Refinancing not always best choice
The chance to refinance a mortgage at a lower interest rate is sure to get a homeowner’s attention. But it’s not always the right decision. … According to Bankrate’s 2008 closing cost survey, the national average for closing costs on a $200000 loan is $3118. The fees in the survey don’t include taxes, insurance or prepaid items such as prorated interest or homeowner association dues. When weighing whether to refinance, homeowners typically are urged to … read more…
Suburban Journals | News | New ISO rating could lower fire …
The Granite City Fire Department’s new Fire Suppression Rating could have an effect on business and homeowner fire insurance coverage as early as February, according to Fire Chief Tim Connolly. Connolly is urging residents and business owners to check their coverage through their carrier because of a possible decrease in coverage rates on Monday due to the Fire Department’s rating improving in December from a five to a three. The Insurance Services Office prepares the … read more…
Auto Insurance Best » Detroit officer found guilty in auto fraud case
State Farm customers can expect their homeowners insurance rates to drop an average of 20 percent and auto insurance rates to fall 10 percent under a proposal announced Wednesday that calls for the … read more…
From Google Blog Search
Homecomings loan modification
Loan modification is the help forwarded by the lender to the borrower so as to help the borrower to make repayments of the loan easily. This often helps the borrower to make loan repayments feasibly w… read more…
The Coming Credit Card Debt Meltdown
All over the world, people are keeping fingers crossed that the $700 billion financial system bailout works the way it is supposed to and eases the worsening global credit crunch and restores confiden… read more…
�I Want to Sell My House� � a Common Phrase
Why is “I want to sell my house” the most common phrase a real estate expert hears? This is a common phrase because, with the current economic downturn, both at home and abroad, many homeowners are de… read more…
From GoArticles.com
Resolved Question: Any REALISTIC ideas how we can scale back our budget?
Here’s a breakdown of my husband and my monthly obligations:
Mortgage: $1206
Car payments: $466
Electric: $120
Natural gas: $66
Verizon: $70
Cable/phone/internet: $80
Water/waste disposal: $75
Life insurance: $85
Auto insurance: $174
Student loans: $120
Credit card: $51
Currently, my husband is getting a lot of overtime, and we are bringing home $4,400 a month. However, in June his overtime will end for about 8 months, and his income will settle back down to approx. $3,000 per month. Both of these figures are after health insurance, taxes, and our 401(k) contribution of 4%.
I am extremely grateful that we are making what we are in this terrible economy, but it’s very frustrating because once the overtime ends, we will just be making it, with room for few extras, and I just don’t know what else we can cut down/cut out.
Our mortgage is not going to change; in fact, it could very well go up if our homeowner’s insurance premium goes up or our city decides to raise the real estate tax;
We owe 3 more years on our cars, and $466 TOTAL between both payments is quite cheap, and it’s silly to trade one of our cars in for something cheaper since we have already paid so much on them, so there’s not much to do with that;
Our natural gas, electric, and water bills are right on par with the local average – we are very conscious of our lights, heat, and water usage, and can’t cut these bills back anymore without major discomfort;
We are in the middle of a 2 year contract with Verizon and are on the cheapest plan available (they actually don’t even offer our plan anymore… we are grandfathered. The cheapest plan currently for two lines is $20 extra a month);
Our phone/cable/internet bill cannot be reduced – I work at home and depend on the house phone, since my husband and I share a mere 500 peak minutes on our cells, our cable is the minimum package at $12 a month – basically just prevents us from needing rabbit ears, and our internet is the cheapest available in our area;
We just acquired life insurance, which is $50,000 each whole and $100,000 each term – that’s a necessity, especially since we are 23 and 24 and locked in our rate for life;
Our auto insurance could be lowered by upping our deductible to $500, but I called and asked about it, and it would only make a $30 difference every 6 months, which doesn’t seem worth it considering we’d be upping our deductibles so much.
The student loan… well, there’s not much we can do about that. We could get it financed for more than the standard 10 years, but then you are just spending SO much extra money in interest.
We have recently paid off $1,100 furniture, $500 department store charge, $1,500 Best Buy, $1,600 on my credit card, and now all we have left is my husband’s credit card, which has a $3,000 balance. Most of this debt was from early in our marriage and we decided quickly that we didn’t want to carry debt, so we have been working hard to pay it off. Before my husband’s overtime ends, we will have paid the credit card completely off.
