Home Mortgage
Houses on sale today require down payments that are more than a renter can afford. So how do you own a home when you do not have enough savings to cover down payment costs? The answer is a home mortgage.
A home mortgage is actually different from a home loan. A home mortgage is the contract that you sign in order to get a loan from a banking institution or lending company. The loan is the money that the lender provides for you.
There are many kinds of home mortgages available in the market. These home mortgages differ in their loan terms or their rate status. The advantage of each type of home mortgage depends upon the financial situation of the times. Some home mortgages fare better when interest rates are low. Others rise up to the challenge of high home mortgage rates.
Fixed Rate Home Mortgage
Fixed rate home mortgages are home mortgages whose interest rates remain set for the duration of the loan term. The monthly payments for a fixed rate home mortgage may either for a period of 15 years or 30 years.
Fixed rate home mortgages are considered stable. With fixed rate home mortgages, your interest rates are guaranteed and your monthly payments are predetermined.
A 30-year fixed rate home mortgage has its own advantages and disadvantages. Usually fixed rate home mortgages with 30-year loan terms give the consumers the opportunity to borrow money on a long-term basis. The amortization period for this type of fixed rate home mortgage is longer and the monthly payments are lower. One drawback, however of this home mortgage is its high interest bill and slow equity build-up.
15-year fixed rate home mortgages attract borrowers because of its relatively shorter amortization period. Equity in this home mortgage is quickly built up and interest bills are significantly lower. One disadvantage though is that 15-year fixed rate home mortgages have higher monthly payments and higher interest rates.
Adjustable Rate Home Mortgage
Contrary to a fixed rate home mortgage, an adjustable rate home mortgage is a home mortgage where the rates are adjusted regularly, usually after the first year is over. Adjustable rate home mortgages generally have lower interest rates compared to fixed rate home mortgages. But this low interest rate in adjustable rate home mortgages is only for a short period of time. After about a year, the new interest rate of an adjustable rate home mortgage will either rise or fall, depending on the movement of the lending company’s prime rate.
Knowing whether or not an adjustable rate home mortgage is right for you depends on your income status and the type of adjustable rate home mortgage payment you plan to make. In the long run, adjustable rate home mortgages might prove risky for the home buyer.
Since adjustable rate home mortgages rely on the interest rates of the market to adjust their own interest rates, monthly home mortgage payments for adjustables are uncertain. When interest rates in the market are low, you are sure to gain savings with an adjustable rate home mortgage. However, when rates are high, your adjustable rate home mortgage might cost you more than you’re willing to give.
Property Insurance For Landlords
If you own a rental property, it is very likely that you will have to grapple with costs of damages caused by your guests. So how do you overcome this hurdle in your financial investment? A lot of companies are now offering property insurance for landlords. Damages due to natural catastrophes such as fires, floods, storms, or water can be covered by property insurance for landlords.
What does property insurance for landlords cover?
Property insurance for landlords offers protection from losses caused by many perils. These perils which property insurance for landlords can cover include fire, storms, burglary, and vandalism. Through a well-planned policy of property insurance for landlords, you can save yourself from the cost of such damages.
Comprehensive property insurance for landlords does not only cover for physical damages to your building. Property insurance for landlords may also cover physical damages to the contents of your building, including furniture, televisions, furnishings, window glass, and the like. If you include a liability clause in your property insurance for landlords, you can also give yourself protection from damages arising from injuries or losses suffered by others. If you get sued by a third party, your property insurance for landlords pays for a percentage of all your legal fees, including lawyer bills and document handling.
Choosing the right property insurance for landlords
Property insurance for landlords is your last line of defense in times of catastrophes or disasters. Calamities are something you have little or no control over and only property insurance for landlords can really protect you from the extent of the damage they might cost. When you purchase your property insurance for landlords, make sure that you include a liability clause that covers all physical or legal injuries. Also, make sure that your property insurance for landlords includes coverage for rental income loss. This aspect in your property insurance for landlords protects you from loss of income should any event arise where you are forced to close down your business for a period of time.
Companies that offer property insurance for landlords
We have compiled together a list of some providers of property insurance for landlords in the industry. Take note that these are only a few of the companies that offer property insurance for landlords.
One of the companies that offer property insurance for landlords is AAA Insurance. This company has allied itself with Balboa Insurance Co. to provide better coverage for their clients in the property insurance for landlords line. One of the main features of their property insurance for landlords policy is the Dwelling Fire Policy. With this property insurance for landlords, you are protected from most direct physical losses in your residential rental properties and other structures attached to them. The total cost covered by this company’s property insurance for landlords reaches up to 10% for repair and reconstruction.
Another company that offers property insurance for landlords is the aptly called LandlordZone. This online company that provides property insurance for landlords is based in the United Kingdom. Houses, flats, and maisonettes are only a few of the rental properties that their property insurance for landlords policies cover. Their property insurance for landlords also covers commercial rentail properties like shops, offices, and workshops.
Auto Loans With Bad Credit
Making auto loans with bad credit is very much possible these days. As a matter of fact, there are some specialist lenders who lend money just for auto loans with bad credit.
