Colorado | Home Loan | Mortgage | Refinance

Archive for April, 2009

One of the most common reasons people hedge on declaring bankruptcy is because they think they’ll never be able to get a credit card, buy a house, or finance a vehicle again. They picture themselves having to live strictly off of cash, and make weekly trips to Western Union to pay bills.

Fortunately, that is not the case. Although a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for up to ten years, it won’t keep you from rebuilding your financial life.

First, when you get rid of your unsecured debt through bankruptcy, your credit score will likely improve. Your credit reflects not only your credit history, but also the amount of debt you have… so the part of your score related to your debt will go up when your debts are discharged.

Getting an unsecured credit card might be a bit tough during your first year after personal bankruptcy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a credit card at all. You should obtain a secured card as soon as possible after your bankruptcy – the card will be pre-paid, meaning you can only spend as much as you load onto the card – but it will dramatically improve your credit score. Plus, it frees you from having to use cash to pay bills.

It’s also possible to buy a home just two years after bankruptcy, as long as you make all of your debt payments on time after the discharge. You will probably pay a slightly higher interest rate than a buyer with a clean credit history, but you may be able to refinance at a lower rate after you have been in the home for two years.

Most car lenders will want you to wait a year after your bankruptcy before you purchase a vehicle – after that, you should be able to get a car loan, albeit at a higher interest rate than you’re probably used to. If you absolutely cannot wait that long, purchasing a car from a “buy here, pay here” dealership is a viable option.

Life after bankruptcy can certainly be a challenge, but it is not as bad as most people think. You can reestablish your credit quickly, and within a couple of years, your life will be back to normal.

And by now I bet you are ready to learn more about whether bankruptcy is right for you, right? So then now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE information when you visit http://www.NewYorkBankruptcyHelp.com

You’ll get tons of free information about filing for bankruptcy, dealing with harassing bill collectors, and hitting the reset button on your financial life. You’ll also get my free book about how to fight back against abusive bill collectors.

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As struggling consumers start looking at debt relief options it’s critically important that they understand the difference between their options, the overall effect each option will have on their financial picture, and whether there is another agenda at work when an option is suggested. Part of the confusion for consumers comes from how companies title themselves.

For instance, credit counseling was once a service originally provided to consumers by non–profit organizations like The National Foundation for Credit Counseling and its affiliates, Consumer Credit Counseling Services. The original mandate for these organizations was to work as a liaison between consumers and credit card companies, negotiating lower interest rates and monthly payment plans for consumers that were falling behind in their payments.

These counseling services were backed by credit card companies with the intent of reaching out to consumers with a third party that was positioned on the side of the consumer. A “negotiation” on behalf of the consumer would take place where interest would be reduced enough to keep the consumer on track and paying his or her credit card bills instead of walking away from the debt.

By the late 90’s, a rapidly rising level of consumer debt started bringing hundreds of opportunistic new companies in to the competition to provide similar services on a “for-profit” basis. Many of these new for-profit companies titled themselves as credit counselors and positioned themselves to ride on the coattails of the better known non-profits while operating with huge advertising budgets and executive salaries. While titled as credit counselors, the new companies offered or pushed consumers toward bankruptcy, refinance, or debt consolidation. While all these options can provide valid solutions for consumers when they are tailored to customer’s personal situation, the for-profit companies posing as counselors often put consumers into cookie cutter solutions that benefitted the company more than the consumer.

Debt settlement is a relatively new and aggressive method of debt relief that, unlike credit counseling, is not sponsored by credit card companies trying to protect their investments. Debt settlement, as a further benefit of being detached from the banks, is also different from credit counseling in that one of the main cornerstones of a debt settlement is obtaining a sizeable principle reduction from the lenders. These reductions can range from 40 to 60% and play a major role in getting the client out of debt. Clients in a debt settlement also see their monthly payments decrease by approximately 50%. The process to pay off debts completely takes 18 to 48 months which is considerably shorter than a credit counseling prescription that calls for no principle reductions, treading water/minimum payments, and a payoff of debt balances that takes anywhere from 4 to 28 years.

There are many companies in the debt relief industry that can perform or recommend strategies to manage debt which has become unworkable. A good company will find the best method and devise a comprehensive strategy to make sure that the outcome is the best available for that client’s specific circumstances.

USADebtSettlement.org has debt settlement programs that will reduce your credit card balances. USA Debt Settlementspecializes in Bankruptcy debt settlement, Debt negotiation services, Debt negotiation firms, Debt settlement services.

