Personal Finance Links - Aug 30

Nickel talks about Five Ways to Get Your Free Credit Report for Free. It is important to keep track of your credit score. With identity theft on the rise, your credit score is always in danger. A damaged credit score can prevent you from purchasing a home or car. Here’s some of the ways nickel explains to get Free Credit Reports.

1. Get it free, the old-fashioned way. … you can go to annualcreditreport.com
   and get one free credit report from each of the three major bureaus.
2. Place a fraud alert on your credit report. Whenever you file a fraud alert, all three credit bureaus will automatically send you a free hardcopy of your credit report.
3. Get it from TrueCredit. A 30 day free trial of TrueCredit provides you with access to reports from all three credit bureaus plus your credit score. Just don’t forget to cancel - here’s how.
4. Get it from MyFICO. You can sign up for a free 30 day trial of ScoreWatch from MyFICO.com, which comes with access to your Equifax credit report and FICO credit score. Here again, don’t forget to cancel.
5. Get it from FreeCreditReport.com, bay-bee! Last but not least, you can sign up for a free trial of TripleAdvantage, which access to your Experian credit report. FreeCreditReport.com has gotten a bad rap in the past, so just know this… You’re signing up for a seven day free trial. If you want a truly free credit report, be sure to cancel before it ends.

Don’t leave your Credit Score unmonitored.

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Mary Webber talks about Real Estate Appraisals - Ten Things People Just Don’t Understand About Them. This is a comprehensive post from a Real Estate Appraiser. Here’s a list of the topics she covers.

• What is an appraisal?
• Are there different kinds of appraisers?
• Why get an appraisal?
• The different types of home appraisals.
• Who owns an appraisal?
• What’s the difference between an appraisal and an assessment?
• How long is an appraisal good for?
• Appraisal? Home inspection? And the difference is?
• The final estimate of value
• Don’t like appraisals? Not fair, not accurate? What you can do.

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Flexo tells us how Sleep Makes You Healthier and Smarter. I’m a huge proponent of being healthier. I believe that health and finances go hand in hand.

Here’s a quote from a study done by the World Health Organization.

One experiment at U. Penn’s medical school kept subjects up until 4 A.M., woke them at 8 A.M., and then gave them a series of tests designed to measure memory, alertness, and the ability to react quickly to new information. The researchers were startled to find that subjects’ mental acuity declined markedly after just one night and kept dropping with each successive night of four hours’ sleep. Even more worrying: The study’s volunteers were unaware of their impairment. One woman, so fatigued that she could barely say her name, was nonetheless certain she was able to drive home.

That’s scary. Now think about trying to make financial decisions or run a business off of no sleep.

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J.D. talks about A Few Ways to Raise Cash Quickly. If you’ve ever been in an extreme financial bind, you know what it’s like to need money and need it quickly. Here’s several ways to get that cash.

1. Tap your emergency fund — that’s what it’s for!
2. Sell some investments.
3. Ask your parents for a gift.
4. Cash in a certificate of deposit.
5. Cash in your whole life insurance policy.
6. Borrow from family or friends. Be very clear on the terms of the loan, and fulfill your part of the agreement.
7. Take out a home-equity line of credit. I used a home equity loan to pay off my credit cards ten years ago. This can be an okay move, but be careful about using your home as a source of emergency cash.
8. Refinance your mortgage to get cash out.
9. Borrow from your 401(k) or 403(b). Some plans allow you to borrow money for the short-term. Beware, however, that there are a variety of conditions.
10. Borrow from other investment accounts.
11. Borrow from strangers on sites like Prosper or Lending Club.
12. Tap into your IRA.
13. Do a reverse mortgage.
14. Sell some assets. Not just stuff you have lying around, but big things like cars or antiques.
15. Take a cash advance on your credit card.
16. Liquidate your 401(k) or 403(b). Raiding your retirement account is rarely a good idea.
17. Go to a payday lender. If you choose to do this, please beware dangers of the payday loan trap.

Now remember that some of these ideas towards the bottom of the list are very dangerous ideas to play with. Only use them in the most extreme circumstances.