags your car at a slower pace than usual, reducing mileage again.
14. Make it a habit to change your vehicle’s oil on a regular basis. Less or old oil creates more friction.
15. While you are driving in the city at night or early morning, when the weather is cool and pollution is less, roll down the windows, instead of switching on the A/C. If it’s required, keep it low.
16. However, keeping windows open on a freeway increases friction and distracts the smoothness of aerodynamics. Keep the window rolled up and switch on the A/C at low level.
17. IF possible, don’t drive during peak hours, when traffic is usually high. Or you can opt a bit longer route but with less traffic.
18. As soon as realize you don’t need snow tires further, remove them because the suppleness exerts much pressure to haul the car.

These are small but really useful tips. Follow them for a week and you will definitely notice a 15-20% reduction in usage of gasoline. Next tip to save some money is by getting a 3% or 5% cash back card. A famous one is Discover Platinum Gas Card. Also, Citi Dividend Platinum Card offers 5% cash back at almost every gas station, grocery and drug stores. A website pumpandsave.com offers in depth info on how to use such cards.

It’s wiser to check where the cheapest gas is available at gasbuddy.com and gaspricewatch.com. However, it’s worthless if you drive at the cheapest gas station that’s 40 miles away. So, keep a watch on the prices at nearby stations, and visit the cheapest among them.

While you buy a car, instead of focusing just on amenities and looks, check out the mileage. Opt for a car that gives very high mileage because in long run, you will be left only with miles per gallon calculation. The looks and amenities would be obsolete soon.

Even if you have a car, it is not mandatory to drive it every time. You can occasionally walk, ski, ride a bike or scooter, or take public transportation.

These tips wouldn’t cost you anything, but will definitely assist you to save around 20-25% of your gas bill.

According to the new approach, making monetary predictions is one of the most foolish things that one can do. How can you say for sure, how much you are going to spend on what at the beginning of a month when you don’t know the exact expenditure you’ll have to bear tomorrow? This is the reason many of us fail in our budgeting and that is not due to any fault of ours. Every time I’d plan my expenditure for about a month in advance, I’d have to encounter sudden extra expenditure. My spending would always be more than the planned amount. There was no point in making a rigid list of expenditures. Life is practical and you simply don’t know what lies in store for you the very next moment. Here are a couple of effective strategies that are easy to implement:

Strategy 1:

When you make a budget, don’t allot separate amounts of money for small and optional expenditures because they are so very negotiable. Put your expenditures on cosmetics, dining out, movies, all in one category and allot a chunk of money for the entire category. If you allot independently, you might actually cross the boundaries set. In a month if you are buying an extra cosmetic you can always compensate for the extra expenditure by eating out less number of times.

Big expenditures, unlike the small ones are compulsory. You probably can’t do without paying your house rent or your telephone bills. These expenses are almost the same every month and non-negotiable. So, just go ahead and strictly allot money for each and every big expenditure because you really can’t compromise on any of them. You simply can’t stop using your telephone because your house owner increased the house rent, can you?

Strategy 2:

Another tip that really works is based on when you pay yourself. Most of us are used to being paid on a monthly basis. But then, most of us are also in the habit of spending most of our allowances in the first week or ten days of the month. Naturally when you have a lot of cash in your hands, controlling yourself is quite difficult. But when you have 15-20 days to go in the month, you’ll be compelled to fill up your cash tanks once more because that is a pretty long time to manage with scarce resources. This is how you overspend. So how are you going to check your expenditure? The trick lies in reducing the time period of financial deficit. If you pay yourself weekly instead of monthly, even if you spend all your money by the first three days, you’ll not want to visit the ATM counter because you’ll psychologically feel that there are only four days to go and you can manage anyway. However, big monthly expenditures like your house rent and child’s tuition fee need to be paid on a monthly or term-wise basis only.

