Comments for TeachAde

Comment on The Price is Right by mpearce@ teachade.com

mpearce@ teachade.com — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:24:18 +0000

Along the lines of saving, I just ran across a iPhone App called key ring rewards card. For starters, I am simply not good at having the reward cards when needed. But, I almost always have my iPhone. This free iPhone App has been great and is already helping me save money! So, if you blew all the money you saved using coupons on your iPhone and your AT&T bill, you might find this free App helpful.

Comment on Your Credit Score - What Is It? What Affects It and What It Affects. by NEAMB Elizabeth

NEAMB Elizabeth — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:19:00 +0000

Great comments this week!

Mike, the only free credit report authorized by the FTC is the one Donmack already mentioned, http://www.AnnualCreditReport.com.

Don, thanks for the tip on getting your credit report from your local bank. As I state in the blog, always read the fine print. In researching this post, I found many of the so called free offers were part of some other unwanted credit product purchase. Also, I will forward your product recommendation on to our Financial Services group.

Take care, Elizabeth

Comment on Your Credit Score - What Is It? What Affects It and What It Affects. by donmack

donmack — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:46:53 +0000

Will NEA Member Benefits be working on a plan to offer really free credit scores (no long term obligation with monthly charges) to NEA members in the future? It appears as though this will address some of the concerns raised here.

Don

Comment on Your Credit Score - What Is It? What Affects It and What It Affects. by mpearce@ teachade.com

mpearce@ teachade.com — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:23:21 +0000

PS: I love your blogs each Wed!

Mike

Comment on Your Credit Score - What Is It? What Affects It and What It Affects. by mpearce@ teachade.com

mpearce@ teachade.com — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:19:48 +0000

I would agree with donmack’s comments related to the free credit reports. They never work out to be so free. Have you found a truly free and easy way to get your free credit report?? The free ones I have tried in the past make you jump though many hoops. I would love to find a easy and free way to get this done each year.

Comment on Your Credit Score - What Is It? What Affects It and What It Affects. by donmack

donmack — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:50:39 +0000

Elizabeth,

I found your blog about credit scores to be on the money, so to speak. I’ve dealt with the credit bureaus and agencies more than I would have liked because of a case of identity theft that trickled into my records with the credit reporting agencies. It took years to resolve the issue but I’m OK now.

annualcreditreport.com is a great way to stay on top of one’s financial status although I’ve been frustrated by the process of getting information from the credit entities on more than one occasion.

I found a great way to get a credit report without having to pay for it or get involved in a long-term commitment and expense. I live in a small town and know my banker well. About once a year or so, I fill out a loan application for him with the sole purpose of having the bank get my credit scores. It doesn’t take long to fill out the application and the bank considers me a good enough customer to get a report as a courtesy to me. I think that asking one’s own bank to get credit scores periodically makes good financial sense and doesn’t cost me anything.

I found it very interesting that the ad at the bottom of this blog page is from FreeScore.com, an entity which, I’m guessing, will get one a credit score and sign the person up for a long term commitment with a substantial monthly fee. I don’t know what your feelings are about these folks (”free” credit report sites) but I think they’re a rip off.

Comment on Brown Bagging It by NEAMB Elizabeth

NEAMB Elizabeth — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:37:06 +0000

Cut and paste the link(s) below into your browser for some super brown bag recipes:
http://www.neamb.com/home/1214_2880.htm, or
http://www.neamb.com/assets/content/documents/NEA_The_Dish_0809.pdf

Comment on Breaking Down Your Debt (Part 2) by NEAMB Elizabeth

NEAMB Elizabeth — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:59:57 +0000

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) is an non-profit credit counseling service. You can find information for the NEA and NFCC partnership on our web site at http://www.neamb.com/home/1199_880.htm and http://www.debtadvice.org/nea/. In addition, the NEA Member Benefits Affiliate Relations and Communications groups have been working to inform NEA leaders and members through presentations and exhibiting at conferences and meetings throughout the country. We have also used other channels such as the first Breaking Down Debt blog post and the NEA Member Assistance brochure and web page to help share this information.

Please help us spread the word and tell your family and colleagues about the service or have them go to neamb.com and find the NFCC agency in their area.

Comment on Protecting Your Identity and Your Peace of Mind by NEAMB Elizabeth

NEAMB Elizabeth — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:04:54 +0000

Donmack, thanks for the great tip!

Elizabeth

Comment on Protecting Your Identity and Your Peace of Mind by donmack

donmack — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:37:53 +0000

I had my identity stolen or at least borrowed a few years ago. I never would have known that this happened if a collection agency hadn’t sent me a threatening letter. Fortunately, I was able to convince them that, although there were similarities in names, I was not the person they were looking for.

Since then, I’ve gone to annualcreditreport.com to review my credit every year. Dealing with the three credit bureaus was not easy when I found mistakes but I was able to get them cleared up. I’d strongly advise everyone access annualcreditreport.com to check their credit history. Don’t be confused, however, by the advertisements which will provide a credit score and credit monitoring for a steep monthly fee. Annualcreditreport.com is free when it is accessed once a year.