Money Blue Book

If you’re like most people out there, there’s inevitably going to come some point in your life when you’ll need to apply for credit and seek out deeper pockets to help you fulfill your personal financial goals and objectives. While the traditional American dream of home ownership seemed to be fading out of reach during the last few years, the housing meltdown is now thankfully forcing out of control real estate prices back down into sync with reality. But with the resultant repercussions and reverberations of the financial credit crisis, mortgage lenders have grown extra vigilant in weeding out unproven and unreliable mortgage debtors. While a mortgage applicant with a FICO score of 700 in the past could have easily obtained a lofty prime interest rate on their loan, lenders are now increasingly demanding higher FICO’s in excess of 760 for the same prime interest package. The subprime credit mess has made one’s credit report and credit score even more important gateway factors to determining who qualifies and who doesn’t for the loan conditions of their choice. It’s not just for expensive, higher denominational credit prospects like mortgage loans either - even routine applications for things like credit cards, checking accounts, auto loans, and even new jobs are undergoing greater credit worthiness scrutiny.

Both Your Credit Report History and Credit Score Help Determine Your Credit Worthiness, But Credit Scores Are More Uniform Measures Of Comparison From Individual To Individual

While credit reports, like your high school transcript does a better overall job in revealing the compete performance history of the individual, oftentimes, it’s the credit score, like the mathematically calculated grade point average (GPA) that is given the greatest initial attention. Like the analogous school GPA’s, credit scores are frequently used by major lenders to serve as cut off points to determine who will enjoy speedy approval and those who will require further scrutiny. As such, a high credit score serves up the best first impression when it comes to getting quickly approved for credit cards, car loans, and mortgages. Your complete credit report transcript conveys the rest of your credit history, but it’s your credit score that provides that first impression to determine whether you instantly qualify or not. If you’ve ever wondered why some people can get online and get instantly approved for a credit card in seconds, that’s because their credit scores are likely so remarkably high, credit card issuers feel they have more than enough information right off the bat to grant application approval. The same can be said for pre-qualification terms for mortgage or auto loans for favorable rates.

For those of you who buy into the financial wisdom of some personal finance pundits who advocate a cash only lifestyle and preach against all forms of debt, I personally think that is an all too safe but foolish perspective to cling to. It’s not credit or debt that is so evil, it’s the lack of financial education and mismanagement that dooms one to failure. Unless you are a millionaire, come from a very wealthy family, or your last name is Gates, Buffett, or Walton (of Walmart fame), you will inevitably need to take on student loans, car loans, or a housing mortgage loan in some form or another sometime during your life span. A cash only lifestyle is appropriate for engaging in small time transactions, but for the pricier car and home buying process, you will inevitably need to call upon your built up credit history and credit score eventually.

So What Is The Purpose Of Having A Good Credit Score And How Is It Calculated?

Your credit score is basically a three digit number that is mathematically generated by credit reporting agencies based on information found on your individual credit report. The credit score is a numeral representation used to assess your past debt payment history and predict your ability to fulfill future debt obligations. Everytime you perform actions or transactions that relate to the extension of credit in the real world, that request for credit is submitted to the three major U.S. credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) for recordation. By taking that continuously updated information and plugging it into a special mathematical formula, credit bureaus can generate an up to date credit score on demand to accurately predict your present and future ability to pay off incurred liabilities. Positive actions like on-time payment and low credit usage will boost your credit score, while negative events like bankruptcies, foreclosures, and failures to pay on time will hurt your score. Experience and trends have shown that those with higher credit scores are more responsible with credit and are less likely to default on loans. However, because credit transactions are not always equally sent to all big three consumer credit reporting agencies and not all information is processed by all three in the same mistake or error-free way, there are bound to be slight differences and discrepancies among different credit bureau scoring results, even if they all utilized the same credit scoring methodology. Keep in mind, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion all individually generate their own credit score results on request.