Lenders and dealers have realized the importance of vehicle in order for people to go to work and pay off debts. That is why auto loans with bad credit program is established to help these people. Auto loans with bad credit are in some ways similar to that of the usual auto loan because it serves the same purpose of borrowing money in order to purchase a car. The biggest difference lies between the two though is the fact that in auto lands with bad credit you are charged a much higher rate. Car dealers could charge up to 30% or more interest on auto loans with bad credit. While those with average credit rating, the interest rate could be between 2% to 5%. This is so because lenders need to protect their investments. Since you incur lapses in your credit history, they need to make sure that they won’t lose money if they approved your auto loans with bad credit. To some degree, you need to earn their trust by proving that you will not commit the same lapses like before.
People who availed of auto loans with bad credit are expected to pay their monthly payments on time in order to improve their credit standing. Availing of an auto loans with bad credit is a good opportunity to re-establish or improve your credit standing. People who availed of auto loans with bad credit are expected to pay their monthly payments on time in order to improve their credit standing. It is not hard to find lending companies that grant auto loans with bad credit. What is hard though is the huge monthly payment you need to make. If you think you have bad credit standing, then you need to do something in order to improve your credit score. To increase your credit rating, you need to do the following: pay off any current debts, make monthly payments for debts that you can fully pay off and put money into your savings account. Your savings deposit will help your credit score since this serves as your pool of funds in case of emergency. If you can make a larger down payment or purchase a much less expensive car then that would help reduce your payments. Once you have improve your credit standing that is the time to buy a new and more expensive car since the interest rates would be lower then. Availing of auto loans with bad credit should be viewed as an opportunity or a second chance to prove your capacity to make credit payments.
Spend Wisely To Save Money
Have you ever noticed that the things you buy every week at the grocery and hardware stores go up a few cents between shopping trips? Not by much…just by a little each week but they continue to creep up and up.
All it takes for the price to jump up by a lot is a little hiccup in the world wide market, note the price of gasoline as it relates to world affairs.
There is a way that we can keep these price increases from impacting our personal finances so much and that is by buying in quantity and finding the best possible prices for the things we use and will continue to use everyday… things that will keep just as well on the shelves in our homes as it does on the shelves at the grocery store or hardware store.
For instance, dog food and cat food costs about 10% less when bought by the case than it does when bought at the single can price and if you wait for close out prices you save a lot more than that.
Set aside some space in your home and make a list of things that you use regularly which will not spoil. Any grain or grain products will need to be stored in airtight containers that rats can’t get into so keep that in mind.
Then set out to find the best prices you can get on quantity purchases of such things as bathroom items and dry and canned food.
You will be surprised at how much you can save by buying a twenty pound bag of rice as opposed to a one pound bag but don’t forget that it must be kept in a rat proof container.
You can buy some clothing items such as men’s socks and underwear because those styles don’t change, avoid buying children’s and women’s clothing, those styles change and sizes change too drastically.
Try to acquire and keep a two year supply of these items and you can save hundreds of dollars.
Mortgage Loans
One should never take a mortgage loan at face value. When you sign your mortgage loan papers, you will know the interest rate you will be paying for every month after that for the duration of the mortgage loan. But interest rates of mortgage loans aren’t always as good as they look. Very few people know that most of their monthly payments actually go to their mortgage loan interest.
When you take a 30-year mortgage loan for $100,000, the actual amount you pay for is $300,000. $100,000 is used to pay for the principal mortgage loan balance. But the remaining $200,000, which part of your mortgage loan did it go to? That’s right. Interest. Majority of your mortgage loan payments actually go to interest and to the pockets of your lenders.
Now, here’s another thing to think about when acquiring a mortgage loan. Moving is a common trend in America. The average person in America moves every 7 or so years. Moving into a new house usually means acquiring a new mortgage loan to cover the costs of the new house. It’s a never-ending cycle. And with interest payments at 91% of your monthly mortgage loan payment, it is also a vicious cycle.
Think getting a 30-year fixed rate mortgage loan at $100,000. Interest rate for this mortgage loan is 7%. When you move after 5 years, you still have a mortgage loan balance of $94,000, 94% of the original amount.
In five years, you paid several thousands of dollars for your mortgage loan but only ended up paying only $6,000 of your mortgage loan because the rest went to interest. 86% of your mortgage loan is what you would still owe even after ten years or 120 repayments. To reach 50%, you need about 20-25 years of mortgage loan payments. That’s how long a mortgage loan takes to get paid off.
And if you think that a mortgage loan will help you with your taxes, think again. Mortgage loans takes about a dollar of interest from you while you only get back about 28 cents from tax deductions.
Instead of prepaying their mortgage loans, some people use the money to jump start another investment. But the thing with investments is that there is no sure-fire way to adopt in order to succeed. You could get lucky or you could lose a lot. It’s a far riskier business to invest your money on the stock market than paying off your mortgage loans.
Now don’t let this picture about mortgage loans depress you and make you stay away from them for the rest of your life. The truth of the matter is, mortgage loans are a way of life. So how do we go past the mortgage loan hurdles? Pay off your mortgage loans early by paying extra. By paying extra once a year, you can actually remove 8 years from a 30-year mortgage loan.
