When my son got into a car accident and fell into a coma, it was one of the worst moments of my life.  Not only was our only son’s future uncertain but so was our financial future.

You see, he didn’t have any medical coverage so we were forced to pay for his medical bills with our savings.  If you’ve ever been this kind of situation, you know how quickly your savings disappear when paying medical expenses.

Thankfully, he did come out of his coma and had a remarkable recovery, but it left us in financial ruin.  With our minimum payments for our credit cards getting to the point where they were more than our income, we didn’t know how to reduce credit card debt that was so far out of hand.

We went to talk to a financial advisor about our situation and they suggested that we put ourselves on one of those debt diet plans that you might have seen on TV.  After talking to the advisor for a little bit, he realized that that wasn’t going to work for us as we were past the point that we could handle our expenses.

So, we applied for a poor credit debt consolidation loan which reduced our payments to a level that we can afford.  Even though we a long road before we are caught up, but at least our ship isn’t sinking anymore.

If you are in business online, you better be taking credit cards. The details don’t lie and prove that any store taking credit cards can increase their sales by as much as fifty percent!

There is also significant proof that those who use a credit card will spend more per transaction - as much as twenty percent more.

If you have an offshore merchant account, you can find some great rates for processing credit cards as well as finding ways to accept that type of payment while in  a high risk business type.

However, off shore merchant accounts tend to take a little longer to get approved - up to four weeks in some cases. The protection that they offer though is well worth the wait if you are in a highly targeted risk business.

Some people do commit credit card fraud and there are some lines of business that are targeted as being easy hits for this crime.

Getting the right merchant account can help protect you as the business owner.

When I was younger, I didn’t make a lot of smart choices when it came to money.  Sadly, I spent pretty much every dime that came in on something and had little regard for savings.  It was these habits that would get me in trouble later in life.

I moved out of my parents house at 20 into my own apartment.  I was going to make enough to have about five hundred dollars left over each month after paying bills and buying groceries.  At this point though, I made the mistake of getting a couple of credit cards and a line of credit.

I went hog wild with my spending and before I knew it, I was in a position where I couldn’t keep up with my payments.  In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for a collection agency to call each day - I needed help.

I enrolled in a bill consolidation program, and reduced my payments to a more manageable level.  Though I am still making payments to this day, at least I am on the road to getting caught up.  I have definitely learned my lesson.

I had never in my life known what financial security was. I grew up in a poor family where we were not taught the value of saving or investing money. In fact, it was quite the opposite. We were basically taught to spend it the minute you got it. I never had nice things because I could not save money long enough to get them.

When I finished high school and moved to the city I lived from paycheck to paycheck, always spending my money as soon as I got it. Then I got into a little bit of trouble with credit cards and knew that I needed to get some help if I did not want to live this way for the rest of my life.

I paid off my credit cards and then I bought a duplex. I rented out one side of it and when I had that paid off, I bought another duplex. I finally learned what it meant to be financially secure and I finally learned not to spend it just because I had it. It was a valuable lesson, but it will make my life great.

It is nice to see that we are finally making some progress on renovating our home.  It hasn’t been in dire need of some renovations for a number of years now and we were just recently able to find funds to finance our renovations.

The source of the money that we are using to renovate our home is coming from a source that most people have not considered.  The idea came to us while we were looking at a credit card ratings website for a new credit card to add to my wallet.  Specifically, we’re looking for some kind of reward type card that would reward us for spending that we do in terms of points, travel, or cash back.

As it turns out, we ended up finding some home rewards credit cards that reward the purchaser with money to be used towards purchasing home products.  These products included many of the materials and items that we would need to proceed with the renovations on our home.

Though it will take some time to pay for all of the renovations this way, it does not put our financial situation under any kind of duress typically experienced by those who get a loan to pay for the renovations.  I look at it this way: every time I go out spend money I am making a contribution to the home renovations.

