Kate Bourland Empowering America to Live Debt Free

Redding School of the Arts is hosting it's annual Barnes and Noble Book Fair today , Friday January 15th.

This annual fundraiser supports the theatre program at RSA and helps the Theatre Booster Club fund the program. Each year RSA presents a fabulous play that is performed by the 5th - 8th grade students. This year's it's Disney's Mulan Jr., directed by Hillary Rogerson.

The cast members from Mulan, Jr will be performing and reading to Barnes and Noble guests between the hours of 9am and 3 pm.

A preview performance of the upcoming musical will be given starting at 6:00 this evening.

These RSA students put in long hours of rehersal and practice and the performances are always enjoyable.

Be sure to drop by Barnes and Noble today and meet the delightful Mulan Jr. cast. Please support the school and the hard work these students put in by printing the Barnes and Noble bookfair flyer. Be sure to bring it with you to Barnes and Noble. A percentage of your purchase will be donated to the Theatre program at Redding School of the Arts.

Hope to see you there. Don't forget your Flyer and Thanks in Advance!

About  a month ago I came across this tool that has helped me organize my business, my social media and everything else in my life in one simple easy to use place.  It's called Ijango and I highly recommend it.

This is a the first in a series of posts that I will be doing on the Ijango web portal/browser.

What is Ijango?  It's like an Iphone for your computer.  You customize it with your own widgets and content to your individual needs and set it as your home page.  What can you put on it?

News, MLS, Real Estate Sites, Stocks, Active Rain, Facebook, Twitter, Games, My Space, Craigslist - what ever you want.

Even kewler, Ijango is a membership rewards community.  Just for using the portal and browser, you will receive cash back rewards every month.  It works the same way that the points sytems at grocery stores except you actually get back cash.  It may not be a huge amount every month, but right now every little bit helps.

This Your Tube Video gives a bit more detail!

You do need to sign up to get access to the portal and be able to customize it to fit your needs - it's totally free and very worth the effort!!

To get your free portal go here:  Ijango Portal

Click on Join Here in the upper left right hand corner. 

I am Kate Bourland. I help my clients get out of debt and establish a debt free lifestyle.  You can reach me at 530-419-3967.

 

 

 

In July Redding's City Council, approved the appointment of a privatization committee to consider the pros and cons of privatizing or outsourcing city services. The Redding Convention Center is one of the facilities on the list for privatization or outsourcing.

Today, September 17th, at 4:00 PM there will be a Special Meeting in the Community Room at the Redding City Hall to discuss privatizing the Redding Convention Center.

There are two possible courses of action, both with substantial implications for Non-Profit and Community Organizations. Non profits use the convention center and pay less to utilize the facility, it's part of the concept called: the public good that the City subsidizes the use for these organizations.

1. The biggest worry is that if the Convention Center is privatized, the fees will be so high that the Non-Profits will not be able to afford to rent the facilities.

2 The other option that is being considered is tearing down the Auditorium because of the drain on the city budget ($900,000 per year).

Rumors abound regarding who is behind the push to privatize or tear it down. Some argue that it's driven by a fight over TOT funds. This argument suggests that local hoteliers want all the TOT money for themselves and that they want the Convention Center torn down. I checked with a local hotel owner who indicated that the hotel association has not made any recommendations as to the convention center that he knows of.

Some believe that the McConnell Foundation is behind it and that privatizing or tearing it down will afford the Foundation the opportunity to swoop in and purchase the land for development purposes.

As background, the convention center was built years ago as a public asset and was never intended to be a profit center. Because some of the members of the committee think the convention center should be profitable, they keep asking questions about why the convention center is an economic black hole.

Cities build convention centers so that people who live in other communities have a reason to come to their city. Think of San Francisco, Las Vegas or New Orleans where tourism is a major revenue generator for those communities. To make a convention center work, there has to be a major airport to get the people in and out of the city. In Redding, there is no airport to facilitate even 100 people coming into town, most of the flights are already booked with local citizens needing to get a connecting flight and business people who need to fly in and out of Redding.

Does it make sense to close the convention center? It depends on how you look at it. If there is a need to have the operation break even, it never will. The building was intended to be a gathering spot for community events that were bigger than the Veterans Hall next to the Post Office downtown and possibly bringing people from the outlying areas to spend money in Redding. One needs to look at the schedule of events at the convention center to determine if the building is still relevant; and that is a community decision.

In any event, today's meeting is a significant one, one that members of the community need to be involved in. Be there if you can, make your voice heard!

I am Kate Bourland. I help my clients get out of debt and establish a debt free lifestyle. You can reach me at 530-419-3967.

45% of American Banks make more from overdraft fees than then they do in profits from normal banking activity. What is wrong with an industry whose entire business model is built upon stealing money from the very people who can least afford it?

A recent New York Times article outlines a Wells Fargo customer whose teller failed to tell him that funds from a recent deposit were being held. He went about using his debit card and made a number of purchases under $10.00. He was charged multiple $34.00 over draft fees to the tune of $238.00. This means that a 4.00 cup of coffee at Starbucks actually cost him $38.00.

In my opinion, if a Bank can't make money lending money, then they shouldn't be in business. I say, close their doors now, don't pass go and don't collect $200.00

Here's what the banks do:

1. Customers are allowed to overdraft their account on their debit cards at point of purchase. (The banks bill this as overdraft protection and claim that they do this so that the customer is not embarrassed.) If the customer is aware that this is happening it's not a problem, they get to the bank and make sure that the debits are covered.

2. Unfortunately, thousands of Americans are unaware that it's even possible to use the debit card to withdraw more than is in the account. They find out the hard way that a $1.00 overdraft has cost them hundreds of dollars.

3. One of the sneaky techniques that banks use to increase revenue from overdraft fees is to process large debits first. In the old days, debits were credited based on the date and time they were incurred. No longer. By processing larger debits first, banks realized that it would force many customers into multiple overdrafts, thus increasing fees. By contrast, if the large debit were processed in order, they bank might only make a single overdraft fee- easy profit at the hands of a consumer programmer.

I for one am tired of the heavy handed financial sector. We as Americans do need to be responsible with our money, but when the systems are designed to trip us up and bury us, something is very wrong.

Unfortunately, I have no faith that any legislation being considered will actually help the consumer. Based on what we have seen in the last several year, government intervention will hurt the consumer and the small businesses who rely on small debit card purchases to stay alive.

The playing field isn't level, stay informed and watch your balances.

For those of you who are interested - here is the New York Times Article

I am Kate Bourland. I help my clients get out of debt, get loan modifications and establish a debt free lifestyle. We Guarantee our Loan Modifications. You can reach me at 530-419-3967.

http://www.katebourland.com

This wonderfully fun Your Tube Video pays homage to the beautiful city of Redding, CA. I really enjoyed the images of some of our local landmarks, from the Sacramento River to the beautiful Lake Shasta. WinRiver Casino to the magnificant Sundial Bridge, the only glass bridge to cross a major River - it's magnificant. Mount Shasta, to Downtown by the old bus station. He missed the Cascade Theatre though. The Cascade is one of the most beautiful man made landmarks we have here in town.

Enjoy!~

I am Kate Bourland. I help my clients get out of debt, get loan modifications and establish a debt free lifestyle. We Guarantee our Loan Modifications. You can reach me at 530-419-3967.

http://www.katebourland.com

Things to Do In Redding California