Start a Savings Plan but Beware the Small Print
People realize the importance of saving for a rainy day even more during these difficult times. To help you save, many banks are now offering plans that allow you to automatically save money each month. Sounds like a great idea, right. After all, many people don’t save because they just don’t think about it. I think anything that gets people saving at least a little money each month is great. However, before picking a savings program be sure that you read the small print and know exactly what you are getting yourself into.
In some of these programs you will end up spending more money in monthly and annual fees, withdrawal restrictions, fees for using a teller, etc, than you will make each month in interest. This means that while you are putting money into a savings account each month, the money isn’t making any interest. In fact, it is getting smaller each month as a result of the fees.
Thus, while it is great to start a savings program, consider starting you own savings account and setting up a free automatic transfer from your checking to savings or you can start an automatic program with your bank but make sure that you know about all the potential fees and restrictions first and you will be on your way to fixing your finances.
Buying Your Way Out of Foreclosure
With the economy turns and downfalls that are happening right now, several of us are becoming too familiar with the real estate industry and problems with foreclosures. If you are on the edge of getting out of your house and don’t know where to turn, become hopeful. There are options that you can follow and ways to prevent loosing your home.
If you haven’t talked to your mortgage company or bank about your situation, now is the time to start. The more you talk to them and the more you do in terms of communication, the more options you will have presented to you. Each time you call, a record is made that you call. If you do it enough, they can shift your mortgage payment forward, tell you what is going behind the scenes and give you more options.
One of the options that you can look into is a payment agreement. If you are still having a hard time with finances, make sure that you don’t get into something that you can’t get out of. Saying no to a payment agreement is better than not holding to it. What will happen with this is the lending company will shift your payments to bring you back to a $0 balance. This means that the debt you are in will be divided into a certain amount of months. An extra payment will be added onto the mortgage in order to get you caught up.
Say for instance that you are paying an average of $300 a month on your mortgage (wouldn’t it be nice!). You may be 2 months behind, meaning there is an extra $600. They will take the $600 and divide it into the next three months, meaning you would pay an extra $200 on top of the $300 until you come current.
Another option is a modification. Depending on the bank, this will work differently. However, if you are in financial hardship, let them know. You can fill out a form showing your finances. The modification will then be looked over within the next 30 - 60 days. All of the extra money that you are behind with will roll into the principle and bring you current. As long as you are paying, you will buy yourself out of the foreclosure.
Of course, there are also options with home loan programs from other banks that can help out as well as grant and loan programs that can boost your situation. The main idea is to start talking and to know that there are ways to get you out. Even when the finances are looking rough, you can find a way to see the end of the tunnel and into better days, while keeping your home.