5 Moves That Affect Your Credit Score

What Lowers Your Credit Score?

First Published Date: October 27, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Credit scores are very important if you are applying for a mortgage, a loan, credit card, and so on. A lower credit score will make your interest and payments higher, thus costing you more money. There are certain things you can do to avoid factors that lower your credit score. Let’s discuss them.

Making Late Payments or Missing Payments – This factor affects your credit score the most because 35 percent of your score is based on payment history. Paying on time can make the difference between an average and an excellent credit score.

Borrowing Too Much – This is the second biggest factor that lowers your credit score. Your outstanding debt counts for 30 percent of your credit score. If you have a high ratio of credit used in relation to your available limits (credit utilization ratio), it will lower your credit score. Don’t borrow up to your limits. Keep it 25 percent or less of your available limits.

Closing Too Old Credit Card Accounts – The length of your credit history counts for 15 percent of your credit score. To keep your credit score higher, do not close accounts that are too old. It is a good idea to keep a variety of credit card accounts active, especially those which are old.

Applying Frequently – If you apply too often for credit cards or other loan accounts, it will lower your credit score. Applying too many times for credit implies that you are desperate for credit and it affects your credit score. This accounts for 10 percent of your credit score.

Not Keeping A Variety of Credit Accounts – Your credit score will be higher if you have a variety of credit accounts. Having only one type of credit account will lower your score, as keeping a variety of credit accounts for 10 percent of your credit score. Keep multiple types of credit accounts active, even if you don’t use them. For example, an investment loan account, mortgage, store credit card account, regular credit card account, and so on. Sometimes a credit issuer will close your accounts if you don’t use it for a while. To keep them active, keep a very small balance and pay the minimum every month. Or, you can charge a very small amount once in a while and pay off the balance

China’s Economy Heading for a Soft Landing

China’s Economy Will Slow Down

First Published Date : November 3, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

China’s economy, the second largest economy in the world, will grow in the future, but possibly at a much slower pace. The latest data, at least some of them, point out the slower pace compared with the robust pace in the past decades. Chinese economic growth slowed to 9.1 percent in the 3rd quarter, while the previous quarter had 9.5 percent growth.

China’s GDP increased to 10.4 percent in 2010. However, 2011 GDP growth is expected to be 9.4 percent or even below 9 percent. The Chinese manufacturing index showed positive growth last month, but employment growth failed to show any significant improvement. To offset the slower economic growth and external demand for Chinese manufacturing products, the Chinese government is planning to boost support for employment growth in the local small business and service sectors.

There are concerns in the credit market as the Chinese government’s recent tighter liquidity control showed significant sharp drop in new lending, pushing the credit costs upward. This caused profit margins to slim for the Chinese firms. Trust loans and the margin deposit went down below regular level in the last quarter.

Based on various data and analysis, the economic outlook for China is mixed at this moment. On one side, we have GDP and export figures showing an imminent economic slowdown. On the other, we have gains in local consumption and fixed-asset investments caused by minimum wage increases and other factors.

The middle class population is estimated to be approximately 250 million in China. However, their consumption level is still low when compared to other nations. However, in recent years domestic consumption has been on the rise and the Chinese government is looking to use this consumption growth to build a sustainable economic growth for years to come.

Plaza Premium Lounge Review | YYZ Terminal 1 International

Plaza Premium Lounge | Toronto Pearson International Airport

My trip to Egypt was in economy class, so to use lounge access I utilized Priority Pass from my Canadian credit card.

Plaza Premium Lounge is located at Gate E77, Level 3, Terminal 1 Airside, International Departures. The Plaza Premium Lounge is accessible to International departure flights only.

This is my second time visiting this lounge and I found nothing noticeably changed from one year ago.

This is a not big, not small, kind of a medium-sized lounge. The inside is very bright due to glass walls, open ceiling, and frosted glass doors.

I found it not too crowded and lots of sofas in the seating area were empty. Travelers seemed to gather in the seating area in the dining section.

The food section was adequate, but nothing extraordinary. There were not too many items available. As a snack or just to have a little bite, it was OK. The drink section was OK, but again, not too many choices. There were alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. I had a little snack and coffee and didn’t find anything else to eat.

