While it is true that banks have come in for a reasonable amount of criticism in the past few years, this pales into insignificance when compared to the amount of harsh criticism piled onto a payday loan company. Many people and organisations consider the payday loan companies to be nothing more than bottom feeders, taking advantage of the most desperate borrowers. This is something of a misguided perception, however.There is no doubt that short term loan companies have received a bad reputation, but this has hardly been warranted. They do often have high interest rates, and they make no secret of admitting as much. If the difference between the interest rates for a payday loan company sand those charged by the banks for overdrafts are compared, however, it is the banks who take the highest percentage of interest from consumers.When looking into interest rates, it would be foolish to overlook credit cards. These are another example of truly exorbitant fees, but very few people take notice of the fact that along with high interest rates, a credit card will often have an annual fee, and will charge people for using them to take out cash. Neither of which is true of a short term loan company. Added to which, applying for a credit card is a long and drawn out process, which can be completely impractical in the case of a sudden financial emergency. In comparison, a payday loan can be approved and the money transferred to your bank account within 24 hours.Of course there are some people who get into difficulties as a result of being unable to repay the loans they have taken out, but the same can be said for absolutely any form of loan. Consumers who have spent too much shopping online default on mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans all the time, and yet few people would blame the banks for these oversights. Why then put the blame on the short term loan companies for their consumers’ oversights?A lot of that negativity seems to stem from the short term nature of the short term loan itself. Because they are charged on a daily or monthly basis, the charges and added interest can spiral out of control within a very short space of time, making the loan increasingly difficult for the consumer to repay. To help to combat this, the reputable payday loan companies have very clear terms and conditions, and do what they can to ensure that new and returning borrowers are 100% aware of what they are agreeing to before any loan is given.It is important to recognize the fact that the short term loan has both benefits and disadvantages that those who take it out must face. While it’s unwise to outright condemn the concept due to high interest rates and unscrupulous lenders, one must at the same time recognize the dangers inherent in the payday loan. Many people know that short term loans are somewhat dangerous in the fact that they can lead borrowers into an inescapable cycle of debt. There are some general rules that can be followed to ensure that payday loans don’t get out of hand, such as the following:
Don’t take out more than one payday loan.
Always attempt to find another option for finding financial assistance other than a payday loan before taking out a loan.
Be aware of your interest rate and understand how much money you will have to pay back for your loan.
Make sure that you pay back your loan promptly to avoid additional charges.
So, with banks unwilling or unable to help millions of people worldwide, are short term loans companies really all that bad when they allow people to avoid missing payments on existing debts and the resulting problems that can cause?
Are Payday Loan Sites All That Bad?
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Building A Timeline For Your E-Commerce Venture
In previous posts, patience in e-commerce was covered as necessary. However one also must recognize whether or not their e-commerce venture is headed in the right direction. It is important to set up certain goals along the path of your e-commerce journey, so you can analyze whether or not this is a venture worth continuing. Building an e-commerce business needs to follow a timeline.To build this timeline you need to state what the ultimate goal for your business venture is. This can certainly change over time. Perhaps you started out creating and selling a product, because you enjoyed the process of creating it, a hobby that can give you some pocket money. If that is your goal, you should be able to achieve it fairly quickly using eBay, and perhaps creating a promotional website for free. Or maybe your goal is to make a thousand dollars a month working just a few hours a week. Or perhaps you want your e-commerce venture to replace your full time job. The specific goal is entirely up to you, and it can evolve.Once your ultimate goal is set you should set a timeline for achieving it. On your timeline will be smaller goals along the way. These might include goals of number of unique visitors to your website, or when you will break even on your business. Goals of gross sales or number of orders you receive. Theses sub-goals could be anything, but they must be quantifiable, and realistic. It does no good to make outlandish unreasonable goals that are unlikely to be achieved.As you progress down your timeline you get a sense of how things are going. Somewhere along the way you might even decide to ditch this e-commerce venture and try something else. But that decision should not come for at least one year. I firmly believe the difference between success and failure, is in the entrepreneur’s mind. Success stories are often borne out of not quitting, more than anything else. To succeed at not quitting begins with a good business plan, and a realistic timeline that can track incremental improvements in your business even if the bottom line isn’t showing it right away. You must be able to show some reward for effort, even if it is just getting fifty unique visitors more than last month.Being on now my fourth e-commerce venture I can say I have followed basically the same timeline on all them. The first business I stopped after three years, and began a new one just two months later. That business now supports me, and it is a direct result of what I learned in the first business. The third business, I began shortly after quitting my corporate job, and that lasted just three months, as I lost interest, and was spending my time still building my second and most profitable business. I did not give it the year I stated above. Now I am on my fourth which is just two months old, too early to draw any conclusions. But again the fourth