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Friday, 1 November 2013

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6 Apps that Make Loan Management Easier

Synopsis: Choose the right loan and manage your payments well with these great finance apps!

Loan management can be a tricky business, especially if you just started paying off a mortgage or student loans. This list of apps can help make the process easier, both for beginners and for those searching for an easier, digital way to manage their loans and avoid all the troubles that come with defaults. Never miss another payment with apps like these:

Loan Assist:

Loan Assist helps you control new or multiple debts by organizing them into categories. This app is especially designed for student loans, and is perfect for helping recent graduates master the ins and outs of making loan payments the easy way. Simple screens show the current amount due, any payments that are past due, and the next due date. You also have access to a variety of loan payment calculations and student loan management options for deferment or forbearance.

My Loan Calculator:

My Loan Calculator helps you choose the right loan at the right time. This loan is invaluable when you are first making a loan choice but are not sure about your options. It allows you to examine the payment schedules for mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and more. With just a few inputs you can find out valuable info like your monthly payment including interest, how much total interest you will pay, and how large of a loan you could qualify for. The app also includes more general advice for comparing loan structures.

Loan Calc Pro:

This app is designed for those with a little more experience in the debt world, people who want to adjust current loans or make wise decisions about future loans in order to pay them off as quickly as possible. In addition to amortization tables and loan calculators, it offers to track extra loan payments that you may want to make and shows how these extra payments will affect the loan. You can export your saved loans to email if you like.

Tuition.io:

Tuition.io is both a website and an app designed to help those who hold student loans. It is an ideal solution for people who are struggling with multiple student loans and want an easy way to track and pay them all together. The platform allows students to quickly study their loans, individual monthly payments for each loan, total monthly payment, and similar information. The app can also analyze a broader range of financial information to offer more customized advice on the best way to repay student loans, including the range of options that the government provides for different payments.

SplashMoney:

This financial management app allows you to track a number of different bills, but it is very useful for managing required loan and credit card payments, too. You can connect to online bank accounts and download transaction info, and schedule future transactions like loan payments with timed reminders so you do not forget to make a payment. Of course, SplashMoney is only one app in the sea of personal finance options, but it does have several benefits, include connections with U.S. banks that not all apps have.

Mint.com:

Mint.com's app lets you view your accounts and budget for all expenses, including all your debt. It is a great app for getting your financial information in order and ensuring you always have enough money to pay for all your debt, no matter what kind. Mint pulls in as many transactions as possible to minimize the amount of work you have to do. The app also comes with bill reminders, alerts, and even tips on how to cut costs. The Mint app is one of the best around, especially for those new to managing different kinds of debt.

ABOUT AUTHOR:

Amy Fitzgerald is a professional blogger that provides financial advice and tips to consumers. She writes for TitleMax.biz, a title loan company.

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Modern-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee at the Eccles Building, Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What the Federal Reserve can Do to Save the US Economy

The Federal Reserve Board’s open market committee have been tasked with what it considers to be its last opportunity to take action that will boost the economy before the end of the year. Whilst they actually meet up every six weeks, the FOMC have a historical reputation for being reluctant to make any major moves so close to an impending election. Using that premise as a guide to what moves they are likely to make, this month is the last window of opportunity to put something meaningful into place and take steps to boost the economy on an urgent basis.

There can be little argument that the U.S economy just like many developed countries at the moment, is in desperate need of an injection of hope and optimism in the shape of positive measures and incentives.

Despite the fact that an average rate of job creation of 165,000 per month over the first half of 2012 sounds reasonably impressive it is actually far too slow. The economy needs in the region of 100,000 new jobs a month just to keep up to speed with labor force growth and at the current rate it would take more than 12 years to recover from the 10 million jobs deficit that the poor global and domestic economic conditions have created to this point.

If there is a clear need for more rapid growth, which there clearly is, economic data shows that there is little downside risk of excessive inflation. Many economists have argued that higher than normal inflation would in fact be desirable as it would reduce real interest rates in a market where the Fed has already pushed their nominal federal funds rate as low as it can possibly go. This would in theory provide business with a greater incentive to invest and higher inflation would have a positive impact on house prices enabling homeowners to repair their equity comfort zone and thus boosting confidence.

