Alabama is home to some of most prestigious educational institutes in the U.S. Whether you are a careerist or looking to enjoy a colorful college life, Alabama has a college for every type of student. One of the main attractions of the Alabaman state is the diversity of landscape. You can find a top notch college near the big cities, in the mountains or even close to the waterfronts.

1. Birmingham-Southern College

Birmingham-Southern College is  liberal arts institution. It was founded in 1856.  Affiliated with the United Methodist Church it’s campus is situated on 192 wooded acres. The College offers the different courses of Arts, Science,Fine Arts, political science, social sciences, business sciences,engineering, religion, maths and Music. The college also offers interdisciplinary majors, disciplinary minors and interdisciplinary minors.

2. Spring Hill College

Spring Hill is known as one of the top liberal-arts colleges. Spring Hill was founded in 1830. It is the 1st Catholic college in the Southeast. The campus spreads over 500 acres in total. Spring Hill College offers Bachelor degrees in the field of Arts and Science. Majors subjects are teacher education, sciences, humanities, inter-divisional studies,  Social Sciences, fine arts, business  management, engineering, law, medicine, nursing and many more.

3. Samford University

Samford University is located in Homewood, a community of Birmingham. It is a private university affiliated with Baptist Convention United States. It’s campus  is 180 acres large and has total 2,908 undergraduates enrolled. Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing and the Beeson Divinity School are it’s part. It also offers all the major fields of study.

4. Troy University

A normal school was founded in 1887 which was later turned into Troy University. It is a public university in the locality of Troy. Troy University’s offers a number of distinctive degrees at masters and bachelors level. Its campus also spreads in Atlanta and Georgia. Read the full story

Debtors in Georgia can now breath a sigh of relief with the debt consolidation services offered in their state.  The programs here help people to handle debt problems efficiently, without having to face bankruptcy or any other life devastating decisions.

Georgia debt consolidation programs

There are two kinds of debt consolidation services offered to the people of Georgia. A debt consolidation loan and a debt consolidation program. The difference between the two is simply that in a loan program, you are given one lump sum from the company to help pay off your debts to one single creditor. Later you would only have to repay the company on monthly basis.

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The creation of money is called most astounding sleight of hand ever invented. The creation of money is now privatized, as it is now being hold by a private banking cartel instead of congress. Most people think that government is the authority behind the issuance of money, but actually this is not the case. Except of the coins, the banks create all money, not the government. Federal Reserve Notes are issued by a private banking cooperation named the Federal Reserve, and lent to the government. Moreover Federal Reserve Notes and coins together compose less then 3% of the money supply. The other 97% is created by the commercial banks as loans.

This seems unbelievable that banks create money, they lend. Same was the feeling of jury in Landmark Minnesota case, until they heard the evidence. First national bank of Montgomery vs. Daly (1969) was a courtroom drama worthy of a movie script. Defendant Jerome Daly opposed the bank’s foreclosure on his $14,000 home mortgage loan on the ground that there was no consideration for the loan. Daly, an attorney representing himself, argued that the bank had put up no real money for his loan. Associate Justice Bill Drexler recorded the courtroom proceedings; he said his role was to keep order in the courtroom. Drexler had not given much mental acceptance for defense and watching this The Bank President Mr. Morgan took a stand and admitted that the banks routinely created money for loans and that this was standard banking practice. Presiding Justice Martin Mahoney and the jurors all agreed that it seems like a fraud.

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Federal regulators have seized the Omni National Bank of Atlanta. It has become the 21st bank in 2009 to fail. As the recession began, it has become the 46th bank in the list to fail. Six former branches of Omni National Bank will be operated by the Sun Trust Bank of Atlanta until April 27. This closure has caused the highest unemployment in a quarter century.

The status of the bank on March 09 was that it was containing $956 million in assets and in deposits $796.8 million. It was shut by the Office of Comptroller of Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). FDIC has further announced that Omni’s six branches will be controlled by SunTrust Banks Incorporation of Atlanta.

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If you want to improve your credit score, you need to go right to the source – your credit report.  Your credit report contains the information and data on which your credit score is based.  If you can alter or update the information in your credit report, your credit score will change to reflect the alterations.  For this reason, getting and checking you credit report is one of the first things you should do when you attempt to repair your credit score.  There are a few tips that can help you deal with your credit report so that you can give your credit score a boost:

Dispute errors on your credit report

Contact each of the three major credit bureaus -  TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian – and get copies of your credit reports and credit scores.  Carefully read over the reports and note any errors.  In writing, contact the credit bureaus and ask that mistakes be removed or investigated.

This is called a dispute letter and once it is received, credit bureaus have to investigate your dispute within thirty days of receiving your letter.  It is important to keep a copy of your letter and it is important to note the date the letter was sent.  You should not be accusatory or abusive in your letter – calmly and clearly state the problem and request an investigation.

