Jan 05
FHA-backed home loans are about to become more expensive and harder to get.
The details will be revealed in late January. But this much already is clear: Borrowers will need higher credit scores and more cash at closing to get the lower interest rates and cheaper insurance of FHA-backed mortgages and refinanced loans.
- Get a free credit score estimate
The rules are changing because the Federal Housing Administration is in a financial hole. It’s been paying out more to cover defaulted loans than it’s taking in from mortgage-insurance premiums.
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Jan 05
No matter which path you tread, you are bound to be faced with debt at some point in your life. It is actually something normal that is faced by many human beings. Forget about the common man. There are governments and business organizations suffering from debts. Where can they go when the going gets tough?
One may wonder if there really is a way out of all their loans and taxes. Wouldn’t it be nice to get some kind of debt relief at times of trouble? Well, if you really look in to this problem, you may realize that the answer lies at the tip of your fingers.
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Jan 03
A joint statement from the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve Board released in late December announced new rules for lenders who offer some borrowers less favorable loan terms than others.
With active participation from the borrowers in question, this measure could provide an important safeguard against certain predatory lending practices.
Current Mortgage and Home Loan Requirements
As things now stand, lenders are not required to inform individual borrowers whether their loan terms are better or worse than those offered to others.
When the new rules take effect, though, borrowers will receive a notice if they are offered loans that are “materially less favorable” than a significant amount of loans offered to other customers.
Ideally, the new requirement will help people make better choices about their loans. Man
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Jan 03
I’ve always been impressed with the amount of financial info that Nicholas Financial (NICK) provides about its portfolio in its quarterly statements. I wish more companies were this forthcoming. I’ve assembled a portfolio summary on this spreadsheet of how they’ve done over the last several quarters.
By looking at this spreadsheet you can see why I’m such a big fan of the stock. The pre-tax bottom line is column N. However, the most important line to watch is column K, the provision for credit losses. That zoomed up during the credit crisis and it took out a huge chunk of NICK’s earnings.
The pre-tax yield before adjusting for credit losses has been remarkably consistent for the past 12 quarters, usually around 12.5%. The credi
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Jan 03
Before I pull together my January 2010 Net Worth report, I thought I would take a look at how I did in 2009. Overall, 2009 was not a bad year for me money-wise. I was only mildly impacted by the poor economy compared to many. My salary stagnated (salary freeze at my company) but I stayed employed and my company continued its 401(k) match. While both of my rental units turned over in 2009, I was able to fill the vacancies immediately and bumped one of the rents up a bit to help off-set rising property taxes.
I made a big cash purchase in 2009 when I bought my Honda Fit. My cash accounts have mostly recovered from the purchase. Read more…
Jan 02
Interest rates are still pretty low as we enter 2010, but I remind people that high nominal rates aren’t always better. Would you rather earn 3% with no inflation or 7% with 5% inflation? In any case, most of us have a chunk of cash and we should still try to earn the most no matter what the rate environment is like right now.
High-Yield Reward Checking Accounts
These are checking accounts that are still fully insured and pay a very high interest rate, as long as you jump through certain hoops each month. T
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