As a child, we were always taught, “it is better to give, than receive.”  Recently, we learned that some of the world’s billionaires are taking this phrase to heart by pledging upwards of more than half their wealth through a program called The Giving Pledge.  In these rough economic times, the world is pulling closer together.  Mint.com has provided an excellent “infographic” to put this worldwide charitable donation into perspective.  Click on the picture below for a larger view.

Notes of interest:

• Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett started the Giving Pledge in June of 2010.
• The Giving Pledge is estimated to grow to $600 billion (US Dollars).
• Most Impressive Stat (voted on by the CashNetUSA team): If Warren Buffet donated 46.5 million dollars; it could treat over one million people affected with AIDS in Africa per year, for 30 years.

Budget Plannerfrom Mint.com

One of your CashNetUSA family members overspent at the grocery store this weekend.  How did a quick trip to the store for cereal and milk cost fifty dollars?  We won’t tell you who, but he may be writing this very post to remind himself, and others, the top reasons we overspend.

• Paper or Plastic? – According to the post “8 Top Reasons You Overspend,” consumer spending rises when paying with a credit card.  “Credit cards allow consumers to focus more on what they’re getting, or buying, than what they’re losing, or spending,” Kit Yarrow, a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University.

• Bulking Up – Buying in bulk may sound like a good idea, but buyer beware.  Buying in bulk can increase your grocery budget, while allowing you to increase consumption.  The next thing you know, you’re back at the store buying more expensive bulk items.

• Shopping Without a List – Knowing exactly what you need causes you to stick to your budget.  Your CashNetUSA family member could have used a list this weekend!

• Dieting – If you are new to dieting, you can actually be hurting you wallet.  Sometimes, dieting can cause weak will power, causing you to overspend.    Kathleen Vohs, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota says that when on a diet, “people are less able to restrain their impulses, so whatever they are tempted to do — like spend on needless trinkets — will emerge.”

No one is perfect; we all overspend at some point.  Follow some of the advice listed above to stay on the right track.  No one loves teaching people to save money more than your short-term loan CashNetUSA family.

The most wonderful time of the year (for parents) is quickly approaching.  The kids are going back to school.  Unfortunately, that peace and quiet comes with a “price.”  Your friends at CashNetUSA have discovered some great tips from Frugaldad.com to save you some money during the annual “back to school” shopping trip.

1)   “Clean Your Room.” – That’s right, a chore before the chore of shopping.  Have your child help while organizing their room.  If everything is in the right place, you are less likely to end up buying something they already have.

2)   Give Back – Remember all the cleaning you just did?  Give away those old clothes at a Salvation Army or Goodwill.  Or best of all, sell them to a “resale shop” to earn cash before the “back to school” trip.

3)   A Family Affair – Take your children with you while shopping.  You will discover they are helpful when it comes to school supplies.  You kids will save you time and money buy telling you what they need (and like) for school.

4)   Avoid Labels – Designer clothes carry a big price tag.  Don’t get caught up in the moment and shop around.  Chances are you will find something similar in style, but not in price.

5)   Wait – If you can, wait a couple days until after school starts.  You are more likely to find better sales on all your supplies.

Your CashNetUSA family just picked out their five favorite tips.  Check out more at Frugaldad.com.  As “back to school” season approaches, remember, if you need a short-term online payday loan to help ease your burden, CashNetUSA is always available.

Photo: Flickr User

According an economic report by The Conference Board, employee salary increases will grow from 2.5% in 2010 to 3.0% in 2011.  This report is based on a survey that included over 300 companies, conducted across several industries.

“This less-than-robust increase is an indication that the economic recovery has not yet picked up enough strength to significantly raise salary budgets to a level consistent with a healthy economy,” Christopher Woock, a human capital researcher at The Conference Board, said in a statement to CNNMoney.com.  For lack of a better term, our slowly strengthening economy is transitioning from “treading water” to a modest “doggy paddle.”

“Slow and steady” may win the economic race, but sometimes you need “fast cash.”  Remember CashNetUSA is always here to help, providing you with online, short-term, payday loans.  Interested?  Click here to see how we can help.

For most Americans, the holiday shopping season is the last thing on their minds in early July. However, retail superstore Toys R Us thinks that if you starting thinking about the holiday shopping season now, you could save in the long run.

Toys R Us just announced their new Christmas Savers Club to urge customers to start saving now for one of the most expensive shopping seasons. Club members can go to any Toys R Us store and put money down on a club card which will be saved until the holiday season. Club members also get 3% bonus on everything they put towards the card, which will be paid out come October.

The program is designed to encourage consumers to plan ahead for the big spending season, rather than finding themselves in a mountain of debt once all the presents have been unwrapped. The premise is good, but only works if you plan on spending all your money at Toys R Us. It might make more sense to put your money into a savings account or other savings vehicle if you can get a better return than 3% over the next few months.

One of the cornerstones of Washington’s latest financial regulatory overhaul is the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, an institution that will oversee most of the U.S. consumer finance market, including credit cards, mortgages and even payday loans. But in the end, will increased regulation help or hurt those looking for reliable credit options?

