HUD Counseling for Reverse Mortgages Wards off Scammers

By Spumeti Vanrock

Equity in a home is, of course, one of the benefits of owning in the first place. After all, who wants to go through the loan process, make payments and pay for all the repairs involved in owning without some monetary payoff.

With no other savings, the equity can be tapped into as a lever to solve financial issues. The reverse mortgage was originally invented with this in mind.

The reverse mortgage is not without its shortcomings and is not the proper tool for all situations.

As a possible conflict of interest, it is marketed by people just like me, who make money only when they get a senior borrower a reverse mortgage; they don't make money by talking the senior out of it.

Now, I'm a loan officer, and I have respect for most in my business. Most of us will tell you the absolute truth and give a fair assessment based upon the facts at hand.

That being said a certain minority resides in this business (as with any business), made up of unethical individuals willing to ignore anything associated with the golden rule to get what they want.

In the copier business, where I worked in the past, my company had a saying for sales people to remember: Get it done by any means possible. They were serious about it too. Do anything possible to get that money.

A few people in the business of reverse mortgages feel selfishly too, but have faith. You may not see the bad guys coming, but you will have a backup consultant to spot them for you.

Federal law requires serious parties to have a counseling session with a neutral counselor of reverse mortgages, approved by HUD, before continuing with the transaction.

This gives would-be borrowers neutral educated reverse mortgage advice, who may be talked into a reverse mortgage, when they could better solve their monetary crisis in some better way. The counselor should be able to filter through any questionable items and give suggestions.

Someone is always lying is wait to trick or take advantage of seniors, and this is one way to greatly avoid that possibility.

About the Author:

For a comprehensive guide to the California reverse mortgage make it over to this website. For all the skinny, go the California reverse mortgage fact sheet.

FUNDAMENTALS TO REPAIRING CREDIT

By Rob Kosberg

If you have learned that you are referred to in the financial world as a "credit risk" you will want to alter this and once again be a "good credit risk." It is possible to DIY.

It is actually possible for you to travel the "repair road" with yourself as the driver. However, when setting out on this trip, you will need a triptik to break down the milestones on the way.

There are some basic steps that need to be taken to solve the credit problems that are occurring. Initially, know your credit score. A score over 700 is known to be "good." A 3 digit number under 700 can be problematic. Find out this information via your credit score.

You can gather this information by securing your credit reports. Don't be afraid to look at them. They will provide essential information. Arrange to get these reports from the Credit Bureaus. There are 3 credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You are entitled to a free report from each once a year. There is a charge for the credit score. See www.annualcreditreport.com for details.

It is possible that each of these reports may actually be different. Therefore, it is very important to obtain all three report for comparison.

Review each report for errors after you finish comparing them. Then, you will need to DISPUTE THE ERRORS with each of the three bureaus. This will require patience and persistence.

Contact the credit bureaus in writing with a copy of the report, the errors and reason why you need to have it rectified. Remember to keep copies of everything you send. There's an old saying: "If it's not documented, it didn't happen."

This is essential information for you to have because there may be some unexpected surprises on those reports. Stay with the process, confront the issues.

About the Author:

With unprecedented problems in the credit markets it's more important than ever to have excellent credit. For more information check out Rob Kosbergs' Detailed FREE Guide on Maintaining and Repairing your Credit Score by going to Bad Credit Repair for your FREE information.

How To Get Bad Credit Student Loans

By Dave Davidson

If you are seeking to further your education by attending college, most likely you can't afford the tuition costs on your own. You might need some assistance to make ends meet and realize your dream of attending college. But what if you have bad credit or even no credit history at all?

Lots of people ask me if they will need to improve their credit score before they apply for student loans. I almost always tell them that this won't be necessary. The government provides several different types of loans that help people that have bad credit.

Most student loan programs offered by the federal government are based on need. The government backs these loans and that makes them available for people, even if their credit is poor. As long as you have financial need, you can probably qualify for Stafford loans and you credit history isn't considered when you apply for Stafford loans.

If you are a person that has a lot of need for financial assistance, you may be able to qualify for Pell grants and/or Perkins loans. These types of financial assistance are available for people that have bad credit and need to pay for education. Credit actually isn't part of the process of applying for these loans so go ahead no matter what type of credit you have.

If you're able to qualify for Pell grants, they will never have to be paid back. As long as your education is in good standing, you should be able to get a Pell grant each semester for as long as you qualify.

If you aren't able to qualify for the federal subsidized loan programs, there are still some options out there for you. Take a look at unsubsidized Stafford loans, because they are probably still available to you, even if you have bad credit.

