Now we all know that our credit rating and scores are important especially when we want to make big purchases like a house but these days credit is not everything the lender looks at in making their determination about your qualifications. In this recessed economy, most everyone has been affected negatively to some extent.

Bad things happen to good people all the time. Just because you have had a hit or two, or more, on your credit does not mean you are a bad person or even the least bit irresponsible. If you can get the lender to focus on the good things they may come to the conclusion that you are a good candidate and they will work with you.

If the lender decides to work with you and approve you for one of their bad credit home loans be prepared to spend a good part of your day gathering up papers they will need to make a final decision. Tax returns, pay stubs, ID cards or driver’s licenses, social security cards, and anything else they deem important. Your best bet is to start a file, make, and keep copies of everything you are given or submit to the lender.

A good way to help yourself become approved for a home loan when you have bad credit is to come up with or have a down payment. Having a good sized down payment, any where from 5-20%, will go a long way to negating any bad credit rating and showing the lender that you are a good risk for a home loan.

There are other creative accounting ways to get around a bad credit rating and the lender you choose should be able to explain them to you without a problem. For instance we bought our house several years ago and we qualified for 100% financing. How the lender accomplished that is approving us for an 80-20 loan. The first loan is for 80 percent of the purchase price and the second one is for 20 percent which adds up to 100%. The loans cannot be combined because they each have a different interest rate. So keep in mind you will have two loan payments to make each month.

Another way to get around not having a down payment is to agree to pay the PMI, or private mortgage insurance. Private Mortgage Insurance protects the lender in case the borrower should default on the loan and can be used as a bargaining chip when you have bad credit and need good bad credit home loans options. Private Mortgage Insurance can usually be dropped after a few months.

When you have determined that your school is a participant in the Pell Grant program, then you need to fill out the free application form. This can be done online at the FAFSA website. Based on the information you provide on the application form, from your parent’s previous year tax return, the Department of Education will determine your Pell grant eligibility and the amount you need for the specific school you are attending. Basically, they take the cost of tuition minus whatever your family can contribute to determine your financial need.

Back in 1965, the Federal government passed the Higher Education Act. A section of the legislation was called the BEOG, or Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. The passing of this bill gave low and middle income students the ability to afford to go to college and receive a secondary education. Then in 1973 the BEOG became the Pell Grant, named for US senator, Claiborne Pell, who originated the initial legislation.

The Federal Pell Grant has become the standard for getting free money from the federal government to further your education. The Federal Pell Grant is considered the official jumping off point for determining your eligibility for other federal funding for receiving a college education. If you do not qualify for the Pell grant, you probably will not qualify for other government programs. Namely the FSEOG, or Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant.

The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, just as the title suggests, is a supplemental grant to the Pell Grant. If you are eligibile for the Pell grant you will also be eligible for the FSEOG. The difference between the FSEOG and the Pell Grant is the fact that any school that offers the FSEOG is limited as to how many grants can be awarded. So, to increase your chances of obtaining this supplemental grant to your Pell Grant, make sure you apply as soon as the applications can be accepted, usually after January 1st with a deadline of June 30th. Awards range from $100 to $4,000 depending on your level of financial need.

The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant is only available to undergraduate students. Other conditions to continue to be eligible to receive this grant are, you must maintain at least six credit hours a quarter or semester and keep your grade point average up. Payments will be suspended on the FSEOG if these conditions are not upheld. So remember, file your fafsa application as early as possible so that the Department of Education can determine your FSEOG and Pell Grant eligibility.

The Federal Pell Grant is available to low to middle income students who want to attend college and is based on need. Criteria for determining if your family is low to middle income is simply, how much money does your family make in a year. A low income family is considered a family that brings in $35,000 per year or less. All income must be reported on the FAFSA application and will be verified by attaching a copy of your parent’s tax return from the previous year.

Other factors for determining need that are also taken into consideration are, the number of family members who live in the student’s household, any of the members of that household that are already enrolled in college, any money in checking and savings accounts and the value of any assets or investments your family may own.

Your enrollment status, meaning full-time or part-time, will also affect how much you will be awarded. Obviously, if you are a full-time student you will be awarded more than if you are only a part-time student. The maximum amount awarded through the Pell Grant program for any student is $5,550 per year.

You may qualify for the Pell Grant each year as long as you remain an undergraduate student, unless you are going to school to get your teaching certificate. If you are going to get a teaching certificate then you may have some of the right Pell Grant qualifications needed to take advantage of this source for free government money.

You must also be a US citizen, naturalized citizen or have permanent resident status, have a high school diploma or GED equivalent and show some ability to do well in your chosen area of study to qualify for the Pell Grant.

