Fix A Messy Credit Report With These Tips

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Your credit is a way for companies and lending institutions to gauge how likely it is that you will repay your debt to them and do it on time. If you have had a troubled credit past, cleaning up your act and repairing your score is important to your financial future. Use this article to get ideas on how you can make that happen.

Be careful about which collection accounts you pay off. With the current way the credit reporting system is structured, paying off a collection agency may actually lower your score because the date of last activity will be reset. A paid collection has no less of an impact on your score than an open collection. This resetting of the date of last activity also means the seven year reporting clock will restart. If you can wait out a collection agency, do it. If you have negative items on your credit report, you have the right to challenge them at any time.

Even if you don't think an item is disputable, there is a chance you can have it removed if the credit bureau doesn't investigate your challenge in a timely manner. For items that are two years old or more, the credit bureau may have trouble finding information to verify its accuracy, in which case they will have to delete it from your report. When trying to repair your credit, avoid falling for scams that tell you that you can easily create a new credit file. Do not go through with this. It is called credit fraud and is highly illegal. It can cause you to get arrested or face other harsh legal repercussions. Cleaning up your credit isn't going to happen overnight. It takes time for the changes that you make to show up and take effect. If you follow the advice from this article though, you can make steps in the right direction towards having a better score and getting better quality credit in the future.

Home Improvement: Make Your Home More Valuable With These Easy Tips

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Many home-improvement jobs can be done without the help of a professional. Many self-help books are available that you can use to learn exactly what techniques and equipment you need for any job. If you follow the directions, you should be able to get the job done right the first time.

Many tenants who are renting an apartment or home are in a pickle when landlords don't allow tenants to paint the walls in a different color or take off the wallpaper that doesn't suit their tastes. A great way to get around this is by purchasing flat bed sheets (the unfitted kind) and tacking them in a pleasing design on the wall. This will not harm the underlying wallpaper or paint and can add a touch of personality that won't displease the landlord.

Protect yourself when you change the blades in your utility knife. While changing the blade, wrap tape around the old blade before tossing it in the trash. By doing this, the sharp edges of the blade will be covered. When taking out the trash, or packing down the trash, the sharp edges will not be able to hurt anyone with the tape wrapped around them.

In order to save money on air conditioning costs during the summer, try installing ceiling fans. Ceiling fans recirculate air within a room, cooling it down without the need for turning on a central air system. They are relatively easy to install and can be installed in place of your lighting fixture.

Doing the home improvements yourself can give you a lot of pride and joy. The money that you can save from doing the improvements on your own could be used somewhere else or to do more improvements in the future. Following the directions in the books will make the work quick, easy and rewarding.

Foreclosure Levels Fall to Lowest Rate in 8 Years

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Foreclosure rates for last month were at their lowest level since July 2006 when the housing market collapsed. Experts anticipate foreclosure rates will continue to decline right through to the first half of next year. According to figures from RealtyTrac, there were 107,194 homes that were at some stage of the foreclosure process during last month. These figures show a 2% decline on the previous month of May. All in all, foreclosure activity which includes bank repossessions, scheduled auctions and foreclosure notices, was 16% below levels seen a year earlier. The article in AOL.com goes on to say that over the next six to nine months it is anticipated that foreclosure levels will decline until the figures return to levels regarded as being historically normal. June marked the forty fifth consecutive month of foreclosure declines on an annual basis. The declining level of available foreclosure properties has decreased the overall supply of homes in the real estate market. This is pushing up prices, and when combined with rising interest rates has meant the housing market recovery has slowed down. In June, lenders repossessed a total of 26,889 properties, a decline of 5% compared to the previous month, and the lowest level since June 2007. The number of repossessions was down by 24% compared to a year earlier.

Throughout the nation there were 46,743 homes due to go to auction in June, which is a 13% decline compared to a year earlier. This meant the number of homes going to foreclosure auctions was at its lowest level since July 2006. During June, lenders began the foreclosure process on 47,243 properties, a decline of 18% compared to figures recorded a year earlier. This is the lowest level seen since November 2005. The highest foreclosure rates were seen in the states of New Jersey, Nevada and Illinois, but Florida topped the list for having the highest rates in the nation. The report from RealtyTrac also included figures for the first six months of this year, showing that foreclosure activity declined in 79% of 212 metropolitan areas for this period. The amount of foreclosure activity for the first half of this year was also down by 23% compared to the same period last year.  The vice president of Realty Trac, Daren Blomquist, has pointed out that even though it is important that the remaining numbers of foreclosures are addressed, they are no longer such a threat to the housing markets return to health.

