Personal Finance Tips

Credit card debt reduction is farthest from the mind of an average American who could accumulate between $5,000 to $10,000 spending money by maintaining several credit cards. But having this amount of money, it would also be difficult to steer away from indebtedness. The scenario would be like the old adage, that is easier to gain weight than to lose it. It is easier to accumulate debts than saving money to pay off these debts.

However, there are several steps one can follow in credit card debt reduction. But loan applicants should not forget that paying all

When you’re put in a position where credit counseling seems like a financial saving grace, don’t hesitate, yet do proceed with knowledge and a bit of caution. Especially in a situation where handing over your financial information to a company occurs, you must -stressing the word “must” – know who you’re sending that information to, being certain they’re indeed looking out for your best interests and not theirs. What’s needed, or rather, required on their end is absolute assistance, not deception. You need a credit counseling service to heal you and help you, not pull a fast one on you. To avoid being swindled by seemingly reputable credit counseling companies there are a few easy steps, or questions, you can take and ask to ensure 100% assistance and hopefully, at the close of credit counseling, relieve debt all together.

Weeding Out The Bad From The Good

The major draw back to finding financial companies is dealing with the few charlatans out there looking to capitalize on the current economic and debt hardship period through using particular malicious practices, ones taking advantage of indebted persons seeking help. This said, asking questions, even in an excessive amount is O.K. when speaking with numerous credit counseling agencies. It’s a necessary and time consuming process to weed out the bad from the good. Doing this will ensure you’re dealing with an ameliorative company, rather than a cloaked, villainous one.

Ask away – the worst thing that could happen is knowing more, and isn’t knowing half the battle to anything?

Are You, Counseling Company X, Affiliated To Major Industry Groups?

Ask this particular question to find out if your desired credit counseling company is affiliated with either the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. Belonging to one of these is one way to at least know that their policies require Company X to abide to detailed standards and guidelines. There’s some comfort in knowing that.

Are Your Upfront Fees Substantial or Reasonable?

As a start up procedure for setting up your account companies will usually charge you a fair amount. This relatively standard amount is then carried over for monthly administering of your plan. Now, if the fee is initially a bit high, proceed with caution or avoid this company all together. Many companies in the past were known for charging extremely high set up fees, and then, poof, were almost instantaneously gone with all the clients’ money. Avoid being scammed like this and having your money syphoned into a credit counseling company’s back pocket. Be certain your funds are being placed toward finalizing you debt instead.

Are All These Promises You’re Stating Going To Be Fulfilled?

Most times, what credit counseling companies offer you seem to good to true. Sometimes though, they actually are. Avoid promises stating you’ll be able to settle debts through minimal amounts of money without harming your credit rating; these are completely unrealistic. The costs are there and the financial realities quite grim when ushering services from a credit counseling company. If outlandish promises are insistent on their end, ask for them to be provided to you in writing.

Which Creditors Have You Successfully Worked With?

Inquire about this to see just who, in terms of creditors, Company X are familiar and successful with. Compare their answers with your creditors. Ask if they’ve been successful in reducing payments, lessening interest rates and getting rid of fees for your particular creditors. It’s important to ask this as not all creditors will actually work with a credit counseling company. If none or only a few of your creditors are mentioned, take this into consideration. Again, ask for a written list, if not just to compare with yours and to see in front of you, but also for record purposes.

Asking not only the above questions but even further inquiries will ensure you’re getting true assistance from a credit counseling company. Also, ask how you will pay Company X per month, when account statements will be provided to you and how you can contact these individuals with questions and concerns through the counseling term. Don’t be afraid to ask away, you’re not hassling these credit counseling people; after all, if Company X is indeed real and reliable they’ll be glad to answer all your queries, not irritated to do so.

In the past few articles, some of the criteria and analysis that go into the determination of the viability of a commercial mortgage loan have been discussed. We have looked at how we get to a building’s net operating income or NOI. This is key, because it tells us how much, after expenses, the building earns. And remember, in a commercial loan the key is what the building earns. This is why to side by side buildings with the same number of stores and apartments above can be worth two different amounts. Different levels of NOI! We have looked at capitalization rate, or the return that a buyer of a commercial property wants on their investment. We showed how this number, along with NOI, can give us an idea of what a building is worth.

