Finance & Loans

The SEC to continue tough financial reform under a new leadership

Mary Schapiro, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, who ran the Securities and Exchange Commission (commonly called SEC) under the first Obama Administration, left the agency on December 14, 2012.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the SEC in 1934 under the Securities Exchange Act as an independent quasi-judicial regulatory agency during the thick of the Great Depression that followed the crash of 1929.  Today the SEC is under attack by financial lobby, heavy scrutiny by the judicial system and its actions are resisted by the Republicans in the Congress.

Its five divisions aptly identify its role:  corporate finance; trading and markets; investment management; enforcement; and risk, strategy, and financial innovation.  In the recent past it is heavily involved with high-frequency trading due to May 2010 flash crash that temporarily erased $862 billion stock value, multi-billion dollar Ponzi schemes, fallout from the recent financial crisis, and the task of creating nearly 100 regulations to implement Dodd-Frank Financial Regulations Act.  To its credits, the agency collected more than $615 million form two cases related to the subprime mortgage mess.  Everyone hopes that it will deal with money market funds under the new leadership.

Nationwide Bad Debt Recovery Solutions

As the economy seems to continue to plummet, many small and large businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to find ways to collect the debt that has been owed to them. Running a nationwide bad debt recovery system is not only costly to the company, it is often time consuming and inefficient if done incorrectly. That is why many companies are starting to consider the option of outsourcing their debt collection needs to third party companies to handle things for them. This solution is much easier than going at it alone and requires much less capital investment to recover the money that is owed to you.

When looking for a company to handle your debt collection, you should first make sure that they’re properly accredited to handle the collection on your behalf. Dealing with a company who uses intimidation and other questionably illegal techniques could lead to trouble down the road.

Companies like PSI Collect are able to handle direct contact with debtors to recollect any lost revenue that may be looming out there. A good debt collection agency should be able to not only just send out blanket emails to debtors to collect lost revenue, they should also be able to scan residential and business listings to see where debtors are currently living if they’ve disappeared from their current address. By investing in collection outsourcing you can get a higher rate of return on unpaid debts and start seeing seemingly lost revenues almost immediately.

Understanding what cause your debt may help you to get out of it

Many don’t really understand how they racked up so much debt.  Debt could come from many sources and understanding what caused a heavy debt load may help you to find some relief.  Debt could come from many ways.

For many, debt comes from a series of unfortunate events.  One major reason for married people is divorce.  Divorce result in cutting family income by half suddenly and may impact more to your financial health if you have to pay support for your children.

Credit cards accounts for a good chunk of debt simply because many of us don’t keep track of charges.  Some of us use credit cards for emergencies and the definition of an emergency vary between many people.  For many, anything could be an emergency including new furniture, a new car, or even an unplanned family vacation.

Your debt problem does not happen suddenly.  Most of us spend beyond our ability to repay.  Keep in mind that your debt accumulates interest and interest on interest as long as there is a balance due after you pay your credit card bill at the end of the month.  So, understand what decisions led to your debt and try not to repeat.

QE3 (Quantitative Easing three) to help with mortgages

The Federal Reserve introduced the long awaited QE3 in September 2012.  Under the program, Feds will purchase $40 billion of mortgaged-backed securities a month with an aim to boost employment and housing.  It is anticipated that the program will continue until the end of third quarter of 2013.

The most immediate benefit of QE3 is the easing of the mortgage interest rate.  Immediately after the introduction of QE3, 30-year fixed mortgage rate which was at approximately 3.55 percent has gone down to around 3.39 percent according to Freddie Mac.  Some expect that the rate may even fall below 3 percent fueling further refinancing.  Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has dipped below 8 percent for the first time in nearly in four years.

The Feds program is buying approximately three-fifths of mortgage backed securities and the maturity stays at 30-years.  This is creating a demand for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae agency mortgage bonds from income seeking bond holders.  Banks including the nation’s two biggest mortgage lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, are also benefitting from the situation and posted earnings growth in third-quarter.  The Wells Fargo mortgage originations climbed from $131 billion in the previous quarter to $139 billion in the current quarter.

Life after a bankruptcy

In order to get relief from debt, you need to file a bankruptcy case with the courts. Those persons who are seeking a discharge of personal debt, it is a Chapter 7 filing and for those who are seeking court approved repayment plan, it is a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Code filing. As soon as you file a case, an “automatic stay” goes into effect preventing creditors from further actions against you without court approval. Therefore, filing bankruptcy brings overnight relief to a person.

In a Chapter 7 filing, all non-exempt assets go to a court appointed trustee who may sell assets to use proceeds to repay your debt. The exempt assets include your home, vehicles, bank accounts, and retirement plans. So, you don’t have to panic about court appointed trustee for exempt assets. For someone who has significant non-exempt assets, filing a Chapter 13 for restructuring may be beneficial. In a Chapter 13 filing some debt such as taxes, back child support must be paid in full. However, for other debt, it would be a percentage of the total that will be paid back and some may be not paid back at all. An example is interest on credit card debt that goes to zero.

