How to Reestablish Your Credit
Rebuilding Your CreditThe first step in re-building your credit is to request a copy of each of your reports from the three main credit agencies or from annualcreditreport.com. By law you are entitled to receive one free copy per year. The phone numbers to the three main credit agencies are as follows:• Equifax: 800-685-1111• Experian: 888-397-3742• TransUnion: 800-888-4213Once you receive a copy of your report from each of the above mentioned credit agencies or from annualcreditreport.com, carefully review the report and look for any inaccuracies. First dispute any inaccurate information with each or all of the credit agencies that reported the inaccuracies. Report all disputes online through the agencies websites. Equifax has an online dispute form, Transunion has a dispute section under the personal services area, and Experian has a dispute section on its credit services maintenance page.Once you have reviewed your report and disputed any inaccuracies, you should start to rebuild your credit. This article discusses a variety of sources that you can use to reestablish your credit. Each of the following sources are a great place to start rebuilding your credit.Secure Credit CardA secure credit card is a credit card that requires a deposit. They are a great way to establish or reestablish credit after a bankruptcy, foreclosure, or divorce. Secure cards can be obtained online or at a local bank or credit union. The requirement to open a secure card is typically either very limited credit or at least a 500 credit score. A secure card is similar to a debit card, but unlike a debit card monthly payments are reported to the credit agencies. A secure card requires a down payment and then repayment of the funds as you use them. Most secure cards start between $300 and $500 dollars. Most have hefty initial fees and annual fees. Make sure you keep the monthly payments on-time. Over-time your credit should improve and the creditor will likely increase your credit limit and eventually (with on-time payments) convert your secure card to a regular credit card.Must have secure credit card features:• Make sure the creditor will report your payments to the three main credit agencies
• Reasonable grace period
• No early termination fee
• Allows for the card to switch to a standard credit card after so many on-time paymentsCredit Union – Installment LoansCredit unions are a great way to establish or reestablish credit. Belonging to a credit union gives you special privileges, such as better interest rates and installment loan and credit card options. Small installment loans from a credit union are great ways to establish or reestablish credit. Automatic withdrawal from a checking or savings account may ensure the payments are on-time.Auto LoansThere are many buy here/pay here car dealerships that offer financing. This is an option for establishing or reestablishing credit. Just verify that the finance company or dealership reports to all three major credit bureaus.Joint Credit CardsIf you are married and your spouse has good credit, asking them to open a joint credit card may be a good option to establish or reestablish credit. If you are not married, a parent or sibling may be willing to open a joint card for you.Authorized User Credit CardsAn authorized user card is a credit card that someone else (usually a relative) is responsible for. The authorized user is not obligated to make payments on the card but if they are listed as an authorized user the payments will be reported to their credit report.Other Ways to Establish New CreditIf your credit scores are below 500 or you are unemployed or in the middle of a bankruptcy or foreclosure, you may want to open a checking or savings account with a local bank or credit union. When you are ready to start reestablishing credit you will have already formed a relationship with a financial institution, therefore it will be easier to open credit with them.Once you have opened credit, it is imperative that you use it monthly and make all the payments on-time. You may need a co-signer to open your first credit accounts. Be aware any late payments will not only appear on your credit report but also the co-signers. The last thing you want to do to someone helping you is hurt them by damaging their credit. If possible, set up an automatic withdrawal for the payment. Try to keep the balances on credit cards below 30% of the available limit. This should maximize your scores. After 12 months of on-time payments try and open a regular card and increase your available limit. The idea is to establish new paid as agreed credit. Ideally you should have an installment loan and two cards to reestablish your credit. If your credit cards and installment loan(s) at first have high interest rates, try and apply for new credit after 12 months. This will allow you to payoff the old higher interest accounts, but don’t close them out as this can hurt your scores.The first place to start when you are attempting to reestablish your credit is at your current bank. If you have an established relationship with a checking or savings account, the institution that already knows you will be more likely to give you a chance than another institution. This will limit the amount of inquiries on your credit report. Remember inquires could cost 3 to 5 points per pulled credit report. Be careful, that applying for new credit does not lower your scores even more. Create a budget to see where you are spending your money. Eliminate any wasteful spending and focus on the long-term goal of credit independence. If you need help creating a reasonable budget seek a free non-profit agency that can help you create one. The key is Free! Be patient, reestablishing your credit takes time. Do not look for the quick fix; look at the long-term goal of available credit for what you need, and lower interest rates (big savings in interest expense). Be diligent and pay your bills on-time. This includes the open accounts listed on your report as well as your utility bills and unreported debts (possibly through a credit union).
