Thursday, December 27, 2007

ChexSystems

ChexSystems is an account verification service provider, serving 90,000+ financial company locations. It verifies account of people, who have a bad history of account handling.

They share information among members which will help them assess the risk of opening new accounts. It is important to note that they only shares information but has no role on new account openings. It is only a reflection on how a consumer has used his deposit account at banking institution.

It is important to note that your name will remain on the file for 5 years, with no guarantee that it will be removed and only the reporting bank can remove the chexsystems.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Debt Income Ratio

Today we shall learn something about Debt to income ratio. Let us first see an example how to calculate debt to income ratio. If you divide the monthly debt payment with the monthly debt income you will get the debt to income ratio.

Consider an example:

Monthly Expenditure
Credit Card $400, Student Loans $100,Car Payments $200,Other Debt Payments $100
Total Monthly Payments $800

Monthly Income
Salary / Wages $2,000.00, Bank and Investment Interest $100, Rental Income $500.00, Business Income (Draw)
Total Income $2700

The debt to income ratio will be 29%

You can use this debt income ratio to find out your position and further use it to judge your position on where you stand presently, so that you can adjust yourself accordingly.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Mortgage Terms

Amortization: When you pay a debt through regular installments, covering both interest and principal.

Asset to close: The amount of cash used for down payment is the asset to close.

Credit Rating: A+ to A is considered to be the best credit rating. FICO scores are generally 620.

B+ to B- General good credit with FICO scores from 581 – 619.

C+ to C-Fair credit with FICO scores from 551-580.

D+ to D- Overall poor credit history with FICO scores from 550 and lower.

Annual Percentage Rate : Total cost of credit in terms of yearly percentage rate.

Closing Costs: The eighty percent loan to value ratio and are 2.5% of the Maximum loan amount, is the closing costs and it varies from lender to lender.

Down Payment: When you pay amount for the purchase of real estate, is called down payment.

Hazard Insurance : The form of cover that the insurance company gives to cover specified losses is the hazard insurance.

Estimated tax:It is the real property tax, which is assessed annually. Annual tax is divided by 12 for the monthly amount.

Foreclosure: When the burrower is unable to pay the amount to the lender, the lender then in turn and take hold of the property or in other word takes ownership of the property.


Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Insurance

Insurance is the protection offered to a person or to a group of person,so that they can be protected against risk that can happen in various forms, at any point of time.

With insurance one can look to a secure home, car, and business. They can plan for retirement and look to meet any unforseen situations whenever it may occur.

Insurance industry is one of the largest growing industry. There are various types of insurances schemes that these insurance companies are offering, all competing to give the best return with the lowest premiums.

Life, general, car, home, you name it and the options will be there in front of you from where you can choose a wide variety of schemes to protect you from unforseen events in future.


Before availing any insurance policy, do take all steps to know from your insurer about the exact type of policy you are taking, it's return, the premium you will have to shell and other minute details that if known, will help you in understanding your policy better and thus you will not be wasting your time and money in buying policies which may be of no use to you.

So, beware of the lucrative schemes that this insurance companies are offering, and only after careful study of your need choose the plan which will satisfy your requirements.

Credit Guidance

When you are going to repair your credit from any company, do know that every one’s credit report and their financial situation is different, so it is needless to say that the credit repair programme of each individual will different from one another.

It is important for you to understand that before you enroll for any credit repair, you must be aware of all the credit repair schemes and ways to rectify any inaccurate information that may be there, in your credit score.

I am not saying that you need to know everything about credit repair, because there are many companies that are offering credit repair work in the market, for you, but still you need to be awake.

Credit Repair

Credit Repair

Repairing your credit, is an important part of your life because if you have your credit score repaired, then you will find it very easy to avail loans and mortgages, get benefit of lower interest rates, insurance premiums and employment opportunities.

Credit Repair is done for the following reasons:

Late Payments

Collections

Foreclosures

Identity Theft/Fraud

Incorrect Personal Information

Bankruptcies

Inquiries

Charge Offs

Judgments/Liens

Repossessions.

Debt Guidance

Once you have retained the services of a debt settlement company, make sure you put your funds in your settlement account. Only then can your settlement process begin. Always prefer a company which will give you more options for making your monthly payment.

Make sure you have the customer service number of the company, so that you come to know about the progress of your debt settlement, whenever you need them.

Do make it a point to note that always you choose a company that offers affordable and simple plan for your customized need.

A good and efficient debt settlement company will take immediate steps to see that you do not receive calls from the creditors. These companies generally inform their client’s creditor of their representation on behalf of their client, requesting them not to contact their client in future on debt related issue. If in spite after contacting your creditors, you still get calls from your creditors, your primary job should be to contact your debt settlement company and tell them to take proper steps.

Once you have settled your debt programme and your creditors report your account as “Settled” or “Paid in full”, it will erase the negative impact that you may have had, had you not settled it.

Unless and until you have full knowledge in Debt matters, it is advisable to look for debt settlement companies to reduce your debt, who through their rich experience and professionalism will find the best possible solution for you. Besides they have good relation with the creditors which will make your work a bit easier.

Generally, it is seen that it takes about 1 to 2 years to settle your debt and it is seen that your company is able to bring down your debt to 40% -60% which include all fees.

Regarding the cost of your programme, it is advisable that you avail a programme which you can afford and which is based on your level of debt, income and expenses.

Now the common question which may arise, what happens if your creditor fails to settle your debt. It is seen in most cases that the creditors generally to settle the debt for their clients, because they know that they will be left with nothing, once their client files for bankruptcy.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Debt

All of us want to lead a life free from tension, but very few manage to lead a tension free life. One of the reason is off course being in debt. We fall prey to various lucrative schemes that are offered by finance companies this days, which are making us debt prone.

A good guidance is required which will help us to overcome this situation. Without proper guidance we find people filing for bankruptcy, even though they could have averted it, if they would have taken counseling or consultancy from any good company offering debt settlement or debt management programme.

It is indeed necessary to verify the credentials of the company from where you want to take up the debt programme because an unreliable company may land you in a situation where you will infact end in spending more, eventually being burdened with more debt.

A good company will always try to reduce your burden rather than pushing you to slash out unnecessary spendings for solving your debt problem.