Showing posts with label Loan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loan. Show all posts

Computer Loans - Become Techno Savvy the Easier Way

I read of computer loans as a banner advert on a website. The loan provider had mentioned of easy finance options to help people purchase computers. Suddenly the dream of owning a computer became so easy to realise. It had been my insistence to purchase a branded computer and an insufficient personal income that were obstructing me from the purchase. But, now with the finance options in hand, computers from the best known companies are not far off. 

Computer Loans have been born out of the idea of assisting every person in the UK to have a computer of his own. It is difficult to do without computers in the present age. Whether it is a simple classroom work for kids or your own office work, almost everything demands a computer. Such is the craze of computers that people will prefer to have a computer just as people would have craved to have television in its heydays. 

People desirous of purchasing computers can easily apply for computer loans. Computer loan is similar to a personal loan, as far as the terms go. Though computer loans have a long list of benefits for borrowers, the best among these is the facility of stretched payments. Payments in a computer loan are stretched over a period called the term of repayment. Had it been for a cash purchase of the computer, borrower would have to pay the price of computer immediately. Only those with enough cash to make the immediate payment would have been able to purchase computers. 

However, when computers are purchased through computer loan, borrower does not have to pay to the seller through his own pockets. It is the loan provider who makes the payment instead of the borrower. However, it will appear as though the borrower is making the payment. Bargaining on price, commonly associated with cash purchases can be conducted on purchase through computer loans too. This is because the borrower has the loan proceeds with him and he has the discretion on the manner and the amount up to which he wants to use the computer loan proceeds.

The amount that one had to pay to the computer dealer will now have to be paid to the computer loan provider. The manner in which computer loan is to be amortised is an important decision. The complexity of the decision increases because of the multiplicity of options available for loan repayment. You can either make a balloon payment towards the loan or pay through instalments that accrue monthly or quarterly.

Balloon payments are advantageous for borrowers who hope to lay hands on a sizable sum in the near future. Interest charges are significantly reduced through this method. The alternative method whereby payments are to be made through periodic instalments will bring greater interest to borrower's loan, but suits people with fixed incomes.

Interest is the cost of inflation on the amount lent to borrowers. Typical interest rate on a computer loan ranges from 7.25% to 15%. APR is generally dependant on the amount of loan that is being taken and the borrowers' credit status. Yes credit history is not going to leave you even in computer loans. A good credit history is preferable to get a larger amount for computer loans at cheap rates. Loan providers who work with sub-prime borrowers may arrange good deals for the borrowers with bad credit in computer loans.

As far as the question of mode of application goes, it is easier to apply for computer loans online. Borrowers who are about to purchase computers are already too techno-savvy to be explained the online process of application. In brief, the process of online application will not require the borrower to visit lenders office. By logging onto the lenders website and filling up his details in the application form given there, the applicant can initiate the approval process.

Computer loans help boost the technological revolution by making computers more accessible.

Ran Out Of Cash? Finance With a Personal Loan!

Obviously, the best thing to do would be to count with a savings account to cope with such situations but for the majority of people who don't, a personal loan is a much better source of finance than using a credit card. 

Credit and Debt experts call running out of cash a liquidity problem. Unless of course the problem is recursive in which case, you would be facing an income problem. There are plenty of ways to solve such difficulties but each one has different costs and advisors suggest personal loans as the best solution for sudden lack of cash difficulties. 

Problems With Credit Card Financing

The usual solution people find for these situations is to make use of their credit cards. With luck, the problem is solved in the short term. However, other problems will arise if you always resort to credit cards when running out of cash. Credit card debt accumulates easily and generates certain dependency that may trigger additional problems. 

Since credit cards offer the option not to pay the balance in full and even pay only the minimum payment which is usually consistent only of interests, the capital keeps rising and so the interests. Besides, the interest rate charged for credit cards is rather high compared to other finance options such as personal loans. 

