Secured Network?

When you access your bank account information you must always do so with a device that has a secured network. Accessing your bank account from a shared network will end up increasing the risk of your account information being compromised. You need to connect to secured networks only and consider only accessing your bank account information from your home network.

Risk of Theft

It’s not hard for people to pick your pocket in today’s world, especially if you use crowded transportation systems. You need to recognize how easy it can be for someone to steal your mobile device or for you to misplace it. Walking around with all of your banking account information in your pocket may not be the smartest idea.

Website Security

Does the bank site have HTTPS:// before it? This shows that the site is secured. You need to work with a bank that asks several security questions instead of just one question and your user name and password information. A good bank knows the importance of security and they will make it as hard as possible for a hacker to compromise your information from any location.

Your Password and Security Questions

Another thing that can protect you with mobile banking is to really work hard on creating a unique user name and password. You also need to use difficult security questions. This is a great way to make it harder on anyone that possibly could intercept your mobile device and bank account information.

Like any website with financial information, know that there are always going to be risks. Take the necessary steps to protect yourself from theft!

Used car rates are hovering around 8.41% which is a big improvement to the 9.44% interest rate that was around in 2002. Out of all the debts that you have to deal with, a car loan is one that you will likely have around for most of your life. People love owning new cars, and now is a great time to invest in a new car loan. Not only will you be able to acquire lower rates for a car loan but you can easily get a number of great perks like $100 toward a new vehicle purchase.

Why 2012 Is The Year To Buy

If you have been hoping for a new car loan for awhile, this is a great time to consider one. 2012 is looking to be a “car year” as the interest rates are lower than they have ever been and this trend looks to continue through 2012.

Dealer Financing Or Bank Financing

Any time you are considering a loan you always need to compare rates. Banks and credit unions are able to compete with dealers as they can offer lower interest rates and often provide other perks like $100 toward a new car loan. Many dealers often charge the highest interest rate and then let you talk them down where banks and credit unions usually offer you the lowest rate first.

Other Factors Impacting Car Loans

When you head in for a new or used car loan, you need to understand what type of factors will impact your ability to get the lowest rate possible. Here are some factors that you need to pay attention to:

• Credit rating – lenders give the best rates to people that have credit ratings of 760 or higher. Your credit rating can determine if the bank will even approve you for a loan or not. Some people with poor credit can get a car loan but it’s likely through the dealership and for a higher interest rate.
• Down payment – take a look at how much money you can invest into a new car loan. Lenders can easily provide you with a decent car loan if you will provide them with a decent down payment amount when you come in for the loan. Try to invest about $2,000 or more toward a new car loan to show lenders you are safe risk.

CD Laddering – The Basics

A CD ladder will allow you to invest your money into several different CDs. Some will be locked up for 5 years others just a few months. You will have varying interest rates on the CDs and varying amounts of money that is deposited into the CDs. What you will do is cash out the short term CDs when they reach their term and re-invest them into another CD. You start building up a large emergency cash fund and will have access to a portion of the money within a month or so based on when you invested the money into the CD.

How To Start CD Laddering

Take a small amount of money, say $500 and invest this money into a 3 month CD. Take another $500 and invest it into a 6 month CD or a 12 month CD. Start small so the money can grow and to have money locked away without hurting you financially. You want to have money that is available in the event that you have a need arise as cashing out a CD early will come with a penalty. Do this CD laddering each month or a few times a year to build a solid emergency cash fund with a higher interest rate from a traditional savings account or money market account.

Compare Rates Online

To find out which banks are offering the best CD rates, compare rates online. You should consider some short term CDs along with long-term CDs as they usually have the highest interest rates. The downside to locking your money into a long-term CD account is the fact that you may lose out on extra cash. The interest rates are bound to climb one day and if you are locked into an account, you will miss out on an interest rate hike that can earn you more money. Compare rates online to find out which banks you should invest your money with and start growing your savings today!

Why Low Interest Rates Are Good For Debt

While you usually want interest rates to be higher to increase your savings rate, keeping them low can be ideal to get out of debt. For example, let’s say you have a mortgage with a 6% interest rate right now and you have a debt burden of $20,000. If you have enough equity in your home, you can refinance your mortgage at a lower rate and roll that debt into your mortgage. Now you have an interest rate of 3.5% or possibly lower depending upon your credit rating and approval for the loan. When rates are low, you will end up paying less money in interest!

