In Trouble

This article will discuss about 'In Trouble'. In trouble in this discussion telling about the consumers that in trouble in paying his/her bills. Before we discuss deeper about 'in trouble', i think we should know why consumers don't pay. The reasons are unemployment, illness, overextension, and defectuve goods and services. The highest rank of the reasons is unemployment. Unemployment is a person who is try looking for a job but dont get a job at the level of wages applicable.

There are some warning signs that will make you realize that you are in trouble. First, you dont know how much you owe. It's already too many that you don't know again how much you owe. You don't have money, so the second is you often pay bills late. If you pay bills late, you will searching a new loan to pay old loans. You can't pay full of your bills, so you pay only the minimum balance due each month. The last is you’re spending more than you earn, using your saving to pay for day to day expenses.

If you realize that you are in trouble the first step that you should do is take another (close) look at your budget. Take another look at your budget means trim your expense and be realistic about what you can afford. After that, you should contact your creditor. Tell them why you can’t pay, that you intend to pay, and when/ how much you will be able to pay. You may be able to work out a new payment schedule. If possible, continue to make the minimum payments.

If you are in trouble when buying a car. There are some responsibilities and also rights that you have. Your responsibility are must still pay the ”deficiency balance” the emount of debt remaining even after your creditor has sold your car. And the right is you can buy back car by paying the full amount owed on it plus repossession expense.

In this last paragraph, i will give you conclusion and some advices. The conclusion is we should know how to act when we realize we are in trouble. If we don't realize, there are some consequence that we would get, such as you get a bad mark on your credit report and your interest rate goes up. The advices to pay bills on time are get organised, choose a payment method that suits you, don’t let your bills get on top of you, check your bills regulary, and make sure you're not paying too much. (cr. https://www.moneyadviceservice.org)

TELEMARKETING FRAUD

 

Hello friends, in this article I will explain about consumer awareness. First, what Is the meaning of consumer awareness? Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her rights concerning available  products and services being marketed and sold. For easier to explain, I will focus on telemarketing fraud.

Telemarketing fraud is one of many ways that the criminal use for defraud the consumer with telephone. Identified by FTC, telemarketing fraud is one of the most persuasive deceptions. Types of telemarketing fraud are advance fee fraud, pyramid schemes, credit card fraud, overpayment fraud, charity fraud, cramming, summer jobs fraud, office supply scam, and magazine subscriptions scam. The one that the most happened in Indonesia is advance fee fraud. The criminal will typically require upfront payments in exchange for goods and services. This is also a popular technique used in lottery and student scholarships scams.

There are the best three tips how to avoid being a victim of telemarketing fraud. First, request written information about organization and product or investment. If you have written information, you can check it carefully, whether it’s fraud or not. Second, don’t buy anything on terms you don’t fully understand. As example, if you buy an apple and you don’t fully understand about the quality of apple, you will easily being a victim of fraud. The last and the most important is don’t provide any personal financial information. As additional, I suggest if you feel something strange when you talking with someone you don’t  know on telephone, hang up. What to do if you’re a victim of telemarketing fraud? You should report the telemarketing fraud quickly to police station. 

 

Better to prevent than to cure, I will give you some ways to protect yourself from telemarketing fraud. The first way is don’t call me. It means that you should ignore the incoming call that you don’t know. Second, give them nothing. The criminals are hunting for your information, especially financial information. Third, stay alert. Although you already sure that it isn’t a fraud, you should still search informations about the organization. Be part of the solution is the last way, you can help prevent it. If you've received a call, mailing or email you think might be from a scammer, report the incident to the FTC by calling its consumer hot line at 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357). (Cr. http://www.aarp.org)

ADVERTISING

Advertising is a way that the company used to promote their product or service. The purpose of advertising is to persuade the customers to buy their products or services, to reassure the customers that their products or services are the best, and enhance the image of the company. Taken from smallbusiness.chron.com, a good advertisement should include some requirements. There are memorable, effective targeting, entertaining, and grabbing attention.

 

For me, the advertisement that fulfill that requirements is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is carbonated soft drinks. Coca-Cola is produced by The Coca-Cola Company since 1944.  In advertising, The Coca-Cola Company used many ways to advertising Coca-Cola, such as sports sponsorship and and in mass media.  Coca-Cola have coorperated with many sport events, as example are Fifa World Cup, Olympic, and Rugby World Cup. In mass media, Coca-Cola featured in countless films and television programs. Their advertisement also always be on television.

