GRAS Finance

Asset Protection

February 26th, 2008

Asset Protection

Asset Protection Overview

by: Ronald Edwards

Bank Account - One of the first places to start with asset protection is with an offshore bank account in a favorable jurisdiction. A favorable jurisdiction is one in which bank secrecy laws are in place without a lot of loopholes found in many formerly good jurisdictions that have gone bad. Bank secrecy laws in Panama call for prison sentences and/or fines for any bank employee, officer or owner who divulges any information about a bank account or account holder(s). This generally tends to curtail any leaks of information. The only way the bank can legally divulge any information about you or any bank account associated with you is by court order from a court in Panama.

Panama has no tax treaties with any country, does not allow any fishing expeditions from foreign governments, all tax offenses in Panama are civil offenses not criminal and Panama does not pursue fiscal offenses.

In the USA most private detectives have little or no trouble getting bank account information for clients. Their methods are highly illegal but we never hear of any of them getting prosecuted. There are some offshore jurisdictions which tout bank secrecy but there are no laws on the books concerning this matter. This is the case with a fairly popular Caribbean jurisdiction, Belize.

For more information on Panama Bank Accounts click here:
http://panamalaw.org/offshore_bank_account.html

Panama Anonymous Bearer Share Corporation – This is your second layer of protection. In Panama there is no recording of the owners of the bearer share corporation anywhere. There is no registry to look such things up in with or without any court order. The ownership of the corporation is based on the physical ownership of the stock certificates. These corporations are 100% anonymous. This means when wires travel through the various wire systems no one can determine who the natural persons are behind the corporation. If you title real estate to the corporation it makes the real estate anonymous. The corporation can also own boats, cars, collectibles, and stock trading accounts in addition to bank accounts.

For more information on Anonymous Panama Corporations click here:
http://panamalaw.org/bearer_share_corperation.html

Panama Private Interest Foundation – The third piece of your asset protection structure is an anonymous Panama Foundation. One of the nice things about Foundations is they have no owner. They are anonymous and the foundation can have confidential instructions to carry out the detailed wishes of the founder. It is like a will and trust in one only better. If you have your Panama Foundation own your bearer share corporation it positions you to say you do not own the corporation because the Foundation does and you could say you do not own the Foundation as well. Remember the other side would probably never figure out who owns the corporation, in other words they may never have any idea that the foundation exists. If the foundation has a name unrelated to you why would they assume it is yours? In Panama the assets of a Panama Foundation are not subject to sequestering, which means the bank account can not be frozen pending some court case.

For more information on Panama Foundations click here:
http://panamalaw.org/panama_foundations.html
http://panamalaw.org/bullet_proof_asset_protection.html

Governmental Pursuit of Funds

What happens if the government of some country attempts to attach your money in Panama? The world is full of dictatorships and non-democratic regimes. Well this again is a different matter. These cases start with a request for information. The request is made through the embassy officials in the bank’s country. It is a formal procedure requiring the requesting country to cite specific reasons for the information which usually means providing evidence of a criminal case filed in their criminal court system pertaining to a handful of serious crimes in cases concerning Panama (real serious money laundering, narcotics trafficking, child pornography and terrorism). The country would have to show Panama why they need this information, why it is essential to the case and explain why the information can not be obtained any other way. These requests are not favored by Panama and they will comply if the T’s are crossed and the I’s dotted. It usually takes from 6 months to two years for such requests to be granted, if they are granted at all. Granting such requests for a non-criminal case does not fit the terms of the MLAT. The offense concerning the criminal case in the courts of the requesting country must also be a crime in Panama. All tax offenses in Panama are civil, not criminal.

The courts in Panama would eventually issue an order if they felt the requirements were satisfied which the Panama police would fulfill by getting the bank records and they would deliver the information to the requesting country’s embassy. An order typically is for information only. A request to actually tie up the funds in the bank is much rarer and harder to obtain. Panama would not respond to a government that is not a national government such as a city, state or province, or territory. Let me give you a hypothetical example. The bank officer gets a phone call from an attorney representing the state of Texas. The state attorney says he is inquiring about a Mr. John Brown bank account and identifies the John Brown he is interested in. The bank officer then says Sir I am sorry but if I even acknowledged that we did or did not have an account for such a person I would be a criminal under the laws of my country and then politely gets off the phone fast. Or the bank employee can say something like “You don’t want to make me a criminal, do you”. The flustered state attorney would then say well I have a court order for this information, to which the bank employee would respond that the order has no authority in my country or at this bank. See how it works. If the attorney sends the bank a subpoena it winds up in the shredder with no contact to the agency sending the subpoena. If pushed the bank would say they had no idea who sent the subpoena, whether or not is was counterfeit or real, and their laws do not require them to respond since the subpoena was without authority in Panama and it would thus be illegal for the bank to respond. They would not even respond to say they are not going to respond. So if a national government requests information regarding a serious criminal matter (that is also a crime in Panama) using the proper channels in government on both sides and it is one of the four categories of crimes, then it has a chance of eventually being complied with assuming they push hard enough. In Panama all tax violations are not crimes just civil offenses. If it is a civil matter from another country, it will almost assuredly never result in any information being produced. If private attorneys or local (non-national) courts request information or action the chances of anything coming of it are just about zero.

