Personal Financial Tips

Archive for November, 2011

Car insurance is the most important aspects of owning a car. Every driver places great value in their motor vehicle and protecting your investment is absolutely vital. When you think about it, you use your motor vehicle just about every day and some drivers, especially mothers, use their vehicles to pick up children from school and to do the shopping which requires several short trips a day.

On each of these occasions you’re placing yourself at the mercy of other drivers and of various road conditions that prevail from time to time. Car insurance gives you the peace of mind you need to go about your daily life because you can use your vehicle knowing that it is protected at all times.

When it comes to renew your insurance it’s tempting to stay with the same insurance company, and this is especially the case if you have had previous claims and have been treated fairly. This is an important aspect when it comes to choosing the correct insurer, but you should also consider the costs involved as insurance is a very competitive industry and you might be surprised how much you can save by shopping around a little.

The question to ask yourself is how many car insurance quotes should I get?

This is a question which is nearly impossible to answer simply so let’s look at a couple of things you should be thinking about when obtaining your next car insurance quote.
Write down the things that are important to you about car insurance. For instance, are you the only driver or do you need to nominate several family members as alternative drivers of the vehicle? What are the ages of the drivers and what their respective driving experience is? One should have a complete list of things that are important to you, or that are peculiar to your circumstances, you’ll be able to get quotes from various companies knowing you are comparing apples with apples. Do you require an excess? Changing the excess on your policy affects the premium that will be charged so you should be careful in determining how much you are prepared to pay for every claim that you may lodge. Make sure your decision fits within your budget. How often do you usual car? Some insurers will discount your policy if you only travel a limited number of kilometres every year. Look at your vehicle’s recent history and work out how much you actually usual car on a daily basis. Ask every insurer you call whether they have a policy that has a reduced premium for either specialty or reduced usages. Market value? Most vehicle insurance companies give you the option of insuring your car for either market value or a nominated value. If you have a special vehicle, for example an antique or heavily optioned vehicle, you may wish to nominate a specific amount for your insurance so that you are not underinsured by opting for market value.

These simple questions should be asked of every insurance company you call when organising your car insurance. Make sure you get at least three quotes or more to get the best price on your vehicle insurance.

Why in the world would anybody want home equity loans, no income verification required? Simple, these loans are easy to obtain if you have good credit. When should you consider this type of loan and when should you avoid this type of loan? The answer to that question and more can be found below.

First, what is a home equity loan with no income verification? Basically this is a loan that does not require you to prove how much money you make. The downfall is your rate is going to be higher, they are harder to qualify for, and you will probably pay a bit more in fees to get this loan approved.

The upside is that if you are self employed, a tipped employee, or an independent contractor, then you will be able to get a home equity loan without the hassle of trying to prove what you really make each year. It can be difficult for these individuals to prove exactly what their real income is and this is why these no income verification loans exist.

The problem is that mortgage brokers have become greedy and they want your money. So what do they do? They use these no income verification home loans for people that cannot afford the conventional loan. They use them for people with good credit, but a very high debt to income ratio so that they can get the loan done.

This is not acting in the best interest of the client and is not good for you if you are considering this option. Home equity loans, no income verification required were meant for those that have trouble proving income, not those that can prove it and just don’t have enough for a traditional loan.

If you are interested in buying investment property, then you are probably interested in earning as much as you can from your investment. This article answers the question, “where is the best place to buy investment property?”

There are so many places that are touted as being the next property hot spot or the next big thing that is going to take the property World by storm, that it can be confusing for the property investor to diffuse all the junk from the real facts.

Over the last 5 years, places such as Bulgaria, Dubai and Romania have emerged as solid places to buy property, that have experienced good capital growth.

Some of the best bargains in recent years have come from countries that have not yet found economic stability. They have been in the middle of a transition or some other huge change. Many have seen governments overthrown or leaders die. Events such as these can often herald the start of a new era in the countries development.

India has been a solid place to invest for years and still continues to be so. If you are thinking about investing in Indian real estate, you will have to decide on whether to go for somewhere like Goa or Delhi, both have strengths and weaknesses. The only way you can make the decision is by being clear on what your goals are and why you want to invest in the first place.

