If you deposit new money in ING direct and restrain yourself from getting tempted to touch the money for next 12 months, you would be entitled to receive an APY of 2.25% ( as of today). The non added value certificate of deposits by ING direct have an APY of 2.10%.

Hence if you are planning to invest for a short term without risks, this could be your ideal option.

]]> http://www.8000credit.org/902/ing-directs-high-interest-cds/feed/ 0 http://www.8000credit.org/864/bank-accounts-periodic-reviews/ http://www.8000credit.org/864/bank-accounts-periodic-reviews/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:11:32 +0000 Teena http://www.8000credit.org/?p=864 You must have already known that asking for a better deal from utility provides regularly could save you a lot of money, but did you know you could apply the same rule to your bank?

Are you still using a brick and mortar bank like i do? Then here are some tips that might help you.

1. Ask for better interest rates, enquire whether there is an account similar to your existing one, with better interest rate.
2. Do not forget to ask about free checking because its not advisable to waste money on service charges and other similar fees.
3. Enquire if the bank has a new website through which you could automate all your payments. This way you would never miss paying any bill.
4. Keep yourself updated with any new promotion that the bank might be running.

Have some more tips to add to the list? let us know.

The investment plans of the Government will come along with a package of SBA Guaranteed loans. This is quite alike to the:

“Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO)” and

“Collateralized Bond Obligation (CBO)” in the home finance industry. Such CMOs and CBOs act as the main incentive for the current economical catastrophe.

SBA ensures you the availability of your loan and apportions your loan with a bunch of equivalently structured loans. These bunches of loan are acquired by shareholders in the secondary market. Here the share holders acquire the security provided by the borrowers of the loan.

The Banks put up these loans for sale in the secondary market, so as to receive cash which will again be bestowed as loan to Small Businesses. This demeanor proves favorable for the Banks, the Borrowers and the Share-holders.

Analyzing the above facts on investment loans gives us a conclusion. SBA loan (commencing as bank as well as SBA) should give your approval to your participation. It has raised the standard of prerequisites over the preceding year or so. Dallas Morning News states that “SBA loan evasions have reached the peak of 154% in 2008.” This kind of securities accompanied by the competing banks, progressing evasions and a reduced amount of affairs in the secondary market has hugely affected the growth of SBA loans. The standardization has been increased by the Banks and SBA to make sure they don’t subject to such losses another time. So, they securely dissect every borrower of the loan.

The happenings in the secondary market stopped abruptly. Share-holders (already in grave danger due to the declining share market and economic downfall) are either disinclined to jeopardize on these securities or deprived of money.

So, the plan was re-considered so as to help small businesses. The Government will get hold of the securities by SBA Guaranteed loans. It will also interrupt and replace the individual share-holders. The Government came up with this idea to favor banks instigating and selling their loans in the secondary market. And also in favor of the small business owners as the profits from these securities can be re-lend to them. This helps to increase the SBA Guaranteed loans to 90% and lessens the amount for both the bank and the borrower thus engrossing the banks involvement in this plan.

Many banks considering this to be an established and well-renowned plan have started to reduce their SBA loans programs too. They reason out themselves as such, “There have been very few borrowers who are “qualified” and approved for SBA loan programs. So, we had to reduce the program to ensure we don’t undergo any slaughters.” But doesn’t it ring a bell when we say “There is decrease in these types of loans.” or “There is shortage of funds.” (Think! Think!) As the standardization of the approval decreases, the quality of the borrower also decreases which will again subject to losses and economical crisis. The importance we give to the financial crisis will eventually yield trust-worthy applicants.

Thus, we come to the conclusion that “One has to consider wisely the idea of starting a new business or improvising on the existing ones. You have to run over the idea as many times as possible.” To obtain a strategic position for you and your business in the industry, you should improvise on your events of honor, pride or trust, work on your over all debts and build on pre-eminent future-plans.

Do you get a blurred image of what is happening in the name of “INVESTMENT PLANS”??

