Although end of the year shopping and last minute sales usually inspires most Americans to rely on their credit cards and put their purchases on plastic, the end of 2009 is shaping up to be an exception to the rule. According to a recent feature in the Wall Street Journal, fewer shoppers are using their credit cards and it is mostly blamed on the fact that many have had their credit limits shrunk, their cards cancelled, or their interest rates and other fees increased.

As the article explained, about 28 percent of those who use make purchases this holiday season will use credit cards, but last year the figure was more than 31 percent. According to experts the buying and shopping habits of the average consumer have changed over the past year in the wake of the fallout from the economic recession.

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During this period of economic and financial constraints, over due credit cards, mortgage payments and bank loans seem to be running rampant.  Getting behind in your credit card payments seems to be the first thing that typically happens.  For whatever reason, when it does get too hard for consumers to pay off their cards, Visa, MasterCard, American Express all seem to have special hardship programs to accommodate people who are experiencing some degree of economic adversity.

It doesn’t really matter what the circumstances are, however, as credit card companies will always do their darnedest to recoup their money from you.  No matter the hardship, no matter the situation you should be experiencing, the lending company is just that, a lender, with whom you have an agreement to pay.  The purpose of any hardship program sponsored by card issuers is to keep the account in good standing and to keep you paying on their terms.

In line with the terms of any hardship program and its agreement, they may reduce your annual percentage rate (APR), and may even agree to reduce your monthly minimum payment.  Rest assured, however, they still want their money back from you.

Who Is Eligible for A Hardship Program?

Hardship programs are not just handed out haphazardly to people who have recklessly exceeded their means.  It is a program orchestrated for special situations like a job loss, death, or other unexpected situation that arises involving unexpected expenses or unexpected loss of income. If you

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Signing on the dotted line when purchasing a piece of real estate can be scary, because usually the contract represents the biggest financial investment of your entire lifetime. But when you first fill in a purchase offer contract – which is usually the first step taken with the help of a Realtor in making a serious offer to a homeowner to buy their home – you can insert special language to help give you a safety valve.

Every state has its own unique standard types of real estate contracts, but most of them have two major components – one that spells out how the house will be financed, and another that is usually titled “Special Provisions.” The Special Provisions section is where anything important that was not covered in the rest of the contract can be spelled out. Many real estate professionals will use the Special Provisions paragraph to plug in some conditions to protect themselves in case they decide to “walk” and not go through with the purchase.

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It won’t be an overstatement to say that home appraisal is more important in today’s market than ever before. If you are looking to refinance, buy or sell a home, appraisal process is one you need to understand. What to expect, why it is so important today, what sorts of home appraisal tips can help you, etc. Just a couple of years ago with housing booming, appraisal seemed little more than a necessary cost of doing business, just another silly procedure lenders required. Today however, appraisal process is incredibly important because it is so tough to determine the real value of a home and with banks tightening credit, appraisal emerged as a key variable of whether your deal will get through.

There are many appraisal tips you can find, but the most important one is staying realistic. How much has the value of your house changed in the last 6 months is the 20 million dollar question and one that is hard to answer.

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Most people assume the rampant commercialism that comes with Christmas is a necessary evil.  Sure, commercialism isn’t exactly in the spirit of the system, but at least it provides a major boost to the economy and gives retailers a reason to exist the other 11 months of the year.  Or does it?  Economist Joel Waldfogel disagrees, calling Christmas an “orgy of value destruction.”

Waldfogel’s argument is simple and hearkens back to the days of classical laissez -faire capitalist thought.  Economies tend to operate most efficiently when they are composed of self-organizing markets.  Simply put, individuals tend to do a pretty good job, in aggregate, of efficiently organizing the use of scarce resources in accordance with the broad goals of society.  If the citizenry values environmentalism over consumerism, the economy will tend to organize itself towards preserving the environment.  If society values cheap plastic trinkets, the economy will tend to organize itself towards manufacturing plastic trinkets as cheaply and efficiently as possible.  When individuals are free to make their own purchasing decisions in accordance with their own wants, needs, and values, the economy will tend to optimize itself to produce what society as a whole deems most valuable, or so the theory goes.

How Christmas Harms The Economy

“How could Christmas possibly harm the economy?”  you might ask.  The money spent during the month in December alone is enough to keep many retailers in business and many workers employed.  Without Christmas, there would be fewer jobs and less wealth to go around, right?  Wrong.

The problem is that most people don’t do a very good job of buying gifts for other people.  How often have you received a gift you hated, or at least a gift you didn’t particularly care for and probably wouldn’t have bought on your own?  I’d be willing to bet the majority of the gifts you’ll receive this year fall into one of those two categories.  According to Waldfogel,

“…people value the items they receive as gifts 20 percent less per dollar spent than the items they purchase for themselves. These are items that are not well-suited

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