Category Archives: Credit Cards

Short sale and tax consequences

May 01, 2011   admin   No comments

Q: Do I have to pay tax after a short sale? I am selling my house short and the neighbor told me that the IRS requires lenders issue form 1099C for all debt that was forgiven. In my case, it is almost $70,000 and paying taxes on that much will be impossible.

A: Is this short sale on your primary residence? If yes, you should be fine, because The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 does not consider forgiven debt on your principal residence as a taxable income for either short sale or foreclosure. It also applies for debt reduced through mortgage restructuring. This provision is valid for up to $2 million in debt for a married couple, forgiven from 2007 through 2012.

Read the full post

  Tags: Short Sale, Tax

Time to establish credit history

April 25, 2011   admin   No comments

You can find plenty of advise and instruction, some good and some not so, on how to establish credit. The other question that a lot people ask these days is what time is needed to establish credit history to be able to get loans. Interest rates have been low for a long time and seemingly everyone expects them to go higher. Home prices have been going lower every day and just as well, everyone thinks that they are bottoming and will bounce back. So every new college grad with a job or a fresh of the boat immigrant is in a hurry to establish credit history, get the credit score and score that house.

For the record, I think that interest rate will stay low for quite a while, while home prices will be going down, albeit slower.

Read the full post

  Tags: Credit, Establish Credit

Debt relief with Bank of America

April 19, 2011   admin   No comments

Q: I have 716 and 732 credit scores, pulled from myFICO. I have 4 small credit card balances and one very large one with Bank of America for $23,300. I am really hoping to get some debt relief from BoA and must try to settle. If I can settle, I would be able to quickly pay off the remaining credit cards. Can I request a debt relief if I have never been late with credit card payments? I do not want to stop paying to preserve my scores. Right now, I am only able to pay the minimum monthly payments, but at this rate I will never get it paid off. At the start of 2010, my salary dropped by $18,000 and I have lived from paycheck to paycheck.

Read the full post

  Tags: America, Debt Relief

Difference between prequalification and preapproval

April 13, 2011   admin   No comments

A mortgage prequalification is the very first step of home loan application process. Typical prequalification is issued by a loan officer and more than often based on ball park numbers which you provide, including salary and recurring expenses to estimate approximate maximum loan amount you may eventually be approved for. Your credit report is normally not pulled at this stage and no cost or obligation on behalf of either party is involved. So while a mortgage prequalification helps determine the dollar value of a potential loan, it is not by any stretch, a commitment to lend you money. A loan officer can’t make an approval in any shape or form, but give you a prequalification letter which you can use when making an offer on a property.

Read the full post

How to cancel payday loan

April 09, 2011   admin   No comments

You thought you needed a payday loan, and you got one. Now you realized that this is not such a good idea and want to cancel it, but how? In many states, you can cancel payday loans without paying a penalty. Exactly how to cancel a payday loan, depends on your particular state. In Illinois, you can cancel all your future obligations on a payday loan at no cost whatsoever – without paying fees, interest and other charges – if you cancel the loan by the end of the second business day immediately following the day your payday loan was executed.

To cancel future obligations on a payday loan fill out the following form and submit it to the lender.

Read the full post

  Tags: Cancel Payday, Cancel Payday Loan, Loan, Payday Loan

Ways to save money

April 04, 2011   admin   No comments

Times are tough and going to get tougher. You must save money and I know 7 ways that can certainly help to achieve just that. First, stop spending too much. Analyze you monthly spending, find ways to cut back and then save whatever money left at the end of the month. Keep yourself from slipping back into wasting money and don’t get too frustrated if it happens. This is just a first step, you must start saving in earnest. Understand that spending is often disappointing and follows by buyer remorse, be it new shoes, wardrobe, car or house. Worse still, once that initial delight passes and remorse kicks in, you will be looking to buy something else in a hurry.

If you can’t control your spending, you must find other ways to save money.

Read the full post

  Tags: Money
Page 4 of 18« First...23456...10...Last »