Kadence Finances Blog

Everyone wants to be debt free since debt is a curse. When your debts start getting out of control, nothing can be worse than that. Accumulating excessive debt can become a hindrance in your path towards debt independence. This is the time when you need debt management tips or the assistance of a financial advisor to get out of debt. You would be surprised to know that life insurance policies can help you handle and pay off your existing debts. How is it possible? The following details would help you understand.

How life insurance policies help you manage your debts?

There are some life insurance policies that can help you in managing your debts efficiently. You can tap your life insurance, borrow from it or go for a life insurance settlement:

1) Borrowing from your life insurance policy

If you have a whole life insurance policy, you can borrow from it if it has already accumulated sufficient cash value. However, you can’t borrow more than 90% of the accumulated cash value.

2) Life insurance settlement

Life insurance settlement is essentially an expression that refers to the selling of a life insurance policy in return of a one time cash payment. Because of financial crunches, the policyholder might opt to sell his life policy to a third party. In this way, the ownership rights are transferred to the buyer. The buyer gives him a lump sum payment against getting the ownership rights.

3) Tapping life insurance

Obtaining a cash surrender loan is a good option if you have a whole life policy with adequate cash value. It is basically a dollar amount that the policyholder receives when the policy is terminated.

Now, how these above mentioned techniques help you in a debt management plan? These techniques can help you fund your debt management plan (DMP) where you need to send a monthly payment to the debt management company. The company subsequently distributes the payment among your creditors. This would help you alleviate your debt burden and also save some money on interest.

It is also recommended that you know money management skills and design a sensible budget in order to ensure that you can save from your income and use it to pay off your balances due.

Should All Home Loan Takers Be Provided Aid?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_on_bi_ge/us_government_loans_mortgage_help

The Obama administration has over the past eight months or so come out with a slew of programs to provide assistance to the beleaguered home owner who has been struggling to meet his or her mortgage payments and is on the verge of foreclosure.
Last month, a fresh program to provide assistance to those whose loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration was launched. Out of an estimated 850,000 such borrowers who have missed at least one mortgage payment or are in foreclosure, this program aims to assist only 45,000. Is this fair? I would think so. It is important that the agencies which support these programs are not made to bleed so profusely, that they in turn need to apply for government aid.

US Regulators Began Wireless Inquiry

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125140008383364437.html

US regulators have initiated an inquiry into the functioning of the country’s wireless industry and finding ways to improve the services to the consumers. The investigation initiated by the Federal Communications Commission will cover a wide variety of issues such as the fees charged from the customers to break contracts or the contracts between the wireless carriers and the cell phone manufacturers. The government intends to seek all the relevant information from the industry players and than analyze it to introduce new rules. The FCC aims to provide the consumers with adequate information to help them decide on which contract to sign or not besides helping them compare prices.

Are Banks Today Any Healthier?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090829/ap_on_bi_ge/us_meltdown101_bank_failures

Some of the biggest headline grabbing and defining moments in the ongoing recession were the news of bank failures. Big and small, they all crumbled under the pressure of loans gone bad.

It is now being said, that signs of recovery are visible, at least to some. So are banks too feeling better now? It does not look that way. This is because the banking sector’s performance lags behind other indicators of the health of the economy. As against indexes like consumer confidence which immediately indicate a drop or an increase as soon as there is a change in the situation on the ground, it takes a while for economic factors to display their effects on the banking sector’s confidence.

Fresh Jobless Claims Decline By More Than Expected

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080600945.html?hpid=topnews

The number of people filing for first time jobless benefits declined by a higher than expected level in the latest week ended August 1, according to the latest data released by the Labor Department. The initial jobless claims declined by 38,000 to 550,000 while the four week moving average that smoothens the impact of one time or seasonal factors declined by 4,750 to 560,000, the lowest level this year. The latest data has not been impacted by the distortions related to the auto industry layoffs. Although the figures raise hopes that the rate of job cuts is slowing down, the overall unemployment levels remain high and are expected to touch a 25 year high of 10% soon.

US To Announce New Guidelines To Help Borrowers

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124891434984092191.html

The Obama administration is expected to unveil new guidelines aimed at helping homeowners in getting Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages. The guidelines implement changes introduced by the congress to bring FHA’s loan modification program in line with the US government’s foreclosure prevention plan. The US government had announced in March this year, provision of financial incentives to mortgage companies for reducing their loan payments to levels, affordable to their customers. As per the FHA plan, mortgage services can reduce the amount of the principal on which loan payments are to be made by 30% to bring down the monthly payments to affordable levels. The loan modification is available to borrowers after they one loan payment. The program is aimed at reducing the foreclosure related losses on loans insured by the government.