But in general, one’s credit score is a fairly uniform mathematical measure of credit worthiness. Banks, credit card companies, and mortgage creditors are in the business of taking on risk, and thus utilize this invaluable scoring system to gauge prospects. In exchange for taking on risk, these institutions are willing to extend you money on loan, but in return they expect to be compensated for the financial risk they take on in the form of additional interest rate payments. Different degrees of risk and possibilities of default demand different levels of interest. If you’re a risky debtor with a shaky credit history, you will be required to pay higher interest payments to the creditor to offset the risk. If you are a more reliable debtor, chances are your interest obligations will be a lot less. That is why it is important to keep your credit score high - it’s one of the most important things that lenders look at when they evaluate your financial profile. You might be a nice guy or a nice gal, really deserving of credit approval, but if your credit score is lackluster, your chances may be shot.

What Is The FICO Credit Score Made Up Of, and How Are The Scoring Categories Weighted?

When most people speak about credit scores, more likely than not they are referring to the FICO credit score, the popular credit scoring system created by the Fair Isaac Corporation. There are currently several alternative credit scoring systems out there, most notably, the new VantageScore jointly developed by the big three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, but the FICO is still the most widely used scoring method. I recommend avoiding the VantageScore for now and staying clear of credit vendors that attempt to hawk it. Because the VantageScore also uses a three digit scoring system but on a different numerical range from 501-990, obtaining it at this time will only serve to confuse you. Because most lenders have not broadly adopted the use of the VantageScore yet, you are better off focusing on the FICO exclusively for now. There really is no particular purpose for consumers or lenders to adopt the VantageScore at this point in time as its development was primarily business motivated rather than designed to benefit the consumer. The credit reporting agencies simply got tired of having to pay royalties to Fair Isaac for utilizing their proprietary scoring formula and wanted to create their own cheaper version. For now, stick with the genuine FICO - it’s the most widely used credit score and currently still the most relevant by far.

The FICO credit score is formulated on a scale from 300 to 850, however most people will have scores between 600 and 800. It’s unlikely to find many people with scores below or above this general scoring range. As a rule of thumb, any FICO score that is above 700 should be deemed good, although in this current market, a FICO of 750 will probably be needed to guarantee you the most favorable loan rates. Here is how the FICO credit score is generated and broken down into its composition categories according to pie chart percentages:

1) Your Credit and Debt Payment History - ( 35% of Your FICO)

This is the absolute most important factor in determining your FICO credit score. To have a high score, you’ll need to develop a history of timely and punctual bill payments. When lenders evaluate you as a prospective credit candidate, they want to see that you have a solid history of not only fulfilling debt obligations, but that you also have a track record of paying on time. Past late payments and unpaid debts sent to collections will significantly damage your FICO score. Negative factors like bankruptcy and defaulted payments will hurt your score as well. How badly a failure to pay or a late payment will affect your credit score is determined by the total number of past due items, how long they were past due, and the length of time since your last late payment. Because the payment history category is weighted to favor more recent transactions over older actions on your credit history, it’s never too late to start paying on time. Better late than never.

2) Amounts and Balances Owed - ( 30% Of Your FICO)

The second most important factor other than timely payment is the total amount of credit money that you owe and the proportional amount of your total available credit utilized. If you are already carrying a substantial amount of active debt in the form of existing home mortgages, home equity lines, car loans, student loans, or credit cards, you are less favorable as a candidate to take on additional debt. Because of your existing debt obligations, you are seen as a greater potential credit risk. However, your total amount of outstanding debt can be hugely tempered and your risk factor greatly minimized by having a lower debt usage ratio.

Under the FICO formula, someone with an outstanding credit card balance of $900, with a total available limit of $1000 (utilization ratio of 90%) is deemed to be riskier than someone who has an outstanding credit card balance of $2000, but with a total credit limit of $10,000 (utilization ratio of 20%). Being saddled with a lot of debt isn’t necessarily bad in terms of your credit score if you are well under your total available credit limit. Obviously the more zero balance revolving credit accounts you have on your credit report the better, but the amount of your credit usage in proportion to your total credit available goes a long way to boosting your score.

Example: As someone who regularly engages in credit card arbitrage, I frequently carrying large 0% APR balances on my 0% balance transfer credit cards. But despite my high credit balances, I maintain a stellar FICO score (FICO of 758), attributable to my low overall credit usage ratio. I might carry credit card balances in excess of $20,000 on multiple cards, but because I have over $80,000 of unused revolving credit available to me, my low proportional usage keeps my FICO high.

