Home equity lending has risen for the first time in five years, according to the credit reporting firm Equifax, while credit card and auto lending has risen as well.
New home equity loans increased by 6.6 percent over the past year, the company reported, the first annual increase since 2006. However, the average amount of individual loans is smaller than before, a reflection of the overall decline in home values nationwide. Meanwhile, auto loans are up more than 21 percent compared to the previous year, while available bank card credit – from newly issued credit cards and higher debt limits on existing ones – is up 35 percent over the previous year. “Despite concerns of the economy relapsing, several current metrics indicate the credit cycle is stabilizing – even growing somewhat as consumer payment behavior improves,” said Michael Koukounas, Equifax Senior Vice President of Client Services. C Read more…
Buying a car is always expensive, so choosing the best way to finance your purchase is vital…
We all know that running a car can be expensive. However, if you’re hoping to purchase a brand new one in the near future, how should you finance it?
Perhaps the most obvious and cheapest way to pay for a new car is to save up for it! Simply set up a direct debit to transfer a regular amount of money into a savings account each month – preferably one paying a decent rate of interest – and watch the funds build up. Read Savings rates at highest levels in two years for more advice.
If saving up isn’t a good option for you – and let’s face it, it might take a while to do so - you could consider taking out a low-rate unsecured personal loan. Alliance & Leicester, M&S and Nationwide are currently offering loans at an interest rate of 6.7%.
Just make sure you’re realistic about the term of your loan. New cars
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“One of the Rothschilds is said to have observed that if he could be sure of transmitting [or passing on to the next generation] a quarter of his capital, he would settle for that,” John Train writes in Dance of the Money Bees. “Alas, he probably didn’t make it.”
The Rothschild in question well knew how hard it is to preserve wealth. History is full of tales of fortunes lost. And if you needed reminders, there are memorials to lost fortunes everywhere. “There are so many great families whose former grandeur survives only as an echo, in the names of museums, converted mansions, streets and towns,” Train continues. “Their descendents don’t have it anymore. Taxes, inflation, expropriation and rising costs have pulled them down.”
Even so, some family businesses have made it work for a long time. As OOs, they have a better chance of doing something extraordinary than the hired-gun CEO.
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The next time you apply for credit, chances are very good you’ll see the credit scores used to judge you–for free.
The feds just expanded the pool of people likely to see their scores. Initially, the Dodd-Frank financial reform law requiring credit score disclosure was assumed to apply only to people who were either turned down for credit or who didn’t receive the best rate and terms. Now, according to final rules released yesterday by the Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission, anyone who applies for credit after the July 21 implementation date is likely to see their scores, said credit scoring expert John Ulzheimer, author of “You’re Nothing But a Number” and consultant to U.S. Senator Mark
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My parents never developed good behaviors when it came to money. They didn’t save, budget or make good spending decisions. Recently they’ve fallen on hard times. My mother is on disability, and my father is unable to get a salaried job. He’s an independent contractor who doesn’t make enough to regularly cover their mortgage payments, let alone food or medical expenses.
I love my parents and want to help, but I don’t want to financially ruin myself or become their money tree. I’ve bailed them out in the past (including several months’ worth of mortgage payments to avoid foreclosure). I am 30 and have a good job, but they seem to think I have an obligation to help them. I resist doin
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