Can’t pay bills this month? Finding that more and more of your income is being siphoned off to the credit card companies, and yet the balances don’t seem to be going down at all? You are not alone. More and more families are finding themselves in this predicament, seemingly unable to get ahead.

There are methods you can use to get ahead. None of them are going to be easy, but all will get you out of debt. The roll-up or snowball strategy is one such method.

Roll-up Snowball Strategy

To get out of debt using the roll-up strategy is fairly straight forward, and you start by gathering all your credit card information together and determining which card has either the lowest balance or the highest interest rate. If that happens to be Read the rest of this entry

The housing market has severely weakened. There are many subprime mortgage lenders who are going out of business. To survive, some mortgage lenders lay off employees, cut down on business expenses, and closed down several mortgage centers. Unfortunately, many subprime lenders did not act fast enough.

Last year, the subprime mortgage loans accounted for twenty percent of the mortgage market. When the home prices were high, the mortgage lenders entice the borrowers with exotic mortgage like interest only mortgage, easy mortgage loan application, low introductory interest rate, piggyback second mortgage, and adjustable rate mortgage.

The subprime mortgage lenders had put the borrowers in a bigger house than the borrowers can afford. Interest rate goes high enough to cause panic, because the mortgage payments get higher as well. Suddenly, the borrowers were not able to afford to pay off the mortgage. Here are a few things to survive the mortgage meltdown.

Stay on top of the mortgage interest rate

At the end of the introductory low interest rate period, the interest rate will increase. It is important to be realistic on your financial status. Read the rest of this entry

Lately several financial entities and banks have been fighting to gain supremacy in the real estate property market. The competition is turning out to be beneficial to the customers and people who are thinking of investing in real estate. Most entities have opportunities such as bridging finance, surety-ship and switching alongside reducing their rate of interest to stay ahead of the competition.

The phrase above may seem complicated. In simple terms, you are moving your home loan from one financial institution to another. The reason behind this is that you can gain a better interest rate on your loan by moving.

Switching your home loan from one financial institution to another because of even a slight reduction in the interest rate often means huge savings. A 0.5% difference in the rate of interest may sound minuscule but it might mean a lot in terms of how much lesser you have to pay every month. The new lender might also consider allowing you to take a Read the rest of this entry

Image via Wikipedia

It’s now been two years since my husband and I invested in the Money Merge Account system to help us on our road to financial freedom.

In July of last year I put together a series of articles describing how the Money Merge Account system had changed our lives financially.  With the passage of another year it’s time to take a look at how we are doing in becoming debt free.  Allow me to recap from July 2008 to July 2009.  In one year’s time we paid $28,580 down in principal on our loans.

We didn’t do as well this year in reducing our rental and home mortgage loans as we did the previous year, but we still made a huge dent in the principal amount due on our loans.

If you read my article on this blog “My Journey to Financial Freedom Part 6” you’ll remember that prior to using the Money Merge Account System we owed $474,619 in principal on our mortgage loans.  We now owe $428,643 so that is a reduction of $45,976 in 2 years time.

And again we didn’t have to change our lifestyle to make this major accomplishment.  We traveled just as much as the year before and purchased pretty much what we wanted.

That is a whopping $45,976 in two years time!

Besides our home loans being reduced by that huge amount, we also paid $13,099 down on the principal of our car loan.  That is $59,075 reduction in 2 years!

Help for Non-Homeowners

One of the amazing features of the Money Merge Account system is that it helps you pay off ALL of your debt, not Read the rest of this entry

Image via Wikipedia

Home security is one of the most important things you should consider for your own safety and that of your family.  Technology today in the form of a home surveillance system can help you achieve this security.

There are a lot of different home surveillance systems available today and you may wonder what is the best system out there for your needs.  The easiest way to find out is by doing some research on what is available. First you need to learn what the different types of systems available  are and then determine which one is the right one for you.

Electronic devices, such as closed circuit television systems, are becoming very popular and are easy to operate.  Homeowners will find that these types of systems are becoming more affordable nowadays.  What is convenient about closed circuit systems is that the camera signal is sent directly to the television or monitor and can be viewed from inside the home or even at an off-sight location such as your office.

These systems use cameras as a security measure that goes beyond the alarm devices and security company monitoring systems. Strategically located cameras provide the video images displayed on the television and/or monitor.

The performance of the captured video images displayed is based on a variety of factors:
•    the amount of light available in the area of surveillance
•    the quality of the components used in the system
•    the quality of the cameras
•    the strength of the signal sent to the monitor

Read the rest of this entry

Home improvement is a big homeowner project, one that is well worth the effort once it is completed.  It can cause a lot of stress while going through the process and can cost a lot of money. From time to time renovations and improvements must be made. It is a well known fact that money is a concern when it comes to any home remodeling project.

Here are some ways homeowners can keep costs down when doing their home remodeling.

Decrease Mortgages, Personal Loans, and Credit Requirements

Often a second mortgage or personal loan is needed when engaging in a home improvement projects. When you begin renovations most likely you will incur additional debt.   One way to eliminate debt is to save up for the project you want to complete and wait to start the remodeling until you have the money. Cash spending is the safest way to do it. You can eliminate mortgages, personal loans, and credit cards from your list of fund resources.

Retain Structural Elements

If you have walls, floors, and beams that look old, you don’t have to replace them. You can restore them through cleaning and repairing. Read the rest of this entry