A lot of people can find themselves in a very difficult situation simply because they made some financial mistakes in the past. A lot of prime financial institutions require you to have high credit score and spotless credit file to be eligible for low interest lines of credit or even for a credit card. But what about consumers that made bad financial decisions, overextended their ability to pay back their creditors and had to file for bankruptcy? Even if you had to go through credit counselling services and paid back your debts, but did not fulfill your contractual obligations with your creditors, you credit worthiness is ruined.If you’ve gone through a bankruptcy and credit counselling program, you will have to rebuild your credit before any kind of credit will be extended to you. Rebuilding your credit can be a lengthy process and requires time and patience. First thing that you should do is to obtain your credit file from main credit reporting agencies. There are two main credit reporting agencies which are: Equifax and Trans Union. Obtaining your credit report is not a very difficult procedure and can be done instantly online for a fee between $15-$40 dollars or free of charge by mail. In order to obtain you credit report by mail you will need to fill out an application form (that can be downloaded from transunion.ca and equfax.com) and attach 2 pieces of id and a utility bill. You can either mail or fax your application to credit bureaus. It usually takes 7-10 business days to receive a copy of your credit file by mail. Once you get a copy of your credit file you should look for any discrepancies. If you declared bankruptcy and were discharged, all former creditors have to stop reporting to the credit bureaus after the discharge date.The same should happen to any collection items if any have been reported on your credit file. If you find any discrepancies you can download and fill out a dispute form from transunion.ca and equifax.com and submit it to the credit bureaus. Credit bureaus have to investigate your dispute and make appropriate corrections in your credit profile. Once all the discrepancies are eliminated, you will have to wait some time before all previous activity is removed from your credit file so you can start rebuilding your credit from scratch. If you went through a credit counselling program, it will take about 4 years after your program is completed for all the R7 accounts to be removed from your file. If you filed for bankruptcy it might take up to 10 years for the bankruptcy to be dropped from your credit file.Once your bankruptcy has been discharged you should get a secured credit card and make your monthly payments on time. After a year or two you bank might release you security deposit. However for the next 7-10 years you will not qualify for car loans, mortgages or lines of credit with prime financial institutions and will have to use services of subprime lenders. If you need quick cash advance (up to $1000) to pay an unexpected expense you can apply for a Payday loans are short term loans that are available to consumers in cases of emergency and at times when there are no other financial options available. Those type of lenders have high interest rates but if you do not have perfect credit rating you can still qualify for a loan with them. Some subprime lender report your timely loan payments to Credit Bureaus and some not (payday loans companies do not usually report to credit bureaus). You should double check with lenders before you apply for a loan. It is better to get financing trough a lender that will report your timely payments to the Credit Bureau as it will positively impact your credit score. Do not apply for a loan with numerous institutions at the same time. Numerous inquiries on your credit file will alert lenders and will lower you credit rating even more. Everything has a price and you will be paying for your past mistakes by having to pay high interest rates.
How to Rebuild Your Credit Using Services of Subprime Lenders and Payday Loan Companies?
What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime
What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.
As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.
That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.
Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.
Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.
Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.
Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.
That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.
Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.
Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.
My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.
Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.
And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.
All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:
• Farm eggs
• Fresh vegetables
• Cow’s milk
• Freshly baked bread
• Coal for our open fires
Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.
Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.
Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.
Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.
My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.
The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.
Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.
Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.
People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.
In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.
Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.
• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.
• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.
• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.
On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.
Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.
We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.
Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.
My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.
Become a Certified Pharmacy Technician
When you finish your pharmacy technician course, you would still need to go through one more step before you can work as one. You need to become a certified pharmacy technician, often abbreviated as CPhT. The PTCB exam is given three times every year for those who want to aspire to be full pledged pharmacy techs. Only a few states in America require pharmacy techs to get certified but it pays to undergo the exam in case you get a job elsewhere that will require you to be a certified pharmacy technician. You will realize that many employers prefer certified pharmacy technicians over non certified ones because they possess official recognition that they are qualified to do the job.The purpose of the exam is to make sure that anyone who will be pursuing a career in pharmacy technology will have the basic knowledge required in this field. The exam will also make sure that you have the foundation as well as the proper training in order to meet the daily requirements of the job. The exam tackles the core knowledge and skills that are expected from a good pharmacy technician. The certification exam also is a regulatory procedure by the government to make sure that the health professionals who give health care to the patients all around the country are all qualified to do so. It ensures the safety of the citizens of the country.There are a few requirements before taking the certification exam for pharmacy techs. First, you must possess a high school diploma, GED or its equivalent if you are from another country, and you must be clear of any drug related cases in the FBI, or its foreign equivalent. Furthermore, you must no be under any form of limitation from any State Board of Pharmacy.If you have satisfied the prerequisites above, then you are eligible to take the exam. You need to pass the PTCB exam to be able to be awarded the pharmacy technician certification status. It is best that you review your past courses in your pharmacy technician programs and concentrate on getting the basics and foundation memorized by heart. This is a very important exam that can be the start of your career.Certifications are renewed every two years. For each recertification that a pharmacy technician undergoes, there is a required 20 hours of further education within the two year period prior to the certification exam day. This means that the candidate must be able to take refresher courses from the desired college, organization, associations or pharmacy technician programs, with at least one hour pertaining to pharmacy law. Ten of the 20 hour requirement can also be earned under direct supervision of a pharmacist. The continuing education requirement is a great opportunity for the candidate to refresh his memory about the core knowledge and skills needed by a pharmacy technician and it is also a chance to be updated with the developments in the field.The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board exam will be taken using a computer and not a paper and pen, as it was previously administered a few decades ago. It has 90 multiple choice questions that cover the basics in pharmacy technology such as assisting pharmacists in providing service to various patients,maintenance of medication and systems that concern inventory control, and role and participation in the administration and management of good pharmacy practice. These are the topics that the Board feels are essential to having a well rounded pharmacy technician who is fit to serve the vast group of patients all over the United States of America.