Insurance
According to law and economics insurance is a type of risk management principally exercised to circumvent the risk of potential loss. A company selling the insurance is called insurer. It has become a lucrative business around the globe. Insurance rates, which are used to determine the amount of premium, may vary from company to company. An uncomplicated example is life insurance. A person pays a certain amount of premiums to the insurer. When he dies a predefined amount is given to his family.Types of InsuranceNothing is predictable on this dangerous planet. Any accident can happen or any disease can attack us. So, we should be prepared for it. There are various types of insurance policies focusing different fields of life.Health InsuranceVarious insurers offer health insurance plans. If the insured person is injured due to accident or is sick then the medical expenses are paid by the insurer. There is a lawful indenture between the insurer and the insured person.Dental InsuranceInsurance intended to disburse the expenses related to dental care is called dental insurance. Dental insurance helps people to cope with the pecuniary hardships caused by sudden dental costs.Auto InsuranceThe insurance purchased for cars, trucks, and all other auto mobiles is called auto insurance or automobile insurance. The principal benefit of car insurance is the provision of protection against the losses occurred due to traffic accidents. If an insured vehicle is damaged as a result of accident, the repairing costs are paid by insurer. Auto insurance companies also provide replacements, if the vehicle is totally destroyed. It is obligatory in many countries to purchase automobile insurance. One can choose the right car insurance by comparing auto insurance quotes provided by different companies.Pet InsuranceIf your insured pet is injured or suffering from illness, pet insurance will pay the veterinary expenses. Some pet insurance policies are also designed to pay if the insured pet dies, is lost or stolen. Pet insurance is mostly available in developed countries.Travel InsuranceInsurance which is planned to tackle financial and other potential losses while travelling within your country or internationally is called travel insurance. Travel insurance mostly hedge against the risks like theft, loss, delayed baggage, emergency evacuation, damage to personal possessions, legal assistance, accidental death, overseas funeral expenses etc.Life InsuranceIn life insurance there is a contract between insured and insurer. According to that contract if the insured person dies the insurer will pay an amount of money to his family. In return the insured person will pay premium to insurer. There are two types of life insurance, protection policies and investment policies. Another life based insurance is term life insurance. The insurance coverage is provided for a limited time period. After that period, its insured choice that he want to drop the policy or cotinue indemnity by paying premiums for next term.Many insurers are providing their services. Some of the well-known insurance companies are state farm insurance, allstate insurance, farmers insurance and progressive insurance.
Health News: Medical Breakthroughs
Over the years, medical scientists have worked so hard to shed light to the most puzzling areas of health and medicine. These people spend most of their time doing research for the benefit of the humanity. If you are reading health news on a regular basis, you would understand how diligent these people are. Here are some of the breakthroughs in medical and health science that have a significant impact on our lives.Disarming HIVOne of the most talked about breakthroughs today is the discovery of the Achilles Heel of the HIV. American and European scientists have found a way to disarm the virus and keep it from wreaking havoc in the immune system. The method involves extracting the cholesterol from the virus, a method that extinguishes its defenses. Without this cholesterol, the virus loses its weaponry and becomes open for the human immune system to destroy. HIV is known for disabling the adaptive response of the immune system. Since the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus, scientists have been finding a means to fight it. None so far has been so successful. Vaccines in the past were useless. But things might have changed now that a new way to weaken the virus has been discovered.Aspirin for Cancer PreventionIt has been found out that taking small amounts of aspirin on a daily basis can curb risk of stroke and heart disease. We already know that. But recent studies indicate it can also decrease risk of cancer. Studies done in United Kingdom have been conducted to monitor subjects taking about 75-300 mg of aspirin a day. After three years, those taking aspirin had cancer risk reduced by approximately 25%. Then after 5 years, risk of cancer was reduced to 37%.Studies indicate that daily intake of aspirin cuts down cancer risk by preventing metastasis. Nonetheless, there is another problem with aspirin intake. Doctors warn that regular intake of aspirin may cause stomach bleeding. Moreover, people who take aspirin daily are, ironically, at risk of hemorrhagic strokes.Placebos as DrugsPlacebos are “empty” agents used in research to determine the true effects of drugs. This time they are used as treatment agents on their own. The power of placebos comes from suggestion-not from the placebos themselves. For instance, studies show that when people are told they are getting good exercise, they tend to lose more weight than those who are not told the same thing. There are already many studies that test the ability of placebo to treat disorders. Placebos do not contain active ingredients to target the illness. They work by changing the person’s reaction to their illness.Exercise to Defy AgingPeople already know the benefits of exercise. Health news articles have discussed too much about exercise. Anyone can now say exercise relieves stress, improves cardiovascular health, enhances immunity, and so on. What we might have missed to note is that exercise promises to reverse aging. This assumption was made by scientists who studies laboratory mice subjected to exercise program. These mice had better muscles, hearts, kidneys, and brains than those that did not go through exercise program. Their hair was also shinier and thicker.
