When I read about the new ‘Buck the Norm’ campaign produced by Oklahoma based Tinker Federal Credit Union to educate young adults about money matters, I couldn’t wait to watch it – so I could pan it! My pre-judgment was based partially on the a similar campaign put out by the Treasury Department and partially on the fact that Oklahoma City isn’t exactly the cultural hotbed of America. (I don’t say that as a coast dwelling media elite either – I’m right here in Middle America!)
However, I have to admit the video is not bad. The tune is catchy and …read more

Microsoft announced today, Veteran’s Day, the launch of a new, webisode series on MSN Money. The series, which was created with the help of PBS program Money Track aims to teach military families about the latest financial scams, the importance of staying debt-free and alternatives to borrowing.
The Need for Financial Education
According to Pam Krueger, creator and host of the popular PBS series Money Track, military service members are targets for sketchy payday lenders due to their steady, predictable paychecks. Combine this with the fact that those paychecks are typically low and that equals a tendency to need cash in …read more

As much as possible, even when you are already in deficit on your monthly expenses, put away some amount into an emergency fund. With hard times worsening from week to week, you have to prepare for a future when your finances drop to near zero. Or, worse –if you or a member of your family gets sick or meets an accident or some disaster strikes, immediate funds will be required.
Don’t just keep your emergency fund in a piggy bank, in a cookie jar, or under your mattress. Place it in an earning certificate of deposit, a …read more

Banks provide necessary services, but they are there for the money –your money. They are always cooking up new ways to charge you fees: miscellaneous fees, maintenance fees, online banking fees, excessive transaction fees, teller fees, etc.
Do not be taken in by offers of “no monthly fees” checking accounts. You can bet your bottom dollar the bank will make up for this freebie through some other fee.
Take time to shop around for a bank. Scrutinize their fees. Read the fine print. Keep records and study the entries. Avoid the charges that you …read more

No such thing as a free lunch, specially in bank services. You do a bank a favor by opening a checking account and letting them earn on your money through loans & mortgages, and it charges you a monthly fee (which, in some banks, can go over $10 per month).
On opening an account, you get a free checkbook. Subsequent checkbooks are charged a fee for which some banks collect as much as $15, and this is for the plain checkbooks. The personalized versions (with background scenery, etc) cost much more –an extravagance and a needless expense. …read more

You don’t always have your checkbook with you and you don’t want to carry cash around. So, you use a debit card.
Remember, however, that every time you use your debit card you are charged a fee. The fees vary from institution to institution. Some charge less than a dollar, other charges much more. So, the more often you use your debit card, the more costly this bank service becomes.
How about ATM cards? If you withdraw from the ATM machine at the bank’s premises, you don’t get charged a transaction fee. Outside the bank premises, …read more

You receive a check payment which you deposit in your bank account. Don’t assume that you can immediately withdraw or write a check against it.
Out-of-town or out-of-state checks take as much as a week before the amount is actually entered into your account for withdrawals or writing checks against. If you happen to write a check before the amount is actually in your account, your check will bounce –which, in addition to causing much embrassment, will cause a penalty to be charged against your account and do some damage to your credit standing.
To save you from overdrawn …read more

No such thing as a free lunch, specially in bank services. You do a bank a favor by opening a checking account and it charges a monthly fee (which, in some banks, can go over $10 per month).
If you maintain a small balance, the bank will try to seduce you to put in more money by waiving the monthly fees. But –you have to look out for the fee that it will charge if you go below the minimum balance. Those extra charges can add up to a tidy sum.
I think this is an unfair exchange. …read more

The New Housing Bill gives grants for the purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed and abandoned properties. The subprime tsunami not only has created financial disasters, but has also given rise to suburban blight. Abandoned houses are detriorating and giving many areas the look of a ghost town.
This feature of the New Housing Bill can arrest the deterioration. It also opens up opportunities for fixer-uppers. With properties at record low prices, there is good money to be made. Fixer-uppers, however, have to hold the property until the housing market rises from the subprime depth.
info from FHA website, …read more

The New Housing Bill authorizes Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac to take on mortgages at higher amounts, from the present cap of $417 thousand to the higher level of $625 thousand. Ostensibly, this will enlarge the market for housing and hopefully pull the housing industry out of the doldrums.
The Bill also authorizes the Treasury to extend an unlimited line of credit to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac (which already own or back more than $5 trillion in mortgages) and to purchase stocks in these GSEs, if necessary. These will be increasing the debt exposure of Fannie Mae & …read more