Why We Vote When We Do.

Why November?
Most Americans made their living from agriculture in 1845 and Congress felt that November was the most convenient month for farmers and citizens living in rural areas to get to the polls. Preparing fields and planting crops consumed lots of the public’s time in the spring and summer months. But by early November, the harvest was over in most areas, and the weather was still mild and dry enough to allow travel over the dirt and rock roads of the day.

Why Tuesday?
In 1845, before Florida, California, and Texas were states or slavery had been abolished, Congress needed to pick a time for Americans to vote. We were an agrarian society. We traveled by horse and buggy. Farmers needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, without interfering with the three days of worship. So that left Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday it was. In 1875 Congress extended the Tuesday date for national House elections and in 1914 for federal Senate elections.

“Winning the election is a good-news, bad-news kind of thing. Okay, now you’re the mayor. The bad news is, now you’re the mayor.”

–      Clint Eastwood

The post NCF’s Tuesday Tidbits appeared first on National Credit Federation.

Why We Vote When We Do.

Why November?
Most Americans made their living from agriculture in 1845 and Congress felt that November was the most convenient month for farmers and citizens living in rural areas to get to the polls. Preparing fields and planting crops consumed lots of the public’s time in the spring and summer months. But by early November, the harvest was over in most areas, and the weather was still mild and dry enough to allow travel over the dirt and rock roads of the day.

Why Tuesday?
In 1845, before Florida, California, and Texas were states or slavery had been abolished, Congress needed to pick a time for Americans to vote. We were an agrarian society. We traveled by horse and buggy. Farmers needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, without interfering with the three days of worship. So that left Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday it was. In 1875 Congress extended the Tuesday date for national House elections and in 1914 for federal Senate elections.

“Winning the election is a good-news, bad-news kind of thing. Okay, now you’re the mayor. The bad news is, now you’re the mayor.”

–      Clint Eastwood

The post NCF's Tuesday Tidbits appeared first on National Credit Federation.

According to the Federal Reserve the lending to small business those companies with under 50 million in annual sales is getting easier for the first time since the latter part of 2006.

The divide between lenders and borrowers is a huge blockade to help the economy recover mostly because of the new definitions of what is considered “creditworthy”.  A good creditworthy small business just a few years ago can now be considered high  risk and no longer a candidate for financing that would insure or help the growth of that company.

Wells Fargo is reporting an increase of 37% to small business with annual sales under 20 mil but Bank of America numbers are virtually unchanged with the vast majority of smaller banks locking down the money vaults.   Some big banks are practicing what is considered a second look policy to review and help approve loan requests that might be otherwise a denial.

Credit worthiness is defined by criteria such as balance statements and P&L’s, accounts receivables, banking statements and Dun and Bradstreet credit ratings to name a few.  For many smaller businesses the personal credit of the principles come into the picture as personal guarantees become necessary.

Many small business owners are sitting on the sidelines as they struggle to maintain a plus on the profit column, prevent any further layoffs and pray the economy turns around so they can get back to a less stressful life.  Many have had to forgo paying personal credit items on time to keep their businesses afloat and in today’s lending climate “looser” lending standards are not helpful to these business owners.

For many small business owners and self employed the credit scores and overall good credit picture is critical to any successful negotiation when obtaining business credit.  Now more than ever if you’re thinking the use of a credit line will be necessary for your business down the road then now is the time to start a little credit repair to help clean up any bad credit and keep pushing those credit scores higher.

You can read more to see  if credit repair is right for you.

In almost all cases there are steps you can take to help push those scores up a bit. But a word of caution, don’t wait till you need a credit line to start the process as it can take some time depending on the severity of the credit profile.

The post Small Business lending getting easier? appeared first on National Credit Federation.