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People In These States Are Much More Worried About Their Money And Credit

Questions like "how do I deal with energy bills?" and "how do I build credit?" come up again and again.

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6 months ago

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Questions like "how do I deal with energy bills?" and "how do I build credit?" come up again and again.

Money is a perennial source of worry for most people and, when the economy turns, those worries become magnified.

One recent report found that 69% of those who expect to receive a tax refund in 2023 are feeling at least some anxiety — 33% are worried that it'll be smaller than in previous years (this is, due to the expiry of a number of pandemic-related tax credits, statistically likely to be true) while 34% worry that it'll be eaten away by inflation.

DON'T MISS: Almost 70% of Americans Are Worried About This Key Tax Issue

A separate Bankrate report found that 46% of men and 36% of women felt that money negatively affected their mental health in 2022.

Some new numbers show that how much you worry about money also depends a lot on where you happen to live.

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These Are The States Desperately Googling Financial Help

In numbers crunched by credit-building platform Credit Building Tips, residents of Maryland turn to Google  (GOOGL) - Get Free Report with questions such as "how do I deal with energy bills?" and "how do I build credit?" the most. There are, each month, 391.4 searches for every 100,000 residents of the state that many professionals working in the nation's capital call home.

Georgia took second place with 388.3 monthly searches while another state bordering Washington, D.C., Virginia, placed third with 381.8. "Rent help," "energy bill financial assistance" and "how to build credit" are some of the most commonly-Googled terms.

"The economy is incredibly turbulent at the moment with many factors causing this, such as pandemic recovery, crashes in the stock market and more," a Credit Building Tips spokesperson said in a statement. States that placed in the top six also include Wisconsin, Louisiana and Arizona.

Credit Building Tips pulls these numbers regularly and, last month, New York and New Jersey topped the list of states most concerned about their money.

This Is How You Can Improve Your Credit Fast

Things, meanwhile, are particularly breezy in Alaska and Vermont — the two states scored lowest on the number of money-related searches.

While help with utility bills depends largely on one's home situation and the number of aid programs available in one's state, building credit comes down to specific steps recommended by many a financial expert: paying credit cards down regularly, keeping one's debt-to-credit ratio low, not missing payments or letting small mistakes go unchecked and passing years of strong repayment history.

"The key here is to ask for a higher limit but treat your spending as if you didn't have that higher limit," Shaun Connell of Credit Building Tips said in a statement. "[... ]This strategy is great because it can boost your score, but it also helps you by keeping your monthly payments small and your interest low."

Time is one's strongest ally as it can both establish consistency and smooth out any past mistakes. But for those who need a boost quickly, tips include paying down credit cards to have less than 30% utilization on each one and, if one spots a mistake, calling the bureau to get it fixed.

If paying down debt is not an option, one can also try requesting a higher credit limit from one's financial institution.

"Increasing limits will lower your percentage utilized and can be helpful to your score – as long as you don't rack up even more debt," Connell said.

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Volatility Shares cancels ETH-ETF futures launch, ‘didn’t see the opportunity at this point in time’

The company’s co-founder and president, Justin Young, told Cointelegraph in an email that plans to launch at a later date were “TBD.”
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October 2, 2023

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The company’s co-founder and president, Justin Young, told Cointelegraph in an email that plans to launch at a later date were “TBD.”

Volatility Shares, a financial firm offering a range of exchange-traded fund (ETF) products, has cancelled its plans to launch an Ethereum futures ETF on Oct. 2, citing changes in the market. 

In an email with Cointelegraph, the company’s co-founder and president, Justin Young, confirmed the cancellation:

“You are correct, we did not launch today. We didn't see the opportunity at this point in time.”

However, in a follow-up email, when asked if the company still planned to launch an ETH futures ETF at a later date Young responded “of course” adding that “plans are TBD.”

