The good news is that gasoline prices are not expected to skyrocket this summer. The bad news is that gasoline prices are still around $3.50 a gallon, which is hardly inexpensive. In fact, the government recently forecasted an average of $3.79 a gallon for the summer driving season. Nearly $4 a gallon is actually being touted as good news. When gas prices drop, they usually drop pennies at a time and yet it seems that consumers are expected to rejoice at the meager savings.

The reality of the high cost of gasoline is that it can take a heavy toll on a person’s budget. We’ve seen many families who are financially stressed because of having to put gas in their truck, van or SUV, or must commute a fair distance to work or school. And people on fixed or limited incomes, such as students or retirees, are often hard hit as well. A few tips from Credit Counseling of Arkansas (CCOA) for those looking to keep their gasoline costs under control:

• Don’t “floor it.” Fast starts and Indy 500 style driving drastically cut down fuel efficiency.
• Make sure your air and gas filters aren’t dirty.
• Check to make sure the air pressure in your tires is adequate. Underinflated tires not only result in lower gas mileage, but wear out your tires sooner as well.
• Extra weight makes your car work harder. If your trunk is doubling as a storage closet, remove some items.
• Explore your options. If possible, use public transportation. Ride a bike short distances. Or find carpool friends to split the costs. Even just carpooling a few days a month can be worth it.
• If you don’t already have a lock on your gas tank, consider buying a locking gas cap, which is fairly inexpensive. Gas siphoning is becoming increasingly more common.

Stretching your gas dollar can be helpful, but if it’s not enough, you may need to take a step back and look at your overall household budget and see what else you can adjust.

It’s more fun racking up debt than it is paying it back. But to have some measure of financial freedom in your life, you need to focus on destroying your debt.

The 2012 Financial Literacy Survey showed that 39 percent of adults carry card credit card debt over from month-to-month. Don’t be content with merely paying the minimum due on your credit card debt, or else it could take you decades to pay that debt off and cost you thousands of dollars in interest.

One of the best things you can do to prepare for your retirement is to destroy your debt. The average monthly Social Security check is just $1,230. Imagine trying to live on that amount! About 15 percent of retired Americans do. Imagine how much easier it would be for you as a retiree to live on Social Security if you had no loan payments or no credit card debt to worry about. And just over a third (34 percent) of retirees get 90 percent or more of their retirement income from Social Security. It’s important to save for your retirement, but that’s another story. Having no debt when you retire will be a tremendous help to you to financially survive.

Before you make a large purchase, ask yourself, “How many hours did I have to work to buy this item?” (or “will I have to work” if you’re buying it on credit). Knowing that you’d be trading 25 hours of work to buy, for example, a digital camera will help you avoid overspending. You might decide to buy a lesser expensive camera or to postpone your purchase until later. Reviewing your potential purchases like this can help you to build up savings and destroy your debt.

If you’d like a lower interest rate on your credit card, call and ask your card company. Sometimes companies will lower a card member’s interest rate simply because they’re asked. It’s a free call, so it doesn’t hurt to ask. The company is more likely to lower your interest rate if you have good credit and have a good history of making on-time payments.

Whenever you receive extra money – from a tax refund, raise or whatever – be sure to have a plan for that money. All too often, people treat extra money as though they had won the lottery and carelessly spend most of it. Plan ahead to have some fun with your money, but that the majority of the money will be used to build up your savings and knock down some debt faster.

When you pay extra to destroy your debt faster, there are various ways to do it. However, the debt with the highest interest rate is the one costing you the most money in interest, so knocking it down first makes sense. Some people choose to destroy the smallest debt first to taste debt-busting success sooner. That approach won’t save you quite as much money in interest, but it can be a very successful approach if it helps you stay motivated to knock out your debts and if when you pay off a debt you roll that payment up into the next debt for faster payoff.

If you need more help in destroying your debt, CCOA’s Debt Management Program can help lower your interest rates and lower your monthly payments to destroy debt faster. Remember the saying, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll probably hit it.” Destroying your debt is an excellent goal to have.

Many people pinch their pennies by doing things such as using coupons and not leaving their water running for very long. But one thing that can save you a lot of money is improving your credit. Better credit means a better credit score, and a better credit score means better interest rates on your credit cards, home and car loans, which can save you literally thousands of dollars.

The majority of your credit score – 65 percent, in fact – is based on your payment history and how much debt you owe. So to improve your credit, it is absolutely vital to pay on time and to pay down your debt. Your Fair Isaac & Company (FICO) credit score ranges from 300 to 850 – the higher, the better. If you’ve never used credit, you shouldn’t have a credit score. If you have rarely used credit and barely have any credit now, your score probably isn’t very high. FICO, the leading credit scoring company, likes that you have credit and that you use it.

Avoid going to a credit repair clinic to fix up your credit. At best, they take your money for things you can do yourself, such as disputing errors. At worst, they make false claims such as being able to remove accurate negative information off of your credit report. And they usually charge expensive fees. Instead, go to annualcreditreport.com which is the website where you can go under federal law to receive a copy of your credit report for free every year from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You will be given the option to purchase your credit score for a small fee if you wish to receive your score with your credit report. If you buy your score, you can see how it compares to the national average and receive tips on how you can raise your score.

Credit Counseling of Arkansas (CCOA) offers other tips on how to raise your credit score:

• Owe less than half of your credit card’s credit limit –If you owe $1,000 on a credit card with a $2,000 credit limit, you think you’re doing well: You’re not over the limit and you’re not maxed out on the card, but FICO will lower your credit score. Strive to owe less than 30 percent of your credit limit.

• Apply for credit sparingly. Every time you apply for credit, it takes a few points off your score. Plus, having a lot of new credit lowers the average age of your accounts and hurts your score.

CCOA is committed to continually improving our service to you. Several clients have suggested that we add a new feature to our Web site that allows clients to access their quarterly client statements, rather than receive it in the postal mail. We heard you. This year we have been diligently working on creating this new capability for your convenience. Simply go to our Web site at www.CCOAcares.com and click on the “Client Log-In” tab on the top right of our home page.

Your username is your CCOA client number and your password is the primary’s last name plus the last four digits of the social security number.

If you have any questions please email us at ccoa@ccoacares.com or call 479-521-8877 or 800-889-4916.

Ever wonder what a credit counseling session looks like, or what exactly is a debt management plan? These short videos show you.

CCOA’s next free Homebuyer Education class is Saturday, June 9th at Ozarks Electric Cooperative Sign Up