Q: In one of your recent articles, you addressed the point of making one extra mortgage payment a year to reduce the term of a mortgage. Your response states that doing this will reduce the term of a 30-year mortgage by 12 years which is incorrect. It’s closer to 5 years; term will be reduced [...]
We’re stressed, relatively pessimistic, and unsure about where the economy going into a Presidential election year. Those are the unsurprising findings from the CredAbility Q2 Consumer Distress Index this week. The latest data reflects an average score of 69.20 on the index’s 100-point scale. Given that any number below 70 indicates financial distress, it is [...]
Q: I read your article my local paper titled “Mortgage Modification is Stymied” and I, too, am appalled at the treatment many borrowers receive in the modification process. Most of the large lenders simply have not staffed their servicing departments with enough knowledgeable people to handle the overwhelming volume of requests coming in. I think [...]
Once every three years, UBS Wealth Management Research publishes its Prices and Earnings study. The 2009 report has recently been updated, surveying prices and wages in 73 of the world's major metropolitan outlets. Because of persistent global economic fluctuations that have become a byproduct of the Great Recession, the study's data reflects new [...]
The FBI recently released its 2010 Mortgage Fraud Report and the findings are startling. Mortgage fraud continued at high levels in 2010, perpetrated by individuals whose main concern should be protecting their clients’ interests. The FBI’s long list of villains includes licensed and non-licensed mortgage brokers, lenders, appraisers, underwriters, accountants, real estate agents, settlement attorneys, [...]
Stock Market Madness Stock Market Madness - that's about all you can say looking back over the last week. There has never been this level of volatility in the stock market. We've never seen 400+ swings (positive and negative) on subsequent days, or even one day during trading hours. It was breathtaking to watch the [...]
Stock Market Madness on the Ilyce Glink Show August 14, 2011: Wall Street has been somewhat unpredictable for the last few years, but this week we experienced nothing short of stock market madness. In the end, we lost a manageable 175 points in total, but that conclusion was punctuated by huge runs and big losses [...]
Q: I’m confused about something. I received a notice in the mail recently that my mortgage loan with a big box lender was being modified. Now, I have two mortgages and neither is with that big box lender. But, I wanted to find out what was happening so I called the number in the notice [...]
Q: I have two homes in two different cities. One of them is a rental and the other is our primary residence. My wife and I have excellent credit and we have an existing home equity line of credit (HELOC) on our primary residence with about a $20,000 balance. We get excellent offers from other [...]
Q: Several years ago my husband and I purchased a vacant lot for $11,000 in a lake/golf community more for investment than planning to build. We're recently "retired” due to job cuts and not because it was our choice. We do not want to be stuck with the continuing payments for the property taxes and [...]