]]> http://www.8000credit.org/612/so-called-small-business-loans/feed/ 0 http://www.8000credit.org/605/irs-warns-beware-of-identity-theft/ http://www.8000credit.org/605/irs-warns-beware-of-identity-theft/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:13:50 +0000 Teena http://www.8000credit.org/?p=605 There are a few things that the IRS wants you to be aware of regarding identity theft:

1. You are expected to respond immediately if you get a notification or a letter from the IRS which makes you think someone is trying to use your Social Security Number through a hoax. You will be provided with a name, contact number and address on the notification that will be sent to you and you must contact them as soon as possible.

2. You would know that your Social Security Number was misused by a fraud if you receive a notification from the IRS stating that there was more than one tax return filed in your name.

3. Another instance when you would know you are a victim of identity theft is if you receive a letter from the IRS stating you have gotten wages from a boss who you do not know of.

4. The IRS understands the problems you face during an identity theft issue. Thus they have a department which looks into the problems of identity theft to ease matters for you. If you have reported the IRS about a theft and nothing has been done about it, you can get in touch with the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit to proceed with matters.

5. The Identity Theft Hotline for the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit is 800 908 4490 and they are available from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.  Call for immediate assistance. Hotlines in Hawaii and Alaska follow Pacific Standard Time.

6. In case your wallet has been misplaced and you fear that there are chances of your identity being stolen, you can once again get in touch with the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit so they can guide you regarding the steps that need to be adopted hereafter.

7. one very important thing you must be aware of is that the IRS never tries to get in touch with its taxpayers or establish any form of communication through e-mails. So if you get any e-mail or track a website that you think is faking to be the IRS, do us IRS a favour and forward the mail or the link to the website to phishing@irs.gov

8. You can log on to the official IRS website if you want to avail of the many other options and resources that IRS has got for you. Here at www.irs.gov you will be able to find information about how to report bogus IRS websites as well as other kinds of scams that you might comes across over the internet. You may also go to the IRS Identity Resource Page which you can go to by searching for Identity Theft Resource Page in the search box on the www.irs.gov home page.

9. You can also seek help from the Federal Trade Commission who are willing to help taxpayers suffering from identity theft issues. Dial 877 438 4338 to reach them from anywhere you are.

10. www.OnGuardOnline.gov is another place you can reach the technology industry and federal government to help you with tips to go about an identity theft issue.

From the beginning of the year 2010, individuals below the age of 21 years will not be permitted the issue for a credit card unless they provide with proof or evidence to suggest that they will cash out their loans and leave no unclear debts.

Several blogs have started protesting against this Act already because in a way people below the age of 21 years are being singled out and treated unfairly from the rest as legally they do qualify as adults.

The records of  credits in the banking system prevail to be one of the biggest factors that would determine the amounts of loan as well as the rate of interest at which  it is given out at and this is despite what politicians decide.

However as it is now more difficult for individuals below the age of 21 years to get credit cards, it is natural that they will have a lack of time to work on their credit records and thus will be on the losing end in any sphere where a credit check is required. And mind you, a credit check would be required for thing as basic as wanting to rent an apartment.

I feel  introduction of this law will create a pattern of consumers who fall in the younger group to move towards preferring secured credit cards. The concept of secured credit cards is much like that of regular credit cards. Just that in this case, the secured credit cards need a security deposit which is sync with the limit of the card.

In this case if the consumer fails to clear his debts, then the company simply withdraws his card and takes the deposit that has already been made in payment. Hence the consumer does not have to put in an extra effort to gather proof as this security proof already serves the purpose of designating the ability of the consumer to clear the debts issued on his credit card.

In addition to that, since the secured credit card functions just like a regular credit card, by using it, the individual can build up a advantageous credit record as well.

Regular credit cards require a person to get a lot of paperwork done which he can easily choose to avoid by using a secured credit card instead. They will not require a witness to acknowledge their ability to repay their loans or need proof of income to establish the same.