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Bad credit refers to poor credit standing which may disqualify the person to avail of a regular car loan. Luckily for people with bad credit they can still avail of bad credit auto loan option. This loan option provides auto loan for people with bad credit. For people who are able to secure a bad credit auto loan it is necessary to make all payments on the bad credit auto loan on time. It is not hard to find companies that offer bad credit auto loan. What is hard is the payment to be made on these loans. This is because the interest rates charged by bad credit auto loan are usually higher than the normal rate. If you can make a larger down payment or a much less expensive car then that would help reduce your payments.

Availing of a bad credit auto loan is a good opportunity to re-establish or improve your credit standing. Since a car is necessary for people to be able to go to work and pay off their loans, dealers and lenders have created the bad credit auto loan program to help people with bad credits avail of a basic necessity. Bad credit auto loan does not come without a price though. These loans sometimes charged a higher interest rate than what is normally charged.

Bad credit auto loan is in some ways similar to that of the usual auto loan because it serves the same purpose of borrowing money in order to purchase a car. The biggest difference lies in the fact that you are charged a higher rate. Car dealers could charge up to 30% or more interest on car loans if you have a bad credit standing. While those with average credit rating, the interest rate could be between 2% to 5%. People who availed of bad credit auto loan re are expected to pay their monthly payments on time in order to improve their credit standing.

If you are able to avail of a bad credit auto loan make sure that you make the most out of this second chance. There is no room for complacency or leniency in payments. Since the interest rates are higher for bad credit auto loan, it would be wise to purchase a less expensive vehicle or a used one. Once you have improve your credit standing that is the time to buy a new and more expensive car since the interest rates would be lower then.

Introduction

More and more homeowners in Massachusetts are now realizing the benefits of a loan modification agreement as being one of the best options to foreclosure. With a loan modification agreement, a reliable tool against foreclosure which offers a long-term solution, more and more Massachusetts homeowners are able to keep their homes and reduce their worries.

Step One

Gather all of your financial records. Be ready to present them to your lender. These include your bank accounts records, tax records, payroll slips, credit records, and receipts of every major expense. Your financial trails will determine whether your lender will be convinced to adjust your home mortgage loan. Adjustments could be made on the loan interest, principal, or terms of payment.

Be truthful with these records. If your reason for asking for a loan modification agreement is because you are broke due to loss of job, you should have no hidden bank account, especially one with a huge amount of deposits. Any large withdrawals and purchases must be properly explained and supported with records.

It is also helpful to have some cash to work with. You need to have something to show your lender that you are still interested in paying for your house. In applying for a loan modification agreement, lenders often demand a reduction in your deferred payments. This is much more easily negotiated with the help of a Loan Modification Specialist such as LIG Loan Modification Services.

Step Two

You can try to contact the person who can make a decision regarding your request for a loan modification agreement at your lending institution. Whether you visit them personally or contact them over the phone, in most cases, you will be talking either to the collections officers or the loss mitigation specialists. Talking to them would yield no result, for their job is to make you pay your bills and not to change the terms on your existing loan. Just trying to find this person could be an intimidating task for an ordinary homeowner.

For most homeowners, seeking the aid of a loan modification specialist is vital at this point. Lenders are more interested in talking with a third party when it comes to a loan modification agreement. The most important advantage of loan modification specialists is their expertise and connections with the lenders. Most likely, they can have direct access to the decision-makers of your lender. They can also seek legal remedies for you as well. You will have a higher level of success in getting your loan modification agreement approved with the assistance of these professionals.

Step Three

Once you’ve secured a loan modification, be wise in your budget. Save cash for your house payment and follow through until you have completed all of your mortgage payments. Most home owners, after they have their loans modified become negligent of their responsibility towards their homes. Be wise, especially if you were given a chance not to lose your home. Remember that what you have is an agreement. One way of ensuring that your loan modification will be successful is keeping up your end of the bargain.

The cash flow from the CMO collateral may be allocated in a variety of ways. Usually, it is first allocated to meet the interest obligations on all tranches in the offering. Principal repayments, both scheduled and prepaid, are then distributed to the different classes of bondholders according to a predetermined priority schedule which is outlined in the prospectus or offering circular. The trance receiving principal repayment is referred to as active or currently paying. In more complex structures, more than one tranche can be paying principal at a time.

Each CMO tranche has an estimated first payment date, on which investors can expect to begin receiving principal payments, and an estimated last principal payment (or maturity) date, on which they can expect their final dollar of principal to be returned. The period before principal payments begin in the tranche, when investors receive interest-only payments, is known as the lockout period. The period during which principal repayments are expected to occur is called the window. Both first and last principal payment dates are estimates based on prepayment assumptions and can vary according to actual prepayments made on the underlying mortgage loans.

