Here are a few things to consider that you might not normally think about when it comes to preparing for hurricane season: your money, your paycheck and your bills. While life around you may come to a screeching halt if, or when, you’ve been struck by a hurricane, your bills will not. In recent years, some creditors have given extensions, or ‘forgiven’ lateness by those people living in hurricane stricken areas, but preventing the possibly credit damaging situations that arise from late payments all together, is worth a little of your time and it makes your life a little easier all year ’round. So following are a few hurricane tips to save your credit rating.
First, if you don’t already have direct deposit for your paycheck, sign up for it. Most businesses are using direct deposit these days and if yours isn’t, let your employer know that you want it! Secondly, use automatic bill payments from your bank account for important monthly payments, such as your mortgage(s) and car payment(s), student loan(s) since late payments from these type of creditors can quickly lower your credit rating. Other bills to consider when contemplating automatic payments are any insurance premiums, utility bills and credit cards. Yes, you’ll probably have damage to your home if hit by a hurricane, but depending on the severity (and some extreme situations) , we can usually still live in our homes.
Having the ability to obtain future loans to either improve our property, or to move into a new home someday, we should always have our credit worthiness in the back of our minds.
Another thing that may be helpful (if you haven’t done it already) is to link checking and savings accounts in case of any overdrafts. You can usually get overdraft protection - just ask your bank. Bounced checks suck. One last suggestion would be to keep on hand important account numbers/logins in the event that you have to relocate and need to contact your bank, insurance company or creditors.
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds
