It is the time of economic slump and everyone is worrying about their finances. In such circumstances Bank of America is offering an opportunity which they call Clean Sweep.  It is Bank of America ‘Debt Consolidation Plan’.

It is good to know about this offer and educate yourself to get maximum benefits from it. Let’s take a look at their original offer according to their marketing plan and its difference.

If you go through the offer you will come to know that instead of getting great help to get out of debt, the offer in fact pursue you to use the line of credit to go even further into debt.

The Debt Consolidation Offer Envelope

When you got the envelope about that offer you will be surprised to see from the back of the envelope, the sender is from Bank of America but the face had some interesting statements:

• One Phone Call
• One Predictable Monthly Payment
• One Fast Way
• To help you get out of debt

From the marketing incentives made on the envelope it seems that only one of the four items is perhaps true, i.e. “One Phone Call”. The others may be much exaggerated statements or straight away trickery. Let’s see the other offers.

One Predictable Monthly Payment

When you see the details inside the envelope says you will come to know that the interest rate offered is variable and can be adjusted regularly and go way up. According to Bank of America they adjust your APR on a monthly basis due to changes to the prime rate. Also the estimates are used for repayment term and payment amount. These estimates can be changed because of the change in APR, late or partial payments by the customer, fees, by taking additional advances or your enrollment in credit protection.

Criticism

It is not possible to predict monthly payment if the interest rate is variable and also it is certain that the prime rate will almost certainly go up from the low today. The statement given by Bank of America, to support predictable monthly payment is the use of formula to calculate it, is ridiculous. The statement saying use of formula is apparently designed to make you believe that it will be a fixed monthly payment in the enclosed offer.

One Fast Way

It is difficult to believe that the statement “One Fast Way” is really true. We are not sure that this Bank of America statement is just to add few lines in their advertisement or this offer might get you approved fast. The only possible way that this loan will get you out of debt faster is when you are currently being charged much higher interest rates.

Criticism

Inside the envelope you can see that Bank of America is advertising an interest rate will be in the range of 8.99% to 21.99%. Now the person who has already poorer credit report or a lower credit score will be likely to be extended higher interest rate. So most probably he will get the initial interest rate up to 21.99% high. Thus this statement covers the entire Bank of America debt consolidation plan giving advantage to them. That entire means is only the one paying higher interest rate can get it faster. It is not mentioned anywhere that you would even get out of debt faster even with the initial minimum APR since the rate is variable rather than fixed.  Changes to the interest rate will also impossible to predict, during the period of repayment.

To Help You Get Out of Debt

It seems mare a wish “to help you get out of debt”. Actually this offer is like trading one debt for another. It is simply the use of credit from Bank of America to pay off other debts. Taking advantage of this offer mean rather than getting you out of debt, you are simply sinking into it.

It is for sure that Bank of America would argue that by taking advantage of this variable interest rate offer that is subject to penalty interest rates of 27.99% and other fees and charges, that it is possible for someone to get out of debt. Yes, but not until the entire loan is repaid, and at what total cost?

Front of the Debt Consolidation Offer

Let us see the front part of the Bank of America Clean Sweep Debt Consolidation offer. On this we can see a series of bullet points which are their key promotion statements.

A loan amount up to $50,000: Starting from the 1st one and given and the specific information statements related to it. The statement is “A loan amount up to $50,000” with this there is a mark which leads to the following explanation.

“Approved accounts will have a credit line between $500 and $50,000 based on creditworthiness”: Than with the statement “pay off high interest rate debt” there is a mark which leads you to this statement.

“We may prohibit use of this account to pay off or pay down any account issued by FIA Card Services, N.A”: Now FIA Card Services is actually the subsidiary of Bank of America. Therefore this means that your previous debt with MBNA is now debt owned by Bank of America. And by this statement BOA is preventing you from paying a debt off owned by Bank of America. Read the full story

Money is the blood for fulfilling our living needs and even is required to arrange the coffin. Everybody runs after money. Some earn it the right way others make it through unfair means. Whatever the source may be, money is always a requirement. It is always an amusing amazement to find some money out of the blue. In the lines to come, we have gathered a few ways through which you can get free money.

1- Company match

Even in this era of recession there are a lot of companies that offer matching. This means that a fixed percentage of whatever your output is included in your pay. So if you are generating less output; it is your fault. Do have a look at your company’s plans to find out if there are still some matching opportunities available.

2- Rebates not availed

There are a lot of products which you buy and they are offering rebates along with it. It is very rare that all the consumers avail that offer of rebate. Remember to preserve the payment proofs and receipts, so that you can send them along with the request forms for issuance of rebates.

3- Your Own missing money

Here you don’t find any money; in fact you can search for any unclaimed property that the law is turning over to the states. Read the full story

Credit cards are among the most useful financial instruments available to almost everyone. In the last few years, it has taken the shape of need rather than a want or desire. Most of us are having more than one credit card since people find it more handy to keep these credit cards instead of cash.

No doubt, credit cards are more convenient in use while making your daily transactions and shopping, but at the same time you have to be more alert and carful while spending, since a person usually keeps on buying from his credit card without keeping an eye on budget, this can even put you in trouble.

Credit cards come in various types and with different terms. every bank or credit card company has something to offer with their credit cards as a tactic to attract new customers, while retaining the existing ones along with motivating them for paying their balances on time.  Some of these credit cards come up with different reward programs along with other features. Some of them give you free membership to golf clubs or other renowned  clubs. Some platinum cards even offer free or discounted stay to different lounges at Air Port. Some of them come up with discounted coupons for shopping at famous outlets.

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Student loans made paying for college easy and are the one of the best ways to handle the college expenses. While loans are meant to be repaid unlike grants, scholarships and personal savings but generally that doesn’t cover all the necessary college costs.

Student loans are needed in such situations when your other sources of financial aid cant fill up your college costs. That’s why student loans are fantastic that they give you financial aid when it’s needed.

College Loan Plain Good Deals

Majority of people hate to borrow money and as a matter of fact that’s right also because when you are taking loan, you takes a serious risk and you have to be bound with that then for years.

But that all happens in the regular loans, while student loans have special terms, which make them a lot easier and affordable for college students.

Numerous college students are not the ideal borrowers because most of time they are not having good credit.

For such students Federal Loans are the best alternatives. They offer low interest rates and 6 months grace period before repayment begins. Easy repayment plans, which makes them more lenient than other loan programs.

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