The Department of Education will determine your level of need based on the information you provide them. The formula they use to determine what your Pell Grant award will be is the cost of tuition minus your expected family contribution.

When the Department of Education processes your application and arrives at the amount of the Pell Grant you will be awarded they will send out the Student Aid Report, or SAR, to you and your family and the Institutional Student Information Record, or ISIR, to the college you are or will be attending. Your Pell Grant award will then be forwarded to the school of your choice and be waiting there for you at the start of the school year.

So, whether you are a recent high school graduate looking for financial help to start your college education or a student already enrolled in college pursuing your degree, you can apply for the Pell Grant and get free money from the federal government to complete your college education if you meet these Pell Grant qualifications.

The EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, for example, offers up to $19,250 to 30 juniors and seniors each year to help complete their bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and $8,000 to complete a summer internship with the Environmental Protection Agency between their junior and senior year.

Eligibility requirements for the Environmental Protection Agency scholarships include; being enrolled at or attending an accredited college or university, being a US citizen, (or can prove legal status), must have already completed the first two years of the bachelor’s degree program in their chosen field, and maintain an acceptable grade point average.

The Environmental Protection Agency also offers The National Network for Environmental Management Studies Fellowship to 16 eligible undergraduate and graduate students studying biology or environmental science while focusing on environmental protection and pollution control. The award amount varies by student.

Annie’s Homegrown, Inc. awards 25 – $1,000 environmental scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in classes and projects related to environmental advocacy. Each award is intended to assist the student with tuition, books and supplies.

Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall started a foundation that offers up to 80 scholarships per year to Native American and Inuit students who are majoring in environmental studies such as, engineering, science and education. Sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible for these scholarships which can be as much as $5,000 per year.

The Libby H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship is offered by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology to students researching invertebrates out in the field. Undergraduate or graduate students nearing graduation are eligible for the $1,000 grant.

The Garden Club of America offers the Katherine M. Grosscup Scholarship to students who live in the Midwest who are studying botany or horticulture. This scholarship is valued at up to $3,000. The GCA also offers $5,500 to at least two students studying ways to conserve the earth’s tropical forests. One lucky freshman, sophomore or junior student can be awarded the Mary T. Carothers Summer Environmental Studies Scholarship, also through the GCA, worth $2,000 to do classwork, field work or research on environmental issues during the summer.

If you are into studying sustainable agriculture then you have the opportunity to benefit from a portion of Annie’s Sustainable Agriculture Scholarships. Annie’s makes $50,000 worth of scholarships available every year to students studying not only sustainable agriculture but soil and crop sciences as well.

You can find more information on the scholarships listed above and others that may be available at the respective websites for each of the corporations, organizations or government agencies profiled here.

So no matter what your chosen field of environmental study is, there are many environmental scholarships or grants available to help with the cost of your education.

Stereotypes such as being a little on the slow side when it comes to intelligence compared to right handed people, just being a little ‘off’, or being just plain crazy has been the majority way of thinking for centuries. The majority being right handed people.

Just as left handed people are in the minority, as only about ten percent of the population of the United States are left handed, so too are left handed scholarships.

In fact, there is only one left handed scholarship available in the entire Unites states of America. The college that offers it is Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. The scholarship is open to all left handed students who go to Juniata College who are academically superior and demonstrate financial need.

The scholarship was bequeathed to Juniata College by Frederick and Mary F. Beckley in 1979 in the amount of $24,000 to benefit those students who are left handed. The award is given out in $1,000 to $1,500 increments to those who need assistance with their educational costs and cannot be transferred to another college or university.

Frederick and Mary both went to Juniata College back in 1919 and met when they were in a tennis class together. Both being left handed, the coach did not know what to do with them so they were paired up together for the duration of the class. They fell in love and were married in 1924.

The word left has had a negative meaning for many people for a long time. All the way back to the beginning of language usage. The Latin word for left means sinistra, with the root of that word being translated into the English word sinister. The French word for left is gauche, which means awkward. An abbreviation in medical terminology for the left eye is OS, which means oculous sinister. Other such words or phrases like ‘left handed liberal’ or ‘left handed compliment’ have been a part of American speech for many decades.

There have been many notable left handed people throughout history, in sports, in entertainment and politics who have overcome all the stigma and stereotypes bestowed on them by the right handed majority. Most notably Babe Ruth of baseball fame, Rod Laver of tennis, who incidentally has a tennis arena named after him in Australia, Bruce Willis, actor, Jay Leno, comedian and talk show host, Colin Powell, politician, and don’t forget Oprah, talk show host and humanitarian. Not to mention Presidents George H. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

There are many ways to get money to go to school for right or left handed people. Grants, scholarships, low interest loans, you name it, it’s out there. Do thorough research to find ones that you qualify for and apply for them in a timely manner so you can be sure to get your share. Don’t be too disappointed that there aren’t more left handed scholarships available.