What are anti-ligature blinds?
Anti-ligature blinds are becoming increasingly popular in a range of different settings. The way these blinds differ from traditional blinds is that they are designed to prevent suicide by hanging.
Initially, uptake for this type of blind was largely restricted to high-risk environments such as psychiatric hospitals and prisons, where suicide is common. In mental health environments and detention centres, suicide via hanging is common and preventative measures must be implemented. A huge range of objects could be used to create a ligature point, meaning anti-ligature systems are highly important.
Over the years, anti-ligature blinds have been supplied to hospitals, schools, student accommodation and even hotels.
How do they work?
There are a range of different systems on the market, but the most reliable could well be the magnetic anti-ligature system. YewdaleKestrel® products utilise load release magnets which separate when a downward force is exerted on the product. This means that the product falls to the ground safely and prevents suicide via hanging.
The magnetic systems used in Yewdale’s products are highly reliable because magnets don’t lose their strength for hundreds of years, guaranteeing a lifetime of lifesaving functionality.
Anti-ligature blinds usually have a magnetic connection point above the blind’s barrel. The blind is easy to reconnect to the magnetic bracket after it has fallen to the floor.
If you are considering an anti-ligature blind, Yewdale is a highly recommended company. Based in the UK, Yewdale produce a wide range of anti-ligature products, commercial blinds, and healthcare products including hospital cubicle tracks and medical curtains.
Yewdale produce other anti-ligature products too including a soft, lightweight en-suite door and other accessories such as soap dispensers, toilet roll holder, shelves and artwork. You can see the full range on the website using the link below.
Complete weight loss strategy
For those who want to lose weight
Research on the causes of obesity, knowledge about weight loss, and various diets for weight loss are updated every year. However, with the update of knowledge and the release of diet pills one after another, the obesity rate continues to rise every year, and there is no sign of wanting to decline. I used to be very, very fat, and I am also a person who is prone to obesity.
So I understand the voices of fat people, I really want to lose weight, but I tried many ways to lose weight at that time without success.
I have tried the common boiled meals on the market, eating less and moving more, but it was not until I tried other diets that I managed to lose weight. After I lost weight, I began to study the essence and method of losing weight, and wrote him in this weight loss strategy article, hoping to help you.
A few key myths about losing weight
The weight loss myth of eating less and moving more
The phrase “eat less and move more” is actually true, but most people do it wrong. Many people think that they should eat less of everything, so they limit their calories to a very low level, and it feels a bit like eating an ultra-low-calorie fairy meal. Then, for the hyperactive part, the first thing that everyone thinks of is aerobic exercise such as running, cycling, etc., but in fact, this is a very short-term and easy way to regain weight, mainly because eating too little is an easy way to lose weight. The reason for the loss of muscle mass, coupled with the fact that aerobic training is not helpful for muscle mass growth, causes the metabolism to drop too much.
Maybe you can lose 5 kilograms in this way, but if your metabolism declines, you will easily regain the weight. And it’s all the fat that gets back up, not the muscle you lose that makes you look fatter than before. This is what we call the yo-yo effect, lose weight, get fat back, get fatter than before, lose weight, get back on Fat, get fatter than before.
Stop taking diet pills and meal replacements
At this time, you may start to seek other ways, eat weight loss meal replacements, taking diet pills, and so on. But believe me, most diet pills will inevitably hurt the body, especially the gastrointestinal tract. You may actually lose weight in the moment, but when your gastrointestinal tract is damaged, you will be fatter than before.
The key to understanding how to lose weight
You must have thought, why some people will not gain weight no matter what they eat, while some people will gain a kilogram the next day after eating a little bread? What is the cause of obesity? This is not a simple answer that can be solved!
You can see the link to the picture below, mainly talking about the influencing factors of obesity, which are very, very complicated.
Image source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/296290/obesity-map-full-hi-res.pdf
In the middle of this picture is the heat balance
So we can know that calorie balance is very important
But this article doesn’t keep preaching that calorie balance is the key to losing weight like other sites
If you don’t know what calorie balance is, you can probably imagine that our body has calorie consumption (exercise, thermogenesis, basal metabolism), and calorie intake (eating).