Note that you are aware the agency is required to investigate the claim within thirty days and note that you will follow up.  Be sure that you do follow up with the issues you raised in your letter – just because the agency investigates does not always mean that your credit report will end up error-free.

Many credit bureaus now make it possible for you to correct errors on your credit report online – and many have information on their web sites that tells you exactly how disputes must be handled to be effectively removed.  It is important that you follow this information exactly so that the inaccuracies on your credit report are removed promptly and your credit score is updated as soon as possible.

Add a note to your credit report if there is a problem you can’t resolve

Sometimes, there are legitimate reasons why you didn’t pay a bill.  If a contractor refused to finish a job or did a poor job, then you may have refused payment, but the non-payment may still count against you on your credit report.  If there are any unusual circumstances surrounding your credit report that may affect your credit rating – such as a case of identity theft – you can ask that a note be attached to your credit report to explain the problem.

Some lenders will pay attention to this and some will not, but it is a better solution than nothing at all.  Such a note will not affect your credit score but will affect your credit report. More importantly, it leaves a paper trail of the problem that lenders can look at if they choose.

Make sure you know who is looking at your credit report and why

Many inquiries look bad on your credit report, but more than that you likely want to know who can see your personal financial information, now that you know that your personal information is stored in a credit report.  If you sign a document with a lender or apply for credit online, you can be sure that someone is looking at your credit report.

However, you may want to look over other documents in order to see who is taking a peek.  Insurance agents will often look at your credit report, for example.  Some landlords and potential employers will, too.  You need to be careful about online sources, too.  In general, when you provide someone with your social insurance number, you may be giving permission to look at your credit report.  You shouldn’t bar people from looking, but knowing who is looking is good financial practice.

Know the difference between soft and hard inquiries

When you pull your credit report to look at it, it is counted as a “soft inquiry.”  Only “hard inquiries” from lenders will affect your credit score dramatically.  Although checking your credit score too often is an expensive habit, you should not avoid checking your credit report because you fear it will make your credit rating worse.

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Before you start boosting your credit score, you need to know the basics. You need to know what a credit score is, how it is developed, and why it is important to you in your everyday life.

Lenders certainly know what sort of information they can get from a credit score, but knowing this information yourself can help you better see how your everyday financial decisions impact the financial picture lenders get of you through your credit score. A few simple tips are all you need to know to understand the basic principles:

Understand where credit scores come from.

If you are going to improve your credit score, then logic has it that you must understand what your credit score is and how it works. Without this information, you won’t be able to very effectively improve your score because you won’t understand how the things you do in daily life affect your score.

If you don’t understand how your credit score works, you will also be at the mercy of any company that tries to tell you how you can improve your score – on their terms and at their price.

In general, your credit score is a number that lets lenders know how much of a credit risk you are. The credit score is a number, usually between 300 and 850, that lets lenders know how well you are paying off your debts and how much of a credit risk you are.

In general, the higher your credit score, the better credit risk you make and the more likely you are to be given credit at great rates. Scores in the low 600s and below will often give you trouble in finding credit, while scores of 720 and above will generally give you the best interest rates out there. However, credit scores are a lot like GPAs or SAT scores from college days – while they give others a quick snapshot of how you are doing, they are interpreted by people in different ways. Some lenders put more emphasis on credit scores than others.

Some lenders will work with you if you have credit scores in the 600s, while others offer their best rates only to those creditors with very high scores indeed. Some lenders will look at your entire credit report while others will accept or reject your loan application based solely on your credit score.

The credit score is based on your credit report, which contains a history of your past debts and repayments. Credit bureaus use computers and mathematical calculations to arrive at a credit score from the information contained in your credit report.

Each credit bureau uses different methods to do this (which is why you will have different scores with different companies) but most credit bureaus use the FICO system. FICO is an acronym for the credit score calculating software offered by Fair Isaac Corporation company. This is by far the most used software since the Fair Isaac Corporation developed the credit score model used by many in the financial industry and is still considered one of the leaders in the field.

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A Free credit report like paid credit report contains information regarding your credit history. This data is collected by a credit reporting agency. These credit reporting agencies then sell this information to credit providers like banks and lending institutions and of course the credit card companies.

Your Credit report consists of following components. although  formatting is done by each credit reporting agency differently.

1. Your Present and Past Addresses
2. Total outstanding debts
3. Record of payments (e.g regular, late, missed, collection etc.)
4. Public record information like liens or court judgment and decrees against you
5. Your Employer;s name and address
6. General data like your social security number, marital status, age group etc..