THE VARIOUS TYPE OF CMOS

The most basic CMO structure has tranches that pay in a strict sequence. Each tranche receives regular interest payments, but the principal payments received are made to the first tranche alone, until it is completely retired. Once the first tranche is retired, principal payments are applied to the second tranche until it is fully retired, and the process continues until the last tranche is retired. The first tranche of the offering may have an average life of 23 years, the second tranche 5-7 years the third tranche 10-12 years and so forth. This type of CMO is known as a sequential pay, clean or plain vanilla offering. The CMO structure allows the issuer to meet different maturity requirements and to distribute the impact of prepayment variability among tranches in a deliberate and sometimes uneven manner. This flexibility has led increasingly varied and complex CMO structures. CMOs may have 50 or more tranches, each with unique characteristics than may be interdependent with other tranches in the offering. The types of CMO tranches include:

Planned Amortization Class (PAC) Tranches

PAC tranches use a mechanism similar to a sinking fund to establish a fixed principal payment schedule that directs cash flow irregularities caused by faster or slower-than-expected prepayments away from the PAC tranche and toward another companion or support tranche. With a PAC tranche, the yield, average life and lockout are more likely to remain stable over the life of the security.

PAC payment schedules are protected by priorities which assure that PAC payments are met first out of principal payments from the underlying mortgage loans. Principal payments in excess of the scheduled payments are derived to no-PAC tranches in the CMO structure called companion or support tranches because they support the PAC schedules. In other words, at least two bond tranches are active at the same time, a PAC and a companion tranche. When prepayments are minimal, the PAC payments are met first and the companion may have to wait. When prepayments are heavy, the PAC pays only the scheduled amount, and the companion class absorbs the excess. Type I PAC tranches maintain their schedules over the widest range of actual prepayment speeds – say, from 100 PSA. Type II and Type III PAC tranches can also be created with lower priority for principal payments from the underlying loans than the primary or Type I tranches. They function as support tranches to higher-priority PAC tranches and maintain their schedules under increasingly narrower ranges of prepayments.

PAC tranches are now the most common type of CMO tranche, constituting over 50% of the new-issue market. Because they offer a high degree of investor cash-flow certainty, PAC tranches are usually offered at lower yields.

Targeted Amortization Class (TAC)

TAC tranches also provide more cash-flow certainty and a fixed principal payment schedule, based on a mechanism similar to a sinking fund, but this certainty applies at only one prepayment rate rather than a range. If prepayments are higher or lower than the defined rate, TAC bondholders may receive more or less principal than the scheduled payment. TAC tranches’ actual performance depends on their priority in the CMO structure and whether or not PAC tranches are also present. If PACs are also present, the TAC tranche will have less cash-flow certainty. If no PACs are present, the TAC provides the investor with some protection against accelerated prepayment speeds and early return of principal. The yields on TAC bonds are typically higher than yields on PAC tranches but lower than yields on companion tranches.

Companion Tranches (CT)

Every CMO that has a PAC or TAC tranches in it will also have companion tranches (also referred to as support bonds), which absorb the prepayment variability that is removed from the PAC and TAC tranches. Once the principal is paid to the active PAC and TAC tranches according to the schedule, the remaining excess or shortfall is reflected in payments to the active companion tranche. The average life of a companion tranche may vary widely, increasing when interest rates rise and decreasing when interest rates fall. To compensate for this variability, companion tranches offer the potential for higher expected yields when prepayments remain close to the rate assumed at purchase.

Similar to Type II and Type III PACs, TAC tranches can serve as companion tranches for PAC tranches. These lower-priority PAC and TAC tranches will in turn companion tranches further down in the principal payment priority. Companion tranche are often offered for sale to retail investors who want higher income and are willing to take more risk of having their principal returned sooner or later than expected.

Z-Tranches (also known as Accretion Bonds or Accrual Bonds)

Z-tranches are structured so that they pay no interest until the lockout period ends and they begin to pay principal. Instead, a Z-tranche is credited Accrued interest and the face amount of the bond is increased at the stated coupon rate on each payment date. During the accrual period the principal amount outstanding increases at a compounded rate and the investor does not face the risk of reinvesting at lower rates if market yields decline.

Typical Z-tranches are structured as the last tranche in a series of sequential or PAC and companion tranches and have average lives of 18-22 years. However, Z-tranches can be structured with intermediate-term average lives as well. After the earlier bonds in the series have been retired, the Z-tranche holders start receiving cash payments that include both principal and interest.