For further information click here:
http://panamalaw.org/usa_asset_protection.html
http://panamalaw.org/compare_offshore_jurisdictions.html

Panama as a Tax Haven Considerations:

Another aspect of a favorable jurisdiction like Panama is that there is no income tax applicable to you, your corporation, or foundation if you chose to use one. In Panama there is no income tax corporate or personal for offshore derived income, no inheritance tax, no probate tax, no capital gains tax, etc. This of course eliminates any filing requirements with Panama and by default eliminates any chance of a return being audited. Panama companies which do not carry out activities within the Panamanian territory and which do not obtain income from a Panamanian source, are only subject to the payment of a fixed annual tax of $300.00 dollars. It doesn’t get any better than this and even if you have an office in Panama, Phone in Panama, Bank Account in Panama etc. this does not change anything as long as your income is derived from outside of Panama. Examples: You have a website and conduct e-commerce and sell goods/services from a Panama Server but to people who are all not in Panama then you are good in that all your income is offshore derived, you are just collecting it in Panama but it is coming in from non-Panamanian sources. You have a restaurant in Panama - whoops no good now you are conducting business in Panama and your income is from Panama people. Where your company is domiciled is not the key, the key is where your income comes from.

For more information click here:
http://panamalaw.org/attributes.html

Banking Privacy

One of the greatest advantages of having an offshore bank account in a favorable jurisdiction like Panama is that no one needs to know it exists. The bank does not check with any credit bureaus or like agencies since that would violate the bank secrecy laws of their country. So the chance of anyone knowing you have the account is pretty low especially if you check your statement online. We always advocate never having bank statements mailed to your home country. Panama bank secrecy is very tight, actually the best in the world right now. If a Panama Bank were to release any information pertaining to you and or your bank account without your authorization it would be a criminal and civil penalty they would be facing plus you could sue the bank for any damages as a result of such an occurrence.

For more information click here:
http://panamalaw.org/offshore_bank_account.html
http://panamalaw.org/tutorial_offshore_bank_account.html

Personal Bank Accounts

Today you will need to show some form of identification to any bank in the world to have your name as a signatory or beneficial owner on any bank account. This is a universal treaty that is complied with all over the world. The ID required typically takes the form of a photocopy of a passport and is notarized. Sometimes it can be faxed in, sometimes mailed or courier sent, all depending on the bank involved. The days of unidentifiable numbered bank accounts are long gone. If you hear of a bank that will open an account without identification rest assured it is not a real bank. The same for Visa or MasterCard, they always require the same type of identification as the bank account. Anonymous Visa or MasterCards is something that no longer exists. Same with corporate credit cards. Now they always have to have a persons name on them in addition to the corporate name. This is mostly so a store clerk can ask for ID to prevent use of stolen credit cards. ATM cards are often issued anonymously with no name on the card. Some do use this type of account as a sort of anonymous bank account having funds wired into these ATM accounts but this is not a solid solution and does not take the place of a real bank account since funds can only be taken out via ATM machines and your ATM account is normally just a sub-account of the master account holder who really has control over your money. It is always safer and easier to open up a bank account using a corporation. Remember the money in the corporate bank account belongs to the corporation in Panama and it will be difficult for a financial enemy to attempt to transfer a personal debt over to a corporation. Just proving you in fact do own an Anonymous Panama Bearer Share Company can be a major hurdle that stops a lot of litigation before it starts. Having a Panama foundation own the corporation makes this even harder for potential financial enemies since you could then say you do not own the corporation and since a Panama Foundation has no owner you would not be lying. They will face a tough burden of proof, a statue of limitations, substantial legal expense, years in court and many other obstacles trying to collect personal debts from a Panama Corporation or Foundation, especially when both are used. Remember assets like bank accounts belonging to Panama Foundations are not sequesterable in Panama which means the other side can not post a bond and get the judge to freeze the bank account pending the outcome of the trial. So this means the other side comes to Panama, hires an attorney here (expensive) starts the action and then guess what, you may be inclined to move the Foundation assets elsewhere during the trial so if the other side gets a court judgment in Panama and you no longer have assets in Panama what good does the judgment do them? Now this is assuming your financial enemies even know about the Foundation. It is not common to see such lawsuits.

About The Author

Ronald Edwards is a researcher, with years of experience in finances and real estate.

