All about loans - interest

How can I lower my interest rates on my credit card and mortgage?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:54:46 +0000

How can I lower my interest rates on my credit card and mortgage? Greeting and salutations fellow MeFites, Is it likely, possible, or wise to try to persuade my creditors (credit cards and mortgage company) to lower my interest rates by just asking them nicely. I hope this questions doesn't sound too naive or foolish, so please save the lecturing:) First some background. I have a pretty decent amount of debt. Roughly about 23K in debt, all with 16% apr and up, on 5 different cards...(I know, I know!) My mortgage is 209K with a 5.99% 30 year fixed. I rent out one side to a tenant and live in the other side. My income has ranged from 65- 45K in the last three years. This year, however doesn't looks so good. And with all of this economic turmoil it doesn't look better for the near term. Or the far term for that matter!

The labor of predicting LIBOR....

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:43:55 +0000

Should I choose a private student loan based on the 1-month LIBOR or the Prime Rate? I have private education loan approvals that are based on both the 1-month LIBOR rate (more specifically, the quarterly average of the 1-month LIBOR) and the Prime Rate. Chase Education is calculating the 1-month LIBOR currently at 3.62 (an average of Jan-Mar rates of 4.223, 2.849, 2.708) and the April rate has posted at 2.486, so a clear downward trend. Historically the lowest LIBOR has hit was 1.340 in 2003. My margin with Chase would be +2.5% so right now calculated at 6.12%. The best offer I was received based on the Prime Rate is Prime +1%, so right now a rate of 6.25% with the margin. Within the last ten years, the lowest prime rate was 4.0%.

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money?

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:18:41 +0000

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money? Anyone who's seen me around the finance threads knows that I take bearishness to an extreme. Having witnessed the 2000 tech crash, I have no faith in the stock market or the US economy. I keep all of my money (USD) in a savings account. However, with the recent financial turmoil, I have a few questions : 1) Is it conceivable for the FDIC to fail? 2) If so, is there a place where I can put my money that will be safer than a savings account? 3) What's the safest, most risk-free way for me to save money and not get killed by inflation and the tanking US dollar?

It's got an awesome appetite: Tyrannosaurus Debt

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:05:11 +0000

How do you figure out daily interest from an APR on student loans due monthly? I have about 100k USD in student loan debt, at a fixed APR of 5.75%. I wanted to work out what the monthly rate was, but my debt holder tells me that the interest is actually calculated daily, though the payments are due monthly. Then they sent me twenty pages of amortization tables, I suppose imagining that it would help me somehow. Aside from seeing that 75-80% of each month's payment goes to interest before any of it goes to principal, the tables don't help me. I accrue and pay off a small amount of credit card debt each month, mostly in grocery bills. This is deliberate, since it's a monthly expense I'd have anyway, and paying by credit instead of debit is (I think) at least a slight help to my credit score.

Negotiating at end of teaser rate

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:52:03 +0000

Do most people try negotiating near the end of a teaser rate? When we bought our home last year, we went with a one-year teaser rate, to be followed by a variable or fixed rate based on prime minus X. The time on the teaser rate will expire in a few months. Someone I met recently suggesting negotiating before locking in -- she works for a branch of our bank and said we should try to get a better rate, now that we've had a mortgage with the bank for a while. I was wondering how to go about doing this and whether it is normal. (I'm no longer in touch with this person, who I met during a course.)

I've paid off all my credit cards.... now what?

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 10:11:37 +0000

I've paid off all my credit cards.... now what? Over the past 6 months. I have managed to zero out the balances of all my CC's down from 10k. Any help as to how long before this gets reflected in my credit score, and what if any tips you have for boosting that score. If it helps, I'm keeping the lines open, and use them sporadically for small item purchases. Thanks in Advance. It is certainly a great day when you look online and see all zeros in the cc balances. --Credit Debt Free

Where can I find historical fed statements?

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 23:47:11 +0000

Every time the US federal reserve meets to decide on changing interest rates, the news articles say something like "in their statement the fed says ...". So my question is where can I find a listing of the statements for the past 10 or 20 years? I'd like to see how the words change over time. My ideal answer if a link to a webpage that has them somehow. But just knowing the official term for these statements or if they get published officially anywhere would be immensly useful.