My New Blog

Christmas is behind us and the credit card bills from "getting into the Christmas spirit" are beginning to come in, leaving many wishing they had been less indulgent.  I hear stories all the time from people who are paying for Christmas expenses all year long.  It becomes a perpetual cycle and often digs one in so deep they are paying for Christmas for many Christmas' to come!   Many American feel an obligation to provide gifts at Christmas.  It seems that the media pushes the sense that we should be providing a gift for everyone, and if we fall for that it could lead to long-term debt problems.   It is like short term pleasure and long term pain.  Once the holiday is over you are left with the credit card bills to pay, and it can quickly escalate into   worry and fear.  Your mind will become occupied with strategies about how you are going to pay for everything.  Millions wont be able to keep and and will fall behind on their credit card payments.

During the 4th quarter every year, you have probably noticed that your existing cards send you holiday promotions; extra points and cash back for spending a certain amount. Obviously the intentions behind these offers are quite transparent… they know the average American will be spending more during the holidays and they want to get a piece of the action, which possibly leads to a hangover of high-interest debt. For many, credit card debt after Christmas truly is a real problem… and those people should stop using credit cards altogether.

When people overspend, credit card issuers reap profit from consumers who pay only part of their bills. Shoppers using retailers’ branded cards tend to spend more and visit stores more.

I hope the ghost of Christmas past isn't haunting you!

Submitted by Lynda Fleming, Customer Service Rep for Integrity Mortgage & Financial Inc.

I posted the first 7 points of this article previously.  Very informative!

8. Based upon the original assignment criterion, one would naturally expect a Maine resident to have the lowest Social Security number ever issued.  However, New Hampshire was ultimately given the 001 area number designator so that social security number 001-01-0001 could be assigned to Social Security Board Chairman John G. Winant, who was a three-time governor of the state.

9. Winant eventually declined the honor of having the lowest social security card number.  As a result, it eventually found its way to Grace D. Owen of Concord, New Hampshire.

10. Officially, the first social security number issued was 055-09-0001 and it was assigned to John David Sweeney.

11. Sweeney died of a heart attack in 1974 at the age of 61; ironically, he never received a single penny of Social Security benefits.

12.  In many cases, invalid Social Security numbers can be easily spotted.  That’s because cards have not been issued where the first three digits are 000, 666, or higher than 772.   Valid cards are also never issued with the middle two digits or the final four digits all zeros.

13. In 1938 a sample Social Security card with the number 078-05-1120 was inserted into new wallets manufactured by the E. H. Ferree company in Lockport, New York.   Unfortunately, that number belonged to Hilda Schrader Whitcher, the secretary of an E.H. Ferree Vice President who decided to use her official number on the sample cards.  Nice guy, huh?

14. Not surprisingly, over 40,000 people have since claimed Mrs. Whitcher’s Social Security number as their own at one time or another.

15. Mrs. Whitcher was eventually issued a new number, but not before being questioned by the FBI.  They wanted to know why so many people had her number.

16. If you object to certain digits in your Social Security number you can appeal for a new one, but only if you can prove your concerns are firmly rooted in your religious beliefs or cultural traditions.

17. Social Security numbers are not reused after the card holder dies.

18. Even though numbers aren’t reused, the Social Security Administration says the current numbering system is capable of providing enough new numbers for “several generations into the future.”   That means Social Security numbers will still be available well past 2030.  Even if the benefit money won’t.

http://lenpenzo.com/blog/id1510-18-fast-facts-you-didnt-know-about-social-security-numbers.html

I found this blog by Len Penzo to be very informative.  I hope you do too. Lynda Fleming, Customer Service Rep for Integrity Mortgage

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This weekend I was looking through the safe that holds all of my most important documents, like family birth certificates, insurance policies and the secret recipe for mom’s sauce, when I ran across my Social Security card.

Now I’ll wager that, if you poll a room full of people at a triple-keg Super Bowl party, over half of them wouldn’t be able to tell you the license plate number of their car — and that’s before the kick-off.  However, if you asked those same folk to recite their Social Security number, they would all be able to do it forward and backward — even after the kegs are empty.

