Today is the day the new rules for banks issuing credit cards to consumers take affect. Since the initial signing of the bill I’ve had the interest rate for two cards jump to 29.99% and a business card canceled because I didn’t use it enough. It doesn’t matter how good your credit score is anymore, which proves that no matter what their commercial says, your welfare is the last thing on their minds.

I’m no personal finance coach, so I thought I’d share an article I read by personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary regarding some of the loopholes in the credit card law. There’s also a fact sheet about the Credit Card Act on the White House Website. The best thing to do and my personal goal is to pay off all the credit cards. But if you’re not in a position to do it, know the law so they won’t take advantage of you.

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Who is eligible to apply?
To be eligible for the scholarships, applicants must be:

• Women
• Age 40 or over
• U.S. Citizens
• Able to demonstrate financial need
• Enrolled in an accredited school or technical program in the U.S., within 6 months of the scholarship award date

The AARP Foundation will award up to 100 scholarships ranging from $500 to $5,000, depending on financial need and the cost of the education or training program.

Deadline:
March 31, 2010

How do I apply?
The program application may only be submitted on-line. The application and additional information on the scholarship program is available at http://aarpfoundationwlc.org and will be available on February 1st, 2010.

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Scholarship Value: up to $ 5000

Classifications: College Junior, College Sophomore, Graduate Student

Minimum GPA: 2.5

For more scholarship opportunities, visit blackstudents.com

Eligible Majors: Business, International Business

Eligible Schools: Open for 4 Year Colleges Only

Application Deadline: Sunday, March 07, 2010

How to Apply : Apply Online

Scholarship Detail:

This competition opens on Jan 4, 2010.

Applicants must be sophomores or juniors at the time of application, enrolled in accredited colleges or universities majoring in Business or graduate studenst enrolled or accepted to a master’s or doctoral program within a Business school in an accredited college or university in the United States (Applicants may apply during their sophomore year).

Applicant must currently be in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress toward and undergraduate or graduate degree.

Applicant must be in the top 20% of his/her class. Applicants do not need to demonstrate financial need.

Required Materials:

1. Three letters of recommendations (one personal, two academic references from the business school of the accredited college.) Letters of recommendations must be written on official letterheadand – must be directly uploaded to the online application by the recommenders.
2. Recent official transcript and evidence of fulltime enrollment – must be mailed to UNCF by the program deadline.
3. Essay – must be directly uploaded to the online application by the applicants.

**Please also open and read the attached document above for more instructions and information about the NAACP scholarship applications.

Members of the National NAACP Board of Directors, SCF Trustees, National Youth Work Committee, the NAACP Scholarship Selection Committee, employees and their spouses or families to the first degree of consanguinity are not eligible to apply for or receive this scholarship.

It’s hard to believe it’s already 2010. But we’re here and there are still new things in store for this blog. When I started blogging, the main goal was to share information and hopefully open up dialogue on issues that affect the black community. I think I did that in some way this year, but it wasn’t to the extent that I’d done in previous years.

The goal for this year is to continue on the track of keeping the site informative. I plan on opening it up to others who are interested in sharing their point of view with the readers of this site. There are some talented, well-written people out there and I want to showcase them and get some real discussions going.

Late in the year, when I got swamped with projects for work, I fell off the blogging scene for a couple of weeks. Blogging can be a daunting task and coming up with things to write about can be time consuming (especially when it isn’t one of my strengths). So this year, I’m going to solicit your help. If you or someone you know are interested in blogging, but don’t want to manage their own site, email me at info @ theotalks.net. I’m always in need of someone to write and it usually turns out to be a win-win situation for both parties.

This year, I also want to focus more on minority small businesses. In these turbulent economic times, a lot of people are turning to owning their own business. I think that’s great, so I decided to start a list of some of my favorite small businesses. I’ll be highlighting small business owners throughout the year, so contact me if you’re interested in participating.

Finally, here are some websites that you need to keep an eye on for 2010. I’ll be blogging a lot about them and hope to be visible on most of them as time permits. Check them out when you get the chance:

• Liberate Magazine
• Tech Relations Firm
• Dallas South News
• Barter My Biz

Have a Happy New Year and God Bless!

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I do it for my family every year because identity theft can make your life miserable. When you run the check, you can get a report from the top three credit agencies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. While the credit report is free, you do not get access to your Fico score. To check your fico score, it’s a little extra but well worth the cost. If you do see something on your report that doesn’t belong, you can report it to the credit agencies and follow their process to get it removed.

The government extended the new home buyer tax credit and interest rates are still pretty low. It’s important to know your Fico score because this score determines what your interest rate will be if you plan on getting a loan. If you have good credit and you know your score, you can negotiate better rates than those who don’t.

You can get your 30-day free credit report by visiting annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

Social entrepreneurs are society’s change agents. They use entrepreneurial and business principles and an innovative spirit to seize opportunities others miss to improve systems, invent new approaches and create data-driven, outcomes-based solutions to overcome large social problems. Where a business entrepreneur looks for profit as the ultimate goal, a social entrepreneur’s bottom line is to solve social challenges.

The first USE program is the:
UNCF/The Walton Family Foundation Social Entrepreneurship K-12 Education Fellows Program

PAID BUSINESS INTERNSHIPS IN SOCIAL ENTREPRISE
UP TO $10,000 IN POST-GRADUATION FINANCIAL AID

The USE K-12 Education Fellows Program is aimed at building a robust pipeline of African Americans engaged in K-12 educational entrepreneurship. Fellows will learn about the inner workings of some of the nation’s leading educational organizations, including Teach for America, by working on meaningful projects in growth strategy, development, human assets, marketing, public affairs and diversity, among others. Fellows will be placed in organizations located in Boston, New York or Washington.

Apply now to become a USE Fellow!
Deadline: December 15, 2009

My ID Score is different than a credit score. A credit score indicates your creditworthiness. My ID Score indicates the risk that you might be a victim of identity fraud. Your specific My ID Score will fall somewhere within three score ranges: Low, Moderate, or High. A higher score indicates a greater identity fraud risk.

To get going you enter your name, address and home phone number. You can also enter your SSN to get a more accurate risk assessment, but it is not required. I didn’t enter mine and was still able to get results. Identity theft can happen to any of us, so it’s good know how concerned we should be. I wouldn’t call this a fool-proof way of determining your risk, but it is a start. If you want to learn more about how you can prevent yourself from becoming a fraud victim, visit http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17-it.htm.