Their mission statement with the Rush Card is, “To put credit back in the hands of those who cannot get proper credit because of their bad credit history, or they are just starting out with using credit.”

That is a pretty noble mission for Russell Simmons to undertake and I wanted to see exactly how well the Rush Card holds up to this type of mission statement.

Well first off let me just get to the point. Why can someone get a Rush Card if they cannot get a credit card? Unlike credit cards, the Rush Card is actually a prepaid credit card. It works exactly like a credit card and is excepted at any of the merchants who also accept Visa cards, which is pretty much 95% of the country. The key difference with the Rush Card and a credit card is that the Rush Card is prepaid where you deposit funds into the card and than you are able to spend up to the amount of the deposit. This way you won’t be able to go over your limits like credit cards.

Why Get a Rush Card?

Another benefit of the Rush Card is that because you are only spending what you put into the card than there isn’t any interest fees to go with holding the card and carrying any balances. This is great because if you have been following my blog for a while than you can see that interest rates can literally double the amount that you have borrowed for your purchase, this can mean that a $500 laptop could end up being $1,000 by the time you finish paying off that purchase. Traditional credit cards also vary with their interest rates and for anyone with bad credit you may be carrying a card with more than 20% APR interest, that is just high.

Safety of A Credit Card

With a Rush Card in your wallet you won’t have to carry cash around with you, it cannot be used if it were stolen. If you had your wallet stolen with cash in it than you can pretty much kiss your money good bye because that will be gone in a second and there isn’t any way to trace the money. If you lost the Rush Card than no one would be able to charge your card because you will need to show ID and sign for the purchase just like other credit cards. What also worries me when carrying traditional credit cards with credit limits is that if a theft did by chance find a way to use your card after stealing it than they can literally charge up the entire amont of your credit line, imagine if you had $8,000 credit limits than they can use all of that. But with the Rush Card you can put only $300 in for every day expenses and if they got into that you won’t lose anymore money than that, you file a claim with Rush Card and after an investigation you get your money back, much safer and secure over cash.

Things to Consider

One of the cons with the Rush Card is obviously that you cannot spend more than you can afford to do so, so if you had the cash to buy something than you can make that same purchase with a Rush Card but why not just buy it with cash. Well like I said before the added safety of being able to keep track of your money and not worry about it being stolen is a definitely plus. Another downside to holding a Rush Card is that there is a fee to activate a Rush Card. This is a one time fee and if you opt to sign up for the Pay as you Go Plan than you will be able to waive the monthly fees.

Build (Re-Build) Your Credit History and Score

My recommendation is to get a Rush Card as a temporary credit card while you are in a time of dealing with poor credit scores. With the Rush Card your credit activity is actually being reported to the major credit agency bureau, so just by maintaining and using the Rush Card sparingly you are actually keeping up your credit score and helping it repair any damage that you have done to your score. For anyone who is in need of a credit card because they need to make purchases online or where it is safer or wiser to make purchases on a credit card than it makes absolute sense to get a Rush Card first.

It is also a great card to get for children because it helps them maintain control of their spending without having to worry about them going overboard with their purchases. You can keep track of all purchases and cap the spending limit at the amount that was deposited and not a dollar more.

An added bonus is that if you know any friends or family who are in need of a credit card as well, and they sign up under you than The Rush Card will actually deposit $5 into your account as a refferal bonus.

Because the card is a prepaid card everyone is 100% approved for a Rush Card, if you are interested in getting a Rush Card than head over to Rush Card – Prepaid Visa Debit Card to sign up for a card for every member of your family.

The news that has leaked its way back to me though makes me seriously wonder what is going on with our Congress.

They passed ugly bills for giving away car rebates, house rebates and credits and than you have members of Congress acting like complete baboons while addressing the President.

Joe Wilson is a disgrace to be in the seat he is in if he cannot keep his calm and composure while discussing important matters, how safe do I feel about him making laws on other issues?

