Are you looking for information on Mortgages? It certainly is a confusing market out there, but there is help if you need it. Since I have bought 2 houses and refinanced several times, I do have a fairly good understanding. However, there is so much I don’t even know, and I have been through the process several times. MoneyMagic offers a ton of FREE advice (and quotes) on their site for first time home buyers and even for people who have some experience with this. It is minefield of great information for those looking at mortgages from all angles. You can even talk to an adviser if you need too!

We are in the process of trying to figure out if we should refinance our house again. We are working with our loan person and one of the charges you always need to pay is for a title insurance company. At least here in Illinois, title insurance is one of your most expensive charges. However, having a title company on your side is actually a good thing. Why? The title company checks to make sure that their are no liens on your house and/or land. If there would be lien, you would liable for it (meaning it would cost you money). Their basic job is to research that information, so your butt is covered. You also schedule an appointment with the title company when you close. I would also call them your glorified personal assistant. They make sure that you sign all of the legal forms that you need to. Depending on your bank, you could be signing a couple forms or you could be there for several hours signing. We have done both. Since I couldn’t get ahold of our loan person while I was in Miami, I am not sure we can still get the great rate she was telling me about. However, I do know that for as much as we hate title companies they are actually a really good thing.

Anybody who goes to college nowadays has student loans. I would be surprised to meet anyone who did not come out of school without some debt. That being said, Bill and I will be paying our student loan debt for many years to come. When I graduated from college, I had six separate loans and Bill had two. Needless to say, we were actually paying more in all these student loans than we were for two car payments. Crazy, I know. When we consolidated our loans (which was about six years ago), there were not all the programs out there like they have now. They even have student loan consolidation cash back loans now!

Why should you look at consolidating your student loans? That’s actually pretty easy to answer. You can cut your student loan payment by up to 60% depending on which kind of program you qualify for. You are also able to lower your interest rate. You also save yourself time by not having to write out multiple checks at different times during the month. It just makes it way more manageable. Checking out student loan directories would be my recommendation to anyone with student loans. Be prepared though. Once you consolidate your loans, you are not able to do it again.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but we pay for Christmas using credit cards (of course, we use credit cards with rewards).  The credit card that we current use the most pays 1% of what we charge towards the principal on our mortgage.  How can you go wrong with that?  It us very important to compare credit cards.  We don’t fly a lot, so getting airline miles to benefit to us.  Cash back is always good, but we will spend it.  However, who can’t use money off the principal of your mortgage?

I do pull money out for Christmas every month.  Up to this  point, I haven’t had to use it. However, the shopping that I did Thanksgiving weekend has not been billed yet, so I may have to use dig into it.  However, I just have a couple more presents, and then I am done.  However, if any of you guys have a credit card that offers you a 0% interest transfer option, I would definitely use that.  That’s a great way to pay for Christmas without incurring additional interest costs.  Then you can spread out paying the credit card off.  You won’t get hit in January with the crunch of credit cards bills coming from everywhere, and you trying to figure out how you are going to pay it all off.  You can spread your payments out.

However, you do pay for Christmas, I hope you all have a good one!

Am I the only one who does this? I’ll be sitting in the airport and wondering if I have all my ducks in a row. I mean — is my motor insurance, home insurance, and life insurance current? Am I carrying enough coverage so that if my plane should crash, my family is taken care of? I know it sounds morbid (and I did not think my plane was going to crash), but I thought about this on my way there and on the way back. I know that before Bill and I both go to Arizona in February that we will be revisiting this question.  I know the chances of something actually happening are small, but I worry anyway (and after checking my coverage once I got home, I may need to up my home and life insurance).