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Already we are seeing the results of the demise of the mortgage market due to the sub prime debacle. Lending banks have severely tightened lending criteria as their asset bases erode and the financial sector comes under huge pressure. Wall street does not like to see 2.5 billion dollar write offs from Morgan Stanley and the like. John Maudlin said in his November 9th Newsletter “Data released in the past few months, and again this week, have shown that banks and other lenders are tightening their standards for all sorts of loans. And it is not just that they are becoming more like an old-fashioned banker who actually wanted to know that he could get his money back”. (John Maudlin, Frontline Thoughts)

Start up companies and smaller operations with limited assets are the ones who have benefited over the last five years of easy money. Some company’s were even funded through second mortgages because they were cheaper and easier to get than an SBA LOC. For all but a lucky few that option is now gone. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you need to make a major purchase, chances are you will not have enough money in just a single paycheck to cover items like appliances, furniture and more. What you need is a personal loan that can help you buy the things you need now, available to you with low monthly payments that are tailor made to fit your budget.

Money To Pay For Things You Need Read the rest of this entry »

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A cover letter is extremely important. You may be sending this to somebody you’ve had little interaction with. Maybe they’ve inquired from a postcard or a friend or somebody. Maybe they called you once or twice. They’re not going to know you very well. You may have mentioned your company name, but they may not remember that name so a cover letter of some sort is extremely important, again to introduce yourself, introduce why they’re getting the materials, and to a certain extent to invite them to do something once they’ve read the materials.

The whole point of this is to get them to keep coming back to you and wanting more and more information.

Introduce Yourself, Your Company, and Define Your Purpose

You’re going to introduce yourself, your company, why you’re sending the materials to them, why they’ve asked for them or maybe where they’ve asked for them if it was at a seminar of some sort, and again what to do when they’re done. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sometimes the process of getting a loan can seem long and drawn out. It can involve going from lender to lender and filling out countless pages of the same information. Most people are trying to get a loan because they need the money fast.

They are not wanting to spend days upon days trying to get money. People want fast loans. There are a few tricks to getting a fast loan. Borrowers just have to understand the process better in order to speed it up.

The loan process involves the lender collecting the borrowers financial and personal information. The lender is gathering this information so they can assess whether the borrower is going to be a good customer or not. They are wanting to make sure that the borrower will be able to afford to pay back the loan and that they will not default on the loan. Read the rest of this entry »

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Person-to-Person lending (also known as Peer-to-Peer or P2P) is fast becoming an attractive way for borrowers and lenders to connect directly. It is like the EBay of the banking world. In the past, you would deposit your funds at the bank and depending on the amount and term, the bank would pay you interest. Current certificate of deposit rates range from 3.50% to 5.00% APY. Basically, the bank then makes loans with your funds and their income is based on the spread between your rate and the loan rate. Well, why let the bank have all of the fun? Now, you can lend direct and earn more interest.

There are three main services: Prosper.com, LendingClub.com, and Zopa.com. Prosper gives you plenty of details such as the credit score, Debt-to-income ratio, etc., so you can make informed lending decisions. Prosper.com allows the lender to seek additional details about the borrower, although the borrower doesn’t have to respond. Of course, then the lender doesn’t have to lend to them. Many lenders spread out their funds in $50 to $100 increments to minimize overall risk. Looking at data from Prosper (6/1/06 to 4/21/08), average rate of return for AA borrowers is 6.64%. Some people will sprinkle in some lower quality loans to try to bring the return up. Your funds aren’t guaranteed, however. With Prosper you can get started with $50.00. Certainly not much to risk, to get your feet wet. Read the rest of this entry »

