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Business – Page 150 – Reginald Chan

Category: Business

What Is A Hard Inquiry and How Long Does It Stay on Your Credit Report

In this day and age, a huge portion of your purchasing power is based on credit, credit scores, and credit reports. A huge amount of purchases nationwide are made through some form of credit, whether it’s loans, credit cards, or mortgages. According to USA Today, the average credit debt of an American is around $6,200 – excluding mortgages.

So, credit scores and reports are important. They dictate your buying power to an extent. Various things can affect your score, including visible hard inquiries on your report. Let’s take a look at “hard inquiries,” what they are, and why they are important factors to note when tackling your credit score.

What is a Hard Inquiry?

First, it’s important to understand what a hard inquiry is and why they exist. Hard inquiries are often referred to as hard pulls, with both terms meaning the same thing. If you want to learn about credit inquiry removal, you will find more on that later. But first, you need to understand why you may find one on your report in the first place.

Simply put, a hard inquiry is when a lender or creditor looks through your credit report to see if you are suitable for a loan or credit card. They will only do this when you apply for a new line of credit. Also, these inquiries can only take place if you approve or allow the lender to do so. This usually happens during the application phase of a new credit card, loan, mortgage, or other credit agreement. Creditors may look at your report even if you are only applying for a small loan. They want to be sure that they have cross-referenced your spending levels and ability to pay back whatever they lend you.

What is Your Credit Score and Report?

But, what are they looking at on your credit score? In many cases – everything! Say you seek a new credit card with a $20,000 limit. You’ll let your lender know how much you earn, how much your partner earns, and what you plan on using the card for. This is, in theory, enough information for them to know whether you’re “good” to pay the $20k back. However, they want to double-check. So, they’ll look through your credit report to check how much you currently have borrowed, how regularly you pay things back, how many lines of credit you have, and any other finance-related report.

Hard Enquiry = Score Affected

It seems strange, but even having these hard inquiries can affect your credit score. Despite the fact that you are only requesting new credit, this is noted as part of your report. So, if you’re denied by one lender, this will show up on your credit score, most likely reducing it further. This can be a real catch-22 situation, as regularly asking for credit and being denied makes you look even less attractive to new lenders. This can push offers down – for example, only being approved for $2,000 credit instead of $20,000 – or it can push interest rates up extremely high. You may only be offered a low limit but with a huge rate of interest. Not ideal.

However, there are some caveats to note. A hard inquiry knocks about 5 points off of your score. Not too drastic, then. Also, you can search for as many lines of credit as you like within 45 days and this will count as a single inquiry. So, if you’re shopping for offers, you won’t damage your score further. Finally, a hard inquiry will stay on your report for around 2 years, but your score will have usually jumped back up after less than a year. So, you’re looking at 10-12 months’ worth of reduced points thanks to a hard inquiry.

Removal of a Hard Inquiry

So, if you don’t want your credit score affected, what can you do? Believe it or not, you can remove these inquiries from your report. You also remove late payments from credit report. There are two ways of doing this. Firstly, you could hire a credit repair service to do the work for you. This may cost a few bucks, but they may be able to have negative things removed from your credit report within 24 hours, showing an instant score boost.

Aside from this, you can request to have them removed yourself. Firstly, you’ll need to get credit reports (they’re free once per year from every credit reporting agency). Get reports from all the major brands and cross-reference them. Then, choose which credit checks you view as unauthorized or unnecessary on your report, and write to each agency asking for them to be removed. A simple letter stating which inquiries were unauthorized or not requested should do the trick, and you’ll often see them removed from your report within a couple of weeks.

Benefits of Good Credit

We’ve spoken of the risks of poor credit on your report, but why does it matter to have good credit? You may think it’s not worth the hassle, especially if you have no plans to borrow money any time soon. However, having a great credit score is always a smart thing to keep track of. What if you have an emergency and don’t have enough in your budget to cover it? Even if you only need to borrow a few hundred dollars, a poor credit score could make that hard. Compound that with the increased interest you’ll have to pay, and you could end up spiraling into debt. Holding a high credit rating puts you on solid ground should you ever decide to move home, buy a new car, or deal with emergency medical bills or otherwise.

