Financial tips – Strategies that can help you maintain your finances

Budgeting and planning are the two most important steps that you need to take in order to
maintain your finances. Other than following any of the financial tips in order to maintain your
finances, you also need to decide what is it that you want to achieve, the life that you want to
lead. There are some simple financial tips that can actually help you to
maintain financial stability.

Simple financial tips for your finances

Some of the simple financial tips that can help you maintain stable finance are:

1. Change spending habits – You need to change your spending if you know that you have a
tendency to spend more. The less you spend, the lesser will be your debt level. The lower
your debt level, the better will be your savings. The better your savings, more secure will
be your future – financial and physical.

2. Create investment policy – You can also create an investment policy. You can either do
it yourself or work with an investment planner in order to do the right investment policy.
You can talk to the investment planner about the best investment vehicle, trading costs,
fees and other related expenses, tax implications and so on.

3. Budget – In order to maintain stable finances, you should also formulate and maintain
a strict budget. Budgeting helps you not only to lower your expenditures, but also save
money from your expenditures.

4. Get insurance – You should also get insurance policies like life insurance, health
insurance, travel insurance, car insurance, etc. These insurance policies help you avoid
debts.

5. Make on-time debt payments – You can save money and also maintain good financial
status if you make on-time debt payments.

6. Check credit report – Last but not the least, you also need to check your credit report for
any wrong listings on it. Sometimes, wrong listings get reported on the credit report and
you need to dispute those. Sometimes, your payments too may not get updated, so you
need to dispute that too with the credit bureaus.

So, if you want to maintain good financial status, you can follow the above discussed financial
tips.

Who owns my mortgage?

I spotted this great PR today on AP basically pointing out that not many of us actually know who owns our mortgage anymore.

With the subprime mortgage shakedown almost old news this article sure does give some food for thought. Until recently I’d always assumed that the company that sold me my mortgage had a big part to play in looking after it . . . however that doesn’t seem to be the case because there are so many people involved in the mortgageing process.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to take a more in depth look at the mortgage process from start to finish . . . hold tight

Economy still uncertain despite base rate cut

Debt management company Gregory Pennington have warned that the economy remains uncertain, despite a number of signals suggesting a potential recovery, and have advised anyone facing severe financial problems to seek professional debt advice as soon as possible.

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee’s announcement on Wednesday that the base rate would fall to 4.5% was intended to calm fears surrounding the money market and increase lenders’ willingness to do business with one another, subsequently increasing liquidity and boosting the loans market.

A number of lenders announced cuts to their mortgage rates following the base rate announcement – which may come as a relief to prospective homeowners or existing homeowners looking to remortgage, following many lenders’ reluctance to respond to the last base rate drop.

Meanwhile, petrol prices recently fell to as little as 103.9 pence per litre, while food price growth slowed by 0.2% in September, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – arousing speculation that overall inflation has hit its peak and will now begin to slow.

However, a spokesperson for Gregory Pennington commented that while there are encouraging signs for the economy, there is no guarantee that further difficulty for the economy can be avoided.

“The first thing to bear in mind is that while the base rate cut is intended to help the economy, it was brought in as an emergency measure,” she said. “The threat of a severe economic downturn is still looming and there are no guarantees it can be avoided.

“The fall in oil and food prices are very encouraging, but both are heavily affected by external factors, largely outside our Government’s control.”

The debt management company spokesperson was keen to emphasise the continued need to take care over finances and manage debts effectively in the coming months. “There is still the possibility that things could get tighter in the near future, so it pays to tackle any financial issues now, rather than waiting to see what happens next.

“People who are struggling with debt are especially at risk, because their finances are already stretched – and any further rises in costs of living could make those debts unmanageable.

“As always, we advise anyone struggling with debt to seek expert debt help as soon as possible. Leaving it too late could allow your debts to grow, which is particularly dangerous if costs of living do continue to rise.

“There are a number of debt solutions to help with various financial situations. A debt management plan is a flexible means of getting out of debt in which your repayments are based on how much you can afford, and in some cases interest and other charges can be frozen.

“Debt consolidation involves grouping your debts into one convenient monthly payment, therefore simplifying your finances, and your debt can also be spread out over a longer period of time, meaning monthly payments are smaller – although this can mean you pay more interest in the long run.

