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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

AARP Still Vying to Reduce Reverse Mortgage Costs

By Jerry Smith

In July George Bush signed the big housing bill with provisions to for two important reverse mortgage changes.

The one most people were concerned about was FHA increasing its its national loan limits up to four hundred seventeen thousand dollars. The other, less known change, was a reduction in lender fees.

Here is how it works; the origination fee is two percent of the value of the home up to $200,000. For values above 200k and up to 417k the fee increases by 1%.

Let's use a $300,000 valued house. The orgination fee for th first $200,000 will be as much as $4,000. For the additional $100,000 in value it can be as much as $1,000. The maximum origination is $5,000.

Before the law was changed the lender could charge 2% regardless of value, up to the FHA limit.

What does AARP really expect of the lender? Should the lender price itself to point where the owner should take a second job? It sounds like it.

Origination fees are how lenders make money. Don't forget you have to pay all your expenses prior to actually going home at the end of the month with any money in your wallet.

Furthermore, traditional mortgage origination fees are no less expensive if you examine them closely.

People see a forward mortgage and say, "Hey, you reverse guys sometimes charge twice that". The reason is forward mortgages build in the difference into the interest rate in what is known as a service release premium.

Although reverse mortgages have SRPs they are very small, which is why the higher origination fee must be charged.

Is it possible that AARP is just putting on a good face to keep up appearances for their senior contituency?

Afterall, they do have a growing senior population to sell insurance to. Do they ask their client insurance companies to take a hit like they mortgage companies?

Oh, don't think so. Insurance commission is the number one money maker for AARP. It's a money train.

AARP is a useful informative of company, but they are off the mark this time.

Protect Yourself From Credit Card Identity Theft with TrustedID

By Harvey Warmuth

With the incredible proliferation of ID theft, there have been several companies that have been formed with the distinct objective of making it easy for you to fight back. These identity theft protection services essentially lock down your credit report so that you are contacted whenever a new credit account is opened in your name. These companies also check multiple sources to see if thieves are using your personal information.

If you need identity theft protection, then you really need to take a look at the leading company, TrustedID. With personal plans costing just $10 per month, TrustedID gives you the most comprehensive protection from identity theft of any of its competitors.

TrustedID puts fraud alerts in your name with the major credit bureaus, which causes you to be notified before any new accounts can be opened in your name. This gives you the ultimate authority over new credit being opened using your personal identity.

TrustedID also gives you with yearly credit reports from all three major credit bureaus, so that you can check to see that your credit reports are showing the correct information. Making sure your credit reports reflect accurate information is an important step in keeping your good credit.

When you add in their constant monitoring of the underground trading market and other sources to make sure your person data is not being traded amongst thieves, TrustedID is a great identity theft prevention service. You will be notified the instant any unauthorized activity is detected, allowing for you to keep tight control over your identity.

With their customer service being available during all hours of every day, and with a household plan for less than $16 per month that provides identity theft protection for everyone in you house, TrustedID is a great identity theft solution. With a risk-free 30-day trial, there is enough time to see if TrustedID is the best choice for you.

TrustedID is not the only service that protects your identity, but they are one of the best. When looking at other solutions, pay attention to the number of features offered, as most competitors cannot match TrustedID's level of service.

You need to make sure your identity is protected by using an identity theft prevention solution. For a nominal monthly fee, you will have great piece of mind in knowing your identity is protected. Don't become identity theft's next victim - protect your identity today!

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Fight Identity Theft When You Use LifeLock

By Harvey Warmuth

Becoming a victim of identity theft is something that you should be aware of these days. With the occurrence of identity theft on the rise, each day that passes increases the possibility that you might become a victim of this crime.

By using common sense and some basic precautions, you can do your part to make sure that you identity is never stolen. However, there is only so much you can do on your own, so you might want to look into making use of an identity theft protection solution.

When you use LifeLock, fraud alerts are placed on your credit bureau reports, with the main agencies. You are then contacted prior to any new accounts being opened in your name. By doing so, you have the final say over what accounts are opened using your personal information, thus greatly reducing fraudulent use of your information.

LifeLock also continually checks sources, such as the Internet, for suspicious activity regarding your personal data. Identity thieves often trade personal information to make money. Because they monitor the normal places were such activities take place, LifeLock is proactive when it comes to stolen identity protection.

And because they offer a $1 Million Total Service Guarantee, LifeLock is really standing behind the fact that they can protect you from identity theft. If your identity was to be stolen while you subscribe to LifeLocks service, they pay up to $1 Million to fight your identity theft. This is definitely a comfort to have such a company supporting you when it comes to identity theft protection.

