BEDEBTSAVVY

Rule 1: Maintain a good credit rating

Your credit score can affect many aspects of your life. Whether you need a loan to buy a home or if you apply for a credit card, your score is used to judge your reliability and risk. Your credit score helps determine the terms of your loans and if you'll even be approved.

The pros to having a good credit score
A good credit score means lower interest rates. It shows you have a responsible credit history and that you are a low-risk borrower who is less likely to default on your loans. So when you apply for a mortgage or auto loan, a lower interest rate could save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in interest costs.

A good credit score also allows you to be more selective when choosing your lender. The better your score, the more leverage you may have in getting good terms on your loans. Shop around: Having lenders compete against each other can mean you get a more competitive interest rate and ensures that you know that you explored a wide range of lenders before you committed to one.

The cons to having a poor credit score
Lenders use your credit score to judge how likely you are to repay a loan. A poor credit score may mean your loan application is rejected. But that's just the start.

Your credit score is not only checked by lenders — it can be used when you make other financial arrangements, such as renting an apartment or signing up for utilities. In cities where rental companies can be selective about tenants, a bad credit history can make you an unappealing candidate. Bad credit can get you denied for basic services, such as electricity or a cell phone, if your credit report shows that you tend to pay late.

A poor credit score can even cost you a job! Prospective employers may check your credit rating to judge your degree of responsibility.

Many lenders charge different interest rates, depending on the applicant's credit score, so even though you might get approved with a so-so credit score, you may pay a higher interest rate than someone with a better credit score.

Get more valuable information on ways to maintain your credit score

Rule 2: Borrow only what you can afford

The concept is simple. Don't borrow more than you need. But how can you know how much is "too much"? Your debt-to-income ratio is the comparison between what you owe and what you earn (every month), and it's a key number lenders use to determine your capacity to borrow additional funds. It's usually a principal component in determining whether a loan application is approved.

Learn more about debt-to-income ratio

Being responsible with your credit and your finances -- saves money. Stay tuned for more credit management rules in our next newsletter. NOT!!

Materiel Gurlz

Few People ever actually Relax through some sort of Meditation
by Pat Darnell

Consider with me a moment, please, our universe. Then as you slowly sink into your mind thinking of our infinite universe, maybe you could consider also co-existing universes… never ending, full of worlds, without ends.

As you become more comfortable, and rested in the thoughts of places waiting for you to explore throughout infinity, could you then begin a journey through space in an enjoyable armchair, satisfactorily at ease, experiencing new things and materials far out of bounds to our usual comfortable hobbit holes?

We travel, we see that amounts of materials in the universe is so large, we are astonished that we ever troubled over our “needs for more and more” back on earth — living superficially on only the crust of earth.

Traveling like this immediately expands our once limited minds, and unused regions of our brains are stimulated and aid in our awe and understanding of the structure and nature of infinite universe. We become tame and relaxed in the journey, as we pass from and to another and another beautiful region of our universe.

In a steady unhurried motion, like we have known in our dreams, we move ever so smoothly through many, many far flung spaces where our surroundings is like cream poured into hot tea. There are swirls of convection as we travel through cold areas into warmer and then burning furnaces of creation, escaping back to cooler space.

We move through the material universe of creation like whales easily swaying in the sea, and we feel this is an ancient migration, our natural response to instincts, to a place of our further destinies in faith, hope and charity, as whales do migrations from pole to pole on earth.

We go extreme distances each time we blink, far enough away that we reminisce about our first home, earth, and remember how small we were there. We find mother earth is our index, or homing point as we navigate the expanse. We have discovered that infinity is continuous discovery.

From the tiniest green lizard that was first on the scene this day of spring on earth, climbing out from the whey of winter to the holly bush that is humming with hundreds of returned honey bees, we too learn to branch out and explore new dimensions.

Thanks for joining me tonight in a moment of eternal braid of life. Now when I snap my fingers, someone please call me and wake me up… 1, 2, 3…
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