This week’s most interesting articles and blog posts about your home, money and credit – straight from the Quizzle Twitter page:

Home & Money Saving Tips

10 Non-Secrets about Grocery Shopping that Anyone Can Do (Frugal for Life)

Classic money saving tips for grocery shopping.

Personal Finance & Budgeting

How Much to Budget for Car Maintenance? (Five Cent Nickel)

The costs of car maintenance can easily throw off your personal budget if you’re not careful. Matt at FiveCentNickel gives some advice on how to make sure that car repair bill doesn’t sneak up on you.

How’s Your Net Worth Doing? (Free Money Finance)

Is it time you did a net work check-up?

Real Estate & Home Value

5 Tips for Finding Your Perfect Home (StyleCaster)

Apartment hunting can be stressful and exhausting. But if you approach the process knowing what you should consider and what questions to ask, you can find your dream home in short order.

How to Earn Income for the Rest of Your Life: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Annuities (Generation X Finance)

This is annuities 101. If you don’t know what annuities are, how they work or how you can use them to support yourself for the rest of your life, this is your post.

Senate and House Approve Home Buyers Credit and Unemployment Benefits Extension (Quizzle Blog)

Great news for first-time home buyers this week! The U.S. House and Senate passed a bill to extend the first-time home buyers tax credit until April 30, 2010. President Barack Obama will sign the bill into law Friday.

The Federal Open Market Committee (Fed) – or as we affectionately call them, the “smarty pants” of the banking world – announced today that it will again hold its Fed funds rate at the 0% – 0.25% target range. (What the heck is the Fed funds rate and why should I care?)

While the Fed decided to hold the key rate at its current range, they are making other significant changes, according to Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters.

“The Fed today repeated that it intends to maintain its Fed Funds rate at exceptionally low levels for an extended period,” said Walters.  “However, the fact is that the Fed is making substantial cuts to its investments in the secondary market, which certainly signals a departure from the status quo.  These actions alone have the ability to push Treasuries and interest rates higher.”

The following is an official press release from the Fed regarding its decision today, plus a translation of all the financial gobbledygook from Bob Walters:

—

FEDERAL RESERVE Press Release
Release Date: March 18, 2009

For immediate release
Bob: Now

Fed: Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September suggests that economic activity has continued to pick up. Conditions in financial markets were roughly unchanged, on balance, over the intermeeting period. Activity in the housing sector has increased over recent months. Household spending appears to be expanding but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, sluggish income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Businesses are still cutting back on fixed investment and staffing, though at a slower pace; they continue to make progress in bringing inventory stocks into better alignment with sales.

Although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time, the Committee anticipates that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and market forces will support a strengthening of economic growth and a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.

Bob: The Fed was in a darn jolly mood when they wrote this paragraph. They are saying that they are seeing the economy starting to do better. Even though they are seeing businesses still laying people off, they see those businesses getting closer to being “right sized” for the current market we live in. The last jargony sentence means they think all the money they’ve been pumping into the economy will slowly make things better without increasing prices a lot.

Fed: With substantial resource slack likely to continue to dampen cost pressures and with longer-term inflation expectations stable, the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time.

Bob: “Resource slack” means “I don’t have enough business to justify hiring more peeps”. The Fed says as long as that’s the case, prices of stuff aren’t gonna rise.

Fed: In these circumstances, the Federal Reserve will continue to employ a wide range of tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability. The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.

To provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, the Federal Reserve will purchase a total of $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and about $175 billion of agency debt. The amount of agency debt purchases, while somewhat less than the previously announced maximum of $200 billion, is consistent with the recent path of purchases and reflects the limited availability of agency debt. In order to promote a smooth transition in markets, the Committee will gradually slow the pace of its purchases of both agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities and anticipates that these transactions will be executed by the end of the first quarter of 2010.

The Committee will continue to evaluate the timing and overall amounts of its purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets. The Federal Reserve is monitoring the size and composition of its balance sheet and will make adjustments to its credit and liquidity programs as warranted.

Bob: The Fed is again saying that they are going to keep firing all their guns – spending giant wads of dough on mortgage bonds, cash for clunkers, housing credits, roads, earwax museums, etc – and they will also keep short term rates low (at basically 0%) for quite some time too.

The Fed did say they will start slowing down the pace of their purchases of mortgage bonds and they expect to stop those purchases in early 2010. However, they did throw out some hope that they might continue buying mortgage bonds when they said,

“The Committee will continue to evaluate the timing and overall amounts of its purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets. The Federal Reserve is monitoring the size and composition of its balance sheet and will make adjustments to its credit and liquidity programs as warranted.”

Fed: Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Erin M Sherenco; Donald L. Kohn; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Dennis P. Lockhart; Daniel K. Tarullo; Kevin M. Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen.

Bob: Everyone agreed!

In a report about how to deal with rising credit cards rates, TODAY financial editor, Jean Chatzky, suggests viewers visit Quizzle.com to get a totally free credit score, no catches, no trial subscriptions, no credit card required:

Watch the entire video on the Today Show website.