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Imagine making money like E-Bay, but in the world of loans. Two years ago, if you lent me money with principal and interest from a family member or friend I would’ve said you are “crazy”! But today there is such an opportunity to get a loan from people who want to lend money. Rather than get “burned” from our family and friends for lending money anyway we should look to other alternatives. There is an alternative much like E-Bay. It’s called Peer to Peer Lending. They are called “lenders” and these are ordinary people. These lenders could be your boss, friend, grandmother, aunt, dad, or even a stanger. Their job is to fund loans on a website called Prosper.com. It is a good idea that if a family member or friend borrows from each other, do it in a format where relatives and friends can get lend their money and get paid back with interest and principal. Peer to Peer Lending was founded on the very same principal as E-Bay. Namely to allow online bidding through an auction style process of lending. Chris Larson who is the co-founder of E-Bay is the owner and founding father of Peer to Peer Lending. If you have made a lot of money selling on E-Bay or made a deal through buying that product, the same goes for Peer to Peer Lending. Except the item is a person who needs a loan, and the bidders are the lenders who have cash$$$ A person who needs a loan becomes a borrower. Read the rest of this entry »

Real estate consumers emerge as the victors in the latest array of real estate bubble headlines. The focus of the media reveals a wide set of information and opinions about real estate markets and practices to the individual property owner and investor. There are several tell-tale indications that hint at the underlying conditions of the real estate market. Real estate professionals may not make explicit mention of them, but the clues do not lie. Different forms of incentive schemes are being offered by developers on newly construction buildings or homes. The vast existence of such incentive schemes beacons a high inventory or excess supply of new units. To find out what this hint is telling about the real estate market, research the length of time that a property has been listed on the market in a particular location. If most of the properties listed for sale have been sold in at most thirty days within a ninety-day period, despite currently prevailing market times for the majority of sold properties being at least 60 days, then the real estate market is on the verge of relaxation.

Also examine for multiple-offer bidding wars losing ground. Find out by inquiring several high-producing real estate agents within a locality about the percentage of properties going under contract that are receiving multiple offers. If the number of properties that receive multiple offers prior to being sold is diminishing, then the real estate market is transitioning from being a sellers market to being a buyers market. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you have heard the term peer to peer lending or social lending or have never heard it before, the process is growing in popularity day by day. It definition is implicit in the name peer to peer lending and it is the process of individuals lending money to each other.

It is rooted with the idea that a bank should not play a large role and reap the majority of returns. In the model of social lending, the bank or financial institution facilitates the loans and get a small rate of return for doing so. In essence it is cutting down the middle man. To get the true underlying rationale, we need to examine the basic model of receiving a loan from a bank.

It begins with individuals using banks as a method of saving their money. The banks pay a low rate of return for the deposits as for the banks right to use the money for lending. On other side are individuals applying for a loan or mortgage. The bank takes the deposits it has and lends to the borrower at a much higher rate of interest. The difference in interest paid and interest earned is the bank’s Read the rest of this entry »

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In the past getting a loan used to be a pretty intimidating process, getting dressed in your Sunday best, looking your best and venturing into town to the bank for a date with the Bank Manager. Once there you used to have to throw yourself at the mercy of the manager and plead for them to lend you money, getting declined for a loan was often a demoralising and embarrassing process.

These days applying for a loan is much more stress-free with the decision on whether you get given the money being based more on details such as your income, credit report and other factors, but still people can get turned down for reasons other than a poor credit record. In light of the recent credit crunch many banks are being more cautious about whom they lend money to and in some cases have ceased offering unsecured loans. Read the rest of this entry »

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With any investment or loan there needs to be an interest rate charged. Lending Club uses a formula that takes into account several factors, but it really begins with the assigning of a loan grade.

The first step in getting any peer to peer loan on Lending Club is borrowers must apply for a loan. Upon this request, Lending Club begins to evaluate the potential borrowers’ credit standing. This information is taken and used to assign the borrower a loan grade. These grades range from A to G with A being the highest and G the lowest. To further narrow down grades, each letter grade has sub classes. These are numbered from 1 to 5 with 1 as the highest. These loan grades will then be used in every part of the Lending Clubs formula for calculating interest rates.

The formula is made up of two distinct parts. They are the based rate and the adjustment for risk and volatility. The sum of these equals the interest rate charged. Read the rest of this entry »