ELIGIBILITY ,  PROGRAM SNAPSHOT ,  REQUIREMENTS , STEPS/PROCESS/ TIMELINE...

UPDATED: 08:03 AM EDT October 08, 2008
 
(AOL Autos)
Cash advances are not a new concept in Americas brand of capitalism. Many people have seen the commercials with some guy barking out, "Bad credit, no credit, no problem!" Or, "Dont worry about credit, I own the bank!"

Anytime some guy is telling you he owns the bank, run.

Even though these lenders have been around for a while, signing your car over for a high-interest loan has become a serious financial issue.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of car title loans, allow us to explain.
 

October 6, 2008
 
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, a Bank of America Corp. subsidiary has agreed to modify tens of thousands of loans to keep people in Illinois, California and nine other states from losing their homes, the Illinois attorney generals office said Sunday.....
 

ENGINE WARM-UP

1. Avoid prolonged warming up of engine, even on cold mornings - 30 to 45 seconds is plenty of time.
2. Be sure the automatic choke is disengaged after engine warm up... chokes often get stuck, resulting in bad gas/air mixture.
3. Do not start and stop engine needlessly. Idling your engine for one minute consumes the gas amount equivalent to when you start the engine.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, announced that the Senate passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act by a vote of 72-13.

This legislation is expected to help hundreds of thousands of Americans who are struggling to keep their homes, as well as countless homeowners and communities who are already experiencing the devastating effects of foreclosure. The legislation also contains comprehensive reforms to our nation’s housing sector, including the creation of a strong, new regulator for the government-sponsored enterprises. In response to recent turmoil in our financial markets, the bill also includes provisions requested by the Treasury Department to restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

You already know a Plan B is important, but what should it include? The first steps to take in creating your plan are to:

Save money.
Put away some money each month to have an emergency fund in case something unexpected happens, such as losing your job. You should have several months of housing costs saved to protect you from unexpected financial problems.

Reduce expenses.
Think about where you can save money; for instance, temporarily canceling cable or your gym membership. By paring down to the bare necessities, you may be able to save a significant amount of money. And even if it does not seem like enough of a savings to make a big difference, remember - every little bit helps.

Senator John McCain was the second candidate to outline his solutions to the housing and credit situation. He restated the history leading up to the current situation and placed the blame for the crisis on:

1. Speculators who moved into the housing market during the bubble and overwhelmed normal market forces with rampant speculation.

2. Lenders who became complacent because of the sustained period of rising home prices and consequently failed to maintain their lending standards.

Step One: Passage of the proposed legislation by Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Christopher Dodd which would expand the governments capacity to stand behind mortgages that have been reworked on affordable terms.

Sen. Clinton called the current administrations efforts to help families a process that is both too slow and will help relatively few families; "it simply isnt enough to revive our housing market."

The Frank/Dodd legislation, she said, would move beyond this incremental approach by setting up an auction system for mortgage companies that would allow them to sell mortgages in bulk to banks and other buyers who would then restructure them to make them affordable for families. The auction system would be based on the fact that mortgages would be eligible to be guaranteed by the government once they are refinanced.

Senator Obama said that the government has let the special interests set the regulatory agenda and it is time to reconsider how we oversee the financial markets. He laid out six principles necessary to this reform.

1. Provide the Federal Reserve with basic supervisory authority over any financial institution to which it makes credit available as a lender of last resort. Saying that the Fed exists to ensure stability not to bail out financial institutions, he emphasized that any institution that has access to the discount window or similar facilities must be subject to prudent oversight to make sure it is not taking excessive risks with taxpayer money.

2. Capital, liquidity and disclosure requirements should be developed and strengthened for all financial institutions and there must be examination and reform of credit rating companies.

Protect Yourself

A Key To Wealth Building


Predatory Lending is the equity killer. Consumers can lose equity in their homes by being placed in higher rates than they qualify for, by paying junk fees that are financed in the loan, by being placed in bad loan programs, etc. Predatory Lending, simply stated, is the practice of unfair lending. Predatory Lending victimizes hundreds of thousands of families every year. For the past 3 years Fair Community Lending Services has worked to protect consumers against predatory lending through education, access and accountability.

Credit is the key to wealth building. Before you embark on any financial transaction you must understand your credit. Do you have good credit, ok credit, at risk credit?

A credit report is a snapshot of ones payment history. It is used by lenders, insurance companies, landlords, and employers to determine a consumers willingness to pay and demonstrate their credit worthiness. Ones credit report and their FICO score (ranging from 300-850) will help financial institutions decide if one is eligible for a loan and if so what type of interest rate they can obtain. As consumers, we must use our credit reports to prove to others that we are a good risk when they consider us as a potential borrower, employees, tenants, etc.

Your credit score determines the interest rates you receive on home loans, car loans and credit cards. The better your credit score is the better the interest rate.

The guidance below is applicable to homeowners with FHA Insured loans. While a good deal of this information may apply to all homeowners in danger of losing their homes, not all of the foreclosure avoidance tools mentioned may be available to you if you have a VA or conventional loan. Additionally, HUD/FHA does not have any Loss Mitigation oversight over VA or conventional loans.
Please contact your lender or a housing counseling agency.

Q: What Happens When I Miss My Mortgage Payments?

Foreclosure may occur. This is the legal means that your lender can use to repossess (take over) your home. When this happens, you must move out of your house. If your property is worth less than the total amount you owe on your mortgage loan, a deficiency judgment could be pursued. If that happens, you not only lose your home, you also would owe HUD an additional amount. Both foreclosures and deficiency judgments could seriously affect your ability to qualify for credit in the future. So you should avoid foreclosure if possible.

Whether Wall Street likes it or not, Bank of Americas Ken Lewis is getting a good deal, according to Shawn Tullys number-crunching.
By Shawn Tully, editor at large

(Fortune) -- Bank of Americas $4 billion deal to rescue Countrywide Financial is getting decidedly mixed reviews from Wall Street. Investors fret that CEO Ken Lewis is overpaying for a ruined franchise to save face, following his ill-timed $2 billion investment in Countrywide late last year.

The markets are hardly cheering: B of A s stock has dropped as much as 2% today to $38.40, its price in early 2002. But the best guide to gauging the probable success or failure of this deal is studying the numbers: they show that, barring absolutely disastrous writedowns, this deal will prove a winner.

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