So, hard inquiries are quite simple to understand. They are checks to see if you are viable for new credit, while they also show that you’re on the hunt for a loan or credit card. Removing them is easy if you feel the need to, however, if you’re in no hurry, they only affect your score for a short amount of time.

September 27, 2021
Essentials of Effective Web Design for a Plumbing Business
Alpharetta, located in Fulton County, Georgia, has several plumbing businesses offering comprehensive services, and you need a website to get an edge over competitors. But, having a website is not enough. Web design Alpharetta services offers a professional look that comes through effective website design practices.

Here, look at some essential elements of effective web design for a plumbing business.

A User-Friendly Design

As per recent statistics, Alpharetta is one of the top 10 places to start a business in Georgia. Entrepreneurs setting up an office in this city will need plumbing services, and they are more likely to visit plumbing websites to hire the top professionals.

One of the crucial elements of a professional website design is user-friendliness. A user-friendly website loads fast, is easy to navigate, and doesn’t hamper the browsing experiences by frequent re-directs or pop-ups. You need to ensure the website navigation is simple and the visitor can find information with few clicks. You should also pay attention to the way potential clients book an appointment. You should have a scheduling software for service business in place.

Search Engine Friendly Website

As per a recent report, Georgia has an Internet penetration of 68.9%, and the state has around 2.74 million Internet users. The website design should be search engine friendly to ensure the website is indexed regularly, as the new content you post helps improve search engine rankings.

To ensure your website is search engine friendly, you need to contact an agency offering web design in Alpharetta. The agency will implement SEO on your plumbing website and target keywords relevant to the plumbing business. It will help in improving online visibility, increase organic traffic, and generate quality leads.

Responsive Design

Today, people access the Internet from various devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. As per recent statistics, Georgia has around 5.46 million mobile connections.

A responsive website design offers a consistent user experience even when accessed from these mobile devices. There are several elements of a responsive web design. They include:
- Information is presented in an easy-to-understand manner, and there is no clutter.
- There isn’t overwhelming information crammed in one page
- Navigation is easy to follow
- Images are high quality and not copyrighted
- No broken links
Clear Call to Action

As per recent statistics, there are around 24273 households in Alpharetta, Georgia. Around 66.4% of the housing units are owner-occupied. The statistics show around 96.75% of houses in Alpharetta have computers. It means most Alpharetta residents will visit your website when they need any plumbing service.

After you have attracted visitors to the website, you would want them to complete a specific action. Conversion is the ultimate goal of every website design. To accomplish it, you need to place clear call-to-action elements in proper places on your website.

A few ideas of clear call-to-action for plumbing websites is to call your customer service or fill the booking form provided by the WordPress appointment booking plugin they’re using on the website to book your services. You can also provide a direct email option as a call-to-action.

To sum up, these are some essential elements of effective web design for a plumbing business. Hire the experts to ensure that your website fulfills all these requirements and converts more visitors into clients.
September 25, 2021
How to make homework less work?
Homework is the thing that none of the students like to do. Due to coronavirus restrictions, students are attending online classes. Thus, they feel a sense of burden even while completing simple homework as well. Apart from helping the teacher know whether the students understand the concept, the homework also enables the children to gain new and intriguing information about the topics in the classes.

Numerous students do not face any major difficulties while completing their homework. Whereas, the ones who face difficulties in the same still tops the chart. They often feel overwhelmed if they have an occupied schedule. Given below are certain points which will surely assist the students in resolving the do my homework issue quickly:

Bring strategy to your work:

The first thing that the students can initiate for making the work look less is to bring strategy in whatever work they are doing. Everyone has a specific time between the entire day to witness the most productive versions of themselves. The students must also determine such time for completing their assignments. Some children begin their homework post-dinner. But this is the worst time as the energy level is minimum during that time.