All the above gives the user, the idea that he can keep on spending and prevents him from concentrating on the sources of his lack of cash problems. The lack of budgeting will sooner than later lead to debt problems. Many Americans are today finding out this fact the hard way. Defaults and bankruptcy are at the highest peak in decades. 

What Benefits Do Personal Loans Provide?

As opposed to credit cards, the debt you incur when you apply and get approved for a personal loan is fixed. Moreover, unless you close a deal with a variable interest rate, the monthly payments are also fixed. Thus, you don't run the risk of debt accumulation as long as you meet the monthly payments on time. 

This fact also contributes to making things a lot easier at the time of budgeting. The loans monthly payments can easily be included in a monthly budget as a fixed amount even if the rate is variable. Besides, all variations are highly predictable and any differences can be included by stating a possible range of the amount of the monthly installments. 
Also the fixed nature of this loans aids avoiding the temptation of incurring in further spending thus contributing to solve the problem that caused you to resort to financing due to a sudden lack of cash. 

But most importantly, the interest rate charged for personal loans is a lot lower than the rates charged for credit card financing. The rates of unsecured personal loans are usually around two thirds to a half the rate of credit card financing and secured personal loans are even lower. 
Credit cards can include a financing interest rate of up to 18% or even more and secured personal loans won't exceed an 8% APR.

How To Get Out of Credit Card Debt

"Today, there are three kinds of people: the have's, the have-not's, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have's. ~Earl Wilson"

Credit cards are truly one of mankind’s greatest inventions. Unfortunately, it has also become one of mankind’s greatest curses.

Most credit card companies in the Philippines charge 3.5 % interest rate per month. That is about 42 % per annum. If you do the math, your present outstanding balances will double every 2 years. If you owe your credit card company P 10,000.00, in 2 years time it will become about P 20,000.00.

The best thing that you could do right now is to pay all your credit card debt immediately. That is if you have the money to do so. But what if you owe your credit card company P 100,000.00 or even P 200,000.00 what should you do ? What if you have multiple credit card debts? The following are probably the best steps that you could take in order to rid yourself of this credit card debt mess.

1.) Get a loan with a lower interest rate – Some lending institutions and even banks offer an interest rate of 0.99 to 1.5 % interest per month. This is much lower than what the credit card companies charge. If you can secure a loan with a lower interest rate, especially a diminishing one (Hard to get by these days, by the way if you don’t understand the difference between diminishing rates and straight rates or fixed rates this will be discussed in another post) use the loan to pay off your credit card debt, and resolve to never ever again use your credit card except if you can pay it within 30 days. That way you won’t be charge the monthly interest. By borrowing at a lower interest rate you will minimize your losses due to interest. If you can borrow from somebody at 0 % interest (A rich old uncle perhaps), that would be so much better. If you have several credit card debts, borrow enough to pay all of your credit card debts. This way you can focus on paying only one debt and one interest rate. In financial planning this is better known as “debt consolidation. “

2.) Secure a balance transfer – Most credit card companies have a wonderful feature called “Balance transfer.” When you transfer your balance from other credit cards they will only give you .99 percent interest per month. This is already a steal deal. Balance transfer are payable in certain terms like 12, 24 or 36 months. So let’s say you owe your PS BANK Master Card P 100,000.00. If you have another credit card with let’s say CITIBANK and your credit limit with CITIBANK is also P 100,000.00, you could transfer your balance from PSBANK to CITIBANK. Instead of 3.5 % interest per month, Citibank will only charge you 0.99 % per month (About 12 % per annum). What Citibank will do is that they will add the monthly interest and then divide that with the term that you wish to avail of. For example of you wish to pay off your debt within a year the computation would be: interest times principle + principle divided by 12. So that would be 12 % x P 100,000.00 + 100,000.00 / 12 = 9,333,33. You will only have to pay P 9,333.33 per month. If you say that you will just pay P 9,333.33 per month at 3.5 % per month anyway that is based on “diminishing interest” (This means that your interest goes down if your principal goes down)as opposed to paying a “fixed interest” you will still end up with P 14,822 in debt at the end of the year. If you pay a fixed interest of P 9,333.33 at the end of the year you will end up with zero credit card debt. (I would love to post the table I made, but unfortunately I cannot do it here so just email me if you are interested)

But if you pay only the “minimum” per month, what will happen to your credit card debt ? You will see that at the end of 12 months you still owe your credit card company P 92,585.00. (This will be discussed in a different post) That is why it is not wise to pay only the “minimum.”

