Still fighting with your mortgage lender to modify your home loan? Not making any progress? You’re not alone here are some of the basic reasons why your bank will not modify your mortgage.

• How And Why You Should Use A Financial Hardship Letter  Funny how circumstance ccan reshape your life in an instant. You know those times in life when life changes and you need to be quick on your feet. First off let's examine two crucial reasons why you would want to use a hardship letter in the first place... 1) Many......
• Who's your competition when it comes to land banking for profits According tot the title of this article you do have some competition in this unique niche of real estate investing. Land banking is usually used for the purpose of acquiring land in the path of growth of a major metropolitan city and holding that property for the long term to......
• Twitter me this "What's in it for me if I choose you for business" Recently I read a twitter post that triggered some deep profound thought on my part [especially since it was 2:10 in the morning and I had been up for some 19 1/2 hours. I was happily digging my way around and starting to follow some new twitter folks when this......
• Action leads to success with your finances Yes action the simple step by step process you use to allocate a budget, register your expenses, invest in your future these are all activities you must participate in to achieve any level of financial success or independence. If you aren't watching over your finances they can easily slip out......
• The mortgage meltdown and opposing views If you haven’t heard about all of the fuss within the financial sector you must have been living under a rock. The demise of financial giants like Behr Stears, Indy Mac Bank not to mention many other smaller institutions has led the U.S. into a financial devastation like never......

• Make Income On The Internet-Why Do So Many People Desire To? There are people all over the world that get up every day and go online researching different ways to make money. There are many ways anyone can make money, but why are so many people trying to do it in the first place? There are a number of reasons why......
• Why is a Savings Account Necessary? Any time that you are asking someone for starter personal finance advice, one of the first things that you are going to be told is that you need to have a savings account in your name. But why are you necessarily going to need a savings account? The purpose of......
• Credit Report Versus Credit Score I hear a lot of people interchanging the term credit report with credit score.  I do it myself.  But there's a big difference between the two.  Let me show you... Credit Report Your credit report is really a snapshot of your credit use history.  It shows potential lenders: your personal......
• My Thoughts On This Whole Mortgage Crisis And Why I Don't Feel That Bad. Here is the thing - I do not own a house. I do not have a mortgage. Why? I cannot afford one here where I live. My rent is $1,949 a month, and a house equivalent in size to my apartment would be about $1 million dollars. This would mean......
• How to Respond if a Family Member asks for a Loan (Part 2) In part 1 of this post, I discussed the tough love options (and reasoning behind those options) available to a family member when another family member asks for a loan. In this part 2, I want to cover a further aspect of responding to a family member's request for a......

Yes action the simple step by step process you use to allocate a budget, register your expenses, invest in your future these are all activities you must participate in to achieve any level of financial success or independence. If you aren’t watching over your finances they can easily slip out of control and cause you frustration, anxiety and lots of unneeded stress.

Action steps are very straight forward you know that one plus one equals two and one – one equals zero. So why would you end up with a negative number in your bank account? One reason and one reason only you didn’t take the appropriate action to ensure your budget wasn’t violated.

Overdrafts and charge backs to your bank account cost not only you in charges and headaches but also cost the banks time and money as well. You will also notice if you’re not managing your finances that you are paying these fees often. They can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars per year in extra costs if you do not watch your budget carefully.

Taking action to produce results is the only methodical practice that makes sense. You can say you’re going to change, you can believe you’re to make changes but in the end it’s up to you to do the physical or behavioral changes needed to overcome adversity, challenge and obstacles in your path.

If your financial picture isn’t your perfect idea of what it should be then you need to change your habits. Otherwise it’s nothing more than a dream or wish. A dream without action simply doesn’t cut the mustard. It’s wishful thinking at best.

You know your circumstances and only you really know how to change the way things are going in your financial life. Only you can review your financial progress and seek out the advice needed to change your future. No change is easy, everything you do must reflect your decision of change.

Change is simply taking action, this is where you must not become vulnerable to “gullible marketing” that has populated into the market preying on unsuspecting victims. Scam artists are everywhere and they are waiting to cause you more pain and suffering than what you are going through.

You need to plan out your financial strategy in three major areas short term, immediate necessity and future needs all are components working together to create balance and security in your portfolio. These components are all individual strategies that can set you up for success during different times of your life.

