“Money Insider: Finding the right personal loan could net a wheel deal when it comes to buying a new car (Independent)” plus 4 more |
- Money Insider: Finding the right personal loan could net a wheel deal when it comes to buying a new car (Independent)
- Banco do Brasil May Double Loans to Individuals (Update2) (Bloomberg)
- Easing the Pain of Closing Costs (Washington Post)
- Buy Now, Pay Later: Renton Women Sentenced for Living Large off of Fraudulent Student Loans (Seattle Weekly)
- Drawing the lines between Calder, Miro and Picasso (San Diego Union-Tribune)
| Posted: 21 Aug 2009 04:34 PM PDT
With the 59 new registered cars due out on 1 September, there will be a boom in demand for personal loans over the next few weeks, a fact that's not gone unnoticed by some big-name lenders. That's good news if you're seeking some finance for your new wheels, as there are a couple of tempting offers that have appeared on the shelves this week. Nationwide Building Society, for example, is offering the UK's lowest personal-loan rate, of 7.7 per cent APR on loans between £5,000 and £14,999. Sadly, the offer is open only to Nationwide current-account customers, who must apply by 6 October to take advantage of the offer. If you qualify for the deal, a £10,000 loan over five years will set you back just £200.10 per month. If you're not a Nationwide customer, then it's worth taking a look at Tesco Personal Finance at 7.9 per cent APR or YourPersonal Loan.co.uk at 8 per cent APR for the next best deals on a loan of this size. Another new option is the Personal loan with cashback from M&S Money. The standard interest rate is 8.7 per cent APR on loans between £7,500 and £25,000, but if you apply by 7 September for a loan of £7,500 or more, and for a term of at least 36 months, you'll receive 10 per cent of your interest back. This effectively reduces the interest to an equivalent rate of 7.9 per cent. The potential downside of this offer is that to |benefit from the 10 per cent interest rebate, your loan must run its full term, so if you're someone who refinances their borrowing when you change your car, it won't be quite so appealing. Savings Most of the recent savings news has centred around fixed-rate savings bonds, but this week has seen the launch of a couple of interesting-looking accounts for those not looking to lock away a lump sum. The regular saver account launched by Norwich & Peterborough Building Society fits the bill perfectly if you want to adopt the savings habit, whether it's just to build up a balance that will lead to other savings options or to save up for something specific. The deal with the account is that you pay in between £1 and £250 every month for 12 months and you are rewarded with an interest rate fixed at a tasty 5 per cent for the first year. There are a handful of other regular saver accounts around; however, unlike similar products with the same rate from Halifax and NatWest, this account does give you a measure of flexibility by allowing one penalty-free withdrawal during the year. If it's an instant-access savings account that you're after, take a look at the Internet Saver account from Tesco, which pays 3 per cent gross from £1. While the rate is very competitive, you need to bear in mind that it includes a fixed bonus of 1.75 per cent, which only remains in place for 12 months. There are other instant-access accounts worth checking out, such as the online saver from Alliance & Leicester, which pays 3.15 per cent on a minimum balance of £1,000, again with a bonus element in the first year. For a better rate still, there's the Egg Internet Savings account at 3.25 per cent gross from £1, also including a fixed bonus (of 2 per cent) for the first 12 months. So while these instant-access accounts are a great home for your emergency cash or rainy-day fund, you need to make a note to yourself to switch your money elsewhere once the year is up, otherwise your cash will end |up sitting in an account paying a dismal rate |of return. It's frustrating that you can't find an easy-access savings account paying |a rate of 3 per cent or |more without having to put up with the limited bonuses and other associated unwelcome baggage. But, at the moment, you either play the banks at their own game and grab the best rate you can and then switch, or do nothing and risk getting a pittance on your savings: the choice is yours. Andrew Hagger is a money analyst at Moneynet.co.uk  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Banco do Brasil May Double Loans to Individuals (Update2) (Bloomberg) Posted: 21 Aug 2009 02:59 PM PDT [fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Banco do Brasil SA , Latin America's largest lender, may double credit to individuals over the next decade as falling interest rates spur demand for car and home loans, President Aldemir Bendine said. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Easing the Pain of Closing Costs (Washington Post) Posted: 22 Aug 2009 07:40 PM PDT
-- Have the seller pay. You can hit up the sellers for some or all of your closing costs. You even get a tax break for mortgage points the seller pays (each point is 1 percent of the loan amount). Be careful, though. If the sellers have already slashed their price to the bone, they may tell you to take a hike. If the sellers won't play ball and you don't have enough cash for closing -- but you can afford a larger mortgage -- it may make sense to bump up the price you pay for the home and have the sellers use the extra money to pay closing costs for you. Note that there are built-in limits to a seller's generosity: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae allow sellers to pick up closing costs worth 6 percent of the purchase price for loans with 10 percent or more down, the Federal Housing Administration allows up to 6 percent, and the Department of Veterans Affairs allows 4 percent.
-- Shop loan terms. The "no-cost" mortgage, which rolled most closing costs into your interest rate, has largely disappeared, and lenders have resurrected fees for everything, says Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. Charges vary dramatically, so it pays to shop and negotiate all the loan terms, not just the rate. Cecala says borrowers have regained muscle as the market has become more competitive. Call three or four lenders for their best rate (preferably without points) and an estimate of their fees (excluding third-party charges and escrowed amounts for taxes and insurance). Apply with the lender that's offering the best deal to get a good-faith estimate. If you're willing to pay more than one application fee, get two estimates and play the lenders against one another.
