You may have been hearing (relentlessly) that interest rates are at an all time low, and now is the time to refinance. In the back of your mind you are thinking, "Ya, ya, ya... This is the same thing you all have been saying on and off for a while now." Well, I am here to say that the time has ACTUALLY come. Starting on June 11, the feds have actually sweetened the deal quite a bit... at least for people whose original FHA loan was taken out prior to June of 2009. (Unfortunately, that cuts me out of the deal, but I will encourage all of you to participate so that I can live vicariously through your savings!)
The first part of the savings comes in the form of a lowered upfront PMI fee. This is being slashed from 1.75% of the loan amount down to .01% of the loan amount. (For a $200,000 mortgage, you would previously pay $3500 at closing. Now, your fee would be a mere $20.) But it gets even better... your annual PMI insurance premium will be calculated as .55% of the loan balance rather than the current rate of 1.25%.
After you compound all of this savings with the money you will save from getting a new lower interest rate (rates are currently hovering around 3.75 for a 30 year fixed) you will be laughing your way all the way to the bank! OR you can be really fiscally intelligent... Dare I suggest that you utilize this savings in order to make the very wise decision to refinance to a 15 year mortgage instead of stretching your payments back out over 30 years?!? (Rates for a 15 year fixed are near an even 3%.) You might surprise yourself to find that you can refinance over 15 years for the same monthly payment you are currently making! So head on over to http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/mortgage-calculator.aspx and see just how much you can save from your new interest rate, and then navigate back the the home page to compare interest rates in your area and get started! DO IT! Your savings account will thank you!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Friday, July 15, 2011
Best High Yield Interest Rates
Many of you may remember when I was doting over Associated Credit Union's high interest CU $ave More Account in my earlier post. I have had this account for a little over two years and have been always been proud to be earning what is currently a 5% APR on the first $500 without exposing myself to any risk... especially when the current interest rates in America are so low.
I am sure you can understand my disbelief when my Fiance' told me that we are eligible for a credit union through his company which offers a 4% APY on their Rewards checking account. I was certain that he was simply mistaken or confusing the APY with a cashback rewards program. I perused Southwest Airlines Federal Credit Union's website, and, low and behold, he was absolutely correct! Moreover, this interest rate is applicable to the first $25,000!!! There are a few MINOR requirements (direct deposit, estatements, and monthly debit card use), but with an interest rate like this, I will happily conduct all of our banking with them in order to fulfill these requirements.
In an effort to try and seek out a way that others who are ineligible for this credit union's membership requirements can benefit from such a great deal, I began a google search and am happy to report that I have found this list of similar high yield checking account. I read through it, and it appears that mostly my midwestern readers will be eligible to benefit from accounts contained on the list. However, Georgians can still take advantage of the CU$aveMore account, and I will let you know if I notice a local bank offering a High Yield checking account in the future.
I am sure you can understand my disbelief when my Fiance' told me that we are eligible for a credit union through his company which offers a 4% APY on their Rewards checking account. I was certain that he was simply mistaken or confusing the APY with a cashback rewards program. I perused Southwest Airlines Federal Credit Union's website, and, low and behold, he was absolutely correct! Moreover, this interest rate is applicable to the first $25,000!!! There are a few MINOR requirements (direct deposit, estatements, and monthly debit card use), but with an interest rate like this, I will happily conduct all of our banking with them in order to fulfill these requirements.
In an effort to try and seek out a way that others who are ineligible for this credit union's membership requirements can benefit from such a great deal, I began a google search and am happy to report that I have found this list of similar high yield checking account. I read through it, and it appears that mostly my midwestern readers will be eligible to benefit from accounts contained on the list. However, Georgians can still take advantage of the CU$aveMore account, and I will let you know if I notice a local bank offering a High Yield checking account in the future.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Date Night On The Cheap
One of the easiest ways to save extra money each month is to eat out less. Atlanta residents spend an average of 60% of their monthly food budget eating out! One way to trim this portion of your budget is to do what you can to make each dollar go further when you do eat out. Consider this the extreme couponing version of dating on a dollar...
East Cobb Moe's Taco with a side of chips and Salsa : $2 each on Tuesdays.
Movie at the Picture Show at Merchant's Exchange: .75 cents on Tuesdays.