While the presence of a Z-tranche can stabilize the cash-flow in other tranches, the market value of Z-tranches can fluctuate widely, and their average lives depend on other aspects of the offering. Because the interest on these securities is taxable when it is credited, even though the investor receives no interest payment, Z-tranches are often suggested as investments for tax-deferred retirement accounts.

Floating-Rate Tranches

First offered in 1986, ‘floating-rate CMO” tranches carry interest rates that are tied in a fixed relationship to an interest rate index, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the Constant Maturity Treasury (CMT) or the Cost of Funds Index (COFI), subject to an “upper limit, or cap,” and sometimes to a lower limit, referred to as a “floor”. The performance of these investments also depends on the way interest rate movements affect prepayment rates and average lives.

For the above reasons described, CMOs are considered by a select few platforms to be an asset that is easy to validate and prove ownership. In addition, the trading platform is able to be added as the CMOs Beneficiary allowing for the appropriate financing to be obtained. The result is a CMO asset that can be purchased for pennies on the dollar with nominal returns and subsequently placed and traded successfully in a Private Trading Program with yields the owner once only dreamed of.

InvestorEarth.com is an educational site dedicated to providing investors proven, high yield Private Trading Investments in a global recession market. Please visit http://www.investorearth.com.

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One of the most common reasons people hedge on declaring bankruptcy is because they think they’ll never be able to get a credit card, buy a house, or finance a vehicle again. They picture themselves having to live strictly off of cash, and make weekly trips to Western Union to pay bills.

Fortunately, that is not the case. Although a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for up to ten years, it won’t keep you from rebuilding your financial life.

First, when you get rid of your unsecured debt through bankruptcy, your credit score will likely improve. Your credit reflects not only your credit history, but also the amount of debt you have… so the part of your score related to your debt will go up when your debts are discharged.

Getting an unsecured credit card might be a bit tough during your first year after personal bankruptcy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a credit card at all. You should obtain a secured card as soon as possible after your bankruptcy – the card will be pre-paid, meaning you can only spend as much as you load onto the card – but it will dramatically improve your credit score. Plus, it frees you from having to use cash to pay bills.

It’s also possible to buy a home just two years after bankruptcy, as long as you make all of your debt payments on time after the discharge. You will probably pay a slightly higher interest rate than a buyer with a clean credit history, but you may be able to refinance at a lower rate after you have been in the home for two years.

Most car lenders will want you to wait a year after your bankruptcy before you purchase a vehicle – after that, you should be able to get a car loan, albeit at a higher interest rate than you’re probably used to. If you absolutely cannot wait that long, purchasing a car from a “buy here, pay here” dealership is a viable option.

Life after bankruptcy can certainly be a challenge, but it is not as bad as most people think. You can reestablish your credit quickly, and within a couple of years, your life will be back to normal.

And by now I bet you are ready to learn more about whether bankruptcy is right for you, right? So then now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE information when you visit http://www.NewYorkBankruptcyHelp.com

You’ll get tons of free information about filing for bankruptcy, dealing with harassing bill collectors, and hitting the reset button on your financial life. You’ll also get my free book about how to fight back against abusive bill collectors.

Article Directory: Article Dashboard http://www.articledashboard.com

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs) sometimes referred to as Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits (REMICs), are one of few innovative investment methods available in today’s investment world. CMOs offer relative safety, regular payments and notable yield advantages over other better known fixed-income securities of comparable credit quality.

A wide variety of CMO securities with different cash flow and expected maturity characteristics have been designed to meet specific investment objectives. While CMOs offer advantages to investors, they also carry certain risks which will be further explained in this document. To determine if CMOs fit within your investment portfolio, you should first understand the distinctive features of these securities.

CMOs were first introduced in 1983. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 allowed CMOs to be issues in the form of REMICs, creating certain tax and accounting advantages for issuers and for certain large institutional and foreign investors. Today, almost all CMOs are issued in REMIC form. Remember that throughout this CMO explanation, REMICs and CMOs are interchangeable.

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF CMOS

Mortgage Loans and Mortgage Pass-Throughs. When a CMO is created, it begins with a mortgage loan extended by a financial institution (such as a savings and loan, commercial bank or mortgage company) to finance a borrower’s home or other real estate. The homeowner usually pays the mortgage loan in monthly installments composed of both interest and “principal”. Over the duration of the mortgage loan, the interest component of payments in the early years gradually declines as the principal component increases.

