Insurance Settlements Capture the Attention This Week

by Michael Erenburg Posted on February 7, 2013

A Great New Resource for Structured Settlements and Annuities

Insurance Settlements
Insurance Settlements – Things To Be Alert To

New York City, NY — (SBWIRE) — 02/01/2013 — At times when the economy is unpredictable, it is completely normal for a person to back himself with the right knowledge and inform himself first, before making a big financial decision. From factoring to selling of structured settlements, individuals interested the details of this market might be at loss where to start. It is a given that a structured settlement is a difficult thing to grasp, especially for someone who is new to the topic. Settlementsannuities.com offers a solution to that dilemma, by collating nearly every piece of information available and putting it in one web site.

Structured settlement companies are not like one’s local used car market, as firms involved in this industry offer a wide range of prices to purchase structured settlements. Due to the fact that it is more of a boutique market, and the number of competitors is much less compared to other traditional markets, it is not easy for sellers of structured settlements to compare multiple offers. If that information got you more than a little confused, then it is time to find answers to everything about structured settlements. At Settlementsannuities.com, one can easily find a wide range of topics that can educate a newbie on what a structured settlement is, how a structured settlement sale and transfer is done, as well as a list of companies involved in buying structured settlements, complete with unbiased consumer reviews. Aside from this, daily news updates about the industry can be read from the websites’ blog, which delivers up-to-date, useful information about the most recent developments in the structured settlement field.

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It Starts With a Major Change

A structured settlement often follows a life changing incident, whether it be positive or negative. Because of these circumstances, you may be confronted with the need for a substantial cash payment rather than small monthly payments over a number of years. What’s the answer? The best choice could be to seek an organization that can purchase your structured settlement deal from you and transform it directly into an instantaneous check that you could make use of on anything you think acceptable.

In other words, structured settlement business buy your annuity payments from you for a lump sum of cash that is normally 10-20 % less than exactly what the total annuity is worth. The structured settlements business can buy all or some of the payments that are due to you. The good news is, as a consumer, state governments closely monitor and approve all annuity buyouts-but they are not legal in all states. The help of a financial consultant would be very handy for browsing all the legal hoops you and the structured settlement business need to leap through for you to obtain paid. Whether you have an insurance company structured settlement, life insurance company structured settlement, or lotto payouts the process is basically the same.

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Structured Settlement Companies – Some Factors to Consider

The wise customer will also invest a little bit even more of his or her time to make certain they get the very best bargain for their annuity or structured settlement. They will call a minimum of three factoring companies and get competitive bids from each. They will go back to the 3 previously mentioned business and see if any are willing to beat their best offer. It could be tiring and lengthy to follow with in this process, but for the average person, it can be worth several thousand or even 10s of hundreds of dollars in one’s savings account at the end of the procedure.

Whatever your reason for desiring to sell your structured settlement payments, choosing this option puts you back in control of cash that is rightly yours. The problem that numerous individuals have with their structured settlements is that the control over their money is left to legal representatives, courts, and the company or persons paying out the settlement. You are now able to say where, how, and – most significantly – when you invest your cash.

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Insurance companies are eager to take in money, but not quite as eager to pay it out. That’s simply the way it is. It’s no wonder that they faver stretching settlement payments out over a period of time, rather than pay one lump sum right up front. of course, they will benefit from the time value of moeny, and both inflation and time are on their side. The preceding stories regarding settlement issues shed some light on the factors involved.

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Mortgage Issues in the Spotlight

by Michael Erenburg Posted on January 17, 2013

Profit Drops 63% at Bank of America After Mortgage Settlements

Bank of America Mortgage Settlement
Bank of America Mortgage Settlement

More than four years after the credit crisis, bad mortgages continue to weigh on Bank of America.

On Thursday, the bank reported a widely expected 63 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit after making huge payments to settle legal claims over its mortgage business. The bank’s earnings, a slim $732 million, amounted to 3 cents a share. That figure narrowly beat estimates of 2 cents a share, based on a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.

Bank of America’s quarterly revenue fell about 25 percent, to $18.7 billion, a drop that stems from the steep charges tied to mortgage settlements with the government. The figures underscored the extent of the bank’s mortgage woes, which it largely inherited from Countrywide Financial, the subprime lending giant it bought in 2008. Without the various charges, fourth-quarter revenue would have totaled $22.6 billion.

But the results also point to signs of a recovery for Bank of America. For the entire year, profit jumped to $4.2 billion from $1.4 billion in 2011. Delinquent loans declined in the quarter, another sign of health, and the bank’s wealth management unit continued to report huge gains.

Bank of America also noted that the one-time legal charges, which skewed the bank’s true performance, helped it to continue shedding the legacy of the crisis.

“We enter 2013 strong and well-positioned for further growth,” the bank’s chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, said in a statement.

Bank of America’s bleak quarterly profit numbers come as no surprise to investors. The bank previously announced that it incurred a $700 million charge on the perceived improvement in its debt, an accounting-related cost that actually indicated greater public confidence in the stability of the bank. (The charges were offset because of a one-time $1.3 billion gain from foreign tax credits.)