For more information, please visit: http://www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

Asset Protection Resources

Asset Protection Guide
Asset Protection

Posted in Finance, Business, Asset Protection | No Comments »

Offshore Banking

February 25th, 2008

Offshore Banking

The Future of Offshore Banking, Corporations and Foundations

by: Ronald Edwards

First it needs to be stated that no one has a crystal ball which predicts the future. These thoughts are just opinions and should be taken as such not as legal or tax advice. We will try to show the political positions of the countries that are not in favor of the tax haven offshore jurisdictions and the position of the tax haven countries. The countries most outspoken against offshore banking and offshore corporations are Australia, UK and USA.

Today there is a great outcry from these and other countries about the tax saving benefits afforded to citizens of certain countries by going offshore. These countries claim that their constituents are cheating them out of billions of dollars of taxes by going offshore. The offshore jurisdictions that are considered the tax havens say that is a nice allegation but we are not your collection agency and do not ask us to change our bank and corporate privacy laws because your constituents do not want to pay taxes, this is your problem not ours. The actual amount of taxes that are avoided unlawfully is a figure that one can only take a guess at. Many people set up offshore structures to do business outside of their home country and are not in violation of any laws the way they conduct their business affairs. Many people live in other countries and need to own offshore bank accounts, offshore corporations, offshore real estate, etc. Many people use offshore privacy to protect themselves from identity theft, kidnapping, blackmail, and possible extortion.

Let me use an analogy to make a point. In Latin America there is an organization of five states called Mercosur. Mercosur consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Uruguay. Mercosur also has associate members which are as follows: Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Ecuador. The Mercosur countries engage in free trade and easy border controls with no passports, just national identity cards for border crossings. Mercosur recently issued a statement that they would in the future strive to resist any further attempts to get them to spend more resources on narcotics enforcement that stems from the UN. The UN says its member countries must enact certain kinds of laws to control narcotics and states these laws and insists on enforcement policies. The Mercosur spokesperson stated that this was an irrational policy since it has not worked for over a quarter of a century and it was severely draining the resources of their countries. Essentially they said they were sick and tired of the United States which is the nation driving these policies through the UN, making their problems, the problems of other countries and they were going to collectively attempt to legalize narcotics in their own nations to free themselves from this heavy burden of narcotics enforcement. This has already begun to happen in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Venezuela with the abundant legal availability of cocoa leaf. The cocoa leaf has cocaine alkaloids (real cocaine) and is commonly used as a chew like chewing tobacco leaf or made into tea leaves. Street cocaine is perhaps 30 times as potent and is diluted with harmful substances like turpentine, ether, etc. Cocoa leaf is a natural plant product used for centuries as a stimulant by people living in the high altitudes of Bolivia, farm workers etc. One can now see coca tea being sold freely on the internet but I would strongly advice you not to order any because you may get charged with narcotics importation, seriously because it can be lab tested to contain cocaine. So my point is a lot of countries have said ok enough is enough when it comes to narcotics. It is not working leave us alone, take care of your own problem. So Mercosur countries are now worrying about their own problems more and less about the narcotics issues in the USA and other nations. I think you will see more of the same type of thinking when it comes to offshore banking, offshore corporations, offshore foundations, offshore stock brokerage accounts etc.

Offshore jurisdictions have to go through all sorts of compliance that is not needed in say the USA or the UK. One offshore formation agent went to the USA and was able to open eight USA bank accounts in one day. In Panama a bank account can take five days after you collect and submit the reference letters and documents. In the USA and UK no bank reference letters are required to open a bank account, neither are any professional references required. In the USA and UK they do enforce money laundering protective measures strictly. One can buy USA corporations or UK corporations without any of the due diligence requirements that are required from offshore jurisdictions. So the playing field is not exactly level yet these countries are screaming for more controls not on themselves but on other countries. It seems that the offshore jurisdictions will scream enough is enough if any further controls are imposed on them and resist them. Of course one wonders what further controls they could come up with that they haven’t already imposed.

Let’s look at history a little to see how things deteriorated in the past regarding offshore privacy and offshore banking. Most of the older offshore tax havens are also tourist destinations such as Cayman Islands, Nassau, Bermuda, Grenada, Belize etc. These countries usually have little if any natural resources and need to bring in everything they consume. While some of them avoid income taxes instead they impose taxes on goods imported. These countries got heavily involved in tourism as a way to keep their economies moving. A cruise ship docking at these ports usually carries 2500 people. Each person probably spends an average of $100 a day when in this ports buying t-shirts, duty free liquor, tobacco, jewelry etc. many spend a good deal more. That is $250,000 per cruise ship. These jurisdictions get from 3 ships per week, to 40 ships per week docking there. The money from the cruise ships exceeds what would be earned from their previous offshore banking and incorporation activities. Remember a bank that controls hundreds of millions of dollars of deposits can only have 50 or so employees. A thriving cruise ship port can have thousands of employees working in the shops, restaurants, as tour guides, taxi drivers etc. So more jobs are at stake in the tourism business. We also have to take into account the resorts these countries have which create even more jobs and generate revenue in the form of a hotel room tax built into the rates. These countries also charge a head tax on every person coming into their country. Bottom line is there is much more money in the tourism business than there is the offshore business for the government of these jurisdictions. The governments of these countries don’t make much off of a bank account for instance, actually nothing. They have no income or capital gains tax. The offshore corporations would pay a few hundred dollars a year in taxes but that was it. The banks would pay a few thousand dollars a year for their licenses. So these countries sold out on offshore privacy to protect their tourism. If they did not do so the countries allowing tax free importation from these countries of tourist bought items might go away. Tourists returning from these countries by ship or air might find themselves stuck in long lines while they are searched and interrogated by authorities of various affected countries which would quickly and seriously discourage tourism to these countries. Other countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Luxembourg sold out due to pressure from the EU. But now we are seeing a reversal in position regarding the EU, not much of a reversal but at least a sigh of OK enough is enough.