Perhaps the best way for you to get ahead on your monthly mortgage loan payment is through a bi-weekly mortgage loan. With a bi-weekly mortgage loan, your payment is done every two weeks for half your monthly amount. At the end of the year, you’ll notice that you have made 13 monthly payments instead of 12.
Bad Credit, Credit Card
“Bad credit card card” is used to refer to credit cards that can be obtained even with a bad credit rating. The bad credit card cards provide opportunity to people (with bad credit rating) to improve their credit rating. In that sense, bad credit credit cards act as rescuer for such people. So, bad credit credit cards also act as necessary a training ground for people who have not been able to control their spending urge in the past.
Bad credit card cards are commonly known as secured credit cards. The bad credit card card (or secured credit cards) requires the individual to open up an account with the credit card supplier and maintain some cash balance in the account. Why is that required? Well, credit cards are a business for the credit card suppliers; so how can they trust someone who has defaulted on his/her payments in the past? After all, a business is about profits and such risks are a threat to profits. The bank or the credit card supplier will generally pay interest on the balance in your account. However, it’s best to check this with the bad credit card card supplier/bank. The credit limit on the bad credit card card is determined by the cash balance in the account and is generally between 50-100% of the cash balance. These bad credit card cards are also referred to as debit cards, owing to the fact that they work less in a credit-giving manner and more in a debit-giving manner.
There are plenty of bad credit card cards available in the market. When searching for the bad credit card card that is best suited to you, you should consider 4 things in particular: the minimum balance that you are required to maintain in the bank account, the credit limit that you will receive (i.e. the percentage of your bank account balance that you are allowed to spend on your bad credit card card), the fees/other-charges applicable to the procurement of bad credit card card and the rate of interest that you will receive on the balance in your bank account. An ideal bad credit card card would have no fee/other-charges associated with it and would require zero or a very small amount as minimum bank balance. It would also have something like 90-100% of bank balance as its credit limit. Moreover, an ideal bad credit card card would also offer a good interest rate on the bank balance.
Bad credit card cards are really a good concept that provides respite to people with bad credit rating by letting them enjoy the benefits of credit cards while they mend their credit rating.
They Don’t Want You To Pay
In all your dealings with credit cards, remember this one thing: they don’t want you to pay. The moment you pay back everything you owe, you’re free from their interest, and that’s not what they want. They want you to keep on paying them a little every month for the rest of your life, making them a steady profit on things you long since forgot about buying.
Revolving Debt.
Most credit cards are what’s called ‘revolving’ debt – the only real exceptions are American Express and Diner’s Club cards, which must still be paid off in full every month. They aren’t really ‘credit’ cards at all – they’re charge cards for people who could afford to pay in cash anyway.
Revolving debt means that you can pay off as much as you like each month, or you can just pay the minimum, and you can run up as much debt as you want each month, up to the maximum. Unlike a fixed-term loan (a 20-year mortgage, for example), you don’t know how much your payments are going to be, and you don’t know when you’re going to stop paying. Each new purchase can dramatically extend the time that it’s going to take you to get your balance back down to $0.
With a credit card, then, it’s perfectly possible to keep running a ‘balance’ (a debt) on your card forever, spending a little sometimes and paying a little back sometimes – and always paying interest. This is why credit cards are so profitable for them, and so expensive for you.
Add the Interest in Your Head.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ll never have to pay your credit card’s interest – sooner or later, for some reason, you will. A good strategy is to add your card’s yearly interest rates to everything you buy when you’re thinking about the price. If that thing is worth $100 to you, is it worth $115 (15% interest added)?
Likewise, if you buy something with your savings, take off the interest you get on your savings as a mental discount. This will help you to make the differences between savings and debt feel more real – saving instead of having debt is like having a money-off coupon you carry around with you all the time.
A Dollar Today Isn’t a Dollar Tomorrow.
You probably don’t think about it, but using a credit card basically makes your money worth less than it would be usually. That’s why it feels so hard to pay a credit card back – if you borrow a dollar from a credit card at 15% interest, sit on it for five years, and then give it back, guess what? You still owe them the dollar. The dollar you gave them back was eaten up by interest.
This is one of the biggest things you need to understand about credit card debt: the longer you have it for, the bigger the problem it gets. If you have a problem, the last thing you should do is ignore it, because it will only get worse – you have to try and beat it early.
Refinancing Car Loan
Refinancing is probably a term you’ve stumbled upon more than a couple of times, especially if you have at one time in your life purchased a home on a mortgage or a loan. In home buying, refinancing home loans are the process of getting financing for a current loan by applying for another loan with lower interest rate. Simply put, refinancing is when you pay off one loan with another loan. Of course, refinancing is not as simple as that but once you get the idea, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. And also, one must keep in mind that refinancing only works if the interest rate is lower. If not, then that just defeats the whole purpose of it.
The goal of refinancing is to allow the borrower to save some money which would have been spent on loans with higher rates. It is one of the best kept secrets in the finance industry. Several people have been refinancing their homes and saving thousands of dollars in the process. Yet even with this great surge in savings, not everyone is willing to adapt the same method in car loans.