3) Length of Your Credit History - ( 15% Of Your FICO)

When it comes to the FICO credit score, the older the credit account, the better. That is why consumers are sometimes encouraged to initiate credit usage at an earlier age, if only for the sole purpose of building up credit. College students are sometimes advised to open at a least one student credit card for the purpose of building up a credit history file. Those who stick with cash only and wait till later in life to start opening credit accounts are ultimately short changed when it comes to their FICO scores. The same rationale is also why it is almost never advisable to cancel old credit cards. Unless you are obsessive and compulsive when it comes to credit card spending, you should keep those older cards around and let the accounts age like fine wine. You don’t necessarily have to use those cards - just put them away in a drawer if you have to. Because the length of your credit history is based on the average ages of your total active credit accounts, it’s in your best interest to keep old accounts open indefinitely. If you absolutely must cancel a credit card, cancel a newer card instead. Closing out an old account will have the unintended backfire effect of hurting your FICO credit score.

4) Types Of Existing Credit Owned - ( 10% Of Your FICO)

The FICO scoring system favors credit users who are diverse with their usage. The system likes to see users mix it up a little and not just focus on one type of installment usage - like credit cards alone. In general, older individuals with longer credit histories usually tend to have a greater mix of credit account types, thus higher scores. While revolving credit accounts like mortgages and car loans help to inject some diversity into your usage, one shouldn’t go out of one’s way to mix it up purposely. Focus more on paying all bills on time and limiting your credit usage instead (they comprise 65% of your FICO credit score). In my opinion, this category has the least relevance and the least impact on your overall credit score.

5) New Credit or Recent Credit Sought - ( 10% Of Your FICO )

This is where hard credit checks and soft credit checks come in. Everytime you affirmatively submit an application for a loan or additional credit, a hard credit pull is made against your credit report. The resulting credit pull will have a short term negative hit against your formulated FICO score (in time the score will recover). In general, new and recent requests for credit are seen as risky factors in the eyes of lenders. However, new requests for additional revolving credit that follows a recent late payment will likely cause a more significant drain against your score, as they are seen as ominous signs of financial desperation.

However, the way the FICO system is set up, frequent requests for credit within a relatively short 30 day period is discounted in terms of aggregate negative effects on your credit score. This is to compensate and alleviate the effects of those who are merely interest rate shopping for mortgages or car loans who are likely to submit numerous applications within a short period of time. This is the reason why balance transfer arbitrage seekers are often advised to submit their numerous credit card applications simultaneously within a short period of time to minimize the overall hit against their credit score. As always though, only hard credit checks negatively affect your FICO. Self credit checks initiated by you to examine your own credit report or credit score will never hurt your rating.

What Is Not Considered In Your Credit Score, And How To Boost Your FICO

While the FICO score is a very important factor to those seeking instant approval for credit or a quicker path to the best loan terms and conditions, it’s not the end all. Lenders also carefully scrutinize your credit report and other financial factors like income, job stability, education, and amount of money you have in your checking and savings accounts to determine your credit worthiness. That’s because many relevant personal risk factors are not appropriately reflected in the credit report or the credit score model compiled by the big three credit reporting bureaus. Such information include age, race, sex, income, savings, marital status, education, and your current type of housing.

The FICO score also struggles with formulating an accurate score representation for new entrants into the credit world. Those with short credit histories like recent immigrants or college students are unlikely to have much of a credit report transcript to work off of. As evidenced by the Fair Isaac Corporation’s efforts at formulating and developing its new FICO Expansion Score to gauge the credit worthiness prospects of those with incomplete or thin files, the existing FICO system as is probably still needs some improvement, and is far from perfect. However, until a better thing comes along, consumers need to find ways to improve and keep their credit ratings high. Unless you don’t have plans to seek new employment, apply for a new credit card, obtain a home mortgage loan, find a new apartment, or apply for insurance in the next few years, it’s in your self interest to improve your FICO credit score and keep it high in case you ever need to use it.

As it is relevant to your ultimate credit score, I’d recommend taking several minutes to download a free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. With this free federal government service, you get to request a single credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every four months. Instead of requesting all three credit reports at once, you might want to stagger them out to three times a year for continuous monitoring. If you spot an error, notify the bureau (online, by phone or by mail) and the creditor (call and also send a letter) immediately. While your credit score isn’t free, there are ways to get get your free credit score from the big three credit reporting agencies. Remember, if you want consistency, stick with the FICO score exclusively for now.