You Need To Keep These Things In Mind About Debt Consolidation

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Getting out of debt is one of the hardest things to accomplish once you fall behind and can't catch back up. If you're having trouble with debts that are piling up and feel there is no way out, here is an excellent solution. The following article offers you an excellent way out of your financial situation with a host of great tips.

If you think you have a debt consolation company that you want to work with, make sure you look them up on the Better Business Bureau. You should be able to see consumer reviews, which will help you determine if you really want to do business with them or not. Even doing a simple search online for the company's name may bring up some helpful information.

Before going with any specific debt consolidation company, check their records with the Better Business Bureau. There are a lot of sketchy "opportunities" in the debt consolidation business. It's easy to go down the wrong path if you aren't careful. The BBB and its reports can help you weed out the bad from the good.

Try to refinance your home and take that cash out at closing. This can assist you with paying down your high-interest debt with ease, and may be tax deductible. It can save you money and lower monthly payments. Make sure that there isn't a possibility of missing any payments since foreclosure is a possibility due to transferring too much unsecured debt to secured debt.

After reading the above article you see that getting out of debt might not be that difficult after all. With a bit of understanding on what needs to be done, patience and a positive attitude, you too can join the millions of people who get out of debt every day! Thankfully you've come across this article that has shown you the way!

Pilot project to rip up asphalt to protect cities from floods

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Canada’s largest property and casualty insurance company is teaming up with the University of Waterloo to re-pave the way for climate change.

Researchers from the university are rolling out projects in 20 locations across Canada, including the Greater Toronto Area, designed to protect homes, businesses, and infrastructure, homes from the devastating flooding that can result from sudden, heavy downpours.

The initiatives, backed by Intact Financial Corp., include planting trees and replacing concrete and asphalt surfaces with vegetation and permeable surfaces that absorb water.

Researchers describe them as simple, relatively inexpensive steps that could prevent billions of dollars in flood damages.

“Climate change has happened, is happening and will continue to happen. So what we have to do is learn to adapt to that changing condition. Everyday we don’t adapt, quite frankly, is a day that we don’t have,” said Blair Feltmate, chair of the Climate Change Adaptation Project.

The project has received a total of $1.5 million from the Intact Foundation, the insurer’s charity investment arm.

“The insurance industry is very much at the forefront of climate change,” said Giles Gratton, vice president, corporate communications for Intact Financial.

“It’s not a problem for the industry itself. It’s a problem for society at large and everybody has a role to play. There is a lot that can be done there if we want to better adapt to climate change.”

Calgary, Mississauga, Peterborough, Kingston, and Ottawa will see some of their asphalt torn up and replaced with porous brick and gravel this summer to help mitigate the flash flooding that frequently follows extreme rainfall.

Modern cities are ever more sheathed in concrete and pavement, sealing off the absorbent ground and leaving heavy rain with nowhere to go — except basements, subway tunnels and underground corridors.

Last year, Calgary and Toronto homeowners and businesses were hit with severe flooding that was aggravated by sealed topsoil that could not absorb the sudden influx of water, costing billions in damages.

Other projects include the construction of so-called bio-swales — which work as temporary holding tanks for excessive rainfall — to restoring urban wetlands, to carrying out home audits in Calgary so owners can flood-proof their properties.

In Brampton, the concrete lining around Spring Creek will be removed and replaced with natural vegetation. Two bio-swales will be created in Vaughan and Mississauga.

The price tag for the 20 projects is about $700,000 in direct funding from Intact, including about $75,000 for the depaving projects, which will remove at least 250 square meters of pavement.

“It’s not just philanthropy. The more we can work to de-risk the system, the better it is for everybody, homeowners, insurance companies, mortgage lenders and municipalities,” said Feltmate, an associate professor in the environment department. “There’s no downside to it.”

Researchers will spend the next three years installing the projects, gauging their effectiveness and assessing whether they should be adopted more generally.

“We already know the return on investment for these types of initiatives is huge. It’s ‘This $100,000 project may very well have stopped $3 million to $4 million of damage,’” he said.

“There is the financial return on investment but also the avoidance of the social stress associated with flooding. Whether you have insurance coverage or not, it’s a god awful thing to have happen in your house.”

Sewage back-up insurance is available in Canada, but not insurance for so-called overland flooding by which water enters basements through windows.

Feltmate says communities are becoming more vulnerable as aging storm-sewer infrastructure is less and less able to handle torrential downpours linked to climate change.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says claims related to catastrophic weather events have surpassed $1 billion in every year since 2009. Flooding and storms in Toronto and Calgary last year cost about $3.2 billion in claims by property owners.