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Mon 7th Sep, 2009
Posted in interest rates at 9:07 am by Serena Johnson
People need money right now because many are losing their jobs. Are Obama grants a way to get some of that desperately needed money to get buy? Grants are mostly given to institutions for research and learning. Grants for individuals do exist but there are not many of them and they are hard to get.
The good news is that government grants are not something that get a lot of publicity so not too many people know about them. This gives you a greater chance of getting one but the process of being accepted for a grant will still now be easy. Of course, in this time of deep financial trouble, it never hurts to try.
You should never have to pay to apply for a government grant and if you are lucky enough to get one, it does not have to be repaid. Like anything the government gets involved with though, the application process can be confusing and difficult for the average person. Add to that the fact that most grants go to organizations and companies and you have a situation where the demand greatly exceeds the availability.
These are some of the worst economic times of our lives and people are struggling from coast to coast financially and the economic prospects have never looked so bleak. People are hoping the stimulus plan and President Obama will help them get by but even if they are lucky enough to get help, it may not be enough.
The economy has many different factors that are all spiraling downward which makes a recovery in the near future very difficult. The failure of one industry affects other industries and we are now seeing how interrelated everything and everyone is. Right now, no matter how good your situation is, you are surely feeling the stress level throughout society and the desperate need people have to make more money.
Are you trying to find out how to get some Obama Student Loans? If so, please visit my website Obamas Grants.
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Wed 10th Sep, 2008
Posted in Bad Credit, Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Credit Card, Credit record, Debt management, Homeowner Loans, Missed payments, Personal debt, Personal loans, Property, Secured loans, Tenant loans, UK Finance, Unsecured loans, interest rates at 1:34 pm by Steve Smith
There’s a lot of confusion about credit ratings amongst people seeking personal loans and other forms of credit.
Many people believe – wrongly – that a credit record shows whether a lender has refused credit. This is not the case. Every time you apply for credit a ‘footprint’ is created on your credit record to show other financiers what you have been up to, but no record is immediately made as to whether you took up an offer, or whether it was refused.
One thing that varies from lender to lender is ‘how much is too many?’ Most of us are familiar with the concept that lenders looking at a credit record showing multiple applications may – quite rightly – view this as a sign of someone desperately seeking credit. As this is rarely the sign of a good potential client, many lenders will turn this applicant down on principal.
But how much is ‘too many’ when it comes to applications. Lenders will obviously vary, according to their criteria, but a flag usually goes up if more than four applications have been made at any one time. If the applications are spread across a period of months, the lender will be more lenient.
Another factor that people misunderstand about their credit rating is how much stability affects their core rating.
When you apply for credit – be it a mortgage, a credit card or a personal loan – the lender wants to know more than anything that you will be able to repay. The greater the risk perceived, the higher the interest rate charged, which is why bad credit loans can be so expensive.
Factors affecting this can be whether you are married – a sign of committment – whether you are registered as a voter, how many times you have moved house and even how many times you have moved job.
Someone who is seen as high risk is not necessarily someone with a history of missed repayments and ccjs, but maybe someone who has jumped from job to job, moved house or town many times and generally shown a lack of stability.
So, if you’re wondering why you weren’t offered the best rates available on the loan you wanted, you may need to look deeper than you thought.
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Mon 1st Sep, 2008
Posted in Banking, Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Financial products, Homeowner Loans, Homeowners, Property, Remortgaging, Secured loans, UK Finance, interest rates, mortgages at 11:52 am by Steve Smith
In these days of the credit crunch many lenders are looking to ways to recoup on losses incurred in the last year. If you are looking to get a mortgage look out for the following catches that many lenders slap on in an effort to boost profits.
First of all many mortgages come with exit fees. If you decide to switch loans to another lender or even if you try to pay your home loan off early your lender will charge you an exit fee in order to cover the administrative costs of the mortgage.
