Archive for February 2nd, 2008

Students - How To Save Money

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Tom Tessin

Students - Learn How to Save Money

Everybody in this world loves money and you probably want as much of it as possible. The thing that most college students struggle with is how to save money correctly. There are so many easy ways to save money in this world that some students just completely overlook it. The purpose of this article is to show you how you can start saving your money today even if you don’t make a lot of it.

Keep yourself busy the cheap way

The more involved you’re with school activities and work, you’ll find that you don’t have time to spend your money. Even if this sounds boring, make sure that you find hobbies that don’t cost a lot. A lot of the times you’ll find that most school clubs and activities don’t cost anything at all! If you’re currently the type that likes to party, eat out, and do everything else under the sun everyday, you’re going to have to change your habits before you start saving up all of the cash.

Hobbies equal cash

Sit down for a second and think of the things you love. I guarantee that you can turn any hobby you like into a money making project. If you love to bowl and you’re good at it, you could possibly offer bowling lessons to fellow students or others for a fee. In order to save money, you’re going to want to make money and if you’re making money doing the things you love, it’s going to be a win-win situation.

Check out your wallet

Open up your wallet or purse and check it out closely. The cards you’re carrying such as an AAA card or a student ID card, you’ll find that a lot of places offer discounts with these type of cards. For example, a local movie theater in your neighborhood may offer a student discount on tickets. Even if this discount is two dollars, you’re still saving money!

Compare before you shop

Instead of going out and buying that new xbox game, make sure that you’ve looked at a bunch of other stores before you go out and shop. The Internet is a great tool to check out other stores prices. You’ll usually be able to get prices, if it’s stock, and you can even buy it and pick it up in the store if you’d like. Not only will you save on gas from going store to store, you’re going to save yourself some time and energy.

Saving money isn’t that hard. It’s going to require some dedication and motivation. If you just set a little aside each month, it will add up quicker than you think. Be sure that you look into money market accounts and CDs. This will give you a bigger return on your money. Remember, it’s yourself that chooses your own saving fate.

Tom Tessin runs FINDcollege cards that focuses on students looking for a student credit card.

Yahoo says it needs time to mull Microsoft offer

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

SEATTLE - Yahoo Inc has said it may take “quite a bit of time” to weigh its strategic options, including keeping the company independent, following Microsoft Corp’s $45 billion offer to purchase the company.

France opposed to any hostile SocGen bid

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

PARIS - A senior adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France remained opposed to any hostile bid for Societe Generale , the French bank hit by a trading scandal.

UBS facing subprime banking investigations: report

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

CHICAGO - United States government prosecutors are
investigating whether Swiss banking giant UBS misled investors
by reporting inflated prices of mortgage-backed securities it
held despite knowing those valuations had eroded, the Wall
Street Journal has said on Saturday.

When Refinancing A Mortgage Doesn’t Help

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Debbie Dragon

Most of the time, refinancing your mortgage will result in a lower interest rate and/or lower monthly payments. It may shorten the length of time you have to pay on your mortgage until it’s completely paid off. Refinancing can also help you use some of the equity in your home to pay off other bills- and many people use it to get themselves out of credit card debt, pay off personal loans or even their vehicles. The benefits of refinancing are many- but there are instances when refinancing your mortgage can do more harm than good.

Refinancing requires you to remove your escrow. Sometimes, a mortgage company will offer you a refinance deal; but it won’t include your property or school taxes, and it won’t include your homeowners insurance. For some people, this isn’t a problem and setting aside the $60 a week (or whatever it may be) to ensure you have enough money to send out your taxes and homeowners insurance once a year is easy enough to do. For the majority of people however, it’s all too easy to forget to set aside the money since it isn’t due for months- and when the bills come in the mail, you suddenly have to come up with a few thousand dollars to pay them. If your refinance offer doesn’t include escrow and you’re used to having your taxes and homeowners insurance included with your mortgage payment- you might want to reconsider.

Also- if you’re not paying attention to details, your refinance offer may seem like an amazing deal. Perhaps your goal is to use the refinance to also pay off some of your credit card accounts and your car payment. The payment may increase slightly- but after you add up the figures you find it’s still lower than what you’re paying now for your mortgage and each of the individual payments of the accounts your paying off. This is exciting! But if your refinance removes the escrow – you could very well end up paying more per month than you were initially keeping all of your payments separate!

Refinancing extends the terms of your mortgage. There are refinance offers that may result in a lower monthly payment- but in exchange for a longer mortgage term. Maybe before you refinanced, you had 20 years remaining on your mortgage. You refinance and the offer would require that you pay for 30 years in order to get the lower monthly payment. This can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your situation. If you are just in need of a reduced payment, the extra time on the mortgage may be worth it to you. On the other hand, if your purpose of refinancing wasn’t because you were having trouble making the monthly mortgage payment, extending your mortgage terms will result in paying more over the long-term in interest.

