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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Understanding the Home Mortgage Industry in Australia

By Guy Baldwin

A mortgage can be referred to as the transfer of an interest in property to a lender as the security for debt. It is usually a loan of money. The mortgage is usually not a loan as such, but a security for a debt to the lender in acquiring of a property.

The Australian home loans sector like other similar sectors around the world is fairly complex and poses a major challenge to home owners. With improper handling, the mortgage debt could easily lead to a state of bankruptcy and produce a negative effect on a country's economy. So as to prevent such an occurrence, some online home loan providers has taken the initiative of giving crucial advice to mortgage loan seekers. They are advised to ensure that the mortgage is within their means to repay and will not hurt the economy.

The first home owner grant which was initiated by the Australian government is meant to assist citizens buy their own homes. One challenge that is faced by this program is the ignorance of citizens toward its operations. Some professionals gives advice on how this program works while also providing people with information concerning the management of mortgages as well as advice on other investment alternatives in real estate.

The most common subprogram is the home equity loan. It enables citizens buy homes at highly competitive interest rates. Citizens also benefit by receiving information on how to benefit from government initiated programs such as home owner grant. When making deals concerning home loan products, it is a vital necessity to employ the services of an experienced broker. The main problem with this is the high fees charged by brokers.

On internet you will get all the information you need on mortgages at very affordable rates lower than the brokerage fee. You will also get information on how you can benefit from government initiatives such as the first home owner grant.

There are different home loan features and it is advisable to pick on the right home loan that has feature which will help you in paying off you mortgage. Some home loan providers offers assistance to its clients in choosing the right home loan features at absolutely no cost and the type of home loan features are redraw facilities, offset accounts, repayment holiday, interest only payments and many more.

There are quite a number of features involved in mortgage that you need to be aware of as a mortgage seeker. You should be aware of the interest rates, repayment periods as well as the penalties imposed in case of default in making payments.

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Venture Capital Funding

By Abbi Rouse

In order to start a business, you are most likely to need a substantial amount of funds to get the business up and running! More often than not, entrepreneur's do not have the money and therefore most likely to not pursue their dreams. This is where venture capital funding is required. This scheme brings money to the entrepreneur for a share of future profits.

Banking V's Venture

So, what is the difference in a venture capital and borrowing money from a bank? Venture capitalists look for long term gains, while banks look to make money on interest income. The investors generally hope to get three to five times their investment.

What's Involved In Seeking Venture Capital Funding

You may be asking yourself, how do I get venture capital funding for my business? Often it is who you know. You need a specialized company who knows how to approach and line up venture capital money successfully. You won't regret it. The amount of time you will save by continuing to concentrate on growing your business will be invaluable during this time. Leave the heavy lifting of seeking venture financing for your business to the experts.

Entrepreneurs can of course approach venture investors, however they must be warned that this can be a very long and drawn out process. There are numerous meetings involved, calls and revisions to business plans etc; before a venture will even consider funding your business.

Create A Proper Business Plan

One of the first things that a venture capital investor will need is a business plan. The business plan gives a timeline. In the timeline, it generally provides a ballpark idea on the financial outlay required and how long it will take to get a return on investment.

Finally

At the end of the day, venture capitalists want to see a profitable enterprise develop. Stick to the business plan, take advice from investors and go about making your business successful. Venture capitalist can vary in their approach to your business. Some are laid back and will allow more leeway; others prefer a hands on approach and will account for every penny and ensure it is spent properly.

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Why Not Live Better By Managing Your Debts?

By Bob Hobson

Some level of debt is almost ubiquitous in our culture. A lot of us take on loans for large purchases. One of the most common of these debts is the one assumed for a mortgage loan; there are few of us who are able to purchase our homes outright.

You can continue living better when you have debts. Here are some solutions and great tips to follow in order to manage your debt and enjoy life.

1. Take a careful look at your debts. Have a look through all of the billing statements you've received and the amount of money your creditors are asking for. If you see any incorrect information, be sure to dispute it right away. After this, figure out how much of your money needs to go to each creditor - include interest and other charges in this computation.

