Banking
Ok, it’s time to look at refinancing the old homestead’s mortgage. I’ve been putting it off because of holidays and the fact that rates can still go lower even though the Fed recently cut rates to zero. Now, it’s time to take a serious look at refinancing and how it might work out for my [...]
Continue reading about Refinancing the Mortgage to Take Advantage of Lower Interest Rates
Days like yesterday and today are why I write the Finance Gourmet. For those of you who didn’t see it, the Federal Reserve, or Fed cut interest rates to between 0% and 0.25%. All day today, the media has been droning on about what it means for consumers, homeowners, and the economy. Unfortunately, they are [...]
Continue reading about Interest Rates, Mortgages, HELOCs, Credit Cards, and the Fed
Ok, I get asked all the time about where to get the best rates for a savings account. First off, you want a money market account, not a savings account. Money market accounts pay better rates in exchange for restrictions that should be very easy for you to meet. The Online Banks Next, if you [...]
Not too long ago, I wrote about monitoring your credit report on the non-blog Finance Gourmet site. In it I included a warning about the various services offering to “fix” your credit and lower you monthly payment. Now a much bigger site has an “insider” confession from just such an outfit. A little independent confirmation [...]
Being a [tag]smart consumer[/tag], or smart investor, or smart anything really is all about knowledge. Understanding the world you are playing in just makes good sense. I can spot most finance scams by reading the title. The reason? I’ve spent plenty of time reading the fine print and have grown accustomed to what fine print [...]
A letter from a major mortgage lender suggests big savings by paying no closing costs.
Too bad they admit (in tiny print on the back) that you’re just putting the closing costs in the loan which could cost you WAY more.
Several years ago when I was a wild-eyed fresh out of college computer guy, I got my first “real” job with a local company. The company had around a 100 employees or so which meant that the HR person was the Office Manager. On my first day, the Office Manager went through all the basics [...]