When calorie consumption exceeds calorie intake, the weight will drop, so the truth of weight loss is to eat less and move more, very simple. In the short term, it is really possible to simply achieve weight loss by eating less and moving more, but simplicity is not simple, because the operation of the body is very complicated. Many people think that they can control their calorie consumption, that they can achieve a lot of calorie expenditure by running all the time, and that eating fairy meals (low-calorie meals) can reduce calorie intake and then easily lose it.
However, according to research, 90% of people who use calorie control, eat less and move more to lose weight will fail or regain the weight.
Because eating less and moving more for too long, metabolism will easily drop, hormones will easily become imbalanced, and muscle mass will easily be lost. Even if you lose 10 kilograms, you will easily regain weight.
When losing weight, the body is like a factory
For me, the key to long-term weight loss and maintaining good posture is the environment in the body, such as hormones, the level of inflammation in the body, and the gastrointestinal system.
Think of the body as a factory
-Your hormones are the managers and workers of factory operations
-Inflamed condition is how good factory machinery and hardware are
-Calorie intake is wages for factories as well as fuel
If the manager of this factory is an idiot, or if the hardware in your factory is completely rotten, then no matter how it works, it will create a pile of waste. Just as our hormones are already out of balance and the level of inflammation in the body is very high, no matter how much you eat, if you don’t solve the existing problems, it will easily accumulate into fat. It may be easier to understand with a few examples.
Hormones vs Weight Loss
This study looked at the effects of sleep and weight loss
Research source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20921542
Both groups of humans were calorie-restricted, but one group slept 5.5 hours a night and the other 8.5 hours. Both groups lost weight, but the group that slept less lost 55 percent less body fat and 65 percent more muscle mass than the group that slept more. It is equivalent to losing weight, but most of the loss is muscle mass, which reduces metabolism and makes it easy to regain weight later.
There is such a big difference mainly because poor sleep has a negative impact. The imbalance of the secretion of these things will easily increase fat and reduce muscle.
This next study looks at the effect of insulin sensitivity on body composition!
Research source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19471290
Basically, many chronic metabolic diseases, obesity, and poor muscle-building effects are closely related to low insulin sensitivity. Insulin is an anti-catabolic hormone whose main function is to store nutrients in cells. For example, after heavy training, our muscles will be more sensitive to insulin, and the nutrients we eat will be more easily absorbed into the muscles. When insulin sensitivity is low, the nutrients we eat are more likely to be stored as fat rather than absorbed into muscles.
We can simply say that the nutrients in the food eaten by people who are insulin insensitive are more likely to be stored as fat, and the relative fat mass will be much higher than the muscle mass.
To put it simply, the key to losing weight is actually to improve hormones, improve inflammation in the body, and add an appropriate calorie deficit. It is not difficult to achieve a calorie deficit. What is more difficult is how to choose the type of food that suits your body to improve hormones and achieve a long-term good body.
If you only pursue short-term weight loss and rely on a lot of calorie deficits to achieve the effect of weight loss, and then the hormones are still the same after the loss, then I can guarantee that you will gain weight very easily.
With so many ways to eat on the internet, which diet should I try?
When talking about losing weight in Taiwan 30 years ago, everyone would definitely want to use boiled meals
When it came to losing weight five years ago, everyone might think of using a low-sugar diet. When it came to losing weight in the past two or three years, everyone might directly think of the ketogenic diet.
I lost 30kg in 3 months on a low-sugar diet myself for the first time, so I used to believe that a low-sugar diet was the best way to lose weight
But after my long-term understanding of weight loss-related research, genetic cognition, and observation of students, there is no diet that is most suitable for everyone! Although it is said that high-carbohydrate foods will most stimulate insulin secretion, which in turn promotes the storage of nutrients into fat, some people are naturally good at metabolizing carbohydrates, so they can still be healthy and strong after eating high-carbohydrate throughout their lives.
For example, this study compared the responses of people with high and low insulin sensitivity to high- and low-carb diets.
Research source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2005.79
The study concluded:
-For people with high insulin sensitivity, eating high-carb and low-fat to lose weight is very helpful
-However, people who are insulin insensitive use a high-carb low-fat diet to lose fat, but the weight loss effect is not so good.
But on the contrary, studies have also shown that people with low insulin sensitivity have a very good weight loss effect on a low-carb high-fat diet, which shows that improving insulin is very important for weight loss, and it also shows that people with insulin insensitivity are more suitable
Lose weight with a high-carb diet.
