| Mortgage solves seniors' cash problems
Are you or someone you know a senior citizen homeowner who is "house rich" but "cash poor?" If so, a reverse mortgage can solve the problem if the homeowner is at least 62, needs tax-free income with no monthly payments, and plans to stay in his or her house or condo at least five years. WHAT IS A REVERSE MORTGAGE? Just the opposite of an amortized mortgage, which requires the borrower to make monthly payments over 15 to 30 years, a reverse mortgage pays money to the borrower whenever needed and requires no repayment until the homeowner sells the home, moves out for longer than 12 months or dies. Purchase Bob Bruss reports online. When one of those events occurs, the reverse-mortgage principal and accrued interest "matures" and becomes payable in full.
Poor Credit Clouds Hopes For a Bargain
A few months ago, Mark Dozier started shopping around for a home mortgage so that he and his fiancee could move out of their apartment in Bowie and into a house of their own this fall. But the best his mortgage broker could do for him was a loan with a $5,000 monthly payment. Even the broker advised against it. .
Money troubles begin at home
A recent opinion poll reveals that almost two-thirds of families in Bangkok have at least one member who has difficulty making ends meet, is desperately indebted or who cannot save enough for a rainy day. According to the poll, in which 1,845 people were interviewed between March 30 and April 3, money problems top the list of topics that family members discuss the most. The findings appear to lend credence to the suspicion that too many Thais go through life without ever learning about financial discipline or saving for unforeseen emergencies, let alone building a nest egg for retirement. Savings and financial independence are never an issue for many people because they know they can always borrow from parents, siblings or relatives, not only to get by but also to indulge in overspending and conspicuous consumption.
Giving credit where due
Dubai-based Emcredit, the UAE's first commercial credit bureau, was begun primarily to help small businesses obtain access to money. Economists have long understood that these entrepreneurial firms are the most powerful engines of both economic growth and job creation. They also know that access to capital is their lifeblood - they cannot survive much less prosper without it. But potential lenders have a problem, which is how to evaluate an entrepreneurial business to determine its credit worthiness. "Lenders don't have the information they need," says Emcredit CEO Bashar Saleh Qallab. "Improving the reliability of credit information allows lenders to penetrate under-represented markets." As Emcredit took shape, Qallab realised that questions about the credit of a small business could not be separated from the person who owns the business.
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