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sheghan's Blog http://www.sheghan.com Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:30:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 en Five Things Your Car Insurance Company Doesn’t Want You To Know http://www.sheghan.com/five-things-your-car-insurance-company-doesnt-want-you-to-know/ http://www.sheghan.com/five-things-your-car-insurance-company-doesnt-want-you-to-know/#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:26:50 +0000 sheghan http://www.sheghan.com/five-things-your-car-insurance-company-doesnt-want-you-to-know/ By Daren Singh

When you’re looking for the right auto insurance plan, it’s hard to tell which companies are helping you get the best car insurance quote and deals, and which ones are overcharging for their services. The good news is there are hundreds of car insurance companies to choose from; you can get dozens of offers, compare insurance company ratings, and find out which insurance company can get you the best rate.

The bad news is, many auto insurance companies don’t disclose their application process in detail, and may be ranking and rating you to raise your auto insurance quote. Knowing which auto insurance companies can get you the best deal involves research, exploring car insurance news, and knowing when to shop around. Here are just five things your car insurance company doesn’t want you to know:

1. The model of your car affects your insurance rate. Few auto insurance companies won’t tell you exactly how they calculate their car insurance quote and rates, and most rely on a grading and ranking scale for different makes and models. This largely depends on the safety and reliability of your car; if a car is at risk for theft or has a low safety record, your car insurance quote is likely to be much higher than average. The best way to avoid overpaying for car insurance with this in mind is to ask about the range for your vehicle. If you’re in the market to purchase a car, you can also find out which cars are considered to be the most expensive in your area.

2. They can cancel your auto insurance during the ‘binding period.’ The first 30-60 days with your car insurance company is a special time where they will review your account and watch for any claims you file. This is a critical time where the auto insurance company can cancel your policy for almost any reason. State laws vary on how long this binding period is, and each insurance company works under different guidelines on regulations on what is acceptable during this period – and what isn’t.

3. You won’t always get the whole amount if your car is totaled. The collision policy on your car insurance can very considerably depending on auto insurance provider, and not all companies will cover the total value of your car. Some insurance companies only offer complete reimbursement for specific cars – knowing if your car qualifies beforehand is an important item to consider when you’re trying to make the right choice.

4. They only work with select body shops. Many auto insurance companies work with only a few body repair shops, and you’ll be required to visit these shops if you want reimbursement. If you go to an ‘out of network’ body shop, there’s a good chance you’ll have to pay for most of the repairs yourself. It’s a good idea to make sure the body shop you prefer, or one that’s in your area, is covered by your car insurance provider.

5. Your credit report has a lot of weight in calculating your car insurance quote. Few people realize that their credit rating has an influence on their premium and final auto insurance quote. Making sure your credit report is clean and clear of errors is important when applying for car insurance, so you may need to contact the credit bureau to check for errors before submitting your application

Daren Singh writes for http://www.myinsurancedeals.com specializing in Insurance.

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Home Mortgages Calculators And Your Financial Future http://www.sheghan.com/home-mortgages-calculators-and-your-financial-future/ http://www.sheghan.com/home-mortgages-calculators-and-your-financial-future/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:21:53 +0000 sheghan http://www.sheghan.com/home-mortgages-calculators-and-your-financial-future/ When you need to find out what type of mortgage you need, it is a good idea to use home mortgage calculators. When looking for a mortgage calculator, finding one on the internet will help. Of course you can re-visit algorithms and formulas, but that may not be territory you want to go into when deciding something as important as this. More important is the details of your mortgage that you will simply enter into the computer.

Search sites that give you options are the best way to find a mortgage calculator. Multiple search site results are the best to use. If you choose something that ends with .com or .net you will generally be using a commercial website. If you are looking for something that gives you just the information without bias you will want do use .edu (education) or .gov (government) websites.

Commercial websites often have related advertisements that pop up while you are viewing the material. Commercial sites are focused on offering sales of items related to what you are using the site for. This can be helpful, but the calculator is what you want to focus on.

Basic information is best found at websites run by educational institutions, non-profit sites and government sites. Being able to use the calculators without pop-up advertisements trying to sell you something may be easier. Another plus is extra links will not appear as you are working.