Lending Club is one social lending website that has gained a lot of popularity in recent times. It offers loans to people with different credit backgrounds and it gives different investment opportunities to the lenders. Now let’s see the advantages you are entitled to when you go for social lending:

• A poor credit history might not get you a loan from banks, but social lending organizations don’t restrict loans to you. You’ll get the loan that you want but maybe you’ve got to pay a bit more than your counterpart with a good credit score.
• If you are an investor on the lookout for returns higher than that of CDs and stock, you can seriously think of investing in social lending which gives you higher annual returns on the P2P loans that you give out to borrowers. However, the social lending organization is going to charge some fee as service charge for this.
• A borrower’s loan grade is decided upon by his/her credit history and the reports given by the credit bureau. Those with bad credit histories have to pay higher interests and fees. The amount of late fee charged also depends on your credit record, the lower being for those who pay on time.
• Different social lending sites have different interest rates specified for borrowers. You can visit Prosper.com which has one of the best interest rate schemes for borrowers in the social lending industry.

Loopholes in the social lending system

• Social lending requires you to satisfy a lot of eligibility criteria for obtaining loan. Your state of residence, FICO score, debt to income ratio, credit history for a span of 3 years, revolving credit utilization should all be within their prescribed limits for loan.
• Even lenders have to satisfy eligibility criteria before being allowed to work with the social lending websites. Their state of residence, gross income, net income, and net worth of household commodities should all fall within the eligibility criteria.
• Risk of monetary loss is involved for lenders as borrowers might default payments. The social lending organization does arrange for partial compensation, but the entire amount of money lent is hardly recovered.
• The facts provided by the borrowers and lenders may not be genuine.
• Fees for certain services may be very high

After the completion of the acquisition process, Virgin Money plans to nurture its banking business geologically. Currently, Virgin Money offers personal financial services like insurance, pension schemes, and retail credit cards. After acquiring Church House Trust, it will obtain the right to receive money from depositors and lend mortgages.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds has informed that they will divest. However, Virgin can still buy further assets. And buying Northern Rock this time is quite possible. At least that’s the meaning one can derive from the offer document, which mentions that they might consider acquiring another company after this one.

Merely by offering investment products, credit cards, savings, and insurance, Virgin Money is catering to 2.5 million customers. The government believes that the acquisition of rights to deposit and lend money will definitely help Sir Richard Branson to grow the financial hand.

Virgin Money will pay around £12.3 million from its funds, while the other £37.3 million will be raised as fresh capital. Two-thirds of the shareholders of trust are ready to sell their shares to the Virgin’s financial firm.

Church House Trust was established in 1987 and is located in Yeovil, Leeds, and Somerset. However, it is formed from a company which was found by a renowned West Country solicitor named Edmund Batten in 18th Century.

According to Virgin Money, acquiring Church House Trust is a lucrative preposition as its deposits are much more than double its lending. This ensures that it is not much vulnerable as it doesn’t depend on external funding.

Operating profit, as per 2008 books of accounts, is recorded as £4.05 million and profit before tax was £450,000. The trust was operated in a conservative model and it will, according to Chairman David Batten, provide a strong foundation for Virgin to penetrate the retail market.

For Branson, this is an ideal time to commence a financial firm and benefit from the disintegration of giant banks. Probably, Virgin Money will be transformed as Virgin Bank after the acquisition and they expect online banking to be one of the key areas of their service.

Predictions of analysts coupled with views of Kevin Mountford, Banking Head at moneysupermarket.com, are quite optimistic. According to them, Virgin will establish itself as a reliable and significant brand in the retail banking sector. We will see a lot of innovative and aggressive strategies like the successful promotion of its credit cards with best buy.

Before I emphasize on the significance of net worth, let me tell you have lucky you are to have a job. It has been predicted by most of the economist that the unemployment rate is bound to leap and stay soared for a long time. For precise information, make some efforts to explore your search engine and scroll through latest unemployment trends because this isn’t an unemployment article.

Employers will continue to terminate people because they can’t afford paying the same number of people as they did last year or year before. And they will definitely target someone who isn’t investing much in himself.

Net worth isn’t only about owning assets. It means your ability to earn money. It means how well can you improve and enhance the performance of the most useful funds-generating asset – You.

Here are ten simple things you need to do to improve your net worth, or at least save your job.

Know about the industry and location

The reason I didn’t mention the unemployment rate above is simply because I cannot. The rate is equivalent and unchanged across nation. It changes with a minute alteration in targeted area and profession. It’s around 5-6% in the financial sector, whereas 20% in construction industry. The unemployment rate is highest in Michigan, whereas lowest in North Dakota. Obviously, you didn’t know all this. Start knowing about your industry, your location, your designation. Update yourself on who is being fired, hired, down sized, or promoted. This will help you to get a new job or help you to decide when it’s to step down.

