It is very exciting to purchase your first home and it is a great investment but you need to understand that buying property involves a long term financial commitment and you need to be financially able to afford the monthly instalments. While you have the pleasure of knowing that one day you will own your home, you need to deal with the EMI’s that can sometimes be a nightmare.

What is a credit report?

A credit report is a collection of information on how you pay your bills, how you repay loans, how much credit you have available, what your monthly debts are and any other information a lender needs to decide whether you are a good credit risk or a bad credit risk. The report itself does not state whether you are a good or bad risk, it simply provides the potential lender with the data to make an accurate decision themselves. Lenders base their decision on different criteria so it helps having all the information available to them.

In today’s day and age with prices of goods constantly increasing and our salary staying the same, saving money and staying debt free is a constant challenge. Below is money saving tips that are practical to use each day and simple to practice. Once you get into the habit of saving and working clever with your money you will soon be debt free and able to save for that family holiday.

What is Debt Consolidation?

The increasing amount of debt can be overwhelming making you feel like you are drowning with no way out. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and definitely a way out to financial freedom.

Debt consolidation is the process of changing your multiple debts with one single consolidated loan, meaning one repayment each month. With debt consolidation your monthly repayments are lowered, your interest rates are lowered and your repayment terms are extended. Getting out of the financial predicament you are in will not happen over night with a debt consolidation loan, it is a good start to make repayments easier and manageable but not a quick fix.

Creating a budget might seem like an overwhelming and even impossible task but with these guidelines it will make the task easier. Setting a budget assist with making your money last the whole month, helps with getting you out of debt and makes saving for the future possible. A budget will not increase your income but it will help with seeing what you have available and where that money should be spent first.

What is Debt Counselling?

Debt counselling is the process where a person who can no longer afford to make monthly debt repayments apply with a debt counsellor to negotiate with creditors for reduced monthly repayments. Debt counselling became available from the 1st of June in 2007 to consumers who are unable to make repayments. Debt counselling was made available so that there is a standard, consistent process to help a consumer with unmanageable debt and focuses on the ultimate agreement of all involved. Debt counselling helps the consumer to make manageable repayments to the creditors and the credits benefit from saving money on expensive legal action.