| Rein in spending and avoid credit-card debt
Question: I have credit-card debt at high interest rates on several cards, as well as student loans. Going into my last year in college and being wary of the future, carrying this debt scares me. I have been wondering if I should consider a debt-consolidation loan. What do you think? Answer: I am not a fan of consolidation loans. What attracts most people to consolidation loans is the potentially lower monthly payments. However, the main drawback of such loans is that they usually raise a person's average interest rate on his debt. .
Student loan options are baffling to family
Karen Wons of Maryland finds herself in a quandary that is confronting many parents right now. She is struggling with how best to advise her daughter -- a recent college graduate -- on paying down her $25,000 in student loans. Wons did what any wise parent would do. She asked for help. Wons's daughter works as a project manager at a medical software company. She has an annual salary of more than $50,000. Her employer provides a 401(k). She has about $13,000 in cash from recently redeemed Series EE savings bonds. She has no credit card debt. She has no payments on a reliable car with low mileage. She's sharing an apartment and other living expenses with an older sister in Madison, Wis. Her portion of the rent is a little more than $500 a month. Wons is unsure about the course her daughter should take: Should the daughter consolidate her college loans during her six-month grace period? (She has federally backed Stafford and Perkins loans.) Should she use the entire $13,000 to pay down the loans or keep making monthly payments to take advantage of the interest deduction? Should she invest all of the $13,000? While paying on the loans, should she contribute to her 401(k)? Let's take the consolidation question first.
Promise offers to buy Sanyo Shinpan, to become largest Japanese consumer lender
Promise offered to buy its rival Sanyo Shinpan Finance on Thursday for about ¥110 billion, or $913 million, which would create the largest Japanese consumer lender. Promise offered ¥3,623 a share for the 75 percent of Sanyo Shinpan's stock traded on the market, it said in a statement to the Tokyo Exchange. It agreed to buy the remainder of Sanyo Shinpan from the family of Sanyo's chairman, Masakazu Shiiki for an undisclosed price. Sanyo shares closed Thursday at ¥3,650. The takeover will create a lender with more than ¥2 trillion of outstanding loans and could trigger more mergers in an industry racked by mounting claims for interest refunds. Promise and its rivals in the $170 billion Japanese consumer credit market have seen profits evaporate after courts ruled that borrowers could demand compensation for excessive interest payments.
MortgageBrokers.com announces the expansion of its brand presence through opening new retail locations across Canada
MortgageBrokers.com Financial group of Companies Inc., a subsidiary of MortgageBrokers.com Holdings Inc. (OTC BB: MBKR - News) announced that the company through it's Managing Partner, opening of 2 new retail locations under the MortgageBrokers.com flag in Toronto, Ontario. These latest retail store front opening continues the company's expanding brand presence through store front retail locations across Canada. .
Don't overlook credit unions
Consumers have a plethora of borrowing and saving options, from traditional banks to online-only banks to credit unions and investment brokerages. And while Internet-only banks can offer the most competitive rates for saving and borrowing, credit unions offer a mix of favorable rates and personal service. They're often a good alternative to traditional banks, which still dominate the market. Credit unions are affiliated groups of people who pool their money and lend it to each other. They don't have divided loyalties; they're not trying to serve a customer at the same time as boosting profits and the stock price for shareholders. .
Partnerships prove Ram pride sells
While Colorado State University doesn't generally sell naming rights to its buildings and sports facilities, it's happy to rent its name and logo to everyone from jewelers to car dealers, travel agencies and credit card companies. And every time a student or alumnus signs up or buys, the university, its athletic department and alumni association stand to benefit. .
Private equity raises ghosts of income trusts past
Just when the federal Conservatives had started to put their income trust flip-flop behind them, along comes news of Brookfield Asset Management trying to design a leveraged buyout of Canadian Pacific Railway. Private equity's rampage across Canada, from Canadian sources or not, is provoking much the same discomfort in Ottawa circles as income trusts did last year - discomfort about the effect of a major restructuring of corporations on tax revenue, productivity and the national interest. Brookfield's advances may poke a stick in Ottawa's eye. On the surface, a Brookfield-led leveraged buyout of CPR should not raise many eyebrows in Ottawa. It would be an all-Canadian deal, so thorny foreign ownership and hollowing-out issues wouldn't raise their heads. Consolidation is not a problem with this type of deal, either.
Companies not allowed to solicit students on campus
CARBONDALE - Southern Illinois University Carbondale took action a few years earlier to remove itself from student credit card solicitation - a problem that embroiled many major universities."Southern Illinois University does not allow credit card companies on campus to solicit to students. The university does not sell names to credit card companies," said Rod Sievers, SIU chancellor's office spokesman.
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