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If youve got a monthly payment of $2,000 then you would make a $1,000 payment every other week.  Since there are more than 2 weeks in a month youre actually paying more toward your loan each month when you average it out over the period of a year.  Youve probably heard that if you add 1/12th of your monthly payment to your payment each month youll pay off your mortgage loan in 24-25 years instead of 30bi-weekly payments is the same concept.

What are the benefits of paying bi-weekly and accelerating the payback of your mortgage?  They are

Saving Money By shortening your mortgage loan payback from 30 years to anything less than 30 years youre going to save money in interest.  Plus youll not be making a monthly payment to your lender so theres the opportunity cost benefit that youll likely realize.  For example, if you dont have to pay your lender $2,000 each month any longer then thats $24,000 per year that can be reallocated to pay off expensive credit card debt or put toward a retirement account.  Regardless, your money starts to work for YOU instead of for your mortgage lender.  Now multiply that $24,000 by 5 years (the number of years youll pay off your loan early) and you can see how quickly the savings add up.

Better Credit Scores Its a fact that having less debt is better for your credit scores.  By paying your mortgage bi-weekly youll be exhausting your mortgage loan balance faster than if you simply paid once a month.  This means credit scoring systems will eventually begin rewarding you for having less outstanding debt.  And better credit scores is an absolute must because lenders, insurance companies, utility providers and tenant screening companies all use credit scores to determine if they want to do business with you and under what terms.

Building Equity Faster -  Equity is the value of your home relative to the amount you owe on your home.  So, if you live in a home thats worth $100,000 and your mortgage loan is $95,000 then you have $5,000 of equity in your home.  Many lenders will let you borrow against the equity in your home.  There are two varieties of loans tied to your equity:  HELOCS (Home Equity Line of Credit) are a revolving line of credit secured by the equity in your home and a Home Equity Loan is an installment loan (fixed payment for a fixed number of months) also secured by the equity in your home.  By accelerating the pay down of your mortgage loan you free up more equity in your house thus giving you more (and better ) borrowing options.  Why are home equity related loans a better option?

a)  The interest in a home equity type of loan is usually tax deductible.  You cant say that about credit card interest or auto loan interest.

b)  The interest rates on home equity related loans are almost always much better than credit card interest rates.  If youre in credit card debt (the most expensive type of debt) and you have equity in your house then you can pay off the credit cards with the money from a home equity loan and save a bundle in interest (and boost your credit scores at the same time)

Its Nice Not Having a Mortgage Payment Lets face itpaying lenders isnt fun.  And while a mortgage loan certainly has benefits (tax deduction) youd rather not be paying a lender every month.  Accelerating your mortgage pay back gets you closer and closer to not having a home loan any longerand it gets you there faster.  Plus, there are the non-financial benefits of knowing that youre in significantly less debt each month.  It kinda makes me smile when I see my statement balance much lower than the prior month.

A company that deals with a lease on behalf of an owner in exchange for a fee is called a letting agency. A range of services can be provided by a letting agent based on what you need. For example, if you have problems with an apartment lease, they can help you in finding a tenant as soon as you need. Preparation of the property before renting, marketing and advertising, conducting safety inspections, scanning of tenants are some of their common tasks.

A letting agency acts as an intermediary and at the same time an institution through which the current owners of the property and potential customers who are interested in renting a property can contact and start the negotiation process. Full Post…

The companies behind the sales pitches claim to have special relationships with credit card issuers. They guarantee that the reduced rates they offer will save you thousands of dollars in interest and finance charges, and will allow you to pay off your credit card debt three to five times faster. They claim that the lower interest rates are available for a limited time and that you need to act now. Some even use money-back guarantees as further enticement. (The FTC frowns heavily on guarantees)

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the companies behind these robocalls cant do anything for you that you cant do for yourself — for free. You have just as much clout with your credit card issuer as these companies, and you are just as likely to get turned down for a rate reduction regardless of their promises or supposed efforts to negotiate on your behalf.  FTC investigators found that people who pay for these services dont get the touted interest rate reductions, dont save the promised amounts, dont pay off their credit card debt three to five times faster, and struggle to get refunds.

Amendments to the FTCs Telemarketing Sales Rule prohibit companies, that sell relief services like these rate reduction scams on the phone, from charging a fee before they settle or reduce your debt. If

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Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and for shoppers, that means one thing: Black Friday is fast upon us. We took a hard look at the other side of Black Friday last year, pointing out that various obstacles could potentially make the holiday less desirable. Yet despite these roadblocks, Black Friday is poised for another big year, perhaps a record one in terms of shopper turnout.

Heres how consumers are expected to approach Black Friday 2011:

According to the National Retail Federation, up to 152 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend, encompassing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thats up from 138 million people in 2010.

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There is no triumph without deed. No amount of brainstorming gets something done if all the action just remains in your brain. That is where motivation should set in. You would perhaps be enthused to get up and get going, but it’s only when you’re motivated to actually work for something to actually get accomplished. An inspiration is rather long term as oppose to pondering upon motivation, so why not consider motivational quotes as somehow an extra boost to push you forward to the step thereafter. Inspiration turns into thinking which turns into motivation that moves you to action.

There are quite a lot of motivational sayings and quotes that you could make use of to build up that drive which stirs things up and set them in motion. So how do you determine which ones can you really identify with given the circumstances? And how do you use them to help you? There are heaps of sources that list motivational quotes like books, websites and even local TV or newspaper. How

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