Than if you read the latest CNN article (sorry I didn’t have a chance to pull the link) there was one Senator who wore a sign across his chest, and others throwing papers around?

It is starting to sound more like the WWE than the USA, should Vince McMahon be our leader too? Geez…

Let’s get our acts straight and put some real laws pushed out, respectfully.

For one reason or another people will find a reason to complain, and if you go to cars 4 and 5 on the article you will see many excluded from the plan complain.

The best remedy for this was not to implement such a plan which classifies who can participate to begin with. Especially when the classification was based on a decision made years ago about the kind of car you would be driving.

Now that the program is winding its way down and end this coming Monday I can see frustrated potential buyers who couldn’t get a car avoid the dealership for some time.

Simple economics dictates that dealers will further lower prices six months down the road when their performance sheets suffer, at that point I’m sure they will offer up rebates that even the CARS program can’t beat out.

This will cause an uproar of upset CARS buyers, who feel like they got ripped off once again for buying too soon. To them, I say you never had to buy a car on another persons dime either but you choose to do so, live with it.

To those who waited, they will not only be able to buy a cheaper car, and not be tied and limited in their options and models, but they will know they did so without asking someone else to help them pick up the tab.

And my last question to Congress, will we ask for some of that money back later when these new owners sell their cars? Because they wouldn’t have been able to have the car without help, I feel that they will take home $4500 to their bank by selling the car in the future.

Maybe I’m a bit frustrated by not being able to take my 36mpg car in for a new car, but I also did not want to pass the dime and in the end that’s what angers me that half a million people passed the dime to us without a care, but incentives drive demand and that would be one hell of an incentive.

When you have a goal you set out to better yourself through it. I can’t say with 100% certainty that I’ve always been able to achieve my goals, but I definitely try and do my best. As for the goals that I have failed on I don’t feel bad but I learn from them.

I believe that the only reason most people don’t set goals for themselves is because they fear that failure as a result of them setting a goal in stone.

A goal doesn’t have to be large, such as making a million dollars or nothing, but it definitely shouldn’t be too small either. A good goal is something such as paying off your credit card debt and while saying you want to pay off $200 in debt is a goal, it isn’t too difficult to do if you have a source of income. Whereas if you had $4,500 in credit card debt that is a sizable goal to achieve.

So if you have a goal that you are planning on accomplishing what is it?

I will be thinking of a goal in the mean time and will share it when I find out what a good goal for me will be.

With that said I will try my best to continue my efforts in providing my opinions during the course of each week in regards to the economy and our wallets.

I would like to take this moment to thank all my readers for their continued support and readership, without you the readers, this site will not be as it is.

Thank you,
Tran, Harry

With all the types of protection that Obama wants to instate for consumers, there is no mention of protection for students entering college and taking on student loans. Of course there isn’t any advocate group to protect consumers from taking student loans that they can’t possibly afford to pay for.

College has been touted as the greatest thing that any person can ever achieve and that sentiment has been carried over to blind people into not protecting more students from borrowing excessively to achieve receiving a college degree.

Why would we want a watchdog group that will watch over every other loan type from mortgages to credit cards but fall short of student loans? Student loans may be one of the biggest type of loan a person ever pulls out for themselves aside from a mortgage yet it is done when they are at a young and inexperienced age of 17-18 and you’re telling me they don’t need a watchdog making sure they don’t get in over their heads? Of course not, because student loans are loans taken out against the Government and because of that it means that students are indebted to the Government until they can pay off their loans plus interest after graduating.

This is why I wrote “The Next Bubble To Burst – Student Loan Repayments” enlightening people to becareful when deciding to take a student loan.

The reasons why I believe student will have a hard time repaying their loans are:
1. Borrowing too much during prosperous times.
2. Poor job market with high unemployment after graduation.
3. Closing industries where many students studied and got their degrees.
4. Lower starting wages that don’t catch up with interest rates on loan.
5. New graduates lack necessary skills to compete in a tightened employment market.
6. It is difficult to get student loans discharged through bankruptcy.

