A report you’ve probably never heard of can alert you to problems in your banking history. Here’s how to get a free copy. Unfortunately, that account likely will not appear on your credit reports. Instead, it will show up on your checking account reports. What is a checking account report.  According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), if no bank or credit union  has ever reported negative activity associated with checking accounts in your name, you probably don’t have a checking account report. According to the CFPB, those companies are:

1. Certegy Check Services
2. ChexSystems
3. CrossCheck
4. Early Warning Services
5. Global Payments Check Services
6. Telecheck Services

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Keep these items in your car, and they will protect you from snow, cold, and ice. Many are use throughout the year. Many of these items are useful in any season or climate.

1. Hand warmers
2. Emergency escape tool
3. Reflective safety vest
4. First-aid kit
5. Folding shovel
6. Kitty litter
7. LED road flares
8. Insulated blanket
9. Extendable snow brush and ice scraper

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Decluttering your home? Earn money as you give new life to these unwanted items. Consider these seven types of items you might not have realized were worth anything – and learn some of the best places to sell them.

1. Calculators
2. Home appliances
3. Old electronics
4. Kids toys
5. Luxury handbags and clothes
6. Books
7. Gift cards

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These smart tactics help you plan holidays that focus on the fun and avoid a holiday debt  hangover in 2019. Purchases get more expenses every year. Can we really afford to celebrate the holidays? Good question. If it took months to pay off last year’s holiday purchases, this year try to create a holiday that is merry, bright, and debt-free.

1. Get real about your finances
2. Use those rewards
3. Become a deal sleuth
4. Find money in your budget
5. Set giving ground rules
6. Make a list and stick to it
7. Keep receipts
8. Know your triggers
9. Make some gifts
10. Get smarter about wrapping
11. Rethink food purchases to save money
12. Don’t limit yourself to retail
13. Check your gift stash
14. Regift
15. Don’t overdo the décor
16. Hit the after holiday sales
17. Rethink holiday travel

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Many consumers routinely waste hard-earned cash-often without realizing it. Here’s how you can break this costly cycle. Unnecessary expenses can eat away at your bank account without providing you any real benefit. Taken one by one, these everyday spending errors might seem small. but they can add up to thousands of dollars wasted each year. Following are seven examples of how people waste money every day – and how you can avoid these bad habits:

1. Paying ATM fees
2. Not unplugging idle electronics
3. Not using a gym membership
4. Paying for services you don’t use
5. Subscribing to magazines
6. Wasting food
7. Stopping a convenience stores

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The cost of paper, printer ink, and office furniture can really add up. But with a little knowledge you can trim the bill sustantially. The following are some great ways to cut the cost of your next Staples shopping spree:

1. Sign up for Staples rewards
2. Take advantage of price matching
3. Sign up for email offers
4. Check out the daily deals
5. Stop by the Outlet deals
6. Shop through a cas-back site
7. Purchase discounted gift cards

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Tired of recieving unsolicited offers for credit cards or insurance? Worried that an identity thief could intercept them? Here’s what to do.

The major credit-reporting agencies offer two options:

1. Opt out for 5 years
2. Permanently opt out

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In our face-paced society, it can be touch to find the time to curl up with a great book. But that doesn’t mean you have to give uo your favorite novels or works of nonfiction. Audiobooks let you take great stories on the go. And if you know where to look, you can get such books for free.

1. Your public library
2. LibriVox
3. Lit2Go
4. YouTube

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Personal finance it he ugly step-child of finance. Most of Wall Street’s resources are geared toward helping institutional investors get richer. The rest of us get watered-down versions of their advice and insights. Here is what experts want us to know:

1. Set goals and get risk right
2. Diversify, then hedge
3. You get what you pay for
4. Don’t discriminate against asset classes
5. Expect the unexpected

View these in more detail: https://qz.com/1297678/manifesto/amp

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Shopping malls are designed to separate shoppers from their money. Many ‘sales’ are not always a true ‘sale’. But you can arm yourself to avoid unnecessary purchases. Here are seven ways to avoid spending temptations at the mall so you can make better choices.

1. Never buy on impulse
2. Make a shopping list and stick to it
3. Never buy something just because it’s on sale
4. Begin shopping at the clearance rack
5. Eat before you leave home
6. Avoid the kiosks
7. Say ‘no’ to retail credit-card offers

https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/7-ways-to-save-yourself-from-overspending-at-the-mall/

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