If you’re like me, maybe you’ve wondered if there was any rhyme or reason to how Social Security card numbers are determined.  Well, wonder no more, because while you were out enjoying the weekend, I was sitting here in my chair researching the story behind our Social Security numbers.  I know.  Don’t say a word.

Anyway, here’s what I found out:

1. Since 1936, over 420 million different Social Security numbers have been issued.

2. Over 5.5 million new numbers are assigned every year.

3. The first three digits of a Social Security number are known as the area number.  Area numbers assigned before 1972 reflect the state where you applied for your number; otherwise, they are based upon the Social Security card application mailing address zip-code.

4. Some people believe the next two digits, called the group number, helps identify a person’s race.  It doesn’t.

5. The two-digit group number was actually created as way to organize Social Security Administration filing cabinets into sub-groups to make them more manageable.

6. The last four digits on a Social Security card are serial numbers that are issued consecutively within a group from 0001 to 9999.

7.  Area numbers are assigned geographically with the lowest numbers in the northeast and the highest in the northwest.  That practice will no longer apply, however, after a new randomized assignment methodology officially goes into effect on June 25, 2011.

http://lenpenzo.com/blog/id1510-18-fast-facts-you-didnt-know-about-social-security-numbers.html

NEW YORK (AP) - Bank of America Corp. is scrapping its plan to charge a $5 monthly debit card fee.

The bank's decision to drop the fee came after a roar of customer outrage in recent weeks over the fee. Other major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., already canceled tests of similar debit card fees last week.

SunTrust Banks and Regions Financial Corp. followed suit on Monday.

Anne Pace, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, declined to say whether the company experienced a spike in account closures since announcing the $5 debit card fee in September.

U.S. stocks -- and stocks worldwide -- jumped today on hopes that a new deal to fix Europe's debt crisis will lead to more global financial stability.

In the biggest rally since since Aug. 11, the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU +2.86%) were briefly up as many as 415 points and closed above 12,000 for the first time since Aug. 1. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX +3.43%) and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX +3.32%) moved into positive territory for the year for the first time since Aug. 3.

European stocks soared on the news, which broke after 3:30 a.m. local time in Brussels, Belgium, where leaders of the eurozone nations were holding their second summit in three days.

An irony of the glee that pervaded markets today was that the euro rose sharply against the dollar. As a result, commodity prices rallied strongly. Gold (-GC) nearly reached $1,750 an ounce. Light sweet crude oil (-CL) in New York jumped above $93 a barrel and is up 17% for the month.

The Dow closed up 340 points, or 2.9%, to 12,209. The S&P 500 climbed 43 points, or 3.4%, to 1,285, and the Nasdaq surged 88 points, or 3.3%, to 2,739.

http://money.msn.com/market-news/post.aspx?post=f45b8caa-a158-4c79-bf20-e91bce022ddb&_nwpt=1

Investors who bought bonds backed by shaky loans scored a major victory Wednesday with the announcement that Bank of America will pay more than $8 billion to make up for some of their losses.

Homeowners on the other end of those shaky mortgages — especially those most at risk of foreclosure — may have less to cheer about.

In the largest settlement to date related to the rogue mortgage lending wave, Bank of America said Wednesday it would pay $8.5 billion to settle claims with investors holding about $100 billion worth of mortgage-related securities sold by its Countrywide unit. The winners include 22 large investors such as Pimco, Metropolitan Life and BlackRock, as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Aside from their claims that Countrywide sold them bonds backed by faulty loans, the investors argued that by continuing to service bad loans rather than speeding up foreclosures, the Bank of America unit ran up servicing fees, profiting at the expense of investors.

As a result the settlement includes a promise to hire additional “subservicers” to speed up the foreclosure process for high-risk loans. That means Bank of America borrowers whose foreclosure have been on hold may now see the process accelerated.

“Living with the uncertainty of foreclosure can’t be a pleasant experience,” said Bank of America spokesman Jerry Dubrowski. “The sooner we can deal with that overhang the better for the economy.”

