Although home prices haven’t increased much and interest rates have remained steady over the past year, it’s still going to be a more expensive to buy a home soon. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has decided to increase the down payment requirements on the mortgage loans they guarantee/insure. This down payment was [...]

Mortgages are loans made by banks and lenders that package these loans (securitize) and sell them on Wall Street in the form of bonds called mortgage backed securities (MBS). The money made from the sale of the MBS them goes back to the bank/lender so they can complete more loans. The mortgage payments [...]

The stock market’s Dow Jones Industrials index recently reached the 10,000 mark and although the stock market hasn’t reached that mark in over a year, what is the significance of this seemingly random financial statistic to non-stock market investors?
The movements of the stock market reflect the confidence of investors in our economy’s corporate future. [...]

Most people believe that paying their credit cards on time will prevent them from paying extra charges. However, card holders should double and thrice check their statements as many banks including Citibank are charging extra fees in the form of supplemental annual fees for instances such as a lack of transaction activity. (Remember if [...]

I recently got a call from a friend whose grandparents (80 years old) were placed into an expensive “no documentation” residential mortgage loan that is now foreclosing. The grandparents were seeking cash for medical expenses and didn’t qualify for a loan requiring full documentation of income [...]

In the banking industry, the credit report / credit profile is often referred to as the “character report.” The credit/character report does not determine if a person has “good” or “bad” credit, as much as it helps illustrate a financial picture of a person’s consistency to uphold to their financial responsibility. The credit [...]