Online, Phone, U.S. Mail or In-Person: Where is Your Credit Card and Personal Identify Safest?
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It occurs when someone takes a piece of your personal information and uses it without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft. An all-too-common example is when an identity thief uses your personal information to open a credit card account in your name, or uses an existing credit card of yours.
Did you know that someone’s identity is stolen every 20 seconds?
In a recent survey by the FTC, 12.7% of American adults, or 27 million people, reported that they had become victims of some type of identity theft in the last five years. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years — and thousands of dollars — cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of their good name and credit record.
Personal Identity Theft: Key Facts
* Victims now spend an average of 600 hours recovering from the crime of identity theft, often over a period of years. Three years ago the average was 175 hours of time, representing an increase of about 2470%.
Applying for a Home Mortgage Loan Online - The Pros and Cons
If you have considered applying for a home loan mortgage online, there are a few pros and cons to think about with getting a home mortgage loan online:
Pros:
1. The process of applying for an online home mortgage loan is very simple, unlike some lenders who operate in the ‘real’ world and ask for heaps of information.
2. The fees, when applying for a home mortgage loan online, can be considerably cheaper than the mortgages in the ‘real’ world.
3. Online home loan mortgages tend to offer a great variety of mortgage loan programs, including more flexible repayment terms and lower rates of interest.
4. Online mortgages are usually easier for borrowers who have bad credit history to obtain. Also, online mortgage loan websites do tend to offer more alternatives to those with a bad credit history.
5. Normally you find out faster if your home loan mortgage application has been pre?approved if you apply online. This means you can move on and apply with other lenders faster, if you don’t get approved the first time.
Cons:
Is It Possible to Be Sued For My Debts?
It is possible for creditors and third-party collection agencies to use legal means as a way to collect debts. The likelihood of being sued or having your wages garnished depends largely on the creditor that is owed money. It has been my experience that certain creditors are more prone to legal action than others.
Traditionally, creditors seek legal action only if there is a considerable lack of contact with regard to the account or if they feel that a consumer could simply be trying to escape their financial obligations. If the debtor currently earns a respectable salary, owns a home that has a sizable amount of equity, or can most likely afford to repay your current debts without the use of credit counseling, debt settlement, or bankruptcy, then there is a possibility that a judgment may be filed against you if begin to miss your monthly payments.
Additionally, for legal action to proceed, third-party creditors and collection agencies must retain the services of an attorney that is LICENSED in the state in which you live.
Even if legal action is pursued, a wage garnishment can take a considerable amount of time and depends upon your current employment. Many states have laws that stop creditors from being able to use wage garnishment as a means to collect debts.
Your Worst Enemy To Successful Investing - The Media
How do you make your investment decisions and where do you get your information? If you’re like most of the people I know, you look to the experts.
That’s fine, however it’s important to be aware that for every expert, there’s an opinion and for every opinion there’s an expert. I have a friend who says that opinions are like noses: everyone has one but you wouldn’t live in anyone else’s nose!
Around the first of the year, along with the New Year’s resolutions, come the New Year predictions for what will be hot and what will not. As if that isn’t enough to produce a massive case of information indigestion, now we have the cable financial shows with pretty much the opinion of the hour.
What this is producing is a frenzy of buy and sell activity for stocks in general, and now for mutual funds as well. I don’t think this approach serves either the investors in particular or the funds in general.
The big problem with this for mutual fund investors is that all the experts are recommending different funds. It might be one thing if experts had a solid basis for their perspective. If they did, then you would think their recommendations would line up and they’d all be touting the same thing.
Taxation of Isle of Man Companies from April 2006
At the present time a company incorporated in the Isle of Man, owned by non-residents and which complies with the other statutory requirements, is not liable to Isle of Man taxation. Whilst locally trading companies pay tax at 18%, a qualifying offshore company pays a flat annual tax of £475 or £1,000.
The Isle of Man is however required to comply with the E.U. Code of Conduct on Business Taxation and other international initiatives designed to eliminate discrimination between taxpayers. This means, essentially, that the tax treatment of local and offshore companies should be the same. The Island decided some time ago that it would meet its obligations by introducing a zero rate of taxation for all companies except those engaged in certain finance sector activities and the Government has now issued a consultation paper outlining how it is proposed that the new system will operate.
From April 2006 the distinction between offshore and locally resident companies will disappear and companies will be classified as distributing or non-distributing. A distributing company will be one of the following,
? Where the whole of the distributable profit has been charged to tax at the rate of 10% or
Become A Smarter Borrower
With a nation that has in the region of a Trillion pounds of debt one could say we are serial borrowers. Before you consider borrowing money it is wise to consider a few important points.
