When it comes to getting the best car loan deals then a lot of it will depend on your credit history. If you have a good credit past then this will go in your favour when it comes to getting the best rate of interest. However, all is not lost if you have had problems with credit in the past, although you still can get credit when it comes to getting a loan for a car you wont get the best interest rates, but by shopping around you can get a good car loan deal.

If you have an excellent credit rating then it might be in your best interest to go for a personal loan, by going for a personal loan you are able to shop around online and secure the cheapest loan and rate of interest. It also works another way in your best interests because as you already have the cash in your pocket by going for a personal loan you can go along to the dealer and offer cash.

The majority of time if you pay cash for your car then you can get extras; the dealer could knock something off the price you pay if you pay cash there and then or offer you bonuses such as money off your insurance. Another benefit is that you will drive away from the showroom knowing that the dealer isn't in a position to repossess the car should you miss a repayment.

One possibility when it comes to financing your car is to take the finance through the dealer where you choose to buy your car from. However the majority of times the rate of interest will be a lot higher than if you had shopped around for a personal loan, one of the biggest benefits of taking this type of finance is that it is easier to get but you of course will pay for this privilege.

If you do have bad credit history and have been turned down time and time again for credit, then it still might be possible for you to get a loan to buy a car. If you look online then there many places which now offer loans to those with bad credit ratings, however by doing so you can expect of course to have to pay a high rate of interest on the loan.

Whichever way you decide to go for your car loan deal the best place to start is to go online, the internet holds a vast amount of information about the different types of car loan deals that are available and also the best rates of interest or best offers at car dealerships.

About the Author

Louis Rix is a Director of NetCars, one of the UK's leading motoring websites. First established in January 2000, its mission is to become the number one site for used car searches and motoring information. NetCars also provide Used Cars, loans and insurance.

One of my favorite saving techniques is the use of targeted accounts. If I want to save for something big — like a Mini Cooper, for example — I’ll open a new savings account specifically for this purpose. I first learned about this method from Robert Pagliarini’s The Six-Day Financial Makeover:

Traditionally, most people invested for various vague goals and lumped all of their savings together in a single investment account. That?s pretty boring. It?s not very inspiring or effective. Purpose-Driven Investing satisfies our need for a purpose and our need for instant gratification by thinking of each of our goals as a separate ?basket?. Each of our baskets represents a single goal with a clear purpose that we can see and grow.

What does this mean in the real world? It means that we have a single investment account for every goal. For example, if one of your goals is to take the family on a European vacation, create a separate savings account called ?Family European Vacation Fund?. This account or basket contains all of your savings toward that one goal. Every penny in the account is for the European vacation — not for retirement, a new car, your emergency fund, your kids? college tuition, or any other goal.

I like this idea, and have been using it ever since I saved for my Nintendo Wii.

Until recently, I kept my targeted savings accounts at the local credit union where they earned me a paltry 0.35%. For the past few months, Get Rich Slowly readers have been urging me to move all of my savings to ING Direct, which is where I keep my emergency fund. “It’s easy,” my readers tell me. “You can open multiple accounts, give them any name you want, and track them all from the same screen. You can even open a checking account!”

Last month, I finally overcame inertia to try this myself. My readers were right: opening multiple accounts at ING Direct is easy. (It’s probably easy at HSBC Direct and many other online banks, as well.)

Step one: Choose an account
First, I logged into my ING Direct account summary page. From there, I clicked the big “Open an Account” button.

I was directed to a page listing a variety of available accounts, including business and retirement accounts. Because I wanted to open another savings account, that’s the option I selected.

On the next screen, I was asked to further refine the account type:

Step two: Fund the account
Next came the good part: I selected how much I wanted to put into the account and where those funds would come from. I was also able to give the new account a nickname. Since I was opening these extra accounts specifically for targeted saving, it makes sense to name each one based on my goal.

Finally, I had to agree to the terms and conditions of the account.

Step three: Wait
Then the waiting began. Because ING Direct had to “pull” the money from my credit union, it took several days for the cash to transfer to my accounts. At first they appeared empty:

After the money had transferred, it was easy for me to track all of my savings goals in one place.

Next on my list? Exploring ING Direct’s certificates of deposit and business accounts.