business is a direct result of stopping the third business. For all four businesses the timelines are basically the same.E-Commerce Timeline ExampleZero months to six months, build and learn business. There should already be significant time put in learning about the new business that should happen before the business is launched. Learning never stops however, and from zero to six months it should continue in depth. In this stage attracting traffic to your website is ultimate; see previous posts for the eBay way to do this, and also building trust and a name for your business.Six to twelve months, should be about building income. You are getting the traffic, now build the income. Learn why people visit your site, why they buy, what else you could do for them etc. New products are introduced, perhaps a company blog, your logo should start being recognized.It is at the one year mark, where you can first really know if this business has a chance at meeting your ultimate goals. Overnight successes do not happen online very often and they are becoming rarer all the time. But you should now have an idea if there is indeed success to be had. Things should be heading in one direction, sales should be measurably going up, and website traffic should be also. You might choose to alter your ultimate goal, perhaps this venture isn’t likely to reach it, but nevertheless is worth continuing. Or perhaps you have achieved your ultimate goal, and need to reset it.Twelve to eighteen months, should make some profit. Things you need to spend money on to get going can take up to a year to work their way through the business. Inventory takes time to build up as do supplies, advertising is often most expensive per sale in the early going, equipment often needs to be purchased, logos designed, etc. All these things can eat up first year revenues and beyond. But going into the second year profits should be up. In fact the second year will probably show the highest percentage gain of profits over any other year the company will have. If they aren’t why not? Are sales still increasing? Orders increasing? If they are then your overhead is likely too high, or your prices are too low. Find ways to lower the first and/or increase the latter.From the eighteen month point you really have committed yourself to your e-commerce business that in itself is cause for celebration. 85% of all start-ups end before the eighteen month point. It is from here where you plan the next eighteen months. Re-define your goals, and continue onward. If your ultimate plan is to have the e-commerce site support you and you are not there yet, plan how you will get there. Time could be the only factor left, these things just take time. Continue on the course and your goal will arrive. Perhaps you are already there and now want employees to run your business, plot that on your next timeline. Or perhaps you want to double your income, or shrink your work but maintain your profit. All of these are doable, it just takes realistic planning, and here is that word again, patience.
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An Unbelievable Opportunity That Is What A Home Improvement Loan Is
If there is one place that can provide comfort in its true sense then it is the home. A comfort is something that we can relate to as something that can relive tension, stressor mental pain. Or in the other sense can placate us when we feel bad. Those are the comforts that a home should be capable of providing apart from the services that it is suppose to provide such as a good living environment.Home improvement loan as the name suggests are offered to people for the purpose of improving or making the home a better place to live in. the purpose of making changes to the house are many. And the changes which are made can be minor or major. It depends on different people why they want to make changes to their house. Few changes that an owner may want to make to his house are:· Adding of new rooms· Landscaping the garden· Adding new features to the house· Renovation· Doing safety repairs· Roofing plumbing or the sewer workThe changes could be either of these ones or any other depending on the requirement of the borrower of the home improvement loan.People who want home improvement loan can get these loans now days very easily all the borrowers need to do is estimate their requirement and then go online to find a lender who will provide the loan, just fill up their loan forms and the decision will be made in a day or two.You can take a home improvement loan in 2 different ways i.e. in a secured form or an unsecured form. Secured home improvement loan needs a security to be provided to the creditor by the borrower. A security could be a car or any other asset of the borrower. Other method by which you may want to take loans is one of unsecured home improvement loan. This method of loans does not require any sort of security to be provided to the creditors. Hence these loans can be used by everybody not only asset holders but by tenants and people employed in services as well.Though both the type of loans are equally good in serving their purpose. Secured home improvement loans are relatively cheaper and a little easier to repay. Because of the presence of a security factor you can choose an amount of up to 250000 and a repayment period as long as 25 years and at a lower interest rate. However people who take secured loans must be careful that if they falter in their repayments they will be putting their security in jeopardy.With the presence of so many lending organizations loans are made available to every body even to people who have had a history of bad credit. People like CCJ’s and IVA’s who have defaulted while repayments of their loans previously. All they need to know about is their credit score.home improvement loans are not only useful in making home improvements but also help in other ways as well. They are:· They add value to the house as with home improvement the equity value of house will increase. This will help the owner negotiate a better deal if he wants to sell the house.· People proud themselves on their house a good house will enhance that belief.· It also makes the home a better place to live in.· For people with poor credit history it is a way by which they can improve on their credit score and have a normal credit history.Home is the place where we spend most of our time. So it is obvious that we should keep it to its absolute best. For people who do not have enough money at the present moment home improvement loans is the best way to go for their home improvement.