Financial and Lifestyle Resources for Vermont

After many years of renting small apartments, my wife and I decided to take the plunge and buy our first house. As any new homeowners would, we have been nervously, excitedly, painting walls and undertaking little projects to make our home perfect for us, but the first big project now looms on the horizon—the heating system.

Credit unions tend to serve local populations, so finding a branch while you’re traveling afar can be a trick. The CO-OP Shared Branching Network has solved this problem by allowing credit unions across the country to band together and offer services to members of all networked credit unions.

Now that the holidays are over, how is your credit card balance looking? This is often the time of year when people take stock of their debt and begin to despair. If that’s where you’re at, take a deep breath and keep reading for some simple tips that should help you get a good, quick start on getting rid of your balance(s).

There are many things to consider when purchasing a home—location, school district, neighborhood, affordability, and type (single family vs. multifamily) just to mention a few. Once you’ve found your perfect home, you must choose the best mortgage type—fixed-rate or adjustable. And then you can decide whether to buy points.

A payday loan is a short-term loan that is intended to be paid off with your next paycheck. Payday loans are often used by people who are short of cash to pay for emergency expenses. They are prohibited in many states because they are considered predatory loans that charge unreasonably high interest rates and fees, which make them very hard to pay off. Because they’re so hard to pay off, they can trap people in a cycle of debt for years. How can you avoid these loans when you really need the cash now? Keep reading.

If you’re struggling to make ends meet, make budgeting your New Year’s resolution in 2020. Budgeting isn’t a skill we’re born with. It’s something we’re taught, or we learn on our own. But with money being one of those things you aren’t supposed to talk about around the dinner table, it can be scary to ask for basic advice.

If you’re in the market for a new home, it’s time to review your credit report. The information in your report helps your mortgage originator determine your creditworthiness (whether you’re likely to pay back money loaned to you).

Two weeks ago, we published a Facebook post about the security and convenience of mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay and heard from several people interested in learning more about the technology. Here is what you need to know about mobile wallets!