Disaster Insurance: What You Need to Know

Has watching the devastation from the recent deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma got you thinking about what you could do to protect you and your family if you were ever in a similar situation? The folks at the Equifax Finance blog are always looking out for consumers, and they offer some helpful tips on how to prepare now for the unexpected in a recent article, ““Natural Disaster Insurance Claims: What To Do When A Natural Disaster Strikes.”

The article describes four different types of insurance to be aware of:

·         Homeowner’s Insurance – this usually protects against wind and fire, but not against flooding

·         Commercial Property Insurance – this would protect your business or office space from a man-made or natural disaster

·         Flood Insurance – you may think that you are not in a flood zone and don’t need this, but flood zones change over the years, so you could be and not know it

·         Earthquake Insurance – the article says this is usually pretty expensive any only necessary if you live right on a fault line

Lower Inventories Require Savvier Home Shopping this Spring

The spring buying season may have you in high home shopping gear, but you may find as you get out there that the options aren’t as plentiful as you had hoped. That is because across the nation, inventories are shrinking while demand is increasing. The market still isn’t perfect for buyers or sellers, so navigating this spring’s home sale market could require more effort, patience and money than you might have thought.

To prepare yourself, the experts at Equifax recently published an article, “Low Inventories May Hurt Spring Real Estate Market,” which provides tips on getting the best deal and finding the best home in the current market.

Some of the tips include:

ID Monitoring and Better Credit for a New You

Just as in your regular life, it is important in your financial life to be healthy. Your creditworthiness is an important factor to becoming more financially healthy, but many people do not realize just how important it is until inopportune money moments arise.

Luckily, the experts at the Equifax Finance Blog are here to help! In their recent article, “Five Things to Boost your Creditworthiness in 2013,” they suggest five ways to improve your creditworthiness in the span of a year.

One tip consists of regularly checking your credit report. This point is frequently mentioned on the Equifax blog because so many people wait to check their credit reports only after one or more identity theft types have already occurred.

End of the Year Tax Checks – Save For 2013

To most people, the only thing worse than thinking about ID theft protection is thinking about taxes. It is just one of those financial headaches most of us try to forget until ‘tax season’ is upon us. However, the experts at the Equifax Finance Blog want you to start thinking about you taxes before 2012 is over, because they claim it can really help you out in the New Year.

In their recent article, “Four Tax Checks to Perform Before the End of the Year,” those with financial expertise agree that a few end of the year tax checks can really help out in 2013 when it is time to do your taxes.

First, they recommend paying all of your outstanding and upcoming medical expenses. If you can manage to pay your medical bills down to 7.5 percent in 2012 you will be able to deduct them on your upcoming taxes. However, this percentage will change to 10 percent in 2013, so it’s better to pay some of these bills down now, if possible.

Build Credit Not Debt with Cards

With such long and often confusing agreements, it’s little wonder that countless myths about credit cards have been around since seemingly forever. Many people are still unaware of the simple steps one can take to ensure financial freedom to build credit and not fall into the trap of credit card debt. Thankfully, the Equifax Finance Blog is ready to help with a new article titled, “Seven Bad Credit Card Habits.”

Life Insurance can Save your Family from Debt Later

While it's not something people like to think about, death is one of the very few sure things in this world. If you were to die tomorrow, would your family fall into debt without your emotional, physical and
financial help? There is a new article to help you understand the importance of life insurance in the new article on the Equifax Finance Blog, "Four Reasons to Have Life Insurance Now."

Life insurance pays for a number of things, including burial expenses, which are always growing larger. These expenses include casket, funeral services, burial and other services, which can cost up to $10,000 or more in some cases. The financial cost of burial alone can often be enough to put families into debt who weren't prepared for it, and the additional problems of not having your income will only add up to a huge debt if not prepared for. Life insurance benefits may seem high, but they are there so your family avoids there huge debts and has the time to set up a financial way to deal with your passing.

Are You Getting the Best Loan Rates on Your New Home?

Recent reforms allow you to find out what is lowering
your FICO Score so you can fix it and get better loans.

Are you getting the best rate when it comes time to secure financing for your new home or condo? While simply being able to get financing requires a good FICO score, your credit score being lower than optimal will carry additional cost in interest rates. The Equifax Finance Blog explains in the article, “Are You Receiving the Best Interest Rates on Your Loans?”

Until recently, your lender didn’t have to let you know why you weren’t receiving the best rates. Thankfully, recent financial law reforms have changed that. Lenders are required to give you notice as to why you didn’t qualify for better rates.

Set up monitoring service to protect your FICO Score

Balance and protect your FICO score to make
sure you can make big purchases like real estate. 

With the halfway mark for 2012 nearly here, it’s time to think about your FICO Score and how your purchases in the first half of the year have affected it.  You can do this for free, though a once-a-year check may not be enough for those that are serious about improving or protecting their credit. The Equifax Finance Blog explains more ways to protect your credit in the article, “HaveYou Pulled Your Credit Report Yet?”

While you can get a free report once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies, analysis and checking for mistakes is up to you. Even if you space your requests out to one agency every four months, you may want to keep a closer eye on your credit if you are considering a large purchase in the next year or two, like purchasing real estate.

The Link Between Credit Cards and Mortgages

Do you currently have a mortgage on your home? If so, chances are good that credit card companies will be targeting you. According to an article by Janet Dedrick on the Equifax Finance Blog, consumers with mortgages are statistically better risks for credit card companies.

Her article, “Credit Trends: Mortgages and New Credit Cards” explains that consumers with mortgages are usually overall lower risks. She also observes other credit trends for 2011 that may surprise you.

• People with mortgages represent 42 percent of new cards issued.
  
• Almost 60 percent of new credit went to consumers with mortgages.

According to Dedrick, a majority of new credit card consumers have equity in their homes. Roughly half of them have property values estimated at $200,000 or below, with 35 percent falling in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Even consumers who are underwater on their mortgages are still receiving new credit. Of the people with a credit score above 700, 30 percent have mortgages that are underwater. Credit card companies seem to understand that people can't control falling home values.

The number of people applying for and getting accepted for credit has increased slightly in 2011. Of course, credit limits are still tight and lenders remain cautious.

If you have applied for a new card this year, were you accepted? How do you compare with the statistics mentioned in the article?

To read Dedrick's full report, visit the Equifax Finance Blog.