Some notable left handers who have proven these stereotypes to be incorrect are Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, Oprah Winfrey and President Barack Obama, just to name a few. In fact, the three of the last four presidents have all been left handed. Being left handed has not stopped these people from becoming incredibly successful in their lives. In fact, Oprah has said that when she was young she always knew she would do great things. She has and is now one of the richest people in the world.

More left handed people with success stories include “Muppets” creator Jim Henson, guitarist Jimi Hendrix, singer-songwriter Sir Paul McCartney, comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, actor Bruce Willis, and politicians Al Gore and Colin Powell.

There is a small, liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, called Juniata College that tries to do away with these stereotypes and celebrate the left handed people of the world, or at least the ones who attend Juniata College. This small unassuming college has a scholarship available that offers left handed sophomores, juniors and seniors with excellent grades, and who can prove financial need, from $1,000 to $1,500 per year to assist in their education. There are no other left handed scholarships to be had in the whole country.

Frederick and Mary F Beckley started the scholarship in 1979 with a bequest of $24,000 because Mary was left handed and had been a student at Juniata College. Frederick Beckley was also a student at Juniata College and also left handed. They met in 1919 while attending Juniata College and were paired together in a tennis class because the class instructor and coaches didn’t have a clue what else to do with them. No one had yet heard of Rod Laver apparently. They were married in 1924. Other tennis greats who were left handed are John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova.

Approximately ten percent of the population of the United States is left handed which makes competition for the Beckley scholarship very steep at Juniata, although the college does not make the students prove they are left handed. They say they don’t even watch the student sign the application form. The Beckley scholarship is the only scholarship available for left handed people in the entire country and cannot be transferred to any other school. Don’t feel “left” out if you are looking for funding for school check out Juniata College.

So whether you are right handed or left handed scholarships and grants are available to continue your education but the only one specific to left handers is at Juniata College.

When you’re trying to decide if you should look into a program of credit repair, consider how hard it will be for you to get out of debt. A credit repair program may be one that just fixes inaccuracies on your credit report, or it could be one that helps you with a system of repayment.

Some credit repair programs are designed for people who are struggling under crushing debt. These people may need someone to negotiate with their creditors for lower balances, lower interest or more.

Some programs can arrange for you to pay only a little more than half of what you owe. Other programs help settle your debts for less and may also negotiate for no more interest on what you owe. Some programs may combine both smaller balances and no or low interest, which can help you get your debts paid off.

If you really can’t make your payments on time or feel that you’re slipping under, a program could work for you. If you can keep up with your payments and keep paying the balances down, then that’s your best option. Any other options like credit counseling or credit repair programs do leave dings on your credit.

That’s because credit counseling programs may require the cards to be cancelled. Several cancelled cards with outstanding balances can hurt your credit score. And arranging smaller balances through programs for credit repair can hurt your credit because the charge-off amount will show.

Credit repair programs can help you in the long run, however. It’s better to have a charge-off than months of late payments and missed payments. Also, if you’re unable to make your payments on time, your amount of available credit is probably shrinking as the late fees add up.

When your credit cards reach their limit and you have less and less credit available, your credit score will suffer. When you have debt that equals too much of your available credit, it’s known as a bad debt/credit ratio.  It can even make the interest rates on cards you do pay on time go up.

If you have a lot of cards that are cancelled at once, it leaves you with a lot of debt and no available credit. This is why credit counseling is not always a good option for your credit score.

You should do everything you can to resolve your credit problems on your own. But if you can’t, it’s better to get help than to keep missing payments or making them late. This will hurt you more than anything in the long wrong.

Each late payment is another month your credit score can’t start to improve. Look into credit repair programs before you do more damage.

Not every situation will be easier handled with outside help. No matter what has made your credit bad, you probably can fix it yourself. But a specialist can be very helpful if your credit reports contain errors.

While you can challenge such errors on your own, it can be helpful to have an experienced credit repair specialist handling that for you.  This is especially true if you’re not comfortable challenging authority, or you’re confused by the process that you need to follow.

Errors on credit reports are unfortunately very common. And one single error can drop your score a great deal, depending on what the error is. One error will lower your score, but errors regarding charge-offs, bankruptcies or old debt can be particularly damaging.

You could potentially pay off an old debt and not have it removed from your credit score in error. The older the debt, the longer the missed payment shows on your report and the more damage it does. Getting these paid debts off your report is a good first step to repairing your credit.

