European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 20, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 23 your Money dont pass blame for misuse of credit dear Liz a couple of years ago i applied for and received an american express i did not realize that i was supposed to pay off the entire balance every month unlike my other they allow me to carry a balance Over to the next Billing Cycle As Long As i make a minimum although i did not abuse the i did incur a few Hundred dollars of purchases that i was not Able to pay in american express then closed my account and referred it to a collection i made a Deal to pay my entire bal Ance Over a period of four weeks by making weekly and Actu ally paid off the total in just two a few months later i was turned Down for a loan from my cred it i found out that american express was re porting a delinquency to the credit is that Legal is there a Way for me to have this delinquency removed what should i do answer american express does offer cards that allow you to carry a balance from month to but clearly you opted for one of its tradition Al cards with no preset spending limit and a Money talk Liz Pulliam Weston requirement that you pay in full each even if you missed the description of How the card worked which is included in the a you should have been tipped off when your statement arrived by the fact that you we rent Given the option of a minimum you say you didst abuse the but you didst agree by the terms of your agreement with american express and you took so Long to pay a few Hundred dollars of purchases that your account was turned Over to that a pretty serious misuse of your and american express is Well within its rights to report the the collection Agency May have reported the account to the credit bureaus As increasing the negative Impact on your credit the three digit numbers that lenders use to gauge your you could try disputing the delinquency with the credit or throwing yourself on Ames mercy and asking it to remove the negative but frankly youre not Likely to have much Luck with either consider this an expensive lesson in the importance of understanding what youre get Ting when you apply for and use it As a motivator to review your budget and build up an emergency fund so that your finances Are never again trashed by a relatively Small dear Liz i always enjoy your but your comment about late Utility payments potentially affecting credit scores leaves me with this question what is late because a Cash flow Issue in a Given i pay a Utility Bill 10 Days after the due Date listed on the yet before the Date that will Trig Ger late is that answer if your tardy payment wont even incur a late you can be pretty confident it wont be reported As a delinquency to the cred it even if you did have to Pony up a late you probably  be in trouble until you had actually skipped a monthly although creditor policies most dont report a customer As late until a payment is 30 Days or More but ill say again that you  be hav ing Cash flow issues Over a regularly scheduled figure out where your Money is going and make sure youve got enough to cover your Basic Bills before spending on anything Liz Pulliam Weston is the author of the books your credit score and Deal with your both published by Prentice questions for possible inclusion in her column May be sent to 3940 Laurel Canyon studio Ca or via the Contact Liz form at distributed by no More red Bank when dont forget emergencies from Page 22 this is helpful if you Are plan Ning for several major expenses to occur at different times and you want to stay on a fixed Bud lets say you withdraw to remodel the bathroom and want to pay it Back in three you can get a fixed rate loan for that once the bathroom is you then decide to withdraw a to remodel the but you want to pay it Back in five you can do but beware with Banks Mak ing Cash so its easy to rack up thousands of dollars of too often we forget to take into account family for an illness or Acci Dent can quickly Drain savings a if most of your funds Are tied up in Home improvement you could jeopardize the Security of your of the Best option for Many homeowners those who dont need another Bill is to toss those enticing Home equity of fers and simply enjoy Home Sweet fridays Market summary Exchange rates indexes 52week High Low name last net chg Dow Jones industrials Dow Jones transportation Dow Jones utilities nose composite amex Index Nash a composite Russell 2000 do Wilshire 5000 Ltd chg chg 52wk chg nose amex most Active name or Mote last chg Micron Tai Semi Geneles Pfizer Motorola inc and Exxon by Hal Libens timeworn 568028 459324 372858 320241 293882 260598 256176 246617 240671 218257 most Active or More name Yokoo last chg Spur 897103 ishr2knya 765689 up engy 210219 Prus Haqq n 163890 Semi her 126873 oils vat 105610 Djina diam 91720 up incl on2 tech Ody smar 88253 80751 77368 Nash a last most Active name More chg push shoo Intel Microsoft Sun Micro Aquan Tive Cisco Yahoo Schwab sep acor Al matl 968874 639568 543700 424893 389692 385493 332864 289730 259454 255859 key  Armor computer general dynamics general Harris Allied l3 Lockheed Rockwell Seq a Texas text Ron United key Mutual ret Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Grolnic Fidelity spartan Putnam funds a Erlna Amer Century inv Fidelity invest Amorso Fidelity invest Oversea Fidelity invest us i aim investments a const p Frnk a Sec Para aim investments a Fidelity advisor Fidelity advisor Fidelity advisor Putnam funds a military rates euro costs May Dollar buys May British Pound May japanese yen May South korean won May commercial rates Bahrain British Canada China Denmark Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan yen Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea won Switzerland Thailand Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for South the Netherlands and the United for no local currency Exchange rates purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying All figures Are foreign currencies to one except for the British which is represented in and the which is precious metals new York merc close Silver interest rates prime discount rate Federal funds Market rate 3month 30year sources the associated Bank of America and sensibility Money tip of the Day no tech support try these Sites Market watch new York did your warranty and your Access to your computers tech out you can still get help with nag Ging computer according to consumer if you want free online there Are a few resources Avail users of the windows operating system should subscribe by email to its a newsgroup for updates on windows tech you can also try visiting to Access the computer giants knowledge Apple users should Check the user discussions at you can try unofficial groups As there Are thousands of them for both Mac and windows users at or windows users should also Check there Are free tools you can download for help visit for free Analysers that will test your hard rate your computers performance and search for spy the site also offers a service that you can pay for to have the problems corrected if you cant fix them on your have too Many unused and temporary files on your computer visit to get them cleaned onime at my k j we your Hometown newspaper