21
Jan 2013

How to Control Your Debt to Income Ratio – A Guide For Beginners

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While debt to income ratio might sound like a metric more suited to accountants and financial professionals, your personal debt to income ratio is something that you should know and track. For starters, financial institutions use debt to income ratio in determining whether to grant you credit, including loans for mortgages. Additionally, debt to income ratio is a strong indicator of your overall financial position.

If you’re wondering how to calculate debt to income ratio, it’s actually quite simple. Divide all of your recurring monthly debt by your gross monthly income. For example, if you have $1,000 in monthly debt across your credit cards, car payment, mortgage, and other types of debt, and $2,900 in gross monthly income before taxes, your formula would look like this: 1,000 / 2,900 = 34%.

What is a good debt to income ratio? For most purposes, a debt to income ratio should be no more than 36%. It is not uncommon for your debt to income ratio to change as you take on new debt and pay off old debt, but in general, an acceptable debt to income ratio would usually fall below 36%.

How to Lower Your Debt to Income Ratio

If you do the calculations and find that your debt to income ratio is above 36%, learning how to lower debt to income ratio should be a priority. A high debt to income ratio not only impacts creditworthiness, but can also lead to stress when you are in over your head with debt.

There are two ways to reduce your debt to income ratio: Either reduce your debt, or increase your income. Of the two, reducing your debt is usually the more realistic means to lower your debt to income ratio. Here are a few methods you can use to accomplish this while learning how to reduce debt to income ratio:

  • Avoid the temptation to accumulate more debt by removing yourself from the mailing lists that send you attractive credit offers. Learn how you can do this with Stumble Forward’s article on stopping junk mail once and for all.
  • Control your debt and make better use of your income by prioritizing repairs to your home, car, and other possessions. Repair bills tend to escalate as problems with these big-ticket items tend to spread. Learn how to prioritize by performing yearly home maintenance and minimize further debt accumulation.
  • Increase the monthly amount you are paying on your debts. As Bank of America points out, extra payments are applied to principle, which reduces your debt and prevents further interest accumulation more quickly.

Your Debt to Income Ratio and Mortgages

If you are preparing to apply for a mortgage, whether it’s a new primary mortgage or a second mortgage on your existing home, your debt to income ratio may be a critical factor in your loan’s approval. If you have a high debt to income ratio, you should start working on lowering it well before you anticipate applying for a mortgage.

But what is the debt to income ratio for mortgages? According to LendingTree, there are no hard and fast rules, but most lenders prefer to see a debt to income ratio below 36%. Additionally, your household expenses that are not debt – for example, utilities, groceries, and transportation costs – should not exceed 28% of your gross monthly income. Yet there are exceptions, notably with Federal Housing Authority and Veterans Administration backed mortgages, which may allow debt to income ratios of up to 41%.

Make it a New Year’s resolution to calculate your debt to income ratio by collecting your monthly debt costs and calculating your gross monthly income. If your debt to income ratio is close to or above 36%, it might be a good idea to focus on reducing it in the New Year. On the other hand, if your debt to income ratio is below 36%, you now have the motivation and knowledge you need to keep your debt to income ratio healthy.

Categories: Debt Managment, How To Guides Tags: , , , , , ,
02
Nov 2012

How to Stop Junk Mail Once and For All

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How to Stop Junk Mail Everyone loves to receive a letter or invitation via old fashioned mail, but thanks to email and cell phones these pleasures are few and far between for most of us.

Between the drop in popularity of mailed correspondence and the switch to electronic billing on financial accounts, most mail is now junk mail. However, eliminating junk mail is within reach – you just need to know how to stop junk mail using your rights under state and federal law.

There are several reasons why a person would want to stop getting junk mail. First, junk mail represents an enormous waste of environmental resources. According to the New York University School of Law, 44% of junk mail in the US is thrown away unopened, but only 22% of that total is recycled; all in all, 100 million trees a year are cut down to make pulp for junk mail every year.

Additionally, many consumers might not realize that junk mail can invite identity theft, especially junk mail offers containing personal information obtained by affiliates of finance companies with which consumers have business relationships.