 

 

The most I like between all of the Coca Cola ad (Advertisement) on television is an ad name “Coca Cola Polar Bear”. You can see it on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbbQjwLpRXw. This ad narrates about a batch of bears who coorperate each others to reach the moon, after get the it, they  open their Coca Cola with it. Behind the purpose to present their products to customer, this ad also teach us about teamwork like that bears do. For me, this ad also show that Coca-Cola company have a good teamwork. My assumption show that the ad success to enhance the image of the company. As a joke, maybe Coca Cola Company want to show us that not only human like Coca-Cola, but also a bear.

 

Back to the requirements, I wil explain why Coca-Cola Company  fulfill the requirements. The first is memorable. Honestly, i just once see the Coca Cola Polar Bear ad and I remember it as a good advertisement from Coca-Cola. My experience show that the advertisement that Coca Cola presented is memorable. Then, effective targeting. The target of Coca Cola is people who around 12-30 years old. I think they used suitable advertising, especially with the program of sports sponsorship. For me an entertaining advertisement is an an advertisement that make me smile and there is a meaning on it. As I said before, the Coca Cola Polar Bear is fulfill the third requirement. Last is grabbing attention, the advertisement that Coca-Cola showed is always grabbing attention. For example, in 2009, there is a ad named "Heist". This ad involve many insects, such as butterflies, a team of bees, ladybugs to make a synchronized classical music soundtrack. From this ad, Coca-Cola got its first-ever Emmy Award (http://www.coca-colacompany.com).

 

Believe it or not, advertising heavily involved in the decision to buy products or services. Therefore,

 we should selecting which product is the best for us, not only but its advertising, but also from it's

quality. There is a quote, “Don’t judge the book by it’s cover”. That is also applied when you buy a

products or services. I think this is the end of this article, byebye!

CARS AND LOANS

This writing's focus is about car. A car is a wheeled, self-powered motor vehicle used for transportation and a product of the automotive industry (cr. Wikipedia). Nowdays, people prefer cars for they daily activities more than other such as motorcycle or bicyle. Car can protect you from rain and heat. Another advantage for having a car is its can accomodate more than two peoples.

Before you decide to buy a car, there are some questions which you should know the answer to deciding on the right purchase. The questions, such as what level of quality do I want? What level of quality do I need? What types of services and repairs does the dealer offer? Should I wait until there is a sale on the type of car I want? Should I buy a new or a used car? etc. But there are some differences between a customer who want to buy a new car and an used car. For a new car, the steps for shopping are decide which car model and specific options you want, find out the invoice price and the true cost to the dealer of the model and options you want, decide how much you are willing to pay the dealer above the invoice price, make your offer to as many dealers as possible, compare  final sales prices with other dealers and buying services, compare financing costs from various sources. When you shopping for an used car, you should find out the reputation of the dealer, find out what type of warranty comes with the car, and lastyly find out what type of service contract comes with the car. 

About the cost when you have a car, its divided into two types. There are ownership fixed cost and operating variable cost. Ownership fixed cost means the cost that the owner of the car have to pay it such as depreciation, interest on loan, insurance, registration fee, license, taxes. Operating variable cost, such as gasoline, oil and other fluids, tires, maintenance and repairs, parking and tolls.

There are also a term named 'car loan'. That means personal loan to purchase a car. Shopping for a car loan, there are some variables cost include, such as Annual Percentage Rate (APR), length of the loan, monthly payments, total finance charge, and total to be repaid. How to calculate the total cost of a loan is amount of the loan x APR x number of years. And then to estimate the amount of monthly payments is total to be paid divided by number of months of the loan.

Last, we will discuss about the truth-in-lending act. That discuss about amount financed, what charges are included in amount financed, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), payment schedule, prepayment penalty, late payment penalty, security interest, and insurance charges. For the insurance, there are six types of that, there are liability (40–50% of premium), collision (up to 30% of premium), comprehensive (about 12% of premium), medical, uninsured motorist, towing and labor, and rental reimbursement.  If you ask how insurance rates are set, the answer is personal characteristics, geographic location, driving record, and vehicle characteristics. As an conclusion, when you decide to buy a car whether its new or used, cash or credit, you should make sure that you choose the right car and can pay the payment.

CREDIT CARD (2)

Related to the previous post, this post also discuss about credit cards. When you applying for your card, there are also have costs, such as annnual precentage rates (APR), grace period, annual fees, and the transaction fees. With costs, you will also  able to get the features, such as credit limit, how widely the cards is accepted, and the services. For the bank and for the credit card holder, there is also have a law between them to protect each other's right.