A credit repair specialist will challenge all of the “dings” on your credit report, like late or missed payments and things that really drop your score. Paying a specialist in credit repair to do this is no guarantee that any of those things will be removed from your credit reports, however.

If the things that are lowering your score are found to be accurate, they won’t be removed and your score won’t be improved. There’s simply so solution for these sorts of debts other than to pay them as quickly as you can.

Sometimes errors are found and you have trouble getting the credit reporting agency to clear the error off your report. A specialist can come in handy in situations like this because they’re used to dealing with these agencies. They have the experience to negotiate and make the credit bureau understand the problem.

Otherwise, in most cases, you can help repair your credit on your own simply by getting any old debts paid off as quickly as possible. You can request a free credit report once a year from each agency. The 3 major agencies are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.

They’re required to give you a free report every 12 months if you request it, but that doesn’t include your credit score. If you want your credit score, you essentially have to pay for it. And there are two major kinds of credit scores: FICO and Vantage.

It’s figuring out all these details and requesting the right information where an expert can come in handy. If what you need to do is unclear, then you might want to consider hiring a credit repair specialist.

While most people in any type of Internet forum have a sincere desire to help, there are some who like to cause trouble. This isn’t just the case in a credit repair forum, but everywhere online. And even among those who want to help, they can inadvertently hurt.

Some of the people who post and answer questions in forums have very good knowledge about credit repair. They can be helpful because they’ve been in your situation. They may be able to put you at ease by letting you know you’re not alone. Others can cause problems without meaning to.

For instance, someone in a credit repair forum who doesn’t have specialized knowledge might tell you that to repair your credit you should apply for a few credit cards so you can start paying them regularly. But if you’re accepted by all of them you could have too many cards. And if you’re rejected, they’ve done a hard credit check that will show you tried to get more credit.

Both of these scenarios can lower your credit score. If you have problem credit, the most likely situation is that you’ll end up with several credit checks and no acceptances. This will lower your score even more. Someone offering advice in a credit repair forum might not know this.

The best way to start improving your score is to stay at your current amount of credit, and aggressively pay down the balances you owe. One of the most damaging problems is too much debt. If your cards are charged almost to the limit, your score is lowered.

If you can start paying more on those cards and lower your balances, your credit score will slowly improve. This gives you more credit available and improves your debt to credit ratio. Doing this to increase your credit available is better than acquiring new cards.

Some people in a credit repair forum may encourage you to apply for certain credit cards that they claim can help you. They may call them credit repair credit cards. They could really think they’re being helpful, or they may be out to make money when you click their link and sign up.

Either way, these credit cards will cost you money you probably don’t want to spend. The moment you get your card you could owe almost $200 and have $70 or less available as credit.

A secured card is one you make an initial deposit on that equals your credit limit. This is usually a minimum of $300. And often you pay $75 or more to get the card. These still count as more cards on your report, and they cost more than regular cards.

Weigh the information you get in a credit repair forum with information you get from reputable sources before you act on any advice you’ve been given.

Unsecured debt consolidation loans do have an advantage over secured loans, and that is that none of your significant assets are encumbered by a lien. Unsecured means, of course, that you are taking a loan based solely on your good credit and payment history, using only your signature and agreement to pay as the basis of the agreement. While an unsecured debt consolidation loan does not encumber your assets, it also can carry a higher interest rate since the lender is agreeing to provide you funds without having any tangible assets to protect their monies. In essence, the lender is taking a chance on you and your good history, and in exchange you may find that you’ll pay a higher rate.

Whether you choose a secured or unsecured debt consolidation plan, the key to successful debt consolidation is to carefully plan which obligations you will pay off with your loan proceeds. A good way to ensure that you make a wise decision is to list all of your creditors, along with the total outstanding debt, the monthly payment amount, and the annual percentage interest rate you are paying on each balance. Then, prioritize the loans in order of annual percentage rate. Use this information when you going shopping for a loan, and try to find a consolidation option that will allow you to pay off a number of higher-rate debts with the new, lower-rate funds you’ve been able to acquire.

And one important piece of advice: once you’ve paid off your outstanding obligations and reworked your debts using either a secured or unsecured debt consolidation loan, make sure you think about possibly closing out any paid off open lines of credit, cutting up unnecessary high-rate credit cards (or at least locking them up where they can’t be so easily misused). Discipline is critical to ensure that you don’t end up running up another long list of debts now that you’ve managed to consolidate some of the more costly loans into a lower-priced position that’s easier to pay. Don’t get caught up in the temptation to use those now conveniently low-balance credit lines.