Refinancing car loans follows the same pattern as refinancing your home loan. By refinancing car loans, you pay off your current loan with the money you borrow on a refinancing car loan with a different lender whose interest rates are lower. Refinancing car loans is a good way to save money on your car. With lower interest rates, refinancing car loans can make your monthly payments lesser and allow you to pay off the balance of your current loan in a shorter period of time.
Only a few people understand the time value of money. The longer you pay for a loan, the bigger you spend. By the end of the loan period, you would have paid more money on interest than on the principal. This is why refinancing car loans are an important step in minimizing loan costs and maximizing savings.
To explain this benefit of refinancing car loans, let’s take an example. Let’s say you borrowed $16,500 on a new Honda Accord at 21% APR for 60 months. This means that your monthly payments would be roughly around $446. Without refinancing car loan, you would have paid a total of about $10,283 on interest charges alone by the end of your loan term. If, however, you decide on refinancing car loan, you could as much as $7,643 on a new loan at 6% APR.
Auto Loan For People With Bad Credit
People with bad credit score and is know to make payment lapses are often considered by lenders as great credit risks. But there is no reason for people with bad credit standing to get discouraged. They can still avail of auto loans to purchase their desired vehicles. This is because some specialist lenders focus on granting auto loan for people with bad credit. Although this privilege does not come without a price tag. As expected auto loan for people with bad credit are often charged with higher interest rates compared to the normal standards. Car dealers could charge up to 30% or more interest on auto loan for people with bad credit. While those with average credit rating, the interest rate could be between 2% to 15%. This is not actually a punishment for incurring bad credit. Rather, it is merely a business move made by lenders to protect their investment when they loaned money to you. Dealers and lenders have created the auto loan for people with bad credit program in order to help people with bad credits purchase a vehicle.
Availing of an auto loan for people with bad credit is a good opportunity to re-establish or improve your credit standing. People who availed of auto loan for people with bad credit are expected to pay their monthly payments on time in order to improve their credit standing. It is not hard to find lending companies that grant auto loan for people with bad credit. What is hard though is the huge monthly payment you need to make. If you think you have bad credit standing, then you need to do something in order to improve your credit score. To increase your credit rating, you need to do the following: pay off any current debts, make monthly payments for debts that you can fully pay off and put money into your savings account. Your savings deposit will help your credit score since this serves as your pool of funds in case of emergency. If you can make a larger down payment or a much less expensive car then that would help reduce your payments.
If you are able to avail of auto loan for people with bad credit make sure that you make the most out of this second chance. Since the interest rates are higher for auto loan for people with bad credit, it would be wise to purchase a less expensive vehicle or a used one. Once you have improve your credit standing that is the time to buy a new and more expensive car since the interest rates would be lower then.
Rebates – Reward Or Rip Off?
Rebates have become increasingly popular in the last few years on a lot of items and certainly on electronic items and computers. Rebates of $20, $50 or $100 are not uncommon.
I’ve even seen items advertised as “free after rebate”. Do these rebates come under the heading of “too good to be true”? Some of them do and there are “catches” to watch out for but if you are careful, rebates can help you get some really good deals.
The way a rebate works is that you pay the listed price for an item then mail in a form and the bar code to the manufacturer and they send you a refund thus reducing the price of what you paid for the item except with a time delay of several weeks.
Rule #1. Rebates from reputable companies are usually just fine.
You can be pretty sure you will get the promised rebate from Best Buy, Amazon or Dell but you should probably not count on getting one from a company you’ve never heard of. If you really want the product and are OK with paying the price listed then buy it but don’t count on actually getting the refund.
Rule #2. Check rebate expiration dates.
Many times products will stay on the shelf of a retailer after the date for sending in the rebate offer has expired so check that date carefully.
Rule #3. Be sure you have all the forms required to file for the rebate before you leave the store.
Rebates will almost always require a form to be filled out, a receipt for the purchase and a bar code.
Rule #4. Back up your rebate claim.
Make copies of everything you send in to get your rebate including the bar code. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time and if the rebate is for $50 it’s worth the trouble to back up your claim.
French Property Insurance
A second home does not mean it requires only second-rate insurance. Say for example, you bought a property in France. Whether this one would just serve as your holiday house, a winter hovel, or romantic spot, you still need the right French property insurance coverage.
So we’re down to the basics. Any house is considered an investment. You can have your home in France let to local tenants or even tourists. That way you can get a return of the money you have invested on that piece of property. Now, here comes another problem. Damages to the house or its contents can cost you money. The solution? French property insurance.
Before you can buy a home in France, your French agent will ask for proof that you have French property insurance. Before handing out the contract for your French home and closing the sale, the agent needs your French property insurance as an underwriting requirement.
When you purchase your French property insurance, make sure that you read and understand the small print. This is where you can see the scope and restrictions of your French property insurance coverage. If you don’t speak French, then you have a problem. But don’t resort to despair just yet. You can still get French property insurance even though you don’t know your French ABCs. A lot of UK insurance companies are offering French property insurance policies that are designed specifically for holiday homes in France.
What is the insurance coverage in French property insurance?
