Most consumers are told where to get their mortgage because few people personally know and trust a mortgage or loan officer or correspondent (the same thing). It used to be agents would take their buyers out to find the house they wanted, then to their favorite mortgage company. Now things are so fast and better organized. It is common practice to have the purchasers prequalified and preapproved before searching for their new home. Most agents don’t know much about finance, they leave it to the mortage company to explain it.

Probably the most important thing is comparing. I don’t understand this, unless it is young people who just don’t know. Most people compare prices of other thing; cars, gas, food. It’s not only important to check interest rates but also APR or annual percentage rate. This takes all of the mortgage company charges and breaks it down into a rate that many times is published by several in the newspaper. You can see 5.49% v 6.11%. It sounds like a little but it means a lot!

Different types of financing are available. This is something your agent should be well aware of as well as the mortgage company. I remember a time I was working with a young couple. I knew the best loan for them was a combination of FHA and a state subsidized loan. This gave them the lowest down payment and interest rate. The people at this very well known world wide mortgage company said “you can’t do that” to which I REPLIED, here is the number. I was surprised. The couple did get the house with exactly that financing. Please rate and tell friends.

More to come later: http://www.freewebs.com/realestatenews.

Suzie is a licensed real estate broker and certified residential appraiser with twenty years of experience with hopes of changing the industry for the better one step and one person at a time. She has other professionals in the field who are contributing their expertise as well. http://www.freewebs.com/realestatenews

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Giving Total Strangers Your Personal Information
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How often would you say you trust total strangers with some of your most confidential information? I think I can answer this question for just about everyone. The answer is, nearly everyday. To illustrate this, I recently made a list of people or organizations that I have provided the following information to;

My social security number;
Birth date;

Tax Identification number;

Bank account numbers;
Medical information;

Checking account number

My doctors office;
Banks that have issued me credit cards;
Computer stores (Best Buy, CompUSA, CDW, Circuit City);

Online music purchases through Wal-Mart (Formerly Liquid Audio);
Restaurant staff;
Hospitals;
Medical procedure companies (X-ray’s, Ultra-sounds,….
And many more…

Be careful When Giving Your Credit Card Number Over The Phone
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It seems like almost everyday someone is asking me for my social security number. I think most of us just get use to provided this information to various people and companies.

I recently ordered Italian food for dinner from one our favorite local restaurants. Every time I place an order the person taking the phone order repeats, out loud, my credit card information as I provide it to them over the phone. This includes the account number, my name, and expiration date. Every item that someone standing in line waiting to pick up their Pizza needs to purchase anything they wish online with my credit. I know why they do this, to make sure they are getting the right information. However, I finally told the person to please stop repeating this information out load. They were a little confused at first of why I made this request but after explaining to them my concern they said “Wow, I never really thought about that before”. “How in the world can you remember all these things about computers?” Sometimes I wonder this myself.

To share another, more serious experience with you here is something that happened to me in just the last week or so. My wife walked into my office after returning from the mailbox and the first words out of her mouth was “Are you ready for this”. When ever she utters that phrase I know it’s not something pleasant. The letter she was holding was from our mortgage company. A company we have been doing business with for many years. It turns out that approximately 4 months ago a computer they were shipping from one office to another was stolen in transit. This computer contained my mortgage account number, balance, credit lines, social security number, business tax identification number, and much more.

When Should A Company Notify You That Your Personal Information Has Been Stolen?
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The letter indicated that they were just notifying me now because law enforcement asked that they not contact any customers at the time the event took place, several months prior to receiving the letter, because it may impact the investigation. Well, they never found the computer or the thief so they decided to start notifying the affected customers. The letter also stated that the stolen computer had two levels of security and that they were not overly concerned that the thief would gain direct access to my information. Being in the computer security business, I thought to myself “Let’s see, two levels of security, well that could be a password to logon to the computer, and Anti-Virus software, or maybe they were using whole disk encryption and some sort of 1024bit pass-phrase to access the system”. Quite frankly, chances are the system was not protected by anything as sophisticated as whole disk encryption. Of course they would not give me this information when I called. They did have a plan of action though to help me. You ready for this, a 1 year free subscription to Equifax (A Credit Reporting Agency) to alert me if someone is using my stolen information. That is about it. Oh, and they would assist me in the event that something showed up on my credit report. It’s nice to see a multi-billion dollar company taking responsibility for the theft of my financial information.