In recent months the USA was exposed by the New York Times Newspaper in a scandal whereby they were monitoring SWIFT wire transactions for some years. SWIFT is a private company that enables banks to communicate with each other securely including sending wire transfers. SWIFT machines require a separate terminal and line so as to make them most secure. The USA served a court order on the SWIFT people in New York to turn over all the data they requested and gag ordered them to not mention what was going on. It went on for two years. This got the EU nations most upset. While they have not actually prosecuted the SWIFT people for violating the banking laws of the various European nations affected, there was serious talk of it. Whether or not obeying a USA court order to violate the banking laws of other nations is a viable defense has never been tested in any court, yet anyway. The EU position on this was they must get the USA to understand their banking laws call for privacy. This of course is not exactly giving ground for more privacy invasive laws which is what we mean by a reversal.

Today the most privacy oriented jurisdiction in the world is Panama. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered there. Panama requires corporation formation agents to be lawyers and their know your client rules are strict and call for criminal penalties if not followed. Panama banks follow tight anti-money laundering laws as well as know your customer laws. Panama does still allow for anonymous bearer share corporations which do not require the entry into any registry of any ownership names or identities. The anonymous bearer share corporations combined with Panama bank secrecy laws make for the best privacy in the world today. Panama foundations are also anonymous with no owners, beneficiaries or protectors names appearing in any registry or database. Panama is also in no tax treaty with any other country and is fairly unique in this regards. Of course one can ask the question if Panama can sustain their practices under pressure from other nations.

First off Panama does follow the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) practices. Secondly Panama does not exactly have a lot of tourism, actually it has quite a small amount of tourism and most of their tourism comes from Latin America not the EU or USA. This means there is no meaningful tourism that can be taken away. Panama is a small country and 15% to 20% of the workforce is employed by the international banks. Panama has 400,000 corporation registered there who each pay $300 in annual corporate taxes. This comes to $120,000,000 dollars and this is for a country of 2.9 million people. Also consider these corporations are paying for resident agents, nominee directors etc. Then we get into Panama Foundations which also collect $300 in annual taxes each year plus nominee council member fees. Panama will and has resisted attempts to compromise banking secrecy and corporate secrecy.

Again let us look towards history to see what we can learn, this time focusing on anonymous bearer share corporations. The issue with anonymous bearer share corporations is that when the international wires are monitored it is impossible to tell who the natural persons are behind the bearer share corporations sending or receiving the wires. The British Virgin Islands used to offer anonymous bearer share corporations. A few years ago they gave in to pressure from the UK and stopped issuing new bearer share corporations but they did make allowances for the existing bearer share corporations to remain anonymous for 10 years. After that time they would need to dissolve or operate in a non-anonymous mode. If we want to look on the dark side we can consider Panama doing the same if international pressure ever built up sufficiently to force a change. So of course those owning an existing bearer share corporation would be unaffected for ten years and these corporations would probably go up significantly in value on the secondary market. We have absolutely no indications subtle or otherwise that anything is going to change in Panama.

It is also a possibility that some other nations may enter into the bank secrecy arena in the near future and some other nations may return to bank secrecy as well. Only time will tell. Nothing we see gives any inkling of an idea that Panama will reverse on its position of bank and corporate privacy and it appears that things may have already sunk to an all time low and offshore banking and corporate privacy may actually soon start to improve, first with the wire transfer system and later on in other areas.

About The Author

Ronald Edwards is a researcher, with years of experience in finances and real estate.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

Offshore Banking Resources

Offshore Bank Warning
Offshore Banking

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Start A Business

February 20th, 2008

Start A Business

7 Tips for Starting A Profitable Home Business

by: Janice Sharman

You’ve decided to start and build a profitable home business. Congratulations! Welcome to the fast-paced world of home business entrepreneurs. While there is a lot to learn, your effort will be worth it. The thrill of growing your business, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start a profitable home business.

Now that you’ve decided to start your business, you might be wondering “How can I get it off to the strongest possible start?” These seven tips will help:

1) Set up a separate working space in your home

It doesn’t matter if this is a small bedroom, one part of the garage, or a corner of the living room. The important thing is to have some space that you can designate as your working area. This will give you the space and room you need to craft your dream.