In 1974, there is a law named Fair Credit Billing Act. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) explain about the protection for the consumers from unfair billing practices and to provide a mechanism for addressing billing errors in "open end" creditaccounts, such as credit card or charge card accounts. Briefly, it explains about an unfair billing practices. There are seven parts of the FCBA 1974.

The first is challenge a billing statement for errors, this means that when the bills came, you should calculate and now if it is ballance with your spending or not. Then, you must notify the creditor of a disputed item within 60 days. After it, the creditor will investigate whether it's error or not. You also cannot be billed for or forced to pay in the investigation era. If it is determined that you are responsible for the bill, you must be given the usual amount of time to pay it. The sixth is this law said that tour credit history is protected during the dispute process. The last is creditor should explain the customers about their rights at least twice a year.

There also other credit card protection, such as unauthorized charges, refunds of credit balances, and prompt credit for payment. Unauthorized charges is explained about what should you do when your card lost. When your card is lost, the first list to do is report it lost as quick as possible. Because when you report it before it is used, you won't be held for any responsible. But, when it already used your responsible will not more than $50 if you report it within two business days.

When you apply for the credit card, it won't be always sure that you will be accepted. There are some reasons that you're denied for applying the credit card, such as your bad credit history. If you not sure what is that, you can ask the creditor. If you think the reason for the deny is valid, the best thing you can do is improve your creditworthiness, such as pay bills on time, increase income, reduce spending, obtain a secured, and then after than you can ireapply. But sometimes, the reason is invalid, you can notify to the federal enforcement agency and then they will invesitage it.

Last, i will give you an advices and the tips about how you use your credit card. That are never borrow more than 20% of your yearly net income and monthly payments shouldn’t exceed 10% of your monthly net income. For you to understand it easily, i will give you an example. My net income each month is 10 million rupiahs, so my net income for a year is 120 million rupiahs, then i will not borrow more than 24 million rupiahs (20% times 120 million rupiahs). As i said before, my net income each months is 10 million rupiahs, so my monthly payment will not more than 1 million rupiah (10% times 10 million rupiahs). The tips are shop around (means that search for any sources before you buy something), read and understand the contract, and know your cost.

CREDIT CARD

Nowdays people don't use cash for big transactions, sometimes in small transactions they don't use it too, they said that it was old fashion. People especially in modern country, use credit card. Briefly, if you have credit card, it means that you can buy something when you don't have any money. The payment system of credit card is on the ending of the month.

Beside this card has advantages, it also has disadvantages. The advantages are able to buy needed items now, don’t have to carry cash, and creates a record of purchases. The first advantage means that when you don't have any money on your pocket, you can still buy the item that you want. For example, when you want to buy limited edition shoes now, you can just use that card, although you don't have any money on your pocket. The second is don't have to carry cash. Beside it's not efficient for bring many cashes, it also unsave for you. The last is creates a record of purchases. In the end of the month, you will recieve a list of what you purchases. This system can help you to maintaining your money in the following month.

The disadvantages are interest, may require additional fees, and increased impulse buying may occur. When you buy something with credit card, sometimes the company will be adding an interest for it. As example, using your credit card you buy a handphone for 10 months. The price is 10 million rupiahs with the interest 10% each month. So, each month you must pay 1 million rupiahs and 100 thousand rupiahs for the interest. The second is the additional fees. That additional fees sometimes called surcharge and it will be seen on your bill. The last is your impulse buying may occur, or you can say that you will hard to control your wants to buy something.

Before you decide to make a credit card, you should think about threeCs. There are character, capital, and capacity. The first is character. The questions that describe the meaning of character are will you repay the debt? From your credit history, does it look like you possess the honesty and reliability to pay credit debts?

After character is capital. The questions that describe the meaning of capital are what if you don’t repay the debt? Do you have any valuable assets such as real estate, savings, or investments that could be used to repay credit debts if income is unavailable? The last is capacity. The questions are can you repay the debt? Have you been working regularly in an occupation that is likely to provide enough income to support your credit use?

After you decide to make a credit card, you should know that using credit card means that you borrow some money from the bank. Because of that, you have a responsibilities. There are borrow only what you can repay, read and understand the credit contract, pay debts promptly, notify creditor if you cannot meet payments, report lost or stolen credit cards promptly, and never give your card number over the phone unless you initiated the call or are certain of thecaller’s identity. If you can follow it, you will not get blacklist from the bank and you can feel the advantages more. Sometimes, the bank also give a prize to the good client.

REVOLUTION OF BANKING SYSTEM

This meeting is discusing about revolution of banking system in 2016. Revolution of banking system divided into three types, there are intellegent multichannel bank, socially enggaging bank, and digital ecosystem bank. From that three types of banking system, i will explain about socially enggaging bank. But before that, i will explain the other two types briefly. Intellegent multichannel bank is focused on analize customer, such as needs and expectation. Digital ecosystem bank is focused on daily deals.