A useful tool
Thank you to all of the readers who suggested this. I don’t know why I took so long to try it. I’m sure this technique isn’t limited to ING Direct. I was doing something similar at my local credit union (though without the pretty interface, account nicknames, or high interest rates), so I suspect that other online banks offer similar functionality.

Not everyone needs multiple accounts to save for goals. My wife, for example, is perfectly content with a single gigantic savings account for everything. But for me, being able to separate funds like this is awesome. It keeps me motivated to save. And because it doesn’t cost me a penny, I’m happy to do it.

Note: This article was originally scheduled to appear on June 12th, but Trent at The Simple Dollar posted his handy (and similar) guide to budgeting with an online bank that day, so I delayed my story for a few weeks.

---
Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• Use a Freedom Account to Prepare for the Unexpected
• Which Online High-Yield Savings Account is Best?
• The Official GRS Referral Swapping Thread
• Optimize Your Bank Accounts with a Periodic Review
• What are Your Experiences with Internet Banking?

As I mentioned on Monday, May brought the highest numbers of visitors this site has seen so far.  I decided to take a look at what people were most interested in over the course of the month.

Tracking your stimulus check was the most popular article, there must be a lot of people waiting to get their rebate money.

Gas prices are obviously on everyone’s mind, the topics of riding the bus to save gas money, different ways to save gas money commuting to work, and the best gas credit cards were popular with readers as well.

The series on personal finance issues for college graduates has garnered alot of interest from former college students entering the working world for the first time this summer.

People are getting ready for their summer trips and have found the saving money on vacation series useful in making their preparations.  This one is only partially complete with several more articles on the topic coming up soon.

With high gas prices, people must be looking for more in home entertainment. Saving money on online movie rentals with a free trial of Blockbuster Total Access was another popular one for the month.

Here are some of the more popular articles from The Money Writers during the month of May:

• Investing in the Stock Market Over the Past 10 Years: How Did Dollar-Cost Averaging Fare?
• how to make money without a job and why you should
• Frugal Tips I Can’t (or Won’t) Do
• Save Money on Gas Tips from Consumer Reports
• The Future of Personal Finance Tools
• Is Investing In Rental Property A Good Move?
• Why your Retirement Account is NOT an Emergency Fund

Here is an excerpt from an interesting article I read a few days ago:

Says Anthea Butler, an expert in Pentecostalism at the University of Rochester in New York: “The pastor’s not gonna say, ‘Go down to Wachovia and get a loan,’ but I have heard, ‘Even if you have a poor credit rating, God can still bless you ? if you put some faith out there [that is, make a big donation to the church], you’ll get that house or that car or that apartment.’ ” Adds J. Lee Grady, editor of the magazine Charisma: “It definitely goes on, that a preacher might say, ‘If you give this offering, God will give you a house.’ And if they did get the house, people did think that it was an answer to prayer, when in fact it was really bad banking policy.” If so, the situation offers a look at how a native-born faith built partially on American economic optimism entered into a toxic symbiosis with a pathological market.  …

“Narratives of how ‘God blessed me with my first house despite my credit’ were common. Sermons declaring ‘It’s your season to overflow’ supplanted messages of economic sobriety,” and “little attention was paid to … the dangers of using one’s home equity as an ATM to subsidize cars, clothes and vacations.”

Read the rest of it here.

In addition to Wall Street, it looks like the faith business also needs a little more scrutiny. Apart from that, I am always surprised at how gullible people can be when it comes to being sold out divine rhetoric.

If we keep up with this even God will need a bailout someday!

Finally, God helps those who help themselves, for everybody else there is Mastercard everybody else needs to clearly understand the meaning of the words “deliquency” and “foreclosure”.

There’s so much to be thankful for, amidst the challenges we’ve faced this year. We’re counting our blessings!

Pilgrim doggies from Lulu.com

This is a post from The Digerati Life.

Bookmark It

FNBO Direct Provides Great Rates and Great Service

With interest rates continuing to be slashed across the board, finding attractive yields on savings accounts is becoming even more difficult. At the very least, you’d like to have your savings try to keep up with inflation, but even that can be a tall order these days. Of course, interest rates aren’t everything, and you also want a bank that is secure, provides great service, and has a useful online interface. Luckily, FNBO Direct is a great opportunity to receive a competitive interest rate, remain FDIC insured, and have access to a pretty nice online interface.

