Could Today Be Black Monday For Wall Street?
September 15, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Economy
I woke up this morning, logged on to the Wall Street Journal web page, and a huge lump formed in my throat. The rumors of Lehman Brothers, one of the oldest investment firms in the nation, has failed. Merrill Lynch, one of the most well-known investment banking firms, is sold to Bank of America for about $50 billion dollars. AIG, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, will undergo a re-structuring process with its equity and debt holdings. This might not mean THAT much to you when you first read or hear about it, but it is huge. There is no telling what the stock market will do, but my guess is that the Dow Jones will drop well below 11,000 for the first time in a couple years.
Mortgage Rates Fall From News of Fannie And Freddie Mac Bail Out
September 12, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Economy, Real Estate
Fannie and Freddie Mac mortgage companies may be worrying Wall Street, but they’re woes have given a gift to those looking to buy a house. On Monday, the prime mortgage rates on a 30 year fixed mortgage dropped from approximately 6.5% to 6.0%, and it has since fallen to about 5.75% throughout the week. The reason is that the mortgage rates sometimes fall in lieu of bad market news such as the Freddie and Fannie trouble and a turbulent market. I didn’t write this article in the beginning of the week, because I wanted to see if the drop was a fluke or not. It looks like these low rates are here to stay for a little while.
Money Crashers Is On the Cutting Edge For Fuel Economy
September 9, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Consumer News
About six weeks ago, my buddy Tim did a video post about hybrids, and he touched on the point that cars from the early 90’s such as the Honda Civic and Geo Metro could get 50 to 60 miles per gallon, yet today’s hybrids only get about 40 to 50 miles per gallon. What makes these hybrids so special?
Apparently, the media is catching on to this fact. The Los Angeles Times wrote this article about a guy that uses a 1992 Honda Civic and gets 61 miles per gallon!
Is The Credit Crunch The Next Bubble To Burst?
August 25, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Credit and Debt
JLP from All Financial Matters made a great insight about the next financial bubble we face in the United States.
Much like sub prime mortgages are packaged together and sold to large financial institutions to earn from the interest of the borrowers, credit card debt is also packaged together and sold off to larger financial institutions to reap the benefits of the hefty interest rates that borrowers pay. if you think that unscrupulous lending practices were taking place in the sub prime mortgage sector, you don’t even want to know about the credit card lenders. Credit card lenders send applications to ANYONE and EVERYONE. Dead people, dogs, people with zero money to their name, children, and any other social security number they can get their hands on. Credit card companies have spent the last thirty years literally trying to financially drive this country into the ground. We’ve seen the statistics of $600 billion dollars of credit card debt in this country, and it is no joke. This is a bubble waiting to happen.
How To Get Free Gas (Seriously!)
July 30, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Cars, Consumer News, Contests and Giveaways, Energy
I end my three part post party with a reality check. If you were wondering if the end times were upon us, the following should set you straight:
GasforFree.com is your answer to rising pump prices, and will also visually pollute commutes across America. And though I may sound like I am above putting graphics on my car for gas money, I’m not. I scoured this site for information in the hopes of never having to pay for gas as long as my black/gold paint job holds the vinyl stickers on my Saturn.
Congress Approves Bail Out For Homeowners, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac
July 24, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Credit and Debt, Economic Policy, Economy, Politics, Real Estate
Here is the article from the AP, via Yahoo Finance about the House sailing through a bill to bail out homeowners and the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac institutions.
I love how Yahoo Finance titles it a “rescue” when it should be called a “bail out”. Rescue makes it sound like Congress is doing such a great, noble thing. I know that I sound negative about this, and for some families, it will help them out. There were some families who were truly tricked into a mortgage that they didn’t understand. There were others that knew exactly what they were doing, but the power of greed took over and they moved up in house by taking advantage of creative financing. Then, there’s the mortgage lenders who knew exactly what they were doing the whole time. They’ve been in the business for a long time. They knew these people couldn’t afford the houses they were financing, but they still extended the credit.
Great Site For Finding High Yield Checking Accounts
July 16, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Financial Links
My mom found a cool website that she shared with me, and I want to pass it along to you. It’s called CheckingFinder.Com. You type in your zip code, and it searches for banks that offer high-yielding, interest bearing checking accounts.
I typed in my zip code and the closest bank that it came up with was about 250 miles away, but you might have better luck than I did. All of the banks it listed were showing 5% to 5.5% interest rates for balances up to $25,000. That really caught my eye. I’ve never come across a checking account that offers 5% interest on your money! It’s worth checking out. We need to respond to the large banks like Bank of America and Wachovia by taking our money to smaller, local banks that offer great checking account products.
Can You Save Money By Complaining?
July 11, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Spending and Saving
Are you a shy person? Do you avoid conflict? You might be missing out on numerous ways to save money. Did you know that you can actually save money by complaining? It’s not really complaining. It’s being persistent with big corporations and not letting them push you around with hidden fees. Here is a list of the industries that respond to complainers the most:
The Ponemon Institute put together this statistic based on the number of times that customer service representatives give in to customer’s complaints:
Dress As a Cow and Receive Free Chick-Fil-A
July 11, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Contests and Giveaways
Are you crazy enough to dress like a cow just to receive a free meal? Chick-Fil-A thinks you are, so they are challenging anyone who is willing to dress like a cow and visit their store tomorrow, July 11th. If you do, they will give you a free meal.
“The July 11 event marks Chick-fil-A’s fourth annual Cow Appreciation Day celebration. Last year’s event–and the resulting turnout–confirmed that Chick-fil-A has a strong following of customers willing to go to great lengths to show their appreciation for cows. Thousands of customers visited Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country dressed in cow-themed costumes, ranging from simple cow-spotted t-shirts to full cow suits complete with furry ears, cow bells, and homemade sandwich boards with personalized renditions of Chick-fil-A’s “Eat Mor Chikin” Cow messages.”
Never Co-Sign A Car Loan For Anyone
June 20, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Consumer News, Credit and Debt, Taxes
Recently, I was listening to the Dave Ramsey Show, and there was one story that struck a chord with me. I love to hear all of the different stories people have to tell. They range anywhere from a mom that stole her son’s identity to success stories about people paying of $60,000 in two years. This particular story was a man who called in to tell about how he helped a friend from church get a loan on a car by co-signing for the loan. He never thought that a really close friend from church would stop paying the payments, so he went ahead and signed on the dotted line. About a year later, he realized that she hadn’t been paying the payment, and the car was repossessed. Now, the bank is going after him for the money still owed on the loan. It’s a common story told on Dave Ramsey, and it’s a life lesson that is usually learned the hard way.