Refinancing that doesn’t reduce your principal balance. In some cases, refinancing a mortgage will result in lower payments that don’t even change the amount you owe. For example, let’s say you had a fixed-rate mortgage and owed $164,000. You pay a 5.375% interest rate and have 18 years left to pay on your mortgage. You might want to refinance to get a lower monthly payment because the $1186 that you currently pay is becoming difficult, so you look into a 5-year adjustable rate mortgage. The interest you’re offered is 5.875%, with an interest only payment for 5 years. Your monthly payment would be reduced by $383 which is substantial and would probably make it easier to make your payments- however- over the 5 years on this adjustable rate, interest only payment plan, you would save $23,012 in monthly payments but the remaining balance on your mortgage would still be $164,000 at the end of the 5 years. If you kept the original mortgage and didn’t finance, at the end of those 5 years, you would have paid your mortgage down to a balance of $132,975- over $31,000 paid on the mortgage! After 5 years on the interest-only adjustable rate mortgage plan, you would end up $8,013 poorer. (See the mortgage professor’s explanation of this: http://www.mtgprofessor.com/A%20-%20Refinance/refinancing_that_makes_you_poorer.htm)

Visit DestroyDebt.com for more information on debt consolidation.

Debt Reduction Tips

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Peter Kenny

Virtually everyone who is in debt wishes he or she was in less debt. For the purposes of this article, debt is anything that you pay for with cash or credit during the course of a week or a month. It should not come as a surprise that many consumers simply have no idea where a sizable chunk of their income goes each month. This invisible debt can add up quickly, but it can also be easily identified with a little bit of effort.

There are some financial obligations that are fairly static and remain the same throughout the life of the loan. This might include such things as auto loans or rent payments. Generally speaking, these types of loans have a set payment amount and that amount is due month in and month out until you pay off the loan. These debts are difficult to manipulate, and for that reason they are not a part of the debt reduction tips listed here. The debts that can be manipulated are those that you have more control over.

Some of the debt, or if you prefer expenses, that you do have some control over include such things as groceries, lunch expenses, entertainment expenses, and clothing expenses. Other types of debt that you have at least some control over (in most cases) include such things as auto insurance premiums, life insurance premiums, internet fees, utility usage (water, electric, etc).

The only effective way to get a handle on your controllable debt is to know what it is. To do this, you have to make a list, a daily list, of what you are spending your money on. This list should include everything that you buy. From carfare to coffee, if you pay out money for something, jot it down on a piece of paper. At the end of a week or two, you will have a very good idea of where some of your money is going.

One of the more remarkable things that these simple daily lists can do for you is show you how even small amounts of money spent each day add up over the course of a month. For example, let’s say that you spend a dollar each morning for a newspaper and two dollars for a cup of coffee. Then you spend five dollars for lunch, Monday through Friday. At the end of one week, you would have spent twenty-one dollars for papers and coffee and another twenty-five dollars for lunches. At the end of a month you would have spent eighty-four bucks for papers and coffee and one hundred dollars for lunches. That is nearly two hundred dollars that you could easily save or reduce. If you spend more for coffee and lunches, your savings increase if you cut back on these expenses.

Most consumers have no idea how much money they can save when they become more diligent in cutting off appliances and lights that are not being used. Consumers who have good driving records can often simply ask for a better rate on their auto insurance and get it. The same can be true with life insurance and even with credit cards. By simply asking for better rates, consumers can often get them. It really is that simple. Why not spend some time investigating what you can cut back on? You might be surprised at how much money you can save.

Peter Kenny is a writer for The Thrifty Scot, please visit us at Secured Homeowner Loan and Unsecured Loans Visit Don’t pay over the odds in the sales.

Mortgage Refinance: Rebuilding Your Personal Financial Health

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Rony Walker

A mortgage refinance is an inevitable option when there are exigencies that require additional cash inflow. One is rebuilding your finances from the cash-out equity you can obtain from the value of your home. This strategy helps you make good use of your refinance while giving you the optimum benefit of rebuilding your financial situation.

Planning For a Future with a Refinance

Young Americans are redefining the way they look at a financially secure future. They are fast recognizing the value of getting their finances in order while they still have the resources and the physical stamina to build their future. Young couples or individuals with home mortgages see the opportunities offered by a mortgage refinance as a way out of financial setbacks or the chance to rebuild their finances.

Unfortunately, this is usually an option for a way out of credit card debts. Rampant incidents of families forced out of their homes because of payment defaults and escalating interest rates have become fodder for news. This should warn people who are careless with their refinance loans.

