What is a Business Loan?
June 22, 2008
A business loan is designed for a wide range of small, medium and start-up business needs including the purchase, refinance and expansion of a business. If you run your own business, it is likely that you will need funds at different points of time for various needs. Whether it is starting or expanding business, purchasing or leasing office space, refinancing equipment or restructuring your balance sheet.
A business loan is an option that provides the most flexible solution to meet your financial needs. Finance is the lifeblood of a business. Without it you cannot grow.
Business loans are generally available from £25,000 to £1,000,000 at highly competitive interest rates from leading commercial loan lenders. A business loan generally has low up front payments.
Applying for business loans is a more involved process than applying for a personal loan. The requirements for a business loan are evaluated differently and the standards to be met are stricter.
Your options will also depend on the bank you are dealing with; banks offer different loan packages, each with its own particular set of terms and conditions. While you can check out what your own bank has to offer, it is worth investigating the business loans being offered by other banks as well.
Credit Score: The Brightest Feather In Your Financial Cap
June 21, 2008
Credit scores are the most important aspect that determines your financial future. Carrying a good credit score is an asset and can pave your future towards greener pastures. On the other hand a negative marking on your credit report can be ruinous for your future dreams. However, “There Isn’t Much anyone can do for those who will not Do Something for themselves.” The same is applicable for credit scores. Your prime aim is to maintain a good credit score and lead a planned life.
How to assist myself to have a good credit score
To have a clear knowledge about your credit score, it is a good idea to get your credit report from the credit bureaus once a year. This will ensure your credit is being reported correctly. Usually the credit scores are within 400 to 850. If your credit scores are higher, your eligibility to get approved in a loan also gets higher in priority.
Credit scores consider 5 main categories for scoring consideration and are rated according to importance:
Payment History -35%; Length of History -15%; Amounts Owed -30%; New Credit -10%; Types of Credit -10%.
Correlation between the Credit Score and Defaulters
Kingsland Saint Marys & Kings Bay Real Estate - VA Mortgage Information For Home Buyers
June 20, 2008
A VA guaranteed mortgage is the usually the best way for active or inactive veterans to purchase a home. The VA mortgage allows the buyer to purchase a home with absolutley no out of pocket expenses!
There are closing costs associated with the purchase of a home. These costs can be paid by the seller of the property on the buyers behalf. However, these costs must be included into the sales price of the home.
When negotiating to purchase a home, explain to your sales agent that you wish for the seller to pay your closing costs as part of the deal. Costs that you wish the seller to pay are costs such as lender fees,attorney fees, state and local taxes, etc. Be sure to get a Good Faith Estimate from your lender, so you will know the exact amount of the costs associated with your VA loan.
VA loans have no monthly private mortgage insurance like most conventional loans, so in most cases your monthly payment will be much less. VA loans have VA funding fees that are charged up-front and included into your loan amount. The funding fee is 2.15% of the loan amount for a first time VA user and 3.00% for second and subsequent use.
Kings Bay Saint Marys & Kingsland Georgia Real Estate - Getting a Home Loan with Damaged Credit
June 19, 2008
So, you have made the decision that you would like to become a homeowner. As lenders, we have to perform a credit check. The credit we review are provided by all three reporting agencies. Equifax, Experian and Transunion are the three agencies lenders use. The middle of all three beacon scores is the one used to qualify a borrower for a mortgage.
Many lenders will deny would be borrowers if their mid-score is less than 620. However I take a different view of credit scores and look for a way to get the loan approved. There are sub-prime loans available for borrowers with low credit scores, however I believe that it is in the best interest of my clients to take the time to make some small repairs to their credit. By doing this, I am not only providing a valuable service that helpsmy clients, but I am able to save them from 2% to 4% on a fixed mortgage rate.
How long does it take before you can close on a loan? Usually from 30 to 60 days. It depends on how quickly you can provide me with the information to repair the credit.
Zero Zero Financing on Automobiles in Retrospect
June 18, 2008
Some say that the automobile industry saved the economy during the last recession. This is because auto sales are bundled into retail sales, which allowed higher numbers than actual to be reported. Many will say that what is good for General Motors is good for America, they might even cite the fact that the automobile industry saved the economy at the bottom of the last recession.
Remember when Mitsubishi did the Zero-Zero-Zero plan. This was a calculated risk and were betting on the election year gold rush to help pay for any of the fall-out in loans? Well that never came because the US interest rates stayed down, job recovery came late and Domestics along with those other foreign automobile companies did quite well. So what is happening now due to this decision to go 0-0-0, well many of those loans have gone South, and the Yen is high against the dollar and now Mitsubishi is about 2 billion in the hole at last count. The Mitsubishi bail-out cost at least $1.9 billion US Dollars. Many auto industry economic advisors had mixed opinions on this, but for the most part thought the plan for zero-zero-zero was foolish. Zero money down, Zero interest rates and zero payments until next year. This was in 2002 and today 45% of those cars have either been turned back in, repo’ed, sold at auction or are in default. All good things, which are not reality based do come to an end. Many knew there was going to be a problem as the sales winded down and we were being strung out on our payments from a few dealerships out there.