-- Pay less for PMI. If your stake in a home is less than 20 percent, you must ante up for private mortgage insurance. Monthly premiums for PMI are typically 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent of your loan amount per year, depending on how much equity you have, your credit score and whether you get a fixed-rate or adjustable-rate loan. You could negotiate with the seller to pay a single premium upfront, or you could roll that single premium into your loan. For a 30-year fixed-rate loan with 15 percent down for a $250,000 home in Fairfax County, the upfront cost of PMI would be $3,506 (using rates from mortgage insurer MGIC). Adding that amount to the mortgage would add $19 a month to the payment, but that's $68 less a month than you'd pay with the smaller mortgage and monthly PMI premiums.
-- Find cheaper title insurance. Title insurance protects against challenges to your ownership, with separate coverage for your lender and for you. But as much as 80 percent of the premium goes to paying commission to a title agent. Shop around for title insurance.
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| Posted: 21 Aug 2009 02:40 PM PDT Buy Now, Pay Later: Renton Women Sentenced for Living Large off of Fraudulent Student LoansIn his 1976 presidential run, Ronald Reagan accused "welfare queen" of bilking the government of tens of thousands of dollars and driving a welfare Cadillac. But that wasn't actually happening. In 2008, Federal prosecutors charged two sisters and their mom--36-year-old Leslie Gordon, 21-year-old Theresa Hardy, and 60-year-old Kathy Hardy (all of Renton)--with acquiring $722,000 in student loans through stolen identities, and spending the money on "cars, designer jewelry and clothes" and even a trip to the 2006 Super Bowl, says the US Attorney's office. Apparently, that actually was happening. The women pleaded guilty. They were sentenced today, with admitted ringleader Gordon getting five years in prison and a $580,000 restitution charge, Hardy the younger (who stole the social security numbers from patient files while working at a medical office) getting 21 months in prison, and Hardy the elder getting a year of home detention; she was spared prison time, the judge said, so she could take care of her daughters' children. Here's hoping that when they reach the age at which schooling is no longer free, they can break the family cycle.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Drawing the lines between Calder, Miro and Picasso (San Diego Union-Tribune) Posted: 23 Aug 2009 02:19 AM PDT 2:00 a.m. August 23, 2009 DETAILS"Picasso, Miró, Calder" When: Through Jan. 3 Where: San Diego Museum of Art, The Prado, Balboa Park Tickets: $12; $9, seniors and military; $8, students; $4.50, youth 6-17; free to children 5 and under Phone: (619) 232-7931 Online: sdmart.org The outgoing Alexander Calder got along well with just about everyone he knew, though apparently Picasso was an exception. But this personal divide aside, there is good reason to show Calder with Picasso. And the rationale for exhibiting both of them along with another major artist from the glory days of modernism, Joan Miró, is a strong one. "Picasso, Miró, Calder," a companion show to the larger "Calder Jewelry" assembled by the SDMA's curator of European art, John Marciari, is all about influences that bind the three artists. Picasso was an inspiration to the younger Miró, by creating a precedent for Spanish artists aspiring to be part of the Parisian avant garde in the early years of the 20th century. Both artists were connected to and inspired by the surrealists. Miró and Calder were fast friends and Miró's art had a considerable impact on him. The works in this exhibition are culled from the permanent collection (including recent gifts), promised gifts to the museum and some loans from private collections. The emphasis is on drawings and prints, some rarely seen. If you want to think about how Picasso connects with Calder, two words matter a lot: the circus. A great early painting of Picasso's, "The Family of Saltimbanques" (1905), is a dreamlike scene of circus types in a landscape. And in the show at the San Diego Museum of Art, there is a handsome etching with a costumed woman on horseback, towering above a couple of male nudes, accompanied by other big-top figures in "A Circus: Group with Rider and Clown" (1908). In the creation of "Calder's Circus," his own early experience as an illustrator sketching the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus played a role. But more than likely Picasso's example mattered, too. The centerpiece among the selections by Picasso is a painting, promised to the museum by an anonymous donor, "Seated Woman" (1949). It's representative of a period when he combined a surreal approach to distorting and flattening the figure, with economic, almost calligraphic patterning influenced by his more decorative cubist work, The figure is disturbing, while the precise rendering of her is exuberant. Miró and Calder both embraced a lilting line that could streamline forms from nature. In Miró's selections, it segues from the large watercolor, gouache and crayon image by Miró, "Head and Bird" (1965), to his bronze, "Solar Bird" (1966), installed indoors for this show. Seeing this sculpture in a gallery offers a fresh slant on its poetic form. The bold, black line in Calder's images butts up against forms in primary colors — forms that become sea creatures and spirals. More than Miró, he thought like a sculptor; among exhibited works are elegant, witty maquettes for large-scale sculptures, including a miniature of the one standing outside the museum, "Spinal Column." Robert L. Pincus: (619) 293-1831; robert.pincus@uniontrib.com Robert Pincus: (619) 293-1831;
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Churro says:
"Apparently, that actually was happening."
Sure, if by "that" you mean "something entirely different from what Reagan was referring to".
Hyperbole much?
Posted On: Saturday, Aug. 22 2009 @ 11:33AM