FNBO Account Features

• No account minimum
• 3.25% APY as of this writing
• FDIC insured

Just like opening an account with most online, or even traditional banks, you will need to provide some information in order to sign up, verify your identity, and link to other existing accounts. To open an account with FNBO Direct, you’ll need:

• Your Social Security or Tax ID Number.
• Your Driver?s License or ID card issued by a state DMV.
• Employer information.
• Information about any loans or mortgages that you may have to help us confirm your identity.
• For instant funding, you will need your current bank account and routing numbers.
• If a joint account, the other applicant’s information.

Sign Up Today

There are obviously a lot of choices when it comes to savings accounts, but with rates continuing to decline, making sure your money is working its hardest is increasingly important. While I’m not a big fan of rate chasing, I think FNBO Direct is a good place to stick it out. In the past, they have been one of the last banks to drop rates when it was time for a rate cut, and the rates are consistently at the higher end of the spectrum. So, sign up today for your own FNBO Direct account.

FNBO Direct Savings Account Review - High-Yield Savings at 3.25%

Recently, I wrote a post about the product, Mona Vie, which is sold through a Multi-Level Marketing system.  In case you are not familiar with the product, it is a super juice of some sort with exotic ingredients, such as Acai Berries and Kyrptonite.  I questioned the ability for the juice to cure all the ailments that is claimed by the many distributors out there, and the viability of the business model to actually make money for those same distributors.

The number of comments on that post was pretty incredible.  Many of the comments, not surprisingly, defended the quality of the juice.  The juice was credited with healing, curing or aiding in the following areas:  multiple sclorosis, weight loss, joint pain, high blood pressure, mood swings, something about ORAC values in Leukemia cells, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, arthritis and gas reduction.  I'm serious.  It does all this.  Read the comments for yourself.  They don't lie.

Of course, there were comments that defended the business model, and in fact the MLM business model in general.  Frankly, being a money blog, this is what interested me.  I could give a damn about the juice.  If it tastes good, doesn't kill people, and can sell, maybe I'll sign up to make some money.  But do I really want to be one of those MLM people out there?

So, here were the arguments in favor of multi-level marketing.

1. The only way commissions are earned is through the sale of the product.  Building a "downline" can build commissions, but only if the downline sells juice.  The fact that commissions are only tied to the sale of product makes it not a pyramid.
2. The corporate structure of CEO>VP>Director>Manager>Peon is a pyramid scheme.
3. It's sales, just like being in sales for a big company.  You get paid commissions for making sales.
4. MLMs generated over 40 billion in revenue last year, so they can't be scams

I guess so.

So, not a scam?  Sure, why not?  Still something about it bothers me.  Let's say you walk in to your local used car lot, and see a cherry red Mustang.  A salesperson spots you and walks over.   "Sure is purty, ain't she?" he asks.  "Yea," you reply, "how much is it?"  Used car salesperson responds, "well, I'm not supposed to let her go for anything less than $35 grand, but I like your style.  For you?  Let's make it an even $34 grand."  "Wow, really?" you exclaim, "sounds great, let's start up the paperwork."

No scam happened in our little used car skit.  But something just ain't right, you know?

Same feeling I get with all these Mona Vie juice sellers.  If someone tells me that he has felt healthier since drinking a juice that he buys at Whole Foods, I may give it a try.  If that same guy tells me that he feels healthier, and he would be glad to sponsor me to be a distributor in his downline, the red flags go up.

This is the problem with the MLM.  Not that it's a scam.  But your consumers are your salespeople.  There is no greater way to sell a product than third party endorsement.  Third party endorsement happens when someone else compliments you or your product.  If you compliment yourself or your own product, it will always be met with skepticism.  With an MLM, your consumers are your salespeople.  Anytime someone says, "I tried it and it's great," the red flags will always go up.

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

People wish a lot, but do they plan just as much? Set small financial goals, make them attainable and stick to them. Don’t set a goal like “This year I’ll get my act together.” Set a goal such as: “This year, I’m going to put $100 of every paycheck into my savings account.” That is a realistic goal. Setting short-term realistic goals is good because it gives you confidence every time you reach them. That confidence gives you the determination to do it again the next paycheck.