“For more serious debts of over £15,000, an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) might be more appropriate. These work by agreeing with your creditors to make payments based on what you can afford for a period of five years, after which the remaining debt is considered settled.”

3000 Scottish Homeowners in Trouble

The Scotsman reported today that, according to official figures, more than 3000 people in the Lothians are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages because of the credit crunch, whilst thousands more who are not covered by the statistics could be in the same boat.

The news comes at the same time as separate figures show a surge in the number of people going bankrupt.

Today a firm which specialises in buying homes on the brink of repossession so they can be leased back to their former owners said the number of inquiries it is receiving had quadrupled.

ThinkMoney.com

ThinkMoney.com is the new website from the Manchester based Think Money Group. Think Money is a leading UK financial services company established over 15 years ago and providing financial services to over 100,000 UK consumers.

The company employs over 600 staff in it’s purpose built Manchester call centre and has consistently been voted by it’s employees as on of the UK’s best 100 companies to work with.

ThinkMoney.com offers a complete suite of financial products from mortgages to debt advice, including remortgages, loans, debt management plans, IVAs, bank accounts, insurance and car finance.

Useful Links:

Mortgages & Loans
Mortgages > http://www.thinkmoney.com/mortgage/
Remortgages > http://www.thinkmoney.com/mortgage/remortgage/
Loans > http://www.thinkmoney.com/loans/
Secured loans > http://www.thinkmoney.com/loans/secured-loans/

Debt help & advice
Debt help & advice > http://www.thinkmoney.com/debt/
Debt management > http://www.thinkmoney.com/debt/debt-management/
Debt consolidation > http://www.thinkmoney.com/debt/debt-consolidation/
IVA > http://www.thinkmoney.com/debt/IVA/
Trust Deed > http://www.thinkmoney.com/debt/trust-deed/

Other services
Bad credit bank accounts > http://www.thinkmoney.com/banking/
Car finance > http://www.thinkmoney.com/motoring/
Insurance > http://www.thinkmoney.com/insurance/

NB: This post has been updated to reflect changes to the urls listed.

Bradford & Bingley (B&B) Nationalised

Bradford & Bingley, the UK’s latest troubled mortgage lender is being nationalised by the British Government in an effort to stabalise the UK economy.

In a statement by Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, UK voters heard how the Government have vowed to  “work night and day to make sure that Britain can come through fairly this (the economic) downturn”

Gregory Pennington Ltd

Gregory Pennington are on of the largest debt management companies in the UK. With over 40,000 UK clients on debt management, the company has been providing debt help and advice since 1993.

Located in Manchester, close to Salford Quays, the company employs over 600 people and provides services including debt management plans, debt consolidation loans, IVAs, bank accounts and remortgages.

The company is a founder member of DEMSA (the Debt Managers Standards Association).

Useful links:
Debt management plans: http://www.gregorypennington.com/debt-management.asp
Debt consolidation: http://www.gregorypennington.com/debt-consolidation-loan.asp
IVAs: http://www.gregorypennington.com/individual-voluntary-arrangements.asp

Fixed Rate Mortgage

A fixed rate mortgage is a mortgage where the monthly interest rates are fixed at a pre-specified rate for a pre-specified period of the loan.

It is common for fixed rate mortgages to have the rate fixed for 1, 2 or 3 years, after that period the rate payable will switch to refelct current interest rates.

US mortgagees struggling with negative equity

A recent study by Zillow.com claims that 33% of American consumers who purchased a property in the last 5 years are now suffering negative equity. The study claims that the severe market turn has meant up to 25% of all those selling their property in the last 5 months have taken a loss on the sale.

Debt Advisers Direct

Debt Advisers Direct appears to be on of the UK’s leading providers of debt consolidation services. Providing debt help and advice to over 40,000 consumers, the company has over 14 years of advising on consumer debt issues.

Debt Advisers Direct specialise in personal, one to one debt advice, advising on the right debt solutions for a particular clients needs.

The business offers a range of debt solutions including debt consolidation, remortgages, debt management plans & IVAs.

The debt consolidation arm of the business facilitates secured loans and remortgages to enable the client to consolidate their debts into one monthly payment.

Visit the site: http://www.debtadvisersdirect.co.uk