fix your money screw-ups - kiplinger.com

fix your money screw-ups - kiplinger.com top products ---------------- audio conferences ---------------- the kiplinger letter ---------------- the kiplinger tax letter ---------------- personal finance magazine ---------------- success with your money starting out  |  financial advice for your 20s & 30s home > starting out > life > feature print   email   del.icio.us   digg this   editor's picks: top 3 six retirement missteps the grab for green energy stocks for a down dollar featured slide show the best tech buysour favorite tech gadgets include something for the inner geek in everyone. featured podcast covercast: our 2007 best awardseditor fred w. frailey and deputy editor janet bodnar discuss the list of our favorite things. featured video 5 things you must know about irasthese accounts are a tax-advantaged way to save for retirement. top 5: starting out tools how much will my home payment be? how much will my savings grow? a budget for today and tomorrow how can i become a millionaire? how much can i spend on housing? today's most e-mailed stories 12 retirement strategies for women behold the miracle of compound interest the best 529 college-savings plans six critical retirement missteps in search of the perfect credit score more plus: see our slide shows kiplinger's money poll how do you plan to spend black friday (the day after thanksgiving and start of the holiday shopping season)? shopping relaxing decorating for christmas getting my finances in order not sure        life fix your money screw-ups no, your life isn't over. we show you easy ways to set right common blunders with your credit cards, student loans, parking tickets and more. by elizabeth ody november 2, 2007 editor's note: this article is from kiplinger's success with your money special issue. order your copy today.you goofed. you ran out of stamps, so of course you couldn't pay your credit-card bill. you lost your w-2, so you figured you'd save yourself some trouble by not bothering to file a tax return. repaying your student loans completely slipped your mind -- for over a year. unfortunately, these screw-ups neither go unnoticed nor fix themselves. as with a mess in your kitchen, a mess in your finances won't go away unless you clean it up. but it doesn't necessarily require a lot of elbow grease to make things right. below, we give solutions to five common financial indiscretions, but the advice works just as well for most other money mishaps. the bottom line: pick up the phone and call the people you've slighted. that's the first step to getting back in their good graces. so go find that student-loan tab, utility bill or whatever it is that keeps you up at night, and call the number on the bill. seriously, go. work off your debt susie armitage racked up $3,000 in credit-card debt last year while preparing for a trip to russia to do volunteer work. "once i had too much debt to pay down in a month, i started blowing it off as 'oh, whatever. everyone's in debt,'" says armitage, who works for a washington, d.c., nonprofit. but when she got back from her two-month trip, the balance was still sitting there, plus finance charges on the 18% citibank card. so armitage, 25, called chevy chase bank, which agreed to transfer $1,000 of her citibank balance to a new zero-interest card. she then worked three jobs and eliminated her entire balance in three months -- first making payments on the interest-bearing card, then on the 0% card. blowing off your credit-card payments damages both your credit score and your financial habits. the sooner you take control, the easier it is to get back on track. now armitage is back to one job and pays her bill in full each month. exceeding your credit limit isn't the end of the world if you've got the funds to make up the difference. but that, too, will send your credit score into a tailspin. if you breach your limit, call your bank immediately and let it know you'll send in a check. be honest about how much you can pay and follow through. if you're not sure whether you've missed a payment, or you don't know how much you owe, call the bank and ask. you can usually send in a check without your monthly statement if you include your account number. and if plain old disorganization leads you to skip payments, consider setting up automatic withdrawals from your checking account. you have more serious credit issues if you can't afford your minimum payment or can't keep your balance within your credit limit. call the national foundation for credit counseling at 800-388-2227 to speak with a credit counselor if you're worried about deeper financial problems. continued1 | 2 | 3   next > reader comments post a comment hide comment form  |  read all comments (0) read recent comments permission to post your comment is assumed when you submit it. the name you provide will be used to identify your post, and not your e-mail address. we reserve the right to excerpt or edit for clarity any posted comments.view our full privacy policy name: e-mail: comment: email article | print | reprint article | subscribe to kiplinger magazine | find this article helpful? sign up for delivery of columns and site updates sponsored links subscribe: 800-544-0155 www.kiplinger.com/store/ contact us  |  customer service  |  corporate sales  |  privacy policy  |  about kiplinger  |  employment reader panel  |  online advertising  |  print advertising/media kit  |  archive  |  site map get free rss feeds     read     listen     watch all contents © 2007 the kiplinger washington editors  

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