Let’s do some quick math..

$100 every 2 weeks in a month is:$200
$200 a month one in a year is: $2,400
Plus $100 in interest earned: $2,500

This means that if you save up just $100 from every check you can take you and your family on a vacation every single year. The only thing left is the hard part, sticking to your goal.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I’m thankful to be able to write this blog and that I have you as readers.  (And of course I’m thankful for many other things.)

The four articles that Gary North published today on his website are free for anyone to read today.  You’ll find them in the Recent Articles section.  These four articles are centered around the topic of Thanksgiving.  These articles are good advice for anyone.  I don’t know how long they’ll be free, so even if you don’t read them today, just go over and print them out.  Gary North is a big influence on how I think about the economy, investment, and a host of other things.  So, there you go.

Have a great day filled with thankfulness.

My sister-in-law has cancer.

Last week, a biopsy revealed that Stephanie has a cancerous lump on her thyroid. She’ll likely have her thyroid removed, meaning she’ll need to take medication for the rest of her life. (She’s 37 years old.) She’ll also probably need a handful of radioactive iodine chemotherapy treatments.

Prognosis positive
Jeff and Stephanie have both settled down a bit after the initial scare. They’ve heard from many sources, including Steph’s grandmother, that this form (and location) of cancer is easy to eliminate, and has a low chance of spreading or recurring. Steph’s grandmother had her thyroid removed years ago (due to a growth on it), and she is now 77 years old.

Still, this is cancer, which no member of my family takes lightly. My father died from cancer ten days before his fiftieth birthday. Last summer, cancer killed a cousin at age 47. Other family members have died from the disease as well.

A lucky mistake
A situation like this has enormous personal finance implications. Steph’s case is especially interesting because it demonstrates that sometimes the “right choice” isn’t.

Before the birth of their daughter in February 2006, Stephanie obtained a supplemental hospital/short-term disability insurance policy because she knew she would need a C-section. After Emily was born, Steph tried to cancel the policy, but the agent talked her into switching to a cheaper cancer/accident policy instead.

Inspired in part by Get Rich Slowly, Jeff and Steph have been taking control of their personal finances. This past May, when it came time for her office to renew policies, Stephanie asked to have her cancer/accident policy canceled because she wanted to save the $70 recurring monthly expense.

After the cancer diagnosis came through, Jeff and Stephanie were kicking themselves for having canceled the policy — it would have offset some of their upcoming costs. Then Steph remembered that both of her June paycheck stubs still had the deductions listed. She called her agent to see if her policies were still in force. Sure enough, the official cancel date was July 1st, so the agent was able to revoke the cancelation.

“I don’t know if it will pay out enough to compensate for all the premiums we’ve paid in the last two years,” Jeff writes, “but at this point I don’t care. If it helps with the medical bills that are bound to accrue, that’s all that matters.”

A calculated risk
Stephanie’s situation highlights just how difficult it can be to know how much (and what kind of) insurance to carry. It seemed unlikely that she’d need the cancer policy, so she canceled it. From a Big Picture perspective, this was probably the right decision. But in her individual circumstance, it turned out to be the wrong move.

Last fall, in his brief introduction to insurance, Aaron Pinkston wrote that “insurance is the cheapest and most immediate way for a person to displace risks that are too great to assume individually”. That is, insurance allows groups to pool their money to offset unexpected large individual costs.

But how can you decide how much insurance you need? And what types? Later today, I’ll share a guest post about making informed insurance choices.

Meanwhile, friends and family are ready to help Jeff and Stephanie through this crisis. And although they have bigger things to worry about, it gives them a degree of comfort to know they have a little insurance to help with the financial challenges that loom ahead.

---
Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• Ask the Readers: Personal Finance During a Health Crisis?
• Daily Roundup: Bringing Home the Bacon Edition
• Daily Links: My Favorite Stories from the Past Two Years
• Drama in Real Life: “You’re Fired!”
• Get Rich Slowly’s Greatest Hits (2007 Edition)

Add this to my list of last minute gift ideas: a couple of Restaurant.com discount deals and coupons to give you up to 80% off the gift certificates you purchase.

