The Most Student Loan Debt in College by Football Conference

Two of the most popular topics this Fall are college football and student loan debt. It’s always interesting to see the figures for the average college student loan debt. And, now you can see the average college student loan debt by college football conference. How does your favorite team stack up?
 
Though they might not seem like they go together, the folks over at The Student Loan Report were able to do this in their Most Student Loan Debt in College by Football Conference study.
 
They ranked each team in the Power Five conferences in terms of student loan debt per borrower. They also ranked each conference against each other.

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Taming Your Debt – What You Need To Know To Conquer Your Debt

Is it Ever Appropriate to Invest While in Debt?Many people dream of finally paying off their debt. It can be discouraging if a large amount of your take-home pay is shelled out in ways that produce no tangible benefit but instead is used to pay off debts. One way to release yourself from this burden is to come up with a plan to make large amounts of money and taming your debt and pay off all of your debt once.

Taming Your Debt

However, unless you are paying exorbitant interest rates, it is maybe worthwhile to hold on to at least part of your debt and invest the money instead for a greater return. While debt can be annoying, it can be more annoying to consider how much money you could have been made by using the extra amount for investments rather than being in a hurry to pay off certain debts. For many people, having some amount of debt is reality and is a question of taming debt rather than eliminating it.

Who Needs Debt?

The fact is, most people need debt from time to time. It is a rare person who can pay for a property in cash without taking a mortgage or can put all of the money down for college tuition year after year. Businesses require loans to start their operations and to raw materials and equipment for production. In these cases, loans are like investments in the sense that you are taking loans because of what you can accomplish with them in terms of expanding opportunities and creating revenues.

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How to Spend Wisely with Credit Cards this Christmas

More shoppers will use credit cards for holiday gifts this year.Americans have more pep in their step this Christmas. According to USAA’s fourth annual Holiday Spending Survey, consumers are more positive about their outlook this holiday gift giving season than last year and feel that they can spend wisely.

The financial giant’s findings were actually in line with recent reports from the National Retail Federation. The survey found that holiday sales are expected to grow above the current 10-year growth rate for holiday sales.

But, with this renewed optimism, there is a danger of overspending with credit cards when you could spend wisely. More people than ever before are planning on paying for some if not all of their Christmas gifts with their credit cards.

And, like always, most are not planning on paying off those credit card balances right away. So, how can you protect yourself from spending too much on your credit cards this holiday? Here are a few tips to help you spend wisely even while using credit cards during this holiday season.

USAA Survey Finds An Increase In Holiday Gift Giving

USAA’s Annual Holiday Spending Survey found that consumers plan to purchase more holiday gifts this year as opposed to what they bought last year. According to the survey, shoppers sentiment with respect to holiday shopping has become more positive this past year from surveys that were conducted in 2011.

For example, 40% of shoppers in 2010 reported that they had plans to scale back their holiday gift giving. Only 31% said they were scaling back their spending in 2011, and just 24% of Christmas shoppers said they were looking at reducing their spending in 2012.

Fewer Shoppers Are Making A Spending Plan

This year only 55% of all shoppers had a budget and a spending plan on how much and who they were giving gifts for this year. This was a worst percentage than the previous two years where 57% in 2011 and 61% in 2010 said they had a holiday gift giving budget. Despite the continued high unemployment and less than stellar financial markets, fewer holiday shoppers are planning to slow down on their holiday gift giving.

For three years in a row, holiday shoppers actually plan on increasing the number and amount of gifts that they are giving their friends, family, and loved ones. To make matters worse, shoppers are not making a spending plan or a budget when they set out to buy their gifts. This is the one place where I’ve strove to be better in my own financial life.

I have decided this year to write down every person that my wife and I are going to buy Christmas gifts for and to also list out the gift that we are buying in advance. Now that I have a budget and a plan, I can stick to what I plan on spending. This year is also one of the first years in a long time where I know exactly how much I am planning on spending.

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What Are The Pros and Cons of the Best Store Credit Cards?

Pros and Cons of the Best Store Credit CardsYou probably hear it all the time when you’re in the middle of checking out at a major department store: “Would you like to sign up for a store card to get a discount on your first purchase today?” If you’re one of the 56.7% of American credit users who has a store-specific card in your wallet, then something in that simple sales pitch must have worked. But, which are the best store credit cards and what are the pros and cons of the best store credit cards?

Pros and Cons of the Best Store Credit Cards

If you’ve ever been tempted to sign up for a store’s credit card to score that great, last-minute discount on your first purchase and access a variety of other benefits promised by the department store, consider these pros and cons before signing on the dotted line:

Pros – Best Store Credit Cards

Although you can’t use a store credit card outside of that particular store (which includes their website and partners outlined in the credit card agreement), there are some benefits worth mentioning. This is especially true if you’re a consistent customer with that company.

First Purchase Discount

According to CreditCards.com’s 2015 retail card survey, 42 of the top 100 retailers in the U.S. offer some kind of card to their customers. The survey broke this down into types of cards offered: “two debit cards, 38 store-only cards and 24 general purpose (known as co-branded) cards”.numbers skewed because some stores offer multiple types of cards). Although 44 of these cards come with discount or rewards programs, most of these apply to discounts on the first purchase.

The numbers are a little skewed because some stores offer multiple types of cards. Although 44 of these cards come with discount or rewards programs, most of these apply to discounts on the first purchase.

This first purchase discount can range from 15-40% or more, in rare instances. Stores offer this massive incentive as a way of getting more people to sign up for credit cards.

And, if you’re already a regular customer who’s been looking for a new card to add to your wallet, then this could be a great chance to save a considerable amount of money. Hopefully, your first purchase is big enough to justify it. Otherwise, consider waiting to sign up until your initial discount will be bigger.

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