2) Stock your working space with materials

This sounds basic, perhaps, but one underlying element of success is that you have easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need. Gathering everything close by also keeps you from wasting time searching for it, so this step can be considered a time management strategy.

3) Define the parameters of your home business

What days and hours will you work? When will you market? When will you provide services or products to clients? How will you keep all this organized?

4) Balance action with planning

One of the most common pitfalls of home business entrepreneurs is failure to plan. Don’t get so caught up with action that you forget to plan. Stated another way, this means that you confuse “being busy” with “working on important projects.” The best approach is to plan your goals then work to create step by step plans to achieve them. Once you have the plan, it’s time to take action.

5) Network like crazy

One of the fastest ways to grow any business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you’re offering. Remember, people can’t buy if they don’t know what you’re selling.

6) Present a professional image

If you want to be treated professionally, present a professional image. Set up a separate bank account for your business. Install a separate phone and fax line. Create professional marketing materials. Be courteous and pleasant in all your customer facing interactions. Basically, be someone people want to do business with.

7) Automate your business as much as possible

When you’re starting your home business, you may have a lot of extra time to take care of every little detail. Don’t expect this state of affairs to last. As your business grows you will become more and more busy. A good entrepreneur automates as many aspects of his business as possible keeping time to concentrate on the more profitable activities.

Using these seven tips to build your home business, you should soon begin to reap the benefits of a profitable home business.

About The Author

Janice Sharman, enjoys helping independent thinking employees make the journey from employee to profitable home business owner. Subscribe FREE to “Secrets To Sure Profits” ezine at mailto: secrets@profits4sure.com for information on how you can build your own “Profitable Home Business” starting Today!

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

Starting A Business Resources

Start A Business
Small Business Finances

Posted in Finance, Small Business, Entrepreneur, Business | 12 Comments »

Cash Advance

January 21st, 2008

Cash Advance

Cash Advance Payday Loans – Timely Money For Urgency

by: Angela Alderton

At times, one requires money instantly as urgency has cropped up. It would be prudent, therefore, to rush your application only to the lender who is willing to provide timely help. Cash advance payday loans are especially designed for the purpose of giving the money quickly to the borrowers without any hurdles. Under these loans one can have the borrowed money within 24 hours. The lender will electronically deposit the loan the same day in your bank account.

You will get £100 to £1500 as cash advance payday loans. The loan amount depends on the monthly salary you draw, as these loans are approved against your next salary cheque without taking anything as security. The lenders approve an amount for two weeks only. So these very short term loans are to be repaid when you get next payceque. You can even extend the loan for a month on paying lender’s fee.

The only criterion for the loan approval is that you must be an employee for some months at least, getting a fixed monthly salary. This is one reason that cash advance payday loans have become easily accessible for salaried class of people.

What is more advantageous is that the borrowers are approved the loans without any credit checks. This implies that despite multiple credit problems like late payments, arrears, defaults or CCJs, the borrowers can have easy access to the loan the same day. Shortly their credit score improves as they pay back the loan in time.

But you must take note of the fact that cash advance payday loans are of high cost. Lenders charge exorbitant fees on these loans because of very short repayment term and risks. So, ensure comparing lenders extensively. You may come across a lender whose fees are lower then others. Avoid extending the loan as it involves lenders’ enhanced fee and makes loan unaffordable for some borrowers.

About The Author

Angela Alderton is a specialist advisor of cash loans and is curently working with Find Cash Loans. She holds a masters degree in economics from University of Warwick. For further details of Cash Advance Payday Loans, cash loans, instant cash loans, find cash loans, instant loans you need to visit http://www.findcashloans.co.uk/

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

Cash Advance Resources

Cash Advance
Cash Advance Loans

Posted in Finance, Credit | 1 Comment »

Home Equity Line Of Credit

November 26th, 2007

Line Of Credit

10 Things to Look for in a Home-Equity Line of Credit

by: Tim Paul

If you are a homeowner, you’ve probably received offers to apply for a home equity line of credit(HELOC). Handled with care, home equity credit lines can be an excellent way to improve financial flexibility, provide readily available cash reserves for emergencies, or pay for large expenses (like college tuition or home improvements) that have irregular payment schedules. But be aware that not all home equity credit lines are created equal. If you decide that a HELOC is right for you, what features should you look for? Here are ten things that should be at the top of your list:

1. No application fee (or fee should be refunded at closing) - The HELOC market is very competitive. Some lenders may charge a fee to help cover their costs of processing your HELOC application and to ensure applications are received only from seriously interested homeowners. If your lender assesses an application fee, be certain that it is refundable at closing. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your HELOC.