Countrywide Bank is currently offering the Countrywide Rewards Platinum Visa Card for a remarkable 2% cash back on all purchases. Very few other credit card offers come close - except maybe the similarly advertised 1.5% cash back Fidelity Visa Signature Card. Most other top value cash back credit cards restrict higher rebates to special purchase categories such as grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants. This card’s one of the best non-restrictive purchase cards out there.

The only caveat is that to get the high 2% cash back rebate, you’ll need to redeem your rebate points as a deposit to your Countrywide savings account, money market account, or as a payment towards a Countrywide mortgage loan. With the offer, you’ll receive 1 purchase reward point for every $1 you spend using the credit card. Everytime your rebate balance reaches 2,500 points, you can redeem your points for an instant $50 Countrywide bank deposit or mortgage payment - essentially a 2% cash back offer.

This offer is basically your base 1% cash back offer for non Countrywide bank account holders with an additional special bonus rebate on top for those who are. With the standard purchase offer, you only get 1% back, redeemable for gift cards to a participating merchant of your choice, or a $25 check to use towards home improvement and related supplies. But if you are a Countrywide bank or mortgage customer as well, you’ll get double the rewards, effectively. There is no annual fee, and best of all for high credit card spenders, there is no cap or limit to the amount of rewards you can earn.

While the card has been around for some time in one form or another, it wasn’t until relatively recently that the Countrywide Platinum Visa started to allow customers to redeem points as a savings account deposit as well - becoming a true cash back credit card. Before the switch, the card was just one of those real estate mortgage payment credit card offers.

Take Advantage Of The Max 2% Cash Back Offer With A Countrywide Savings Or Money Market Account

As a credit card buff, I’m always on the prowl for new credit card bonus rewards and purchase rebate offers. I didn’t pay much attention to this credit card offer (since it was just another 1% rebate credit card to me) until I recently opened a Countrywide SavingsLink account so I could write a review about the company’s interest rate offerings. I was personally able to open a Countrywide savings account instantly with no hard credit check performed. If you’re an interest rate chaser, it’s hard to beat a consistent performer like Countrywide. Countrywide Bank has historically offered very high APY interest rates for its interesting bearing savings and money market services. In my regularly updated list of the best high yield savings accounts, I have consistently listed Countrywide Bank as a top performer for its high rate of return for account holders and reliability in offering fast ACH transfer services for those with multiple linked bank accounts. For the high yield SavingsLink, there is a $1,000 minimum balance to open and you’ll need at least $10,000 to get the highest APY rate. For those of you who maintain less than $10,000 in your savings account, there are better choices elsewhere.

Converting An Existing Chase (First USA) Credit Card Into The Countrywide Visa Platinum Card

Since I try my best to keep my FICO credit score rating high, I would rather not recklessly submit an application for a new credit card offer unless I had no other option available to me (new credit card applications ding your credit score ever so slightly everytime). Therefore, I turned to my existing portfolio of cards instead. Since the Countrywide credit card is currently being run by Chase (First USA) card services, I was able to call in and convert an old Chase branded Platinum Visa card into the new Countrywide Visa Platinum Card. Keep in mind, this type of conversion without a new card application is only possible if you have a current Chase or First USA credit card with either the Signature or Platinum designation.

What Will Happen To Countrywide Banking Services With Bank Of America’s Upcoming Acquisition?

It wasn’t too long ago that Countrywide dodged the bankruptcy bullet due to heavy involvement in the subprime mortgage loan mess. With its pending acquisition by Bank of America still being processed and Bank of America already having indicated that it intends to operate Countrywide separately under its existing Countrywide name for at least until 2009, there remains speculation as to what will become of the current line of Countrywide products. One possibility is that the 2% cash back Countrywide credit card will get serviced by Bank of America. But it’s also possible that the program might get shifted onto another card provider like American Express. I’m just speculating at this point, by the way. When Bank of America acquired MBNA, it took the pre-existing 2% rebate MBNA Fidelity 529 Mastercard and hammered it into a new American Express card with a lower 1.5% rebate offer. However and very importantly, existing cardholders were allowed to keep and maintain their old 2% rebate offer as is.