Why Lower Interest Rates Are Bad For Savings

Keeping the rates at a low level can help to pay off debt quickly but it makes it incredibly challenging to save money. The interest rates on savings accounts are also at an all time low, which means you aren’t really earning much of anything! Consider looking into different types of savings accounts and investments that can pay out a higher interest rate. Money market accounts, CDs, and online savings accounts will come with a higher interest rate from a standard savings account at your local bank. Compare rates online to find out which banks have the highest interest rates and also to find out which ones have consistent returns for their customers.

Create A Debt Payment Plan

Things in the economy are not easy for a lot of people and anyone with debt knows that now is the time to get out of it as soon as possible. Take a look at your credit cards and other loans and write down the interest rate of each account along with the monthly payment amount on each account. Set a goal to pay off the accounts with the highest interest rates first. This will end up saving you the most money in interest payments. If you would like to have a little extra motivation about paying off credit cards you can opt for paying off the accounts with the lowest balance first. This way you can start rolling these smaller payments together and pay more to the larger accounts as you start chipping away at your debt.

The time to get out of debt is NOW! Don’t add to your debt, start getting out of it by taking advantage of lower interest rates on credit cards and other accounts. Learning how to control your spending will aid you tremendously as you focus on paying off debt and gaining control of your financial life again!

The Advantages Of A Tax Accountant

Hiring a tax accountant comes with a number of advantages. They have the experience you need in dealing with tax laws and they understand which forms need to be filled out by you in order to properly file your taxes. A tax accountant will deal with all different types of accounts from small businesses to sole proprietors and they have the knowledge you need to reduce your tax burden and to properly prepare for future tax needs.

The Advantages Of Tax Programs

Tax programs are updated to the latest tax law information. The programs were commonly used by tax professionals in the past but the user guides and step-by-step process has made them much easier to understand and to use for anyone. Now you can do your own taxes just like a tax accountant and you can have an accountant review them for you when you are complete. It may take some time to input everything but everything will be reviewed with the tax program, which can help you to find all of the little deductions and tax credits that you do qualify for. The nice thing with a tax program is that you don’t have to do it all in one sitting. You can do a little here and there and the program will save everything you enter and you can jump around the program if you have certain documents that you would like to input now.

Tax Program Or CPA?

The cost is the biggest issue along with the time when you are looking at hiring a professional versus trying out the tax program. You need to consider how much time you actually have on your hands to do your own taxes and to know your tax situation. It’s a good idea to consider a CPA if you have several different schedules and forms to file. If you don’t understand something, a CPA can explain it to you. The CPA can also provide you with assistance if you do get audited by the IRS. Tax programs allow you to e-file your return and you normally have the money back in about 2 weeks or less. A CPA can e-file but they charge you more for it as the programs they use typically only offer one free e-file.

How can you increase your savings rate? It takes time and a lot of discipline to do but with the right effort, you will be able to save and you can find a way to be financially secure. Set a goal for yourself so you can save money such as saving 10% of each paycheck. Look at your income and your expenses to know what you can afford to save. For some people you will need to start small, for others you an easily start with the 10% amount. It varies for everyone, just focus on saving what you can and not what you think you should. Here are some tips that can help you in being able to increase your savings rate.

Create a savings goal

What is the purpose of your savings account? Is it established as an emergency fund for rainy day needs or are you saving money to pay for future expenses like a car or as a down payment on a home? Establish the purpose of the savings account so it can assist you in creating the right type of savings goals to use. When you set goals, you need to set a savings amount such as 10% of your income or whatever you can afford. Most people save for retirement by using their employers 401(k) plan but many people don’t establish a separate savings account for emergency needs.

Find the best rates

To save money effectively you also need to compare savings rates in order to find out which savings accounts will be able to give you the best savings rates. The savings rates change all the time and a traditional savings account doesn’t pay a high amount of money in interest income. You need to compare rates in order to find the best banks to work with. Consider working with online banks as the online savings accounts typically offer a higher rate. The savings rates change but the online savings accounts usually offer 5 times the national savings rate! Consider using an online savings account not only because of the higher interest but also to keep your savings account separate so you are not tempted to spend the money.

Have discipline

When you are trying to save money you need to have discipline! Make saving into a priority! Create a budget that you know you can stick to and one that will be able to help you pay for your savings needs. You also need to look into trimming your expenses so that you can start putting more money toward your savings account. When you are saving money you also need to look into paying off your debt as quickly as possible.

Get a second job

If you have debt, get another job so you can start paying more money toward the debt. A second job can help you to put more money toward your savings account as well so that you can increase your ability to save money. Saving money is vital to your financial health and you need to focus on building up at least 6-8 months of your typical paycheck amount to have a strong emergency cushion to fall back on when you are struggling financially based on losing your job or other issues. Saving money is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Get started with a savings account today!

