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I am Charles King(27). At Finance Classic I want to share my financial knowledge with the world. Here you can also find some good financial videos which are very interesting and very informative. If you would like to share your thoughts and knowledge with me and my visitors then please comment here or contact me at: charls413 [at] gmail [dot] com

Another Tit-Bit...

Let me share my hobbies with you. I like to play, wondering around. Another thing that I want to tell you is that, I want to be honest and I like honest people.

Should I trust online credit report services?

Today many consumers are asking this question especially when they found hundreds of email in their in-box about promising accurate credit reporting in a click of mouse. The good fact is that most of the companies provide accurate information on your credit report.

Most of these credit reporting organizations provide the services in free of cost. You can get free credit report from them but the truth is most of them will not provide the full report that you may be interested in. They will provide you some basic information and will invite you to know full credit report with some payment. Actually their target or aim of free service is to make you interested to take the full service with fees.

Now the question comes, should I submit my personal information to these companies?

There is no problem if you stick with the most popular agencies like Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. Your personal information like SSL (Social Security Number) and others delivered in the internet is handled by a secure server.

Address of the reliable credit reporting agencies:

1. Experian: Phone number is 1-888-397-3742. They will send you your report by mail within 7 to 10 business days.

2. TransUnion: Phone number for TransUnion is 1-800-916-8800. They will send you credit report within 7 business days.

3. Equifax: Phone number is 1-800-685-1111. It is faster than most other services and usually sends your credit report within 48 hours.

Changes in the sub - prime market

If you take a look at the current UK sub prime mortgage market it is apparent that it has been affected by the turmoil in the USA sub prime market. Adverse mortgage lenders in the UK have tightened their lending levels with very few lending above 85% Loan to Value of the property. Underwriters are protecting their companies through more stringent underwriting criteria and closer inspection of adverse cases.

This is not a great situation for people who have problems with credit and require a mortgage that is over 85% LTV of their property. Especially after the current trend of consolidation of loans and other finances into mortgages. This will not be able to take place if you have problems with Credit and a mortgage over 85% the value of your property.

Obviously every case is individual but as a general rule make sure that any finances that you have or are thinking of taking out is within your affordability especially in the current environment, the last thing you want to do at the moment is get yourself in to credit problems when this part of the mortgage market is tightening its belt.

If you have bad credit then the best thing to do is to work out you affordibility. The first step is to figure out what your income is and a precise list of your outgoings ,you can talk to an IFA who will give you professional advice and will be able to do an affordibilty calculation for you. It may be the case that you are paying to much for a certain product which will help your outgoings.
Indendant Mortgage Advice

Make a budget plan in minutes

Sometimes it is a bit time consuming to make a huge budget, so why don’t we think about a short time budget which is less time consuming. There are several ways to save money with a proper budget plan. Let’s make it within few minutes:

1) We spend a huge amount of money for the payment of grocery bill and purchasing different food items. If you are a bit conscious about this area, you can save a lot at the end of the month. Examine your food cost first and try to cut out some unnecessary particles from it. We need three time’s heavy food and twice coffee with some snacks. But it can be found that sometimes we eat lot more than that. So if we can cut out those from the daily routine then a lot of money can be saved at the end of the month. There is another area where we spend a lot; it is in the time of shopping. We generally don’t have a list of our necessary things, that’s why we end up in purchasing a lot of unnecessary things. So make a list before going to a shop.

2) Home expenses are another part where a planned budget can save you lot of money. An important spending part is phone bill. Combine your cell phone and landlines with one provider; you can get some discount there. Call your cell phone company regularly for better plan. You can get better money saving plan. You can have look at your cable bills as well. You don’t see all the channels in the cable. Cut out some channels you hardly see. If you have some mortgage loan or student loan then you can give the creditors a call for better interest saving plan.

3) Combine all your insurance policies with one carrier. It includes your life, auto, homeowners, medical, pet insurance etc. For combining all these insurance you should get some discount. If you don’t get any discount in your current company then try some other company who is agree to give you discount.

What should I do, bankruptcy or credit counseling?

Both bankruptcy and credit counseling are two different ways of making relieve the stress of debt. So you need to understand the difference between the two clearly before making any decision because any wrong decision can make your financial condition worse.

