Filed under: Retire, Recession, Restaurant Deals & Coupons
Business Week ranked Portland, Ore. the unhappiest city in the U.S. due to the number of suicides, sales of antidepressants, high unemployment (still in the double digits) and 222 cloudy days. Likewise, MainStreet.com ranked Oregon dead last in its Happiness Index (although I’m suspicious because Nebraska is number one and who wants to live in Nebraska?).
Filed under: Retire, Saving Money, Recession, Retirement Advice
Boomers facing retirement in an uncertain economy, with your investments shrunken by the stock market decline, take heart: there are ways to make ends meet. From jettisoning a car to not spoiling the grandkids rotten, retirement does not have to suck — or sound like one great sucking noise.
Filed under: Banks
If you’re a banker, please whip out a pad of paper and start taking notes. I have some ideas.
Don’t get me wrong. There have been some positive changes lately in how banks are treating their customers. For instance, while overdraft fees haven’t exactly been eradicated from the planet, Bank of America is getting rid of most of theirs this summer, and other banks are softening the blow a little, too. Starting in April, U.S. Bank will have a kinder, gentler overdraft policy. It won’t charge someone an overdraft fee for a mistake under $10, and won’t give more than three overdraft fees a day, which, regarding that last part, is a little like a mobster telling their victim that instead of clubbing them over the head with a crowbar, they’ll use a wrench instead. (Continue the story…)
Filed under: Banks
Banks have always been well known for being green, if by green, we mean having a lot of money. But people who are concerned about the environment might be happy to know that banks are starting to get their environmental acts together as well and are starting to think green.
I caught up with Frank Sherman, TD Bank’s U.S. Green Officer, after reading that the institution was in the midst of building a “green” bank, the first of many the bank plans to build. The bank will be located in New York City, in Queens, to be exact, and will be carbon-neutral and environmentally friendly. We’re talking solar panels, insulated glass with a low E-coating and more.
Filed under: Debt, Home, Real Estate, Mortgages, Refinancing
If you’re unemployed or your home is severely underwater, help is on the way. The Administration announced additional options for struggling homeowners to get help and explained the program during a press briefing Friday. You won’t be able to call your lender right away, but you can call 1-888-995-HOPE (4673) for help with the Making Home Affordable Program and speak with a HUD-approved housing counselor for more information.
Filed under: Insurance, Health, Insurance – Health Insurance
All you need to do is turn on the television and you’ll hear scare tactics trying to convince you about how bad health care reform is for you as a U.S. citizen. In this article I debunk 10 of the most common myths we hear about health care reform. You can find out more about what the bill will do for you by reading this article.
Filed under: Debt, Real Estate, Mortgages
After Bank of America announced its new mortgage modification program that offered principal forgiveness for certain types of loans, I wondered if it was the only bank to do so. Of the four major loan servicers on the HAMP program — Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo Bank and CitiMortgage — Chase is the only one to tell me that it “doesn’t offer principal forgiveness as part of a mortgage modification at this time, but continues to review all possibilities.”
Filed under: Insurance, Health, Insurance – Health Insurance
After a marathon vote-a-thon that started just after 5 p.m. Wednesday and ran until 2:45 a.m., and then and then picked up again at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, Senate Democrats had blocked more than 30 amendments proposed by Republicans to the sweeping health-care legislation. But Republicans did find about 16 lines of technical changes that need to be stripped from the bill to meet the rules of the reconciliation process.
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Debt, Mortgages
If you have a loan directly from Bank of America or Countrywide and are 60 days or more late, you may qualify for its new “earned principal forgiveness.” Also about 95% of the loans that Bank of America services for private investors in which the investor has delegated authority to the bank may qualify. The types of loans that may qualify include pay option ARMs, prime two-year hybrid mortgages and subprime loans initially offered by Countrywide. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans will not be eligible.
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Debt, Mortgages
If you have a loan directly from Bank of America or Countrywide and are 60 days or more late, you may qualify for its new “earned principal forgiveness.” Also about 95% of the loans that Bank of America services for private investors in which the investor has delegated authority to the bank may qualify. The types of loans that may qualify include pay option ARMs, prime two-year hybrid mortgages and subprime loans initially offered by Countrywide. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans will not be eligible.