8 Best Home Budgeting Software Features I’d Really Love To Have

I’ve been looking for a home budgeting software for quite some time but I haven’t really found anything that has all the features I’d really love to have. You see,Guest Posting my wife and I have been relying on the good old excel spreadsheet to track our income and expenses. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. There are days (usually at the start of the year) where we would be very excited (and committed) to enter our daily transactions into the spreadsheet. But after a couple of months, the excitement dies down along with our budget. As a result, unexpected expenses happen. And we wonder where our money went. :)

Here are the 8 Powerful Home Budgeting Software Features I’d Really Love to Have

1. Secure

I may not have billions of dollars in my bank, investment and credit card accounts, but even then I still want my privacy when it comes to my own money. In this day and age when information can be easily sold to unscrupulous individuals with not so good intentions, and with the many scams we hear every now and then, I think it is but prudent to take some extra precautions regarding your own personal financial information. Security is the first feature I’d really love to have in a good home budgeting software. Without it, all other features really don’t matter.

2. Easy To Use

One of the main reasons I hesitate to use most of the available home budgeting software out there is because they all require me to “manually” download the transactions from my bank or credit card account and then “manually” upload the same information into the budgeting software. This is a complete waste of time, not to mention a complete bore. When I heard about Mint.com and its ability to automatically download/upload the transactions from your accounts, I thought finally someone had found a neat way to solve this problem. The bad news is – it is only available in the US at the moment. Not to mention the privacy concerns raised by other people since the data is being kept by Mint.com on its own servers.

3. Visually Appealing Charts and Graphs

The human mind understands pictures better than words. One look at a picture and you know whether you are spending more than you are earning. One look at the chart and you know your income or expenses are going up month after month. Looking at rows and rows of transaction details is NOT a great way to organize the financial information available from your bank statements. It will only add to the clutter that you don’t need and don’t really like to have. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

4. Voice, SMS and Email Alerts

More and more people are attached to their mobile phones today than ever. Aside from keys to your car, you cannot leave the house unless you have your mobile phone with you. I bet you’ll even go back to your house in case you forget it. Sometimes, you even feel incomplete without it. For people on the go, it is very important to stay informed especially about anything related to your own money. You can receive alerts if there’s any suspicious activities involving your finances. You will be notified if someone just withdrawn half of your money from the bank. Good banks would do just that. But sometimes it is not always the case. That added security of receiving alerts wherever you are is a welcome convenience to give you peace of mind.

5. I-Phone/Mobile Phone App

The financial services industry is being revolutionized by the Apple I-Phone. There are hundreds of cool apps you can install on your I-Phone or mobile phone free of charge or for a small fee. A lot of these applications help manage your money and budget. Today, everything can be literally controlled from your fingertips wherever you are and whenever you want. You can view your account balance. You can receive reminders to pay for your bills that are due. You can be notified if you’re going over budget after paying for that coffee using your credit card. A cool app extends your home budgeting software beyond your home PC or laptop. It is the only way to go for mobile people that are always on the go.

6. Update Feature

Today, most home budgeting software can only read/browse through your transactions. They can only make sense of the information that you give it. It is passive. It can only give you information. You cannot tell it to do something other than spit out a report or chart. The one feature that would really make a home budgeting software powerful is the ability to process “push” services like updating your account information, transfer funds through your mobile phone, or do everything you can do on your bank account and more. Wouldn’t it be great if you can do everything without going to your bank and wait for hours just so you can have a customer service representative update your account for you?

7. Track Cash

In Asia where most transactions are still made in cash, using a home budgeting software is not effective. To be able to make use of the software, you have to manually key in the transaction details by yourself. It is a complete waste of time and counter productive. Besides, who would want to carry a notebook everywhere and jot down the transaction details when paying for his lunch at the cafe? Certainly not me. The really cool home budgeting software must be able to record cash transactions easily and track it effectively. Most important of all, it must be able to treat cash just like any other transaction.