2. No appraisal or closing costs - The market value of your property is key to determining the amount of your credit line. Some lenders are willing to use publicly available tax assessment data in lieu of formal appraisals. Others may absorb appraisal costs to attract customers. Either way, there are enough no-cost options available that you should not have to settle for HELOC lender that charges appraisal costs or any other closing costs.

3. No account maintenance or check-writing fees - Lenders obviously make their money when you write checks (borrow) on the home equity credit line. Most lenders make it as hassle-free as possible with free checks and, sometimes, even debit cards. If your lender charges fees for the privilege of having a HELOC checking account, look elsewhere

4. No “non-usage” fees - The market value of your property is key to determining the amount of your credit line. Some lenders are willing to use publicly available tax assessment data in lieu of formal appraisals. Others may absorb appraisal costs to attract customers. Either way, there are enough no-cost options available that you should not have to settle for HELOC lender that charges appraisal costs or any other closing costs.

5. Variable APR equal to or near the prime rate (adjusted quarterly) - The only cost involved with a good home equity credit line should be interest charged (APR) on the balance borrowed. As with any loan, the borrower’s goal is to get the lowest possible APR. Most lenders use the “prime rate” as published in the Wall Street Journal (or other publication) as a base index and charge you an APR equal to prime plus or minus a marginal percentage (e.g. 0.25%). Search for the best rate available, but be aware of low “teaser” rates that may suddenly change after a brief introductory period or be accompanied by special fees. Also, keep in mind that the periodic and lifetime caps on rate changes are as important as the initial rate (see below).

6. Periodic cap on interest rate changes (the amount that the rate can be changed at one time) - Virtually all HELOC’s are variable rate loans meaning that the initial interest rate (APR) will change at some point as surely as the weather. A key is to understand how often the rate can adjust and how much the rate can be adjusted at one time. Of course, when rates are falling the larger and faster the change, the better for you. But more important is the upside risk you face when rates are rising. Look for a HELOC that adjusts quarterly (rather than monthly) in increments of 0.5% or less. Note: with expectations of rising interest rates, many lenders appear to be eliminating the periodic rate cap feature and raising lifetime caps to legal limits. If you have an older HELOC that incorporates relatively low rate ceilings (or if you find one), consider yourself fortunate!

7. Lifetime cap on rate increases (the amount that the rate can be adjusted over the loan’s life) - A good HELOC is something you’ll want to keep for awhile. Although interest rates have been at relatively low levels for a number of years, it wasn’t too long ago that a 10% loan was regarded as a bargain! The point is that interest rates over time can rise dramatically. You’ll want to find a HELOC with a lifetime rate cap that you can live with. Ask your loan officer to clearly spell out the “worst case” scenario for rate increases for the HELOC you are applying for.

8. Ability to convert to a fixed rate loan - When rates do rise, people often get skittish about their variable-rate debt. A useful feature to look for in a HELOC is the ability to convert the line of credit to a standard fixed-rate, fixed-term home equity loan (HEL). You likely won’t get an APR as favorable as a newly issued HEL, but you also won’t have appraisal or closing costs to pay if you convert. However, note that many lenders charge a fee for converting to a fixed rate loan.

9. Interest-only payments allowed - It is usually best to make regular principal payments on your HELOC balance. Yet a job loss or other emergency can make it a challenge to keep payments current. In these situations it is nice to have the flexibility to lower your HELOC payment as much as possible without increasing your loan balance or raising red flags at the credit rating agencies.

10. Unrestricted ability to repay principal without penalty - On the other hand, you also want the flexibility to pay down principal on the loan when you choose. You may get a bonus from your job that you want to apply to the loan or you may find a 0% balance transfer offer that is worth taking advantage of. In any case, a key component of a good HELOC is the unfettered ability to repay principal.

Shop around and you will be able to find a home equity line of credit with many (if not all) of these features. Keep in mind that your bank is not the only game in town. Credit card companies, mortgage bankers and brokerage firms have all entered the market and offer competing products. Credit unions typically offer excellent terms and should not be overlooked. Also, there are many reputable on-line sources that have lower overhead costs and may be able to offer better terms than the local bank.

About The Author

Tim Paul has more than 25 years executive financial management experience. His recent area of focus has been to develop and catalog proven strategies for financially savvy persons to get the most from their home equity credit lines. His website is www.sagetips.com.
mail@sagetips.com

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

Home Equity Line Of Credit Resources

Line of Credit - The Fed
Mortgage Loan

Posted in Finance, Credit, Mortgage | No Comments »

Buying Rental Property

November 12th, 2007

Rental Property

Rental Property Investment - Finding The Properties

by: Steve Gillman

Rental property investment starts with finding the best deals. To do this, you can increase your odds by finding more deals. Who’s more likely to get a cheap apartment building, an investor that looks through the MLS listings and calls it a day, or the one that uses ten resources? Here are those ten:

1. Look in old papers to find “For Rent” ads. Call if they are a few weeks old. The landlord may be ready to sell, especially if he hasn’t yet rented the units out.

