Getting a Mortgage Refinance

A lot of homeowners all over the country are facing the possibility of a foreclosure for their homes due to the burdening recession that has plagued the economy. This is especially troubling for homeowners who are unable to pay their mortgages and who have too bad credit to apply for a mortgage refinance. Getting a refinance for your mortgage (especially if your annual income cannot pay for the accumulated debt already) helps by requesting your mortgage broker or the lending company to sum up all of the debt into one single amount and come up with a better payment scheme that will make it easier to pay off the new amount.

There are a lot of benefits if you consider refinancing your current mortgage loan. Some of these include:

• Getting a better deal or payment scheme that is easier for you and not disadvantageous to the lending company.

• Being able to negotiate for a lower interest rate either through the same or a different lender or lending company.

• Availing of promos that lending companies would provide for people in need of a consolidation of a loan or lower interest rate. These can occur any time and with any lending company, so browsing through ads and visiting sites or directories of lending companies will help you in getting that much needed discount.

If you’re facing this unstable financial situation and would like to know how to acquire a mortgage refinance, here are some tips for you to look into:

• The first thing that you need to do is gather all the important documents related to your mortgage payments and information regarding the lending company. You may have placed them somewhere in a drawer or have left it in a folder around the office, so take the time to look and analyze your credit standing, how much you need to pay, how high your interest rate is already, etc.

• Once you have all of those in hand, make the first call to your chosen bank or lending company to discuss how you will be able to get a mortgage refinance. If you think you are struggling with bad credit and a lot of financial problems, it is best to speak to the lender first.

• You need to research and keep your eyes open for good choices when choosing a particular lending company or a mortgage broker. You can visit mortgage company directories online for the best choices.

My biggest health care mistake: Choosing the wrong plan

The costs of health care are top of mind lately, and like everyone else, we've felt the effects. I remember the days 10 to 15 years ago of $5 copays for doctor's visits . As a full-time elementary school teacher before we were married, M's doctor visits were completely covered by her paycheck deductions.

Now copays under my current employer's plan are $20 to $25 (though routine physicals and annual checkups are "free"). Meanwhile deductions from my paycheck have increased as well, relative to just a few years back. I don't know if the federal government has the right answer, but at least President Obama is asking some tough questions.

A sweet choice
Rising costs, in fact, led me to make one of my biggest personal finance mistakes: choosing the wrong health care plan. Two years ago, my employer revamped its insurance benefits to reduce its own escalating costs. I opted for the "middle-of-the-road" plan, one with medium-sized paycheck deductions but with higher deductibles and potential out-of-pocket costs. To sweeten the deal, my employer made a $1,000 contribution to a savings account that could help defray any costs we might have to pay on our own.

I'd considered the plan with the highest paycheck deduction and the most coverage, but no $1,000 contribution. I decided against it because we're a pretty healthy family, M and I are through having babies, and our kids aren't in day care and thus prone to bringing home the "virus of the week." I figured the middle plan's $1,000 contribution could get us through half of the year at least.

Best laid plans go awry
Then in February--just a few weeks into having the new plan--my stepdaughter had to make an emergency room visit in the middle of the night. A slew of tests and doctors confirmed that she was, thankfully, okay (and, ironically, that her symptoms weren't an emergency at all, but could have waited for a visit to the doctor in the morning). But that $1,000 which was supposed to help us pay for out-of-pocket costs for several months? Effectively wiped out in one fell swoop.

This year, I bit the bullet and chose the plan with the highest coverage. Naturally, we've had no trips to the emergency room and relatively few visits to the doctor. If that remains true through December, we'll have effectively overpaid for insurance coverage this year after underpaying last year.

Needless to say, that's frustrating. A colleague of mine with several kids who also chose the middle-of-the-road plan last year and the highest coverage plan this year has had a similar experience. We both shared a laugh at life's little ironies.

High coverage a better choice
But I still think the high coverage plan is the right one for us, and what we'll choose again for 2010. Our insurance covers two adults, plus four children ages 2 to 21. Based on that information, the chances that we'll have some significant health care costs throughout the year are probably fairly high. I may end up paying more out of my paycheck compared with a lower coverage plan, but I'll be more certain that no matter what, I'll pay a minimal amount out-of-pocket (and can redirect money I would have saved to pay for deductibles to other goals).

My mistake was trying to be cheap and pay the least amount out-of-pocket possible, and picking a plan based on a prediction of our typical health care costs (which turned out to be wrong, both times). Insurance is about replacing the uncertainty of risk with the certainty of fixed costs. The high coverage plan may mean a little less in my paycheck each month, but it also means a lot more peace of mind.

Back in the saddle...yet again

Wow...has it been three months since my last post? That's a little shocking. I may have to turn in my blogger license.

Today a former boss mentioned in a large meeting at work that I have a blog, which sparked a lot of questions from co-workers. "What's your blog about?" "Where can I find it?" "YOU have a blog?" (I particularly like the disbelief in that last question.)

Not that I've been hiding it--in fact, I can't hide it; being in the financial services industry, I had to get my employer's approval to start it (don't worry, I have complete control over content). I just haven't done a lot of self-promotion, particularly because I'm now in a department full of financial planners. Not exactly a target market for basic articles on personal finance.

Still, I'm a little ashamed that I've been tagged as a "blogger" yet haven't blogged anything in quite some time. Three months is like three centuries on the Internet.

But I'm now also motivated. Today's meeting re-energized me to start posting again. I hope it can last.

How to lower car insurance cost for your teen

This video is all about saving money on car insurance policy for your teen. Car insurance for teens is more expensive. This video discusses the things on how you can save money while purchasing car insurance for your teen. It also says about getting discounts on considering various points and how an expensive car can affect the cost of your car insurance policy. The advice given here is to check for the insurance cost before you go for an expensive car.