US Finance World

A new survey says that nearly half of women admit to spending more than they planned to on Christmas presents.

A new survey claims nearly half of women blow their Christmas shopping budget. National Savings & Investments found that a third of women splash out on last minute ‘top-up’ gifts, in addition to presents they’d already planned to purchase.

Only two-fifths of men surveyed admitted overspending and most said they finish their shopping well before Christmas. A fifth of the men surveyed said they had bought their presents months in advance and within budget. And only a quarter of men said they bought top-up presents.

Despite the current squeeze on our pockets, two-fifths of the women surveyed said that price wasn’t an issue when it comes to Christmas presents. Women s

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Whats my credit score and this is a unique question, however, prior to answering this question, one need to appreciate really what one’s credit score is and what for it is utilized. However, prior to explaining one where one can obtain one’s credit score number, one should first know actually about what the credit report score is and who provides it. One’s credit score is just a number awarded to everyone by the top three credit reporting agencies and they are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Whats my credit score and to know about one’s main utilization of credit score is obviously to offer the institutions a way to determine one’s credit worthiness and provide the rates they find one is eligible for.

One’s credit score is primarily utilized to identify the chances of not paying one’s bills. If one asks w Read more…

Here’s a brain-teaser for you.

Which corporate honcho bragged recently about his company’s strong resources, positive outlook and outstanding “execution” skills? Who said he was “particularly pleased” at recent developments, and predicted “competitive returns to shareholders in the quarters ahead”?

Tim Cook at Apple? Alan Mulally at Ford? Mike Duke at Wal-Mart?

None of the above. The answer is Jon Corzine, who runs MF Global Holdings Ltd. He made those remarks a week ago. Yesterday the company filed for bankruptcy.

One week. No kidding.

You may be watching the news about MF Global and shrugging. You may think, “minor blowup on Wall Street, few injured.”

But you’d be wrong. What just happened at MF Global illustrates everything wrong with the U.S. economy. That’s right: It’s all here!

1. Spin, spin, spin

On Oct. 25, just days before the company collapsed, Corzine told investors that MF Global’s exposure to European government bonds was fine.

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Financial products such as interest free credit cards are useful when you use them on a regular basis, but what about if you have an emergency? Many people make use of their credit card for things such as this, like if they have an unexpected payment they need to make at short notice. As long as you stay within your credit limit, this is absolutely fine, but what about once you have taken care of the emergency?

Managing your credit card payments is always important as you have certain obligations to meet as a card holder. This means you need to make at least your minimum payment every month in order to keep up with your commitments. This is arguably even more important if you have used your credit card in an emergency situation, such as to take care of repair bills or to pay for a hotel if your car breaks down.

This is because the expenditure will be out of the norm for you, and so it is important to budget it for it so you can pay it off as quickly and easily as possible. Read more…

As a major car dealer falls foul of the Office of Fair Trading, we expose the tricks of the trade.

Last week used-car seller Carcraft was humbled by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The consumer watchdog criticised Carcraft, which owns 11 car supermarkets in England and Wales, for poor business practices in its before- and after-sales service.

The regulator launched an investigation after some Carcraft customers complained that their cars developed serious faults shortly after purchase. The OFT found that Carcraft’s 120-point pre-sale vehicle inspections were not always carried out properly.

As a result of unsatisfactory cars not being repaired or replaced, the OFT criticised Carcraft’s after-sales guarantee.

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