Traveling on your own gives you the maximum flexibility. You can decide when you want to fly and how much inconvenience you are prepared to accept to get a discount. Most airlines start offering discounts for groups when there are at least six people in the party. So, if you are prepared to put up with the hassle of organizing friends into a package deal, the savings can be substantial. The emphasis here is on a package which includes hotels and other add-ons. There is another general rule at work here. Never rely on a single internet site for making a booking of any kind. Always get multiple online quotes and pick up the telephone to talk to the airlines and travel agents about travel packages. The moment you start talking about adding a rental car or hotel rooms, you have their undivided attention. Indeed, asking what the options are for saving money will often produce unexpected offers not mentioned on the websites. In this, remember to identify the consolidators or aggregators. These are the travel agents that buy tickets in bulk from the airlines and sell at a discount. Also remember that many of the no-frills budget airlines do not sell through the standard internet search engines. You have to approach them directly.

Learning how to save on air tickets is not difficult but it does take up time and requires some effort. You should also be wary. Many discounted air tickets come with restricted rights to change flight times, exchange tickets, or cancel and seek a refund. Always read the small print before confirming the purchase. You should also use your credit card because many have insurance provisions that cover you should you fall ill and be unable to travel.

If you look around the internet, watch TV or read the newspapers and magazines, there are advertisements everywhere promising to save you big dollars. As with all advertising, some of it is true, while the rest is just the standard come-on to hook your interest. In some cases, there are real airfare wars with limited time promotional fares being offered by the major airlines feeling the need to generate some cash flow. If you are flexible on when you travel and, for holiday purposes, where you go, some of these deals are very attractive. But, for the more general traveler, let’s start with the simple tips that work no matter which website or agencies you use to buy the tickets, and no matter where you want to go. The first could not be more straightforward. Fly midweek on a Tuesday or Wednesday. These are the “dead” days of the travel industry and most airlines offer between 8 and 10% discounts if you are flexible enough to travel on these days. Saturdays are also discounted to some extent. The same applies to the unpopular time slots, i.e. the “red-eye”, late-night flights, and those flights that are the first off the ground once it’s officially morning. Flights with at least one stop are also cheaper than direct flights.

The second general way of saving money is to survey the prices from all the airports near you. Assuming you are flexible and prepared to travel to slightly more distant and smaller airports, you can often save several hundred dollars on your air tickets. It’s all about supply and demand. If there are fewer people traveling to and from from an airport, you can save on air tickets. The same logic applies to the landing fees. The smaller, secondary airports have lower landing fees. The airlines will still pass them on, but the savings can be significant. For example, if you are going to New York, you can save up to $200 if you fly into and out of Newark or Philadelphia. Now the only question is whether the cost of the extra time and transport from the smaller airport to your final destination is less than the savings on the tickets and fees.

If you prefer conventional banks, some offer short-term loans of up to $500 if there is a crisis. You need to read the small print carefully before you sign up. The terms vary. Some banks require you to hold the account for a given period of time before you qualify for a loan, others have penalties if you fail to repay the loan within preset periods of time. Worked out over a year, the interest rates rise above 100% but they are still cheaper than the other short-term loans. Some credit unions and banks allow you to have a credit card linked to an overdraft facility. Under normal circumstances, a check written with inadequate funds in the account will be refused payment. But with the right agreement in place, the unauthorized overdraft will be considered a cash advance on the credit card. This is more expensive than a conventional overdraft but it will give you access to funds you might not otherwise get. Finally, you can search for a company still offering a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) facility. These have become more difficult given the credit crunch and falling property values, but if you do still have a reasonable equity in your home, you may be able to find a bank or finance company prepared to lend. If you are lucky, you should never sign up for a significant amount of money. Go for the minimum amount available. This is only intended as an financial emergency facility to avoid you having to take a payday loan.

So what should go into the plan? If you have assets, you need to decide what can be sold and what should be kept. Sometimes, you keep an asset like your home because it is necessary as a place to live. Equally, you can sell an asset because it costs too much in maintenance and upkeep. The best plans set a list of priorities. That you fight to keep some assets and aim for the best price you can get for the others. Once the cash starts to come in from this forced liquidation, you now have to decide what to do with the money. Some debts carry high rates of interest. Paying them down as quickly as possible can save you a great deal of pain later on. But you must always look at the big picture. If your current review finds many debts, most with high rates of interest, a good strategy is to try negotiating a consolidation of those debts while your credit score and general finances are in a reasonably good state. If you wait until your income is disrupted, lenders are not going to be so willing to offer you new loans. Packing as many of your current short-term liabilities into one longer-term loan can not only save you money now, but also give you a good buffer against bankruptcy should an emergency occur.