They can use their secured credit card depending on the amount they choose to deposit. Also one can use this card wherever a VISA or MasterCard can be used, users of the secured credit card will be able to buy things online or in other places that compel the using of a credit card.

Have you ever had trouble in decrypting credit reports issued by banks? I certainly have gone through the grind before getting my loan approved; not knowing what is it that helps them to decide in allotting or rejecting a loan.

For all you people who have had a tough time knowing why you are not worth it I have some good news! CreditKarma.com, a site that provides your credit scores has developed a tool that generates your credit scores free of cost. The so-called Credit Report Card gives individual scores of important constituents of your real credit-report present at “TransUnion LLC”.

This tool ascribes grades that range from A-F based on five key factors, which affects your credit scores largely. Wish I had something like this when I was applying for a loan, but never mind. The factors that influence credit scores are:

1. Utilization patterns of credit card
2. The average duration of existence of the borrower’s payment accounts
3. Total percentage of payments that’s made on time.
4. Number and variety of credit card accounts.
5. Number of times the borrower approached the bank for credit.

Not only this, you can know more about their debt to income ratio and debts. Although these two factors do not contribute to deciding the credit scores, they definitely are important factors that lending agencies consider before they approve or evaluate your loan application.

All you have to do to get your credit scores, as I did is to register on CreditKarma by keying in your Full name, birth dates, complete address and SSN (social security number) such that the website could find the relevant data. However, CreditKarma does assert that it doesn’t store your social security number thereby keeping your information safe and private. I feel that’s not a bad deal at all!  I had to verify my information on loans such as home loans, mortgages, student loans, auto loans, etc. as this credit report fetches information from the credit file on a real time basis.

I do recommend that before checking out your credit scores, be ready with all the necessary information, as wrongly entering such information would generate reports with errors. If you fail to verify your information then you would not be allowed to re-login for quite some time. It might not give you the same report as a lender generates before determining your credit worthiness as different lenders have different ways of determining their lending standards.

However, this tool definitely gives a user a bird’s eye view of their current credit worthiness and gives handy tips on ways one can increase their credit scores. I could also compare my scores with over 400,000 sample credit score reports present on CreditKarma.com, something I feel gives you a clearer picture as to where you stand.

I feel this is a welcome move as this helps you to assess your credit worthiness during credit crunch that America is experiencing. There are many websites like credit.com having, a tool that determines credit scores based on simulation of the answer you give. An online mortgage-lending firm called Quicken Loans Inc. offers a website called Quizzle.com that generates credit scores based on Experian model.

This is applicable to the taxpayers who are nearing the 30th June 09 last date for filing the FBAR form.

This is a welcome move as new instructions issued last year aroused confusion among taxpayers as to who should file the revised Form TDF 90-22.1 (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts/FBAR).

Taxpayers can now depend on the previously issued instruction defining a “United States person” as

(1) Citizen/Resident of U.S.,

(2) A U.S. based domestic corporation,

(3) A U.S. domestic Estate/Trust.” or

(4) A U.S. domestic partnership.

Requirements and Instructions for filing the latest version of the FBAR form (last revised in October 08) still hold good.  The latest version should be used for filing the FBAR form this year. This would affect only those tax payers who would be filing the FBAR form on 30th June 09. IRS would soon issue additional guidelines on the eligibility requirements for filing FBAR in the years to follow.

Speaking at the launch of the “Tax Return Preparer Review”, Doug Shulman the IRS commissioner said that by 2009 end, an intensive set of recommendations would be proposed so that IRS could leverage the preparers with goals higher compliance from taxpayers and ensure high levels of moral and ethical conduct for the tax return preparers.

It is anticipated that the recommendation would aim at creating:

• New framework for regulation of the tax return preparers
• Extensive support and reach for tax return preparers
• Training and educational programs for tax return preparers
• Action in cases of a misconduct of tax return preparer

These recommendations would be submitted to the Obama administration and the Treasury Secretary by 2009 year end. Mr. Shulman said that return preparers assist U.S. citizens in making high value transactions every year and it should be ensured that the preparers are able, render good service and are ethical.

