2006 August | Wheatworks Blog: Financial Matters

When Will Your ARM Reset?

8/31/2006, 5:32 am

If you have an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) you should know when your interest rate will increase and by how much. Contact your lender and ask. Most lenders will send a notice 6 months prior to the rate’s reset. The indexing margin that will be used for the reset is stated in your loan’s documentation. Given the date and index, you should be able to determine your approximate increase. A good source of information about the different ARM indexes is provided by HSHÂ® Associates, Financial Publishers. It’s their ARMIndexes.com site. Another source of index information is the RateWatch page on Bankrate.com at http://www.bankrate.com/brm/ratehm.asp

Loan adjustments can significantly increase your monthly mortgage payment and they should NOT be allowed to surprise you. Contact your lender for the date, look at your loans docs for the index, get the index data and calculate the approximate change in your monthly payment.

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Category: Financial Tips, Information | Comment

This Much Debt is a BAD thing

8/30/2006, 5:34 am

We’re making financial history in the US. In a bad sort of way.

For the first time, Americans owe more than we earn. According to a study by the Center for American Progress, household debt has surpassed household income and is at 108.4 percent in 2005. The Federal Reserve Board reports consumers took an incredible $431 billion in cash out of their home equity last year.

People think weirdly about cash out refinancing. Some even refer to it as using their ‘home ATM’. Many act as if this loan against their equity is free money. It isn’t. Every penny of equity cashed out by refinancing is debt!

And that we owe more than we earn means we can’t expect this to end well.

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Category: Financial Tips, Information | Comment

Stopping Abusive Credit Card Practices …

8/28/2006, 6:22 am

There is a safety factor built into a credit card account that is generally not available from banks for debit/ATM cards. If funds are stolen from your credit card account, your credit card company will be more likely to protect you from the fraud and will do so quickly. On the other hand, if funds are fraudulently taken from your checking account, your bank account will be short the stolen funds while the bank reviews the fraudulent activity.

This is the reason one should use a credit card and not a debit card for online transactions.

Credit card companies aren’t perfect, though. And when you find yourself banging your head against your credit card company, it’s good to know what your options are.

The BCSAlliance.com site has a useful page of information titled, “What you can do to stop credit card company abusive practices. It looks like it may be helpful information for those times when you need to know what your options are when your credit card company may not be playing fair with you.

The page is at: http://www.bcsalliance.com/creditcards_complain.html

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Category: Banking Information, Financial Tips, Information | Comment

It’s a BIG Number! U.S. National Debt Graph

8/21/2006, 7:34 pm

Get an eye-opening picture of the current national debt and a historical context from which to consider it at the zFacts U.S. National Debt Graph. The National Debt is at $8.5+ TRILLION and growing as of 08/21/06.

Another neat feature of this site is the free ‘Debt Clock’ you can put on your web site and the free ‘Price of Addiction to Foreign Oil’ ticker.

Check it out at U.S. National Debt Graph.