Thursday, August 16, 2007

All You Ever Wanted to Know About APR

Yes, I am back in research mode today.

Living in this time of flux, many clients come to me who have been laid-off, are going to be laid-off, are in financial crisis or feel over-whelmed with the price of survival. They often want help in dealing with anxiety, increase self-esteem, are trying to find what they really want to do with the rest of their lives, or want to change spending habits. The later is what is on my mind currently.

As you may well be aware, I try to provide clients with resources from reputable sources as a stepping stone after the hypnosis expereince. If you have clients (or know anyone) who are being laid off or have debt problems, suggesting they see a credit counselor may not be a bad idea, or at least giving them counseling resources such as articles, tips, etc. Care One Credit Counseling offers some advice in debt management you may want to check out as well as an insightful article on credit card terms and conditions that explains various credit card "traps" in which we all may likely to succumb. It explains in human terms (for people who have little financial schooling background) how the Annual Percentage Rate works, such as the tempting 0% APR offers that seem to always be arriving in our post boxes. One might think that one can charge away on these cards and have no interest build up, but probably not. If one looks carefully, this is usually for balance transfers. If one has an outstanding balance on another card, transferring it to a 0% APR card might be helpful. I have had a few clients come in with horror stories about this sort of thing, when had they understood more about the credit card, a lot of misery could have been avoided.

So, if this ever comes up for you, please feel free to share this resource.

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