Together you have the ability to leverage and grow these component together while not directly impacting the whole portfolio. Action steps require obtaining input and guidance from trusted authoritative sources. Then putting these strategies into action to make your money work hard for you is the only real way you can rest assured you are doing the right thing.

Making the choice is the first step, follow through is more important than choosing. Make a conscience decision to implement action and change into your financial affairs to assure balance and growth in your portfolio. This is the surest way to gain control over your affairs and to ensure that change takes precedence in your daily routine, then it’s rinse and repeat to stay on track.

• Is fear really holding you back from the true wealth you deserve Funny sounding and actually quite appropriate for this time of the season. With Halloween right around the corner, the leaves turning red, orange and yellow. The sight of monsters, goblins, creepy and eerie things that you only find in horror films. Isn't that what this month's tone happens to......
• What's the cost of financial failure What's the cost of financial failure? I had never given this a thought until I had experienced financial hardship in my own life. People never give reason or rhyme to why they have served themselves a bad deal. When financial crisis occurs you wouldn't even begin to imagine the costs......
• Why we dance around the money situation at hand You can look at this in another perspective, why do we dance around the subject of finance, financial stabilization, security, why because it's uncomfortable for the masses. Many people are challenged and distraught about their current state of affairs. Constantly complaining about their situation at hand,yet instead of doing......
• Credit crunch or credit chaos what does it mean for you Chaos is in the air all around us, economic crisis, mortgage industry meltdown, global markets in turmoil and in the midst of change and economic change and recovery action plans another crisis is underway. While our country is amidst change our credit card lenders, mortgage lenders and banking systems are......
• How to strategically plan for your retirement When it comes to planning for retirement you really have only a few choices to make for your future. Strategically speaking many people take the approach of “I hope it works.” People really never give their retirement a thought until it's to late. When they decide it's time for retirement......

• Different Money Management Techniques During these economic times, it can still be easy to lose track of your money and throw it away on things you don’t need. But there are a few ways to manage your money, keep track of it, and help keep yourself from spending it frivolously. Savings – Each time......
• Learning the Basics of Money Management For many people, the prospect of money management is just too much to handle. Nobody really enjoys being a bean counter, and if you're spending too much and having a good time doing it, money management may be the farthest thing from your mind. However, given the state of the......
• IMF To Use Public's Money To Shore Up Financial Sector? This is getting more and more interesting (and frightening) the more I read about it... From The Financial Times: Governments might have to intervene with taxpayers' money to shore up the financial system and prevent a "downward credit spiral" from taking hold, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. John Lipsky,......
• Money Management Tip – Always Check for Errors Money management tips come in all shapes and sizes. Some relate to complicated matters like maintaining a diversified investment portfolio or maximizing your retirement plan contributions by taking advantage of employer matching contributions. Other money management tips, however, can be very simple. In fact, one of the simplest tips I’ve......
• Does Your Financial Future Look Gloomy? While no one can look into a crystal ball and determine where they will be financially in twenty, thirty or forty years, there are some early warning signs that may indicate that the future might be a bit gloomy. The key to successfully preparing for your future is to avoid......

The most differentiating factor between purchase money and refinance money is the legal recourse that the institutional lending agencies have against you. You see when you make the original purchase loan for your piece of real estate your agreeing that if you default that you are not liable. The money is what’s known as non recourse (meaning the bank cannot go after you for the lost portion of the principle.)

The first time you decide to refinance your mortgage to lower your rate, modify the principle amount or performing any type reduction in principle you loose the non recourse clause on your purchase money. Now you enter into a recourse position where you become liable for the debt or the offset in principle when you perform a loan modification.

Even on a short sale if you have refinanced and now you are in a position where you are forced to sell due to financial hardship. You are going to receive a 1099 at the end of the year showing you made a gain. Now you are in a position for a lawsuit, taxable events and a whole slough of financial hardships.

The only way to possibly get out of this scenario is if you are insolvent and you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you cannot repay the debt. Now you’re forced into bankruptcy and you now face more financial hardships than you started with.

On the other hand if you are using a purchase money loan and you are forced into the same scenario of a short sale or loan modification you are not on the hook for the banks loss. I’m not saying that you should never refinance but you need to know why. If you are living on liquid equity squeezing every dime out of your home’s equity then you know you’ve created a financial nightmare.