Credit Cards - The Top 3 Things You Need To Know
June 18, 2008
Today there are so many different credit cards available, student prepaid, low interest cards etc. that it has becomes a real hassle to find the right one that will suit your needs.
This is the reason why we at online-creditcheck provide you with necessary information which can help you in choosing the right credit card for you. The good thing about this information is that it is all free of charge.
We have created a list of 10 things you need to have a look at before you decide to apply for that credit card
1) **Annual Percentage Rate - APR**
Many credit card companies give you an intro apr rate that will be lower then your regular apr rate. Keep in mind when this introduction apr rate will expire and use it to your advantage
0% Intro APR Credit Cards, will give you the opportunity to purchase goods/a service without paying any interest on your principal spend. Such cards are usually for people with a good credit history
2) **Credit Card VS Debit Card (prepaid credit card)**
Although a Prepaid Credit Card, has the same look and feel of a regular Credit Card, those two are not the same.
Developing a budget? Watch out for Those Budget-Bursting Gremlins
June 17, 2008
If you’ve developed a household budget to get your spending back in line or to just reduce stress, good for you! Creating and sticking to a budget isn’t easy by all means. But it represents the best way by far to manage your finances so you can relax and worry about other things.
A budget can also be a very useful tool for ending financial arguments — assuming that you and your spouse agree how much to allocate for each of the categories in your budget.
The big categories are usually the easy ones. You know how much you pay for rent or your mortgage. Ditto other items such as your car payment(s), heating bill, phone bill and the like.
These are all fixed expenses. In other words, they are expenses that cannot be easily cut. They can be reduced but not without a major effort. For example, you could sell your home and buy one that requires a monthly mortgage payment.
However, many of the other items in your budget are discretionary expenses. In other words, they are expenses you can control and cut. This category includes items such as clothing, entertainment, insurance (yes, you can cut the cost of your car and health insurance), cable or satellite and groceries.
Before You Buy
June 16, 2008
Before you start looking for a home, figure out what you can realistically afford to pay per month. Check out the market in the area you want to buy. Find out what price houses are going for and what the payments are per month. Remember that you may end up paying a little more per month than someone with a conventional bank loan, so keep that in mind as you figure out what you can afford.
You are going to have to work harder to find a home you can get without a loan. You will have to shop around more. So, concentrate on your needs in housing before your wants. Make a list of the minimum that you will accept in a house. Only write down your essential needs. Do you have to have three bedrooms or can you make do with less? Do you have to have a two-car garage or will a carport do? Do you have to have a single story home for health reasons? How close do you have to be to a school?
Short Term Loans…are they right for you?
June 15, 2008
With less than a week before she was to receive her next paycheck, Roni was faced with a problem that millions of Americans experience at some point in their lives: bills that are due and not enough cash available to pay them. Faced with a dilemma of late fees and a lower credit rating, many consumers with no options left turn to credit card advances as a stop-gap resolution for their problems. Unfortunately, for many Americans, they either do not have a sufficient line of credit available to tap in emergencies situations like Roni’s or their credit is maxed out. So, what do they do? Like so many consumers are learning they can turn to providers of short term loans like those found on the internet. Let’s take a look at some of these options to see if they are right for you!
Loan options vary amongst providers, but they typically permit borrowers to apply for a loan on one business day and receive funds deposited to their checking account the following business day upon approval of their application. Most lenders require that you have a checking account that has been open for a minimum of 90 days, that the borrower be at least 18 years of age, and that the borrower be employed or receiving a regular monthly check [pension, social security, etc.]
What is the Check 21 Act?
June 14, 2008
Check 21 is the common name for the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act. It’s new legislation that was recently passed by congress and made a law when signed by the President of the United States (remember “I’m just a bill” from Saturday morning cartoons). Check 21 basically streamlines the traditional check processing system by incorporating new electronic technology. This new system replaces an outdated check clearing system that banks and other financial institutions have used for many years. The advantage is the ability to cut the time it takes for a check to clear from days to hours.
The process to do this involves a pseudo or substitute check. Check 21 now allows banks to use this in place of original checks. The technique to make this a reality involves converting the information on the check into an electronic file, which is then sent to the maker’s financial institution for payment. This significantly speeds up the check clearing process from days to hours. The original check can even be destroyed because a substitute check can be made at any time during the process. This image can be used as a proof of payment just like an original check. In fact the checks look almost exactly like original checks except for a slightly reduced image of both the front and back of the original check.
