Personal Finance and Money Management

If you have missed a few payments and your house goes into foreclosure there are a few things you can do. The most important thing you need to do is remain in touch with the bank at all times. No matter how annoying the lender seems to be and no matter how many times you have repeated your story to the bank, keep talking to them.

If you have missed a few payments on your mortgage and received a notice of default, don’t panic. Many people panic because they think their home is now lost and there is nothing they can do. They cut off communication with the bank and think the bank is coming after them for the full amount of the loan after they kick them out. You don’t have to move out of your home as soon as the foreclosure process occurs. Answer the phone when your lender calls or pick up the phone and call them. Tell the bank exactly why you have missed a few payments and be clear to them you want to keep your home.

The bank will work with you if you tell them you want to keep your home and you do everything you can to get caught up on the payments. If you are unable to get caught up on the payments and you know you are going to lose your home then there is still a process that must be followed legally. The process of a foreclosure will take from six months to a year to complete. Don’t pack up and move out right away. Use this time to save up as much money as you can before you have to move out of the home. You have up until the date of the auction to live on the property and no one will remove you from the property until then.

If your house goes into the foreclosure process, you can still stop a foreclosure from appearing on your credit report. Put your home up for sale and see if you can sell it. If you can sell the property for the amount you owe on the loan then you will be in good shape. Ask your bank if they will agree to a short sale. You might also ask about a deed in lieu. These are options you might choose from to stop a foreclosure from appearing on your credit report.

Getting a fixed rate refinance today could help you save a significant amount of money. If you are looking to lock in to low mortgage interest rates soon you will want to take action sooner rather than later. If you continue to wait you could find that mortgage interest rate start moving higher than the 5% horizontal line they are currently at.

There are many mortgage lenders who are currently advertising interest rates well below 5%. With this being the case it would be very wise to submit a refinance application soon. Many analysts have predicted that mortgage rates are likely to move much higher than 5% in the near time to come.

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With apologies to Marx and Engels, this may also sound like the clarion call for those responsible for regulating financial institutions.

We have already seen developed countries discuss how regulations on banking, derivatives, etc, can better be coordinated… all the better to keep the financial players from picking the best domicile for their activity.

And, now, we have the US Government looking to create a national office of insurance. Although the initial and ultimate authority of such a new department is still open for debate…even the insurance industry does not agree steady what that should be…the trend is cloudless. Many

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I’ve had a few e-mails come into my inbox lately, and lot of them have to deal with foreclosures, short sales, and other things in the real estate market.  While I’m not the biggest expert in real estate, I’ll try my best to help out.

I received this following e-mail from a following reader a few days ago.  I will call her “Ann”

Hi,

I have a mortgage with Wells Fargo.  We currently owe $250,000, and like a lot of people in America, I lost my job, as well as my husband.  He is laid off for the time being, but I don’t expect him to get the job back any time soon.

We’ve been trying to our loan modified, but Wells Fargo just keeps giving us the run around, or we’re on hold for hours on end.  Do you know what the steps are to get a modification, or are we looking at foreclosure?  Help!

For me personally, I have a Wells Fargo home loan as well, and while I’m not in the market to modify it, I did some research online, and came to the conclusion that there are some things that you can do to get your loan modified.

First, you’re going to find that Wells Fargo is going to look deeply into your budget.  They want to know that you need this modification.  If you can still afford it, they are still going to make you pay it.  Many experts will tell you to miss a payment for 3 months in a row before even applying.  Yes, it’s going to hurt your credit score, but this is the only way the banks are going to listen to you in this market.

Keep in mind that you’re dealing with 1000s a day that are in your shoes, and you better believe that these phones are ringing off the hook.  What you’ll want to do is head to Wells Fargo’s website, and read their modification guide.  What you’re going to find out is that they can help you in many different ways.  Be honest on your application, and make sure that you fill it out properly.  You will want to follow up about every 3 days to check on the status.  You don’t want to be afraid to call!

If anyone else has this type of problem, or maybe a success story, let Ann hear about it!

When the Haiti earthquake occurred several weeks ago, there were pleas for turn into money donations. In an effort to help, companies offered to collect donations from customers and pass them on the relief organizations   Emerging from this situation is the text donation.

Texting donations have been done in the past but not one the scale seen for Haiti. The power of social networking was made clear as millions of dollars were charged against consumer accounts and each one generated by a text message. There were no checks to write or websites that had to be accessed. All a person had to do was text designated words to a numbered code using a cell phone. <

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