Here’s my weekly roundup of stories I found useful or interesting this week:

Kiva: Giving a Virtual Hand Up, Not a Handout

Kiva.org allows individuals to make loans starting at $25 to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world, also known as microcredit. By doing so, you can provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

This looks to be a great way to help others out without having to actually give away money. Useful for those of us who are short on cash but still want to do something.

Use those credit cards!

I just learned that credit cards (and HELOCs, which the credit bureaus regard as really big credit cards) go into a dormant status if unused for six months. So what? Well, dormant accounts do not count toward you credit usage ratio. That means if you haven’t used a card for more than six months, the denominator of the ratio decreases.

Color me surprised (a quick Google search backs this fact up)! I had no idea this was true and thought that the few cards I have collecting dust at home were still helping my credit score. I am now inclined to use those cards every now and then - if only I could remember my online login information for them.

Don’t Overpay For Rent

I’ve always seen renting as “temporary” and buy as permanent. So the two years I spent renting in the Baltimore, MD area, I hardly ever took any time to decorate the place and I tried to pay as little as possible. From my point of view, because it was temporary, not actually mine, and something whose cost I wanted to reduce as little as possible, it made no sense for me to pay more than the average rent in the area or even spend money on decorating it.

I actually disagreed with some parts of this post, but still thought it was important to keep in mind. Here is my response:

I agree that spending too much on rent can be like a punch to the gut. When my wife and I moved from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the suburbs of Boston, we knew we would be spending more. We paid $930 for a decent sized one bedroom in Philly.

Equal sized one bedroom apartments in Boston’s North Shore ran nearly $1400! So instead, we started looking at multi-family houses which were rented out. We ended up with a decent sized two-bedroom with a good choice of amenities for $1200.

However I think it’s important you consider your apartment more than just a temporary space. Most people rent for at least one or two years, so why not spend some pocket change decorating and making the space comfortable.

Small Town Banking Vs. The 21st Century

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Stop the madness!!!!!!. Let me first say that I’m not really surprised. Still, I had to point out that he was wasting money. So, I went online and did some research. At the time, Emmigrant was offering the best rate at 5.5%. So, I sent my dad the forms and everything. Then, he did nothing. That’s right, nothing. He didn’t feel comfortable having an online account. the fact that he would get $2475 in interest a year did not deter him. He was simply afraid of losing his money.

I thought this was a great article on how some people still simply do not feel comfortable saving their money in an online entity, even when they can get two to three times the interest.