US Financial News

The overall consumer climate should continue to rebound in 2012, with both home loan and auto loan markets recovering, Equifax said in a recent report.

According to data from CreditForecast.com, which is a joint product of Equifax and Moodys Analytics, consumers should look for and expect economic growth in 2012. Delinquency rates for credit cards and auto loans are back to pre-recession levels, Equifax said. Consumer debt is currently down $187.8 billion from early 2009 totals.

After spending recent years in the financial doldrums, U.S. consumers are poised to make a comeback in 2012, Amy Crews Cutts, Equifax Chief Economist, said in a statement. The most promise we have seen has primarily been within the consumer spending and auto financing sector, while the housing market continues to see incremental progress towards gaining traction in the coming months.

A few promising situations in the credit card sector have popped up. For starters, consumers are seeing more credit card offers. And this increase in solicitations coincides with a 41 percent increase credit card inquiries, Equifax said.

Last year, consumers opened more than 10 million new bank credit card accounts.

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| Tags: 2012
Posted March 28, 2012 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance

It would appear that those people who can afford to buy property anywhere are only interested in a few select cities. The Knight Frank Prime International Residential Index indicates that luxury buyers are focusing their attention in London, Miami and Vancouver. Analysts believe more buyers will come from China, Latin America, Russia and the Middle East as wealth grows in those areas, and their interests will be shifting away from emerging markets and Europe due to its persistent financial troubles. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire. The gap in annual price growth between the best and worst performing luxury residential markets was 45% in 2011, according to the results of the Knight Frank Prime International Residential Index (PIRI). The majority of locations covered in the survey saw flat or falling prices and, ironically, some of the largest price drops were in areas with the strongest economic growth. Emerging markets influenced performance far and wide, with wealth flows to the developed world’s property hotspots driving growth in Miami, London and Vancouver. Read more…

| Tags: Property, Property Buyers
Posted March 26, 2012 by Oliver Blake under Financial News

Years ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything like that in the future I enrolled in a tax course. I loved it. I signed up for another. Before I knew it, in addition to my JD, I had a LL.M Taxation. I needed only to don my cape…. taxgirl® was born. Today, I live and work in Philadelphia, PA, one of the best cities in the world . I landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of Temple University School of Law. While at law school, I interned at the estates attorney division of the IRS. At IRS, I participated in the review and audit of federal estate tax returns. I even took the lead on a successful audit. At audit, opposing counsel read my report, looked at his file and said, “Gentleman, she’s exactly right.” I nearly fainted. It was a short jump from there to practicing, teaching, writing and breathing tax.

| Posted March 17, 2012 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance

Taking out a Boise Idaho VA mortgage loan on a new home purchase is a fantastic way to finance a property with a low interest rate, with little to no required down payment.

Purchasing a home with an Boise Idaho VA loan may seem like a daunting task at first glance, but it is actually pretty straightforward.

The basic process is as follows:

1. Find the Boise Idaho property you would like to buy and arrange the purchase with the seller.  You’ll then sign a purchase contract conditional upon approval of a Boise Idaho VA guaranteed loan.
2. Choose your lender, present your Certificate of Eligibility, and finish the loan application. Your lender will determine your credit and submit a request to the VA to dispatch a licensed appraiser to evaluate the value of the property.
3. If the determined value is acceptable to all involved parties, and the lender determines that your loan application meets the VA loan requirements, your mortgage can be approved.
4. You (and co-borrower, if applicable) will then attend the loan closing and sign the related papers. Th

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| Tags: Boise Idaho, Loan
Posted March 12, 2012 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance

Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) has been investing in commercial real estate for institutional clients since 1970 and now has more than 500 associates in 23 locations, which gives it an unparalleled view of the market. PREI has a very diverse portfolio and relies on research to make its buys, which have resulted in gross assets valued at $48.6 billion (2011). PREI experts say the commercial real estate market is recovering, although it’s hard to define the pace of the recovery. They also say investment is flattening out across the middle of the market instead of being centered in distressed or high-end properties; however, the weakness in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market will continue to slow progress because there is nowhere for risk to go. For more on this continue reading the following article from National Real Estate Investor. If you’re looking for a view from the top of the commercial real estate world, Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) is a good place to start. PREI has been investing in real estate on behalf of institutional clients since 1970 with gross assets under management of $48.6 billion and net asset value of $30.3 billion as of Sept. 30, Read more…

| Tags: Commercial, Commercial Property
Posted March 10, 2012 by Oliver Blake under Financial News

My biggest hurdle has always been the same: getting people past the powerful cognitive bias that convinces them that they are too smart, savvy, or sensible to ever be taken in by an investment fraud. Until people are equipped to turn around and examine their own thinking, they cannot shake that hardwired defense mechanism. And, until they can clear that hurdle with me, nothing I say about how to investigate a prospective investment can do them any good. In addition to teaching them about the cognitive biases, I tell my audiences about all of the very wealthy, successful, and professionally suspicious people who have fallen for well-disguised scams, in hopes that concrete examples will lead them to the thought, If those people could fall for it, maybe there is something else I need to know in order to protect myself. A recent case out of North Carolina gives me another example to share. According to the Charlotte Observer:

John Knox Bridges, the Salisbry man accused of taking money from fresco artist Ben Long, the N.C. Transportation Museum and others, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges – and to repay his victims. La

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| Posted March 7, 2012 by John Wane under Financial Guru

On and off over the last 5 years I have been a holder of Apple stock . While a simpler and probably more profitable strategy would have been to accumulate and hold the stock, I instead traded AAPL as it continued to rise and occasionally pullback. However, I am now going in for the long haul as the stock looks stronger than ever. Here are 5 reasons why Apple looks like a great medium-term investment with a $1,000 price target not as ridiculous as it may have once sounded.

Over the past five years the stock has returned over 50% a year.For the shares to rise at a similar rate from here would take it to $1.25 trillion, or over $1,000 a share by 2014

1. A Dividend or Stock Buy-Back is more likely than ever because Apples cash pile is soon going to be over $100 billion , which has become a mountain investors and company executives can no longer ignore. Apple has the ability to easily pay an ongoing dividend with a significant yield along with the ability to grow it over time. Defined quarterly dividends would increase the value of the stock in addition to its incredible capital growth.

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| Tags: Apple, Buying Apple
Posted March 4, 2012 by Oliver Blake under Financial News

Say hello to yet another mega bank: On Tuesday the Fed approved the merger of credit card behemoth Capital One with the smaller, more customer friendly, ING Direct. It’s a $9 billion deal that will make Capital One the 6^th largest bank in the United States by deposits.

The merger has left many of ING’s customers wondering what’s going to happen. Up until now, they’ve enjoyed no fees, no minimums, lower than average interest rates and a super-simple web interface.

But when Capital One takes over, things could get hairy. The credit card company isn’t exactly well loved and doesn’t have a great reputation for customer-friendly policies. Sure, ING customers will get the benefit of Capital One’s brick-and-mortar bank branches and ATMs, but didn’t they sign up with ING because they didn’t really care about those things that much anyway?

According to , ING sent out this tweet in response to customer concerns: “We hear you, Savers. The plan is ING DIR

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| Tags: Capital, Capital One—and
Posted February 25, 2012 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance