The Federal Housing Administration has been helping Americans own their own homes since 1934. In 1934, all Americans were struggling financially due to the Great Depression. Most Americans were renting their homes (if they had a home to live in). Today American’s find themselves in situations similar to our Grandparents and Great Grandparents. Owning or keeping a home can feel like an impossible dream. Today, the FHA remains committed to helping The United States of America be a country of home owners.

You are probably wondering exactly how does the FHA help Americans become homeowners. The FHA does not loan money; it insures the mortgage loan. This means that FHA will pay the lender (bank or mortgage company) if the homeowner cannot. In exchange for this insurance the FHA demands that lenders make mortgages more affordable to the average American. This process allows lenders to confidently lend money to people that might not otherwise be able to obtain a loan.

Benefits to the home buyer:

•   Easier to qualify
•   The FHA does not require perfect credit for its home buyers.

In fact the FHA does not require any minimum credit score to qualify. The FHA understands that “life happens” and there are various circumstances that can cause a person to have financial difficulty. Therefore the FHA looks at your overall credit history and takes into account life’s unexpected circumstances when approving your loan.

• Smaller/ less restrictive down payment
• The FHA requires only a 3.5% down payment. This is considerably lower than a conventional mortgage. Additionally, on an FHA loan, down payment money can come from many sources, including a gift from a family member or government agency. This can be a huge help, as saving for a down payment is one thing that keeps many people from owning their own home.
• Low cost
• In general, due to low interest rates, FHA monthly mortgage payments are more affordable.

Saving money is very important in everyone’s life. The best way to start this is with the help of a bank. Find a bank nearest to you and set up an account. Look for the different features available with the bank where you are setting up the account. After you have opened an account, you will start putting your savings. You will start earning a certain percentage of interests on the balance you have available on that bank account. It definitely an added benefit if you have the online banks access. You will save your valuable time and log into your account from anywhere.

Talk to the different local banks in your area and see the different features they have to offer to their customers while opening savings accounts. You should make sure which bank is offering the highest interest rate so that you have a greatest chance to earn more.

While you are doing the research with different banks, see how much access they are going to give you on your account. If you have unlimited access to your account, you will always be tempted to use the money from that account and save nothing. There are banks will give you limited access to your savings account online. This will prevent you from spending your hard earned money when you go out for shopping. Some banks will offer you secured credit cards attached to your savings account. Make sure that you have the ability to make good financial decisions if you are using this feature.

• Read the tips below to help you in choosing the right account:

Keep a limited number of accounts. This will help you to keep a track of your entire savings.

Make sure that you have done your research before opening an account with any bank. Shop with different banks and find out which account is the best. Go through the fine print and look for any hidden fees. Shop for those banks that have the highest interest rates to offer.

Reduce the amount of access you have to this account. You will not be able to save more if you get unlimited access to your account.

Keep a constant track of the cash flow in the new bank account. Make sure that you are maintaining the minimum balance requirement on that account, otherwise you will be charged some fees and save nothing.

Ask your bank about loyalties and fee waiving. If you have been with your bank for an extended amount of time, or you have frequently used your banks other services they may be able to offer you certain loyalties and discounts on your fees.

For more information on how to do a safe online banking, visit the FDIC website

If you are struggling through your overwhelming debts, you might have a variety of options to overcome this situation. Your ultimate goal should be to achieve a debt free life. In order to become free of your debts, you will have to consider two vital aspects. How much do you owe to your creditors and what kind of debts you have so that you can cautiously plan your moves to achieve your goals?

• A debt solution plan might include:

Self repayment plan: This is a kind of plan in which you pay your debts on your own. You will need to create a budget, exercise extreme control on your financial decisions and work to pay off your debts. This plan in not for everyone, but if you give a try and stick to your goals, you will get great results at the end.

Debt settlements: In the debt settlement program, you will be represented by a debt negotiator who will explain your financial situation to your creditors and knock down the total balance to something less than half so that you can it off in a lump sum amount. It is a good idea to make sure that you are aware of all the policies, terms and conditions when using this type of debt solution.

Debt consolidation or Credit Counseling: In a debt consolidation program, you will have all your debts combined into one monthly payment plan. You may find a company who can negotiate with your creditors and reduce the interest rates and set lower monthly payments with your creditors.

Debt consolidation loan: This is the same idea as consolidating, only with a loan. Here you have one payment instead of several payments. You get this kind of loan at a cheaper interest rate from what you are paying to your creditors.

Using A Credit Union: When you work with a credit union, you may qualify for a loan with an extreme low interest rate, which would work in the same way as a consolidation loan. The only difference is that here you don’t have to hire any company to work on your behalf with your creditors. You can take care of your debts on your own.

Obtaining a Home Equity Loan: Borrowing against the equity within your home may be the best debt solution for homeowners, simply because it could be affordable and very easy to maintain.

Insurance: This may not be a good debt solution for some people; however, any cash value available on your insurance might be a great way to eliminate your debts.

Credit Cards: If you have multiple credit cards and have good credit standing, then only consider this option and do a balance transfer. If you cannot manage your finances properly, then you will get deeper into credit card debts.

Bankruptcy: This is debt solution is only as a last resort. You should have tried everything above this before you even think about this option. When you file bankruptcy, you are marring your credit report, beyond repair, for at least seven years and up to ten years. You do not have the ability to correct or remove a bankruptcy. However, with other option, you have the ability to show creditors you are turning your financial life around.

If you are in need of some urgent cash, there are many lenders who offer fast loans at cheap rates and repay it back within a certain period of time. It is an unsecured loan that can resolve some of your temporary financial needs. With the convenience of these online lenders offering fast loan facilities, getting a payday advance loan has become very simple and quick. The loan amount will be credited to your checking account overnight and the advance can range anywhere from $100 to $1000 or more.

Fast loan advances are available from number online sources. These loan advances can be repaid back within your next payday. You don’t need to be concerned if you are having a bad credit. These online lenders do not perform a credit check. They will verify your personal information within the earliest possible time and the money will be credited to your checking or savings account within the same day. The fees can range from $10 to $30 depending upon the amount you are borrowing. You may compare the rates with different fast loan companies before you finalize signing up with any loan company. Cheap and fast loans are available for people who are having credit issues.

Fast loans can be used during the times of emergencies. These loans can help to avoid bouncing checks, bank overdrafts, or maybe, pay those unexpected bills that may occur anytime. Online lenders do not report to the credit bureaus. So, you do not need to worry about your past credit ratings. You will get a time period of 14 to 30 days to repay back the full loan amount. If you need, you may be able to extend the loan and pay only the interest due when you receive your next paycheck. If you are extending the loan, you may still get the loan at cheapest interest rates agreed upon in the original loan agreement.

Due to many online lenders offering fast loans, it is a great help to many people who are living from paycheck to paycheck and finding hard to make their ends meet. Browse through the internet and you will find a variety of lenders offering fast loans at cheapest rates. There are many accredited companies who are ready to assist you immediately.

If you are a homeowner and you have been missing your mortgage payments, thoughts of foreclosure can make you sick to your stomach. There are certain things you can do to stop a possible foreclosure. You need to act fast the moment you realize that you have started facing problems in making your mortgage payments to your lender. If you can act fast, you will find a number of solutions to resolve the problems. Call your mortgage lender or look online and search for the different ways to stop foreclosure.

One of the best ways to stop foreclosure is by going through a refinancing option. You will be able to refinance your mortgage if you have a good credit. You might get some added benefits if you are considering the refinancing option. You will see the mortgage rate going down and if there is a second loan, it can be added on to the new loan.

Another option to stop foreclosure is by going for a loan modification program. The remaining unpaid balance will be added to the end of your loan. The only drawback in the loan modification program is that your new monthly mortgage payments will get slightly higher. This will remain till your loan amount is paid back in full. You will see the benefits you are getting in the loan modification program depending upon the unpaid balance of the loan amount before the loan is modified.

If the above options don’t work, then you may put your home in the market for a short sale. The mortgage company will need to do this for you. The lender will reduce the price of the home dramatically to make it very hard to pass up for potential buyers. Foreclosure will say away from your credit report, but you might end up owing the remaining unpaid balance.