You have been living in a world where money appeared almost magically especially if you lived in California. Appreciation made equity seem as if it was never ending and then the worst happened. Some savvy marketers created an awesome campaign on adjustable loans that enticed people to buy homes far out of reach, created a frienzy of refinances in the market place.

So now you’ve given up your protection from recourse and you are faced with some huge tax burdens. There are only so many chances for finding a way to pull money out of your home. Now that you have run out of equity, appreciation is gone and you’re under water you’re faced with many choices for help.

The one thing thats failed to be mentioned is the TAX consequence. Be aware of your situation and make your financial choices wisely. Seek out the assistance of qualified professionals for guidance. Your financial house must remain in order no matter what. It’s your life and your future why spend it worried about money and consequence when you can worry about the finer things in life.

Tax consequences don’t go away just by ignoring them, the IRS will garnish your wages and that can have an effect on your over all take home pay, your quality of life and even your employment. You know as well as I that Uncle Sam always get his cut first.

Money isn’t everything, however keeping every sliver of it you can is! Wealth is a concept of it’s not how much you make it’s how much you keep. Know your position and tax consequence before you make a choice that can have a negative effect on your life.

• Discounted Legal Services scam or shelter for your affairs When you need advice you need it fast, phone book ads state free consultations with an attorney near you. You make the call, set the appointment only to find out you have 10 minutes and 3 questions. You spent hours building your list of questions, preparing to take thorough notes......
• Using college education funds for real estate Many people aren't aware of the little laws in the IRS tax code that states not what you can put into these types of accounts, they state what you can't put in their instead. So while people are using stocks and going mad with the market place activities, others are......
• How to Protect Your Identity During the Holiday Season Holiday cheer is all around us and winter is in the air, we feel the chill of the season and the happiness of the time of the year. No matter where we go it’s hard to hide from the fact that it’s almost Christmas time. With mistletoe and lit......
• The perpetual money machine The armor shield of protection for your self and family protection must be impenetrable to enemy forces. A Trojan horse of strength and attack, An M-1 tank in resistance strength, and the agility of an aerodynamic fighter jet, your first line in defense against attack of ones livelihood or......
• Finding Wealth in a Title Leads to Great Success Here we are again back at the stage of mindset and ownership of one's positioning. I ran across this brief article and I thought this may bea great eye opener for you.Calling Yourself a Family First Entrepreneur is a Guiding Light | Marc WarnkeCalling Yourself a Family First Entrepreneur is......

• How to Find Financial Stability in Unstable Markets Right now, the only news about the economy seems to be bad news, and it may take a few months if not years to improve. The dollar is weak, oil prices are still up and the cost of living has skyrocketed this year. These are unstable times, but that doesn’t......
• Top 3 Tips for Saving Money on Term Life Insurance Coverage If you are looking for an affordable means of protecting the future of your family, term life insurance coverage is the way to go. This type of life insurance provides an individual with basic coverage for a specific amount of time. The payments are fixed, which means that they do......
• An Artist Portrait (Part One) This is a fantastic article written exclusively for my Weblog by Frank V. Cahoj. Please feel free to comment here or send him emails. He'll be happy of this. An Artist Portrait (Part One) My name is Frank Cahoj and I have been an artist since I was born. I can......
• Weakon 151: Banking Industry Explained, Part 1 Since starting my job at a bank, people outside of the industry are always asking me, "How do banks make money?". Given the redundancies I experience on a daily basis, I question it myself. Banks offer a product just like any other company. Their product is money. And there are......
• Roundup for week of 11 November 2006 Some articles of interest from the folks at the MBN and beyond:All Financial Matters with fifty easily-overlooked tax deductions.Blueprint for Financial Prosperity with an interesting take on take-home pay brackets.Consumerism Commentary reports on a free credit report scam.Five Cent Nickel on the ten most reliable cars.Free Money Finance with that......

Yes you can obtain credit in a down market with the proper mindset, motivation, and knowledge. Where do you start especially if you need to acquire it fast and you don’t have many resources. This is a quick guide to preparing for the individual or the corporate credit seeker.