Before deciding, examine your options and be realistic about your finances. There is no excuse to rush into it because it is available. A plan that includes commonplace risks that may crop up during the course of the loan term should be part of the preparation. With a foolproof plan in place, borrowers can confidently manage their finances and pay off their loans.

A professional personal financial planner can be tapped to help you figure out a system that can ensure management of your finances and help you achieve your goals. Having a mortgage refinance should not eclipse other equally important investments for your future and the cash-out option can jumpstart your way towards your objectives.

Let Your Refinance Money Earn For You

Investing money sourced from mortgage refinance is risky, though. That’s the rub. But again, many people have spent all of their refinance money without anything to show for it, blowing their chances away. They are struggling to pay off their loan and evaluating another refinance. This imperils their future financial security and risks their homes.

With your second home loan, you still have to pay off the first mortgage before you sign up for a new one. That is just for starters because you have to pay the same costs as when you got your first mortgage. A refinance is just as costly to get and reason enough to make judicious use of your loan.

Investing your money is worthwhile if you have an existing business involved. You don’t have to start from ground zero. The infusion of fresh capital into your business means you can expand or enhance operations and get more customers, thereby increasing revenues.

For those who have no business enterprise to speak of yet, an inclination towards business opportunities may help, but unless you have a passion for it, your business funded in such a way will just die an early death. An enterprising couple, following existing local regulations, rented a room of their house to augment their monthly bills. This greatly helped their efforts towards a successful refinance loan.

Employed individuals can use some of the mortgage refinance proceeds to start their Individual Retirement Account (IRA), buy stocks, or invest in mutual funds for their investment folio. The road towards financial security will always be rocky. But if you are determined and with a little help from a professional financial planner, you can always succeed.

A mortgage refinance, whether it’s a California refinance or a Florida refinance, will help make your dreams come true. Visit www.WhatAboutLoans.com today and start building your future.

It’s The Best Time Ever For A California Refinance

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Rony Walker

There’s a lot of talk about getting a California refinance at the start of 2008. Now is the time to get a refi while the rates have settled to a low of 5.69% for a 30-year FRM. A fixed rate 15-year loan has descended to 5.21%. This explains the rise of refinance applications, and if you’re skeptic about the whole thing, you’ll forfeit your chance to live under the bright California sun.

Mad Rush To California

Applicants eager for a California refinance are taking advantage of the rates for the mid to upper 5% range. The buzz is going around that most of the loans don’t require additional costs. Home experts exclaim that they’ve never been busy at the start of the year and the resurgence of refinancing loans augurs well for the housing economy. Take this chance now, while the going is good.

Companies are now offering borrowers with loans of fixed rates in the 6.5% bracket, a golden chance to refinance to a flat 6% loan without charging for origination fees. All you have to do is add a less than a quarter (1.4375%) to your traditional 30-year loan rate. This will mean more savings because there are no costs to switch your interest rate to a lower 6%. But not all can qualify for this bonanza, though.

Stricter underwriting controls have been set in place to reinforce stringent appraisal accuracy, borrower’s equity, and the usual credit scores. In areas affected with declining prices, many homeowners might be surprised to discover that their equity is not sufficient to get them refinancing loans. But despite this setback, those qualified for California refinance loans are euphoric about the cutback in interest rates.

Getting Ready for Your Refinance

Get ready for your relocation to California. Refinance experts are urging all those interested in getting a refi to do it now. So start calling companies and compare offers, rates, and other perks.

While you’re at it, you might as well make sure that your mortgage papers are intact and complete. You can’t waste time. There are hundreds out there poised for their flight to California with families in tow the moment they close the deal.

At this point, your credit score will make or break you. As early as the second semester of 2007, experts were advising those who were going to join the ranks of California refinance applicants to repair their credit scores as mortgage companies would be doing more credit history reviews. True to their word, mortgage companies are stricter with the requirements when it comes to credit scores.

Some mortgage companies, though, are not concerned about the credit score. Rather, they want to know how your paycheck is scored and quartered. They want to see if there’s money left over after taxes and housing. If there is nothing sufficient left for a family to live on, the application is denied, never mind how much you earn or what your credit score is precariously hanging onto. Your existing loans should not go over 50% of your monthly take home pay, too. Your income tax returns and W2s or 1099s will be verified to crosscheck the veracity of your information.

Knowing all these variations for pre-qualification can help you evaluate your chances. But still, there are California refinance companies that can provide other options that will make them stay in business and let you keep your home. While the interest rates are low, grab it.

A California refinance or Colorado refinance is practical this year. Check out the latest mortgage rates. Let www.WhatAboutLoans.com get you the best deal.