You will have to look into your financial situation and analyze which option works the best for you to stop foreclosure. The key to success is to act fast and figure out the best possible option at the required time. Research and compare the best possible foreclosure services in the market. You will be able to find the best possible option that works according to your present situation, plus you get cheaper and quick options. You may need to consult a specialist who can work in your case and stop foreclosure. This way you will get specialized advice and better results in a short span of time.

Everyone is talking about recession in the present US market. We cling to newspapers, televisions, news channels, and financial reports to find out what’s going to happen next in the recession period. Technically speaking, when a recession occurs, there is a decline in the GDP of a country for two consecutive quarters. This has a gruesome effect in real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales in the economy.

As per the National Bureau of Economic Research, there have been ten recessions since 1945. There are various factors that flush an economy into the weird state of recession but inflation is the main factor which contributes more towards the situation. Inflation is the condition in an economy when the prices of goods and services rise immensely over a certain period of time. The higher the rate of inflation, the smaller the percentage of goods and services can be purchased with the same amount of money. It may be because of the increased production costs, higher economy costs and national debt. When the prices of goods reach to the higher stage, people tend to cut down their spending habits and restrict themselves towards their necessities only and save as much as possible during this period. As a result, GDP declines when people cut down their expenditures in order to cut down costs. . This makes the companies to cut their costs as well and they chuck out workers which brings unemployment.

• There are certain factors that push an economy towards recession…

1) Credit crunch, which means shortage of finance.
2) Falling house prices. This is related to shortage of mortgages and credit crunch.
3) Cost push inflation squeezing incomes and reducing disposable income
4) Collapse in confidence of finance sector causing lower confidence amongst real economy.

Recession has a serious impact on the global economy. One of the major effects of recession is inflation. Recession comes into effect with inflation while on the other hand, it is one of the after effects of recession. Commodities will reach to their highest prices and people will cut down their costs. Hence, inflation becomes the major effect left out by recession. Another strong effect of recession is lower income. As people cut down their costs, they buy less items which reduces their income and as a result, fewer profits or no profits. Mortgage rates also go up during the recession period. Lenders will increase the mortgage rates so that they can cover some of the losses experienced during the recession period. Employment opportunities are also one of the major targets when the economy is burning under recession. In order to reduce the costs, companies cut down the employment opportunities thereby creating more and more unemployment in the economic market. When an economy enters into recession, companies experience very less or marginal profits during this period. The reason is that the tendency for price wars to develop in a recession. Firms get encouraged to cut down the prices due to the low sales and falling sales leads to lower revenue.

The two major markets, stock market and the property market have tumbled tremendously as a result of the financial crisis. Bank has adopted strict policies that have tightened the outgoing loans and it has aggravated the whole economy with its credit crunch. Most of the people’s 401K accounts have started shrinking and they are getting worried thinking about how to support their retirement. Many people have got their homes foreclosed by the banks because of non payments on their mortgages and thereby having no place to live.

The collapse of the US financial markets is deepening into an economic crisis. It’s not only affecting the financial institutions and the banks, but every common man. This recession has left a terrific impact on the whole world. The downturn momentum will not go away for some time. Nobody knows how long this is going to continue. More cases similar to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme will be exposed thus further weakening people’s confidence.

There are so many big names in the global market such as AIG, GM, Ford, Chrysler, CitiCorp etc. They have their top CEO’s, top executives, senior management who are blamed for their lack of vision, alertness to potential danger and readiness to change, that should have otherwise minimized the chances of this recession.

They are the elite people of all these international corporations. Nobody can doubt on their skills, knowledge and smartness. But the question here arises on their professionalism and ethics. They have been thinking too much on the short term instead of the long term visions. Monetary benefits would blind people from seeing the true big picture.. the hidden melt down of their corporations. We don’t see that vision for an evergreen healthy company anymore. Just thinking if they are too much focusing on their profits and related benefits that will help them only?  The pursuit of the quick dollar is contagious. It flowed from CEOs to their followers, then to the greedy people walking on their streets. This greed has further blind folded their judgment. They have lost their brain power as it becomes too much obsessed with greed for quick money. Many people bought stocks, real estates because they found a lot of money in it. Greed is all over the places in this world.

What’s to be done now? If you are planning for retirement, try to postpone it for a later date. It is time to start seeking for something new and meaningful. Use your knowledge and skills to earn money for you.