Archive for July, 2006:
Written on July 29th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
The House reportedly just approved an increase in the minimum wage for US workers currently making the minimum hourly wage, a good thing hopefully for the economy and people in the end. They paired it kind of oddly though, with a decrease in large estate taxes after lobbying by wealthy people such as large farmers, the Waltons, heirs to WalMart and other high influence people. This is, of course, a Republican move (I do say that sarcastically).
Democrats are blasting the “hybrid bill” as an excuse for Republican to irresponsibly cut large estate taxes. I have to agree on this one. It’s a typical example of Republicans making the rich richer. Why not just do the minimum wage increase, instead of doing something also for people who already have ridiculous amounts of money they could not possibly ever use in their lifetime. This is the kind of politics I DON’t like!
Written on July 26th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
The home buying market is excellent – for home buyers, not sellers, that is. That’s right, a hugely increasing supply of for-sale homes is translating into flat prices, and unfortunately for sellers, a long wait on the market to sell their homes to a buyer.
This is all according to the National Association of Realtors’ report for the month of June, demonstrating in statistics that new and used home sales fell to the lowest point since this past January while home pricing gains are the smallest in over ten years. Even though home loan interest rates aren’t “the greatest” right now, prospective home buyers might be finding themselves some of the best deals in months.
Again, good news if you’re a buyer right now, horrible news if you’ve got a home on the market. I see examples of this in my area even. Homes are for sale all over the place, literally, and some have been on the market over a year, with the owners sometimes paying two mortgages and struggling to make ends meet.
Written on July 24th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
Chase Platinum, which is almost akin to a “Gold” status credit card, which just means you are eligible for better interests rates because you are a better credit risk for credit card companies, is offering a Platinum Low Interest Credit Card Special. Here are the details of this special credit offer that I saw :
You get 0% annual percentage rate on any qualifying purchases (be careful to read what “qualifying is – although this one looks fairly straightforward), and also 0% APR on any credit card balance transfers (balances from other higher interest cards that you may want to transfer over to take advantage of the interest savings, at least, while they last) for a full year.
The Chase Platinum would then boost you up to a perfectly respectable interest rate of 14.24% annual percentage rate after the one year intro period. Speaking from experience, one year is a pretty nice intro period to take advantage of.
Catches : They do warn that the year intro period is subject to a review of your credit history, so not “everyone” qualifies for the special rate and intro period. As long as your credit is ok, I would think you would be fine. It really depends on this particular cards stringency in guidelines for credit risks.
Written on July 22nd, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
I recently got a solicitation from the huge credit card lender Capital One, known for their infamous “pillaging” commercials where customers are being exploited for high APR’s on their credit cards, but not for a credit card solicitation, rather a new money market account they are offering.
What is a money market? It’s basically just like a savings account, with the money equally as liquid and easy to access, only it returns a higher interest yield than the average savings account.
If the ads are true, then this Capital One money market account offers one of the highest yields I’ve ever seen on a money market – 4.75%! The national average for money markets now is 1.41%, with many accounts yielding lower interest than that.
So, if you have some money you were considering throwing in your savings account, you may want to look at this option. It’ll make your money work harder for you – instead of you working harder for your money. Such a cliche, but I love it!
Written on July 21st, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
I never really understood what the difference was between a Roth IRA and a traditional 401k or other long term investment fund, and I guess it all has to do with taxes (yay – love taxes, they’re so easy to understand).
Here it goes : The biggest different between a Roth IRA and a 401k is how you are taxed. On a Roth fund, you are taxed up front, which means if you anticipate being in a higher tax bracket at retirement time, you are better off with a Roth IRA.
This way, you pay lower taxes up front rather than getting taxed at much higher rates at retirement, when you’re in that higher tax bracket.
Just another thing to consider. Most financial analysts will tell you to shake it up a little – put some in a Roth IRA, and some in other funds, to diversify.
Written on July 20th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
I found this student loan website which offers “good deals” on student loans for kids that are in college, or kids that are thinking about attending a college after highschool.
They offer a loan with no application fees or out of pocket expenses, although to my knowledge, most federal loans for students do not charge out of pocket fees or application fees (maybe a nominal one like $25 when I was a student).
The only thing that scares me about their website is that it is just an application screen, with no navigation to check out rates, offers or anything on the student loans they offer.
I would like it if they had something like that, or maybe even testimonials from other students or something. They may be the best deal in student loans around, just wish they’d increase the usability of their website a little!
Written on July 19th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
I recently needed to order my credit report, since I am seriously considering buying a house soon. I wanted to see if I had anything on there that I needed to be aware of, which could affect my mortgage loan rate, or even just the ability for me to get a decent sized preapproval for a home loan.