Slovak, Poland, and Czech Republic and are also getting increasing interest from property investors; however, with many of the people from these countries choosing to move abroad you have to ask yourself whether buying there is a good long-term decision. If people continue to emigrate at the rate they have been, in 6 years time are you going to be having problems finding tenants?

If you are still wondering where the best place to buy investment property is then property in Morocco might be what you are looking for. This isn’t just because it is economically sound it is also because the king is actively investing, promoting and developing the country and he is actively seeking more investment from foreigners where as certain other countries discourage it.

Somewhere like Spain has lost some of its appeal, largely because of the price; however, Morocco is just a few miles away from Spain and enjoys the same type of weather and the prices of property are a fraction of what they are in Spain.

The one thing that is crucial to you deciding where to buy investment property is first to come up with reasons why you want to buy it, and to establish what your criteria for buying it will be; for example, is capital growth the most important thing or rental yield?

Without first finding the answers to these questions you might never really find the best place for you to buy property since what is someone else’s property hot spot, might not be a hot spot for you.

Those of you who are among the ranks of the self-employed may have already learned that it is more difficult to get a loan – let alone a home equity loan. The good news, though, is that it is possible. Here is some information and tips about how you can get a home equity loan if you are self-employed.

The truth is, first, that you will find it more difficult to get a loan because you are self-employed. The primary thing that the lender will want to see is proof of a profitable income. Some lenders will make it more difficult than others when you try to prove it. You may be asked by one lender to provide statements for two years, and another one may ask for three years worth of proof. This means that you can probably rule out a no doc loan, too.

Another thing that you will need to watch for – concerning your own finances – is how much debt you already have. All lenders look at the debt-to-income ratio when considering giving a home equity loan, and usually require a maximum of 36%, which includes all mortgages and loans. It seems, though, that it may be a good idea to stay as far from this number as possible when you are self-employed.

You will also want to check over your credit report before you apply, to make sure that there are no inaccurate statements on it. Correcting these is not too difficult, once the problem has been resolved, but you will need to wait about two months before the corrections actually show up on your credit score. If you have less than two years of good, solid income, you will most likely have to pay a higher interest rate. A good credit score, though, will help this to stay reasonable.

Right now, self-employment is becoming more popular. Many lenders still do not have ways to provide for the needs of those of you who are in this category. New products are being developed, though, to meet the rising numbers of those who are leaving the commercial workplace. It may take a while, however, before there is some serious competition and a lessening of the stricter requirements.

Home equity loans can be obtained either as an adjustable rate mortgage, or as a fixed rate mortgage. You will have to calculate which one is more advantageous for your situation, and consider the possibility of rising interest rates now.

Something that you will need to especially consider is that a home equity loan adds another monthly payment to your bills. It also is secured by your home, which means it puts your home at risk if you should default on the loan – for any reason. Remember, also, to leave 20% of the value of your home’s equity untouched in order to not have to pay private mortgage insurance.

You may find that one or two lenders will definitely give you a higher interest rate. By looking around, however, and getting several quotes, you can find a lender who will give you the home equity loan you want – with reasonable rates. Compare them carefully, noting things like the interest rate, the fees, and repayment terms. Also watch out for any home equity loan that has a prepayment penalty in it – you don’t need it.

The fast speed of processing is what makes an online savings account payday loan so popular today! People use this efficient facility when they need the money urgently. And traditional financial lending procedures generally take weeks, sometimes months, before the loan is finally sanctioned and you receive the check!

But with a faxless payday loan for savings account, everything is done instantly on the internet! From the application for borrowing the money to the verification of the details provided, and eventually loan approval. Even the money is finally transferred to your bank account through the direct internet banking! So you actually have the amount to use, in whatever way you wish to, within 24 hours of applying for it!

How To Qualify For An Online Savings Account Cash Payday Loan?

The approval criteria for a savings account payday loan are very simple. If you meet the following requirements, you can easily get instant cash advance against your next paycheck, to take care of those unforeseen emergencies.

