Credit Debt Banking News | CDBN

This is Part 4 of the series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches.??

After seeing hundreds of startup pitches for this year’s Capital Factory program, I can tell you that the two most common errors in positioning a company against competition are, strangely, opposites:

Claiming you have no competition. Defining your company’s offering and positioning by combining “the best” traits of 6 competitors.

This isn’t just a problem when pitching — it’s a problem with you defining who your customers are, what they want, and your role in the marketplace.

Let’s break down the ways these fallacies manifest and what you can do instead.

There is no competition

Here’s what this sounds like ..read more

Let’s get the self-aggrandizing plea for attention out of the way:

Please vote for my SxSW panel entitled “A Bootstrapped Geek Sifts Through the Bullshit.”

It answers questions like “How do I get the courage to just start when I know so little about what it’s really like at a startup?” and “How do I balance the utility of learning from others with wanting to go my own, unique way?”

Plus it’s ironic; I’m giving advice about how to take advice. You know, like finding a black fly in your Chardonnay. (White flies are harder to see and therefore not ironic, you see.)

OK, now on to the ..read more

Free debt consolidation is a misnomer that does not really exist. These services might be provided at lower than normal charges, and the charges are minimal so as to be a non-issue. Hence, they are called free grants.

Creditors pay these companies a part of the loan as commission generally, to maintain these services. Hence this is not then charged from the debtor. It is normally seen that the consolidation companies charge the debtor a flat fee for these services. At times they also charge a commission. These charges are generally based on factors such as, the credit rating of the debtor as also the volume of debt, and the amount of loan that is being arranged.

The free debt consolidation does not involve such fees, except ..read more

Debt consolidation, as the name suggests, means you are making sure that you have taken out a large amount of money as a debt. It is going to be used to pay off your numerous other smaller debts. Once you have dealt with those trifling debts, in the shape of a student loan, a mortgage loan, a car loan, the temporary payday loan, and so on, you just need to focus upon getting rid of this major financial obligation in the shape of a debt consolidation loan.

There are many companies out there who are quite willing to give you a large sum of money to meet your financial requirements and obligations. One needs to understand that you may get a loan from such companies to ..read more

Last Friday Barack Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 (aka “Credit Card Bill of Rights Act”) into law.  The law does not go into effect until February of 2010, but there has been lots of talk about this bill already.  Let’s talk about what is really in this bill and what this bill really means for you and your wallet.

Interest Rate Increase Limitations. Companies cannot increase your interest rates on existing balances unless you are 60 days past due.  You must also receive 45 days notice of the rate increase.

Interest Rate Reduction for On Time Payments. In addition, if your rates have been raised, making on time payments for ..read more