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Keeping Your Information Safe From Fraud Around the Holidays
According to a recent survey by Experian, one out of four respondents reported becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft during the holidays. Fraud is more common during the holiday season because it marks a period of increased shopping, donations and job seeking –...
How to Prevent Identity Theft
Identity theft is no new thing. Pretending to be someone you're not is one of the oldest tricks in the criminal trade, right next to lockpicking and pickpocketing. But if identity theft ever had a golden age, it would be the one we are now living in. Technology...
How You Can Buy Out Your Boss Using a 7(a) Loan
Do you want to have the best boss in the world? There's only one way to do it: become your own boss. And thanks to the Small Business Association (SBA) 7(a) Loan Program, becoming your own boss is easier than you might think. The 7(a) Loan Program is the SBA's...
Home Buying in a Higher Interest Environment
“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt Here are the median sales prices for...
Are Community Banks Safe?
The recent failures of multiple high-profile financial institutions such as First Republic Bank and Silicon Valley Bank may have left you feeling uncertain. If a major interstate bank with hundreds of billions of dollars in assets can fold so suddenly, what's to stop...
How to Finance Startup Costs for a Small Business
Electronic Banking and Mobile Banking
Banking has implemented electronic technology for quite some time now. Although they weighed over 30 pounds, the first all-electronic calculators found homes on many bankers' desks. The SWIFT payment network, which enables secure electronic transmission of information...
Benefits of Savings Accounts and Money Market Accounts
A checking account will make your money just as readily available as if you had chosen to store it in your wallet. But like the cash in your wallet, the money you keep in a checking account typically will not earn interest. Stocks and bonds are both...
How to Finance a Pleasure Vehicle
The freedom of taking to the open road on a motorcycle. The thrill of traversing the countryside on an ATV or snowmobile. The satisfaction of knowing everything you need for your road trip is right alongside you in your RV. These are all priceless feelings – but you...
How to Keep Your Money Safe While Traveling Abroad
Every Minnesotan loves two things: Minnesota in the summertime, and leaving Minnesota during the winter. Once the cheerful holiday season passes and the long, interminable gloom of January and February sprawls ahead, many of us vacation to places where rum punches are...