2. Look up old FSBO ads. Call on two-month-old “For sale By Owner” ads, and if they haven’t sold, they may be ready to deal. Owners often give up the effort, but still would love to sell. Help them out!

3. Drive around looking for “For Sale By Owner” signs. Owners often don’t want to pay to keep the ad in the paper every week, so you won’t see all properties there.

4. Find abandoned properties. That’s a pretty clear sign that the owner doesn’t want to deal with the property. He might sell cheap.

5. Talk. Let people know you are looking and sometimes the properties will come to you. There are a lot of owners out there who want to sell, but haven’t yet listed their property.

6. Talk to bankers. You might get a foreclosed rental property cheaper if you buy it before they list it with a real estate agent.

7. Offer someone a finder’s fee. There are people that always seem to hear about the good deals. Have such people coming to you.

8. Eviction notices. If your local papers publish eviction notices, or if you can get the information at the courthouse, it can be useful. A landlord who just went through the procees of evicting tenants is a likely seller.

9. Use the internet. Go to a search engine and enter the type of real estate you are looking for, along with the city you want to invest in. You never know what you might find.

10. Put an ad in the paper. “Looking for rental properties to buy,” might be sufficient to generate a few calls.

There is a lot more to learn to do it right, but finding good properties is a good place to start for rental property investment.

About The Author

Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com.

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

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Posted in Finance, Entrepreneur, Investing, Real Estate | 2 Comments »

Homeowners Insurance

November 12th, 2007

Homeowner’s Insurance

Ways to Find Discount Home Owners Insurance

by: Marvin Toller

If you are looking for a cheap home owners insurance, you often have to compromise with the price; the more expensive the better policy. Although this is the main rule, there are some exceptions. One of these exceptions is discount home owners insurance. How do you find it?

Have You filed claims the last couple of years?

If you haven’t filed any claims for a couple of years or so, you might be able to save some money to the tune of 15% on your premiums. Also, if you use the same insurance company for a couple of years, that will also look good and you can save bucks.

Why Not Get Multiple Policies From The Same Provider

It might be a great solution to get it all together ? auto, home, health, travel and whatever other coverage you need to get under the same company, you can save lots. This can chop off a wopping 10-15% of your premium. All it takes is just a little bit of planning!

Are You Protected?

It’s standard for many companies to offer you a discount if you have things like burglar alarms or smoke detectors installed. You might also have one that is connected to a third party monitoring company. That will save you even more bucks.

Know Where The Nearest Fire Station Is

There are a few things in terms of location that can alter your premiums. If you live far from a fire station or fire hydrant, you’ll normally have to pay more. The opposite is the case If you live within the city limits; them you will pay less on your premiums, compared with living out in the sticks.

The Building Materials of Your House

What your house is made if will actually make a difference in how much you pay. For example, wood houses carry higher premiums than good, solid concrete structures.

Higher Payments On The Deductible

If You can afford it, you should pay as much as possible on your deductible, thus your premium will be lower. If you are able to pay something like $200 or $1000, you can bring that premium down as much as 20%!

Stop Smoking!

Non-smokers will save cash; even as much as like 15% in many cases. Check out if the company you use offers a deal for non-smokers.

Now, after I have provided you with a few pointers to help you save cash on your house you might be ready to buy your home owners insurance. Anyway, you should consult your agent. Most insurance agents also know of some tricks to get you out of paying piles of cash.

About The Author

Marvin Toller is a writer and internet publisher who likes to write about nsurance issues. You can read more on the news and in depth information website http://www.best-cheapest-homeowners-insurance.com

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

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Rental Property

November 7th, 2007

Rental Property

Who Else Wants To Buy Rental Property With Zero Down?

by: Matthew Allen

Who would have ever guessed that there would be a home loan that would let you buy rental property with zero down? But it is a reality.

Here are the three big things you must keep in mind when buying rental property with nothing down.

1. You must have a credit score of at least 680. This score is the national average of credit scores.

2. You must have 6 months of payments in reserves. In other words you need 6 months of principal, interest, taxes and insurance readily available. The reserves can be in the form of checking, savings, 401K, stocks, or bonds.

3. The lender may not allow the rent to be included in your debt to income ratios if you have never owned rental property before. But they may also allow the rents to be included if you already have a signed lease agreement. Each lender is different so it’s worth shopping around.

Please keep in mind that if you buy rental property with zero down you may have negative rents. In other words you may be losing money every month because you can not charge enough to cover your monthly payment. You have to decide if you can live with this kind of alligator.

To buy rental property with zero down you more than likely will need to do a full document mortgage. In other words you will need to prove everything. However, for those with credit scores at 720 or higher you may qualify for a stated income loan. With a stated income loan you do not need to prove your income. You just say how much it is. Most of these programs will not loan with the stated option if there are negative rents.