Credit has its fair share of myths, legends and misinformation. Pile on top the proprietary nature of credit scores, the formulas for which are closely guarded secrets, and navigating the credit waters becomes even more confusing.

Time to dispel some common myths about credit reports, credit scores and credit cards:

1. Pulling your credit report will hurt your credit score.

When you pull your credit report for your own educational purposes, it’s considered a “soft inquiry” and will NOT affect your credit score. On the other hand, when a creditor or lender pulls your credit report for the purpose of extending you credit or a loan, it’s a “hard inquiry” and may negatively impact your credit score. (Learn more about credit inquiries.)

2. Your income is factored into your credit score.

Your salary has nothing to do with your credit report and credit score. You may make a solid living, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have good credit.

3. Closing a credit card account will help your credit score.

When you close a credit card account, you may be affecting your “credit utilization.” Credit utilization is simply how much credit you use (total of all balances) compared to how much credit is available to you (total of all credit limits). When you close an account, you’re lowering the amount of credit that’s available to you, which may increase your credit utilization percentage. A higher credit utilization may negatively impact your credit score, as it suggests to a creditor or lender that you’re a higher risk.

4. There’s only one credit score that all creditors and lenders use to determine your credit-worthiness.

The truth is there are a lot of credit scores out there. And on top of the different credit scores that are available, there are different credit reports on which a credit score can be based.

5. If you pay all your bills on time, there’s no need to check your credit report.

It’s important to check your credit report regularly no matter what your situation to make sure the information on your credit report is accurate. Mistakes are made, inaccurate information is reported and if you’re not on top of it, your credit score may suffer.

Check your credit at least every six months at free websites like Quizzle.com. You’ll get a free credit report and free credit score, plus the ability to dispute inaccuracies easily and online.

6. Paying off a past-due account will remove that item from your credit report.

Negative information – like late payments and collections – can stay on your credit report for up to seven years from the date of the initial missed payment. Some bankruptcies can stay on your credit report for up to 10 years from the date the bankruptcy was filed.

When you pay off an account that was previously past due, your credit report will be updated to reflect that you’re current on the account. And as time goes on, the negative information will have less of an effect on your credit score. However, as the purpose of a credit report is to keep a tally of your credit history and how reliably you’ve managed your credit, that information will stay put for seven years in most cases.

7. Your checking, savings and investment accounts impact your credit score.

Checking, savings and investments do not show up on your credit report unless perhaps you are delinquent with a payment or past due on monies owed.

8. Paying cash for everything and not having any credit card debt will ensure a good credit score.

Never using credit can actually hurt your credit score. Creditors and lenders often consider people with no debt and no credit cards a higher risk than those who have credit cards and have proven that they’re able to manage their debt responsibly.

9. Small debts like library fines, unpaid parking tickets and utility bills don’t affect your credit score.

It’s not uncommon for libraries to turn over even small unpaid debts to collections agencies, which can wind up on your credit report and significantly impact your credit score. And more and more, utility companies are regularly reporting to credit bureaus.

10. Debit cards and pre-paid credit cards can help you build credit.

Because debits cards and pre-paid credit cards are essentially electronic checks and not an extension of credit, they don’t show up on your credit report. If you’re looking to build credit, using a secured or unsecured credit card responsibly is the best way to go.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/baptistefranchina/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Happy Friday! Here are this week’s most interesting articles and blog posts about your home, money and credit – straight from the Quizzle Twitter page:

Home & Money Saving Tips

Eat Well, Lose Weight and Save Some Money (Fiscal Fizzle)

Eating healthy and saving money are usually a contradiction of terms, but Fiscal Fizzle proves that it’s possible to shed pounds without lightening the weight of your wallet.

Money Saving Techniques that Work and Don’t Work (Studenomics)

Studenomics takes a realistic approach to saving money and recognizes that it’s better to save smarter than save harder.

10 Surprising Things You Can Turn into Cash (My Dollar Plan)

Turn items you paid for into cash back in your pocket! Learn 10 money making ideas that you’ve probably never thought of before.

25 Frugal Halloween Costumes (Moolanomy)

Don’t let the cost of costumes spoil your Halloween! Get creative, save money and have fun with these 25 inexpensive costume ideas.

Investing Money & The Stock Market

Tips for an Investing Newbie (Money Magazine)

This article is a great resource for anyone who’s new to the investing game. Senior editor Walter Updegrave encourages building a solid foundation of knowledge rather than going for the hot stock tip or fast gain. Updegrave also offers some useful reading recommendations to help the investing newbie get off to the right start.

Personal Finance & Budgeting

Fall Finance To Do List (Financial Highway)

Get your personal finances in order before the new year with Financial Highway’s fall finance to do list (say that five times fast!).

The Upside: Habits of the Rich and Thin (Wallet Pop)

Marc Acito takes a look at what it takes to be wealthy and skinny, finding that the two have a lot in common.

What Are the Most Expensive Colleges in America? (Consumerist)

College tuition is now climbing at a faster rate than the availability of financial aid, according to CNN Money. When considering where to go to college or where to send your kids to school, don’t forget to take a look at the bottom line. Find out which schools take the top spots on the most expensive colleges list.