““Eligibility norms for educational loans modified” (The Hindu)” plus 3 more

“Eligibility norms for educational loans modified” (The Hindu)
Newsletter gives tips on personal finance (Lawrence Journal-World)
Personal Finance Daily: Savers take recession lessons to heart (Market Watch)
Financiera Independencia Will Hold its Third Quarter 2009 Conference Call at 11:00 AM ET on October 16, 2009 (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)

“Eligibility norms for educational loans modified” (The Hindu)

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 12:19 PM PDT

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"Eligibility norms for educational loans modified"

Staff Reporter

VIRUDHUNAGAR: The eligibility norms for students to avail themselves of educational loans have been modified enabling even those who have not succeeded in their first attempt in Plus Two examinations to get loans.

Virudhunagar MP B. Manicka Tagore on Tuesday said that the criterion that students should score a minimum of 70 per cent marks in the qualifying examination had also been scrapped. Besides, the banks were not allowed to give loans to students residing outside their service area, he said.

The MP has organised an educational loan mela at the V.V.V. College for Women here on October 19 for students of Virudhunagar parliamentary constituency and Virudhunagar district.

"All nationalised banks are participating in the mela. We are expecting at least 5,000 students and all eligible candidates will get the loans," he said.

Students pursuing professional courses are eligible for loans. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram would distribute the loan orders, he said. The lead banks — Indian Overseas Bank (Virudhunagar district) and Canara Bank (Madurai district) — are sponsoring the mela.

The maximum loan amount for studies within the country is Rs. 10 lakh and abroad Rs. 20 lakh. Mr. Tagore said that the students need not give any surety for loans up to Rs. 4 lakh. A personal surety is required for loan amounts above Rs. 4 lakh and Rs. 7.5 lakh.

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Newsletter gives tips on personal finance (Lawrence Journal-World)

Posted: 05 Oct 2009 10:30 PM PDT

It used to be that our personal finances were so uncomplicated — a simple bank account, 30-year mortgage, company pension.

That was then.

This is now: Our personal finances come with frustration, complication and financial products that seem incomprehensible. Just trying to understand — and remember — the new consumer protections for credit cards is enough to give yourself a headache.

There is so much information to grasp and so many scam artists to avoid that you need CliffsNotes for your money, much like the guides that have helped students interpret complex literary works.

Well, as it turns out, there is the equivalent for personal finance.

For the Color of Money Book Club selection for October, I'm recommending a monthly newsletter — Consumer Reports Money Adviser — which is as informative as it is visually appealing. The newsletter is published by Consumers Union, a nonprofit group that also publishes the wonderful Consumer Reports magazine.

The newsletter, which can't be purchased at the newsstand, costs $29 for a 12-month subscription. To subscribe online, go to consumerreports.org/moneyadviser. You can also order by telephone at (800) 234-1970.

The typically 17-page newsletter covers a wide range of personal finance topics in short engaging articles — from credit to investing to saving to insurance to real estate to retirement planning to taxes. In every issue you'll find regular money tips. You'll find "savings and loans," a feature highlighting the best rates for putting money aside or borrowing. Two of my favorite features are "Behind the Hype" and "Gimmicks and Gotchas." Both expose the misleading ways companies try to get you to buy something.

"Wading through the fine print, hidden terms, and other gotchas on mortgages, credit cards, bank accounts, and student loans can be daunting for even the savviest consumer," wrote Noreen Perrotta in her editor's notes for the September issue.

Amen to that.

• was particularly interested in a feature story in the current issue that evaluates which strategy is best for paying off credit card debt. The options, as analyzed by CRMA:

• Pay off the card with the highest interest rate first.

Mathematically, this option will result in the lowest amount of interest paid.

• Pay off the card with the lowest balance first. You put the bulk of the money allocated for paying down debt toward the card with the smallest balance while making the minimum payment on other cards with larger balances. When the smallest balance is paid in full, you then put all your payback funds toward the card with the next lowest balance. This is the method I recommend. In my experience of advising people how to pay off their debt, there's a psychological boost when people can quickly knock debts off their list.

• Pay off the highest balance first. CRMA says borrowers with large balances — especially those that comprise more than 50 percent of the total line of credit — have become especially vulnerable to having their credit limits reduced. By concentrating on credit cards that are maxed out or close to being maxed out, consumers work toward getting their balances below 30 percent of their credit lines, which helps boost their credit scores.

It's important for consumers to find the most effective debt repayment method, the newsletter points out, given that Americans currently owe $917 billion on revolving credit lines and almost all of it is a result of charging purchases to credit cards. It's also useful for the many credit card holders who are receiving notices of hikes in their interest rates.

So which debt repayment method is best?

"As long as you stick to it, any of the approaches we've highlighted here have merit," CRMA found. "You can even change tactics midstream — for instance, pay down a high-balance credit card first, then, when that balance is below 30 percent, switch to paying the card with the highest APR. The greatest challenge will be resisting the temptation to backslide toward making only minimum payments."

I know this is an unusual selection for a book club, but I've been reading the newsletter for some time and just thought it was so well written and easy to understand that it's a must-have to help you navigate the world of personal finance.

It's easy to be a member of the book club. We don't meet — at least not in person. We come together for a live online discussion. Join me Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. CDT at washingtonpost.com/discussions. Perrotta will join me to answer your personal finance questions.

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Personal Finance Daily: Savers take recession lessons to heart (Market Watch)

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 09:55 AM PDT

Alert Email Print

By MarketWatch

Don't miss these top stories:

Keeping 401(k)s afloat
Don't tangle with HFT-Quants
Getting ETF advice online
A restraining order on diabetes

Last year was not a good year for retirement savers. The average 401(k) account lost nearly 30%, although that could have been worse -- the broad-based S&P 500 Index was down nearly 40%. That's a small comfort, but it does show that the recession has made workers smarter about saving.

For one, most participants in defined-contribution retirement plans continued to participate. That meant putting money in regularly, even as the market fell -- a good long-term strategy, known as dollar-cost averaging -- which helped keep balances up and put investors in position to take advantage of this year's rebound (despite a horrific start, the S&P is up about 14% since Jan. 1.)

For another, most 401(k) holders resisted the temptation to tap their funds via loans or withdrawals to see them through the recession -- about the same number did that in 2008 as in 2007. That displays the kind of discipline American savers will need if they are to get their nest eggs to last them in retirement, discipline that has been in short supply before now.

Whether we retain these lessons when times are fat again remains to be seen. But if this downturn served as a wake-up call, we may be ready for a new day.

-- Steve Kerch, assistant managing editor/personal finance

RETIREMENT

401(k)s took big, but not devastating, hit in 2008

Maybe the best that can be said about the effect of last year's market crash on average 401(k) balances is: It could have been worse.
See Retirement Living.

Target-date funds regain some bragging rights

Investors in supposedly super safe target-date mutual funds took it on the chin like pretty much everybody else as the market collapsed. So why would anyone think about looking to these funds now?
See full story.

INVESTING

HFT-Quants crush Main Street investors

Yes, the Lazy Portfolios are still beating the S&P 500, all eight are beating the broad index across the board for all time periods, usually by a comfortable margin. But the Lazy Portfolios, the champions of Main Street America, are no match for the new HFT-Quants, high-frequency trading quantitative mathematicians.
See Paul B. Farrell.

Picking up ETF tips from the Web

The dollars invested in exchange-traded funds still only amount to about 5% of the total in traditional mutual funds. But more and more individual investors are buying ETFs, which trade on exchanges like individual stocks. And as they do so, they are looking for advice about these newer vehicles.
See Mutual Understanding.

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Financiera Independencia Will Hold its Third Quarter 2009 Conference Call at 11:00 AM ET on October 16, 2009 (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 02:36 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Financiera Independencia, S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R. (BMV: FINDEP), (Independencia), a Mexican microfinance lender of personal loans to individuals, will hold its fiscal 2009 third conference call Friday, October 16, 2009 at 11:00 am U.S. ET (10:00 am Mexico City Time). The earnings release for the third quarter ending September 30, 2009 will be issued on Thursday, October 15, 2009.

The conference call can be accessed by dialing 866-393-9621 (U.S.) or 706-758-4196 (international) and entering passcode 34520758.

A replay will be available between 1:00 pm ET on October 16 and 11:59 pm ET on October 23, 2009. The replay is accessible by dialing 800-642-1687 (U.S.) or 706-645-9291 (international) and entering passcode 34520758.

A live web cast of the conference call and replay will be available at http://www.independencia.com.mx.

A slide presentation will also be available beginning October 16, 2009 at 8:00 am U.S. ET (7:00 am Mexico City Time) for download from the investor relations section (quarterly earnings) of the Company's corporate website at http://www.independencia.com.mx.

About Financiera Independencia:

Financiera Independencia, S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R. (Independencia), is a Mexican microfinance lender of personal loans to individuals. Independencia provides microcredit loans on an unsecured basis to individuals in the low-income segments in Mexico in urban areas of both the formal and informal economy. As of June 30, 2009, Independencia had a total outstanding loan balance of Ps.4,615.9 million, operated 194 offices in 144 cities throughout 31 of Mexico's 32 federal entities and had a total labor force of 9,308 people. The Company listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange on November 1, 2007, where it trades under the symbol "FINDEP". More information can be found at www.independencia.com.mx

 In Mexico Financiera Independencia Vicente Gutierrez +52 55 5229 0291 vgutierrez@independencia.com.mx In the US Breakstone Group Susan Borinelli 646-330-5907 sborinelli@breakstone-group.com

SOURCE: Financiera Independencia, S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R.

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Fast loans or credit?

Tuesday, October 6, 2009