Like i said before, i will explain about the socially enggaging bank. Socially enggaging bank use social media to increase the customer and gather information about customer's behavior, interest, expectation, and preferences. As a result, from facebook, bank gets 400% increase in 2009-2010. One example is like American Expenses who use facebook, foursquare, and twitter to make a program named link>love>live, and the result of this program is 30% increase in 2009-2010.

From that three types, i choose socially enggaging bank as the best system. The reason is because i think this type is more related to the customer, and easier for the bank. The bank can know more about customer just from the media sosial and they don't need to analize customer directly. So, what will your bank be in the future?

DREAM HOUSE

 

Like the other business woman, I like a simple thing. Nowadays modern means simple, so are I called my future simple house as modern-typed house. This style need to be supported by suitable external design. The exterior facilities that I want are a small park, a swimming pool, and a gazebo. The small park will be placed in front of the house, while the gazebo and swimming pool will be placed behind the house.

The small park will be consist of some trees and some flowers. In the fact I don’t really like planting, this small park made with the reason to make my house shady.  At the center, I will be place two chairs and one table that made by wood. I think this  small park will be more useful when I already have a child, her/his friends will be play outside house and will not make a mess inside the house.

The gazebo will be on the right and the swimming pool will be on the left. The background of making gazebo is gazebo is a great place to retreat on a hot summer days. The color of gazebo must be black-white, same with my house’s theme color. I will place a big sofa and a table.  I think I will mostly waste my time in this place.

Then the swimming pool, like I said before, the swimming pool will be on the left of the gazebo.  The swimming pool will be divided into two, the shallow one and the deep one.  The firist one is the shallow pool, shape of the swimming pool is a circle with 0,5 meter as the depth. This is for my future child. The deep pool’s shape is rectangle with 2 meters as the depth. The color is blue, it will make cool impression. Black will be creepy to swimming pool, right?

Enough with the outside, now I will explain about the inside of my house. Same with the other house, it will be consist of dinning room, bedroom, kitchen, living room, and garbage. The special of my house are the bedroom, the kitchen, and the garbage. The bedroom in my house will be divided into four rooms, that are me and my husband’s rooms, my child’s room, my parents’ room, and guest’s room. The bedroom will be consist of one bed, two tables,  one cupboard, and one chair for general. The difference between there is back to the owner of that room. In addition to my house, I want a sofa and a desk.

The biggest room in my house is the kitchen because I like cooking so much. The color of this room will be more colorful, maybe with blue and brown. This room consist of many tables, many cupboards, and of course cooking wares. For the garbage, it will place at the anterior of the house. The door is a slide door with iron as the material. The garbage can be entered two cars.

Dream is just a dream without an effort, to make my dream house comes true I must work hard to make it happen. Now I already have a job with the income each month is 15 million rupiahs, so my target is six years from now on. About the place, my target is on the center of the city, although it will be hard to find a cheap house in that areas. I also must looking a good and a right real estate agent to help  me realize my dream house.

NEWBIE IN LIVING BY YOUR OWN?

I want to share my experience about the time i confused with my budget when I still newbie in living by my own and how I manage it. Now, I’m 23^rd years old. My job is a tax consultant and sometimes to fill the free time, I write a story, so you can call me an novel author. Previously, because I live apart from my parents, I stayed in my university’s dorm. But because now I already graduated, of course I must move. With my savings for four years and my salary, finally I could ‘check’ one of my ‘checklist’ of my life goals, there was financial goal. My financial goal is buy an apartment, or at least rent an apartment.

My problems of living in an apartment is now I have to pay bigger for my rent, food, utilities, and my household items. To manage it, I searched some ways, and then I found a easy way, there is I must write and watch out my income and my expenses. My income each month is from my salaries. My salary from my job each month, tax consultant, is 8 million rupiahs. From the sidejob as an novel author is 5 million rupiahs. So my total income each month is 13 million rupiahs.

The expenses is divided into fixed and flexible expenses. First, fixed expenses, there are rent, car insurance, and car payment. My rent each month is 4 million rupiahs. My car insurance is 500 thousand rupiahs and the payment is 2 million rupiahs. So, my total fixed expenses is 6,5 million rupiahs. My first flexible expenses is savings, there is 1,5 million rupiahs. My food is same with my savings. My utilities, such as gas, electric, water, is 1 million rupiahs. For my car, of course I must spend for the gas and oil is 500  thousand rupiahs, parking and tools is 100 thousand rupiahs, and the repairs is 200 thousand rupiahs. The clothing and the entertainment are 200 thousand rupiahs. The last is for the house, i spend for household items, 200 thousand rupiahs, and my personal items (such as shampoo, soap, and powder), 500 thousand rupiahs. So, my total flexible expenses is 5,9 million rupiahs. The total of my monthly expenses is 12,4 million.

