I do think the FreeCreditReport.com commercials are funny. Even though I wouldn’t recommend signing up for their service (which you have to do if you want your "free" report). After all, you can go to annualcreditreport.com and get a free credit report a year from each of the bureaus.

Happy Friday!

I do think the FreeCreditReport.com commercials are funny. Even though I wouldn’t recommend signing up for their service (which you have to do if you want your "free" report). After all, you can go to annualcreditreport.com and get a free credit report a year from each of the bureaus.

Happy Friday!

Way to say, "Thank you!" this past Memorial Day…

Right now, there are concerns that too many of our service men and women are in danger of foreclosure. Indeed, according to Bloomberg, towns that are home to a high proportion of US soldiers are seeing an increase in the rate of foreclosures that almost quadruples the national average.

This is not right. Many of the very people that risk their lives for us get paid very little and are now in danger of losing their homes. While it is true that service members are protected from foreclosures while they are on active duty, and for 90 days after, it is still a rather large burden.

Coming home from Iraq and then trying to deal with a devastating financial situation within three months? Um, right.

Perhaps it’s time for a groundswell of support for programs to help our military service men and women. An extension to that 90 days to 12 months or 18 months?

If anyone deserves help in this subprime mortgage crisis, it’s our brave men and women in the military.

More and more people are becoming discouraged over applying for mortgages. Mortgage applications fell last week. CNN Money reports that refinancing accounted for part of the drop:

Refinance volume declined 8.9%, pushing total volume lower. Refinance
applications accounted for 46.1% of total applications, down from 48.2%
a week earlier.

It is getting harder to get a second home mortgage right now, since mortgage lenders are wary of declining home values. They are concerned that they will approve a home equity loan, and then the home will decrease in value and create a situation of negative equity.

Also causing possible borrowers pause: increasing mortgage rates. Mortgage interest rates are on the rise, despite the decline in mortgage applications.

More and more people are becoming discouraged over applying for mortgages. Mortgage applications fell last week. CNN Money reports that refinancing accounted for part of the drop:

Refinance volume declined 8.9%, pushing total volume lower. Refinance
applications accounted for 46.1% of total applications, down from 48.2%
a week earlier.

It is getting harder to get a second home mortgage right now, since mortgage lenders are wary of declining home values. They are concerned that they will approve a home equity loan, and then the home will decrease in value and create a situation of negative equity.

Also causing possible borrowers pause: increasing mortgage rates. Mortgage interest rates are on the rise, despite the decline in mortgage applications.

Other countries are experiencing mortgage market crisis troubles, as well as the US. Indeed, the UK is seeing a great deal of trouble in terms of housing and mortgage market crisis.

One of the hardest hit is Europe’s largest bank, UBS. UBS is reporting that it could see even more losses from mortgage loans, especially subprime mortgages.

Many of the words we have in the English language come from a variety of other linguistic sources. One of the more interesting is our word "mortgage." The Industry Report offers this observation on the origins of the word "mortgage":

What you didn’t know is that in Latin, mori (from the Old French word mort-) means "death" and -gage means "pledge". Thus the words: "death pledge".

Nice, eh? I guess 100 years ago signing a 30 year mortgage really was like signing yourself into bondage for life…

image source: Wikimedia Commons

So much fodder for parodies lately! Here’s one on oil prices and the economy.

Happy Friday!

So much fodder for parodies lately! Here’s one on oil prices and the economy.

Happy Friday!

What happens if a foreclosure forces a family to move out of a school district? Well, in some school districts it means that the children attending the school have to leave as well.

In fact, parents who still live in the districts are calling school officials to tip them off when a foreclosure happens in their neighborhoods. And school districts are starting to hire private investigators to find out if kids still live in the school districts they started in. The Wall Street Journal reports on this foreclosure related trend:

"Foreclosure rates are up. Displacement is up. People are becoming
homeless," says William Beitler, a private investigator specializing in
address verification for school districts in the Chicago area. Mr.
Beitler says he has contracts with 32 districts, up from 23 last year,
and his caseload has increased to 7,000 from 3,000. He claims he will
save districts a total of $12.2 million next year through removing
students.

Foreclosure affects everyone — not just mom and dad. And this new trend is likely to produce some troubled children who experience the upheavals of being forced to move out of their home, on top of being forced out of their school and away from their friends.