The versatility of the home equity line of credit has many consumers tapping into their home's equity to pay for home improvement projects, college tuition, weddings, new vehicles and credit card consolidation.

Your home is usually your largest asset. If you choose to use your home for additional credit, be sure you have a plan and purpose for that credit, such as financing a home renovation to improve your asset and increase your home's value.

S&P Analyst Expects Mining Consolidation

Investors can expect more consolidation in the metals and mining sector, and most of that will likely be financed by debt, said a Standard & Poor's credit analyst Friday.

The sector, which includes about 50 coal, steel, aluminum and other mining companies, holds about $70 billion in debt, adjusted for certain items, said analyst Marie Shmaruk at S&P's Chemicals, Metals & Mining & Forest Products Hot Topics conference.

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DeWitt Food Services adds credit card option

DEWITT � DeWitt Public Schools Food Service program announces a new credit card payment option. The payment option, which accepts VISA or MasterCard transactions, can be accessed by logging onto the district's Web site at www.dewitt.edzone.net, or going directly to the food service Web link at food.dewitt.edzone.net.

To access the program, parents should use their user identification and password previously assigned. Once logged into the system, payment can be made by clicking on the Account Deposit option and entering the desired amount to be charged to the selected credit card. Deposits can be made to any or all students in the family account. To obtain access information that has been misplaced, call (517) 668-3154 or e-mail the food service department at scheffle@dewitt.edzone.net.

ASUS Extreme Radeon HD 3870 review

AMD introduced the new HD 3800 series chipset yesterday. Techspot published a review of the new ASUS Extreme Radeon HD 3870 that is based on this new graphics powerhouse.

Quote from the review: "This week AMD came to unveil its latest generation of ATI graphics hardware, an awaited release that without a doubt created a lot of expectations and speculation especially because of two factors:

1) The dominant player, Nvidia had just killed its whole high-end line up two weeks before, in favor of an affordable and more efficient model, the GeForce 8800GT.
2) A holiday season that has shaped up to become one of the most exciting in recent times for PC gamers, with a buttload of good titles like Unreal Tournament 3, Crysis, Call of Duty 4, World in Conflict, The Orange Box, Bioshock, Hellgate: London, and the list goes on...

ScholarPoint Offers $5,000 Prize for Best 60 Second YouTube Video

Student loan consolidation company ScholarPoint Financial Inc will give away $5,000 to the winner of its SIC-Vids YouTube Video Contest.

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