1. You must be a citizen of the United States.

2. You must be an adult, meaning you should be at least 18 years old.

3. You should have a monthly income of at least $1000 from a regular job. This fact actually determines the maximum amount of money that you can borrow.

4. And lastly, you should have an active savings bank account that they can verify against you.

The Cost Of The Loan

Typically, a payday loan with savings bank account only costs 15-30 dollars per hundred dollars of sum borrowed for two weeks. You can, however, take advantage of the high competition in the industry, and get a lower deal. But in such cases, you must also make yourself aware of all other charges and fees, called by other technical names by the loan providers. For if you are not careful, you may find yourself paying all kinds of “undisclosed” charges later on!

How To Select A Lending Company?

There is a plethora of companies offering an online savings account payday cash loan today! While it does give us the choice of searching for a low deal package, it also increases the risk of scammers and frauds! Beware of lending websites that don’t begin with an “https” instead of the usual “http”. The “s” indicates that your financial data is going through encrypted security systems.

Also avoid taking an online savings account payday loan from an institution that has any pending complaints against it in the local BBB, or if you find unsatisfactory testimonials from the past clients of a company.

A bank overdraft simply refers to the situation whereby the account owner writes a check, withdraws cash, or uses a credit/debit card in an amount that exceeds the actual balance in the account. (For example, writing a check for $100 when the checking account only has $50 left in it).

Throughout most of the history of banking, people did not have access to debit or ATM cards. Rather, they wrote checks. When they wrote a check that presented the bank with an overdraft situation, the bank would simply refuse to honor the check. This would result in one or both parties involved in the transaction – both the writer and recipient of the check – being liable to pay an overdraft fee of $100 or more, in many cases.

Fast forward to about a decade ago, when some savvy bankers hatched a scheme called overdraft protection to get more customers (and make more money in fees). By its name alone, overdraft protection sounds initially like it is something that is actually protecting the account holder. Well, this is both true and untrue, for it depends upon what you mean by “protection.” On the one hand, overdraft protection does protect the account holder in terms of not having their check (or debit transaction) get rejected by the bank. In other words, the bank will still honor the transaction even if the account is overdrawn.

However, there is another side to this coin. Even though the bank honors the transaction (by paying any portion that is overdrawn up to a prescribed limit), the bank also immediately and automatically charges the account holder an overdraft fee of $25, $35 or more. This does not sound like much money, but it can easily add up to hundreds of dollars a year in fees. Even a small transaction that overdraws the account by just a few additional dollars can incur this hefty fee – automatically.

So, the term overdraft protection is a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It sounds like it is in place to help protect the bank customer, when in reality it may actually hurt them more than it helps. It hurts them because it causes them to pay a large dollar amount to the bank in the form of fees each month.

To add insult to injury, studies have shown that many large banks practice something called transaction stacking, whereby they re-arrange the order in which transactions are processed on a given day in order to increase the chances of more overdraft fees being charged. In this scenario, these banks will process larger transactions first, which can cause the account to become overdrawn. Then, they process the remaining, smaller transactions, which then triggers the overdraft charge 2, 3 or more times.

Another consumer gripe: banks tend to enroll people in these programs automatically. (This automatic-enrollment practice may be changing, however, due to new congressional legislation).

In summary, here are some overdraft protection pros and cons:

Pros:

1. The bank will cover your check or debit transaction so that the payee does not become inconvenienced and you do not need to do the transaction over again.

Cons:

1. Transaction stacking can result in your paying fees multiple times in a single day if your account becomes overdrawn, potentially adding up to $100 or more in fees alone on a single day.

2. Debit card transactions are allowed to be processed, even if a bank account is overdrawn. With overdraft protection, your bank will not reject these transactions (which it otherwise would if this type of protection were not in place). The result: you could end up paying $38 for a $3 cup of coffee.

Fortunately, some banks are now sprouting up that do not charge overdraft fees, ever. Instead, for a small monthly checking account fee, they will cover any and every overdraft you have (up to a prescribed limit) without ever charging you a fee.