For a first time home buyer, the process can get quite overwhelming, giving you the feeling that the financial decisions are rapidly spinning out of control.

When it comes to real estate, most people don’t have a lot of experience or know a lot about it. In all actuality, buying a home is actually a simple process. All you need to do is understand the basics, which will go a long way in helping you buy your very first home.

The first thing you should know is to avoid pre payment penalties at all costs. What this means, is that if you buy the home then later want to sell it before the balance of your mortgage is due, you’ll have to pay a penalty. (more…)

Tags: buying first home, home equity loan, Loans, monthly payment, mortgage, mortgage insurance, payment penalties, Real Estate

I believe you always see me mention my $56,836 credit card debts, but you never read about my credit card debts in details on this blog.

Well, this is because I write about my debts and loans at ShowMeMoneyBiz. As for this blog, Pink Poison Store, I write about my personal life in Cameron Highlands and some shopping for pink stuffs. I need a break from my debt life.

Ah ha…is it because of my love for shopping that I am loaded with credit card debt ?? Partly, buddies. This $56,836 credit card debt is my hubby’s and mine.

Don’t you agree that getting credit cards and cheap loans is very easy nowadays ? I used to have 7 or 8 credit cards while my hubby had 6. When our debts snowballed to $63,809 this April, we were shocked ! Later on, we decided to eliminate our credit card debt.

We cut off our credit cards …yip.. most of our credit cards. I now have 2 cards for emergency use while my hubby has one. By destroying the credit cards, we stop adding charges to our existing outstanding balance.

Next, we looked for 0 % balance transfers or low balance transfers so that we can cut down our interest rates. Interest charges saved can be used to pay off more debts.

Then, we took up some personal loans or unsecured loans from banks. The interest rates are definitely much lower than the credit card interest rates. Again, we save on interest charges.

What about secured loans ? Noop…we haven’t considered this option yet as we are paying off our debts little by little. For your information, secured loans are loans available to homeowners, with lenders offering the loan on a secured basis against the property.

Although secured loans generally have lower interest payments, they are more risky.We have to make sure that we can afford the payments, as otherwise we risk losing our home ! That’s why my hubby and I do not want to risk losing our only house.

Tags: credit card debts, credit card interest rates, credit cards, debt life, debts, Loans, lower interest payments, paying off debts, pink stuffs