Most French property insurance includes coverage for buildings. French property insurance covers the actual structure of French home in case of damage due to fire or storms. French property insurance pays for the cost of repairs or rebuilding. Debris removal and professional fees following loss or damage are also covered by your French property insurance. Perils such as earthquake, fire, storm, flood, and bursts pipes are all included your French property insurance. In addition, some French property insurance companies include coverage for fixtures and fittings within the buildings like kitchens and baths.
Aside from buildings, French property insurance also pays for the replacement of lost items or belongings caused by the same perils that damaged the house. These contents that are covered by your French property insurance include furniture, furnishings, televisions, personal belongings, et cetera.
You can also customize your French property insurance policy to cover damages due to accidents caused by guests if you plan on using your French home for holiday letting. If this is the case, you might also want to add a loss of rental income clause in your French property insurance. Some unforeseen incidents might prevent you from letting your house and loss of income resulting from this may be compensated with your French property insurance. Moreover, make sure that you include a natural catastrophe clause in your French property insurance to cover losses caused by floods.
What are the policy conditions of your French Property Insurance?
Most French property insurance policies stipulate certain conditions in the small print. This is why it is always important to read the small print before signing your French property insurance contract – or any contract for that matter. To make sure that the cover is right for you, always read and understand the small print of your French property insurance. In this way, you won’t experience any complications when you file your French property insurance claim.
Second Mortgage
A second mortgage is a mortgage whose terms are subordinate to the first mortgage. Loans with a second mortgage are usually done when the homeowner needs money in order to pay for an existing loan.
Second Mortgage or Refinance?
This is a question every homebuyer is faced with when shopping for mortgages. Take this scenario: A homeowner is facing a credit card debt of $50,000. Should he take a $190,000 second mortgage to refinance an existing mortgage with a balance of $140,000? Or should he borrow the money from a $50,000 home equity loan?
In most cases, borrowers who took a mortgage when rates were lower will find a second mortgage better than a home equity loan. But to be certain, some factors need to be considered.
You need to compare the interest rate and points of the first mortgage with that of a second mortgage. Second, find out if there are any PMIs (Private Mortgage Insurance) involved with the second mortgage. Find out what loan term is most favorable for you on your second mortgage. Your income tax bracket and amount of cash you need from your second mortgage are also necessary factors.
Consider the case above. If the first mortgage at $14,000 was acquired two years ago, the interest rate would be 7 percent for 30 years without PMI. Let’s say your income bracket is 39.6% (the highest) and you are capable of earning 5% more on your investments. Your house is now worth $213,000.
A second mortgage for $190,000 with settlement costs will require PMI. If you decide to get a home equity loan instead, you will get 30 years loan term at 8.25% and one point. For $50,000, your second mortgage will include additional costs for 15 years at 11.5% and one point. The result will be that over the course of five years, your second mortgage will have saved you $11,361 more than what refinancing will.
Take a second mortgage or get a new one and pay PMI?
Getting a second mortgage has more advantages when it comes to taxes than a separate loan. But usually, this depends on many other factors.
Getting a second mortgage is better than getting a separate loan when the rate difference between the second mortgage and the first mortgage is small. If the loan term is short, then getting a second mortgage probably makes more sense than getting a separate loan. Balance is paid off faster with shorter term loans. Since second mortgages have considerably higher rates, the shorter the loan term is, the better it is to get a second mortgage loan.
Other factors that affect the advantage of second mortgages over separate mortgages are tax brackets, closing costs, and expected appreciation rate.
For example, you have a tax bracket of 15% and a 30-year first mortgage for $160,000 and a second mortgage for $20,000 at 11.75%, zero points, and to be paid off in 15 years. A separate mortgage would be for $180,000 with down payment at 10%. Interest rate for this separate mortgage would be at 8.25%, zero points, and 0.52% PMI.
When you calculate this, you can see that over the five years, a second mortgage will have saved you 16.97% more than a separate mortgage would.
Avoiding Impulse Spending
Answer these questions truthfully:
1.) Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much money?
2.) Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?
3.) Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear?
4.) Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust on a retailer’s shelf?
5.) Do you buy things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them on display in a store?
If you answered “yes” to any two of the above questions, you are an impulse spender and indulge yourself in retail therapy.
This is not a good thing. It will prevent you from saving for the important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement. You must set some financial goals and resist spending money on items that really don’t matter in the long run.
Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.
Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. The trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for.
When you go shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.
If you see something you think you really need, give yourself two weeks to decide if it is really something you need or something you can easily do without. By following this simple solution, you will mend your financial fences and your relationships.
A Problem Called Credit Card Debt
Credit cards are no more a luxury, they are almost a necessity. So, you would imagine a lot of people going for credit cards. In fact, a lot of people posses more than one credit cards. So, the credit card industry is growing by leaps and bounds. However, the credit card industry and credit card holders are posed with a big problem called ‘Credit Card Debt’. In order to understand what ‘credit card debt’ actually means, we need to understand the workflow associated with the use of credit cards as such.