The washroom was good enough, but nothing fancy. There was a shower facility inside the washroom. It didn’t look like there was any sort of advance booking required for the shower.

Overall, I found the Plaza Premium Lounge was a lounge to visit and relax if you have free access and extra time to kill. But I wouldn’t regret not visiting if time didn’t permit me.

I was excited to try EgyptAir, although my flight was economy class. I will write about that in the next post.

Online Grocery Shopping During COVID-19 Coronavirus | Tips & Tricks

Longo's Grocery Gateway vs. Metro Online Compare | Which Online Grocery Is Better

When it comes to online grocery shopping, it works mainly two ways. You can grocery shop online directly from the grocery supermarket itself or you can go through a 3rd party provider who will let you pick items from multiple groceries and will deliver them to your doorstep for a fee.

These fees can be hefty depending on how many items you buy or how many different grocery stores or supermarkets you use to pick your items. Some of these providers are Cornershop, Easy Peasy Grocery Delivery, Inabuggy, Instacart, and many others.

I tried to buy from 2 grocery supermarkets, Longo’s and Metro, who provide online grocery services and deliver their own groceries through their own online stores Grocery Gateway and Metro Online.

Both of these online grocery stores have a $50 minimum purchase requirement and delivery fees are $10 (Grocery Gateway) and $12 (Metro).

I was able to pick my items, but there were no time slots available for delivery as far as their system allowed. Due to the COVID-19 situation, people bought and booked these slots some time ago.

Metro showed one time slot available, but when I tried to grab it, it seemed like their system was not functioning properly and I was unable to book it. You will see more in the video.

Metro’s cart didn’t show the total when I was purchasing items. It only showed the number of items instead. To see if I met the minimum, I had to click on the cart each time after adding an item, which didn’t make sense.

Grocery Gateway showed my total from any page, without clicking on the cart.

Overall, I found Longo’s Grocery gateway offered a better user-friendly layout and an overall pleasant online grocery shopping experience. Things were much more organized than Metro and everything was easier to find.

What Is a Debt Consolidation Loan and How Do You Use It

What Is Debt Consolidation?

First Published Date : November 10, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

A debt consolidation loan is a loan to consolidate all your debts into one single loan and one payment. For example, let’s say you have four credit card balances, two retail store credit card balances, and other consumer loans for which you pay several monthly payments to each of these loan providers. A debt consolidation loan would pay all these loans and you are left with one single payment – which would be a lot less headache and a better money management option to handle your daily finances.

Advantages of a Debt Consolidation Loan

Lower Monthly Payments – If you were previously making 10 payments , making one payment will likely lower your monthly payments.

One Single Monthly Payment – You will be saving time and hassle by making one payment every month instead of many payments.

Save Money on Interest – Interest charged by your loan provider will be lower than those of your credit card or store card loans, thus saving you a lot of money on interest.

Disadvantages of a Debt Consolidation Loan

Further access to credit – A consolidation loan will free up your credit or store cards and you will have access to more credit than before. If you are not able to control yourself, you will likely end up sinking yourself more into debt.

Collateral – Your financial institution may ask you to provide some sort of collateral against your consolidation loan.

A longer term – Because you are dealing with one large payment, your payment term will be longer and it will take you more years to payoff your loan in the end.  

A Few Things to Remember

– Don’t forget that not all debts are eligible for a debt consolidation loan. An example would be your existing mortgage. Your financial institution where you are obtaining this loan from will be able to tell you what types of loans are eligible and what types of loans aren’t.

– Also, you may not be eligible to obtain a debt consolidation loan if your credit score and other circumstances do not meet the requirements of your financial institutions’ eligibility criteria.

– Don’t forget to make a list of your all outstanding loans and take this list with you when you visit your financial institution.

– Don’t take your consolidation loan before checking with a few financial institutions. If you shop a few of them, you are likely to find a better rate then just taking it from the first institution you walk into.

If you can discipline yourself to not wrap yourself up with more loans, a debt consolidation loan is worth considering and it is your first step to take control of your personal finances and walking out of debt.