Shopping for Credit-Tips

Find the best credit card for shopping this holiday with these great tips!

As much as the credit industry has changed in the last couple of years, the most important advice when shopping for credit has remained the same throughout the period. And that is, if you want to give yourself the very best chances of getting the best credit deals that are open to you, then you have to shop around.

Finding Credit Online

The good news is that the Internet has made this shopping around a lot easier in recent years. There are many websites now that specialize completely in finding you the best credit deals available. They compare all the offers from a wide range of lenders and guide you to exactly the offers that suit you most. In many cases you can apply or get a quote right there on the website and therefore you can do all your research, and shopping around, in a fraction of the time it used to take before the Internet was widely used.

Always Ask For The APR

Another development that has come about in recent years, and has really made shopping for credit a lot easier and more effective, is the introduction of rules regulating the calculation of APR.

APR, standing for annual percentage rate, is a fixed formula that by law, all lenders must use when they calculate the cost of a loan that they provide to you. This means that you can ask all lenders for their APR and they will have much less scope to hide their true costs and extra charges. They will have to give you the APR and you can take this with you and compare it to all the other APRs on the market.

Having Credit is Essential

Shopping for credit has become all the more important in recent years as credit has become more important. These days, there are many situations in which the only way to pay for a good or service is by credit card. Booking a hotel abroad, or shopping online, or even renting a car, are all impossible unless you have access to credit cards. Therefore, as the circumstances in which you need to use the cards have increased, the importance of being able to find the very best deals when you are shopping for credit has also increased.

These great tips brought to you by National Access Long Distance.

8 Tips for Home Insurance

No one likes paying for home insurance, but it's a necessary evil for most of us. This doesn't mean you have to pay through the nose for it though - try these 8 easy tips for cheaper home insurance from National Access Long Distance and see how much you could reduce your premiums by.

- Shop Around

By comparing prices from several insurance companies, you'll probably be able to reduce your premiums by a substantial amount. This may seem obvious, but research has shown that a surprisingly large proportion of people either just renew their current policy, or get only one or two quotes. Many insurance web sites will automatically compare dozens of policies for you, making this one of the easiest ways to reduce your insurance bill.

- Buy online

If you buy your policy online you can often get a discount of up to 20% on normal prices, because there are less administration costs involved and the savings can be passed on to you.

- Combine your buildings and contents policies

Many insurers will give you a discount if you take out both types of home insurance with them, and this usually works out cheaper than getting the two kinds of policies from different companies.

- Pay upfront

Although most insurers let you pay your premium in monthly instalments, many will charge interest for this. If you can afford to pay a full year's premium in advance, then this will work out cheaper in the long run.

- Don't claim for small amounts

Making many small claims can increase your insurance costs, as your insurer may see you as a greater risk and increase your premiums. You will also lose any no claims discount your policy has. Of course, you're entitled to claim for anything your policy covers, but ask yourself if making a small claim is really worth the hassle and possible future costs.

- Voluntary excess

This is related to the last point. Insurance policies feature something known as 'excess', which basically means that the policy won't pay out on claims below a certain value. On some policies, if you choose to raise your excess to a higher level, then your premiums will be lower.

- Increase your home security

Beefing up your home security with better door locks, window locks, outdoor lighting, and alarm systems can all result in lower premiums. Ask your insurer what you could do to get extra discounts.

- Reduce your cover

Many policies feature benefits that you might not need, such as cover for personal possessions while travelling, or 'free' legal advice. Look through your policy and see what parts of it you really need - by cutting your cover down to size you may be able to reduce your premium.

Contact National Access Long Distance to save money on your long distance bill today!

The Insurance Line

            No one chooses to be a victim of a natural disaster or other emergency situation. We can, however, plan to minimize our exposure. We try to prepare with backup plans and emergency safety kits.  We purchase insurance for our house, belongings and cars.  Houses are built with rooms for different natural disasters.  But we can’t prepare for everything.

A part of the preparation that can be forgotten is ensuring our landlines remain intact. The landline provides an insurance line.  When people are cutting off their landline service and purchasing insurance on every electronic device, they are forgetting that the landline is an insurance protection plan for their lives.

            Landlines are generally more effective than cellphones in emergencies. They are familiar to older household members and their use can be taught to younger children with ease. Landlines do not go down when the power goes out. Not all cellphone providers have E911 that directs your calls to a local response center; your call for help may be sent to a regional center for routing, costing precious moments.

            In May, 2013, the central region of Oklahoma experienced severe thunderstorms, flooding, and several devastating tornadoes. Large swaths of land were ruined by nature’s raw power. Directly affected cellphone towers were incapacitated and the sudden influx of calls for help jammed the remaining ones.  That and local emergency responders and the civilian leadership scrambled to find landlines to coordinate their efforts. Human lives hung in the balance.

            This is but one set of incidents of many. Citizens in the large cities and smaller remote areas of the country are already well aware of the importance of maintain a landline in case of an emergency. Despite increasing acceptance of wireless as the primary telephone, many people not living immediately in the very large metropolitan area maintain a landline as their lifeline.

            If disaster struck, would you be prepared?

            Keep your landline as your insurance plan and contact National Access Long Distance to save money on your long distance services.  

Don't Limit Yourself, Get a Landline

While cell phone have many advantages with mobility, they have many disadvantages with the use they were created for…calling someone.  You can do just about anything on your cell phone these days except call the person you need to get ahold of.

The reasons vary but all seem to have the same problem of not being able to get in contact.  Your battery is dead, you are out of minutes, there is no signal, etc.  When you need to get a hold of someone, you don’t want to hold your phone in the air searching for a signal. 

Your landline doesn’t have access to Candy Crush or work as a calculator; however it does make a phone call when you want it to.  Isn’t that what you wanted from your mobile phone originally?

We understand you aren’t getting rid of your cell phone; we just want you to remember not to get rid of your landline.

The landline provides clear phone calls every time you call no need to worry if you are roaming.  You pay per minute with the landline at a reasonable price.  There aren’t overage fees or roaming fees.

If your objective is to get ahold of someone when you call them, keep the landline around for all your home or business calling needs.  Save money on your landline with long distance by National Access Long Distance!