Tuesday Date Night In North Atlanta: $5.50.
Take that Clark Howard!
East Cobb Moe's Taco with a side of chips and Salsa : $2 each on Tuesdays.
Movie at the Picture Show at Merchant's Exchange: .75 cents on Tuesdays.
Tuesday Date Night In North Atlanta: $5.50.
Take that Clark Howard!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Inflation Rate Surmounts Highest Available Cd Rates... Really?
I rolled my eyes this morning, while listening to the headline that the Inflation rate has reached 3% for the first time since 2008, while the best rates for a CD are still between 1-2.5%. (For those who don't know, inflation is the overall rise in the price of goods and services and, therefore, decrease in the purchasing power of YOUR dollar. A CD, or Certificate of Deposit, is a special type of savings account that offers a higher rate of return in exchange for a committment to leaving the money in said account for a prespecified period of time.) This basically means that if you put your money in a CD, you are LOSING money.
Unless you are planning on spending that money in the next few years, invest it. (And I don't mean your run of the mill savings account, or you will REALLY lose money.) However, there is an exception. An account that I have doted on for the last couple years is Associated Credit Union's CU $ave More Account. You can earn a generous (and risk free) rate of return which is currently hovering around 5% on the first $500 in this account. As for the rest of your money.... If you are debt free and don't need the money, put it in mutual funds. (More specifically, I recommend a Roth IRA mutual fund because you can still withdraw your contributions without penalty at any time in case of an emergency.... But that lesson is for another day.) For now, close your CDs the first chance you get and head over to ACU if you are eligible.
Unless you are planning on spending that money in the next few years, invest it. (And I don't mean your run of the mill savings account, or you will REALLY lose money.) However, there is an exception. An account that I have doted on for the last couple years is Associated Credit Union's CU $ave More Account. You can earn a generous (and risk free) rate of return which is currently hovering around 5% on the first $500 in this account. As for the rest of your money.... If you are debt free and don't need the money, put it in mutual funds. (More specifically, I recommend a Roth IRA mutual fund because you can still withdraw your contributions without penalty at any time in case of an emergency.... But that lesson is for another day.) For now, close your CDs the first chance you get and head over to ACU if you are eligible.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Show me the Honey!
What is the best way to become an eventual millionaire? Be a tightwad. Make your number one charity be yourself. This seems to be the mantra of America's self-made millionaires. Those who know me might look at my extensive wardrobe and question how I could ever consider myself a tightwad, and I would then direct them to look at my receipts. I am the queen of bargain hunting. I am also the queen of investing and budgeting. Do I have a lot of money? Not yet, but I assure you that I one day will. I spend a great deal of my time scrutinizing my finances.... Trying to discover where the source of my next pinched penny will be or where I can earn a better rate of return on my investments. I frequently get calls from friends seeking advice on such things as couponing, investing, interest rates, tax advice, and the like. I have decided to make it easier for everyone by stream lining this wealth of information onto this blog. Do I know everything? No, I most certainly do not. However, I am an avid researcher and over-analyzer. Combine this with my love of teaching others (first grade professionally) and you will understand why I felt compelled to create this site. Who knows... maybe one day I will need to go through the archives to seek out some of my own advice. I hope it finds you well and helps you on your own journey to financial freedom! Happy Reading!
Monday, January 1, 2001
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At kati-swalwell.blogspot.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Below is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit kati-Swalwell.blogspot.com, and how we safeguard your information. We will never sell your personal information to third parties.
Log Files
As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.
Cookies and Web Beacons
We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.
We also use third party advertisements on omensblog.blogspot.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).
DoubleClick DART Cookies
We also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick, which places a cookie on your computer when you are browsing the web and visit a site using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements). This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests (”interest based targeting”). The ads served will be targeted based on your previous browsing history (For example, if you have been viewing sites about visiting Las Vegas, you may see Las Vegas hotel advertisements when viewing a non-related site, such as on a site about hockey). DART uses “non personally identifiable information”. It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers. You can opt-out of this ad serving on all sites using this advertising by visiting http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/dart_adserving.aspx
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Deleting cookies does not mean you are permanently opted out of any advertising program. Unless you have settings that disallow cookies, the next time you visit a site running the advertisements, a new cookie will be added.
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