There are several things to remember about “balance transfer”:

1.) Balance transfer is subject to approval by your credit card company.
2.) The maximum amount you can avail of for balance transfer is your credit limit. Let’s say you have P 100,000.00 and you used up P 50,000.00 more or less you can balance transfer about P 50,000.00. However take note, this is not guaranteed. This is still subject to approval by your credit card company.
3.) Make sure you pay the fixed monthly installment. In our illustration above, pay the P 9,333.33 religiously, otherwise it will be made subject to the 3.5 % monthly interest. Don’t be tempted to pay only the “minimum” since you will be charged with 3.5 % interest over and above the 0.99 % interest. (This is double jeopardy !)
4.) It is advisable not to use your card when you are using it for balance transfer in order to avoid confusion and to make sure that you can make a priority to pay the installment for balance transfer instead of paying other credit card debts.
5.) Resort to balance transfer only when you cannot avail of the first option. The first option (Get a loan with a lower interest rate) is still the best.

Avoiding Common Business Loan Mistakes

Surveys show that 94.7% of small business owners feel their only lending resources are local banks or personal credit cards. This common sense advice will help you avoid these common business loan mistakes, regardless of your personal credit history... and avoid pledging your personal property as collateral.

First of all, getting approved for a commercial loan is definitely easier than getting personal loans... regardless of your personal credit scores. Additionally, getting the right types of corporate credit is absolutely critical: if you want to protect your personal assets, minimize the risk of a personal lawsuit affecting your business, and to your ability to weather the economic changes that happen overnight.

All business owners must be much more proactive about developing relationships with the right types of lending institutions. You usually want to start your application process with out-of-state, national lenders... not your local or regional banking institutions. National lenders typically won't require a personal guarantee or your social security number. 

Follow this simple roadmap to obtain a small business startup loan, a business debt consolidation loan, a bad credit business loan, or a government business loan... although I strongly recommend that you find a commercial loan expert who can help you through the process of building a strong corporate credit rating. 

Finding a competent business loan expert will give you a head start on your competition & also let you focus on running your day-to-day activities... instead of dealing with the hassles of establishing a strong business credit rating. An excellent business credit score can help your company's image, overnight. And, finding a small business loan expert isn't that difficult. You just need to know where to look.

Now... let's get started... before you start applying for any business loans!

1. How is your business structured? Is it a sole proprietorship, C-corporation, S-Corporation, Limited-Liability Corporation (LLC), Partnership, or Trust?

2. How long has your business been recognized by your State & Local government?

3. Has your company ever had derogatory information reported against it to either of the two (2) most popular business credit reporting agencies, Dun & Bradstreet or Experian?

4. Are your commercial permits, licenses and registrations current?

5. Does your business have a physical address, or are you trying to use a U.S. Post Office Box instead?

6. Is your business telephone number recognized by directory assistance?

7. Are your incoming telephone calls professionally answered in your business name?

8. Have you established a business checking account?

9. Have you registered & asked for an Employer Identification Number (also known as an EIN) from the IRS?

If your answer to the first question was a sole proprietorship, partnership or trust; I urge you to re-establish your company as a corporation or LLC. I'm not going to provide you with legal advice, but many CPAs and attorneys highly recommend 
LLCs (Limited Liability Corporations) as a way of protecting your personal assets & estate... in the event of any lawsuits being filed against your company. 