An Etheruem futures ETF is an exchange-traded fund that tracks the prices of Ethereum futures contracts — agreements to trade ETH at a specific time and price in the future. Essentially, it allows investors to be involved in ETH trading without having to actually hold any Ethereum.

Related: SEC continues to delay decisions on crypto ETFs: Law Decoded

Volatility Shares was previously positioned to be the first firm to offer an ETH futures ETF. As Cointelegraph reported, Oct. 12 was initially slated as the date which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was expected to approve the first ETH futures ETF, however concerns over the previously impending Oct. 1 U.S. government shutdown reportedly prompted the SEC to move the timeline for approval up.

As of Oct. 2, several firms have now begun trading ETH futures ETFs, including Valkyrie, VanEck, ProShares, and Bitwise.

As Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright recently wrote, “bills for the good or ill of digital assets would be halted amid a shutdown, and financial regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would be running on a skeleton crew.”

In a twist, the U.S. government managed to avoid the shutdown by passing a stopgap measure to keep services funded through Nov. 17. According to multiple reports, the senate voted 88-9 to pass the measure. U.S. President Joe Biden signed it into law immediately.

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Investors drop class-action lawsuit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon

The dropping of the suit came amid Terra facing a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Do Kwon possibly nearing the end of…

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October 2, 2023

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The dropping of the suit came amid Terra facing a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Do Kwon possibly nearing the end of his sentence in Montenegro.

A group of investors behind a class-action lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon over fraud allegations have dropped the case. 

In a Sept. 28 filing in United States District Court for the Northern District of California, lawyers representing plaintiff Nick Patterson, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of investors, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal only against Terraform and Kwon. The notice did not explicitly state the reasons for dropping the case without prejudice.

“The [Terraform Labs] Defendants have neither answered the complaint [...] nor filed motions for summary judgment,” said the filing. “Because the Court has not certified the proposed class for any purpose in this case and this dismissal is without prejudice, it will not bind members of the proposed class.”

Related: Do Kwon says SEC’s extradition request is impossible

Patterson’s legal team filed the lawsuit in June 2022 following the collapse of Terraform Labs, which many attributed to kicking off a major crypto market crash. Kwon and the company have since been the target of many authorities globally for their role in an alleged scheme aimed at defrauding investors.

In February, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Kwon and Terra for allegedly “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud”. Authorities in Montenegro arrested Kwon in March and subsequently sentenced him to 4 months in prison for using false travel documents. At the time of publication, it was unclear if he will be released in Montenegro or face extradition to the U.S. or South Korea.

Magazine: Terra collapsed because it used hubris for collateral — Knifefight

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Brent Crude – Volatile start for oil ahead of OPEC+ meeting

PMIs continue to point to a weakness in demand OPEC+ holds the key to crude oil prices Lost momentum ahead of recent decline It’s been a volatile start…

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October 2, 2023

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  • PMIs continue to point to a weakness in demand
  • OPEC+ holds the key to crude oil prices
  • Lost momentum ahead of recent decline

It’s been a volatile start to the week for oil, with prices initially rising before falling negative to trade almost 2% lower on the day.

We’ve had a vast selection of PMIs to bear in mind today, as well as speculation around the OPEC+ decision on Wednesday and, of course, the US averted a government shutdown.

I’m not sure all of this is a net negative for oil, per se, but it was trading at very high levels prior to this and had already started to lose momentum so perhaps what we’re seeing is a case of profit-taking. Especially given the proximity to the OPEC+ meeting on Wednesday.

BCOUSD Daily

Source – OANDA on Trading View

The recent decline in BCOUSD came following a rally and new high that failed to be backed up by stronger momentum and now it appears to have potentially moved into a corrective phase.

A divergence often isn’t followed by such a sudden corrective move and this may also quickly reverse higher again but the moves over the last few days are not small.

The price is now testing last week’s lows and a break below may point to further declines, with support in the $88-$90 region potentially key.

Ultimately, though, the OPEC+ decision on Wednesday may dictate the direction of travel.

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