· Shop around for the best deal
This may sound like a no brainer but many people still use their high street bank to borrow money. These are usually the most expensive and with the Internet you can spend 30 minutes in your home finding the best deal.
· Make sure you understand the APR
Although the lender will outline the APR charges this may not be the actual amount you will be paying. Make sure you get the true cost of your loan.
· Keep the repayment period as short as possible
The longer you take to pay off your loan the more expensive it gets. Try and limit the repayment period to less than 5 years. For example, a £5,000 loan borrowed over five years at an interest rate of 9% will cost you £103 each month, this may sound affordable. But overall, it will cost you £6,176 - £1,176 in interest. If you borrowed it over three years, your monthly payments would be £158 an increase of 53% in payments however you would only be paying back £5,694, which is substantially less.
How To Boost Your Credit Score
Years ago your credit score was a big secret, known only to a select few such as your mortgage and credit card companies. In 2000, Fair, Isaac Co., the major supplier of credit scoring software, announced they would begin sharing credit scores, also known as FICO scores, with consumers.
What is a credit score? A credit score is a tool used by credit grantors to determine your ability to repay your debts. The information in your credit report is compared and evaluated against tens of millions of other consumer credit reports which gives you a credit score or number ranging from 350 (highest credit risk) up to 800 (lowest credit risk). A higher score means you are less likely to make late payments or default on the credit extended to you. Your credit score will change as the information in your credit report changes over time.
Following is a short overview of the five major categories of credit information that are used in determining your credit score and guidelines for scoring higher.
PAYMENT HISTORY (35 percent)
Poor Credit Home Mortgage Loans - The Role of the FICO Score
If you have bad credit history and are looking to get a home mortgage loan, then chances are you are going to need to know all about how the FICO credit scoring system works.
FICO ? Fair ISAAC & Company ? is the leading credit reporting agency that lenders turn to when it comes time to credit scoring your home loan mortgage application; so if you do have bad credit history, these guys will know.
The formula used by FICO cannot be disclosed because of a decision made by U.S. Congress. There are some things generally known about FICO which that could help you understand why and how you can get approved:
1. The higher your FICO score, the better chance you have of getting that home mortgage loan. Also, the higher your score, the more room you have to negotiate a lower interest rate.
2. If you have a FICO score lower than 500, there is very little chance you’ll be getting a mortgage home loan.
That said, if you have a score of:
500 ? 600 you should be able to get a home mortgage loan, provided you are willing to make a down payment.
The Seven Most Traded Currencies in FOREX.
Currencies are traded in dollar amounts called "lots". One lot is equal to $1,000, which controls $100,000 in currency. This is what is known as the “margin”. You can control $100,000 worth of currency for only 1,000 dollars. This is what is called "High Leverage".
Currencies are always traded in pairs in the FOREX. The pairs have a unique notation that expresses what currencies are being traded. The symbol for a currency pair will always be in the form ABC/DEF. ABC/DEF is not a real currency pair, it is an example of a symbol for a currency pair. In this example ABC is the symbol for one countries currency and DEF is the symbol for another countries currency.
Here are some of the common symbols used in the Forex:
USD - The US Dollar
EUR - The currency of the European Union “EURO”
GBP - The British Pound
JPN - The Japanese Yen
CHF - The Swiss Franc
AUD - The Australian Dollar
CAD - The Canadian Dollar
There are symbols for other currencies as well, but these are the most commonly traded ones.
How To Find An Investment Advisor
Do you think you need an Investment Advisor? Hold on before you answer because this is sort of a trick question. Also, I am definitely biased because I am an Investment Advisor. Nonetheless, I think I can assist you in looking at this issue in a way that will serve you.
Working with a fair number of investors over the last nearly 20 years, I have observed that while most are intelligent people, and many are fairly knowledgeable about the market, they are, as a group, not terribly successful with their investing.
Why should they be? More likely than not they have made their living doing something other than investing, so why would they think they can do what a professional does better than a professional? (After all, they go to professionals for health care or for car repairs when needed!)
Most investors-even some professionals-tend to be “off” in their timing: they buy things when they are hot, not when they are cold. But for the greatest benefit, it should be the opposite. The media doesn’t help much when it comes to this buying approach, and let’s face it; greed and fear play a large part in most peoples’ investment decisions.
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