Credit cards, as the name suggests, are cards on which you can get credit i.e. make borrowings (your credit card debt). Your credit card is a representative of the credit account that you hold with the credit card supplier. Whatever payments you make using your credit card are actually your borrowings that contribute towards your credit card debt. Your total credit card debt is the total amount you owe credit card supplier. You must settle your credit card debt on a monthly basis. So, you receive a monthly statement or your credit card bill which shows your total credit card debt. You must pay off your credit card debt by the payment due date failing which you will incur late fee and interest charges. However, you have the option of making a partial (minimum) payment too, in which case you don’t incur late fee but just the interest charges on your credit card debt.
If you don’t pay off your credit card debt in full, the interest charges too get added to it. So your credit card debt keeps on increasing, more so because the interest rates on credit card debt are generally higher than the interest rates on other kind of loans/borrowings. Further, the interest charges add on to your credit card debt each month to form the new balance or the new credit card debt amount. If you continue making partial payments (or no payments) the interest charges are calculated afresh on the new credit card debt. So you end up paying interest on the last month’s interest too. Thus your credit card debt accumulates rapidly and soon you find that what was once a relatively small credit card debt has ballooned into a big amount which you find almost impossible to pay. Moreover, if you don’t still control your spending habits, your credit card debt rises even faster. This is how the vicious circle of credit card debt works.
The Liars And Scammers Of The Credit Card Industry
In the world of credit cards, there are plenty of people who are desperate to borrow money, and just as many people who are desperate to get back out of debt again. Given that, it’s not surprising that the industry is full of scams. Here are some to keep an eye out for.
The Debt Advisors.
Be very careful if you’re offered ‘free debt advice’. There are many government bodies, legitimate financial companies and charities that give good advice, but the ones who do a lot of advertising tend to be owned or partnered with people you don’t want to know. If the advice you get is to sign up for another loan from one company in particular, don’t believe it – the chances are that the person you’re talking to is just a salesman in disguise.
The Identity Thieves.
If you don’t keep track of your credit card statements and your credit report, then you could be in for a surprise. It’s not that hard for someone else to apply for a credit card, pretending to be you, or to get the number of a card you already have and start buying things with it. Then, of course, they get free money, and you’re left with the debt, not to mention the black marks against your name when it doesn’t get paid back.
The Catalogue Card.
This is a scam that’s especially common around Christmas time. A company offers you a ‘credit card’, with a much higher limit than you’d usually qualify for. The catch, of course, is that you can only use it to buy things from their catalogue, at inflated prices. This is nothing but a clever way of offering you expensive finance on purchases from them.
The Only Game in Town.
More exploitative lenders might realise that they’re really the only company that’s going to be offering some people any credit at all. They’ll send offers to desperate people for absolutely terrible deals, with the highest interest rates they can get away with, and no benefits whatsoever. These people will accept the offer without even reading it, relieved that finally someone out there offered them credit – and their debts get even harder to ever pay off.
The Insurance Charge.
Here’s one that even the most reputable lenders go in for – trying to sell you useless insurance. This is usually an insurance premium that is automatically added to your interest each month, and covers you against very unlikely things, like dying and not being able to pay back your debt. It is almost never worth ticking the box to buy insurance.
The Secured Card.
A secured card is one that requires you to make a deposit before you can use it – a deposit that can sometimes be as much as the limit on the card itself. Secured cards can be a good way of rebuilding your credit when it’s all gone wrong, but don’t take one from a lender you’ve never heard of. With more unscrupulous companies, you will often be charged an annual fee, an application fee, and any other fee they can think of, all of which are added to your debt. Don’t let it happen to you.
Car Loan Interest Rates
There are a few things you need to keep in mind when thinking about purchasing a car. Researching a bit about cars, prices, and car loan interest rates will do you good once you decide to venture out and walk into car dealerships.
Research allows you to assess what your financial situation is and thus help you determine whether or not this is the time for you to purchase a car. Research also helps you find out about car loan interest rates, which bears a great impact on your monthly payments. And finally, research helps you decide what type of car fits your lifestyle.
When you decide to get auto financing for a new or used car, there are four basic hurdles that you would be going through. Each step needs careful planning and should not be taken lightly.
First thing’s first, all new car purchases are financed. Roughly around 70 per cent of new car purchases are accomplished through car loans. Of course, paying cash is always an option, if you have the means. However, not all people have that luxury. So unless you plan on paying cash for your set of wheels, it’s highly likely that you’ll need to start looking into car loan rates so you can get financing for a new car.
Car Loan Interest Rates: Determine your Financial Situation
The first step in the car buying process is conducting a thorough analysis of your own financial situation. The amount of your monthly payments depends on the car loan interest rates of your car. The higher your car loan interest rates, the higher the monthly payment. And the lower your car loan interest rates, the lower your monthly payments.
If for example your credit is poor, the lender would naturally charge you higher car loan interest rates to make up for the risk they are taking in lending you the money. This is why it is very important that you find out what your current financial situation is before walking into a car dealership. You need to know how much you can afford to spend before you can determine what you can afford. Once you’ve dug deep and calculated your monthly budget, then it would be easier for you to get the car loan interest rates that are within your price range.
Car Loan Interest Rates: Deciding which Car to Get
The next important step is selection. Once you’ve got your monthly budget all figured out, you can now turn your gaze to the auto market and choose the car that is within your price range. Normally at this stage, it’s all about personal choices but it pays to know that the type of car you buy can affect your car loan interest rates.