Changes are definitely going to come, but if you are willing to take a little bit of chance, you might be able to secure yourself a great 2% reward card good towards all purchases. How Bank of America plans on integrating or modifying the Countrywide bank account redemption portion of the current offer is a good question. If you’re not willing to take the leap and roll the dice, you might want to consider going with a more predictable and less drama-filled cash back credit card program.

Oh great - well I hope this article doesn’t foretell or signify a trend that’s going to be widely picked up by the gas industry in the coming future. While they’ve been one of the most credit card friendly industries in the past, some gas station chains are apparently starting to scale back their payment options in favor of cash due to diminishing profit margins caused by higher gas prices and rising credit card interchange fees. The credit card interchange fee, a percentage of the total sales price paid to credit card companies by the merchant on every transaction, is usually fixed at somewhere just under 2% - but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services. As gas prices have risen dramatically, so have the credit card acceptance fees that gas pump merchants pay, drastically cutting into their profitability.

I Always Use My Credit Card To Pay For Gas And Don’t Intend To Change This Payment Practice Anytime Soon

While I understand why some gas station owners and advocates are pushing for the move back to cash payment only for gas purchases, I hope this is not an emerging or widely adopted trend. Paying cash at the pump may work for some, but it’s not going to fly for me.

I take frequent road trips and one of the most appreciated benefits of fueling at the gas pump is the ability to easily slide into a gas station off the freeway, punch in my prepayment, fuel up, and get out quickly. With a gas credit card, I can do that easily. With just a quick swipe and the press of a few buttons on the automated gas pump, my car is instantly refueled without hassle. With cash payment, not only is the practice comparatively more time consuming, but it’s a major inconvenience for those of us who have grown dependent on using our credit cards to pay for everything. I rarely carry more than $50 worth of emergency cash in my wallet and dislike the annoyance of walking around with dollar bills and loose coins jiggling around in my pockets. My efficient credit card usage habit also stems from my view that handling paper money is inherently dirty and unsanitary. I’m by no means a germa-phobe, but I feel that money is one of those heavily transacted items that you never truly know where it’s been before. For all I know, the bills were last taken out and manhandled by some hairy, sweaty dude while he was sitting in a bathroom stall doing his business somewhere. Hey, you never know. With my personal credit cards, at least I know where they’ve been and while I’ve never actually cleaned them before, they are at least washable.

I don’t know what I would do if gas stations suddenly and uniformly stopped accepting credit card payments due to their displeasure at having to pay spiraling credit card interchange fees. While I sort of vaguely sympathize with their declining profit margin plight (not really), as an oil consumer, I’m bound to take my gas business elsewhere to a place that does accept credit cards. The convenience of using my trusty gas rebate credit card to pay for gas and earn cash back rewards at the same time is not something I’m willing to give up anytime soon. I’ve been known to stop at a low priced gas station only to drive off immediately after finding out the place only accepted cash payment.

In the Washington D.C. region, there is a chain of el-cheapo gas stations called Free State that is known for offering greatly discounted gas at prices that’s frequently much lower than that offered by more recognized competitors. However, the biggest downside is that they only accept cash payment. Obviously this is to keep prices low and avoid having to pay merchant fees to credit card companies for each credit card transaction. But for heavy credit card users like myself, this is a complete deal breaker. While I see them everywhere along my driving route, I always avoid Free State gas stations because of their cash only payment policy. I would rather drive across the street to a slightly more expensive gas pump than deal with the inconvenience and hassle of paying by cash. It’s just one of those expected perks in life that I’ve come to insist on and demand. Other local gas station chains sometimes offer discounts for cash payments, but I would still rather pay the slightly higher fuel rate just to have the benefit of paying by plastic. Besides, any potential cash payment discount offered by the pump owner will be unlikely to offset the nice gas credit card rewards that I earn using my usual method of payment. I don’t expect or intend to give that perk up anytime soon as long as they are around.