As a sole proprietor, your personal assets are at direct risk of seizure or forfeiture when faced with most types of legal action. Additionally, if you are applying for business loans in a corporation's name... most lending institutions will not require you to provide any personal guarantee!

A corporation can still face difficulties applying for business credit, if it has been in business less than two (2) years or had previous credit problems reported against it. Here are some ways to fix these problems.

- Purchasing a "shelf corporation" or "aged corporation" that's been in good standing with your State government (for longer than 2 years) can drastically improve your chances for small business loan approval. 

- You can attempt to repair your business credit rating by writing dispute letters to Experian or Dun & Bradstreet, which isn't always possible. 

- Some corporate credit experts will help you find, select & purchase an established "shelf" or "aged" corporation, some of which already have strong credit ratings established... saving you alot of hassles!

I cannot stress this enough... you MUST have a physical address (not a PO Box) if you want to establish a solid business credit rating. The same thing is said for telephone numbers & the way incoming phone calls are handled. Would you lend 
money to a company that does not appear to have a physical address or documented telephone number? 

And, don't forget to always keep your commercial permits, licenses & registrations current... and always keep copies of these documents in case a potential lender asks for this information.

Business checking accounts are a must. Again, this proves stability to your potential lenders. Here are a couple of tips for you, in case you've had any checking accounts closed by a financial institution. Pay off the outstanding balance (if any) that's being reported by the bank, or open a checking account at a bank or credit union that doesn't use the ChexSystems credit reporting system. Most credit unions don't use ChexSystems, and you can always find a list of banking institutions in your area that don't use ChexSystems... by simply doing a search on Google, Yahoo or MSN.

Small business credit ratings are tracked using your business name, business address and employer identification number (EIN). You can apply for & receive an EIN at the IRS's website (irs.gov). You can also call the IRS, but be prepared for long waits.

Then you'll want to obtain a D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet, the largest business credit reporting agency. You can apply for this without any fees at Dun & Bradstreet's website (dnb.com), and you'll usually receive this number within 
thirty (30) days. Do not apply for this number until you've prepared your self thoroughly, because any information you give to them... goes into your credit file... permanently.

After you've obtained your D-U-N-S number, you're probably ready to start establishing some vendor credit. Vendor credit is where many business owners start establishing business credit ratings. Simply go to staples.com, officemax.com or officedepot.com to get started. Then, you'll also need to fax your business telephone bill & the credit application to them... on your business letterhead (which you can create using your favorite word processing software if you don't have expensive stationery). They usually don't require any personal guarantees (if you've followed the outline above), and you'll usually receive a starting credit line of $750. 

This is critical & I repeat... critical! Always pay your invoices before the grace periods begin... especially on unsecured credit cards or vendor credit lines. Dun & Bradstreet will lower your credit score for every day a creditor reports your bill as unpaid while you're within your grace period. Whereas, personal credit scores are not lowered unless you are 30+ days past your due date. 

Dun & Bradstreet reports what's known as a Paydex score (your corporate credit score), and a score of 80 is very good... with 100 being the highest score you can achieve. Your Paydex score is issued once you've established a known 
vendor/credit relationship with at least five (5) creditors.

There are shortcuts that will help you get much more than $750 alot faster. When using a business credit expert, most small business owners (even startups) can be approved for vendor credit lines of $25,000-$50,000 and open credit lines of 
$50,000, $250,000, $500,000 or more... in as little as 45-60 days... by using their knowledge of the application process & "shelf" corporations. 

Now, it's your choice. Are you going to go against the grain & try to establish business credit on your own (which could prove costly to your business health, growth & survival)? Or, will you choose to utilize a corporate credit expert... allowing you to remain focused on your daily business needs? 

Most business owners make the mistake of trying to do this on their own... usually trying to find grants, investor "angel" money, or falling back onto the "personal credit card sword". Don't be a casualty like the rest. Learn more about how you can use the same tools that informed, educated millionaires have been using for decades.