It is a wise thing to keep track of your credit history. Checking your credit report every six months will keep you updated on your financial standing as well as It will give you a lender’s perspective of your credit worthiness. It is also a good way to stay informed on how your credit transactions have been recorded by credit report providing agencies. A typical credit report will also cover one of the following areas:

Credit Fraud: 

Credit Fraud happens all the time. Its when some one uses your credit card to go on a spending spree. US Laws protect from transactions made on a stolen card. You maximum liability on such transactions never exceed $50. These kind of unusual credit activities might red flag your credit report for some of the lenders.

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I have tried to include all credit cards issued in US. If you think if I have missed any, please leave a comment. More than 1200 cards have been included.

1. AAA Credit Card
2. AAA Rewards Visa Credit Card (Northern California, Nevada, Utah)
3. AAdvantage American Express from Citi
4. AAdvantage Bronze MasterCard from Citi
5. AAdvantage Bronze MasterCard from Citi for College Students
6. AAdvantage Gold World MasterCard from Citi
7. AAdvantage CitiBusiness Card
8. AARP Platinum Visa
9. AARP Rewards Platinum Visa Credit Card
10. AARP Travel Plus Visa Signature Card
11. Abercrombie & Fitch Credit Card
12. Academy of General Dentistry Platinum Visa Card
13. AccountNow Prepaid MasterCard
14. Adirondack Trust Company MasterCard or Visa
15. Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Rewards
16. Advanta Life-Of-Balance Platinum Card
17. Advanta Platinum BusinessCard
18. Aer Lingus Rewards MasterCard
19. Agriculture Federal Credit Union Visa
20. AICPA Platinum Visa Card
21. Air BP Visa
22. Air Canada MasterCard
23. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association MasterCard
24. Air Force Association Platinum MasterCard
25. Air Force Sergeants Association MasterCard
26. AirTran Airways A+ Business Card
27. AirTran Airways A+ Visa Signature Credit Card from Juniper Bank
28. Alabama Central Credit Union MasterCard or Visa
29. Alaska Airlines Visa
30. Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card
31. Albina Community Bank Loop Card
32. All-Access Visa Prepaid Card
33. Allow Card Prepaid MasterCard
34. Alternatives Federal Credit Union Visa
35. Amalgamated Bank MasterCard
36. Amalgamated Bank Union MasterCard
37. Amalgamated Bank Secured Gold MasterCard
38. Amazon.com Business Credit Card
39. Amazon.com Platinum Visa Credit Card
40. American Association of Neurological Surgeons Credit Card
41. American Bar Association Visa
42. American Boating Association Credit Card
43. American Canine Association Platinum MasterCard
44. American Chemical Society Credit Card
45. American DreamCard MasterCard
46. American Eagle Outfitters Credit Card
47. American Express Business ExtrAA Corporate Card
48. American Express Business Gold Rewards Card
49. American Express Business Green Rewards Card
50. American Express Business Membership Rewards Card
51. American Express Business Platinum Card
52. The American Express Card
53. American Express Card for Students
54. American Express Cash Rebate Card
55. American Express Corporate Card
56. American Express Executive Business Card
57. The American Express Gold Card
58. American Express Golf Card
59. American Express IN:CHICAGO Card
60. American Express IN:LA Card
61. American Express IN:NYC Card
62. American Express Optima Card
63. American Express Optima Platinum Card
64. American Express Platinum Business Credit Card
65. American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass Credit Card
66. American Express Platinum Card
67. American Express Platinum Cash Rebate Card
68. American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card
69. American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card
70. American Express Rewards Plus Gold Card
71. American Express SimplyCash Business Card
72. American Institute of Architects Credit Card
73. American Kennel Club Rewards Visa
74. American Legion Auxiliary Visa
75. American Legion Visa
76. American Medical Association Business Credit Card
77. American Medical Association Platinum Visa Credit Card
78. American Medical Student Association Credit Card
79. American Paint Horse Association Credit Card
80. American Photo Visa Card
81. American Quarter Horse Association Business Credit Card
82. American Quarter Horse Association Credit Card
83. American Savings Bank Secured Visa
84. American Savings Bank Student Secured Visa
85. American Savings Bank Visa
86. American Savings Bank Visa Gold
87. American Skiing Company Edge MasterCard
88. American Society of Civil Engineers Credit Card
89. American Society of Mechanical Engineers Credit Card
90. American State Bank Credit Card (Iowa)
91. American State Bank & Trust Visa (North Dakota)
92. American State Bank Visa (Texas)
93. American Taekwondo Association Credit Card
94. American University MasterCard
95. America’s Christian Credit Union Credit Cards
96. Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard
97. AmTrust Bank Rewards American Express Card
98. AmTrust Bank WorldPoints Credit Card
99. ANB Financial MasterCard or Visa
100. AnimalSafe MasterCard Read the full story