I Have Also Come To Rely On The Budget Tracking Benefits That Credit Card Usage Affords Me

It’s not just the convenience and speed at which credit card payment at the gas pump affords me, it’s also the record keeping benefits as well. I pay by credit card at gas stations, restaurants, and everywhere else because it affords me convenient and reliable expense tracking. Payment by cash requires me to retain all of my paper receipts to keep track of total monthly spending. Credit card payments on the other hand allow me to permanently record and retain transaction dates and pricing information on my credit card statement to access at a later time of my choosing. I can easily log onto my online account from home to review the frequency of gasoline fill ups and the amount of money spent per visit with a just few key strokes.

Change Might Be A Good Catch Phrase For Politics, But It’s Bad When It Comes To How I Pay For Gas

Knowing the pervasive and established nature of credit card payment at the pump, I think most major gas stations like Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, and Sunoco are unlikely to go cash only no matter how high gas prices may go, and no matter how badly their financial bottom lines will be hurt by having to pay higher transaction fees. Such brand name gas stations are likely to find other ways to cut costs than deprive consumers of this important convenience. Besides, switching to cash only would probably hurt their revenue stream more detrimentally than any potential cost saving benefits from going all cash due to loss of business volume. They’d lose the patronage of gas guzzling, dinosaur liquid loving, weekend road warriors like myself.

Life is unpredictable. As much as we may try to project what is to come in the future, our feeble attempts at fortune telling and soothsaying inevitably fall short of reality. That’s life and that’s just the way of the world. We may try to walk the steady and safe path paved with good intentions, but sometimes life just insists on chucking a banana peel to trip you up when you least expect it. It’s not always fair and it’s not always just. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes unfortunate circumstances befall even the best of us. But the unforeseen and the unexpected don’t have to ruin our lives and cause everything that’s going for us to fall apart at the seams. We can plan for such an occurrence and protect ourselves the best we can by creating a back up financial contingency plan. Having a “Plan B” savings account and readily accessible emergency fund set aside will give you piece of mind in knowing that you will be taken care of should the worst case scenario occur.

I’ve personally had many unforeseen and unexpected situations spring forth in the last couple of years, and have learned that life comes at you fast. In the last few months, I’ve had to deal with a family health emergency due to the sudden passing of my grandfather which required me to go on emergency leave to fly overseas to be with him. I’ve also had to deal with a significant tax liability bill recently that seemingly came out of no where in the tune of almost $10,000. Most recently, my car suddenly broke down, necessitating me to pay out a good chunk of cash - $80 for an emergency taxi ride, $140 to tow my car to the car dealership for servicing, and an additional $1,200 for the cost of repairing my vehicle’s broken alternator, car battery, and to replace the break pads. All of these sudden expenses are part of the natural course of living but they weren’t expected. Thankfully, I’ve learned to practice what I preach and have been able to maintain sufficient emergency funds to deal with most of my financial emergencies.

Anticipate the Unexpected, and Save Up Enough Money In Readily Accessible Accounts To Cover Several Months Worth Of Living Expenses

There is no hard and fast rule as to how much one needs to have stored away in an emergency fund, but most personal finance bloggers such as myself advocate sufficient liquid savings to survive for at least a few months with no incoming funds. That is, you need sufficient savings to pay for the cost of living in case you are suddenly bed ridden for whatever reason, at least until you can get back on your feet and generate income again. Personally, I keep at least $5,000 cash stored in my bank account for emergency purposes that I try my best to not co-mingle with other investment objectives. That amount of money that I keep aside is designed to handle financial emergencies such as sudden large tax bills, health related injuries or medical bills, emergency car repair, and even the lack of income due to unanticipated unemployment. While some financial advisers advocate earmarking one’s backup emergency fund savings to cover only truly emergency living expenses, I personally take a broader approach and use my  emergency fund money as a monetary buffer for various out of the norm, over the limit type expenses that include necessary car repair charges and unplanned vacation trips. Of course, I make a very strong effort to rapidly replenish the funds as soon as the temporary financial emergency crunch subsides.