The key point is, to begin with, the hardest assignments in the beginning. Some children start with the easy tasks first to wave them off from the list. The other noticeable point is to skip the tasks where you get stuck, rather than wasting time in it. They can resolve all the issues the next day in the class and save time at home.

Prepare a list:

Before beginning with your day, the students must make a detailed list of everything they need to do that evening. Such a study plan should include even minor things like
- Reading notes.
- Essay writing.
- Completing pending work.
- The reviewing of the vocabulary.
Preparing such a list will enable you to save the time of finalizing what to do next. It will bring a sense of satisfaction when you start by ticking off certain items in the list.

The study plan list should also include the time for the completion of work. It will help the children in increasing their speed while working on completing the tasks on the list. If you cannot determine the actual time for completing the work, you can start by noting down the time you take for completing a specific task.

Create a calm and quiet space:

There is a huge area of our population that prefer completing their home assessments while sitting next to the T.V. Having all such distractions will surely distract the mind of the child, and will also raise the time for completing the same. Therefore, the children must look for a place free from any distractions, be it the gadgets or the family members.

The parents must clarify that they can resume their favorite activities or engage in other profitable options right after if they complete their home assessments quickly.

Gather all the requisite supplies:

Once you are aware of a quiet spot for carrying on with your work, you must ensure that you have all the requisite supplies. Frequently getting up after rapid intervals might hinder your flow for the completion of do my homework task. The space must have all the requisites such as a calculator, pen, eraser, stickers, pencil, etc. therefore, before beginning with the work, the students must see the study plan and gather all the additional items such as the subject notebooks along with the laptop.

Unplugging certain things:

We all know that smartphones and other electronic gadgets are some of the biggest distractions in today’s era. Even while they keep it aside while studying, the constantly beeping notifications make it quite difficult to focus on the task. Therefore, you must keep it in silent mode or keep it in a separate room before initiating your homework.

Taking short breaks:

Numerous researches and other studies show that taking short naps or short breaks nourishes the mind with energy and boosts the I.Q. Level. You can also consider checking the Paperleaf during the breaks to help you write your work at affordable prices. Apart from increasing the efficiency level and providing fuels to your brain, it minimizes the time while completing a specific task.

In conclusion:

If you want to shave off the homework, you must use the above tips. Apart from committing to a study plan free from distraction, they also help you focus while doing your homework. The homework is how the teacher analyses how much understanding the student gains from the classwork. In the normal schooling tenure, teachers think of homework as a very remarkable tool. It helps in reinforcing and clarifying the concepts being taught in the class.
September 24, 2021
Effective Tactics to Generate More Sales Leads for Your Business

Lead generation is the process of stimulating one’s audience and capturing their attention, with the ultimate goal of converting them all into customers. A company that doesn’t put time and effort into lead generation won’t be able to plug into its key demographic. This will mean that it can neither generate customers nor interest. A business needs leads before it can make sales. Lead generation also helps businesses to build their industry visibility and credibility.

In this article, we’ll present a few effective tactics you can employ to generate more sales leads for your business:

Cold Calling

Cold calling is a good way to generate leads, particularly if you have the contact deals of potentially high-value customers. You can often find these details through websites like LinkedIn. If you’re a contractor or tradesman, then you can cold call by knocking on peoples’ doors and offering them your services. When cold calling, you need to make sure that you don’t come across as being pushy or as harassing people. This can put people off of doing business with you, which will build you a bad reputation. When done correctly, cold calling can be very effective.

Use Social Media

As we mentioned in our previous point, social media (LinkedIn) can be very effective. On social media, you’re able to reach your key demographic directly, without any intermediaries or barriers. If you’re tactical in your approach, you can draw their attention to your social media page or website. Once you have their attention, you can convert them into customers. Social media is a very effective place for lead generation when it’s used correctly. Unfortunately, many people misuse social media. When misused, it’s nearly impossible to generate leads and draw interest to your social media page.