I am a college student majoring in ecology. My goal is to do my part to help promote a healthy earth and I am a firm believer that every little bit helps. While doing some research online lately, I came across the name, Michael Dinich, and decided to read a little bit more about what this financial advisor had to do with the environment.

I decided to look more into his Your Money Matters company and find out. I learned that on top of helping retirees make sense of their finances, that the company offsets its carbon emissions through carbonfund.org. I decided immediately that I liked this money man.

I used him in an example that I posted through my daily article in our ecology newsletter. It is people like him who make saving the earth possible and if I ever have the chance to meet him, I would give him a big thank you for being a leader in showing people that we can all make a difference.

When I first went to college, I was exhausted over the amount of student credit card applications that were given to me. It seemed like anywhere that I went on campus, someone was trying to sign me up for one card or another. It was literally exhausting trying to avoid these people after the first couple of days of school.

I had been informed during orientation about the vast number of college student credit cards that would be offered to us, but I really had no idea. It was like I was famous and was running away from the paparazzi or something like that. It got to the point where me and a couple of the other freshmen that had befriended me did not want to leave our dorms.

I was sick of hearing about the great credit cards for students and I was sick of telling them that I didn’t need any of them because my dad was taking care of everything while I was in school. They then tried to get me to sign up so I would have money for having fun with. I did not agree with this tactic, as I knew there were a lot of students that would get into trouble with this, but in the end they finally left and I had some peace at last.

With the increases in gasoline prices in the world lately, most people are feeling the crunch on their bank account.  To maintain their current lifestyle, people either have to make more money, or find a way to get a better price on gasoline.

What if I told you that cheaper gas can fit in the palm of your hand?

Well, it may be a bit cryptic, but it is true.  You see, you can get a gas credit card and save each time you fill up at the pump.   The way you can save with a gas credit card is that they give you cash back (typically between 1% and 5%) of your gas purchases.

It may not seem like much, but you can quickly get free tanks of gas by using gas cards each time you fill up.  I know for myself,  I have had the equivalent of two free tanks and I have only had my card for six months.  If you ask me, every bit helps.

In my line of work, I deal with a lot of FHA loans. I deal with a lot of first time buyers and this type of loan comes up often. I have learned so much about them and I wish that they taught more about them when I was taking classes.

Approving mortgage loans was not always what I had planned to do, but the job kind of fell into my lap, when I was still attending school. I do find it a bit boring, but the pay and the benefits are better than I could get anywhere else.

My friend, Chris, took the same classes with me and he finds mortgage leads, rather than approving loans. His job is a lot more hands on and a lot less sitting in an office chair. He does seem to have more fun than me, but I make more than him.

We both took our schooling from the same real estate place and they taught us well. I do not mean to complain and really, the only thing I would change is to have more information about FHA loans. But, if I had learned everything I needed in school, there would be no challenge at work, right?

I have been known from time to time to help people out when they are need.  I do this for a price, my advice is good, but it is not free.  I tend to help out with financial problems and I am quite good at giving out solutions.

Just this past week, I had three people come and talk to me in various stages of financial need.  For example, I had a woman come talk about how she was going to pay for renovation to her home.  I suggested that she could take advantage of the many home improvement loans out on the market to find the capital to do the renovations. 

I had another gentleman that came to talk about his increasing inability to keep up with his loan payments and mortgage.  He was deathly afraid that he would lose everything and needed help.  I showed him the solution to his problem: debt consolidation.  I sent him to a company that I deal with that would help reduce his debt load and monthly payments, with the goal of getting him out of debt quickly.

Lastly, I had a woman in her early twenties ask me where she could get a down payment for a home she had put a bid on.  It was a renal property that looked very promising, and she only needed $5000 for a down payment.  I suggested that she could use a cash advance from a hard money lender to get her the money she needed in a short period of time.  I think she will be using my advice for the deal.

So, there are many faces, and many needs when it comes to financial solutions.  If you don’t have someone to ask for advice, take your search online - you may find the answers you need.