2. Planning. Determine you intended deadline for final payment of your debts. Keep in mind that when you schedule to pay within a year or earlier that your payment of scheduled interest is somewhat lower. Include your daily living expenses. It is essential that you consider your personal necessities as well as your debts.

3. Draw up a monthly budget. Once you've figured out how much your monthly debt obligation is, the next task is to come up with a budget for your monthly expenditures. Make repaying your loans and other debts your number one priority after covering vital expenses like housing and utilities.

4. Further reduce your spending. If you find out that your monthly income seems to be less than your projected monthly expenses, try to check which purchases you can put off or cut out entirely. Try to stick to your needs rather than the wants.

5. Maximize your savings. If you have some money in the bank, try to determine how you can use it best to pay off your debts. Check which of your savings accounts is the lowest interest earner. Maybe you can use that to compensate a loan with a much higher rate of interest.

6. Look for additional sources of income. You may be able to get a second job or start a home based business to bring in a little extra money to go towards your debts. You may also be able to qualify for government funds in some cases.

You can be debt free by following this advice. The key lies in effectively setting your priorities and managing your debts. You are bound for success once you have mastered this.

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A Look At Loans For Poor Credit Rating

By Louis Soul

These days more and more people in America are having a hard time dealing with the difficulty of obtaining credit in many forms such as application for credit cards or any type of loans or even from renting, and although this may seem to be a crisis for most, certain kinds of assistance to repair a poor credit score may be available to give remedy to this. As a result, you will find yourself lost in a situation called the catch 22. It is possible to obtain loans with poor credit scores but the penalty paid by the applicants is a variety of fees and conditions plus of course a higher interest rate.

If you decide to give this a try, then you should bear in mind that prior investigation should be done first such as going over the annual percentage rate, analysing it together with other fees and whether security is required to be able to check and realize how much it would take you to repay the loan. You should be aware that with the help of the Internet, you can always find consumer websites that specializes in facilitating poor credit loans with the motive of finding you the best deals and terms as well as the right firm to help you ease the troubles away.

This is also one of preventing your credit score from getting worse since your application will directly be recorded every time you do so as per time frame will somehow lower your credit score. People changing their minds as to switching to another company offering a better deal for the application of loan as compared to the previous or current company that they have chosen will only lead themselves to a much worse situation.

Probably the easiest and most convenient way to rebuild your credit rating is to use a credit card because the financial institutions can see that regular monthly instalments are being made and assess to credit worthiness on this. Once again you will probably more for the privilege of having one of these cards and each issuer will have their own terms and conditions so it is worthwhile checking each one out first. To prevent yourself from any waste and further damage to your credit score, you should be careful in applying for a credit card as most have a high income level for applicants so always see to it that you don't apply to which requires a higher income than you receive.Once people have shown that they are responsible enough in handling their credit, it is more likely that an increase in the amount of credit on a person's card is to be made however, this is not always a good idea and can be risky to what you have been gained especially if you are trying to repair your credit rating.

Another method of improving a credit score is to use a home loan but many people will not qualify even though they may need the money for important remodelling work but they can apply for a loan from a bad credit mortgage lender who should be able to help. Aside from taking a particular interest rate into consideration when deciding for a mortgage, you should also bear in mind that there may be other charges on an annual basis as well as any penalties that can be incurred so awareness for those can just save you tons of worries.

It is consoling to know that despite your predicament of a poor credit score, you should still be able to get credit in the form of a loan, credit card and it is even possible to have an auto loan arranged as well. Seeking the advice of a professional debt counsellor is recommended for those people who are in serious debt and having trouble making monthly repayments because they can provide a more in depth information and debt consolidation loan as an option is more likely to be their suggestion.

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Personal Development Always Fails Without Action And Application

By Christina Helwig

While sitting in a symposium in a few months ago, I realized something very basic to the entire topic of personal development. I understood so much more clearly why even though I have a deep understanding of this material, I have not been able to produce the results I want in my life until now.

