3 Things to Do Instead of Watching TV

Is your evening couch potato routine with your partner growing stale? It can be hard to find the energy to connect after a long day of work, but while watching television may be a good way to turn your brain off, it certainly doesn’t help with connecting. Below are several easy, inexpensive ways to connect with your loved one in the evening.Play a board game. There’s nothing better than a little healthy competition to add some excitement to a relationship. If you’re not a board game fan, pick up some cards instead and let the fun begin.Color together. Adult coloring books are all the rage right now. By setting your mind to a singular task, you often end up in a calm, almost meditative state. You may also find yourself engaging in deeper conversation as pressure is removed by the task at hand.Tackle a creative project. If you and your partner enjoy working together, try doing something creative, like making vision boards with magazine cut-outs, planning a dream vacation you’ll never go on, or even diving into a puzzle.Interested in housing and real estate tips? Feel free to contact me directly.Published with permission from RISMedia.

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Steps to Take After Identity Theft

Reacting quickly is essential after youve been the victim of identity theft. It can lessen the damage by thieves and lower the stress of having your credit card lost or stolen.You may notice when you get home that your credit card is missing. Or you may get an email from your credit card company that there is some suspicious activity on your account.Whatever alerts you to identity theft, here are some steps to take immediately after realizing it:Get on the phoneDepending on the circumstances, you may want to first call the police to report a crime. If someone just grabbed your purse and ran away, the police are obviously the first agency to contact.Next, call your credit card company and ask that it cancel your credit card and send you a new one immediately. If any charges were made by the thieves, the credit card company should remove them.With anyone you contact about this theft, be sure to take notes of the names, dates, times, phone numbers and badge numbers of people youve talked to. You may need the information later to track down a police report.Ask for a fraud alertCalling one of the three major credit bureaus and reporting an identity theft will allow the credit bureau to put a fraud alert on all three your credit reports within 24 hours. The credit reporting agency must alert the other agencies when a fraud alert is requested, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.A fraud alert requires creditors who check your credit report to verify your identity before opening a new account, issuing an additional card or approving a credit limit increase request.An initial fraud alert lasts for 90 days. It requires creditors to confirm you are who you say you are, such as by calling you to verify a credit request. An extended fraud alert can be placed on your credit report for seven years, requiring the same alerts to verify who you are.Consider a credit freezeYou can also request a freeze on your credit reports to stop identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name.A security freeze prevents new creditors from accessing your credit report, which most businesses require to open credit accounts. A freeze wont stop thieves from taking over existing accounts.Check credit reportsAfter youve taken the immediate steps needed to deal with identity theft, be sure to periodically check your credit reports, especially in the first year after you discovered the identity theft.Youre entitled to three free credit reports per year, so take advantage of them and be on the lookout for erroneous information.Hope you found these tips helpful! Contact me for more insights and info.Published with permission from RISMedia.

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Making the Most of Your Credit Card Rewards

Using a credit card to earn rewards is pretty simple. Just use the card to buy things and youll get cash back or reward points from your credit card company.Getting that free money of 5 percent or even more on every purchase is easy, but there are some things you should pay attention to if you want to get the most rewards possible.Register for Bonus CategoriesTo get the most out of a cash-back credit card, look for a card that gives bonus rewards on certain purchases.While 1 percent cash back is common on all purchases, some cards offer a 4 percent bonus for a total of 5 percent for buying from certain types of merchants. These can include restaurants, travel, grocery stores, gas stations, airfare or hotels.The categories may change every quarter, with airline purchases earning 5 percent back for three months, then changing to movie theatre purchases for the next three months, for example. The category may even have a cash back limit.To get in on these bonus categories, some cards require you to opt in each quarter and manually select which category you want to earn money back on. Some credit cards make it as simple as registering your card online, logging in to your account and clicking a button.Use the Right Card for BonusesIf you have a few credit cards, it can be difficult to juggle them and remember which card has which bonus for the purchase youre making. With the bonus categories changing each quarter, it can be difficult to remember which card to use to get the most cash back from it.Using a cash-back card that you thought had a bonus at gas stations but instead had a bonus at department stores can leave you with a lot less cash back than you thought youd be earning.Avoid an Annual Fee and InterestPaying an annual fee on a rewards card is normal, but be aware of how much more money youll have to spend to earn enough cash back or rewards points to make up the difference between the fee and what a no-fee card charges.If a cash-back credit card has an annual fee of $75, for example, and pays 5 percent cash back for grocery store purchases, it would require spending $1,500 to get that $75 fee back. Thats a lot of groceries to buy before getting money in your pocket.Another area where cash rewards can be eaten up is by card holders who dont pay off their balances in full each month or on time and pay interest on their credit card balance. People who pay interest each month are often charged a higher interest rate on their cash-back card than if they did the same thing on a credit card with no rewards.If you regularly carry a balance on your credit card, look for a card with the lowest interest rate. Dont look for one with rewards.Published with permission from RISMedia.

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