5 Personal Finance Topics Parents Should Teach Their Kids

5 Personal Finance Topics Parents Should Teach Their Kids - Unless your child's school is at the forefront of ... ow.ly/2LiIdA

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Carlisle Recognized by Forbes

Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is locally pronounced as in British English with emphasis on the second syllable /kɑrˈlaɪl/. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 18,682. Including suburbs in the neighboring townships, 37,695 live in the Carlisle urban cluster. Carlisle also is an exurb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the east.

Carlisle is the smaller principal city of the Harrisburg−Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry counties in South Central Pennsylvania. In 2010, Forbes rated Carlisle and Harrisburg the second-best place to raise a family.

10 Things You Need To Know About Your Credit Report

Your Credit Report

Q: What is a credit report?

A: A credit report is a record of your credit history that includes information about:

• Your identity. Your name, address, full or partial Social Security number, date of birth, and possibly employment information.
• Your existing credit. Information about credit that you have, such as your credit card accounts, mortgages, car loans, and student loans. It may also include the terms of your credit, how much you owe your creditors, and your history of making payments.
• Your public record. Information about any court judgments against you, any tax liens against your property, or whether you have filed for bankruptcy.
• Inquiries about you. A list of companies or persons who recently requested a copy of your report.

Q: Why is a credit report important?

A: Your credit report is important because lenders, insurers, employers, and others may obtain your credit report from credit bureaus to assess how you manage financial responsibilities. For example:

• Lenders may use your credit report information to decide whether you can get a loan and the terms you get for a loan (for example, the interest rate they will charge you).
• Insurance companies may use the information to decide whether you can get insurance and to set the rates you will pay.
• Employers may use your credit report, if you give them permission to do so, to decide whether to hire you.
• Telephone and utility companies may use information in your credit report to decide whether to provide services to you.
• Landlords may use the information to determine whether to rent an apartment to you.

Q: Who collects and reports credit information about me?

A: There are three major credit bureaus--Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion--that gather and maintain the information about you that is included in your credit report. The credit bureaus then provide this information in the form of a credit report to companies or persons that request it, such as lenders from whom you are seeking credit.

Q: Where do credit bureaus get their information?

A: Credit bureaus get information from your creditors, such as a bank, credit card issuer, or auto finance company. They also get information about you from public records, such as property or court records. Each credit bureau gets its information from different sources, so the information in one credit bureau's report may not be the same as the information in another credit bureau's report.

Q: How can I get a free copy of my credit report?

A: You can get one free credit report every twelve months from each of the nationwide credit bureaus--Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion--by

• visiting www.annualcreditreport.com  or
• calling (877) 322-8228.

You will need to provide certain information to access your report, such as your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth.

You can order one, two, or all three reports at the same time, or you can request these reports at various times throughout the year. The option you choose will depend on the goal of your review. A report generated by one of the three major credit bureaus may not contain all of the information pertaining to your credit history. Therefore, if you want a complete view of your credit record at a particular moment, you should examine your report from each bureau at the same time. However, if you wish to detect errors and monitor changes in your credit profile over time, you may wish to review a single credit report every four months.

Q: Who else is allowed to see my credit report?

A: Because credit reports contain sensitive personal information, access to them is limited. Credit bureaus can provide credit reports only to

• lenders from whom you are seeking credit;
• lenders that have granted you credit;
• telephone, cell phone, and utility companies that may provide services to you;
• your employer or prospective employer, but only if you agree;
• insurance companies that have issued or may issue an insurance policy for you;
• government agencies reviewing your financial status for government benefits; and
• anyone else with a legitimate business need for the information, such as a potential landlord or a bank at which you are opening a checking account.

Credit bureaus also furnish reports if required by court orders or federal grand jury subpoenas. Upon your written request, they will also issue your report to a third party.

Q: Does the credit bureau decide whether to grant me credit?

A: No, credit bureaus do not make credit decisions. They provide credit reports to lenders who decide whether to grant you credit.

Q: How long does negative information, such as late payments, stay on my credit report?

A: Generally, negative credit information stays on your credit report for seven years. If you have filed for personal bankruptcy, that fact stays on your report for ten years. Information about a lawsuit or an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer. Information about criminal convictions may stay on your credit report indefinitely.