So what should we consider as ideal assets for emergency fund planning purposes? Obviously the best sources are ones that are very liquid, that earn interest, that imposes no penalties or interest charges for withdraw, and those that are easily accessible and able to be withdrawn at a moment’s notice preferably in cash money form or equivalent. The most liquid form would clearly be money stored in a piggy bank or bills stashed under your mattress, but with bank branches located everywhere and interest generating accounts easily accessible through the Internet and 24 hour ATM machines, bank related holding accounts are the supreme form of emergency fund savings. Such bank related accounts and assets would include checking accounts, savings accounts, certain forms of laddered CD’s, and money market accounts. The recommended emergency fund storage solution for most people would be to keep at least 3-6 months worth of living income stored in a high yield savings account or money market account. Bank savings and money market accounts (not to be confused with broker based money market funds) are ideal for emergency fund saving purposes. They offer not only high interest earning opportunities but they also provide instant account access, allowing funds to be withdrawn quickly for emergency situations.

While it’s nearly unanimous that putting your money in a high interest savings account is the best way to save and contribute to an emergency fund, there is much greater debate when it comes to two other commonly used forms of emergency funding - money invested in the stock market, and credit cards (specifically 0% credit cards that offer introductory 0% APR interest for balance transfers).

Using Your Stocks, Mutual Funds, or Retirement Savings As Your Emergency Fund Is A Bad Idea

Personally, I have used my brokerage account as my emergency fund before, however I highly advise against the practice. Not only is the money not very liquid and difficult to convert to immediate cash to pay off emergency debts, but oftentimes such hasty and immediate sales of stocks and mutual funds end up being very counter productive and detrimental to one’s overall long term investment strategy. Currently I have a decent amount of money invested in various individuals stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds (ETF’s) through my online discount broker. Most of my brokerage money is being invested as part of a long term investment strategy. Having to sell my equity positions immediately and prematurely would disrupt my investment approach and force me to incur unplanned short term capital gains or sustain premature capital losses. Worse yet would be to withdraw funds from one of my retirement investment accounts such as my 401K, Traditional IRA account, or ROTH IRA. Not only would I disrupt the compound interest process that such tax deferred retirement accounts offer, but the withdraw itself may require me to pay out hefty early cash out penalties. While your investment account is obviously there as a final dead end source of money, one should look to other more liquid and less financially detrimental sources of emergency funds.

I Frequently Use No Fee Balance Transfer Credit Cards To Handle Emergency Expenses, But The Practice Is Only Suitable For Those Who Can Responsibly Handle Credit Card Bills and Payments

The use of 0% credit cards and balance transfers is my favorite and most commonly used source of emergency funds. I know this practice is highly frown upon by anti-credit card types, but it’s worked well for me over the years. Of course, the use of credit cards and particularly the practice of carrying large balance transfer balances (even at 0% APR) isn’t suitable for everyone. For those that have a history of overspending, or who have not demonstrated a responsible and mature ability to micromanage credit card balances, payment due dates, and minimum payment requirements, 0% balance transfer credit cards should be avoided. Those that can’t properly handle the use of credit cards and manage the logistics of balance transfers will risk making a terrible balance transfer mistake and wind up getting themselves into deeper financial trouble with credit card debt than they started out with. But for those who know how to make a balance transfer and know how balance transfer credit cards work, they are an invaluable financial tool to have in your emergency fund holster.

Back when I incurred a sudden and very unexpected $10,000 tax bill, I utilized my excellent FICO credit score to secure an attractive balance transfer card offer of 0% APR interest for 12 months. I utilized the 0% credit card’s high credit limit to pay off the $10,000 IRS tax bill and took advantage of the balance transfer card’s one year introductory period to slowly pay off the credit card debt which was basically the same IRS tax debt except in a much more manageable no interest form. Because I was diligent in making regular payments, I eventually paid back the entire liability and incurred absolutely no interest or penalties in the process. Balance transfer credit cards, when used properly, can help get you through such tough times and offer you a readily available source of interest free funds when you need them the most.

Of course, if the sudden financial emergency is quite substantial and the amount owed greatly exceeds what you anticipate being able to cover within the balance transfer card’s introductory rate period of 6-12 months or longer depending on whether you can keep rolling the balance onto a new 0% balance transfer credit card offer, I would suggest using something like a low interest balance transfer credit card for the life of the loan instead. While you’ll be paying a little bit more with a low interest balance transfer, at least the payments are predictable and you can take your time making regular payments towards paying off the bill without worrying that interest charges will drastically spike after the promo period is over.