LifeLock only offers coverage for individuals and children. They do not currently offer a whole family solution. If you absolutely need this kind of coverage, there are competitors that offer it.

LifeLock offers one of the most comprehensive identity protection solutions currently available. It will be hard to find a solution that offers better coverage for what LifeLock currently offers from just $9 per month.

Make today the day you start using LifeLock to protect your identity. Since identity theft crimes are on the rise, you need the best protection currently available. LifeLock is a great choice and they offer incredible protection for a very small price.

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Home Equity: Basic Facts You Should Know

By Doc Schmyz

Home equity loans can be a fast source of cash. However, before start the process of drawing out a loan out of the equity of your property; make sure you read all the fine print.

Are you debating on getting a home equity loan? Home equity loans might be an easy to acquire type of loan, but somehow even a seemingly great deal might turn out to be bad if the process of getting one is not done right.[I:0:J]

Lets take a look at the following areas and terms for the loan process.

Points

If you are charged 1 point, this would mean 1 percent of the loan. And so 1 percent of a 100,000 dollar loan is an up front charge of 1000 dollars. Do not worry, there are lenders that do not charge points.How are you affected by this? Most lenders charge a part of the loan for commissions for themselves and for their sub-agents. Actually such points vary from little to exorbitant; it all depends on the company.

Loan "rate" terms

You have to know if it is a fixed or variable type of loan. If it is a fixed loan, then you do not have to worry about external forces such as economic situations directly affecting your interest rate. But on the other hand, if you have variable type of loan, you may actually have an initial good interest rate. Interest rates that go up naturally makes your monthly payments go up too in the process. So what do you want " a home equity loan with interest rate that stays the same all throughout the duration of the loan, or one with the possibility of going up anytime?

Pre Payment penalties

Simply put pre payment penalties are a fee that the lender places on you in the event you decide to pay of your loan early. These "pre-pays" can cost several thousand dollars in some cases.

Late payment penalties

Does a home equity loans interest rate go up with late payments? With many lenders, with delinquent payment, penalties usually follow. More so, there sometimes is a clause on default interest rate increase in the loan which raises automatically the loan rates when payments are late. This can actually be costly for the borrower.

Insurance

You have to check if the home equity loan that you are prospecting has insurance costs hidden somewhere, a cost that you definitely do not want. Whenever you get a loan, you can take in corresponding credit insurance. You can have credit life insurance, which takes care of your loan in the event that you die. However, if in the case of home equity loan, if you feel that insurance is just added cost, then by all means avoid the lender that requires you to pay for them.

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Nashville Home

By Alex Kim

Before you begin looking for a new home to buy whether it be in Nashville or any other US city you need to look at what you can realistically afford to spend on it. This is something that not only first time buyers have to take into consideration but also those who are choosing to sell the home they live in currently. It does not matter whether you are buying a Nashville home or one in another part of the US you really do not need to be realistic about what you can easily afford.

There are certain things that you will have to take into consideration which will help you to determine just how much you are able to spend on a new home that won't cause you financial problems in the future. Below we take a look at just what some of these are.

1. A great way for you to determine just how much you can realistically afford to borrow in order to buy the Nashville home of your dreams is to time your annual income by 2.5. This you can then use as a guideline for when you start your first house searches, although you may find other factors will influence what you really can borrow.

If you use this calculation it will assist you in being able to determine how much you are likely to get when you apply for a pre-approved loan. With the way the financial markets are currently a person who has a pre-approved home loan is in a much stronger bargaining position when it comes to making an offer on a property.

2. A lender will look at not only what you earn but the price of the house and will determine whether you can afford to make the repayments on the loan you have applied for. Ideally you want to be making monthly repayments on such loans that use up between 25 and 33% of your gross monthly income. Anything more than this and you will find that a lender is much less willing to provide you with the finance you need.

3. Lenders are far more willing to provide loans to people who have a good credit history. The type of people they want are those who can show that they are able to easily repay any debts they have currently and that these are no more than 40% of what they earn each year.

Above we have looked at several factors that you need to be taking into consideration when trying to determine what you can afford to borrow in order to buy that Nashville home you always wanted. However there are numerous other factors which can affect just how much you can afford to borrow today when trying to buy a property. Interest rates along with the kinds of mortgages available are other things that you will need to take into consideration.