The executive director for the Consumer Rights Coalition, Gerri Guzman, explores this proposed regulation in a recent article and discusses how it could possibly hurt or help American consumers struggling to make ends meet and find reliable, safe credit solutions.

She writes, “When making policy that will change lives, there is no room for assumptions. Lawmakers need to talk directly to real consumers and listen to their stories. Not to the ’so-called’ consumer groups who pretend to speak for the consumer, but to an actual consumer who got a payday loan when his car broke down and he had no other way to get to work. And, to a consumer who needed a payday loan to pay for an unexpected trip to the emergency room. And, to the many consumers who carefully weighed their options for short-term credit — bouncing a check, overdrawing their bank account, not paying their bills on time — and concluded that a payday loan was their best, least expensive option.”

To read the article in full, click here.

For more information on the Consumer Rights Coalition and its goal of keeping reliable short-term credit options available to all consumers, please click here.

We recently sent a survey to consumers living in states where payday loan bans are currently being pushed forward in their state’s legislature. Here’s what they had to say about the proposed legislation and possible repercussions in a post-payday economy.

“A person’s financial issue is private unless the government itself is willing to give out easily accessible loans.”

“This is terrible. In a shrinking economy, wherein many more people are facing issues of credit worthiness, the availability of this service is important and vital to working class people, such as myself.”

“If the legislature is successful in their plan to ban short-term loan options, this would only create MORE of a hardship for those individuals that rely on them for unexpected emergencies – not less!”

What do you think about proposed payday loan bans in your state? Share your opinions with the Consumer Rights Coalition, an organization of over 100,000 Americans working to keep the right to short-term financial options.

Join today and have your voice heard!

Credit cards often get a bad rap for catching consumers in excessive debt – but there are some times when using them responsibly can actually be a safer and cheaper option than using debit cards, or even cash.

In the past ten years, debit card usage by Americans has more than doubled. Perhaps this phenomenal increase is due to debit cards being a safer and easier option than carrying cash and are assumed to get you into less debt trouble than overusing credit cards.

But are there times when using a credit card can actually be safer and save you more money? The answer is yes, in the right circumstances. From identity protection to earning rewards for your purchases, credit cards actually have the upper hand, when used responsibly.

To learn more about the debate between debit and credit, read on at CNN’s personal finance section.

Just remember, both credit and debit cards can get you in to debt quickly, if you’re not careful. Overdrafting on your debit card can cost $50 or more, even if you only go over by a couple bucks. A payday loan is often a more proactive – and cheaper – option, especially when you’re facing immediate money needs.

All these numbers add up to some alarming trends. Bretton Woods, Inc., a bank strategy firm, used these numbers to draw some generalities about overdraft fees and the effect they had on consumers. According to their report, the average American household accrues more than 12 overdraft transactions annually, resulting in $368 in fees on average.

The result of these fees is a $37 billion annual industry for U.S. banks and credit unions. An amount, says the firm, which is causing these institutions to become ever reliant on overdraft fees as sources of revenue. “We see no reason for this trend to change,” said report author G. Michael Flores. “Bounced check fees and overdraft protection will have a larger and larger financial impact on households.”

And, ultimately, it is the young, low-income and underbanked that are the ones that will reap these consequences.

To read the FDIC report in full, click here, or for the Bretton Woods report, please click here.

Click here for a short comparison between banking fees and other short-term loan options, such as online cash advance services, presented by the CFSA.

In two recently published reports, a pair of trusted financial institutions studied how American consumers are affected by bank overdraft and NSF fees and how banks are becoming increasingly reliant on this $37 billion industry.

An FDIC study of bank overdraft programs followed the trends associated with the use of overdraft and non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees in 39 accredited banks in the U.S. The numbers are astounding. According to the study, nearly 22.5 million overdraft transactions were recorded in the past year. The average fee associated with each incident was $27 per infraction.

While one overdraft incident won’t necessarily put a consumer in the poor house, multiple infractions can add up quickly. Nearly 12% of consumer accounts recorded one to four overdraft fees in the past year, costing the account owners an average of $64. Even more astounding are the 5% of consumers that recorded more than 20 fees, resulting in over $1,600 in fees annually.

These reoccurring fees cause consumers to fall into an overdraft cycle, whereby the more penalties that the customer incurs, the less likely he or she is to have sufficient funds available in their account, which results in even more and higher penalties.

The report found that young adults (ages 18 to 25) were the most likely to accrue overdraft penalties, nearly 50% of which recorded at least one overdraft transaction in the past year. Nearly 15% of these consumers accrued more than 10 penalties in the same time frame.

Customers in low-income areas were also more likely to accrue overdraft penalties and more of them. 38% of low-income accounts (those customers making less than $30,000 annually) incurred at least one overdraft transaction in the past year, compared to only 22% of upper-income accounts. These customers also receive more violations, with 7.5% recording 20 or more NSF fees, compared to only 3.8% of upper-income clients.

This article is part of a two-part series