Debt Service Coverage Ratio or DSCR

We are now going to look at the most important number, the number which will go a long way in determining whether or not a commercial mortgage loan can get funded. It is a number that can get a loan amount cut, or even potentially increased. This number is the debt service coverage ratio, or DSCR. Remember what we said early on in Article 1. Commercial mortgage loans are not about LTV, but they are about the DSCR.

DSCR is not a complicated formula, but it will tell us if the debt service (principal + interest) of a given loan amount at a given interest rate will be adequately covered by the NOI that the building produces. Again? Will the annual NOI divided by the annual debt service coverage of the desired loan result in a DSCR high enough to satisfy the lender. Typically, the minimum DSCR level will be 1.20X or 1.25X depending on the property type.

Remember that the mortgage rate cannot be higher than the cap rate, or the building will not debt service. Another way to look at it: You can’t borrow money at Bank 1 at 7% and turn around and invest it at Bank 2 at 6%. This is not a winning proposition, and in commercial mortgage terms will not get you the DSCR that you need.

Now let’s take a look at an example. Remember that the calculations are not complicated, but the results are critical to the success or failure of loan funding:

NOI = $80,000 Annual Mortgage Expense = $65,000

DSCR = $80,000/$65,000 = 1.23X which is ok for certain property types

What if the NOI goes down, or the mortgage expense goes up?

NOI = $75,000 Annual Mortgage Expense = $68,000

$75,000/$68,000 = 1.1X DSCR which is not a good number.

A way around this is a lower loan amount which will result in a lower mortgage expense. This will require a larger down payment for a purchase, or lower proceeds in the event of a refi.

In any event, the bottom line still remains that:

The Income Producing Property Must Be Able To Support Itself!

Everyone has heard of Debt Settlement USA, they are well known for being able to help you eliminate your debt. There are many people these days that want to get rid of their debt, but are unsure if this is the right choice to make or if another company would be better. To help you make a more informed decision, there are some important things that you need to know about them.

The first thing to know is that they are based in Scottsdale, Arizona and are one of the largest companies around that is still providing help for many people to get away from the viscous debt cycle.

It is always a smart idea to do your own research on this company to check them out for yourself. This will help you learn a lot of useful information about them to make a more informed decision. Also, check with the BBB about this company or any other company for that matter, before hiring them for help with your debt
settlement.

An important thing to know before hiring this company is that in order to be able to hire them, your debt needs to be at least $12, 000 in unsecured debt. The debt can include things such as medical bills, hospital bills, overdue rent, credit card debt, personal loans, past due water bill, past due gas bill and even a past due electric bill.

One interesting thing to know about this popular company is that they have an electronic enrollment system that allows anyone to sign up fast and easily so you can get started on the road to being debt free that much quicker. Check this out more for yourself before deciding if it is right for you or not.
Now, before hiring this company or any other company, you need to make sure they can offer you certain things. Some of the most important things they should be able to offer you include:

1. They need to be able to lower your monthly payments.
2. Can help you save as much as 70% on what you owe.
3. Help to be debt free in 12 to 60 months.
4. Advice that is fast, friendly and right for your debt settlement.

Always take the time to research Debt Settlement USA or any other company before deciding to hire them. Be sure that they are your best option for debt settlement because this is too important to make a rush decision on. The best company needs to be hired for help in order for you to eliminate as much debt as possible.

I recently had the privilege of discussing credit card counseling with a local banker. Among the things he mentioned one of them stood out in the report. After review it became know that people in debt are seeking credit counseling programs to seek debt relief.

The problem however is the long time frame associated with the programs. The monthly payments remain the same as well causing the same issue to arise being the strain of the monthly payments on household budgets. Many people have even enrolled in CCCS programs paid the fees and then dropped out. This is where the problem lies.

Ethics should come into play in this scenario. When dealing with an indebted consumer many credit card counseling companies act like debt collecting sharks to gain enrollments. Pushing the consumer by pointing out the non-profit status of the company to enroll in the program. After this shaky enrollment process they deduct the first monthly payment that goes entirely to fees for the service.

If the next month the client fails to make a payment there is no follow up done to see why. The reason being that the credit counseling company is paid for and sponsored by the credit card companies themselves. The IRS has done much research into the non-profit CCCS programs but have had little success with completely eradicating predatory credit counselors. Additionally the credit counseling firm is paid a “fair share” usually between 7-12% of the debt directly back to the credit counseling agency.

Consult with a banker or an attorney to see if credit counseling or debt settlement is best for your financial needs.