Sep 28

Business owners often face a lot of debt when they first open their business. They have loans to pay off and often credit cards as well. If your business is struggling it can be very difficult to keep up with all of the payments before going under. Many times, the interest rates are just too high to keep up with. To help you out, some companies have started providing small business owners with loan consolidation, giving you a chance to get out of debt in the fastest and easiest way possible.

If you’re going to find a lender for a loan then you should have your finances prepared. However if you have someone else that handles your finances then you will need to get them organized properly first. It’s important to have a few specific statements with you. You should have a statement for your income, expenses, and debts. When you are putting together the information about your debts you should ensure that you include the interest rate and the amount of your monthly payments. This will allow the lender to see where you stand in terms of your finances. This could potentially help them make a decision in your favor.

Banks also supply business owners with loan consolidations, but there are a few extra steps you will have to take. Jus

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Tags: Business Owners, Loan

Sep 27

If you’re struggling with debt and looking for a way to improve your finances, there’s good news on the horizon: beginning Monday, September 27, new rules issued by the Federal Trade Commission prevent advertisers from deceiving potential customers about their ability to offer financial relief.

Here are some of the new protections the FTC’s latest consumer protection rule outlines.

More Honest Disclosures

While bankruptcy is a well-known debt relief option, many consumers try to avoid filing for bankruptcy by opting for debt settlement or credit counseling. While both options work well in many instances, in some cases, dishonest companies pitch too-good-to-be-true offers and consumers end up with more debt than they had before.

Now, advertisers will have to:

  • Announce proposed fees & refund policies No longer will companies be able to get away with advertising how low a price might be (“as little as…”). Now, advert

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Tags: Rule, Rule Means

Sep 26

Once upon a time, most stores catered to the kind of customer willing to shell out big bucks. Oh, how the tides have changed.

Today more stores are following the dollar store model, selling small-quantity but low-priced items aimed at shoppers on a tight budget, according to the New York Times. By luring a lot of customers who don’t want to spend very much cash away from the competition, stores hope to increase their customer base, and thus their profits, despite the economy. It’s a move that has both pros and cons for consumers, many of whom are struggling to pay the bills, say Chicago bankruptcy attorneys.

On the one hand, shoppers can save money on basics like shampoo, paper towels and bread, thanks to decreasing prices at discount stores like Wal-Mart and Target – a definite benefit when you’re struggling to stretch your paycheck until the end of the month, but still need to pick up a few more supplies. Also, more shopping can be completed in one place – rather than requiring second stops at the grocery store, the drugstore and the dollar store – possibly saving time and gas.

On the other hand, you didn’t think retailers were doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, right?

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Tags: Stores, Stores Lower

Sep 24

According to excerpts taken from a news article posted in the San Francisco Chronicle, dated September 2, 2010 and written by Victoria Colliver, an Alameda County report showed home foreclosures were related to creating health problems. Colliver wrote, “The report found foreclosures have not only economic consequences, but create health problems for the people and families involved, and those effects can ripple throughout a community. In a survey of nearly 400 residents in two Oakland neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, the Alameda Public Health Department and Causa Justa/Just Cause, a housing rights group, teamed up to look at how people undergoing foreclosure experience higher levels of stress and increased medical problems.” They discovered that “tenants living in buildings in foreclosure have similar problems. The survey found that residents who are going through foreclosure or recently lost their homes were more than twice as likely to say that their mental and physical health had worsened over the past two years than those not going through foreclosure. Those

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Sep 23

Total mortgage lending fell for the second month in a row in August, with analysts claiming that another fall in house prices could be around the corner.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that the number of homes sold in the UK also fell last month, by 5,000 to 85,000, whilst property groups have claimed that typical asking prices have fallen by an average of around £8,000 as a large number of returning sellers are met with a small number of potential buyers.

“We face the prospect of a difficult second half of the year,” said the CML’s chief economist Bob Pannell.

“However, the Bank of England is likely to keep interest rates at record lows for longer to support the economy. This will continue to alleviate payment pressures for many borrowers,” he added.

Last week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said the market continued to be affected by a combination of more sellers returning to the market but fewer would-be buyers, suggesting that prices were likely to fall in the coming months.

Tags: August, Mortgage Lending

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