Those who are having problem in debt and can’t find the way out, credit counseling program will help them to get the solution by giving important suggestions. Certified credit counselor will make suitable plan to deal with different debt for different person’s financial position. They often provide services for free and try to educate you how to come out of bad financial conditions with proper plan. They also take classes or seminars on debt management. Credit counseling program don’t erase debt but it makes plan to deal with debt. This program allows people to reestablish their credit.

On the other hand bankruptcy is completely different concept. It will allow you to erase your debt in most of the times. Bankruptcy 7 and 13 are most popular chapters regarding this. If you want to file bankruptcy then you have to go either for chapter 7 or chapter13 but it is not up to you to select the chapter, your financial condition will tell it. Before taking any final decision you must go through the articles which will tell you all possible problems that you can face in future if you file bankruptcy. You can’t build your credit for 10 years from the date of filing bankruptcy. Bankruptcy may give you instant relief from the harassment of collection agency and creditors but the effect of it can be observed in future. Filing bankruptcy is also very expensive compared to credit counseling.

So take your time before making any important decision which is related to your future. Think which is important to you right now, instant relief or relief steadily in long run.

Foreclosures: Tips and Warnings

First of all, you need to be aware that a mortgage lender can foreclose your home for two reasons. The first one is defaulting on your payments. Generally, lenders will issue a Notice of Default if you miss three mortgage payments consecutively. Another possible ground for foreclosure would be a violation on a major regulation or policy of the lender.

What You Can Do

However, in most cases, the reason for a home foreclosure is due to a default in payments. For some home owners, they waited too long before taking any appropriate action that would have prevented foreclosure of their property. If you currently have a mortgage loan, it is important to be constantly aware of your payments. If for some reason, you miss one of your payments, speak with your lender right away and inform them the cause of your delay. Don’t wait until the second or third delay on your payment or for a Notice of Default before taking the initiative to contact your lender.

Even if it’s just a single payment that you missed, it would be to your advantage if you talk with your lender right away. This is especially true if you know that there is risk that you might not keep up with your monthly mortgage for the coming months. You may have been sick and cannot go to work, or you might have needed the money for an emergency or you might have been laid off from work. In case, it will not help if you just stay quiet or attempt to hide from your creditors.

For many people, receiving a Notice of Foreclosure is the end of everything. But this is not true. You will still be given some time before the actual foreclosure takes place. What many people do not know, is that banks and lenders are not too happy about foreclosing properties. Putting up a property on sale involves lots of work, time and money to get things done. If you speak with your lender, they would be more willing to extend you the time you need to make your repayment.

Foreclosure Options

Mortgage lenders have made provisions for cases of pre-foreclosure properties. They can waive some of your penalty fees to help you repay your unpaid mortgage more easily or what is commonly called Forbearance. They can also give you an extended time period so you can find enough money to repay your dues or what is known as Reinstatement. A mortgage company can also enable you to refinance your existing mortgage loan without the need to go through the whole process of re-application. This is known as Loan Modification which means you can be granted a new loan without the need to wait for an approval or processing.

With these provisions in mind, it would buy you more time if you talk to your lender as early as possible. This way, your lender can also have sufficient time to make the needed adjustments on your mortgage terms. If you decide to wait until they have already filed foreclosure, it will only be more difficult for you to request for adjustments.

About the Author

Liz Roberts is a loan consultant with Loan Hunt Finance and has been providing consumers and business owners with home loans financing since 1989. For years she has helped people with home loan problems especially pertaining to home mortgage loans and bad credit home loans. Copyright 2007

Evaluating Bankruptcy Filing Cost

Are you planning to file for bankruptcy? Then you must keep several things into your consideration. One of them is the cost of filing bankruptcy. You are going to file bankruptcy because your financial condition is not good enough to pay your creditors. But how much you aware about the cost of bankruptcy? You must remember that entire bankruptcy procedure is a bit expensive and you may not afford it. That’s why you should evaluate the possible cost beforehand.

Attorney Fee:

Most of us are not aware of various bankruptcy laws and rules because bankruptcy laws are very complicated and hard to understand. Therefore to deal with bankruptcy cases you need to hire a bankruptcy attorney. None of them will allow their service in free, they will charge high amount as attorney fee. The fee may cross even thousands of dollars. So, before filing bankruptcy you should think about this cost.

Bankruptcy Filing Fee:

Bankruptcy filing fee is another major expense that you need to consider. Bankruptcy filing rate has been increased tremendously for the last few years, and one of the reason is that of the newly added bankruptcy laws. Bankruptcy filing cost was few dollars earlier but now a day you may have to consider hundreds of dollars for it.