All this to avoid the need to take a payday loan or its high-interest equivalent as a solution to a financial emergency. It’s easy to tell yourself that, should there be a small to moderate crisis, everything can be solved by a short-term loan. The problem with this view is that the costs of these loans quickly run into interest payments of more than 100%. The statistics show that people who take what is supposed to be a bridging loan to tide over for one month end up in debt for ten or eleven months. Having a plan helps you avoid being caught in the debt trap.

The modification you want from your mortgage provider is some reduction in the monthly installment. This may come from extending the term of the loan or from reducing the interest rate applied. Why should a lender modify the loan? The problem for lenders is that foreclosure is a sledgehammer remedy to crack a nut. If the lender does foreclose, there is a small mountain of fees to be paid to end up with ownership of a property it cannot sell in a depressed market. Indeed, lenders are now looking at increased costs to maintain and repair properties to prevent further losses in value. None of these costs will ever be recovered from the borrowers, particularly if they are forced into bankruptcy. It is more cost-effective to take less from a borrower and leave the house occupied. This preserves the asset value and keeps some money coming in from the borrower. Most lenders now have a dedicated department to deal with modification applications. Applying for relief is more likely to receive a constructive response today.

President Obama has pushed through a package called “Making Home Affordable”. It covers both mortgage refinancing and modification. If you qualify, lenders must reduce your monthly repayments so that they are less than 31% of your income. To qualify, you must be current on your loan with no payment more than 30 days overdue. You must be able to show the resale value of your home has dropped by more than 15% and that your personal circumstances justify federal assistance. For these purposes, anyone with a mortgage from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac qualifies automatically. This can entitle you to interest as low as 2% with all the lender’s losses covered by the government and represents an excellent deal if you can bring yourself within the terms of the scheme. If you do not qualify, it will come down to you or a professional advisor acting on your behalf to talk the mortgage lender into agreeing a refinancing package on favorable terms. It’s in everyone’s interests that you save on mortgage installments and keep making some repayments to the lender. This way leads to peace of mind, knowing that the ownership of your home is secure.

So, for these purposes, let’s assume you have few credit card debts and some savings. What are your options? One is to use the savings to reduce your mortgage debt. This immediately reduces the interest you pay and it will help if you are thinking about refinancing. Property values have been falling fast. In fact, at the time of writing in May 2009, the market has probably not yet bottomed out. That means your loan to value ratio has been falling. Even though you might have had a mortgage for years, you may now find the current balance of the loan is worth more than 90% of the resale value of the property. This will make finding new finance difficult. Even when the ratio is between 80 and 90%, the interest rate is likely to be quite high to reflect the risk of further falls in property values. If you have a capital sum that will lower the amount borrowed, this will make the chances of refinancing at a cheaper rate possible. However, before you pay, make sure you know when the mortgage interest is calculated. You need to ensure you make the capital repayment at a time when you will get the maximum reduction in interest. Also check to see whether there are penalties if you make an early repayment of part of the principal.

The other factor is practicality. Once you pay a lump sum into the mortgage, that money is locked up. If there’s an emergency of some sort, that forces you to borrow all money needed at higher rates of interest. With the current recession in full flow, unemployment is rising fast. It can be worth having some capital set aside to live on should you lose your job or fall ill. In particular, you should have enough to cover your mortgage repayments for six months should your income dry up. So you can save on your mortgage by overpaying installments or paying a lump sum, but it’s not for everyone. Sit down and do the math to see whether it’s really for you. But, if you are looking at mortgage refinancing, having a lump sum to hand makes a very good bargaining chip in both getting a new deal and getting that deal at a low interest rate.

To reduce the costs of insuring your existing home, start by shopping around to get as wide a set of quotes for renewing as possible. Always make sure you get quotes you can compare, i.e. always use the same set of information when using the online sites or completing a questionnaire on a site operated by an insurance company directly. That way you always compare like with like. Then get a different set of quotes for an increased deductible or for combining your home and auto insurance with the same company. There are several different packages available from insurers that will give you a discount. If you are in doubt, start talking directly with the insurance companies that seem to be offering the best terms. That way, you can explore what’s on offer with a human being and get a better idea on how much you can save. There’s just as big an incentive to get new business for the companies and many offer welcome discounts to encourage people to switch their policies.