These fees have been traditionally around £50 to £100 however many lenders have been including small print in the mortgage agreement which state that exit fees are variable. If you find you have been charged what seems an excessive fee, it is worth checking out. Use the documentation you have to make sure you are being charged the stated amount and if your lender refuses to co-operate go directly to the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Another thing to consider when agreeing to a mortgage is the standard variable rate (SVR). The SVR is the lenders’ fluctuating rate for borrowing and in general is around 2% higher than the Bank of England base rate. If you are on a fixed rate mortgage for instance, once the deal expires you will automatically be moved onto the SVR.
It is always wise to be aware of when your loan rate is due to change well in advance to give yourself time to shop around. Although your lender should notify you to discuss your options, it is better for you if you are aware of the market, rather than accepting the first rate you are offered.
The financial climate is rather rocky right now, so it is better to have all your facts than to stumble along and find that you have switched from a great deal to one that leaves you considerably worse off each month.
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Tue 26th Aug, 2008
Posted in Borrowing, Budgeting, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Credit Card, Debt management, Financial news, Missed payments, Overdrafts, Personal debt, Personal loans, Secured loans, Spending, Store cards, UK Finance, Unsecured loans, interest rates at 12:16 pm by Steve Smith
People are making a number of fundamental errors in handling their finance according to Moneyfacts, the comparison website.
It advises people to tackle their bad finance habits in order to stay afloat during these tricky financial times.
One of the worst habits is that of living beyond your means. This fatal flaw is going to see huge numbers of UK adults sinking under unmanageable debt in coming months. People who regularly spend more than their income each month are obviously mounting up debts that they can never tackle. Many of these people will end up using credit cards to pay for basic living costs and then taking out personal loans to clear the credit cards. This is a ticking timebomb, according to MyVesta, the debt solutions provider, and they should know.
Another poor habit is allowing yourself too many credit sources. If you hold a handful of cards each with a limit of thousands there’s always the temptation to splurge. Add to this a number of catalogue accounts or store cards and suddenly all kinds of avenues are open for spending on days when your income is all gone. Moneyfacts strongly recommends paying off the cards or accounts with the highest amount of interest and limiting yourself to only a few once the balances are cleared.
Not being aware of your current financial situation is a big step in the wrong direction. Whilst few people know their exact bank balance, it is always wise to have a handle on your rough debt balance. If you haven’t tallied up all the money you owe in overdrafts, hire purchase, credit cards and loans then you’re burying your head in the sand. By being aware of what you owe you remain in control and can decide which bills need clearing most urgently.
Above all, be aware of missing payments. Many creditors see this as a green light to either slap you with a charge or raise the interest rate on your borrowings. Or both! Whilst borrowing may still be fashionable, there’s no point in spending money unnecessarily. Especially during the credit crunch!
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Fri 27th Jun, 2008
Posted in Bank charges, Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Financial news, Financial products, Homeowner Loans, Homeowners, Housing news, Property, Remortgaging, Secured loans, UK Finance, interest rates, mortgages at 1:06 pm by Steve Smith
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has indicated that intervention may be needed in order to raise the amount of fixed-rate home loans available lasting up to 25 years.
Mortgage lenders have been accused of lending fixed rate home loans on only a short-term basis in order to maximise their profits. This might be good for the lender but is not good if you are looking for a new mortgage and now the government is considering intervening on the consumer’s behalf.
What lenders are currently doing is negotiating a fixed-rate deal to last only a short period of time and then giving us the option to renegotiate at the end of the period. We as the consumer are then left with the cost of footing the bill for the arrangement fees each time we have to renegotiate.
Although the typical home loan rate is high and still rising, more and more homeowners are looking to change to longer-term fixed-rate mortgages. This gives homeowners more financial stability as it is easier to budget for the future. So far most lenders have only increased the number of short-term fixed-fixed rate loans.
The rest of Europe offers many more fixed rate loans so why do we in Britain not have that option available to us? If the government does intervene homeowners could feel the benefit of much more financial stability as well as not having to face the hassle of going back to the lender every two or three years to renegotiate a new fixed-rate.
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Wed 25th Jun, 2008
Posted in Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Financial news, Financial products, First time buyers, Homeowner Loans, Homeowners, House buying, Housing news, Property, Remortgaging, Secured loans, UK Finance, interest rates, mortgages at 1:10 pm by Steve Smith
While bad news about the property market is easy to come by these days, there must be some good news out there. We round up what economists and experts are saying about the property market.