So… any realistic ideas of how we might cut our expenses? All the articles on the internet are so cheesy or unrealistic. For instance, I’m not in dire enough of a situation to reduce my heat to 60 degrees!
– OUR income will be $3,000. Not just his.
The insurance deductible reduction would only lower my auto insurance $30 every SIX months, not every month. I wish it’d lower it $30 per month! 
Resolved Question: Why did this insurance agent try to push me into buying an expensive alarm system I don’t need?
I just bought a homeowner’s insurance policy for a house my husband and I just purchased. I bought our policy over the phone from a well respected company I will not mention because of their good service overall. The agent I dealt with was absolutely insistent that my husband and I install a monitored home security system in our house because we would get (a rather paltry) discount on our policy. I tried to explain to the rep that paying for the system, including monitoring would never pay off even if we were robbed because we don’t have many things someone would want to steal. Other than an off brand flat screen TV (that’s chained with a lock under its base to a very heavy solid wood TV console and we’re even thinking about attaching that to the floor joists), an inexpensive DVD player, a shelf of DVD’s mostly bought from the bargain bin at Wal-Mart and a couple of cheap laptops (that don’t even have Windows installed on them, we’re Linux users) there’s not much of value. She kept saying that what would we do if we were hit by $20,000 in loss from a burglary. Including a motorcycle and 2 cars (all insured for theft); we would be lucky if everything we have to our name, other than the house is worth that much! Plus, we live in a rural area in Alabama with a low break-in rate; I checked county crime stats for the past 10 years and we’re well below the national average. The nosy neighbors don’t hurt either
In order to break into the house you would have to get through a standard door lock, two deadbolts on each solid core security grade entry door, various window locks and avoid setting off wireless threshold motion sensors on all exterior doors and windows that let off an ear drum bursting screech that would deafen anyone within 100 feet. I work from home so I’m literally in the house all day and anyone dumb enough to break in would run a pretty high risk of getting a .22 shoved in their face anyway. The rep was still insistent that we “needed” an alarm even after hearing all of that. I couldn’t get it through her head that it doesn’t and probably will never pay for me to own an alarm system.
She then started going over my auto policy and mentioned that it would be a wise idea to put a Lojack or Onstar system on my two vehicles because of another paltry discount! My husband and I own a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville and a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup; which are probably the last vehicles anyone would want to steal.
She just didn’t get it that some people live frugally and only buy what they actually need. She also seemed to take great offense when I told her that I thought it was dumb to spend $1000 on an alarm system, plus monitoring fees to protect a few thousand dollars worth of stuff in a low crime area in a house thats already locked tighter than Fort Knox and practically under armed guard! My dad’s obsessed with home defense so I learned how to use a gun when I was 14.
I’m 22 and this was by far the most annoying experience I’ve had in the whole home buying process! I would have hung up on her but I needed the insurance paperwork sent to my mortgage company before the end of the business day. The insurance company I’m using doesn’t even have any connection to these other companies whatsoever! I don’t get it. Is this woman completely crazy?
Resolved Question: HELP PLEASEEEEE i dont want miss this homework!?
Hey i need help on this homework,
i need a normal paragraph like a resumen of this article:
State regulators intend to reject State Farm Florida’s request for an average 47.1 percent increase on its homeowners policies.
In South Florida and coastal regions of the state, the rate increase would have been substantially higher.
The Office of Insurance Regulation said it had thoroughly reviewed State Farm’s filing and the testimony the company gave at the Aug. 12 public hearing in Tallahassee.
Deputy Commissioner Belinda Miller said “State Farm did not provide appropriate support for the rate increase it requested.”
Chris Neal, a State Farm spokesman, said the company hasn’t received word yet from OIR on the specifics of why the agency intends to reject the rate request.
Neal said the company obviously is disappointed and will review all its options, which include petitioning for an administrative hearing.
“The goal is to take the best course to protect our Florida policyholders.”
State Farm is the largest private insurer of homes in the state with roughly 1 million policyholders.
The Worsening Debt Crisis
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