Queercents

If you are behind with your mortgage payment, don’t dodge that call from you lender. They may have a plan to help put you back on track with a loan modification agreement or a brand new loan with a lower interest rate.

Banks and lenders are forming special in-house team to help customers manage their way through difficult times with adjusting interest rates and other problems related to the credit crunch.

Newspapers, radio, and television are blasting us with statistics about the mortgage crisis. The recent news about the government bail out of Beares & Stern Investment Bank hasn’t help the feeling of alarm creeping into our daily lives.

Banks are forming in-house alliances comprised of collections, foreclosure, and production. The results have been impressive. Read the rest of this entry »

You may consider this a book review. I consider it a cultural commentary long overdue. Most of our readers are quite familiar about the bully at school and how he or she invades another person’s space, seeks to instill fear, and makes every effort to control his victim.

“Abusers have victims.” write Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie in their book, The Bully at Work, “Battered spouses and children deserve to have the terms abuse and victim reserved for them because they suffer physical violence unlike (most) Targets of bullying.”

The abuse of power is the domain of the workplace bully. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2002 it was reported that more people filed bankruptcy than graduated from all universities in the United States.

Something’s gotta give.

Recession.  Slow Down.  All the politicians talk about is what scares the most people.  All of the rhetoric, bickering, back biting, and posturing by all of the politicians in the U.S. does nothing for an individual locked in a struggle to survive and provide for their loved ones.

Some people have to just let the world keep spinning on its axis while they choose between food and medicine, clothing or heat, a roof over their head or pay their taxes, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

There are laws that protect people from salespeople who work at funeral homes and cemeteries. Lawmakers recognized that during a time of grief, people are unusually susceptible to manipulations that result in overspending that can leave the deceased’s loved ones in debt.

When it comes to step-family or family members, however, there is no protection. In my case, it was my mother’s 2nd husband (let’s call him Rick for now…I’ll explain later) who manipulated my grief, tricked me into obligating myself, and then refused to pay the bill.

In short, I’m in debt close to $7,500. My mother had shown me her Will that clearly stated he would pay for funeral expenses. When we were discussing her funeral arrangements he approved every detail and then asked me to help him “set things up.” Read the rest of this entry »

What’s your brand? Mine is L of GLBT reknown.

Throughout history, minorities have struggled as long and as hard as they had to for one simple reason. They didn’t have as much power. They didn’t have as much power because they didn’t have as much money compared to the majority. Wow…

Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? The money or the power.

The money comes first. Then the power. Just in case anyone was wondering. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you ever see the Shawshank Redemption? Do you remember how you felt when you realized that the hero had tunneled his way out of prison with his rock hammer and only a poster to cover up his work?

Wow. What kind of tenacity did that take? Of course, he didn’t have much else to do, really.

We’ve all tuned into the motivational purrings of Dave Ramsey. Get rid of debt. Use the “roll down” technique. It’s simple. A moron could do it.

Except, it isn’t magic. For many people, the roll down technique doesn’t work. Many of us need more empirical evidence that what we are doing, the energy we are expending, the discipline that we are sustaining is really working. After all, we’ve all been fooled before. Read the rest of this entry »

I hear it every day. “What’s your interest rate?”

When I hear that question, I flash to an image of a predatory lender, grinning wildly into his phone and purring, “what do you want it to be?”

The sub-prime infection alleged to have collapse our housing industry doesn’t seem to have been a sufficient enough reason for some homeowners to learn the basics of home financing.

Therefore, expect history to repeat itself, one uninformed homeowner at a time, as they dial lenders and ask, “What’s your interest rate.”

It reminds me of my Grandfather educating me about the difference between ignorant and stupid. “Ignorance,” he said, “can be fixed. Stupidity is a birth defect.” Read the rest of this entry »

If you work in the financial services industry or know someone who does, you have likely been hearing about Money Merge Accounts.

The premise behind these accounts is that you can eliminate debt to ½ or as little as 1/3 of the timeline. The fee being charged is only for software. The software will show you how to eliminate all of your debt, including your mortgage. Estimates are given of roughly nine years.

Is a Money Merge Account the right system to employ to eliminate debt?

It depends upon how you look at things. Some people use a real estate broker to purchase a home while others believe they get a bargain by purchasing a FSBO (For Sale By Owner) home. By purchasing FSBO, no real estate broker commission is paid and some people believe they must be saving money. After all, a real estate commission adds around 6% to the price. Read the rest of this entry »

The current “mortgage crisis” is a result of greedy, poorly regulated mortgage lenders granting irresponsible loans to ill-informed borrowers. Neither the loan officer nor the customer gave much thought to the consequences that would follow.

The U.S. is experiencing is a market correction. The housing market isn’t expected to stabilize until late 2010.

Look beneath the surface of this mortgage melodrama and you’ll find low-to-moderate income families whose low confidence just got a whole lot lower.

For how long did we hear predatory lenders barking like hucksters, “100% financing! Low, low rates! Easy credit?” Read the rest of this entry »