Pay-per-click

Pay-per-click advertising on major search engines is a great way to generate leads. According to one team of PPC specialists, pay-per-click advertising can have explosive results. With pay-per-click advertising, you’re able to target your audience with advertisements whenever they make searches relevant to your business. Because you pay each time one of your advertisements is clicked, it’s much more practical to have them show up when relevant searches are made. One thing that’s important to take into consideration, is that it’s very common for business competitors to click their competitions advertisements multiple times to cost them money. There are ways that you can protect yourself against this, however.

Referrals

Another very effective method of generating sales leads is by asking for referrals from existing customers, who are satisfied with the products or services that you provide. You can incentivize referrals, by offering money or discounts to the referrer and the person who’s referred. A lot of companies send out emails, offering referral incentives to their entire subscription list. If you have high-value clients, then you could benefit from asking them directly if they would consider referring you to other high-value clients. You can also try affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective methods of generating sales leads. Affiliate marketing is when you offer third-party money to sell your products for you. They take a percentage of the sale price of the item that they sell. Affiliate marketers will sell your products for you through their blogs and vlogs. You will also have to send them free products and give them a discount on the products that they sell, so they can incentivize buying your product to their audience. You can advertise an affiliate scheme directly on your website, and on your social media accounts.

Answer Questions Online

Another great way to generate leads is to answer questions on online forums, like Quora and Reddit. When people post questions relevant to your industry, you can answer them and then take the opportunity to introduce yourself and your business. The point of answering these questions is to show off the depth of your industry knowledge. You can then include links to your portfolio or website underneath, which will give the person asking the question (and other people) the opportunity to learn more about you. You can generate thousands of leads by answering online questions.

Write Guest Blogs

Guest blogs can also be a great way to generate leads. Guest blogging allows you to build new connections in your industry, improve your website’s SEO ranking, and generate referral traffic. You can start guest blogging by approaching blogs relevant to your industry. If you’re not a good writer, you can hire a content writer to write your guest posts for you. In these guest posts, you’re able to showcase your depth of knowledge in your industry. By showcasing your knowledge, you’ll attract potential customers who want to do business with companies that are experts in their fields.

Influencers

Influencers are online personalities, who are experts in specific fields. They use their platforms to advertise, sponsor, and showcase their expertise. You can find influencers on more or less every platform, specializing in every niche imaginable. Influencers are called that because they can ‘influence’ their audiences into buying products that they advertise. You can employ an influencer to advertise your products for you, although it can be expensive. All major companies now use influencers. Some governments even use influencers to promote tourism into their country. You can benefit a lot from using an influencer, as they can generate you a lot of sales leads.

Networking

Another way to generate leads is to network at trade shows. At trade shows, you’ll make connections with other people in your industry and you’ll meet customers. You should visit every trade show that you can because they can be a very effective way of generating leads and getting the word out there about your company. Networking with your competition is very handy also. It’s always a good idea to know who you’re competing against. When you know your competition, you’ll be able to predict their next move and outdo them.

Generating sales leads is absolutely fundamental to a business’s success. With the tips in this article, you’ll be able to generate more leads for your business. Make sure you give all of them a go.

September 24, 2021
Top Must-have Features To Have In Your Customer Support System
The customer support system is one of the most crucial aspects of any business. It is vital to provide the best possible customer service, and to do this you need a thorough system in place that can handle all incoming queries. Sometimes, it’s just not enough for your employees to have good intentions when dealing with customers – they need an actual process that will allow them to be efficient and effective in providing support. Here are some must-have features for your customer support system that will make it easier for both customers and employees alike!

1. What is customer support

Customer support is a set of services provided by a business to help customers make the most of their products and services. It encompasses assistance with installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting. This type of support is usually given over the phone or online through chat sessions or FAQs. In order for your customer service team to provide effective assistance, they have to be able to see what’s going on from the customer’s point of view. When a customer asks for help, find out as much as you can about what they’re currently experiencing so that you can give them advice tailored specifically to them and their situation.