The problem is that for good political reasons the Fed is very reticent to accept the idea of promoting higher inflation, ironically something that Chairman Ben Bernanke actually used to subscribe to when he was an economics professor!

So what steps can the Fed take to boost the economy that would be considered acceptable?

The first step would be to consider yet another round of quantitative easing, which effectively means buying up long-term debt via treasury bonds or mortgage backed securities in the hope that this will have the effect of driving down long-term rates even further.

The Fed already owns something close to an eye-watering $3 trillion of mostly long-term debt so acquiring another $1 trillion or so could be done in the hope putting some downward pressure on rates, which if you take an optimistic view, could lower the 10 year treasury rate by as much as 15-20 points and in doing so, lower the value of the dollar and boost net exports, bring about an improvement on the trade balance.

The other path to consider would be to return to an idea that Bernanke outlined about three years ago, which would be to target a longer term rate. As an example, if the Fed set a target of 1.2% for 10 year treasury bonds, lower than the current rate of 1.5%, this would mean that the Fed would buy as many treasury bonds as required to bring yields down to this level.

This idea would have a similar impact on markets as quantitative easing but it could potentially have a more powerful and sustained effect that would produce lower mortgage rates and boost business confidence.

Unfortunately neither of these ideas will actually turn around the economy at this point but some action is better than none and some estimates suggest that lower mortgage and financing costs could translate into a further 400,000 jobs.

If the Fed buys more assets it will in turn generate more mortgage interest that is refunded directly to the treasury. This has a direct benefit on the economy and rather than cut funding for education and Medicaid, they instead buy a few hundred billion more of assets, that would seem a reasonably good political and economic reason to take action now while they have the opportunity.

Author bio: Guest post written by financial writer Elizabeth Goldman, on behalf of Earn Forex

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Renting v Buying – Which is Safer in This Economic Climate?

As banks and other financial institutions stick to very tight criteria for mortgage lending, the debate over whether it is wiser to buy or rent a property has again come to the fore.

Currently, it is sad but true that many people have no choice in the matter. They are forced to rent while they try to scrape together the funds needed to meet the demands for a high deposit by lenders who are increasingly wary of their exposure to bad debts in a turbulent housing market. Deposit demands of 20 or 25 per cent of a property's asking price are becoming the norm.

In contrast, landlords or agents usually ask no more than the equivalent of one, or at most, two months' rent – a much lower sum – and given this disparity, renting has a clear advantage in this respect.

However, the vision which drove the home-owning boom of the late-1980s and early 1990s in the UK was that at some point in the future – never mind that it might be 25 years or more – home buyers would eventually own their property outright, and therefore have a major asset which they could subsequently trade up or down from, or sell to release the proceeds for other needs.

The situation has changed at present, however, as a combination of the aforementioned difficulties in obtaining finance, and uncertainty over the short-term direction which house prices will take, have planted doubts in many people's minds that this is a wise move.

Another counter to this argument is that, with interest rates currently at historically low levels, if people can get a mortgage, their repayments will be less than those demanded of homeowners for many years, in relation to the value of their home.

Research by Zoopla.co.uk suggests that renting can be cheaper than buying in some major cities and towns in the UK, including Cambridge, Swansea and Oldham – a big reason for this being that the quantity of rental property available relative to the potential market in these places means renters can negotiate significant discounts.

However, an important point to bear in mind is that the only time that a mortgage-holder really needs to be concerned with the value of their home is when they wish to sell it and buy another. At all other times, they should remember that they possess an asset of which they can have full use, and on which they can stamp their own personality.

There is therefore no doubt that, even if house prices have still further to fall – which most experts consider highly likely – owning your own home, provided it is well looked after, is still the preferable option, because it is an asset which can be adapted to suit your own needs.

About the Author: Jaimy Howard is a writer for Assetz Investors specialists in buy to let properties and off market land for sale.

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English: An icon from the Crystal icon theme. Nederlands: Een icoontje van het Crystal icon thema (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Renting v Buying – Which is Safer in This Economic Climate?

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Friday, 1 November 2013

6 Apps that Make Loan Management Easier

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What the Federal Reserve can Do to Save the US Economy

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Renting v Buying – Which is Safer in This Economic Climate?

Related articles

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Renting v Buying – Which is Safer in This Economic Climate?

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