First of all David Miles, chief UK economist for Morgan Stanley warned that house prices are going to drop by 10% in the coming 12 months. Mr Miles believes that house price growth was largely fuelled by speculation that prices would always continue to rise as well as the belief that the number of people buying properties would increase by 10% in each coming year.
However Mr. Miles also believed that falling house prices would not be such a bad thing for the economy since it would help redress the affordability issue in the market which has spiralled out of control in recent years.
Meanwhile, Capital Economics chief economist Roger Bootle predicted that prices in 2008 would drop by only 3% followed by the same amount in 2009, an optimism that many wish were true.
The reality is that thousands of pounds have alreeady been knocked off the price of the average house in the last six months and prices are set to fall further.
Mr. Bootle says that the drop in house prices has little to do with the credit crunch and more to do with a drop in interested buyers, the number of which have been falling for the past six months. Additionally, with home loan rates still high, despite the three base rate drops since last December, many borrowers are actually unable to get the loan they need to take advantage of lower house prices.
According to Mr. Bootle the two fundamental reasons for the house price slump is the 5 consecutive interest rate rises between August 2006 and July 2007 and the fact that the property market is now too expensive for most potential buyers.
Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that house prices are falling, and in what has been described as an over-inflated market, this is probably no bad thing.
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Mon 16th Jun, 2008
Posted in Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Debt Consolidation, Debt management, Financial news, Financial products, Homeowners, House buying, Housing news, Inflation, Personal debt, Personal loans, Property, Secured loans, UK Finance, interest rates, mortgages at 1:21 pm by Steve Smith
There are mounting fears that the Bank of England is losing its grip on the economy. A combination of rising food costs, fuel hikes and other price rises are stoking inflation which should mean raising interest rates for the Bank.
However as a result of the global credit crunch, banks are starting to hoard money instead of lending which is putting downward pressure on house prices and pushing the monetary policy committee (MPC) towards actually cutting the base rate. Even in this atmosphere of falling house prices, would-be buyers are finding it hard to secure a home loan to make a purchase they can now afford.
The credit squeeze has created much uncertainty in the economy and the nine MPC members seem very reluctant to actually cut interest rates. The members are facing a dilemma in that domestic inflation is heading in one direction while at the same time the international money market is actually going in the opposite direction.
When the Consumer Prices Index went up by 2.1% – which is above the government target of 2% – it would, under any other circumstances, signal an increase in interest rates in order to bring about higher borrowing costs. The interest rate at 5% is still an expansionary rate which will only fuel higher inflation, putting inflation up again to a more neutral level will hopefully neither dampen nor stoke the economy.
However the credit crunch is pulling for interest rates to come down. Uncertainty in the banking sector has prompted banks to cut lending to other institutions and instead hoard cash. Customers are reporting difficulty in securing personal loans, especially for debt consolidation, as lenders are either unable to access the funds, or simply unwilling.
Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned the MPC that the credit crunch could get even worse in the coming year unless interest rates are cut.
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Fri 13th Jun, 2008
Posted in Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Financial products, First time buyers, Homeowner Loans, Homeowners, House buying, Property, Remortgaging, Secured loans, UK Finance, interest rates, mortgages at 12:48 pm by Steve Smith
Five interest rate rises in a row last year really hit us hard and despite the subsequent drops, many of us are still left struggling to find the right mortgage. The base rate may have dropped, but lenders are still struggling with liquidity issues – meaning they just cannot access the funds to offer as loans – and so the LIBOR (inter-bank lending) rate remains high.
There are a number of options available to anyone seeking a new home loan however, because finding the right mortgage product is very important. The fixed rate mortgage could avoid the risk of further rate rises in the future, but lenders are also aware of this and increasingly fixed rate home loans come with shorter and shorter renegotiation periods as well as increasing renegotiation charges. So whilst taking out a fixed rate mortgage is always an option worth considering it may not necessarily be your best one.
