| Refinancing: Don't Waste Time Wondering, Just Do It
If you're not changing the term of your loan ... even dropping your rate by an eighth makes sense because you did not have to change anything to get a loan," says Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans. "It always pays to get a lower rate." Say the current balance of your 6.5%, 30-year fixed mortgage is $250,000 and you are making monthly payments of $1,580. If you refinance into a loan of the same size that's one percentage point lower, 5.5%, you've dropped your monthly payments by about $160 to $1,420. But let's say you want to take out extra cash to pay off $20,000 in credit card debt: You'll need a new loan of $270,000. And even with that higher amount, your monthly payments are still reduced about $50 from your current payments to $1,533 a month. To determine how your monthly mortgage payments will differ under a new loan, use a mortgage-refinance calculator to determine the savings you might receive.
Health Care Crises
Imagine the savings from economies of scale if you had a single payer system for all 300 million people. Talk about paper work reductions, lower administration costs, the ability for government to negotiate lower health care rates given they have 300 million customers for the providers. How many businesses are leaving the US to escape the burden of HC insurance for their employees (premiums have increased 78% since 2001, CPI says inflation was 21% in that period)? We can not afford not to have a single payer UHC system. The system is broke. Some insurance companies are even reported to have some patients get treatment in other countries. Look at incomes today Median Household Income is 46K Median Personal Income is 32 K Health Insurance premiums for the average family are over 12,000 dollars if they have no employer paid insurance, and if they do they pay 3,280 dollars on average for their share (for a 45 yo individual it would be 5,500 on his own).
Labour turns guns on Salmond
The Nationalists are proposing to scrap student debt, reintroduce student grants, and bring in a local income tax. Labour aims to drive home the message of reliability in coming weeks when a series of UK Labour ministers come to Scotland. Prime Minister Tony Blair is also expected to make regular visits north. .
Bad-news economy is good news for some homeowners
Can there be a silver lining in the economic downturn? Perhaps. Sharp interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve make this a good time for home-owners to consider refinancing their mortgages. Last week's cut of three quarters of a percentage point — with another cut of as much as a half point expected this week — has put interest rates at a two-year low and close to the lowest point they've been in this decade. Thirty-year mortgage rates are dropping below 5 percent. But does that mean this a good time to refinance? "If you have a 6.75, 7 or 7.5 percent rate, this could be a good time to refinance," according to John G. Gerlach, president and CEO of Pocono Community Bank. "Anytime you have a 100 basis point spread, it's a good time to take a look at refinancing," he said.
|