If you want the simple truth you need to be in a tip top shape financially and have the ability without a shadow of a doubt that you are financially able to repay the debt you are borrowing. This is nothing new from previous markets, the new rules are the same when it comes to borrowing.

The new way to obtain credit is to prove that you really don’t need it, however this has been the case since bartering and credit has evolved. People always have said you need credit to get credit and you need money to make money right. It’s no different today.

Guidelines have become tighter and banks and lending institutions started lending less. So with all of these odds against you what do you as a prospective borrower are crucial for your success.

First off you need to have your financial affairs in order, secondly is your credit accurate, have you reviewed it within the last three to six months to ensure that everything on it is accurate? This should always be the first step before applying for any credit.

If you are trying to obtain credit for the first time or after a financial hardship such as bankruptcy or divorce you have some “sub-prime credit card companies” out in the market place who can get you started with a low balance & a higher interest rate.

Now remember these are for reestablishing as well as rebuilding credit. You can always obtain new lower costly credit after six months to a year. Obtaining credit in a down market isn’t as difficult as one might think. The down marketplace makes obtaining credit more challenging and difficult.

However the rules are still the same. Recently I applied for some new credit and I was able to obtain a new line of credit from my credit card company with less than perfect credit. I was able to do this because of the relationship I have established with my current credit card company.

I have also have closed several mortgages which is an indication of banks starting to work through there financial crisis. There is always a way to obtain what you need more than what you really want however people have always seemed to find a way to get what they want rather than what they need.

Now that credit is tighter and banks have cut off a lot of equity lines, credit card companies have folded and new laws on the horizon only time will tell what new requirements will be placed on both businesses and consumers.

Always remember to keep your financial house in order and to keep all of expenditures tracked and allocated. Keep tabs on your credit to ensure your identity is protected. Also optimize your spending so that you can keep enough in reserves to ensure ongoing success with debt elimination.

• Why we dance around the money situation at hand You can look at this in another perspective, why do we dance around the subject of finance, financial stabilization, security, why because it's uncomfortable for the masses. Many people are challenged and distraught about their current state of affairs. Constantly complaining about their situation at hand,yet instead of doing......
• Changes in your credit score and what they mean to you You've heard the news about the changes in credit scores and the impacts of these changes are yet to unfold. You can rest assured that this is the first step in major changes in banking reform on both the business and deposit account holders end. Tighter financial requirements on the......
• You can purchase an investment with a credit card 5 things to watch as you invest this way We have all heard the term leverage used when it comes to real estate and investing. Leverage the equity, leverage some one else for their skills and talents or their credit and financial stability. Have you ever heard the term leverage the credit card for making real estate purchases? I......
• Airlines try hedging to beat soaring jet fuel costs Southwest Air is industries best at saving firm billions. By watching and playing against the futures market Southwest Airlines are able to keep their costs of fuel down to $1.98 per gallon. Hedging is the way that airlines and other investors protect themselves from the rising costs of commodities......
• The Only Phone Service That Pays You To Be A Raving Fan, Start Getting Social Get paid To Talk All Day Imagine owning your very own telecommunication Company without actually having to run it. It was so eloquently mentioned by Dell CEO Michael Dell; “Content, Commerce & Community.” Let me back up here for just a second. I was discussing social media topics with a friend of mine. He mentioned......

• Credit Card Arbitrage I'm not one to believe in fate or signs, but it's hard to not believe that something is conspiring against me in trying to do my credit card arbitrage plan. If I can't get a credit card to begin with, it's just not going to end up well. The problems......
• Borrow Money & Lend Money at Prosper Having been a member of Prosper.com for about 16 months now, I decided to give a round-up of what I've learned. I'm going to break this up into three areas: The Reason to Borrow Money - If you have credit card debt that you are trying to pay off, you......
• 11 signs your mate has credit problems Photo by: mugley This is a guest post from Connie Prater, a senior writer at CreditCards.com. Connie considers herself a savvy consumer, a mom, a penny-pincher/tightwad and an above average Scrabble player. Does he or she send you flowers at work? Wine and dine you at the best restaurants......
• Reducing Your Spending While Intoxicated A question we all ask ourselves after a night out is whether we spent too much without realizing it, due to the fact that we were far too intoxicated. I have heard many stories from friends and relatives from their nights out where they ended up spending hundreds of dollars......
• How to Negotiate with Credit Card Companies to Reduce Your Debt Today's article is a guest post by Andrew Wang... With consumers facing tough times in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, it's a good opportunity to discuss the possibility of getting your credit card debt sorted. Most people assume credit card companies care only about the profits they......