Q: What can I do if I am denied credit, insurance, or employment because of something in my credit report? What can I do if I receive less favorable credit terms than other consumers because of something in my credit report?

A: If you are denied credit, insurance, or employment--or some other adverse action is taken against you, such as lowering your credit limit on credit card account--because of information in your credit report, the lender, insurance company, or employer must notify you and provide you with the name, address, and phone number of the credit bureau that provided the credit report used to make the decision. You can get a free credit report from this credit bureau if you request it within sixty days after receiving the notice. This free report is in addition to your annual free report.

In addition, lenders may use a credit report to set the terms of credit they offer you. If a lender offers you terms less favorable (for example, a higher rate) than the terms offered to consumers with better credit histories based on the information in your credit report, the lender may give you a notice with information about the credit bureau that provided the credit report used to make the decision. Again, you can get a free credit report (in addition to your annual free report) from this credit bureau if you request it within sixty days after receiving the notice.

If you receive one of these notices, it's a good idea to get your free credit report and review the information in it right away. If you think your credit report contains inaccurate or incomplete information, follow the steps in Credit Report Errors below, to try to resolve the issue. For tips on how to improve your chances of being granted credit, or to improve your chances of receiving credit on better terms, read the Federal Reserve's 5 Tips: Improving Your Credit Score.

Q: I've been receiving unsolicited credit offers. Why? Can I opt-out of receiving these offers?

A: Credit bureaus may sell consumers' information, including names, addresses, and credit information, to creditors or insurers, who may then offer credit or insurance to you. You can have your name and address removed from these lists by opting-out of the listing. This will reduce the number of unsolicited offers you receive.

To opt-out, call 888-5-OPTOUT (888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com . You will need to provide certain information in order to opt-out, such as your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth.

You have the ability to opt-out of receiving offers either for five years or permanently. If you want to opt-out permanently, you will need to fill-out, sign, and mail-in a form. The form is available by either calling the toll-free number or visiting the website.

You can reverse your opt-out decision at any time to start receiving offers of credit and insurance again by calling the toll-free phone number or visiting the website.

5 Ways to Save Money Using Smartphones

A smartphone isn’t the cheapest way to make a phone call. But they aren’t cheap for a reason —they can do much more than make and receive phone calls.

If you use your smartphone to its fullest capabilities, you might find that you make up the cost with the amount of money you save. This additional savings can have a positive snowball affect if used to improve your financial profile, which can improve your credit score, which can help you get lower interest rates on everything from credit cards to home loans. Now that's what I call a "smart" phone.

With that said here are 5 ways your smartphone can help you save money:

Avoid overdraft fees

By checking your bank balances on your phone through your bank’s website or an app like PageOnce, you can be sure that your next purchase won’t result in overdraft fees while you’re in the checkout lane.

Never pay another late fee

Similar to checking bank balances, your smartphone can alert you when you have a bill coming up through mobile finance apps or bill-specific apps like BillMinder, saving you from paying late fees on utilities, credit cards, and other bills.

Coupons on the go

Clipping coupons is a tiresome chore of the past. Register your cell phone with Mobideals to get a listing of deals geo-targeted to your current location. You’ll find discounts on everything from auto services to beauty salons.

Price comparisons in the palm of your hand

Gone are the days you have to wonder if a store sale is really offering the best price on an item. Stores that have a price-matching policy will match the price you find on your phone at the register.

Organized grocery shopping

You won’t need to bother with remembering your grocery list with an app like Grocery Gadget. I can help you save both time and money with features like coupons, price comparisons, and bar code scanning.

Citigroup to Pay Record $7 Billion After Federal Investigation

Citigroup and the Justice Department have agreed to a $7 billion deal that will settle a federal investigation into the mortgage securities the bank sold in the run-up to the financial crisis. http://ow.ly/3n8nff

Mortgage Modifications

A Mortgage Modification is permanent change in a homeowner’s home loan terms that makes the monthly loan payments affordable. The goal of mortgage modification is to prevent foreclosure.

Mortgage modification can benefit homeowners by preventing them from losing their home and can benefit lenders by avoiding the costly foreclosure process.

To apply for a mortgage modification, a homeowner must complete an application package documenting income, assets, expenses and financial hardship.