Services to Help You Get Rid of Junk Mail

New regulations allow consumers to opt out of junk mail almost entirely. Although it may take an hour or two of your time to put your name on these junk mail removal lists, if you think about the hours you spend sorting through and ultimately destroying junk mail every year, committing the time to stop the waste starts to make sense. Unfortunately, there is no do not mail list similar to the national Do Not Call Registry, but you can cover your bases and sign up for no more junk mail using these services:

  • Opt out with DirectMail.com. As a marketer, DirectMail has relationships with most of the largest mailing list companies in the US, and will forward your preferences as a Do Not Mail consumer to these companies.
  • Contact the Direct Marketing Association. The Direct Marketing Association is a trade association which counts among its membership most of the direct marketers responsible for coupons, magazine offers, and even sweepstakes. Its Mail Preference Service allows you to get rid of junk mail by requesting to be removed from mailing lists.
  • Contact the biggest junk mail brokers. The four largest junk mail brokers will remove you from their lists on request. You can email Dun & Bradstreet at customerservice@dnb.com and InfoUSA at contentfeedback@InfoUSA.com to request removal from their mailing lists. Acxiom provides an online opt out form. R.L. Polk & Co. requires a snail mail request, which can be sent to:
    • R. L. Polk & Co./Name Deletion File
      List Compilation Development
      26955 Northwestern Highway
      Southfield, Michigan 48034-4716

Why It’s Important to Eliminate Junk Mail

Certain surveys have found that up to 88% of information obtained by identity thieves is collected by going through identity theft victims’ trash – including junk mail. Unsolicited offers allow identity thieves to set up accounts in their victims’ names and send the mail to a different address, leaving the victim unaware until a black mark shows up on their credit report. Therefore, if you get rid of junk mail, it’s important to shred it so that no personally identifying information can be pieced together.

Still, it’s better to eliminate junk mail than to deal with the shredding and waste of these unwanted offers. Remove junk mail from your mailbox by following these tricks on how to stop junk mail, and be sure to consider additional layers of protection like the LifeLock Ultimate service, which can alert you to potential issues before they become a problem.

Categories: How To Guides Tags: , , , , , , , ,
10
Oct 2012

How to Have an Eco-Friendly Home – Saving Money over the Long Run

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How to Have an Eco-Friendly HomeSummer is time when many families can enjoy a slightly slower pace and do things they can’t take advantage of during the normal school year, such as sleeping late and following a relaxed schedule that allows for lazy afternoons at the park or swimming pool. But saving energy is an area of life where families should never take a lazy approach.

The High Cost of Convenience

The handiness of summertime conveniences like running the air conditioner, using sprinklers, and spending long periods of time in front of a television, computer, or video gaming console come at a cost – and that cost is the energy it takes to support those tasks. There are small changes your family can make that will add up to huge savings.

Depending on the summer climate of where you live, even if you haven’t taken preventative measures and the heat has reached record highs on the thermostat it’s not too late to make a difference. Being energy conscious is something people need to do, not only to preserve the world as we know it, but also to teach future generations of humans better ways than how past ones chose to live.

Easy Tips for an Eco-Friendly Home For The Summer

Being eco-friendly will reduce your utility bills, improve your health, and could even help you lose weight. Here are some ways my family became more eco-friendly this summer. Perhaps some of them are habits you own family will want to adopt.

  • Maintain your air conditioner. – Keeping the filters inside your air conditioners clean is the number one way to keep it running at optimal performance. It also cuts down on allergens like dust and pet dander that float through your air. Maintaining the thermostat and keeping it set at a higher temperature takes less energy to run. The results will show up on your utility bills before you know it.
  • Drink plenty of water. But please, drink water that comes from the tap and stay away from the convenience of using individual bottles of water. The price of a refillable aluminum or hard-shell water bottle and refilling it saves a fortune compared to the price of continually buying case after case of individual servings. Staying hydrated also means using products like hypoallergenic hairspray that lacks ingredients known to dry out skin and hair.
  • Supervise your sprinklers. When letting your lawn drink plenty of water, limit sprinkler use to early mornings when the dew is still fresh and plants are better able to absorb moisture. Take advantage of water that doesn’t come out of the tap, like bath water, dishwater, and rain barrels for watering gardens and plants. Rain barrels are also a great resource for washing things like cars and pets.
  • Light up your home with CFL bulbs. These innovative bulbs not only last longer than your standard light bulb, but they also take less energy to use. Your insurance agent or electric company might even have a useful guide or information on their website that tells additional ways to save energy.
  • Get off the couch and off the computer. Families have plenty of opportunity to sit all through the school year, whether it’s in a classroom or office setting or spending hours indoors due to inclement winter weather. Summertime is the perfect time to take advantage of outdoor activities whether it’s walking the dog around the block, meeting up with friends for biking on wooded trails or a swim at the local pool, or even if it’s just grabbing a pizza and eating it in the park.