How much you are going to borrow, your interest rate and length of time you will repay are all that is needed to put into a basic calculator. It is important to know what type of loans you will use: fixed rate, adjusted rate or balloon payment options are available. This will help you find out how much you will pay each month.

Pie charts and graphics are sometimes included in advanced calculators if you want to look at things like how the equity will build. You can also use calculators that will show you the results of using different mortgage types that will fit your financial picture.

Your monthly payment will be the main goal of using a mortgage calculator. Paying your loan monthly based on which mortgage you use will allow you to pay off your loan in the years you selected. Another plus associated with using the calculator means you will know exactly how much money you will be spending for all of the interest plus the total loan amount.

Not limiting your search is one of the most important things to keep in mind when using home mortgage calculators. Being blasted with low rate choices might trick you into a making a decision that will be detrimental in the long run. How your mortgage is calculated and learning about how interest is charged will give you a clear picture. The foundation of your financial future will be built on your mortgage choice.

By: Adam Hefner

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Benefits Of Commercial Mortgage http://www.sheghan.com/benefits-of-commercial-mortgage/ http://www.sheghan.com/benefits-of-commercial-mortgage/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:17:06 +0000 sheghan http://www.sheghan.com/benefits-of-commercial-mortgage/ Whether it is about small to big projects which requires small scale finance or 100% development finance, the development finance UK can provide you funds to make your venture successful. This is true not just for the needed residential development finance but also for commercial development finance. However, not all businesses will need 100% development finance in acquiring commercial property or any funding for commercial property development. Arrangements are usually dependent on the type of industry, the purpose of funding, and the capability of the investor to support the finance.

Commercial mortgage is one tool that can be arranged from development finance UK. When it comes to keeping a business going in the right direction or establishing new business ventures, commercial mortgages are extremely useful ways of generating equity to ensure continued success in your the kind of business you’re in. There are many benefits in using commercial mortgages. One is that it can raise money for working capital or an injection of cash flow. Another is that it offers the opportunity to consolidate expensive short term finance. Commercial mortgages can also increase profitability through refurbishments, improving or expanding a business property. The repayments for commercial mortgages may be similar to rental repayments therefore it not necessary to budget additional property expenditure or any increase in rent. And lastly, but not the least, the interest on business mortgages is generally tax deductible.

 Knowing these benefits, commercial mortgages may be the right option for your property acquisition especially if you are just starting out in your business venture. And instead of renting from commercial properties, dealing with brokers for development finance UK will go you options to get affordable mortgage arrangement.

By: Cherry Bo

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Indy Mac Meltdown…what It Means To Construction To Perm Loans http://www.sheghan.com/indy-mac-meltdown%e2%80%a6what-it-means-to-construction-to-perm-loans/ http://www.sheghan.com/indy-mac-meltdown%e2%80%a6what-it-means-to-construction-to-perm-loans/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:09:39 +0000 sheghan http://www.sheghan.com/indy-mac-meltdown%e2%80%a6what-it-means-to-construction-to-perm-loans/ On day 2 of the Indy Mac meltdown, customers in California had lined up at midnight outside local branches waiting for the bank to open to withdraw their money. Police were needed to control the crowds.

Federal Deposit Insurance protects any account up to $100,000, or $250,000 if it’s a retirement account.

Anything over $100,000 should simply be put in different banks, with no more than $100,000 in any one bank. And federal regulators say banks being taken over are still a rare occurrence.

I am amazed at some people who put more than $100,000 in one account and will lose those monies because the FDIC only insures $100,000.

IndyMac has been bleeding deposits ever since Sen. Charles Schumer of New York questioned its viability June 27. Over the next 11 days, depositors withdrew $1.3 billion, forcing its closure on Friday by the Office of Thrift Supervision. While some blamed Schumer for starting a run on the bank, Schumer blamed IndyMac for making ridiculous loans and regulators for looking the other
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Now New Yorkers are starting to worry.

Shares in regional banks and thrifts also plunged on Monday, partly in reaction to IndyMac and partly on fears that bank earnings, which come out over the next few weeks, could be worse than previously expected.

The biggest loser was Washington Mutual, down 34.7 percent. Wachovia, National City, Regions Financial and Sovereign Bancorp - all among the nation’s largest 25 banks and thrifts by assets - fell 14 to 16.5 percent each.