Capital One Auto Loans
Capital One is probably the best online loan company. It provides reasonable auto loan rates on your auto loan. You can choose from various auto loan options provided by Capital One. They have platinum and gold credit cards to mortgages. You can also conveniently apply for loan online.
Capital One auto loans has no down payment, application fees or prepayment penalty requirements. Amount for Capital One auto loans range for as low as $7,500 to a maximum of $100,000. The minimum Capital One auto loans in Arizona are $10,000.01. Capital One auto loans are provided in all states except for New Hampshire. Capital One auto loans terms include 30, 60 and 72 months.
For those who do not have good credit standing, Capital One has Custom Finance Program that would cater to other loan needs. Capital One also offers the Blank Check loan. This loan allows the customer to use the Blank Check similar to a personal check. The amount you reflected on the check to be paid to the dealer must be approved beforehand.
For customers who have excellent credit records, the following Capital One auto loans apply:
For new cars that are purchased from the dealer, Capital One auto loans charge an APR or annual percentage rate of 3.95% for 3-36 months loan term. Those who avail of 37-60 months term have an APR of 4.69%. And for 61-72 months range, APRR is 5.39%.
For used cars that are purchased from dealers, Capital One auto loans charges 4.59% for 30-36 months term. For 37-60 months term, APR is 5.09%. And for 61-72 months, APR is 5.95%.
For used cars that are purchased from another person, Capital One auto loans charges 6.25% APR for 30-36 months term. For 37-60 months, APR is 6.45%. And for those who avail of 61-72 months, APR is 7.25%.
For refinancing, the APR for Capital One auto loans is 5.29% applicable to 3-36 months. For those who availed of 37-60 months, Capital One auto loans charges 5.79% APR. And Capital One auto loans has 6.59% APR for those with 61-72 months loan term.
Capital One auto loans will lock in the applicable annual percentage rate or APR for 45 days so as to give you enough time to look for your ideal vehicle. Capital One auto loans use the simple interest method in calculating interest on loans. Payments are done monthly in the monthly due date you choose. Submitted Capital One auto loans applications usually receive a response within 15 minutes during business hours from Monday to Friday, 5 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. During non-business hours, loans are processed within the next business day.
Mortgage Calculator
Mortgage calculators are pivotal factors when you’re looking for the right mortgage that best suits your home buying needs. Below is a short list of mortgage calculators to help you make your financial decision.
APR Mortgage Calculator
An APR mortgage calculator helps you calculate and compare the APRs or Annual Percentage Rates of different types of mortgage loans. To use an APR mortgage calculator, you need to fill in the loan amount and the quoted interest rate. Say for example, you take in a 30-year loan for $20,000 at 4.5% interest rate. Percentage of discount points is 2.0% with a closing fee of $1,000. When you calculate this using the APR mortgage calculator, you’ll find that the annual interest rate of this loan is 5.5275%.
ARM vs. Fixed Mortgage Calculator
Different financial situations require different types of mortgage. An adjustable rate mortgage is good when the loan term that you want is short. On the other hand, fixed rate mortgages might give you the certainty that you need when it looks like interest rates are rising. Use ARM vs. fixed rate mortgage calculators to find out which mortgage suits you. An ARM vs. fixed rate mortgage calculator would require you to fill in the details both mortgages. Once done, the mortgage calculator will help you determine how much you can save with either mortgage types.
For example, you decide to take out a loan of $105,000 payable in 30 years. The fixed rate mortgage interest rate is 7.5% while the ARM interest rate is 4% with an adjustable period of one year. Maximum cap period of the ARM loan is 0.5% while the lifetime cap is 4%. Once you put in these details into the mortgage calculator, you can start estimating your savings on each mortgage. The mortgage calculator will show you that with a fixed rate loan, you will be paying $734.18 monthly and no savings. On the one hand, the mortgage calculator will also show you that ARM loan will have you paying up to $663.67 monthly with cumulative savings up to $11,024.46.
Comparison Mortgage Calculators
As the name itself suggests, this mortgage calculator allows you to compare several mortgage types and find out what suits you best. You can put in variables to as much as four loans into this mortgage calculator and start comparing prices. By providing the number of payments to be made, interest rates, and principal amount, this mortgage calculator will calculate for you the projected monthly payment.
30 Year and 15 Year Mortgage Calculator
This mortgage calculator will help you decide which mortgage suits your needs – 30 year or a 15 year term. For instance, you’re considering a $100,000 loan. For 15 years, the interest rate is 6.250%. For a 30-year term, the interest will increase slightly to 6.500%. Discount points for each are equal at 1%.
For more accurate results on this mortgage calculator, let’s put in a state/federal tax rate of 38%, property tax amount of $2,000, homeowner’s insurance of $600, and savings rate of 4%. The purchase price of the home is $125,000. The result generated by the mortgage calculator will be a total payment of $1,074 for the 15-year term and $849 for the 30-year term.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was created by the Florida Legislature in 2002. The purpose of forming Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was to provide insurance coverage for homeowners in Florida, especially those in high-risk areas.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the off-shoot of a merger between two state-run insurance entities. These two companies that make up Citizens Property Insurance Corporation are the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association 9FRPCJUA) and the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA).