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Achieving A Healthy Credit Score Is Crucial

By Lucus West

A healthy credit grade is crucial in our financially driven society. This number tells creditors, employers and business organisations that a individual is dependable and pays their charges on time. This type of info is in use in all walks of life. You must have a good credit history, if you wish to buy a motorcar, purchase a new house or even look for a new employment.

To be able to buy a new motorcar or home, an individual must have a good standing in their credit history. If you have damaged your credit history recently, then you must take measures to repair the trouble rapidly. This will enable you to use your credit card to purchase luxury items like holidays. There are free ways to finding this information without too much work.

You can find out your credit score on the world wide web as they are many business concerns that provide this info for free. People can check their credit mark each year from these types of businesses. After a few simple questions that the individual would surly know off the top of their head, they can view their credit grading and any outstanding bills] they may have. There are various things you can do if you have a bad credit mark.

One of the first things an individual can do to increase their credit grade is to clear any old bills]. Doing this will assist your grade even if these debts were from 10 years ago. Once the debts] are completely wiped clean, an person can begin obtaining a no credit or bad credit Master Card or Visa. This will be helpful for a person to begin gaining a fabulous credit grade and be able to purchase their dream home or vehicle. This can assist a person to increase their credit grade, which will enable them to purchase a new automobile or their dream home. Paying off any old bills will assist a person increase their credit grade and help them to buy luxury items on the credit.

It doesn't take too long to damage your credit rating, but it can take a number of years to get your credit grading back. Begin by purchasing one or two items on the new card and then paying it off instantly. Once you have shown your credit card business that you can pay off the balance rapidly, they will increase the amounts you can spend and at the same time step-up your credit rating.

Every individual runs into hard times in their life. Paying your bills for a couple of months may be a problem. All Of A Sudden your credit history starts to fall, this is when many people have problems with debt. You your credit mark once again and there are many methods to do this. Just because you have found a few problems in your life it doesn't mean that you will never be able to purchase items on credit.

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What You Want to Ask Yourself Before You Remortgage

By Chad Copp

It may be difficult to tell whether right now is the best time to remortgage. It may be a bad time to remortgage or remortgaging could be the step that saves you from financial ruin. If you want to know whether or not now is the time to remortgage, you are going to have to answer these 10 questions.

1. How good is my credit? Knowing where you stand when you want to remortgage your house as far as your credit goes is going to give you an idea of what type of interest rate you are going to get on a new mortgage. If your credit isn't that great, you may want to wait until it gets better to consider remortgaging.

2. How much in interest are you paying now? If the current interest rate is only a half of a percent or a percent lower, you might want to wait to refinance until you can save more money. Make sure that this process is worth it and that you are saving the most money possible. By waiting, you are going to be able to see if you can remortgage at the lowest interest rates possible.

3. What's the current rate of interest that banks are offering? There's a current rate of interest that's pretty much standard with all remortgage companies, so you are going to want to find out what that is and figure out how much money a remortgage could save you every month in your bills.

4. What are the remortgaging fees? Each bank or mortgage company has fees that are associated with remortgaging and keeping these fees in mind is going to help you decide whether to remortgage now. Before you sign your mortgage papers, be sure to look through them with a fine tooth comb to see whether or not there are any hidden fees in there.

5. How many years are left on your current mortgage? If there are only a handful of years left on your current mortgage, you might just want to pay it off as soon as possible. Ask yourself what is better: paying off your home quickly or paying it off with a lower interest rate. By remortgaging, you won't be able to pay your house off quicker, just with less interest.

6. Is a move in your future? If you plan on moving any time in the distant future, a remortgage is probably not the wisest of moves. Keep your current mortgage and get a better deal when you buy your next house.

7. Is the family happy? If you are going to get a divorce (or get married) in the near future, you are going to want to wait to remortgage your house. Remortgaging is expensive and not a fun thing to do, so you don't want to do it more often than you have to. Do it only when you have to.

8. How long has this been on your mind? People often see advertisements and get swept away with the notion of how great it would be to remortgage without realizing that it is a lot of work.

9. Do you have the time to remortgage? Remortgaging is going to be a major hassle, and it is going to take a lot of time. If you don't have the time right now to remortgage, consider waiting until you do have the time so it doesn't stress you out to much.

10. What do the banks say? There is usually no obligation in going and talking to banks, so you might want to see whether or not testing the water and talking to a couple of banks is going to benefit you. You may decide after talking to a couple of banks that remortgaging is not for you and that is totally fine.

Remortgaging is a huge process and knowing when to remortgage is not always that clear. By asking yourself these 10 questions, you are going to be able to tell whether now is the right time to remortgage.

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