After the end of the month, I have to watch out my budget, whether it minus or plus. Minus or plus is obtained from income minus expenses. My income is 13 million rupiahs, and my expenses is 12,4 million rupiahs. So, the result is plus 0,6 million rupiahs or 600 thousand rupiahs. As the reflection, his budget is already good I think, because it isn’t minus from my income. But, I think I must decrease my expenses. The reason is 600 thousand rupiahs is measly, my target is at least 2 million rupiahs, so I can give it to my parents. Reflection is a must each month, with reflection you can manage your budget better for the next month. The reflection is the closing of my story. I hope my story can help you for manage your budget, especially for a newbie in living for your own.

 THE ART OF BUDGETING

               The purpose of budgeting is a forecast of income and expenditure and a tool for decision making.  

The budgeting process is the way a person goes about building its budget. The first phase is assess your 

personal and financial situation (needs, values, life). The illustration is began with my explanation about 

my situation. I’m a college student who studying at Harvard for Bachelor of Economy and i have a 

part-time job as a waitress. Because of my study, I must move from my hometown, Mexico. Each months

 i need dormitory, savings, food, bus fare, medical expenses, clothing, entertaiment, household  items,

 tuition and school expenses.

               And the second phase is set personal and financial goals. My personal and financial goals such 

as educatin goals, social goals, financia goals, family goals, health/physical goals, and my recreational 

goals. I have three important goals, there are educational goal, financial goal, and family goal.

   First, my eduational goal. My educational goal is Magister of Economy after i graduate Bachelor

 of Economy. To make it happen, i must do something now to work toward this goal, for me that

 are a money and a good resume of my study. The resources i need to achieve this goal are money

 for the  tuition and i need a good textbooks for my study. But for the money i can handle it with

 search some institutions that providing scholarships.

   The second goal is financial goal. My financial goals is buy an appartment. The reason is because

 after i graduate from Harvard, i must leave my dormitor so my time to realize it is four years. The

 resouces i need is money of course. What i can be doing now to work toward this goal? Of course

 increase my saving. My plan is i want to save 50$ from now on.  I have four years to at least to

 collecting advance of the apartment. As a college student, i think that its unpossible to buy an 

apartment on my own with my part-time job as a waitress. 

   And my last illustration for the goals is for family goals. My family goal is take them to a 

country that they want, China. For the third times i said that my resources is money. So, my

 efforts that is savings and i think i must add a new part-time job to realize that or i must move

 to another part-time job with higher salary. I want to realize it within a period of 6 years.

   I always said about money, money, and money. So where does your money come from? 

Because i live aboard from my house, my parents sent me 100$ each month. Because 100$ 

isn’t enough for my lifecost, i take a part-time job as a waitress with the salary is 80$. 

My expect to be my source of income in the near future, of course i don’t want to burdening

 my parents again, so my future source is my salary. My feeling about being financially dependent

 of course proud and relieved because i don’t burdening my parents again.

The third phase is Create a budget for fixed and variable expenses based on projected income. By the beginning of march, I created a budget for my expenses. The forth phase is Monitor current spending (saving, investing) patterns. Everytime I spent my money for something, I always write it on a book. At the end of the month, total that and that is your expenses that months. My spending pattern is of course i choose needs more than wants. But sometimes i still choose wants, especially on entertaiment, food, and clothing.

The fifth phase is Compare your budget to what you have actually spent. By the end of this month, I compare my budget and my actual spending, and look after the difference for the both of them. And the last is review financial progress and revise budgeted amounts. It will be necessary to revise your budget because of unforeseen events. You may lose your job, take a pay cut, or have an emergency where you need to spend more money that you usually would for a given month. The steps are figure out how much you have income for the given month, subtract your necessary expenses, and subtract your unforeseen expense that came up for the month.

Before i finish this article, i will give you some tips about how to cut expenses. There are cut out coupons for the things you usually buy at the store, and not for the things you do not need and write a grocery list, so you do not forget anything and it helps you stay on target and not get sidetracked. I hope thats can help you to setting up and  maintaning your budget so you can realize your goals. Remember that do what is right, what is easy.

(cr. http://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-a-Budget-for-Personal-Use )