How about some good news for a change? I know my wallet needs a break from the never-ending drama in the financial markets, but just in time for the holidays, here are some pretty decent offers that make for some great gifts.

Watch this space for the latest Restaurant.com deals and coupons you can use!

Restaurant.com Discount Deals and Coupons

Newest Deal: 70% Off + $10 off a $75 purchase at Wine.com only at Restaurant.com

Description: Now you can save 70% Off + $10 off a $75 purchase at Wine.com when you try the new coupon code “THANKS”. It can be used on both of Restaurant.com’s most popular products, Dinner of the Month Club and the $25 Gift Certificates. This offer is now valid through November 30th!

Where To Order:

• 70% off Dinner of the Month Club and get $10 off a $75 purchase at Wine.com! Use the code THANKS. Valid 11/25 thru 11/30/08.
• 70% off $25 Gift Certificates and $10 off a $75 purchase at Wine.com! Use code THANKS and pay $3 only, for each $25 gift certificate. Valid 11/25/08 thru 11/30/08.

Gift Certificates

Restaurant.com has a couple of things they sell — they have $25 gift certificates that are normally sold for $10 each. That’s the usual price. But you can use promotional coupons as we’ve listed above, to receive even better prices for your gift certificates.

Now with their current promotion going on, you can get those $10 certificates (with the $25 dinner value) for 80% off. They’re now going for $2 if you use the PROMO CODE: SURPRISE and visit this link. This offer will be valid through November 24.

A very important caveat that you must be aware of and which I just double-checked: I’ve looked into the eligible restaurants where certificates can be applied, and the ones I’ve seen require a minimum spending amount at the restaurant. Please check your region for requirements on how the certificates can be used.

Dinner of the Month Club

Similarly, when Restaurant.com does a Dinner of the Month Club promotion, they give you a discount on already great prices on their Dinner of the Month Club program. Here’s an example of how their promotional discounts work.

Let’s say they give you an 80% off coupon deal on their program, which offers you 3, 6, or 12 month’s worth of gift certificates plus some bonus free gift certificates if you subscribe to this. Here is how the programs will be priced (again, this is just an illustration of the value savings you can get by using the coupons):

For the particular case of 80% off discounts on the gift certificates, if you order 3 months’ worth of gift certificates through “Dinner of the Month Club”, you get certificates valued at $75 that can be applied to any of your favorite restaurants on the Restaurant.com list. The price for those 3 month certificates will only be $6 PLUS you’ll get another $10 gift certificate for FREE. That is, your $6 will buy you $85 worth of gift certificates. By the same token, for $12, you’ll get gift certificates totaling up to $175; and for $24, you’ll receive gift certificates worth $350. Wooh, not bad! Note that the certificates are made available once per month from the time you make the purchase.

By using this link, you’ll get the 80% discount offer AND bonus freebies when you sign up. You’ll need to use the PROMO CODE: SURPRISE, which lasts through November 24.

For details on how to purchase, gift and redeem your certificates, just check the Help/FAQ section. What’s nice is that if you do use these as gifts, your recipient will only see their options for redeeming (and restaurants to choose from) but won’t see how much you’ve spent. These certificates will be good for a year from the date of purchase, but there can be special terms depending on which state you reside in, so just check their terms and conditions for additional details.

One last note: Restaurant.com does these deals quite often. When an offer like this expires, it doesn’t take long before they come up with a new promotion. But discounts range between 60% to 80% off and are given out periodically, but you just don’t know when they’ll be available. For the latest, current deals, please refer to our announcement at the beginning of this post for details.

This is a post from The Digerati Life.

Bookmark It

Nowadays, the marketplace is rife with risk, so you may wonder whether it’s a good idea to launch a business during a downturn, especially with layoff numbers mounting daily. When is it ever the right time to start a business?

Starting a business during an economic crisis sounds absolutely crazy but let’s put aside our concerns of risk for the moment, and think about some of the advantages. If you are afraid of losing your job due to the economic meltdown, starting a new business may be the perfect antidote. No more bosses, no more pink slips, and no more backstabbing by your fellow workers !

Why Start A Business Today?

