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Commenting on recent changes to the credit market, debt consolidation experts DebtAdvisersDirect.com reminded consumers in debt of the need to think carefully about the lending options open to them. In particular, they stressed the importance of calculating the long-term impact, not just the short-term appeal, of various types of credit on offer.

“As with any financial issue,” a DebtAdvisersDirect.co.uk spokesperson remarked, “it’s imperative to research the different options thoroughly before making any firm decisions. The pros and cons of each debt solution might not be immediately obvious, so it’s highly inadvisable for anyone to commit themselves without consulting an expert beforehand.”

In recent history, the availability of credit has led many to see debt consolidation loans as a good way of regaining control of their finances. However, the credit crunch has – by definition – restricted the number of ways in which consumers can consolidate their debts.

A recent press release by comparison site uSwitch provides some figures: over the last year, the overall amount issued in unsecured loans has dropped by £283 million per quarter, while gross credit card lending has grown by an average of £179 million per quarter.

“This is a disturbing trend,” the Debt Advisers Direct spokesperson continued. “People clearly need access to credit, whether they’re using it to consolidate their debts or to finance new projects and purchases. Yet the way in which they access that credit can make an enormous difference to their financial stability.

“One reason people turn to their credit cards is the sheer simplicity – rather than arranging a new loan, they can simply access the credit that’s already available on their credit card. However, the high interest rates that come with some cards can rapidly turn relatively small debts into much larger ones.

“At the same time, the low monthly repayments that most credit cards require (another factor which might add to the perceived desirability of borrowing in this way) can also have a dramatic impact on a borrower’s long-term finances – any online calculator can easily demonstrate the advantages of repaying a debt as fast as realistically possible, whether it’s a credit card debt, a debt consolidation loan, or any other kind of credit.”

In the uSwitch press release, Simeon Linstead, head of personal finance at uSwitch.com, stated “…it seems consumers are turning to credit card providers for extra cash. Whilst it’s good news that people can still access extra money if they need it, this is not a sustainable solution for the problem.”

For many, a professional debt consolidation loan would be a much more appropriate way to bring their finances in order. Often coming with much lower interest rates than credit cards, loans can also offer the peace of mind that comes with fixed monthly payments over a specified repayment term.

“Even in the midst of the credit crunch,” the Debt Advisers Direct spokesperson concluded, “debt consolidation loans are still very much available. Whatever their debt problems, many borrowers still stand a good chance of getting the debt consolidation loan they need – as long as they approach a lender who specialises in helping people in their situation.”

HometownQuotes is one of three documented companies in the Nashville area to establish a Babies at Work program according to the Parenting In the Workplace Institute which has confirmed 102 participating companies nationally. This company initiative stems from the growing national trend designed to help new parents balance work and family.

HometownQuotes anticipates its Babies at Work program will be a success. Having sought professional assistance from the Parenting in the Workplace Institute and guidance from other companies that have successfully implemented the program, HometownQuotes is treating this like any other workplace policy.

“We understand that advance preparation is vital to making this work. We’ve created a policy that has plans and provisions in place for any situation that may arise. We have a strong family culture at HometownQuotes and because so many working parents choose to quit work after having a baby, we believe this will help us retain those team members,” said HometownQuotes’ Chief Financial Officer Bob Klee.

Critics question if babies will distract workers and wonder how engaged parents will be in their work. There are also liability questions. Typically companies ask parents to find a daycare center once babies start crawling. But for the most part, workplaces offer new mothers an easy transition back to work and a new environment for babies.

More companies are allowing women and men to bring their babies to work. The advantages are clear, the women don’t lose money by taking maternity leave. They can breastfeed conveniently and they can bond with the baby rather than worry that he or she will develop a closer connection with a nanny or a day-care provider. Of course, disadvantages are clear too. The needs and noises of babies have the potential to be highly disruptive and to stir resentment among co-workers. At HometownQuotes, this was not the case.

The company sees multiple benefits to the program:
1) Parents can continue progressing in the workplace.
2) Babies get valuable attention and bonding time.
3) The company retains parents and eliminates time and money spent on training temporary workers or replacements.

The most successful programs are ones in which companies have written policies to designate another employee as an alternate caregiver in case the parent is temporarily unavailable; to specify areas for breastfeeding or changing diapers; and to spell out the ages when children are allowed in the office. Usually, babies are allowed up until 6 to 8 months, or before they start to crawl. HometownQuotes allows parents to bring their babies to work until the child is 6 months old or mobile.

For small companies like HometownQuotes, which has 34 employees, offering a babies to work program helps reinforce its family like culture, Klee says.

“We are always saying that we care about our employees,” he says. “This shows that.”

HometownQuotes.com provides online insurance quotes for consumers seeking insurance from local insurance agents.

The Universal Image Format (UIF) is a disk image file format. This means that an .uif file contains an exact copy of a CD disc. In this respect an uif file is very very much alike the de-facto standard of disk image formats – the ISO format. However, .uif files also support several additional features that set them apart from the ISO file format.

For one, they have built-in support for data compression. This means that your CD/DVD backups in the UIF format would take up less hard-drive space than if you used ISO. The efficiency of the compression varies – software, HTML and text documents usually compress well. On the other hand, Video-CD, Audio-CD, DVD-Video and other multimedia formats can be compressed only slightly or not at all.

Additional features of the UIF format are password-protection and encryption for your more sensitive data. The format also supports the MD5 checksums, which is useful to verify that a file hasn’t been corrupted or infected with a virus.

Now that I’ve listed all the appealing features of this format, you might be wondering “where’s the catch?” Sure enough there is one, and this is it – the .uif file extension/format is a proprietary one, which means that most disk utilities can’t open it. These files can only be opened with MagicISO (shareware). So to get the full benefits of this novel disk image format you’d have to shell out around $30 bucks.

The other unpleasant aspect of UIF files is the aforementioned incompatibility with other CD/DVD tools. For example, if you send an .uif file to a friend, chances are they won’t be able to open it and will be forced to go looking for a way to convert the UIF to ISO.

In conclusion, while the UIF file format has several appealing features, I wouldn’t recommend it for anything other than infrequent personal use.

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