To obtain funds to generate more loans, lenders either “pool” groups of loans with similar characteristics to create securities or sell the loans to issuers of mortgage securities. The securities most commonly created from pools of mortgage loans are “mortgage pass-through securities” (MBS) or “participation certificates” (PCs). MBS represent a direct ownership interest in a pool of mortgage loans. As the homeowners whose loans are in the pool make their mortgage loan payments, the money is distributed on a pro rata basis to the holders of the securities.

Several factors can affect the homeowners’ payments. Typically, the homeowner will “prepay” the mortgage loan by selling the property, refinancing the mortgage or otherwise paying off the loan in part or whole. Most mortgage pass-through securities are based on fixed-rate mortgage loans with an original maturity of 30 years, but experience shows that most of these mortgage loans will be paid off much earlier.

While the creation of MBS greatly increased the secondary market for mortgage loans by pooling them and selling interests in the pool, the structure of such securities has inherent limitations. MBSs only appeal to investors with a certain investment horizon – on average, 10-12 years.

CMOs were developed to offer investors a wider range of investment time frames and greater cash-flow certainty than had previously been available with MBS. The CMO issuer assembles a package of these MBS and uses them as collateral for a multiclass security offering. The different classes of securities in a CMO offering are known as tranches, from the French word for slice. The CMO structure enables the issuer to direct the principal and interest cash flow generated by the collateral to the different tranches in a prescribed manner, as defined in the offering’s prospectus, to meet different investment objectives.

THE HIGH CREDIT QUALITY OF CMOS

The Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA, or Ginnie Mae) an agency of the U.S. government, along with U.S. government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, or Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC, or Freddie Mac), guarantee most MBSs. Ginnie Mae is a government-owned corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have federal charters and are subject to some oversight by the federal government, but are publicly owned by stockholders.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issue and guarantee pass-through securities. Ginnie Mae only adds its guarantee to privately issued pass-throughs backed by government issued (FHA and VA) mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issues CMOs for quite some time; the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began to issue CMOs in 1992, and Ginnie Mae initiates its own CMO program which began in 1994. Securities guaranteed or guaranteed and issues by these entities are known generically as “agency” mortgage securities. The agency guarantees enhance their credit quality for investors. In addition, the mortgages backing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage securities must meet strict quality criteria. Those backing GNMA pass-throughs are underwritten in accordance with the rules and regulations of the FHA and the VA, which insure them against default.

The extent of the agency guarantee depends on the entity making it. Ginnie Mae, for example, guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on all of its mortgage securities, and its guarantee is backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government. Holders of Ginnie Mae mortgage securities are therefore assured of receiving payments promptly each month, regardless of whether the underlying homeowners make their payments. They are guaranteed to receive the full return of face-value principal even if the underlying borrowers default on their loans. Mortgage securities issued by the VA carry the same full faith and credit U.S. government guarantees.

Fannie Mae guarantees timely payment of both principal and interest on its mortgage securities whether or not the payments have been collected from the borrowers. Freddie Mac also guarantees timely payment of both principal and interest on its Gold PCs and CMOs. Some older series of Freddie Mac PCs guarantee timely payment of interest, but only the eventual payment of principal. Although neither Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac securities carry the additional full faith and credit U.S. government guarantee, the credit markets consider the credit on these securities to be equivalent to that of securities rated triple-A or better.

Some private institutions, such as subsidiaries of investment bank, financial institutions and home-builders, also issue mortgage securities. When issuing CMOs, they often use agency mortgage pass-through securities as collateral; however, their collateral may include different or specialized types of mortgage loans and/or pools, letters of credit and other types of credit enhancements. These private-labeled CMOs are the sole obligation of their issuer. To the extent that private-label CMOs use agency mortgage pass-through securities as collateral, their agency collateral carries the respective agency’s guarantees. Private-label CMOs are assigned credit ratings by independent credit agencies based on their structure, issuer, collateral and any guarantees or outside factors. Many carry the highest AAA credit rating.

As an additional investor protection, the CMO issuer typically segregates the CMO collateral or deposits it in the care of the trustee, who holds it for the exclusive benefit of the CMO bondholders.

For the above reasons described, CMOs are considered by a select few platforms to be an asset that is easy to validate and prove ownership. In addition, the trading platform is able to be added as the CMOs Beneficiary allowing for the appropriate financing lines to be obtained. The result is a CMO asset that can be purchased for pennies on the dollar with nominal returns and subsequently placed and traded successfully in a Private Trading Program with yields the owner once only dreamed of.

InvestorEarth.com is an educational site dedicated to providing investors proven, high yield Private Trading Investments in a global recession market. Please visit http://www.investorearth.com.

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