There are more than 27 million businesses in the U.S. with less than 500 employees, of which 20 million have no employees, according to the Small Business Administration as mentioned in this page.

With millions of businesses having less than 500 employees, a good chunk of the American population depend on these small businesses for their livelihood. That’s why the SBA (Small Business Administration) is offering funds to help those who have a good plan for starting a business now. They may be worth checking out; they may have some solutions for the budding entrepreneur.

Opening a business is an exhilarating and frightening experience. But think of the rewards; when everybody is hunkering down, you will be very well positioned to take advantage of the inevitable recovery. These ‘no-employee’ businesses are usually family affairs where everybody has a share of the pie, but a sizable portion is owned by independent professionals who work alone. Again, if you were contemplating opening your own business, now may be a good time to do it, especially if you’ve got the resources. Could you be rewarded for bucking the crowd (and the trends)?

Some Advantages To Starting A Business During A Downturn

Let’s consider some of the advantages of starting a business during slow economic conditions:

1. Space is cheaper. Finding an office, a warehouse or even store space is much easier and much cheaper. If I were a commercial real estate owner, I’d rather rent out my space for less than have no tenants at all.
2. Great deals available. Businesses going under have to get what they can for their furniture and electronics. Auctions may offer ridiculously low prices for items that you’ll need.
3. Cheaper employees. A well trained professional will gladly accept a cut in salary rather than face unemployment. Same with clerical workers.
4. Cheaper services. There are all kinds of service providers who have to lower their prices due to the lack of demand. Think of advertising specialists who can prepare your marketing campaign for much less than normal.
5. Less competition. While your competition is waiting out the storm, why not make yourself available, ready to offer people what they need? Even now, though they may be a little harder to find, there are always people in need of a service or product who are willing to pay (albeit possibly for less). Go and find them, don’t wait for them to find you.

Are You Ready For Entrepreneurship?

Everyone can become an entrepreneur, but not everyone can be successful at it. It’s great to envision such possibilities, but before I reel you in on this idea, let it be known that opening a business is not for everyone. The reality is this: not everybody may be qualified or prepared to start and run a business — and just like with the stock market, if you make big mistakes and are not sure about what you’re doing on your own, you can get hurt….badly. And in a downturn, financial wipeout scenarios are all the more common, and dramatic. So if you’re doing this, you MUST have a good plan, you MUST have done your homework, and in many cases, you’ll NEED access to cash.

Depending on the type of business you’re interested in launching, you could potentially face an enormous amount of risk. Plus, in today’s tight credit era, banks are reluctant to loan money, even to the well-qualified clients. So if you’re serious about your business idea, where can you turn? Well, you can approach people you know; start with your network. Or you could use some of your savings (gasp) or show your solid business plan to some of your wealthy friends (if you’ve got any). Some people I know have started their businesses with credit cards, but going down this path is not the most prudent way to go. In today’s era, it may very well be that you’ll have to bootstrap yourself using your own savings or you’ll need to consider the type of business that won’t require money upfront, such as a service-oriented venture.

Despite all the challenges, you may still find this to be your calling. If so, get creative. People still have to eat, buy clothes, and have fun. You can negotiate lower prices from your providers — they are anxious to sell their surplus. Drum up business by visiting churches (why not, the pastor may become your best salesman), schools, hospitals, clubs, and make them an offer they can’t resist. Note however, that this may not be the best way to promote your business .

Most of all, plan your business very carefully by analyzing the trends in your neck of the woods. Creating a niche has never been easier. But certainly, look before you leap and read our tips for small businesses. This article is about contrarian thinking, and contrarians are often vastly rewarded for their guts (no guts, no glory), patience and shrewdness. Whenever we contemplate a particular endeavor, we need to weigh risks vs rewards — the only sane way to really make a financial decision.

This is a post from The Digerati Life.

Bookmark It

INDYMAC IS OFFICALLY CLOSED!!!

In the past minutes newswires around the country and world are now reporting that the Federal Government has shut down IndyMac Bank and has handed it to the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) as conservator.

Couple the shut down with the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac troubles, and we’re in for some really rocky waters next week. I’m willing to bet a lot of money that the announcement was held back from being made prior to the close of the stock market because of fears of a massive crash. Well . . . I think we’ll be seeing that happen this coming Monday!