8. One Account

Most people maintain a lot of accounts. They may have multiple accounts in several banks. They receive many credit card offers on the mail each month. Not to mention their retirement and investment accounts in different brokerage firms. Organizing your finances under one roof is getting harder and harder every day. If you cannot link all your accounts together, the information you have of your finances is incomplete. The home budgeting software of choice is able to integrate everything together under one roof so you don’t have to do it yourself.

These are the 8 powerful features I’d really love to have in a home budgeting software.

In the end, these features will only take you so far. You still have to take control of your own money. You still have to challenge yourself to make more money and keep it. You still need the discipline to know when your expenses are helping you achieve your goals or not. In the end it is still up to YOU to become rich or poor.

How about you? What features would you like to have if you were to b

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No Credit Check Loans A Help for Troublesome Times

When in a financial emergency, would you choose a loan that’s less likely to be approved? Here’s why No Credit Check loans thrive despite a higher cost.

There’s no doubt that No Credit Check loans are among the higher cost loans out there. What makes them still so prominent and widespread? Isn’t the cost of the loan what makes them unattractive to people? Clearly,Guest Posting the market is proving since years that that’s not the case. While loans that people use to fulfil wants and aspirations (like car loans and home loans) are to a huge extent affected in demand by their cost, the same does not seem to stand so true for loans that serve people in urgent needs of funds for various reasons.

When in such a situation, options can be limited for a lot of people. Quick loans and borrowing from friends/family seem to be the available solution but not many wish to choose the latter and especially not after having done it once or twice before. Hence, quick loans are increasingly being the most preferred choice and as you read ahead, you shall see that a lot of people do not tend to have a strong credit history, making No Credit Check the only available quick loan option that can to an extent be relied upon.

Why do so many Individuals have Poor Credit Scores?

Roughly half of the millennials in the US do not have a healthy credit score. People outside of that group are a little better off but not by a huge number. What leads to this? Let’s take a look at the top reasons:

Poor understanding of the credit system: Not knowing how to prioritize payments and not knowing when shutting down a credit account (eg. Credit card) can actually be harmful for the credit scores, is an easy way to lose out on your credit score.
Using one credit card for everything: If you have and use just a single credit card for everything, use it to a high percentage of its limit and don’t repay it fully each month, there’s a significant hit that you’re causing to your credit score.
Not checking and acting upon errors: The credit system is complex. Once a year, you can check your credit report free of cost and repercussions. It is important to do so and apply to correct any issues and errors you find. Errors are common and corrections are also often done when requests are legitimate.
Not knowing what all gets featured on a credit report: Many do not know that even applying for a loan that gets rejected, hits the credit score. That’s just an example of many other things that make up the credit score.
Are No Credit Check Loans Faster?

Credit check is just like any step of the loan approval process – it takes time. When one step is skipped, time is saved. However, there are other things that need to compensate for what the credit check does. Being a short term loan, these are typically steps that do not take much time, hence No Credit Check loans still tend to be faster.

The other thing that makes these loans faster in general, is that they’re non-bank direct lender loans. Their processes seem to be simpler and quicker in general but this of course varies from lender to lender, and so does the speed and consistency of loans disbursement.

We have a few suggestions that can help you get loans quicker, if that’s what you need:

Keep all the documents and details ready while applying
Provide complete information and try to ensure it’s all easy to verify
Provide good quality scans of documents when applying online
Ready reviews about your lender to understand if they’re fast at processing loans
Apply for only as much as you know you can really repay and it’s likely that the lender would make similar assessments and process you loan so you don’t have to reapply elsewhere and waste time that way.
How Much Costlier are these Loans?

Loans and their mathematics are not designed to be very easy to understand. It’s hard to compare the usual bank and credit card loans with the non-bank direct lender loans which come with APR disclosures and simple interest while the former typically charge compounded interest.

In the simplest of terms, what I can say is that in less than a year’s term a significantly higher APR loan shall have a significantly higher cost irrespective of the type of interest being charged. Beware of loans that charge interest monthly – these shall have a many times higher APR (which is Annual).

Being very short term loans, No Credit Check loans have a high rate of interest but if your loan term is short enough, the final amount you end up paying quite a small amount at times. The only real way to know how costly a loan really is, is to find out the final cost.