The FDIC tried to calm down the situation by stating the following.
Work with borrowers

“We will evaluate them on a case-by-case basis,” says FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray. “Our goal is to work with borrowers who want to stay in their homes. We will aggressively pursue loan modifications that are long-term and sustainable for borrowers facing difficulty.”

FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair has been pushing lenders to modify more loans for struggling borrowers who want to stay in their homes.

Other borrowers are expected to continue repaying their loans to IndyMac as usual.

However, “if they have a loan and uninsured money at the bank, they can use the uninsured money to repay all or a portion of their loan,” FDIC spokesman David Barr says.

The bank’s 33 branches in Southern California remain open under FDIC supervision.

IndyMac also had about 90 loan offices around the country, including one in San Ramon, Barr says. IndyMac shut most of those offices early last week, and the FDIC does not plan to reopen them.

Normally, when a bank or thrift fails, the FDIC finds a healthy institution to take it over. The bank closes on a Friday and reopens on Monday as a branch of the healthy institution. That didn’t happen this time. IndyMac reopened as a new bank, but under federal supervision.

“Generally, the larger banks are handled this way,” Barr says.

The FDIC still plans to seek a buyer for all or parts of IndyMac.

IndyMac also owned Financial Freedom, one of the oldest and largest reverse-mortgage lenders.

Is your money safe in the bank? Is this another S & L crisis in the making?

By: F. Lanni

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Online Car Scams http://www.sheghan.com/online-car-scams/ http://www.sheghan.com/online-car-scams/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:20:01 +0000 sheghan http://www.sheghan.com/online-car-scams/ buying-a-car.jpgBuyers beware! Purchasing a used car online can be a daunting task these days. For every legitimate website that really does provide useful services and processes, there are multiple sites promising similar services that are complete ripoffs. The problem is that many of these ripoff sites are exact copies of the legitimate sites. The idea is to confuse the consumer into feeling secure. If the sight looks legit the company must be legit, right? Wrong. Let ‘ s take a look at the scams prevalent today in the world of online used car buying, and examine how they work.

Imitation is the Sincerest Cut of Pumping up

To the lone, imitation does recurrently equal towering praise, matched if corporal is annoying to some degree. To websites legitimately selling used cars, and to sites offering services homologous for impostor protection and escrow, imitation can close over spot for consumers. In that unethical owing to actual is, real happens all the point. A uppermost problem in the online community is humans copying legitimate websites, therefrom using the nickname autograph and site structure of the legitimate website to income consumer positiveness and climactically scam them out of their insolvable - earned long green.

The scam works something related this. The criminal stimulated in footing up the artificial site will register the IP directions unbefitting a stolen personality, or conceivably aligned the identity of a deceased exclusive. The host that is providing the domain alias has no ace movement for checking the complete validity of the person and their actual personality. The Internet is smartly plenty first-rate of a hiding site for criminals to grab them all. Then the discipline place name is issued and dump we vigor. The criminal so ofttimes proceeds to plan a site that is similar to a legitimate, chipper - admitted biz site. Most of the pages, the pictures; all the bells and whistles of the actual site are the duplicate.

Beware the Fake Sloping

Consequently how make ready these criminals all told trail traffic to their fabricated website? Admirable interrogation, but the answer is fairly no sweat. For used cars and car escrow services, they accomplish sound through fake vehicle listings and follow - up emails. The crook copies the photos, VIN and description of a real used car for sale and creates a false copy of that car for sale at a below - market price. That fake listing is the lure to get you interested. The fake listing is put on major websites like AutoTrader, Ebay, Cars. com, Craigslist and others. Buyers are drawn in by the low price and typically contact the seller via email. Boom - the criminal now has your email address.

As we all know, our personal emails float around like there is no tomorrow. Just last week I received an email letting me know that I had won the British Lottery. ” Sweet! ” I thought - I don ‘ t even remember playing! Obviously it was a scam, but I use that to illustrate that my email address and your email addresses are out there. Way out there. So these scammers send out emails, and lots of them.

For used cars, the crooks typically create a fake escrow or shipping service. When you inquire about that cheap car, the crooks will send you more photos, more detail, whatever you want ( remember, they stole all of the information from a real listing ). They just want to get you interested enough to use their fake service. The con artist will send you an email with a link to the website of this fake escrow or shipping service. They want you to believe that their fake website is the real thing. If it looks real, you are more likely to send money or provide personal information.