Handling past-due creditors for small businesses

Under the current economic conditions it is very difficult for someone to maintain their small businesses.  Many small businesses as well as people get behind their payments and creditors get more aggressive.  If you are faced with this situation, here are some guidelines to follow.

Review how much you owe:  Prepare a list of all what you owe.  This will help you when you talk to creditors.  Also, get a good idea of your income so that you can discuss what you can afford to pay to your creditors.

Accept calls from your creditors:  Avoiding creditors will not help your situation.  If the creditors can’t reach you they escalate their tactics which may increase your stress level.

Review all agreements:  This will give you an idea what assets whether it is personal or business are in danger of losing and allow you to pick the most vulnerable to pay first.  Pay special attention to personal property as well as personal guarantees involving friends and family.

Prioritize:  Identify those products that are needed to continue your current business.  You may want to pay those creditors first in order to keep the cash flow.

Promise only what you can pay.  Get outside help if you need.

What is quantitative easing?

There is so much talk about a third round of quantitative easing or commonly known as QE3 in news media. What is quantitative easing?

Quantitative easing is generated by the Federal Reserve or central bank of a country to ease the supply of money to stimulate a country’s economy when normal economic conditions and growth is unable to generate economic growth. This may be done by the Federal Reserve or a central bank of a country by buying or selling of government bonds. This action results in excess money reserve with banks that can generate growth.

During the financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve started buying $600 billion worth of mortgage backed securities in November 2008. By the end of June 2010, the Federal Reserve held $2.1 trillion worth of bank debt, mortgage back securities, and treasury notes. This later became the QE1 or quantitative easing one.

In November 2010, the Federal Reserve announced that it will buy additional $600 billion worth Treasury securities that was dubbed as the “QE2” or second round of quantitative easing. This lasted until June 2011.

Since the U.S. economic growth is showing very dismal growth, many economists and other professionals expect that the Federal Reserve will announce another round of quantitative easing ( QE3) soon.

Take the Trouble Out Of Accepting Credit Cards Online

This article was submitted by David Anderson of www.Total-Merchant-Services.com

Now, more than ever, a lot of people are opening online stores and that means that there are more people who are accepting credit cards online. However, there are people who also are concerned about how to process credit cards online. They want to be able to accept credit cards, but they are uncomfortable doing it themselves and taking the responsibility on their company.

For those who would rather leave the business of accepting credit cards online to another party, they might want to consider using the services of a merchant services provider such as Total Merchant Services.

Total Merchant Services has many different types of services that they provide to online merchants, not just helping with accepting credit cards online. They also help with check acceptance and debit cards. It doesn’t matter the type of business –they are able to help with any business, including service companies, wireless merchants, and hotels. They provide their merchants with comprehensive services and free equipment to allow them the money and time to grow the business that they have.  They also have affiliate programs to give their clients a chance to earn even more money.

They know that it can often be confusing and troublesome for businesses to take care of the processing credit cards online.  They do their best to make the process as easy for their clients as possible through using the latest in equipment for processing credit cards. For those who would like to try their services, they also offer a free trial without obligation.

Securitization of your mortgage

When we need a loan to buy a home, we go to our bank to initiate a loan. Since most of us do our banking locally, the obvious place for a loan is the bank. Many banks have branches in many states and therefore, they are called national banks. In addition to all other loans such as equity lines and business loans, they do lend money to purchase homes. But many banks don’t keep your loan with them. In order to share the risk and to make money available to lend to others, they securitize mortgage loans and sell to investors.

Here comes Dodd-Frank Act that came into effect as a result of the recent financial trouble and near collapse of the housing market. It requires a bank to retain at least 5 percent of a mortgage loan rather than securitization of the entire loan. Banks heavily lobbied against the new requirement arguing that less money will be available for mortgages due to the retention requirement.

The Federal government writes regulations to implement Dodd-Frank Act among other things. However, year has passed without any guidelines to implement the new requirement. Arguments for pros and cons for implementing the new requirement under the Act are plenty.

Getting the Best Discount Dental Plan

If you are going to purchase a discount dental plan, there are few things you should take into account to ensure that you will get the best price. You should compare the different plans available. Aside from that, you should also pay attention to the details of the discount. There are several websites that give you a comparison among different types of existing discount dental plan. There are dental plans that offer huge discounts at specific dental services.

Aside from comparing the available plans, the next thing you need to do is to compare the prices of insurance for dental services. There will always be differences when it comes to pricing. Sometimes, the price is not all that matters. The cheapest plan may not be the best. A lot of websites offer different plans. As a matter of fact, it provides information about the available dentist within your locality.

Getting the best insurance for dental services is actually easy if you know what you are doing. The dental vision insurance is possible to obtain. The need for dental care knows no age, whether you are a child or adult. A lot of people are conscious with their dental hygiene because it has a huge impact on the life of a person. A poor dental hygiene significantly reduced self esteem and self confidence. Hence, one way of taking care of your dental health is by choosing the best dentist. However, most of the dental services are expensive. So, you really need a dental insurance to help you get through with the financial burdens.

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