For years my focus has been on learning and understanding material; not their twin sister - application. I have spent hours and hours on my bed reading, studying and taking notes on these topics. Those hours moved me light years ahead mentally but they did nothing until now for my physical, daily world. I have been so intent on getting my mind wrapped around these concepts that I failed to pay attention to the most crucial aspect of this process = personal action.

Throughout "Think and Grow Rich" Napoleon Hill gives his readers many action steps to complete and several daily tasks to perform. I always thought "I will read the entire book and then go back and DO what he suggests." This was a HUGE mistake. Even if I was not in the right position, those action steps would have moved me closer to my dreams and would have begun the process of building up my self-esteem, self-confidence and my level of awareness of my innate ability to handle my big life goals. And, I incrementally would have been moving closer to what I desired, even if it was only a little bit at a time. I have since become an active student of the application of these concepts. It is only through action that I prepare the way and the method by which I can receive what I want in my life.

Please stop just reading about improving yourself and really think about whether you need to become an "active" student of "application" in your life. You learn the methods or the "certain way" only by doing, not by studying. Studying allows you to understand the process but to learn and internalize material you must act on all things that Napoleon Hill, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor, Wallace Wattles and all the other personal growth authors tell you to do.

"Take the first step in faith and the rest will be revealed to you." Wallace Wattles. Take is a verb. A verb requires action. Recently I came up with an idea to help law students. I did not have the product finished or know all the details of what I wanted to include in my product. I did not know the distribution method or how I would advertise the product. But, I took action. I called my mentor and booked an appointment with her to talk about my idea. As the month ticked down I worked on my presentation, read some more material and got more ideas.

When I finally went in to talk to her in person she loved my idea. I only showed her a short snapshot of the project and she ended up booking me to teach to over 70 students in a month and a half. All of this happened because I did not wait until everything was "perfect," "complete," "just right" or "totally finished." I acted on my idea and my idea produced results. As I continue to take action on this project the next steps and new ideas keep coming to me. The project gets better and better and will help many people in the near future.

You can do this too. Stop waiting for the time to be right and just start working on your ideas. Without action nothing will happen. You will continue to pile up self-help books and seminar tickets and you will blame the books and speakers for not helping you. They are helping you; they are giving you the tools you need to move forward. Since they are not there to hold your hand when you act, you have to do it on your own. Remember small steps add up to big results. Last year I climbed Half Dome in Yosemite and I did it one step at a time. Sometimes it was hard, and sometimes it was fairly easy, but every step was important because it moved me closer to my goal.

I know this may seem very basic but taking action is fundamental to your progress and can delay or completely hinder your efforts if you do not pay attention to making things happen instead of just thinking about things happening. Like yin and yang: learning and application go hand in hand.

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Are You A First Home Buyer? Check Out This

By Guy Baldwin

There are people who are willing to own property for a second time while others are first home buyers. For people who are out to buy homes for the first time need not rush, because there is a lot to be taken into consideration before finally settling on your preferred choice. One need to consider the long term benefits that comes with the home.

Potential home buyers usually place their search on online listing. A home buyer can go on virtual tours online viewing listed property, and hence decide on the best alternative that caters adequately for his needs. Thanks to internet technology.

This has been instrumental in giving prospective home buyers the necessary information such as the type of home and neighborhood before getting to the real estate agent's office.

Buying a home is a major decision that also involves a lot of economic expenditure. Therefore, it requires a step by step analysis of the implications of each decision that is made. Your income, budgets and expenditures should adequately reflect your ability to go home buying. Affordability of the home to buy depends largely on such factors as personal income, credit rating, current monthly expenditures, interest rates as well as the required down payment.

The real estate industry is so complicated. You need to fully comprehend both the rights of the buyer and seller, as well as the legal requirements to be fulfilled before the deal is sealed. The universal requirement for fair housing and equal opportunities for all must be held in all such transactions. Other legal rights to be held include the predatory lending and real estate settlement procedures Act.

