Cash The Checks

Often times when you owe money, what immediately comes to mind is this: “Let me just borrow more money to pay off this debt, then I’ll be alright.” But in reality you’re just digging yourself in deeper. When you’re already in a hole, the last thing you should do is keep digging. There comes a time when you should just cut your losses.

So when you’re in a financial bind, what is there to do? Start downgrading, sell some things on eBay and start paying off those debts.

I’ve recently began placing ads on my sites from Amazon and other affiliate programs. Amazon pays out about 4 or 5 percent of the total sale price. It’s en extremely small amount, but conversions are good because people trust Amazon and are likely to already have an account there.

What I like best about Amazon is that if I’m selling a pair of shoes, someone clicks my affiliate link and then later buys a DVD, I’ll get credit for that DVD sale. They’re also paying out on gift certificate sales, but I don’t know if that’s a permanent thing. I’m not going to put up any links for a gift certificate if I have to remember to remove those links later if they end that promotion. I like to just build and forget.

Up to just recently the Amazon creatives were awful, but they came out with a product preview creative that displays a pop-up review when you hover your mouse over the ad. Very effective since it’s a new type of ad. Banners are a dying breed, and text ads are becoming extremely saturated because of Google’s Adsense program and other similar programs.

In the past I’ve had a couple of fraudulent transactions on my credit card, including one in my last statement. The company was “Dream Smile”. I’m not sure how they got my info to bill me, but they sure did. I did a little research on the company and apparently many others are being charged extraordinary amounts. I guess I was lucky they only got me for $14.95. Anyways, I contacted Capital One Visa credit card and about 10 days later (during the Christmas holiday) they refunded me the amount. The whole process was extremely easy and only took a few minutes to complete.

I wonder what type of protection a debit card offers. I’d think they don’t have as good “chargeback” procedures as credit cards do. If I had to guess, it’s because with a credit card charge, you haven’t paid the charge yet, the credit card company pays it first, then later you pay them. With a debit card, when the charge comes in, you pay it up front, so the debit card company has less to lose.

We all need a little help when it comes to sorting out our money problems. Get a cheap credit card, short term loan or a flexible loan and put your mind at ease!