When outdoors, remember that things like hypoallergenic sunscreens with a high SPF can protect your skin from harmful UV rays. Even on cloudy days, you are at risk for developing light sunburn without any kind of protection.

Cooking with Less Energy

My family enjoys eating out during the summertime – but it rarely ever takes place in a restaurant. Cooking on the grill and using the microwave instead of the stove is another way we practice eco-friendliness. Using a hybrid grill and cooking with ingredients that come from local, organic sources only add to the energy savings. The next time you see a family member relaxing on the couch, invite them to head outside with you. You’ll be amazed at much more quickly you’ll save energy when you team up to tackle the issue with these tips. See you outside!

About the Author:

Freelance writer Rick Mercado often works out of his home office. His own energy saving methods, like replacing lights with CFL bulbs, using a safe skin care product over a chemical-based one, and turning off electronics when they’re not in use, begin there and carry throughout the rest of the home he shares with his wife in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When Rick isn’t working on a writing or online marketing project, he can usually be found exploring Canada’s rugged coastline with activities like hiking and kayaking.

Categories: Consumer Advice, How To Guides, Saving Money Tags: , ,
03
Sep 2012

What Is a Keylogger – And How to Do You Remove It?

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what is keyloggerWhat is a keylogger? More technically known as keystroke loggers, keyloggers are typically programs, though they can also be physical devices, designed to track every keystroke you make on your keyboard and send the information to hackers. These unique programs run in the background of your computer to keep their activities hidden, so you might not know if you have one.

Keylogger software is more common than keylogger hardware, since software is much easier to distribute and conceal. However, physical devices can also be attached to keyboards in order to track and send keystrokes to the person behind a keylogger infection. This is most common in internet cafes, where computer security is often poorly monitored and keylogging hackers have easy access to the device they installed.

Using either method, hackers can access your online user names, passwords, personal e-mails, internet searches, and anything else that you type while a keylogger is running. This compromises victims’ identities through granting access to online financial accounts. More recent keylogger programs can also take screenshots of victims’ online activities, which also subjects victims to the risk of blackmail. LifeLock estimated that 76% of confidential information threats reported in 2008 had keystroke logging involvement.

How to Detect a Keylogger

Keyloggers are difficult to detect because they run as a background process on your computer. If you’re wondering how to detect a keylogger, your best option is to use anti-malware, a specific type of software meant to combat against all computer attacks. Standard anti-virus software might not be enough protection when you’re learning how to check for keyloggers, because keyloggers are not standard viruses.

Keylogger programs may “piggyback” onto your computer with a virus, install themselves after you click on a malicious link, or even gain initial access to your hard drive by embedding themselves in a photo or video that an unknowing friend forwarded to you. Comprehensive protection is in order. Consider using any of the following programs to detect a keylogger:

  • SpyCop. A “Total Privacy Protection Suite,” SpyCop not only detects keystroke loggers but masks your keystrokes to begin with. It also can remove viruses, spyware, and botnet attacks from your machine.
  • True Sword. By Security Stronghold, True Sword proactively shields your computer from all types of internet based attacks, and can scan and remove previously embedded attacks from your hard drive.
  • Norton360. Love it or hate it, Norton360 is still one of the most comprehensive computer protection suites on the market. If you’re serious about protecting your identity online, Norton360 is has all the tools you need in one package.

You can take further steps to protect yourself by making sure that your operating system and programs are regularly updated. Requests to update your software, when proven to be from the software provider (such as Adobe or Microsoft) may sometimes seem like an annoyance, but these updates actually provide needed fixes to the vulnerabilities that allow keystroke loggers and other malicious software access to your computer.

How To Remove a Keylogger

By this point you’re probably wondering: “How do I remove a keylogger from my computer?” Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer. Most keystroke loggers have two components, a .dll file that allows the program to record your keystrokes and an .exe file that allows the program to run. These files could be on different areas of your hard disk, and probably will not have the same file name. When it comes down to how to get rid of a keylogger, using the same program to delete it that you used to locate it is wise.