This is followed by shopping for a good loan deal. A home buyer should do a bit of homework to choose a lender with the package that suits your needs. This is done through talking to several lenders, comparing of the costs and interest rates and negotiating for the best deal.

The best decision a home buyer should make is take on the loaning program that offers low down payments and it is best for first time home buyers and another thing to consider is to search for a house that basically suits your needs. The best house s also determined by the neighborhood.

Home shopping is followed by making the offer to the real estate agent. This involves negotiations and sale agreements. Inspection of the desired house will be needed to verify its condition. Inspection can be carried out by the owner or a hired professional home inspector.

In cases where it is deemed necessary, the home buyer should have a homeowner's insurance cover. This could be the lender's requirement for issuing a loan to the borrower. The final step involves the voluntary signing of necessary settlement papers and closing the deal. It is imperative for home buyers to read through the papers carefully before signing.

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Affordable Online Banking Strategy

By Ricky Pointing

Online banking is now a normal way of banking but not very long ago it was practically unheard of when it came to banking. Only a few short years ago in 1995, Saving Bank was the originator of the online banking option when they gave clients a choice of being able to look at their accounts and to do certain banking online. Today practically everyone uses online banking to take care of their checking and savings accounts. They online bank to pay bills, keep track of their outgoing and incoming funds and even set up accounts that can be automatically debited for the amount of a bill on a recurring basis.

When online banking first became popular it was not nearly as sophisticated as it is today. With the speed of computers and the advance of technology, a purchase is immediately deducted from your checking account when you used a debit card. Unlike the days of writing checks and waiting for up to a week or longer for them to appear on your account, the money is immediately deducted and there is less chance of messing up your account balances. Another great thing about online banking is the option of being able to access your account at any time. The banks close at a certain time usually between 4 and 5. If you are not able to get there you have to either spend your lunch time waiting at the bank or take time off to go. When you online bank, you can take care of your account at two o'clock in the morning if that is when you choose.

There are many banks to choose from when it comes to keeping track of your balances and TCF is one of them. For an easy way to keep track of your banking, TCF offers the way to check your balances, pay bills, transfer funds, and let you bank during hours that are convenient for you. Just like all the other banks that have taken the initiative and gone with online banking this is one way to keep track of your money and have the convenience of being able to check your deposits, withdrawals, and transfers all from the privacy of your own home. TCF is just one of the many banks that offer online banking today.

Another one is Capital One. The basics are just about the same with online banking no matter what bank you decide to choose. Some may offer a few more incentives to get you to choose their bank, such as rounding up the change from using a debit card and putting it in your savings. However, they all basically offer the same services. It is just the convenience they offer that is so appealing.

The added benefits of financing your home, your car, or practically any other big purchase you want to make using Capital One or TCF is going to be about the same except the interest rates may vary. Often this is a result of your credit score rather than what a finance company, bank, or other lending institution offers when it comes to interest rates.

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When do I Call In a Credit Collection Agency?

By JR Rooney

You should call in a credit collection agency sooner rather than later. The longer you wait to begin the collection process on overdue accounts, the less of a chance you'll have at recovering your money.

The day after an account becomes overdue, you should place a polite phone call to the customer who owes you money. If that doesn't work, you may want to send a few past-due letters yourself, or you may want to go directly to a credit collection agency. Base your decision on how much money is owed to you and the history of your relationship with the customer. If it's the first time you are doing business with them, you'll want to call in a credit collection agency earlier than you would with a 10-year customer with a solid credit history.

Most companies call in a credit collection agency once a debt is 60 days to 90 days past due. If you wait much longer than 90 days to begin recovering unpaid receivables, your chance of collecting drops dramatically.

If you discover that your account has gone out of business, find out what type of business it was - a corporation, a partnership, or a proprietorship. If it was a corporation, don't even bother calling for the help of a collection agency. It is doubtful that you, or any one else, will be able to squeeze the last few nickels out of that client. If the company is a partnership or a proprietorship, you may be able to get the individual owners of the company to pay you out of their own pockets.