Figure out what the problem really is

Many of us want to blame things like credit cards for getting us into debt but it’s not the credit card, it’s YOU! You have to understand what causes you to get into debt and to focus on changing your habits to prevent future debt. The best thing you can do is to focus your efforts on paying off debt and to avoid adding to your debt. Take the time to review your expenses and your credit card purchases to see where you spend money. Excessive spending on things that you do not need are going to cause a number of issues. You need to look at what type of spending you do when you buy groceries and other things. Do you spend more money than what you need to spend? If you don’t stick to a list, it can lead to impulse buying, which increases your debt burden.

Create a budget and live on it!

A big problem people in debt find is that they do not know how to live on a budget. You need to create a budget and to learn how to stick to your budget in order to pay off debts and to prevent future debts from occurring. You need to be able to look at your income and all of your expenses to see where you can reduce your spending so more money can go toward paying down your debt.

Reduce your debt amount

Can you consolidate your debts into a single monthly payment? This will help you to control how much money is being wasted on several little payments and it allows you to put more money toward the total debt amount. If you use a debt consolidation loan, make sure you are able to get the lowest possible interest rate to help you in paying down the debt sooner. Take a look at the debts that you do not need like a car loan. Can you sell one of your cars? How about selling all of your cars and other “toys” and getting a single car loan or actually paying off the entire car loan? This will reduce your debt burden. Take a look at your home and consider downsizing to a home and a mortgage payment that is affordable for you instead of living outside your means.

Don’t borrow from your future

A lot of people will use money from their retirement to pay off debt, this is one of the worst things that you can do! You need to quit borrowing money from other accounts to pay off debt. You do not want to borrow from your future, it will only make you work longer and usually leads to you being in debt for a longer period of time. You need to avoid using any of your future money for a temporary solution for the present.

Have control

To get out of debt you need to have strong financial control! It is up to you to learn how to control your spending and to stick to a budget. You need to learn how to change your spending and to start living within your means. It may cause you to buy a home you are not 100% in love with, but at least you own your own home and you are able to have a nice life! Don’t compare your situation to other’s! Learn how to be happy with what you have and stop trying to live up to some “American Dream” that no one can ever really obtain!

Step # 1 – Create a budget

You need to be able to figure out how much you can save by taking a hard look at your finances. How much money are you making and how much is sent out to your expenses. This helps you to trim your expenses so you can start putting more money toward your savings account. Look at your debts and focus on paying them down quickly so you can add more money to your savings account. The best thing you can do at this time is to put a smaller amount toward your savings and pay as much as you toward your debt. The sooner you are out of debt, the less money you will pay in interest and you have more money to place toward your savings account as the debts are paid off.

Step # 2 – Create a savings goal

How much money should your emergency cash fund have? It varies for everyone but most financial experts agree that you need to have about 6-8 months work of living expenses and income saved up. This way you will have plenty of money to fall back on if you lose your job. Have savings goals for your emergency cash fund along with saving money for other needs as well like a new home or a car. When you plan for future expenses, it makes it much easier on you to afford the items instead of going into debt to try and afford the items.

Step # 3 – Compare savings rates

When you are saving money you need to find the best banks to work with. Most people open a savings account with their local bank where they do their checking. These banks often cause people to have issues in dealing with low interest rates for their emergency savings. Consider using online banks for your savings account. You can easily earn 5 times the interest income by banking online. Use our rate comparison chart to help you compare savings rates and to find out which banks consistently offer higher rates.

Step # 4 – Automatic transfer

To help you in saving money you need to focus on paying yourself first. Use automatic transfer to send the money over to your account before you are tempted to spend it. Having an online savings account is nice as you can move the money so you don’t see it in your standard account where all of your spending occurs. Using automatic transfer makes it easy to save since you don’t need to do anything!

Step # 5 – Have discipline

Learning to change your spending habits can be difficult. It takes discipline to help you save money. You need to be able to look for ways in which you can trim your expenses and to send as much money as you can toward your savings account. Don’t let yourself get discouraged if your savings account isn’t growing rapidly. It takes time for a large amount of money to be saved up so continue to work on your savings goals and really work on having financial discipline and control to make these goals into a reality!

Bank failures have reached 87 for 2011. This number is rather low compared with previous years since the banking crisis began in 2008. The year 2010 saw 157 failures and 2009 saw 140. When you compare 2011 with prior years you could say that things are getting better. Though, 87 banks crashing in 11 months are not saying much.