The lure of a 1/4 percent difference between certain investment vehicles can be an alluring attraction. When you weigh the difference between choices you feel empowered by making the right decision.

However if you never knew the facts  and alternatives outside of the bank your in for a real surprise.

Alternative growth or investment vehicles can vary greatly in apperance, upfront costs, and quite frankely in performance. Some are low risk low return, some are high risk and possibly high rates of return.

On the other hand there are a few that are less risky with consistent productivity and return on investment performance. These are the golden treasures we need to seek out.

Take a look at some our most common types of investments that we are offered on a daily basis then use the previous post to determine if their weight is substancial enough to provide you with security, longevity and rewards in the form of great returns.

Keep in mind that we in a constant state of flux. inflation plus food and fuel are eating away at least 6% or more of our money every year.

Bank of America

Wells Fargo

First Republic bank

Pretty shocking to say the least.

• Continuing Down The Path To A Social Movement For Wealth And Abundance It wasn't too long ago when I started writing about social media and creating a movement, a paradigm shift in thought and actions of others. It hadn't dawned how predominate of a social movement is already underway. We see charities, acts for legislation and reform, green communities, niched social platforms.......
• What areas of finance are you looking for assistance with? Product launch date 08/19/2008 Internationally respected company launches new Tranquil Sleep Now program to help people get a better nights sleep. Financial marketeer Ryan Wegman has released his third publication titled "The Pillars of Wealth". For the first time Ryan is revealing his story of triumph over adversity and challenge.......
• Are your rewards really rewarding or are you just in a vicious cycle of spending? You hit the stores in search of that something special that you’ve always had to have or you just can’t live without, you search high and low for that most important possession. You spot it on a shelf tucked way inside behind other merchandise. You grab it and you can......
• Part 2 of the Ultimate IRA Report Here is the next portion of the Ultimate IRA Report var YAHOO = {\'Shortcuts\' : {}}; YAHOO.Shortcuts.hasSensitiveText = true; YAHOO.Shortcuts.sensitivityType = ["adult"]; YAHOO.Shortcuts.doUlt = false; YAHOO.Shortcuts.location = "us"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_id = 0; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_type = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_title = "Real Estate IRAs: Secrets Revealed - Part Two"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_publish_date = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_author = "help@trustetc.com";......
• What to do after you become wealthy SO you've made it, that "pie in the sky, pipe dream" your friends always said would never amount to anything. You know when you went out to talk with your associates, close friends and family for input or advice. All of your hard knocks, bloody knuckles, sweat and tears combined......

• Understanding Investment Returns for Retirement Planning One of the problems that many investors have (and that I used to have) is how to interpret and practically apply investment return data published by the mutual fund companies. I frequently read statements made by uninformed investors about historical annual rates of return that cause them to be over-confident......
• START SAVING AND LET THAT MONEY BUILD ITSELF - UPDATE I just discovered the site The Tao Of Making Money where the author compares different high yield (better interest rate) savings and money market accounts. Very useful if you want one place to compare different rates and opening minimums. For me, right now, I'm sticking with ING as my savings......
• Tax Rebate Money Could Be Better Spent A couple days ago I wrote about the possibility of an upcoming tax rebate as part of a broader [tag]economic stimulus package[/tag]. After learning more about the stimulus package, and the state of the U.S. economy I am more convinced than ever that the [tag]tax rebate checks[/tag] will be monumental......
• 7 Ways to increase your Investment returns in 10 minutes or less Here are some simple ways to increase your investment returns without much work. Switch to Index Funds - Studies show that 70% of actively managed funds fail to beat their benchmark over the long term.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Lower your expenses - Numerous Morningstar studies show......
• Never Ever Invest Through A Bank Have you ever had to make a trip to the bank to cash out a matured CD or known somebody that has?  Chances are, if it was more than a few thousand dollars, you were quickly intercepted by a bank representative encouraging you to schedule an appointment with an "investment......