The zero down rental property loans are structured as an 80/20 loan. In other words you are getting two loans. A first mortgage at 80% of the purchase price and a second mortgage at 20% of the purchase price.

You also have several other options as far as choosing an ARM, a fixed rate product, or interest only. These loans also have pre-payment penalties. Unless you live in a state where pre-payment penalties are not allowed.

Often time you can have the seller pay up to 2% of the purchase price towards your closing costs. If you get the seller to agree to this. You may only have to come in with 1.5% to 2% of the purchase yourself in closing costs.

If you truly want to buy rental property with zero down. You will want to call your local mortgage broker and find out more information or even see if you qualify. Of course if they do not offer this type of program keep calling until you find someone who does.

About The Author

Matthew Allen is a loan officer with Action Brokerage Services, Inc. in Medford OR. He is also the author of “How To Buy A Home With Zero Down and $1,500 Or Less, Even If You Have Damaged Or No Credit” Vist his website at http://www.realmortgageadvice.com.

This is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Seek the guidance of a finance professional if you need help with financial advice.

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Posted in Finance, Entrepreneur, Real Estate | No Comments »

Business Cards

November 6th, 2007

Business Cards

What Business Cards Can Do For You

by: Karen Nodalo

There are proven ways on how to attract a customer to a certain business. Most of the businessmen do this by putting up a marketing campaign in the streets, malls or just by approaching a stranger.

In this way, new contacts may be achieved everyday, which might open up and boost your sales. A person who has been part of your services may refer you to someone who needs your services.

If more people have been involved with your company and services, you can get rid of those marketing stuffs because it might just flourish by means of word of mouth. Business card printing might be suitable for your promotional needs.

Now if you are a business person and do a lot of marketing by traveling around, the best thing you can do is to carry a business card. You encounter different kinds of people everyday, so always bring with you a business card that you can hand over to them.

Just by giving a small talk about your services, the business cards will play an important role when you part ways. In the future, that person might need your services in the future and by means of business cards, he may be able to reach you with the details and information written on it.

Business cards are used by most of the people either in small or big time business. Its gives a reflection about the person carrying it, and it gives the people an idea of his capabilities. Having an elegantly printed business card will save you from writing your contact details on a piece of scratch paper.

It is always easy to print your own business cards. You can even do it at home if you have your computer and printer. However, if you do not have a single idea on how to start doing it, why waste time when you can hand over the job to printing companies?

This will save your time and will keep you from worrying on how your printed business will look like. Printing companies will perfectly give you unique business cards that will reflect your identity.

In doing so, you must choose a good printing company that specializes in business card printing. There are numerous printing companies in your area but only a few specializes in business card printing.

You need to get a printing company that can settle all your promotional needs through business cards and you will soon find out that it is worth the money and the wait.

For more related articles, you may visit http://www.printingshoppers.com

About The Author

Karen Nodalo has graduated from the Bicol University specializing in Computer Science, she graduated with flying honors being one of the top notch students of the graduating class. She has been into writing for almost 5 years now, and has been into different topics. She has also been into student publications since her elementary years, giving her the much coveted exposure that writers of her kind battles for.

karen@rushprintingservices.com

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Posted in Finance, Small Business, Business | 6 Comments »

Internet Banking

November 2nd, 2007

Online banking is a great and convenient way to handle your finances these days. With virtually all the functions of checkings, savings, and credit accounts available online with minimal difficulty, there’s really no reason to actually go to a bank anymore. Really, with a cell phone and a decent internet connection there isn’t much reason to leave your house at all for anything, least of all a trip to some stuffy bank only to wait in line for half an hour. You can even pay all your bills by way of online banking now, so you’ll save money on postage.

Just about every major chain of banks now allows you at least some basic online banking functions. Every bank today of course has their own website, and just by registering on their site you can access at least some of the basic function of any accounts you have with them. If your bank doesn’t have a website, well, then you should probably find a new bank, because that’s kind of scary. Since a lot of the larger banks around charge all kinds of hidden and annoying fees just for using a live teller, online banking is a great way to cut costs as well.

There are also a number of banks today that operate solely by way of online banking. I was a little skeptical at first when my brother first recommended I try one of these ‘virtual banks’. Indeed, the name of the bank I went with is in fact Virtual Bank. I’m sure they had their reasons for choosing the name, but it really doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. Am I going to deposit some real money only to get a virtual return? I don’t think my landlord would understand if I sent him some virtual dollars to pay rent, and I’m certain my stomach wouldn’t be fooled by a digital cheeseburger.

Well it turns out these banks have capitalized on the online banking concept, and are actually a pretty good deal. Since they have eliminated overhead costs of tellers, and, uhm, banks, they’re able to offer some of the highest interest rates available on your deposits. So long as you look into them beforehand and make sure they are FDIC insured, these online banks are a good alternative for savings accounts.

Today, I do all my banking online, and only find myself only going to banks to exchange coins or currencies. It’s clear to me that online banking is only going to get more and more popular.

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