I wouldn’t be surprised if student graduates start defaulting on their student loans. One big issue with student loans is that they are hard to discharge even during bankruptcy filing and therefore students will have to live with the cost of their educations for the rest of their lives until they can repay the entire balance in full. Many students will as a result end up ruining their credit records at an early age because they over extended their borrowing capabilities at a very young and uninformed age only to find out that 5 years into the future they won’t be getting the job or skill sets that they were promised to get them ready for a career and life of prosperous employment.

For anyone who is getting ready to enter college, take heed that college is a great tool which prepares you for a future career but by no means does it ever guarantee you a career because you have a college degree. Regardless of what counselors or college representatives may claim only a select few ever come out of college with a great job from the get go, having a college education is necessary but it in no way negates the fact that cold hard experiences are required to land you a fulfilling job where you want. Therefore, while I’m not trying to discourage anyone from attending college using these facts to base your decision making it is often wise to enter school without having to borrow to attend college. This may mean attending a school closer to your budget range, working part or full time during college to pay off the loan sooner before interest begins to accrue on the balance, not spending student loan money on inappropriate things that aren’t education related, don’t delay paying off your student loans and opting to use your wages on new cars or clothes while putting off student loan repayments assuming that you have time to pay those off after school is over.

In essence you must take the appropriate measures to ensure you leave college without taking on too much debt in your early lives, it is too early in your life to own a $100,000 debt.

No don't bang your head on your screen but continue to read below.

Treat Vacations Like Vacations
With internet everywhere, hotels offer free wi-fi because we are in a constant state of wanting to stay connected. We have Blackberry and iPhones which promise us the world of the internet and email at the speed of light in the palm of our hands. But what happens is that when we go on vacations we often carry these devices and go to places which cater to traveling tourist who wish they could stay connected. What ends up happening is that we are tied by our phones and laptops and computers to the office and we can’t get away when we are trying to get away. The best thing to do is treat our vacation time like it is, it is time to get away from our daily lives and things we do in our daily lives like checking our emails every 5 minutes. So the next time you go on a vacation maybe it is about time to leave the Blackberry home, or if it is really important to have a phone by your side in case of a medical emergency try bringing a standard cell phone with only calling capabilities.

Cleaning Up the Junk in Your Home
Stuff causes stress, having too much of it is a secret line of attack by stress into our lives. Many people have more than they really need in their household. Having all these things takes our time away from us and away from doing things that are meaningful in our lives. When we own too many things in our house we have to clean it, store it, tend to it, repair it, and use it. How many iPods, and Sony Mp3 players do you own? At the same time doesn’t your iPhone or Blackberry Pearl also play music, while you have a digital camera and at the same time the phone has one too. Your laptop, television, and digital photo display all show images. I’m sure you’re getting the idea, we accumulate so much in our lives and many things often perform the same functions but by having all these things we end up feeling a guilt of not using it so we try to buy time to play with all our gadgets. If you feel that this is your case it may be time to hold a garage sale or an online sell off on eBay or Amazon and get rid of the extra gadgets and gizmos.

Getting a Pet and a Pal
This may work for some people but it may not be for everyone. Maybe you have allergies or you aren’t ready for a pet and that will not help your situation any. But if you can see yourself being ready to own a pet than a pet is a great idea to help relieve your stress. Pets are companions and they aren’t really picky when it comes to activities, the only thing that they want to do is play with you and be around you. Having someone whose always interested in the things that you like is a great stress release similar to being around your best friends.

I hope these three tips will help you in your lives if you believe that you are undergoing an extreme case of stress. Remember that you always have your friends and no matter how much stress you are undergoing than you need to talk to others and they may be able to offer some guidance, there is nothing worst than bottling stress up.