I know I’m not the only person that has these little “moments”. My New Years resolution this year was to simplify my life. I’m not embarrassed to say that I’ve not made much progress yet but I am not going to give up. I am going to bring harmony to my life if it kills me in the process.

I share this information with you for several reasons. First, in the computer security business we are constantly talking about trusted and un-trusted computers and networks. Trusted networks are under a local administrators control and un-trusted networks are under the control of someone else. The same situation exists in real life. I keep safe my personal and private information as much as possible, but there are others that have this information as well. How well do they safe guard this information? I have no idea, but I am forced to trust them. Second, to show you that even security professionals, people like me who tend to be slightly more paranoid then the rest about our private information are just as much at risk as everyone else. Finally, to get you thinking about your confidential and private information, how many people have access to it, and why you need to take more than reasonable steps to keep it confidential?

Conclusion
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Don’t for one minute think that identity theft or fraud can’t happen to you. In fact, I would say that it is not if but when it will happen, at least to one degree or another. Keep your private information confidential as much as possible. When people ask you for this information, ask them why they need it and how they plan to keep it secure. Also, keep track of who you give this information and for what reason. Finally, monitor your credit report frequently. Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian, the three largest credit reporting agencies, now offer inexpensive monthly services that can provide you with important information that could alert you to various forms of electronic fraud.

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)

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http://www.defendingthenet.com/NewsLetters/MyIdentityWasStolenBecauseOfSomeoneElsesMistake.htm

About The Author
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Darren Miller is an Information Security Consultant with over seventeen years experience. He has written many technology & security articles, some of which have been published in nationally circulated magazines & periodicals. If you would like to contact Darren you can e-mail him at Darren.Miller@defendingthenet.com. If you would like to know more about computer security please visit us at http://www.defendingthenet.com

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When faced with stressful credit problems, it’s often all that you can do to just get by from day to day, let alone try to get a loan to keep your house. Credit troubles can cause a family to despair and often simply give up hope. Today, lenders specialize in helping families and individuals find sources to consolidate their debts and save their home.

Once you have located a lender that you can work with, they will evaluate your three credit reports, and if the reports show defaults, they may be hesitant to offer you a loan. However, if the reports show that you have made an effort to clear up your outstanding debts, the lender may keep in mind that you had some financial troubles, but you are still making an effort to clear up your debts. Debt consolidation lenders are used to working with people with poor credit and financial issues, that’s their business in the first place. However, the disadvantage of debt consolidation lending is that many lenders will often offer borrowers loans with high interest rates and mortgage repayments.

If you are looking to consolidate your bills by using a mortgage loan, then keep in mind that the lenders will require proof of income. They will ask you to provide your recent pay stubs to help the lender determine which loans best suit your needs. Most consolidation loan lenders will require up to three years of stable income to determine if you qualify for a debt consolidation mortgage loan. In addition, if there are bad points against your credit history, but you’ve shown an effort to clear up the debts, the lender will consider your good repayments, also considering the balance used to clear up the debts.

In today’s world, one out of four individuals has credit debt trouble. As a result, debt consolidation mortgages are not unheard of; rather they are becoming part of one of the largest markets in the world. But despite their increased uses, there are still a number of downsides. Not only can they increase your overall debt load, but they also give the debt consolidation company an enormous amount of power, allowing it to increase your interest rates and mortgage payments.

Before you take on another loan, make sure that you have evaluated how and why you are in financial trouble in the first place. Find a non-profit organization that provides a free financial guidance course and take advantage of what they have to offer. Until you are aware of your poor money management habits and problems, your financial issues will never go away; you’ll just be putting a bandage on the problem temporarily. A consolidation mortgage loan may be the answer to many people’s trouble. Find out all that you can before you loose your home.

About the Author: Sherry Frewerd publishes several websites for affiliate marketing and direct sales. Learn to build your own website at http://websitebuildingmom.com To learn more about natural health and body treament visit: http://naturalbathbodyandhome.com

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