Bank failure is being seen all over America. The dollar amount attached to the bank failures for this year alone equals $2000 for every man, woman and child in America.

Are bank failures becoming routine or are we becoming complacent? Not more than ten years ago a failed bank would be announced on the news as a newsworthy event. Though, we have had over 400 failed banks since 2008 many of these didn’t even warrant news worthy peeps. Just last week there were six different banks scattered throughout the states of Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Georgia that failed.

The FDIC or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation covers each depositor’s monies in banks up to $250,000. The FDIC covered the depositor’s monies as well as taking over the business of the six failed banks. The largest failed bank was found in the state of Kansas, Hillcrest Bank. Hillcrest Bank had over $1.6 billion in assets at the time of failure.

Assets for the failed banks are defined as monies that are owed the bank by customers. For an example, a mortgage owed the banks would be considered an asset. When looking at the assets for the failed banks across the nation since 2008 the total assets are equal to $630 billion which equates to $2000 for each man woman and child in America.

When you view the country as a whole there is a different look to failed banks. Many ask which area or state has been hit the hardest by the banking crisis. Depending on how you look at it the view can certainly change. In states that have seen one bank failure versus another with ten or twenty, you view is definitely different.

According the FDIC failed bank records, going back to 1935; some states have fared better than others. Georgia happens to be the state with the worst record of failed banks with 46 since 2008. Atlanta is one of the state’s largest metropolitan areas and has more failed banks than other cities of the state combined. The state of Florida is not far behind with 43 for the same time period.

The southern United States has been hit hard by failed banks compared with other regions of the country.  Outside of the southern United States the city of Chicago has an inordinately high number of bank failures.

Most of the failed banks that since the crisis began did not have a large number of assets and deposits that were even smaller. When you view the bank failure by the amount of total assets that each bank has outstanding compared with the population of each state, Nevada has the worst asset to population ratio for failures.

Since 2008, the state of Nevada had ten banks that failed. Though, the assets for the ten banks that did fail account for almost $200,000 in bad debt for every person represented in their population. Pennsylvania fares the best with $1 for every man, woman and child because they have only seen one bank failure with extremely low assets.

With 2010 appearing as the worst year since the banking crisis began in 2008 we may be on the mend for the banking crisis. We are still looking better than the recessions seen in the 1980s or even the 1990s for overall bank failures. Financial experts are mixed when asked if we are at the end of the bank failures for the current recession. Depending on where you are the face of bank failure can certainly look different. 

Pressures that began the war of fees with bank customers began prior to the financial crisis according to financial experts. These are some of the actions banks have used to get their profits from unsuspecting consumers and secrets that your bank will not tell you.

Most banks make the majority of their profits from “Joe Blow”, the middle income customer that lives paycheck to paycheck.

In 1999 a law was passed allowing merges with banks and security firms which caused many barriers to break down that had been on the books since the 1930s. After the original law was enacted all of the checks that were written for over $10,000 were wrote to institutions like Charles Schwab and similar organizations.  Banks best customers are moving their money to these providers instead of to the bank. Banks are becoming more of a place to put money for a brief period of time because the yield you receive from big deposits in savings or checking accounts is so low.

Banks are receiving a very low profit because interest rates are so low, making banks seek other avenues to make their money. Banks are focusing on not only what fees they can charge, but how to collect those fees.

Middle of the road income customers are the best source of income for banks and their fees.  The middle income customers are “Joe Blow” and are nickel and dimed to death. These are customers that manage their cash and monies from paycheck to paycheck. These are customers that will pay the overdraft fee for a checked that bounced to pay their mortgage, rather than take a hit on their credit report for a late mortgage payment and the banks are aware of this.

In the previous year overdraft fees along with insufficient funds fees provided banks with almost $40 billion dollars in profit and accounted for nearly 90% of banks fee income from customers, according to a research study conducted by a consulting firm by the name of Bretton Woods, Inc.  Three fourths of all banks will automatically enroll their banking customers in their “overdraft protection” packages without customer permission. More than half of all banks influence or control the order that checks are cleared in order to engage a multitude of overdraft fees for bounced checks, according to study released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Banks are trying to get the most profit as possible from their fees with “Joe Blow” customers holding the bag. Any customer that overdrafts their bank checking account a couple of times per  year have to consider banking with a lender that has a program making it easy as well as free of charge to move funds from savings to checking to guard their account against overdraft fees.