There is no avoiding the fact that as interest rates stay high, our loan repayments will be steep. Add to this the increasing fuel and food costs and many people are worried. So what are we supposed to do to protect ourselves from getting out of our depth and falling into financial difficulties?
Some lenders have introduced a new option that while slightly unorthodox could be worth some serious consideration. Lenders such as Barclays are allowing borrowers to split their mortgage into two and have half on a fixed term basis and the other half of the loan on a tracker basis. This takes out some of the risk for the borrower but will mean taking extra time in searching to find a lender who is willing to make the deal with you.
The arrangement fee could be higher than with a non-split mortgage and the time in finding the mortgage could take twice as long, however you are splitting the risks involved and if you don’t like to take chances with your money than this could be the option for you. With inflation still running high, cost of living rising sharply but no matching rise in wages, it is wisest to play a cautious game when it comes to your mortgage.
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Mon 9th Jun, 2008
Posted in Bad Credit, Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Credit record, Financial news, Financial products, Homeowner Loans, Homeowners, House buying, Housing news, Missed payments, Personal debt, Property, Remortgaging, Secured loans, UK Finance, interest rates at 1:07 pm by Steve Smith
Banks are getting increasingly tough on borrowers, and with high interest rates, mortgages are becoming increasingly expensive to service. So what options have you when looking for a new mortgage deal?
With lending rates so high at the moment and not expected to come down for a while, a tracker mortgage would probably not be the right option for anyone who cannot afford increased payments in the short term. Instead, taking out a short-term fixed rate loan would be a wise choice, to avoid being stung by higher repayments in the coming months.
If you have been in arrears recently then switching might be a bit more of a tricky issue since most lenders are now getting a lot tougher on borrowers with blemished credit records. Bad credit mortgages are available, but after last year’s sub-prime losses in America, these tend to be offered at very high rates.
You might not be able to take advantage of the cheap deals out there if you have recently gone into arrears or missed a payment, however there are still some sympathetic lenders out there who are willing to ignore the odd blemish on your credit history so make sure you shop around when you are looking for a good deal.
HSBC is currently offering something called a “RateMatcher” policy, which allows mortgage customers about to come to the end of fixed-rate mortgage to extend their loan for another one to five years at their current rate. This will prevent customers from switching out of an existing good deal to a higher rate elsewhere and should come as welcome relief to anyone whose cheap-rate home loan ends this year.
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Thu 5th Jun, 2008
Posted in Bad Credit, Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Debt management, Financial news, First time buyers, Homeowner Loans, Homeowners, House buying, Housing news, Inflation, Personal debt, Personal loans, Rental property, Secured loans, Spending, UK Finance, Unsecured loans, interest rates, mortgages at 12:02 pm by Steve Smith
More and more existing home owners are find it harder to sell their homes as fears of recession keep people from moving. But in an ironic twist, first time buyers are unable to take advantage of the new low house prices because of a lack of affordable home loans on the market.
The growing concern over the state of the economy is making many people more unwilling to overstretch themselves by buying a new home now. New figures published by the Halifax have shown that house prices fell by their sharpest rate in more than fifteen years in May.
Many buyers were hoping for a fall in borrowing costs when the Bank of England dropped the base rate to 5%. However, lenders have been unable to pass on the cut as the Libor rate remains high and liquidity low. Loans of all types have been affected.
The Bank of England is due to announce its latest interest rate today and is widely tipped to leave the rate at 5%. Consumers may feel this is a blow, but with the Government worried about inflation, the Bank is unlikely to cut the rate again yet.
Halifax’s chief economist, Martin Ellis, said: “The decline in prices is caused by the difficulties created for potential house purchasers by the rapid rise in house prices in the last few years, a squeeze on spending power and the reduction in credit availability,”
Halifax warn that house prices could continue to drop next year. This is potentially good news for those waiting to afford their first home, but may still not be enough to counteract the credit crunch.
Britons have seen their wages rise 4% in the past year, a stark contrast to the 9% rise in fuel prices seen and the 7% increase in food costs.
Sadly for many, property rental prices have also been increasing as more buy-to-let investors pull out of the market, leaving a diminishing pool of properties available for rent.
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