One piece of advice here is to stay totally away from loans that you may fail to repay on time. Loans get very expensive if you cross the stipulated repayment schedules.

When should one avoid No Credit Check Loans?

No Credit Check loans are higher cost loans which are intended for emergencies and other sudden needs. These are also essentially short term loans which are not intended to be designed as a replacement for bank loans or other conventional loans like home loans, car loans, etc. They have their benefits but used wrongly, they can be very expensive and damaging too.

While it is virtually impossible to make an exhaustive list of every situation in which such loans should be avoided, here are a few which should help understand the idea well:

When you’re in a long term need: It’s simple – do not take a high interest rate loan for a long period of time. It will be more expensive than is reasonable. These loans are intended to be short term loans and even the idea of repeatedly renewing them to use them for a long term could be disastrous.
When bank loans are available and can serve you: If you’re not in too much of a hurry and bank loans are available to you, it should not be a problem to choose that option – they would tend to be less expensive. However, if what you specifically need is a very short term loan, you may have to do the mathematics to understand what’s less expensive.
When your credit history is great and there are other quick enough options available: There are other quick loan options out there. Some banks offer pre-approved loans to their long term customers, which are fairly quick. If credit history is not a problem in your case, you must first consider those options which may come at a lower cost.
When you find a lender whose offer seems illegitimate: Some lenders can be hard to verify for legitimacy. Sometimes the offer and their missing online presence should be a giveaway and it’s good to look for safer, genuine lenders while taking a non-bank direct lender loan. I share links of a trusted lender at the end of this article.
When you’re nearing bankruptcy: Since the loans are intended to be quick and with minimal checks and verifications, you’re the one who needs to know that bankruptcy isn’t near when you take this loan. Unlike loans with collaterals and bank loans, bankruptcy cannot be used to close these loans and the penalty of non-repayment will just keep piling up if you hit bankruptcy with such a loan still outstanding.
When you’re already in a lot of debt and didn’t think your decision through: Many borrows stuck in a debt cycle resort to No Credit Check loans. There are ways to use such loans to escape the debt cycle but these are not easy to calculate and it’s definitely not great if things go south from there. Employing a debt consultant for help at such a time may be helpful, if you are not sure you’re getting the mathematics of it right.
Is the “Guaranteed Approval” Real?

Many No Credit Check loans claim to offer a “Guaranteed Approval” on the loan. While this claim seems too good to be true, there’s more to it than meets the eye in the first glance.

I have read into the finer lines of many such loan offers and also spoken to some past borrowers and here I shall share what it truly means – which can vary a little from lender to lender but at a broader sense, remain fairly standard.

The first thing to keep in mind, is that lenders of the No Credit Check loans being non-bank entities, are able to offer a very flexible sum of amount. Some lenders can choose to offer loans for as little as $100. Maybe even lower but I didn’t find any such mention.

The second thing is that the marketing and terminology is worded in a way that it assumes qualification for the loan. If you do not qualify for their loan i.e., if you do not meet their eligibility criteria, there’s anyways no question of an approval. This also encompasses what amount you shall be eligible for borrowing.

Given these facts, it is fair to state that provided you apply for your loans of an amount that their eligibility criteria can accommodate and provided that you meet the rest of the eligibility requirements, your loans shall be approved with certainty. The catch here is that it’s hard to know for sure, what amount can be approved. Some lenders tend to make counter-offers to borrowers when they deem the borrower ineligible for the amount that’s being applied for.

Conclusion

Loans are available in so many ways and forms with so many labels today, that it gets confusing these days for the borrowers. No Credit Check loans also come under multiple labels and are typically offered by non-bank direct lenders. Being riskier for the lender, they tend to be a higher expense loan but the government regulations ensure transparency by mandating APRs to be disclosed and by eliminating compounded interest which tends to make lower interest rates far more expensive over time. The other advantage can be the very short term – which can be useful to many borrowers.

One of the reputed and experienced direct lenders offering such loans is CashAmericaToday. You can check out these pages to find their longer term online installmen

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