Often, emails from the crooked seller will contain service descriptions, testimonials, screen shots of the fake website, and a link that will take you to the fake website. Many times the link takes the duped consumer straight to a form, with questions asking basic personal information and also questions to determine what services they may be interested in.

The ” Follow Up ”

A few minutes or hours later, another email is generated to the consumer. Getting this second email often falsely eases the mind of the recipient, as many less sophisticated ripoff sites just try to get you to the site once and you never hear from them again. These criminals I write about are more advanced, and they know the mind of the consumer.
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The second email may be somewhat personalized, using the consumer ‘ s name, and also providing instructions on what to do to secure the services of interest from the survey filled out on the website upon first visit. An example is a site offering an escrow service for online car purchases. The escrow service is one that will act as an intermediary to hold an initial payment on a car until you the consumer actually receives the car you are purchasing. Maybe it is $1000, maybe it is $5000, depending on the car price and the amount requested by the seller. These fake sites often tell the reader in the email that the first transaction made with the website must be through Moneygram or another commonly known method of moving money from your bank account to the site ‘ s escrow account for holding. Even bank wires, which used to be a safe way to transfer money, are now used by these crooks. They illegally access bank accounts through stolen identities. Since, at this point, everything about the site and the method to send money seems legitimate the consumer will not hesitate to send the deposit in good faith.

This is the last time the unwitting consumer will see his or her money, as well as the last time the site will initiate any type of communication. Usually, the consumer grows frustrated or gets concerned about the lack of correspondence. Deciding to take action, the consumer calls the service phone number on the website, if a number is even listed. Sometimes the number listed is the number for the real company, which of course will have no record of any transaction or any record of the person that made the transaction. As bad as the person at the real company may feel about the situation, there is nothing they can do to help.

Another tip regarding phone numbers: If you call a number from a website and you hear several clicks before the ringing begins, the call is being redirected to a different number. This is often the case with numbers shown on the fake websites. If you do reach the legitimate company, there will be nothing they can do for you other than to sympathize with your situation. While that is nice, it ‘ s not going to help you get your money back!

It comes down to this - if you are referred to an escrow or shipping company by a car seller, it is a good idea to call the number listed, speak with a representative, and request information to be sent to you, with the conversation referenced in the email message or mail correspondence. You can also use online resources to find services that provide a list of real escrow companies and known fake ones.

Possible Recourse

Oftentimes these scams originate in another country, making it even tougher for US law to crack down on them. The FBI, through their Internet Crime Complaint Center ( ” IC3 ” ) created a website to accept and track complaints relating to Internet fraud. Their website registered over 200, 000 complaints in 2006 alone. If you are a victim of Internet fraud, file a complaint on the IC3 website, and provide as much detail as possible about your encounter.

ICANN, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a not - for - profit organization created in 1998 to help keep the Internet secure and stable. However, even ICANN states on their own website that they do not control Internet content, cannot stop spam, and do not deal with Internet access. In short, even they will not be of much assistance to you should you find yourself the victim of a scam similar to what has been discussed here. It can cost as much as $3500 to file a formal complaint with ICANN, which is a hefty amount, especially if you have just lost money. On top of this, a court order is often needed to have a site removed from the online community, but even a court order may be of no use if the identity used to start the website is stolen or belongs to a deceased individual. If you are unable to locate the person who committed the fraud, no recourse may be available.

Securing Your Online Purchase

The bottom line is to do your homework. You simply cannot trust everything that you see online. Ask for references from friends who have used online services to purchase vehicles. Contact the business before you use them, and ask them for all of the phone numbers for the business, plus a physical address. Verify the physical address ( visit them if feasible ) and do diligent research. If a company is running a scam, odds are you aren ‘ t their first target or first victim. Look for blogs, online forums, or reviews that may alert you to the same scam that just landed in your inbox. The real companies are suffering too, as often their name is dragged through the mud because their site has been copied and illegally used to bilk people out of thousands of dollars. Find a trusted company, look for the signs of a ripoff described above, and avoid your own horror story when it comes to purchasing your next car online.

By: a.anies

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