We have some money in a Wamu checking account, and an equity loan. Since the word is that Wamu is teetering , what should we expect to happen to the checking account money and the equity loan? Specifically: * If they get bought up, will we lose anything? * If they simply fail, will we lose anything? * Does it make sense to yank our checking account? * What happens to your loan when your lender folds? (I know you don't get off the hook, I just want to know if there are action i

It it worth it for me to put an amount of money into an immediate fixed annuity and take out a loan to pay for tuition, or is it alright to just pay off my tuition with the money available to me. Hello, yet another question on tuition unlike those in the past. I realize the best person to speak to would be a financial planner, but I don't think the amount is enough to warrant an independent planner. I'm currently still in college and I have 34K in CD's that will mature very shortly. I have taken out a loan last year and I want to do everything I can do to prevent doing that again. I strongly want to minimize the amount of debt I graduate with.

A noobie question on credit scores! I know raising your score is partly done by reliable monthly payments on credit cards and loans - and people who are just starting out to build their scores, are often advised to get a card and begin to responsibly pay it off, to catch the notice of the reporting agencies. Would that mean that if you can pay off a large credit loan (e.g., in the realm of $2k) immediately instead of sticking to a monthly payment system, you're missing out on chances to further raise your score? Or does being able to pay off such an amount in full give you an equivalent gold star sticker? I wish this was something that didn't need asking, but my 'financial tutors' have been virtually nonexistent while growing up.

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.

Does a student loan in deferment count as debt for the purposes of figuring debt to income ratios in an FHA loan? We're looking at applying for an FHA home loan. I had a lender tell me that my student loans, currently in deferment until graduation in May, then in grace period for six months after that, would be counted against my debt to income ratio now. The lender says that in order to not have them counted against my debt to income ratio right now, I would have to provide documentation from the student loan lender that they would be deferred from one year of closing date of the mortgage. At best, I think I could only document the current deferment and subsequent grace period (six months after I graduate). As to applying for a forbearance, I don't think I can apply for that until I'm actually in repayment and even at that most lenders, apparently, only grant forbearances for 6 months at a time. It seems weird to count this as debt now, especially since my future income from my full time job which will kick in the future won't be counted.

My sister and her husband are in serious debt. My wife and I are going to act as their financial advisors to help them get it together. Can anyone recommend any programs/products we can look into? My wife is a financial genius and helped me get out of severe debt when we met. We need to do the same for my sister, KC. KC and her husband are totally on board and have seen the light once my wife laid all their bills out on paper for them. They are prepared to change their spending habits and work hard to get turned around. However, there are some challenges. The tally was basically this:

Is it worth refinancing my auto loan since the Fed made a cut? My current interest rate is 3.90%, can I do better than that, and if so, where?

Finance Filter: I have a second loan on my condo at a rate of 7.75%.. I did this to avoid PMI. I have the cash to pay it off.. 35k or so.. Is it likely a good idea to pay it off and forgo the tax breaks I'm getting on the interest, to avoid the 7.75% rate? I'll take all responses at face value.. I'd like non-professional advice before seeking a financial adviser.. Thank you

Finance Filter: I have a second loan on my condo at a rate of 7.75%.. I did this to avoid PMI. I have the cash to pay it off.. 35k or so.. Is it likely a good idea to pay it off and forgo the tax breaks I'm getting on the interest, to avoid the 7.75% rate? I'll take all responses at face value.. I'd like non-professional advice before seeking a financial adviser.. Thank you

Does this make sense? I'd like to use a credit card "convenience check" that is offering 1.99% APR for 12 months to pay down some of our home equity loan that is hovering at 8.25%. Assuming I am very diligent and do not miss any minimum monthly payments on the credit card, can't I just pay off the credit card balance in 12 months with the HELOC? That way I get 12 months of a lower interest rate? This seems so simple, yet I can't find good guidance via Google, etc.