In all this, make sure you are insuring at the right value. Remember, the insurable amount is the cost of rebuilding not the purchase price you paid which includes the value of the land. Even though the resale value may have fallen in the recession, this does not mean the cost of rebuilding has fallen. Before you firm up on your home insurance policy, talk to some local builders to get guideline quotes for rebuilding costs. It may also be worth spending some money to make your home more secure against burglary, and renewing old wiring and plumbing systems. The better your property is able to withstand storm damage, the cheaper the premiums. So, to sum up, always shop around by using the free insurance quote sites, getting as many insurance quotes as possible before deciding which policy to buy, renovating and rebuilding where it will save you money in the longer term. That way, you should maximize your insurance savings.

Now let’s look at shaving dollars off the premiums. Start with the amount of deductible. The higher the amount you are prepared to pay should there be a claim, the lower the premium. Then look at the discounts. You will get significant reductions if you insure more than one vehicle with the same company or insure both your vehicles and home together. Similarly, you should look for a discount if you have been a safe driver, have no tickets and have not made a claim in the last five years. Some cars cost less to insure, particularly if you have an antitheft device fitted. Some companies offer lower premiums for older drivers and for women — statistically, both groups have fewer accidents.

Now you have to make hard decisions about the vehicles themselves. If you have decided to cut your costs by keeping the same car, think about whether you still need comprehensive or collision cover as the car ages. There will come a point when the maximum deductible grows closer to the value of the car. At this point, it’s more cost effective to drop the comprehensive cover. Then, look to buy “safer” vehicles. High-powered cars cost more to insure than “family” cars that are less fun to drive but still get you where you need to go. This, combined with a clean driving record, will always get you the maximum insurance savings. So, always shop around. There are a lot of sites giving free auto insurance quotes. This identifies the companies offering a good premium. Make up a short list from the companies offering the best insurance quotes. Then, to get the best deal, it’s always down to the telephone to negotiate with a human being at each company. You can only get so far on the internet. The sites are programmed to respond with the answers to the most often asked questions. You are asking a lot of questions about how to save money. This needs a human decision-maker to give you the best results. When you have talked to three or four of the “best” companies, make a decision. Then, you can drive happily for the next year knowing you have the best value-for-money policy available.

How do you get these histories? There’s a single federal site where you apply: www.annualcreditreport.com. There’s also a toll-free number: 877-322-8228. If you approach the three major credit bureaus directly, i.e. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, there’s a chance you will be asked to pay. If you go to any other website, you will almost certainly be asked to pay to get your “free” reports. Use the federal site only to avoid problems. When you log on to the site, be prepared with your name, address, date of birth and social security number. You will also be asked for some other information only you would be expected to know, e.g. the amount you paid as the last mortgage instalment. Assuming you pass through the security system without problem, you will be give immediate access to your report. If you use the telephone system or write them a letter, expect to wait two more more weeks for a hard copy of the report to arrive.

If you find a mistake on your free credit report that affects your credit scores, you should act immediately. Write to the credit bureau and the reporting agency that filed the incorrect information using certified mail with return receipt requested, and explain in detail why the credit report is wrong. Send copies of the relevant bills, statements, cancelled checks and receipts - hopefully, you are well organized and have been keeping all these original documents and records in a safe place. If you are writing to report a case of identity theft with someone opening an account or falsely using your credit cards, make a police report and send a copy of that report to the bank, credit card company, etc. The bureau and reporting agency have thirty days to reply with the results of their investigation. If they agree with you, the information will be corrected. If they disagree, they must given reasons. In this way, you can ensure that all the information about you is both complete and accurate. With your records accurate, your FICO scores should improve.

So what was going wrong? The most common problem was related to the quality of the information on file. People would submit their personal details and be rejected because their “real” information did not match the “data” on file. Access by the public was set up through a security system that assumed the data on file was always right. Big mistake. The quality of data is only as good as all the people who input it. So although we can applaud a security system that protects us from scammers trying to pass themselves off as us, there has to be a fallback position that allows people to have this faulty data corrected. The second problem was ironic. The security system was set up to ensure that people only got free reports when they were due. So if the scammers got in first, the real people were refused access because “they” had already received their annual report. Very reassuring.

So how do you get your free credit report? Well, avoid all the scam internet sites that appear to be offering your “free” reports but actually charge you through the backdoor. There are hundreds of look-alike sites that try to deceive consumers. Never sign up for any service that asks you for money. The official site runs under the URL www.AnnualCreditReport.com. There’s also a toll free telephone line - (877) 322-8228 - and a real-world address - Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Most of the early problems have now been solved allowing people easier access to their report. So what do you get after you have jumped through all the hoops? You get your credit history. That’s all the transactions recorded against your name by your creditors. You do not get your credit scores. The reason for this is simple. Every lender has a different formula for working out whether you are a “good” credit risk. Getting one bureau’s calculation is no guarantee of how the others will do the math. So work through the credit report and protect your interests.