If you try to recover a debt and cannot, consider that bad debt a tax-deductible item (Tax Code IRC 166, Reg. 1.166). You will be able to deduct the cost of the goods sold (but not paid for) as an ordinary business expense. You can't deduct any lost profits from the sale, nor can you deduct the money owed for services rendered.

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How To Improve Your Credit Score

By John Cooper

Improving your credit score can seem like a daunting task. The credit bureaus claim to factor in hundreds of things and you have no direct control over your score.

This is wrong. You can focus on a couple easy steps and develop a good credit score.

1. Disputing and removing bad credit items on your report. You can do this yourself or hire a service but it will help your score the most.

2. If an item is verified then work out a way to pay them in exchange have the item removed from your your credit report.

3. Pay your bills on time. It is alleged that missing one monthly payment can cause your score to drop by up to 50 points.

4. Open a new line of credit. Your score will receive the most benefit if you have a revolving line of credit. We suggest an unsecured credit card.

When you make your monthly payment you will be creating a positive payment history. This is a very large part of your credit score. If you have difficulties opening an unsecured credit card then get a secured card. Double check and make sure your credit card is reported to all three major bureaus.

In addition try to keep your monthly balance at 10% of your available credit. Doing this shows the bureaus that you do in fact use your credit and you use it responsibly.

5. Pay off large debt. Your score will get a bump if you have high available credit to debt. The bureaus want to make sure you are not overextended and by showing them you have available credit your score will get a bump.

These five factors are the only things you need to concern yourself with when trying to improve your credit score. There is one last factor however it is shadowed in controversy.

6. Piggy back credit, this is when you are added as an authorized user on an account with a high credit limit and low balance. The benefit you get is the account is not reported on your credit history.

This tactic has been widely abused by some credit repair services. The scoring model has changed to discount this method however it is disputed as to if that change has occurred or not.

In sum if you can take care of steps one through five then you will improve your score. With a high credit score your quality of life will also improve.

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National Average 30 Year Fixed Mortgage Rate

By Louis Soul

It is quite normal for potential home buyers to look into 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage rates when considering their monthly repayments. No-one wants a mortgage hanging around their neck forever but with homebuyers entering the market later, an early repayment of this loan is important. Of course, there are many things to consider before agreeing to anything. One important point is to ensure that the interest rate does not change during the life of the loan.

It is always wise to avoid agreements that do not appear to have any negative aspects because they invariably have but are hidden. A 15 year fixed rate mortgage means the interest rate remains stable for the life of the loan. If you are someone that wants a loan with a regular fixed repayment and no additional charges then this is the main benefit with this type of agreement. When my wife and I were looking at homes for sale we decided to check out the various loans available with 15 year fixed mortgage rates.

The plan was to pay off the house as soon as possible but we did not want to be burdened with high monthly payments. When we considered fixed rate mortgages we also looked into even longer term loans that spanned 30 years as well. The 15 year fixed mortgage rate was the plan we really wanted because neither of us wanted to be still paying a mortgage when we close to retiring. We felt that there was a great deal of emphasis on paying the mortgage off early.

Taking everything into account we finally went for the easier 30 year mortgage plan instead. Many factors were taken into account when reaching this decision.Probably the over-riding decider was the fact my wife was expecting a child.

The contribution my wife made to the monthly finances would be unreliable since she intended to raise our child at home. Loans that were based on 15 year fixed mortgage rates required a much higher monthly payment. We just decided we would probably get into trouble if we took this route. Despite the trepidation of having a longer term loan, it did reduce the repayments considerably.

Being able to make additional lump sum payments during the year means the outstanding loan reduces faster. By doing this you can also reduce the term of the mortgage by quite a few years. This takes some discipline but it is well worth the effort it in the long term. It was hard going against our preference for a shorter term, 15 year fixed rate mortgage, but we had to think about more immediate needs and abilities. As it is, things worked out very well for us by taking this route.

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