2. How it helps your business

It may feel like you’re giving away information to your competitors when you share your customer’s requests, but it will help you improve your product or service so that you can offer what customers want. Asking for context – what the customer is trying to do, which device they’re using, etc – helps to guide your response and save time.

You’ll gain a competitive edge by being able to give proactive assistance instead of just reacting to complaints. Plus, addressing issues quickly can help prevent them from escalating into major problems. Since not every customer is going to have a pleasant experience with your customer service system, you should plan for this eventuality.

Being prepared to deal with instances where customers are unsatisfied with the service they’ve received is just as important as dealing with customers who are satisfied. If a customer is unhappy or has a concern, address it and try to resolve the problem right away. If they’re not happy with your response, consider giving them an incentive such as a refund so that you can maintain their satisfaction and earn their trust.

3. What are the top must-have features any good customer support system needs
- Automatic payment – Nearly 95% of customers prefer automatic payments because it takes away the burden of remembering to pay monthly dues, which is great if you’re struggling with memory issues due to age or disability. Out of all other features, automatic payments systems are maybe the most popular among Millennials, since many of them are living paycheck-to-paycheck and can’t afford any unforeseen expenses that come up without funds at hand. The company benefits by saving time on making phone calls and sending emails, which frees up staff for other tasks.
- Automated responses – This allows employees more time on their hands in order to focus on complex queries or lengthy conversations without having too many other tasks assigned at the same time. It also gives customers a quick response and improves their satisfaction with your company as they can now move through the customer support process more quickly.
- Knowledge base – A knowledge base is a great way to provide information before even having to answer a customer’s question. It has all of the information they need to be saved and ready for them, so if an inquiry comes in that is already covered in the knowledge base, then they can start solving their problem from step one with no need to contact a customer support agent.
- FAQs – This is also known as ‘frequently asked questions’. Customers often have many of these, and some of them may be variations on what another customer has already asked. Having separate FAQ pages for this allows employees to easily navigate their way through these questions, and customers can get their answers more quickly than by contacting the customer support team.
- Search functionality – This is one of the best ways to track down issues that customers may be having so that they can be resolved with minimal effort on your part. It helps you to find out if they are having similar problems without you asking, and helps employees to figure out what the problem is in order to solve it with the customer.
- Reports – A great way to know how your support system is doing is by seeing statistics of how many customers have been helped in which time-frames. This tells you when inefficiencies are occurring within your support system, and allows you to pinpoint the problem areas that need fixing.
- Multiple support channels – Customers can contact you through email, phone, or live chat, so it’s important for them to know which channel is the best way to get in touch with your company. Having multiple options on how they can reach someone will improve satisfaction levels, and will get them the help they are looking for.
- Time zones – Another important feature to have is one that allows employees in different time zones to be able to do their work easily and without needing someone on-call around the clock. This improvement helps you provide support when your customers need it most and can be a key factor in how customers decide which companies they buy from.
- Self-service options – This feature enables your customers to resolve their own issues without having to wait for an answer by contacting support. These can be found in the form of FAQs, knowledge bases, and search functionality.
- Security – It’s important that any system you have keeps your customers’ information secure. Having a system where credentials are required for new employees will ensure that valuable data is safe from those who might use it maliciously.
- Language translation – This feature allows you to provide support in multiple languages, thus allowing you to increase the number of potential clients that your business can help out. This can be particularly helpful for foreign companies that want to expand overseas.
Customer support is one of the most crucial aspects of any business, and providing great customer service can make or break your company. The above features are just some of the must-have options available to you when setting up for this purpose.
September 22, 2021
Everything You Need to Know About 401k
What Is 401k And How Does It Benefit You

The best way to save for retirement is by starting early and investing in a 401k. This article will cover all the details of 401k as well as a Guideline 401k review to help you understand your options. There are many reasons why, but these two will help you understand: firstly, your money has the opportunity to grow over time because of compound interest, which means that it can earn more on its own. Secondly, if you start early enough -such as at age 25- you have decades of compounding growth ahead of time, which makes saving much easier. To find out more, read the detailed points below.