The biggest mortgage modification program in the United States is the Home Affordable Refinance Program, created in 2009 by the federal government in response to the nation's housing crisis. This program helps homeowners who are struggling to pay their Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae-backed mortgage apply for mortgage modification with their loan servicer.

These are borrowers who cannot do a traditional refinance to improve their loan terms because their home value has declined below the mortgage balance.

A similar program called the Home Affordable Modification Program helps borrowers with Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages. Borrowers can also apply for a mortgage modification outside these federal programs. A nonprofit housing counselor can help with the process.

While a mortgage modification generally means less income for the bank because of a reduction in the mortgage’s principal amount, interest rate or both, this loss may be less than what the bank would experience by foreclosing on the borrower and reselling the property. Mortgage modification can turn a less-than-ideal situation into a win-win.

Still, foreclosure was much more common than mortgage modification during the housing crisis because banks claimed they lacked the resources to handle the large number of modification requests. As a result many homeowners who may have qualified for mortgage modifications were not able to get into a modification program and, instead, lost their homes to foreclosure.

How Bi-weekly Mortgage Payments Can Save You Money

A bi-weekly mortgage is a mortgage payment plan where payments are made every two weeks, as opposed to the more traditional monthly payment plan. Making mortgage payments every two weeks, as opposed to monthly, will result in the equivalent of one additional monthly payment being made each year.

This extra payment is applied toward the principal balance of the mortgage, and will lead to substantial interest savings over the life of a long-term mortgage.

When a bi-weekly payment plan is set up, most mortgage servicing companies simply hold the first half of the monthly payment until the second half arrives and then make the full monthly payment. If a simple interest bi-weekly mortgage plan can be set up, each payment received is immediately applied toward the principal balance of the mortgage leading to additional interest savings.

Converting an existing mortgage to a bi-weekly plan usually carries some fees. A self-disciplined borrower can gain the same benefits of a bi-weekly plan by making one additional mortgage payment each year, or by paying an extra amount each month equal to 1/12 of the scheduled monthly payment.

Payments coming for borrowers in $3.6B foreclosure settlement

Starting Friday, cash payments ranging from $300 to $125,000 will be sent to 4.2 million borrowers as part of a $3.6 billion settlement over foreclosure abuses reached between the government and 13 mortgage servicers, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.

Borrowers will receive payments based on the level of damage caused. The largest checks, for $125,000, will go to 1,082 military service members whose homes were repossessed while they were on active duty, a violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and to 53 borrowers who were current on their payments but were foreclosed on anyway.

Most borrowers, however, suffered other types of financial damage. In some cases, servicers charged them unfair fees or failed to modify their mortgage to more affordable terms.

The servicers participating in the agreement include Aurora, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC Mortgage, Sovereign Bank, SunTrust, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. 

Payments from all of the servicers except Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will go out starting this week and be completed by July. Details on when Goldman and Morgan Stanley will start issuing checks will be announced later.

When the deal was first announced in February, 2012, the servicers had agreed to hire independent consultants to conduct foreclosure reviews for each borrower that might have been impacted by the robo-signing scandal. The independent reviews, however, proved too costly, said Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for the OCC. "They tried to do it case-by-case but that was slow and very expensive," said Hubbard.

In addition, only a fraction of borrowers stepped forward to apply for a review. Out of the nearly 4 million borrowers who will be receiving payments in the upcoming weeks, only about 439,000 had asked for a review.

To expedite the process, a revised settlement was reached in January that was open to all borrowers in default in 2009 and 2010, even those who ended up suffering no harm at all, according to Hubbard.

Borrowers who requested independent foreclosure reviews will get double the compensation in many cases. For example, a borrower who sought out a review of a mortgage modification request that was denied in 2009 or 2010 will get $6,000 back from their servicer, while someone who didn't ask for a review but received a similar denial will get $3,000.

A borrower who was supposed to be protected by bankruptcy laws but lost their home anyway, will receive $62,500 if they had requested a review and half that amount if they did not.

Compensation of $50,000 will go to former homeowners whose servicers failed to permanently modify their mortgages even though they had successfully completed a trial modification and then later asked for a foreclosure review.

Borrowers who accept a settlement check will not forfeit their right to pursue other legal claims against their servicer. They will not have to sign any waivers against further action.

The settlement does not cover loans serviced by OneWest, Everbank and Ally Financial, the former GMAC Mortgage. Talks with those companies are continuing.