Other Cost:

There may be some other expenses like, suppose you have filed chapter 7 bankruptcy but later you find that you do not qualify for it and you have to file for chapter 13 again. Here comes the cost of conversion.

Above all costs you must remember that bankruptcy report will show in you credit report for the next 8 years. This will effect your future financial planning. So think more than once when you go for bankruptcy filing.

Know about Debt and Bill Consolidation Loans

Is there any difference between debt and bill consolidation loans? The answer is no. Both of them act similarly. Let’s find out how it works. Both of these loans are used to pay off outstanding debts or bills to the creditors. Now a day it can be found that debt consolidation or bill consolidation loans are becoming very popular among the US residents. We need to find out what are the advantages of debt consolidation loans have so as to become so popular or tempting people to go for it.

1) The interest rate of debt consolidation loans is much lower than the unsecured loans. The rate of interest varies according to the customer’s financial condition and the amount owed by them.

2) As the debt consolidation program combines all your unsecured debts or bill in a single monthly payment so the customers don’t have to deal to all their creditors simultaneously. With the debt consolidation loan the creditors can be paid off. So here the consumers need not to worry about the harassment of the creditors or collection agency.

3) Bill consolidation loans reduce the monthly payment of the consumers. For this reason it is quite manageable for them to pay.

But before choosing any debt or bill consolidation company you have to go through the details of that company. Most of the company takes fees for their services. Fees vary according to the type of loan you take. There are also some non-profit organizations that provide debt consolidation program. Debt consolidation loans or bill consolidation loans generally don’t affect your credit score adversely. Once you have paid off and close your account then your score will be good and you will be allowed to take further loans at low interest rate.

Resources: Personal loans

Can Debt Settlement Be Bankruptcy Alternative?

Debt Settlement can be the alternatives of Bankruptcy for those who have multiple debts. When you are in multiple debts and unable to pay them off, at that point of time it is better to choose debt settlement program rather than bankruptcy filing. Because you will face problems in future especially regarding loans. Your credit report will show the case of filing bankruptcy for several years and with this negative credit report it will be hard to get further loans. The lenders will certainly check your credit report before granting any loans. So think twice before filing bankruptcy.

How the program works?

If you opt for the service of debt settlement then settlement companies offer you to set up an account with them and send monthly payments there. The monthly payment will be according to your convenience. This is for to build up a fund which can be used to settle debt with creditors. When the accumulated money rose in such an amount which is feasible to deal with creditors, the settlement company tries to contact the creditors to settle debt with lower amount.

The Debt Settlement companies have highly trained negotiators and have experience in settling debts with creditors; have great idea of Federal Laws and current financial matters.

Benefits of Debt Settlement:

1) Debt Settlement companies offer services like stopping collection harassment. Some of the companies act so professionally that they ask the creditors or collections agencies not to call the customer but to call them. This service is very popular to the consumers.

2) Your credit report which can be negative by filing bankruptcy will be better. So in future you will not face difficulties for further loans.

So, it is always better to go for Debt Settlement but to Bankruptcy.

Great Financial Advice

I had gone through an article of Liz Pulliam Weston in MSN about how you can be healthy in finance. This is a great article written by her.

Let me share some good points with my visitors.

1) First and foremost important matter to be healthy in finance is to have the habit of saving, it’s not a matter how little and how much you save but the ultimate thing is to make a habit of it. You never be rich if you can’t save.

2) You must know the difference between “need” and “want”. More of less we all know the difference, still let me explain it with an easy example, food is our need and a latest mobile is our want. Because without food we can’t live but without mobile we can easily live.

3) “Live within your means” – this is very important. It can be easily described as; if your expense exceeds your income then you will be in a downfall. So be careful about your expenses.

4) For the first 10 years of your earning, save as much as you can. This is important because after that there is a maximum probability of having an increase in your expenses column.

5) Always you should make a budget for the new financial year. Without making a proper budget it will be tough for you to have a successful financial career.

6) Be careful when you are going for a loan. Think about the repayment plan of the loan that you are going to take.

7) If you are already in debt think how you can get relief from it. And if the things are beyond your control don’t hesitate to consult with a professional. He may advice you for debt consolidation plan or debt settlement plan according to your financial condition demands.

8)Last of all; try to make more and more money and wealth. This is the ultimate solution of all your financial problems. Don’t waste your time when you are able to work. Devote as much time as possible for earning.

You can get details analysis in this article.