Debt worries will continue, says expert
Posted on February 13th, 2010
Consumers will continue to face debt problems and the threat of repossession, according to an expert.
Sarah Webb, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, was commenting after figures showed many people are still struggling with living costs and in some cases losing their homes as a result.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed that 46,000 properties were repossessed last year – 15 per cent above the level of 2008.
And despite the result being below CML forecasts, Ms Webb stated that difficulties are expected to remain for borrowers.
In May last year, she noted, a YouGov survey indicated that a quarter of British adults were expected to face financial difficulties over the following 12 months and she argued that “the picture is likely to be just as bleak for some time to come”.
Tags: Expert
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Credit card debt ‘a necessity’
Posted on February 13th, 2010
Britons are still using their credit cards to navigate their way through everyday life, it has been claimed.
According to research from moneysupermarket.com, more than 14 million people are turning to plastic for day-to-day needs, with 17 per cent using such cards at least once every 24 hours.
This comes after recent statistics from the Post Office indicated an eight per cent increase in January 2009 in the number of consumers using credit for transactions such as groceries and Peter Harrison with moneysupermarket.com noted that these incidents are “alarming”.
He stated that this is “a dangerous habit to get into” and those who are involved in such activities should “seriously consider stopping”.
Mr Harrison went on to explain that having more than one card can be a good idea if one is used for transfers and the other for purchases and both have zero per cent deals but the practice “does expose you to a large amount of credit” and this could mean it is harder to get additional credit later on.
Tags: Card, Credit Card
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Are you aware of all the hidden taxes you pay everyday?
Posted on February 13th, 2010
With April 15th looming in the near future, we are all starting to think about gathering all of our receipts and W-2s together to husel off to our CPA (or QuickBooks) to start working on our tax returns. Between trying to keep our jobs, pay our mortgage, and settling our debts, more and more of our hard earned money is going toward inflated taxes. Besides the obvious taxes we pay via our paycheck and gas pump, there are a lot of “hidden” taxes we don’t see.
We all see the tax we pay on gas and cigarettes, but what about that Snicker bar you just ate? Did you know there are import taxes and duty taxes that inflate the cost of that little snack? The government keeps the prices of imported goods artificially high making domestic products cheaper and more attractive to consumers. Did you k
Debtor’s Revolt Turns Tables On Dirty Debt Collector!
Posted on February 13th, 2010
Debt collector gets called out for strong-arming debtor, whose lack of debt knowledge makes it easy for debt collectors to score quick, easy paydays.
Debt collectors know you dress in’t know your rights.
Debt collectors know they can intimidate you into paying up…without questions or debt validation.
What would you do if a debt collector showed up at your front door, spewing four-letter words at you? What would you answer? Check out a YouTube video below exposing one dirty Jacksonville, Florida, debt collector.
Notice To All Dumbass Debt Collectors: Paybacks Are HELL! I l
Tags: Collector, Debt Collector
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Check up on your mortgage broker
Posted on February 9th, 2010
Question: Is there any way for me to check up on the mortgage broker I am planning to use? I don’t want to be taken advantage of, so I want to make sure he’s licensed — he says he is — and see whether he’s ever been disciplined by authorities for doing something wrong.
Answer: There is now. Mortgage shoppers now have a free tool that will go a long way toward protecting them from being ripped off.
At NMLS Consumer Access, borrowers have a single source of information, updated nightly, that tells them whether the loan officer or broker with whom they are working is licensed, the company he or she is licensed with, the branch where the originator works and his or her employment history going back 10 years.
Tags: Broker, Mortgage Broker
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12 traps of Roth IRA conversions
Posted on February 9th, 2010
If the number of phone calls to mutual fund companies and the comments posted to articles on the subject are a sign, savers are showing a lot of interest in converting their traditional individual retirement accounts into Roth IRAs. But they should be careful of acting too hastily, because some expensive traps await the ill-informed.
“Roth conversions can trigger unintended tax traps and financial problems that are not being addressed in the mounds of 2010 Roth conversion information that currently dominates the media,” Ed Slott wrote recently in his newsletter, Ed Slott’s IRA Advisor.
These traps may make you reconsider when to convert, how much to convert or even whether you should convert at all. Here are some of the traps that Slott says await the uninformed:
1.