Fasten your seat belts, people . . . we’re in for a ROCKY RIDE!

IndyMac Bank’s assets were seized by federal regulators on Friday after the mortgage lender succumbed to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures.

The bank is the largest regulated thrift to fail and the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history, regulators said.

Yahoo Finance

In the biggest bank failure of the housing downturn to date, federal banking regulators today closed IndyMac Bank FSB, naming the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as conservator.

The FDIC said it will transfer insured deposits and “substantially all the assets” of IndyMac Bank, to a newly created successor, IndyMac Federal Bank, which will be operated by the FDIC.

Insured depositors and borrowers will automatically become customers of IndyMac Federal, FSB and will continue to have uninterrupted customer service and access to their funds by ATM, debit cards and writing checks. Depositors of IndyMac Federal Bank FSB will have no access to online and phone banking services this weekend, but will regain access to them on Monday.

Inman News

IndyMac Bancorp Inc. became the second-biggest federally insured financial company to fail today after a run by depositors left the California mortgage lender short on cash.

The Pasadena, California-based bank specialized in so-called Alt-A mortgages, which didn’t require borrowers to provide documentation on their incomes. Its home state has been among the hardest hit by foreclosures.

Bloomberg

What’s next? Anyone?

Advertisement: Payday Loans Online from the leader in online cash advances since 2003.

This Post is from the BiggerPockets Real Estate Blog. Copyright © 2008 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

BREAKING: IndyMac Bank is Shut Down and Taken Over by Feds

We may think that we need a lot of things.  We may think we need cable TV, our morning coffee and bagel, a couple of pints at the pub each Friday, or a really big house with a mortgage that the lender had to “make work for our income.”

These aren’t really needs when we get down to it, of course.  They’re wants.

The stuff we really need — after breathing — are (a) food (and clean water) in our stomachs, (b) clothes on our backs, and (c) cover over our heads.  To this you might add basic medical care, education, and a few other very important things.

Most people (especially if you’re reading this now, and especially me) can stand to cut out a lot of non-essential items if it’s needed.  This is extreme downsizing and simplification.  It isn’t fun, but it can be done.  Moreover, what’s spent on the essentials can be trimmed way down to boot as well, by doing the little money-saving things again.  Even the essentials can be simplified and scaled back!

Here are a few ways to get by on spending less for food:

• Consider generic brands over name brands.  Generic or store brands are usually (but not always) cheaper than the name brand, and for some products they’re comparable or even better than the name brands.  I prefer store brand diet soda in some cases because I like the taste of one sweetener over another.
• Use coupons for items you buy anyway.  You can get them a number of places, like your weekend newspaper, from magazines, online at the websites for the products, or online at places like CoolSavings or MyPoints.
• Substitute less expensive foods.  How about oatmeal instead of cereal?  How about eggs instead of meat?  How about rice and beans?
• Buy food that requires more preparation or reconstitution.  As in dried beans over canned beans, dehydrated milk over milk in a carton, raw oatmeal over instant oatmeal, or big bags of rice over instant rice.  The other advantage of reconstituting food is that it may keep longer than the “fresh” food.
• Buy food with less packaging.  Packaging means extra cost, and the food tastes the same if it can be resealed and consumed in time.  Binder clips work fine to keep “family-size” snack bags shut.  Reusable storage containers are great for all kinds of food storage.
• Buy in bulk if the price is right and if you know you’ll use what you buy.  We buy rice 50 pounds at a time, and use it.  I buy the big Costco-size box of oatmeal, and eat it.  It usually saves money to buy in quantity.
• Spend more at the grocery store and less at the restaurant.  The cost savings is clear here.  Eat in with friends as opposed to eating out with friends.
• Learn a few easy, cheap recipes.  I know how to cook rice well enough so that I can prepare a cheap, filling lunch (and dinner sometimes) merely by putting a few ounces of beans over the top with some Worcestershire sauce.  Heck, adding rice to a can of soup works, too.
• Be diligent about consuming leftovers.  Odds are you’ll only be eating the same stuff a few days in a row at most.  (Except at Thanksgiving: It’s turkey leftovers for at least a week!)