So if you have been obese for a long time, you know that you eat carbohydrates easily, or you know that you have diabetes in your family and want to lose fat, then I would suggest that you can start by reducing carbohydrates, which is what we call low carb diet!
The Negative Impact of E-Levy on Mobile Banking.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Mobile Banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
Electronic Transaction Levy or “E-Levy” is a tax applied on transactions made on electronic or digital platforms.
ADVANTAGES OF MOBILE BANKING
Mobile banking offers numerous benefits such as ease of transaction, convenience, time-saving, managing your finances, and budgeting. Some advantages of Mobile Banking in remote areas include:
Financial Inclusion — mobile banking offers convenient and easy banking services to people in remote areas. Thus, it allows banking on the go and offers all benefits of a banking system to rural areas without the presence of a financial institution.
Accessing the bank 24/7 — Mobile banking provides ubiquitous banking services without the need to visit the bank to have access to services. This offers time to benefit and ease of transacting at a distance.
Cost-benefit — Mobile banking saves the banks the cost of building physical infrastructures (branches) and maintaining branches and staff. Also, reduced costs on the customer side since the burden of visiting the bank for services is eliminated.
Improving resilience in the face of poverty — Mobile money acts as both a savings vehicle and a means of transferring funds during times of economic or environmental shocks.
Strengthening the formal economy — For many micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), opening a mobile money account can facilitate access to formal financial services. Mobile money is well placed to address the issue of informality that blights many developing economies and hampers domestic resource mobilization efforts. Mobile Money enables ease of transacting, thus increasing business profits for MSMEs.
Facilitating economic growth — Mobile money has been shown to contribute to economic growth by increasing both productivity and per capita incomes
DISADVANTAGES OF E-LEVY ON MOBILE BANKING
The design of mobile money taxation policy appears to be the antithesis of a well-designed tax system. The disadvantages include:
Inequity — Mobile money taxes as currently structured to create inequity in the tax system. As the tax is mostly borne by the poor and users of the services are subject to additional taxation (unlike bank or cash transactions), the principles of both horizontal and vertical equity in the tax system are contravened.
Uncertainty -. Uncertainty and lack of transparency over taxation systems can have a direct impact on the operations of the tax authority, increasing enforcement costs, as well as discouraging investment.
Inconvenience — The administration of mobile money transaction taxes creates an inconvenience for MMPs who must calculate and collect the tax on the revenue authority’s behalf. There is an additional inconvenience for users of the service for whom remote digital transactions become more expensive or out of reach if they revert back to cash.
Inefficiency — Badly designed mobile money taxes have been shown to have a distortionary impact on demand for mobile money services. This in turn has had negative impacts on overall tax takes, as well as impacting the attainment of national economic and development goals.
EFFECT OF MOBILE BANKING — CASE STUDIES
The decision to impose taxes on mobile bank transactions will trigger so many problems.
Ghana — According to The Fourth Estate Ghana; Although the government projects a 24% decline in transactions when the levy is finally implemented, preliminary findings published by the bank of Ghana indicate the value of mobile money transactions had dropped by 3.2 billion in December 2021, less than 2 months after the proposal to introduce E-levy.
Uganda — An e-levy of 1% introduced in 2018 has led to an overall drop in the person-to-person transaction by more than 50%, and a 24% drop in industry transactions within the same year the tax was introduced according to a report by Global system for mobile communication (GSMA).
Congo — An e-levy of 1% was introduced in 2019. The government had to reverse the tax on cash outs only due to negative results of the levy on Mobile money users such as a decline in mobile money agents (unemployment) and high-value withdrawals by people.
Other countries include Benin (5%) and Cameroun (0.2%). In all these countries, the e-levy has imposed a negative effect on the economy and people. If we want to ensure the financial inclusion of people in rural areas, we need to ensure that we encourage mobile banking by withdrawing the e-levy tax.
Reference:
https://thefourthestategh.com/2022/03/16/e-levy-this-is-what-happened-when-other-african-countries-passed-it/
Purohit, S., & Arora, R. (2021). The benefits and challenges of mobile banking at the Bottom of the pyramid. Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government Vol, 27(1).
Charles G. Kpan, Jr. is an Information Technologist with over 5 years of experience in the provision of Information Technology Services and an emphasis on Web Development and Visual Branding. He’s the managing Director of CYGEC IT SOLUTIONS INC. and holds a bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology from Blue Crest University, Liberia.