Bank of America also faces considerable uncertainty as it continues to try put its mortgage woes behind it.

While the bank said its settlement would resolve "nearly all" its exposure related to mortgages issued by Countrywide, only holders of about a quarter of the securities have agreed to support the deal. Hundreds of investors holding an additional $300 billion worth of securities have yet to agree to the settlement, which also is subject to court approval. There are no guarantees that the remaining investors will go along.

“It is not possible to predict whether and to what extent challenges will be made to the settlement or the timing or ultimate outcome of the court approval process,” Bank of America said in its press release announcing the settlement.

Many borrowers still hold loans carrying higher interest rates. The average rate on mortgages in the second quarter was 5.28%, Nothaft said.

By refinancing to a 30-year fixed loan at today’s average rate, he said, homeowners could save about $1,715 a year on a $200,000 loan.

To get the current rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage, borrowers had to pay an average of 0.7 points. An average 0.6 points paid was required for the rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage and for both of this week’s ARM rates.

A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

Interest rates could bump along at these low levels for a while, Gumbinger said.

“The big drivers of interest rates are fully back in play, and that’s the economy and concerns about inflation,” he said.

“We don’t really have much economy going on right now and we have level inflation,” he said, noting that there was an uptick in prices earlier this year but that they seem to be fairly stable now. Read more: U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in August.

“Prices are pretty firm at the moment, so there’s not a fear at this moment of increasing inflation,” Gumbinger said.

Plus, he said, there's speculation “that we might see some [price declines] as we move forward. So, inflation is level, economic growth is poor and that should keep rates level to slightly declining as long as that persists.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/m

Mortgage rates are at the lowest levels most homeowners have seen in their lifetimes, Chuck Jaffe writes today — the same day new data show the rates have taken another step down in the past week. So why isn't everyone rushing to refinance or buy?

Well, rates have been low for a while now and many people have already refinanced. Plus, the decline in home equity means many homeowners believe they won't qualify for the best deals. But Jaffe reports that home-loan experts think people should do their research and seek out the best deals. One area that both sides — lender and consumer — probably ought to be pursuing more, he says, is the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP), a government program that exists to facilitate refinancing for homeowners that have an existing Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan with little or no equity behind it. Programs like HARP can apply to borrowers with loan-to-value ratios as high as 125%; they have been less successful than most government types expected in terms of drawing consumer interest.

Despite low mortgage rates, refinancing activity has been slow and experts believe consumers seem to be ignoring rate reductions because they don't feel like they'll qualify for good deals. Ironically, this happens at a time when Americans have been paying down debt and, generally, taking steps to improve their credit-worthiness.
Read more: Mortgage rates at record lows, but no re-fi boom.

Worries about the European debt markets push U.S. Treasury bond yields lower — and that in turn helps drive fixed mortgage rates to record lows this week, according to Freddie Mac.
Read more: Mortgage rates drop to new record lows.

http://www.marketwatch.com/m

No one would debate that the past few years have been hard ones in America.  We've seen the collapse of many businesses and the restructuring of others.  We've seen foreclosures happening at a frightening rate, bankruptcies escalating, and unemployment increasing.  The stress on individuals, families, and businesses cannot be taken lightly. 

I asked a couple of people how the economy has affected them personally.  Their answers were both insightful and hopeful.  One of them said in addition to his long hours at the office, he has started a sideline business to make up for lost income from his regular employment.  He's clearly working harder than in times past, but it's also provided him with an opportunity to reevaluate life and what is really important.  Another one said her clientele has shrunk to about half of what it once was, but she is still grateful for the people she has been able to help...something she had taken for granted previously.

Life is bigger than the economy and even though it's been a tough road, it's been a good time in America as we've refocused on things of substance like family, faith, community, and just being there for each other. 

On my 45 walk this morning, I spotted 3 brand new houses being constructed in my neighborhood.  That was definitely a sign of hope!

One of my favorite sayings is:  "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."  That's America in a nutshell!

Submitted by Lynda Fleming, Customer Service Rep, Integrity Mortgage