1. What Is A 401k

A 401k is a type of retirement account that allows you to save money for your future on a pre-tax basis. What this means, essentially, is that even though you will be saving and investing the money now, it will not count towards your taxable income until you withdraw from the plan at some point in the future (which is usually after you retire). This is a huge benefit because it means that the money you are saving today will have up to 40 more years of compounding growth, which can be very advantageous when planning for retirement.

2. Why Should You Invest In Your 401k?

As mentioned above, a 401k is one of the best ways to save for retirement because it allows you to invest money in an account with many tax advantages. This means that when you contribute pre-tax funds into your plan -through regular salary deferrals from your employer or through elective deductible contributions from yourself- the amount will not count towards your taxable income for the current year. As a result, it can save you on taxes today and allow that money to grow until retirement without being taxed again.

3. How Much Can You Contribute To Your 401k?

One of the most attractive benefits of 401k accounts is that there are no restrictions on how much you can contribute, unlike other retirement options such as IRAs. This essentially means that even if you only have a little bit to invest at first or want to increase your contributions annually, you can do so without any penalty fees, which makes it very flexible to invest in.

4. Where Do The Contributions Go?

When you decide to open a 401k plan, your contributions will go towards the investments of your choice. However, unlike other retirement accounts such as Roth IRA’s in which you are allowed to choose where and when to invest- with this option it is up to you or your employer (depending on whether they offer matching contributions).

5. The Risks Of Investing With Your 401k

While there are many benefits to 401k accounts, they are not without their risks. First of all, if you withdraw money from your account before the age of 59 ½ it will be considered a distribution, and you will have to pay taxes on it as well as additional fees. Secondly, this type of retirement plan is only beneficial if you truly commit to investing and saving for your future because there is no guarantee that the investment will be worth anything.

Ultimately, 401k’s are a great way to save money for retirement on a pre-tax basis, which means you can take advantage of compound interest while reducing your taxable income today. However -there are some risks involved, so it is important that you choose wisely and do not withdraw money until you retire.

Why You Should Use The 401k Provider Guideline

The 401k provider Guideline is a great resource for potential employees to use when trying to find the right job. It allows them to determine which providers are best. This will ultimately help save them money and time in the end.

What Is Guideline?

It is a more recent technology-based retirement plan provider. Their goal is to solve hard-to implement retirement plans, making the process simpler for all involved. They allow employees and employers to have a personalized process during the hiring or onboarding of new workers.

In addition, they provide an all-in-one retirement plan, which means no additional costs for administration, so both parties can save money in the long run. In general, they are truly beneficial because it helps improve productivity among employees as well as saving them money and time.

Unique Features Of Guideline

The unique features of Guideline include:
- One platform for all stakeholders (employees, employers, and providers)
- Better retirement plans by avoiding hidden costs or fees that can be costly in the long run. Instead, they offer only one plan with no additional administration fees, which will save money for everyone involved.
- Personalization of plan details.
- Better retirement plans by offering personalized services for all stakeholders (employees, employers, and providers).
How To Get Started?

Signing up is easy! You can do so through their website online where you will be able to input your information regarding the number of employees/participants, plan size, contribution amount, and more.

Once you have filled out the necessary information, they will create a custom-tailored retirement plan just for your company, which is beneficial because it can save time in addition to money! Additionally, all of their plans are compatible with existing providers, so there’s no need to switch providers during this process either. Eventually, this will help you save money through reduced administration fees.

If you want to save time and money on your 401k plan, it’s important that you find a provider who offers the right features for your company. Your 401k is important and can be a determining factor in how you live out your retirement. Make sure that you take the time to understand what it’s all about. If you’re unsure, you can also contact a financial advisor, who can assist you with the process and give you more information to help ease your concerns and questions.
September 20, 2021