This involves taking feed backs from an extensively diverse community which would include federal authorities and individuals who are licensed by the states as accountants lawyers and unaccredited preparers and software sellers. Inputs would also be sought from taxpayers and customer groups.

Shulman said there would be a transparency and open dialogues on the issue and said that feed backs from a diverse stakeholder community would also be sought. IRS intends to schedule open discussions in Washington and nationwide with these groups by 2009 year end.

Further details regarding the schedule and agendum for the public discussions would be posted on the “Tax Professionals” page at www.irs.gov and an intimation of the same would be sent to the stakeholdes.

On receiving the permission to start repaying the money, these banks are now free from these restrictions. Among these banks are, American Express Co, JP Morgan Chase & Co, State Street Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp, BB&T Corp and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

As this may sound good to the ears that hasn’t heard much of good news as far as the economy is concerned, there are two sides to the story. While some experts agree that this is indeed good news and is a sign of a stabilizing economy, many feel that this repayment may further increase the gap between the weak and the healthy banks. Although Morgan Stanley and Northern Trust Corp did not belong to the banks that passed the government stress test, both announced that they had arranged enough money to may the repayment.

Soon after the announcement was made, all eyes turned to the stock market where a lot of movement was expected. Although stocks zigzagged, there was not any significant rise or fall. The index rose up by 15 points and there was a subtle edging up of stock averages. To quote the President ‘This is not a sign that our troubles are over-Far from it’, there still remain many unsolved problems. For one, many small banks still hold millions of dollars worth risky real estate loans. The large commercial banks still hold the toxic mortgage backed assets even at such a stage of the financial crisis. Out of the 200 banks that received the bailout money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), only 22 banks have made the repayment.

The chosen 10 banks are set to make the repayment from the $200 billion that the Treasury had set apart from the $700 billion rescue money. This money was used to buy preferential shares in the banks for which the government would get dividends over the next 10 years as well as warrants to buy more stocks. Analysts worry that the entire $700 billion may never be recovered. For example, the $70 billion that was used to bail out the American International Group (AIG) went into the accounts of stronger banks such as Goldman among a few others.

While this news is a slight positive sign, three of the country’s largest banks, Bank of America Corp. Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co still remain to be freed from the bailout cage. Some analysts worry that this deal could benefit the banks more than the tax payers as managing the TARP politics is a ‘messy affair’. Most of the money used to repay has been raised by selling stocks by the 10 banks.

The stepping down of Patricia Mitchell and Jackie Ward, effective this June 3rd is no surprise as it was a part of the overhaul process in order to strengthen the financial and banking expertise of the board. It may result in careful examination by directors of the Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, who had resigned from his role in April.

Ward who retired as the CEO of Computer Generation Inc, a software company in Atlanta came on board in 1994, and was criticized while she served as the head of the board’s asset quality committee. She was voted out by a majority of member when she attempted to make a comeback to the board, the highest opposition than any of the directors had met, except lead director O. Temple Sloan and Lewis who had to step down as well.

Patricia Mitchell is currently the chief executive of The Paley Center for Media, having previously served as the chief executive of the Public Broadcasting Service. She became a part of the board in the year 2001 and represented its committees on compensation & benefits and corporate governance.

BOA announced the addition of 4 new directors to its board, 2 of which are former regulators- Susan Bies (former Federal Reserve governor) and Donald Powell (chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp). Other directors are D. Paul Jones who formerly ran Alabama’s Compass Bancshares Inc, and William Boardman (retired vice chairman of Chicago’s Bank One Corp).

Lewis headed the bank in April 01, but off late had to face shareholder’s wrath over the acquisition of Merrill Lynch which filed for a federal bailout this year.

BOA shares closed higher by 20 cents at $12.06 on NYSE, however the shares have taken a hit of 2/3rd of their value since Q3 08.