Cut your clothing bills, too:

• Make your clothes last.  Making things last can be a money-saver.  My wife is an excellent sewer and has given some of my clothes an extra life.  Simple Debt Free Living has a decent introduction and link collection for clothing repair.  But even before that, be kind to your clothes in the washer and don’t overdry them. 
• Check out yard sales.  We’ve found great deals on baby clothes at yard sales, as in maybe a dime apiece for a bagful.  My wife and I have found clothes for us, too.
• Check out thrift shops.  Sometimes the donated clothing has hardly been worn.  The bigger ones usually have a good selection of sizes.  Sometimes they run sales to make room for things.
• Check out consignment shops.  These are perceived as a little higher-brow than thrift stores but the premise is the same:  buy used and save.
• Check out the clearance racks in department stores.  Some department stores perpetually mark things up just to mark them down, but there are still good deals to be had at places like Macy’s or Kohl’s.  Since my wife has a Macy’s store charge card she gets special coupons that get her some really good deals.  Wal-Mart’s hard to beat, too.
• Check out eBay.  There’s always eBay!  They’ve been getting much more buyer-friendly these days.  Buyers cannot receive negative feedback anymore, and eBay is also waging war against inflated shipping charges (which is in their interest, but that’s another story).

Cutting costs on shelter can be a touchy subject but please remember, it boils down to a roof over your head:

• If you’re renting, think very carefully before buying a house.  Owning a house is a worthwhile goal but it can be very expensive.  During the real estate bubble times of the past few years it was more expensive to own a house than it was to rent.  Or, if it was affordable to own a house, in some areas, it would become too expensive later (adjustable rate mortgages).  The start-up costs can be a bit of a shock.  Plus, you’re a lot less mobile in a home than in a rented apartment.
• Reduce operating costs of your living space.  Keep the temperature warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter.  Use compact fluorescent lightbulbs where you can.  Seal cracks where heat (or cool air) can escape.  Don’t use the clothes dryer for one pair of socks.  And so forth.
• Reduce financing costs of your living space.  Pay the mortgage (or rent) on time.  Consider paying the mortgage down a little faster.  Consider refinancing an adjustable-rate mortgage to a fixed-rate mortgage to remove interest rate risk and take advantage of a depreciating currency.  Work to get rid of private mortgage insurance as soon as possible.
• Test the waters for signs of trouble.  Is the checkbook balance going down month by month?  Why?  Is it due to increasing costs associated with your living space?  Is is possible to move into a cheaper living space if the costs of your current living space are getting out of control?  (A good friend realized this.  His family had built a larger house and had been renting their original, smaller house.  The costs of the larger house were too much, so they are working to sell off that one and move back in to their original house.  Hey, it happens, but they recognized what the problem was and are fixing it.)
• Can someone share your living space?  Can you take on a boarder or a roommate?  An unmarried woman at work has a house and has taken on a roommate to subsidize her housing cost.  Alan Corey did this to great benefit; he took the smallest room in the house so that he could rent out the larger ones for more money.
• No affordable options in your area?  Since moving is costly, it’s usually easier to cut other expenses before contemplating a move, especially one out of town to a less expensive area.  But if nothing else seems to work, this is an option.  It may mean leaving friends and family, and finding another job, but the housing cost issue can go away if the price difference is large enough.
• What if the worst happens and you lose your living space?  There are some options.  They’re not great options, obviously, but better than nothing.  Living after foreclosure or eviction might mean moving in with someone who will take you (and your family if they’re involved).  It can mean finding a church or other group that will take you as a “shut-in.”  It could mean taking whatever job you can and renting by the week (Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed found this to be a tough life ).  Even more simply, it could mean pitching a tent or sleeping in your car.  This kind of living isn’t something I’d wish on anyone, but unfortunately more people will be thrust into this kind of situation.  And in any case, it doesn’t have to be forever.

Oil dropped another $3.12 to $43.67…the lowest level since January 2005.

If someone would have told me back in July that oil was going to be trading in the 40s by the end of the year, I wouldn’t have believed them. It’s simply amazing how quickly things can turn.

Of course the bad side to all this is that now there’s less incentive for finding alternative fuels. I guess all those plans will get put on the back burner until it makes financial sense to go for them.

ShareThis