Well, I’m glad I did, because it turns out I had a bill in collections to a health screening business that I wasn’t even aware of that was in collections! I got it taken care of right away, and was advised it would be expunged immediately from my credit report since it was due to no forwarding address (apparently if the bill cannot be forwarded, it is found in favor of the borrower on the credit report).
This is where I went to get my free credit report, with no hassle, no signup for any other programs, and it was really easy. It’s AnnualCreditReport.com.
Written on July 18th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
I saw these latest mortgage rates posted by Bankrate.com. By the way, apparently the mortgage rates for the most common mortgage term, the 30 year mortgage, are currently dropping, but there’s no telling when they may rise again.
Current Mortgage Rates
30 yr fixed mtg 6.31%
15 yr fixed mtg 6.02%
30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 6.49%
5/1 ARM 5.96%
5/1 jumbo ARM 6.07%
This prompted me to look further into what an “ARM” mortgage loan is. An ARM mortgage loan is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage where the lender has the option to charge the mortgagee (borrower) an adjustable rate.
The people I’ve asked about this say the you should always go for a fixed rate mortgage whenever possible, this way your interest rate on the mortgage stays the same and you’re not worrying about the rate charged changing all of the time.
Written on July 17th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
It’s been said lately that the home buying market offers a not so great mortgage lending market, but a really great house buying market, because of an overabundance of homes on the market waiting to be sold, and on the flip side, the mortgage companies are offering higher rates because of the new rate increase in the prime mortgage lending rate.
Apparently HUD homes, which are homes being offered to consumers by the government, homes which have been seized for various reasons, are offering some bargain basement deals on these homes right now in an effort to clean out some inventory. The government takes homes that were built through the HUD program that were foreclosed on and offers them to the US public at a cut rate deal to get them back into circulation and on the potential home buyers market again.
HUD further makes it a bargain by offering more than generous loan terms and low up front and closing costs, at least lower than the national average. If you’re into fixer uppers, or you want something as an investment home, you may want to take a look at the HUD website, since they always have new homes in the rotation, and some qualify as bonified bargains.
Written on July 16th, 2006 by CleanedUpCreditno shouts
You may not have thought of some of these tips. This is actually an article that I syndicated across the net about some more little known ways that you can save on gas. We all could use a litle more pocket changes these days, so I hope you find at least one of these tips a new idea that can help you save some hard earned gas money.
The cost of gasoline is in such a state of disarray right now, that it’s really affecting many American families to the point of desperation. Sales on bigger cars and SUV’s are down, while sales on smaller compact cars, hybrids and motorcycles are higher than ever, in a consumer effort to alleviate gas price impact on their quality of life.
Is there anything we can do to soften the blow to our wallets? There are, in fact, some things you can do to help mitigate the high cost of gasoline right now as it relates to your financial “health”. Read on for six gas savings tips that can at least minimize this rough patch for you, and help you stretch your gas dollars to the max.
Here is the list of actions you can take to reduce the impact of high gas costs :
1. When driving, try not to fluctuate a lot in your pressure on the gas pedal. Studies have shown that drivers that tend to give a good gassing on the pedal, then let up, then gas hard again waste more gas vs. drivers who are more constant on the gas pedal. So, try to be mindful of driving smoothly, and applying a more consistent pressure to your gas pedal. Not only will it make for a smoother ride, you’ll also be saving on gas!
2. Many cities and suburban areas have opened up courtesy websites to show you where the lowest gas prices in town are. They are usually updated very frequently, actually several times a day, and will show you where the best prices are. This can many times mean a difference of up to twenty cents a gallon!
3. Look into getting a credit card backed by a specific gas company. For example, a Sunoco credit card may offer you a significant savings on gas for using their card, and also sometimes even have very low APR rates. If you pay it off every month, you don’t even have to worry about finance charges.
4. If you’re a household with two or more vehicles, always take the smaller car out, especially on longer trips or whenever it’s possible to save on gas expenditure.
5. Use a high quality fuel system cleaner about once every 3,000 miles. You can even coincide the fuel system treatments with your oil changes if that’s easier. Fuel system cleaners are found at any store that sells auto products, and range in price from four dollars to about eight dollars. They restore the integrity of your fuel system by cleaning deposits and gunk that may be affecting your fuel economy. They also help your car to run more smoothly.
6. Go easy on the A/C. Air conditioning usage will have a fairly significant impact on your fuel usage, as it takes additional energy to run air conditioning, and therefore more fuel. Only problem is, some people do say that rolling your windows down is actually worse for your fuel consumption than A/C because of aerodynamic compensation. Try it both ways, and see which one uses less gas for your particular car.
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