Your company’s sources of income

How does your company generate revenue? By selling mutual funds? May be you don’t know much about your organization. Because most of the companies have multiple sources of income. Maybe all are not equally rated, but remember, they do have many sources. Learn about the most important and be a fundamental part of it. Be person with real knowledge and genuine usage.

Do something to safeguard your job

On a Sunday, sit with a pen and paper and pretend to be the boss of your company. Decide who should get a raise and who should be thrown out of the firm, with strong reasons. Now look at your role. Are you worthy of a raise? Do you have the necessary skills that are needed for a promotion?

If you are a business owner, pretend to be a customer

Owning business means having many bosses. They can put you out of business quicker than a boss can fire an employee. Pretend to be a customer and think of things that you expect from a business like yours. Are you a satisfied customer?

Assess your skills

You ‘Net Worth’ as assessed by your boss isn’t the summation of your total assets. It is your ability to work, to generate results, to handle the pressure of targets and achieving them. Jot down all the skills that you have and those you will need to become the best. I am sure you have all the skills but are under-utilized. Work towards developing those skills. While in office, focus on the tasks that generate results. Eliminate wastage of time, efforts, and energy.

What if you are terminated tomorrow?

It’s a question we dread, hence we aren’t ever prepared for it. Think about the options that you have after being fired. Think about the achievements in your current job that you can list down in your resume. If you can’t think of any achievements, strive to get one. What is that you can do in your spare time that can add value to your resume? What is it that will increase your net worth?

Do it yourself

Increasing your net worth also means doing and knowing about things. What are the things that you don’t do and pay someone else to do it? Which among those tasks can be done by you? There are many things that you can learn and start doing yourself like taxes, repairs, or financial planning.

Take up a side job

Or start a side business. But try to earn some amount for other sources. Don’t rely merely on your current job income. This will help you to accumulate funds, learn new set of skills, or lead toward a new career.

Sharpen your social skills

Believe it or not, to succeed, you have to be social, pleasant, co-operative and likable. Okay, success also comes to those who are rude, arrogant, unhelpful, and ugly, but it becomes tougher for them. People help you, if you are helpful; people cooperate, if you are cooperative.

Is it your dream job?

You probably generate best results if you enjoy what you are doing. Do you think you current job is what you enjoy? Do you feel like quitting and taking up something else? May the current economy and severe market conditions wouldn’t allow you to take up what you like. However, with time, it will improve. So do your homework and be prepared for the right time.

Investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds may be quite difficult for you due to the financial crunch. However, investing in something (you) that provides better returns, isn’t quite difficult. Start increasing your net worth before you are kicked out of your company.

Here are some tips that you could use to pay up your bills:

• Set deadlines for clearing your holiday dues as soon as possible. How about the end of March? The sooner you clear, the better it is for you in terms of interest rates and credit score. Don’t pile up your debts over long periods of time. Long credit payment might look convenient as the monthly installment turns out to be a very low amount but this is not always advisable as the interest rates are generally going to be very high so that the final amount that you pay turns out to be a huge amount. Getting off debt quickly is always recommended to prolonged payment periods.
• Set a finite period of payment. Set a start date and an end date for clearing off your dues and strictly stick to it.
• Don’t use your credit card for making further purchases till you pay off your holiday dues. How can you ever get over paying up your debts if you keep piling them up?  When you go shopping for a few days now, just leave out your credit card at home. The best thing that could happen to you during this period is to forget your credit card at home. Making cash payments is recommended. You not only have no dues, but also get attractive discounts from retail outlets on cash purchases.
• People who pay with cash tend to spend lesser than those who use cards. Isn’t it hard for you to shell out cash when shopping in comparison to using a credit card?
• Make a plan to clear your dues. The plan will give you a clear idea of your present monetary status, the status after you pay up your dues and if at all there is enough money with you to pay up your debts in the time period specified.
• Strictly keep an account of all your expenditure including the amount you’ve spent on a cup of coffee from the vending machine for the next one month or so.
• Be more frugal, review your credit card for excess unjustified charges, and try to reduce your taxes.