You should know how to remove a keylogger, since according to Symantec Corp. hackers are frequently exploiting shortfalls in common programs like Microsoft Internet Explorer to gain access to a computer. Once access is gained, they use that computer to infect another target computer, which can eventually allow them to gain access to well protected computers owned by high profile individuals. Everyone in the chain, however, is compromised.

So what is a keylogger? A program you need to consistently check for and remove from your computer using anti-malware to protect yourself from identity theft. These small programs can cause a lot of damage to your identity and credit history, not to mention your personal well being. Use safe internet practices and be sure to regularly scan for and remove any type of dangerous software, including keyloggers, from your computer.

Categories: How To Guides Tags: , , , , , , ,
27
Aug 2012

How to Hide Your IP Address from Hackers

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How to Hide Your IP AddressThere are a number of ways hackers can access your computer, but using your computer’s IP address as a backdoor to access your files is one of the most insidious. IP addresses are required to access the internet, but because of the risk posed by hackers, it’s important to know what your IP address is and how to hide your IP address from others.

IP stands for Internet Protocol, and an IP address identifies your unique computer on the internet. Depending on how you access the internet, your computer is automatically assigned an IP address either by the internet router or internet service provider that you use. Contained in your IP address is information that identifies your computer, where it is in the world, and how to access it.

If you are assigned an IP address by an internet service provider, your IP address may change each time you log on, but if you never log off or are using a home network with an IP assigned by your router, your IP address may not change for long period of time. If a hacker determines your IP address, they can use it to access your computer until the address changes.

Why You Should Hide Your IP Address Online

Due to the number of ways that hackers can use your IP address, you should know how to hide your IP address online. Remaining logged on to the internet for long periods of time can make it easier for hackers to access and exploit your IP address. Just a few examples of how your IP address can be used against you:

  • The so-called “ping of death,” an attack on your computer that causes a system crash
  • Ping flooding, in which so many packets of information are sent to your computer that it cannot access the internet
  • IP spoofing, one of the most common attacks according to Symantec, in which hackers use your IP address to enslave your computer for denial of service attacks
  • IP tracking, in which your IP address is tracked from a website that uses geolocational tracking, like Mapquest, or by hacking into your internet service provider’s database to get your address (note that this requires dedication and a very high degree of technical know how, but it can still be done)

Now that you know the ways hackers can use this information against you, you can see why I hide my IP address.

Hiding Your IP Address for Free

In addition to the risks posed by hackers obtaining your IP address, websites track individual IP addresses so that they can determine their repeat traffic rates and the areas where most of their visitors live. This article by How to Geek explains how this information is combined to track you; after you read it, you will want to hide your IP address from other websites.

The following sites offer tools that you can use for hiding your IP address for free. However, you should never use a free proxy for logging in to any site, since you are routing any information you type through the proxy’s servers.

  • VectroProxy. VectroProxy allows you to visit specific web addresses with a masked IP address, so the website cannot see the IP address you are actually using.
  • Proxify. Proxify allows you not only to mask your IP address, but to block cookies, scripts, and ads from a website.
  • Online Anonymizer. Faster than most proxy services designed to hide IP addresses, the Online Anonymizer is completely free and protects your browsing history and IP address from unfriendly eyes.

Paid Services to Hide Your IP Address

In addition to the free proxy sites listed above, you can purchase IP masking services. These are more convenient, since you do not have to navigate the web through a proxy’s website. They are also more secure, although you should be wary of logging in to any secure website using a proxy, even one that you paid for. With that in mind, here are two paid services that will help you with how to hide your IP address.

  • Easy Hide IP. Easy Hide IP routes your internet traffic through remote servers, so the addresses of those servers appear to be the IP address of your machine. Easy Hide IP costs $29.95 per year or $4.95 per month for a subscription.
  • Hide My IP. Hide My IP offers a 14 day free trial that allows you to use the program for surfing the internet and logging in to secure sites with a hidden IP address. You can also mask your IP from email servers. After the free trial, Hide My IP is just $29.95.

If you don’t want to use a paid service to hide your IP address, there are a few other things that you can do to mask your computer’s location online. First, you should be using a good firewall. A good firewall will always be the best defense against incoming malicious attacks. You should also reset your IP address regularly (here’s a handy guide on how to do that on Windows Vista and 7 by iPrivacyTools). Using either of these tricks in conjunction with an IP masking service will help you protect your IP address against hackers.

Categories: How To Guides Tags: , , , , , ,
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