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation provided the kind of coverage that high-risk homeowners need. Before Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida homeowners had trouble finding an insurance company willing to fund for the cost of their damages. With Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida homeowners are looking at coverage that could reach up to $350,000. This amount which Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is willing to provide covers the costs of damages, repair, and rebuilding. In addition, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation also pays for reconstruction of structures outside the house such as fences, swimming pools, and the like. Replacement costs for lost or damaged items are also included in the coverage that Citizens Property Insurance Corporation provides.
Recently though, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is experiencing a squeeze in its budget. Four hurricanes – Charley, Ivan, Jeanne, and Frances – devastated Florida. On July 28, 2004, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation estimated about 78,257 insurance claims for damages wrought by the four hurricanes.
According to Risk Management Solutions, an independent organization that assesses disaster damages, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation faces total damages worth $1.77 billion. Contrary to what Citizens Property Insurance Corporation released in late July, Risk Management Solutions found that the number of claims reaches almost 92,000. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation also faces the challenge of even higher claims within the next few months.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation suffers $252 million in damages in their wind-only policies for High-Risk Accounts from Hurricane Jeanne. The estimated loss from the same hurricane for the Personal Lines Accounts of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is $53 million. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation experienced somewhat lesser deficit from Hurricane Jeanne in their Commercial Lines Account with only $27 million to grapple with.
Hurricane Ivan costs less for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in damages. The High Risk Accounts of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the former Florida WUA, only costs $220 million, a somewhat lower number compared to Hurricane Jeanne. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation estimates a total loss of $12 million from Hurricane Ivan for both their Personal and Commercial Lines Accounts.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation estimates spending $225 million worth of coverage for damages and loss caused by Hurricane Frances. For the residential multi-peril policies of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the amount reaches up to $50 million. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation also expects to spend an additional $15 million in commercial residential policies from the same hurricane.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation projects a loss worth $850 million from Hurricane Charley for their wind-only High-Risk Account policies. For the Personal Lines Accounts, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation sees spending around $60 million. An additional $15 million from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is also needed to cover their Commercial Lines Accounts. All in all, Hurricane Charley costs Citizens Property Insurance Corporation an astounding $925 million.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is no doubt facing a peril of going into deficit. If Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the company will be forced to assess other insurance companies in order to cover all claims.
Mortgage Refinancing
Mortgage refinancing loans experience a boom whenever rates are low. A lot of people are tempted to get do a mortgage refinancing on their homes to increase their savings. Aside from that, people who want to consolidate their bills are drawn into mortgage refinancing.
There are countless other reasons why people go for mortgage refinancing when buying a new home. However, it should be noted that not everyone benefits from mortgage refinancing. For homeowners with second mortgages, mortgage refinancing may backfire. The same goes for those people with a lot of debt or those having trouble paying bills on time. By going for mortgage refinancing, they might end up paying more than when they stick to the loan they already got.
Things to keep in mind when Mortgage Refinancing your home
There are a few things to keep in mind when you decide to go for a mortgage refinancing loan. In mortgage refinancing, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself this question: “Does my property have enough equity for mortgage refinancing?” Mortgage refinancing a home will not help anything if the equity has been steadily depleting.
Let’s say a homeowner borrows 90 per cent of value from his home to finance another loan. At that rate, the homeowner will be running serious risk of depleting his home’s total equity by going for another loan through mortgage refinancing. This is especially true for mortgage refinancing when closing costs start rolling in.
A second thing that affects mortgage refinancing is the borrower’s loan qualifications and credit line. A positive credit history would spell good news for mortgage refinancing. However, if credit is bad or if the relationship between debt and income is skewed, then mortgage refinancing is not the right option.
Maintaining a positive balance between income and debt levels is strenuous for most people. At the rate with which home equity loans and credit lines are selling, it’s easy to see that a lot of homeowners have succumbed to second lines in order to cover their bills. Some borrowers have taken advantage of loopholes in credit checks to sell their houses for more than what they’re worth. Mortgage refinancing won’t come easy for these types of people.
Customers who are interested in mortgage refinancing also receive pre-qualification tests and credit checks like all other customers. Customers with a few late payments or high credit card balances will have trouble finding lenders who are willing to give them mortgage refinancing loans. However, these points won’t really exclude anyone from mortgage refinancing entirely. It’s just that rates might just be a little bit too high to give any room for savings or rates are not low enough to make mortgage refinancing worthwhile.
Mortgage refinancing may also turn sour for buyers with good credit. Private mortgage insurance (PMI) and long loan terms can make mortgage refinancing a bad deal. Private mortgage insurances usually apply when a homeowner borrows more than 80 per cent of a home’s value. This protects the lender in case of a default or a foreclosure. Before deciding on mortgage refinancing, take the PMI into account and see if you’re willing to pay that much.
Also, mortgage refinancing may add 30 more years on your 30-year first mortgage. Yes, the monthly payment will be less but are you really willing to pay for your loan for 30 years more instead of 10?
