Personal Finance guide

Today, technology has become more sophisticated and increasingly rely on financial transactions. As a result of this, identity theft has increased significantly. This is perhaps the main reason why he should protect his identity, credit control. Choosing to receive credit monitoring service is the only way you can sleep peacefully knowing for sure that his credit report will be secure. Service to ensure that the report must be continuously monitored changes. Customers usually contact information such as e-mail address is required when signing up for the service. When any suspicious case is detected while monitoring his credit, he warns against e-mail, phone and mail as soon as possible, this will enable you to take the necessary measures to prevent fraud activity.

Credit management than watching how you spend and keep an eye on spending habits of spouse or children. Credit management also includes matters relating to credit card, especially when someone is signing up new credit card. Credit monitoring service to help people make the right choice and credit cards. For example, prepaid cards, credit cards are good choices, which is ill-credit, they can enjoy all the benefits of online shopping, car rental and flight booking just like a regular credit card holder. Also, if anyone wants to follow in his spending, and spending his teenage college kid, a prepaid credit card is the best option.

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On one occassion, I checked my account balance at the ATM and it showed a positive amount of over $200. We went on our trip, ate at a restaurant and purchased a few other items the same day. I was shocked when we got back to see 5 overdraft fees at $33.00 each posted on our account. When I contacted BOA and told them I had a bank receipt showing my account in the positive before we made the transactions, they told me I had some transactions ‘pending’ that had not yet been posted to my account and therefore did not show up when I went to the ATM. Yet they still insisted that my account balance at the ATM was ‘realtime.’ This was what they had advertised, and of course, what I believed. How can they advertise that their online and atm balances are up to date if there are still transactions on hold? We also would not have been hit with so many fees if they had posted them by the time of day and not the amount! The bank continues to allow use of the ATM card to make purchases even if there is a negative balance. It would be easy enough for them to decline payment if a card with a negative balance is presented, but thier excuse for this is that it is a ‘courtesy’ to their customers. Hogwash! It’s so they can wrack up more service fees – their bread and butter. We’ve been customers of BOA for over 10 years and have NEVER had this problem before.

Recently, we got hit with 5 overdraft fees because they posted the transactions, not at the time they were presented, but based on the transaction amount – higher to lower. The ‘best’ part though is that we deposited enough money to cover all the transactions the same day. I of course contacted them through their mail system online (which is the only way to contact them via the Internet) and they refused to refund the fees because we had deposited the check AFTER the transactions had presented. Can you believe it?

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Please everybody, this is excellent news for everyone and will save new home applicants and refinance applicants some money. RESPA is changing and none too soon and this is one of the constructive approaches that the Government is making toward stablizing the housing market. RESPA is regulated and enforced by the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). So, therefore they have realized that to immplement good and enforceable tactics it must start and beginning with the taking of the mortgage loan application. There are some other good changes also and one of those is the Home Affordable Mortgage Refinance offered by Fannie Mae (FNMA).

If you are familiar with the application process you know that when application is made, the lending institution, whether a Bank, a Mortgage Company outside a Bank or a Broker, they have three (3) business days to give you three (3) primary disclosures. These included:

1. Good Faith Estimate (GFE)
2. Truth-in-Lending Disclosure (TIL)
3. Servicing Disclosure

RESPA is changing as of April 2010 the following:

• The initial GFE become the binding GFE -the fees entered on this form are becoming more binding then they have previously been. There are certain tolerances but those are only rare instances and minimal % adjustments.
• All fees typically charged to borrowers regardless of who pays must be listed on the GFE.
• Fees disclosed, but paid by others are still bound by tolerances.
• Each numbered block explains the fees on the GFE and you will be able to ask questions about all fees to determine why a fee is what it is.
• The first block will contain all charges to you from the lender, broker, processing fee, underwriting fee etc.
• The second block will contain any Discount Fee. You may have a credit or charge for the interest rate you have chosen and it will be included in block one. You may receive a credit of a certain amount for higher interest rate, which will reduce your settlement charges (or) you may have to pay a charge to get a lower interest rate which will increase your settlement charges. This second block is about your interest rate only and the fees will be included, if any in the first block.

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ATM fees are something that most people cannot avoid. If you want to use an ATM chances are there will be a fee involved. However, there are a few ways that you can end up without fees. There are some banks, for example, that offer ATM fee reimbursement. This could be for a variety of reasons. Either they just want to do a nice service for the customers or they are trying to compensate for the fact that they are a bank that is solely over the internet and there are no physical locations to visit. Another way that you can avoid ATM fees is to visit an ATM that is powered by your bank.

It is important to keep track of your ATM fees if you have a tendency to use ATM machines a lot. If you don’t you could end up spending more money than you actually have in your account. If you have overdraft protection then this really is not that much of a problem. If you don’t, you will have to deal with more fees on top of the ATM fees you were slammed with. As a rule, it is a good idea to make an attempt to avoid fees altogether. Because of them you are spending money on something that you don’t really need to be spending money on.

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ATM safety is something that you should really be concerned with. That is because ATM machines are a breeding ground for potential crimes. It is pretty easy for a thief to scope out a lot of ATM locations, especially those that are located at bars, restaurants, gas stations or are simply out in the open. However, following ATM safety procedures is a good way to make sure that you stay safe and don’t get robbed while using ATM machines.

ATM machines are a great convenience. They allow you to get your cash twenty four hours a day. This means that if you need money at 2 AM you can have access to it as long as you can find an ATM machine. Unfortunately, the very thing that makes it convenient is also one of the things that can potentially make it unsafe. There are certain locations and certain places for ATM machines that make it a breeding ground for crime. However, all ATM machines should be treated with caution.

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ATMs are an important part of our culture because they allow us instant access to our cash twenty-four hours a day. It used to be that when we wanted to withdraw some money, we had to take a special trip to the bank. This easy-access that ATMs bring can be a blessing, especially for those who work or have odd hours. Sometimes it just is not feasible to make it to the bank during standard operating times.

But, the convenience factor of ATMs is also overshadowed by the fact that there are some risks involved with using them. The possibility of crimes happening is big. If a thief is lurking in the shadows and sees you taking the money, they could easily emerge from the shadows and steal your purse or wallet after are done. There have also been instances of ATM fraud happening and other problems. So even though they are a good thing, ATMs should be handles with care and caution.

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