The government doesn't assist in any way with the payment. But generally, the interest rates are much lower than other lending options. And like all of the loans and grants mentioned, your bad credit history won't disqualify you from receiving the loan. So if you want to go to college, there is always a way.

About the Author:

Dave educates students on finding a good bad credit student loan and also how to avoid getting the wrong bad credit student loans.

Make Good Use of a Retirement Planning Calculator

By Michael Geoffrey

Retirement should be free of schedules, pressures and other worries, but individuals looking for a great retirement should start planning very early. A good retirement planning calculator can be very helpful in making the proper plans for a successful, enjoyable retirement. A retirement planning calculator can help people decide how much money they should save, invest or spend in order to have a successful retirement.

It is important to begin planning for your retirement early in your career. A Retirement planning calculator can be utilized and if followed can really help one prepare for the future. No one wants to be forced to stay in the workforce and put off their retirement because of poor planning. A retirement planning calculator can help.

A retirement planning calculator is often available from the human resources department of some companies, and other retirement planning calculators are available from banks and other financial institutions. These retirement planning calculators can often be accessed on the websites of these institutions.

Of course the retirement planning calculator will only be useful if the information entered is accurate. Also, once the information is entered the direction given by the retirement planning calculator must be followed in order to maximize your savings for retirement. So once you locate your retirement planning calculator you must give some serious thought to how you will use it.

A Retirement Planning Calculator Provides Figures For The Future

So many things change when you retire. Your job will no longer dictate certain aspects of your life. If you chose your current home because of a job opportunity retirement will afford you the opportunity to relocate to a preferred area. These new choices and changes will create new financial decisions and circumstances.

Some of these decisions could make a substantial difference in the funds available for retirement living. While working and raising a family, people have to consider schools for their children, and they usually have to pay taxes for good schools. After raising their family, they no longer need a community with great schools so they might avoid high property taxes.

A retirement planning calculator will help you factor in the cost of health insurance during your retirement. If you are in a financial position to take an early retirement but you have not yet reached the age where you are eligible for Medicare you will need to consider how you will pay for the health insurance you need during the interim.

About the Author:

Is credit counseling the best way to get out of debt? It might be, but there's no one best way for everyone. Visit the Debt Smackdown website at http://www.debtsmackdown.com for more helpful information about getting rid of your debt for good..

Apply To See Your Credit Report And Change Your Credit Score

By Jim Bransby

Your credit score has become an important tool that is used to make decisions about you. When you apply for credit cards or a car loan, this will trigger a credit check and generate multiple credit scores. Based upon these scores, lenders make decisions about whether or not to lend to you, how much to lend, and at what interest rate. Credit scores are also used by potential employers, utility and service providers, along with other companies you do business with.

It is therefore incredibly important to improve your credit score. Different credit reporting and scoring companies use different methods to assemble credit scores, but the methods are similar enough that taking certain steps can improve each of your credit scores.

First of all, you need to know the players. There are three major credit reporting bureaus. Each of these has a file about you. Their files are built up over time by assembling the information that credit providers give the credit bureaus. Each time you obtain credit, it goes into your file; and then the credit provider gives the credit bureaus a record of your repayment of that credit.

For example, you have a car loan that requires you to make a payment on the 5th of each month for 36 months. Over the first year, lets say that you make two late payments on the 20th of the month, while the rest are considered on time. The lender sends a report of this repayment activity to each credit reporting bureau. Each bureau uses their own proprietary formula to compute your score based on the information reported by creditors to them.

As the scores can differ somewhat, the next step is applying to check your credit report. The information here is vital, it can be though of as your financial health record. There are many offers on the internet that can be used to check both your credit report and your credit score.

After you have obtained your credit report and score, look closely at the information that has been provided by your creditors. Be sure that all the creditors reporting to your credit file are actually your accounts. If you see creditors on the report that you did not borrow from, you can easily improve your score by having these incorrect entries removed from your report.

Finally, review all payment histories to be sure that they are accurate. If a creditor has reported incorrect late payments, or does not show payments that you make, correcting these can greatly improve your credit score. Your credit score report will contain the addresses of the credit reporting bureaus. Just follow the instructions to write to the bureaus and identify errors in your report

Each credit bureau will individually look into errors. Sometimes you will need to communicate with the bureaus more than once to get things resolved, so it is important to keep a file of letters and responses. As you remove the incorrect late payments or other inaccuracies, your score can improve dramatically in a short time.

Apply to check your credit report as soon as possible, and then at least annually. The more you know about your financial health record, the better able you will be to improve your credit score. Credit scoring is so commonly used today that improving your credit score will help you in many ways.

About the Author:

To find out exactly how you can get your annual credit report visit my credit report website.