Low Interest Credit Cards

When Jennifer Brady-Brown and Sara Sprague approached The Washington Trust Co. in March with an idea to start a women’s boutique on Block Island, bankers told them securing a loan would be difficult. The business would be a startup during a downtrodden economy and located on an island where the retail season lasts just 10 weeks.

The two friends stayed up until the wee hours of the morning creating a business plan and then, in a critical turning point, the U.S. Small Business Administration agreed to guarantee a portion of the loan in case of default. Washington Trust approved the $40,000 loan and Wild Flowers Boutique opened May 22.

“We did the research, and we knew what we needed to do,” Brady-Brown said.

The SBA has stepped up promoting itself on the island in recent years, seeking people like Brady-Brown and Sprague who need help persuading a bank to approve a loan. In 20

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The television commercials promising college degrees or professional certificates fast are hard to miss. The smiling TV actors offer assurances of future economic security and success. But might these programs be compared to subprime mortgages disguised in academic regalia?  

Schools like University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute and a host of others are part of the growing for-profit education sector that may the next industry to crash, burn and drag us all down with it, according to Steven Eisman, the investor famous for predicting the subprime mortgage crisis that set off the recession.

The glaring similarity between the subprime mortgage business and for-profit education is the issuance of loans to people who cannot repay them. Read more…

There are millions of sources of business advice. Some are good. Some are less good. It is often relatively straight forward to keep asking people for advice until you find someone who advises you to do what you wanted to do in the first place. This can be good. But it is unlikely to lead you to decide to do what you should do.

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

10 Step Decision Making Process

If you are unsure, it pays to talk to experts at several points in this process. However, experts can only advise in the stages up to the point where you make a decision. Use experts to add possibilities and criteria. It

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Are you thinking about transferring a balance from a high-interest credit card to one with lower interest rates? One question on your mind might be whether you should transfer that balance to one of your existing cards, or apply for a new credit card.

Each choice will affect your credit score in different ways, so let’s look at the pros and cons of each.

Applying for New Credit

When you apply for new credit, whether or not you get the card, your credit score will take a small hit due to the credit inquiry. If you get the card, expect your score to drop more because you’ll have a “new account” in your credit file. New acc

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A government minister yesterday revealed that the NHS spent £1.6 billion on IT revealed in the 2008 to 2009 financial year, most of which went to the health service’s ill-fated National Programme for IT.

Healthcare IT minister Simon Burns revealed the figure for the 08/09 financial year in response to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Mike Weatherly, although he did not give explicit details of how this number has been calculated.

A report by IT analyst Kable in 2009 showed that total NHS IT spend for 07/08 totalled £2.4 billion. W

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