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New mortgage servicing rules on table

New mortgage servicing rules set to be announced Thursday will provide homeowners with more information about their mortgages and their options should those loans become unaffordable.

But the rules that will be detailed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are unlikely to cause either consumer advocates or lenders to claim victory. The final rules are similar to a preliminary set of protections released in August for public comment, with a few differences.

One key part of the rule that the agency decided to strengthen after receiving public comments involves dual-tracking, where a mortgage servicer considers a delinquent borrower for an alternative payment plan while at the same time trying to repossess the home through foreclosure. The agency sought to help delinquent borrowers who hadn’t yet entered foreclosure, those in the middle of the process and those close to losing their homes, an agency official said.

Within 15 days of a second consecutive missed payment, a mortgage servicer must contact the borrower and provide information about the amount due required to become current, the risks of failing to do so, written examples of various options that may be available and information on housing counseling.

A loan servicer cannot file papers to begin the foreclosure process until a mortgage is more than 120 days past due, and if a borrower has already applied for loan modification or another alternative to foreclosure, a servicer is barred from initiating foreclosure procedures until all loss mitigation efforts have failed.

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BB&T profit rises on higher mortgage banking revenue

Regional bank BB&T Corp’s fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates by a small margin, as higher demand for refinancing drove its mortgage banking revenue.

Home owners in the United States are rushing to lock in low interest rates by refinancing their loans, helping banks earn higher mortgage fees and post strong revenues.

BB&T’s mortgage banking revenue rose 71 percent to $231 million.

Net income available to common shareholders rose to $506 million, or 71 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, from $391 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings per share of 70 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Commercial and industrial lending rose 8 percent to $38 billion, while residential mortgage lending rose 19 percent to $23.82 billion.

“Despite a challenging environment and seasonal headwinds, average loans held for investment continued to grow. The increase was led by C&I (commercial and industrial), direct retail and residential mortgage”, Chief Executive Kelly King said in a statement.

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After years of going through the doldrums, the mortgage industry seems to be emerging from the problems that have plagued its past. The mortgage settlement is a big step in getting beyond the issues and regaining a healthy position in the finance industry. For mortgage settlments to new mortgage rules, these are some of the current stories regarding the mortgage market.

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First Time Home Buyers Remain Active

by Michael Erenburg Posted on November 18, 2012

City launches first-time home buyer program

First time home buyers
First time home buyers can get financial aid

The City of Pensacola is launching a new First Time Homebuyer Program to assist eligible families with down payment and closing cost assistance up to $10,000 in the form of a forgivable loan.

Homes purchased must be within the Pensacola city limits and must have been built after Jan. 1, 1978. The maximum purchase price cannot exceed $189,000.

Buyers must meet specific criteria to apply, including but not limited to:

1. Buyer cannot have owned a home or have had ownership interest in property in the past 3 years.

2. Buyer must either be a resident or employed in Escambia County for at least 6 months before application.

3. Buyer must attend a free, HUD certified homebuyer education class before closing.

4. Buyer must attend a free post-purchase certified foreclosure prevention class.

5. Buyer’s gross household income cannot exceed 80 percent of the area median income, adjusted for family size.

6. Buyer must have sufficient income and credit to obtain financing approval from the lender to purchase the home and support the primary mortgage amount; debt to income ratio must be within the accepted range.

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First Time Homebuyer References

Consumer inquiries inspire many of the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog posts that we publish, and today’s blog post comes from a first time homebuyer question that was received this past weekend.

Both the typical first time homebuyer and experienced homebuyer alike often misunderstand the modern process for “getting a good deal,” so I have prepared these tips to ensure that you avoid the major pitfalls when buying a home.

As you will see from this first time homebuyer question, it is important to know what you should expect a good deal to be.

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Texas offering more help to first-time home buyers

Texans now have $600 million in new help from the state to buy their first home.

This month, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs began releasing the largest amount ever offered by the state to fund a new mortgage program for first-time home buyers.

The program offers several ways to help people finance a purchase, including the option of a second mortgage for up to 5 percent of the house’s cost, interest-free, for a down payment or closing costs.

In addition, the loan program can be linked with a federal tax credit of up to $2,000 a year for the mortgage interest paid, as long as the house is your primary residence.

“The program has several attractive features,” said Craig Vecchiola, manager of the retail division for Colonial National Mortgage of Fort Worth. “We will definitely be marketing this for sure.”

Many first-time home buyers do not have enough saved for a down payment, said Judith O. Smith, a mortgage broker with Cendera Funding in Fort Worth, which, like Colonial, is an approved lender in the state program.

“A lot of our buyers have reasonable credit scores, but they don’t have a lot of ready cash,” she said. “When you combine this program with the fact that sellers can contribute up to 6 percent of the sales price for closing, some borrowers can get into a house for nothing.”

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Related first time home buyer resources:

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