Personal loans for for-profit school expenses may be a waste

Private, for-profit schools aren’t all created equal, and scholars should be persistent about any they may be considering. School often has to be funded with some unsecured loans of some sort. Private for-profit schools have higher loan default rates and clash with the authorities regularly. Some schools are great institutions and well worth considering. However, prospective scholars should check any out thoroughly before matriculating.

Indictment for Trump

CNN states the New York Lawyer General is investigating five companies which were for-profit universities. The small, for-profit university Donald Trump started a few years back, the former Trump University, is one of the schools involved. After the New York Department of Education said that this was not a real school, it was renamed the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative. The four some other industries are, according to the New York Times, the Career Education Corporation, Corinthian Colleges, Bridgepoint Education and Lincoln Educational Services. The corporations and schools are being investigated although there aren’t yet any charges filed.

School and state fight

Many for-profit universities have been getting the shaft from state and federal governments lately. Former scholars are not very happy about this. Donald Trump is currently being sued in California by students of the now Trump Entrepreneur Initiative because they say they were misled. Reuters states that Corinthian’s colleges in California, Florida, Georgia and Massachusetts are also under investigation. The Boston Globe states the Massachusetts Attorney General will investigate the Apollo group as well which is known as the Kaplan Career Institute, operated by the Washington Post company, and University of Phoenix. The stability of smaller private colleges is generally not strong either. They are quite unstable really. Students in Spokane, Washington were left with thousands in personel loans and no degree when Alpine College shut down.

Difficult to afford and extremely hard to pay for

Students have trouble deciding which school to go to. Typically, cost is a significant thing to consider. For-profit, private colleges could be incredibly costly. Reuters states that 15.2 percent of students who went to a for-profit university defaulted on student loans within a year in 2009, which is twice the 7.3 percent of students who defaulted after going to a public school. The rate was much lower for private, not-for-profit schools. That rate was only at 4.3 percent. Also, for-profit school scholars make up half of loan defaults. That’s a pretty high rate. Several people have accused for-profit universities of fraudulent advertising and of not preparing students well enough for the job industry, thus making it harder for them to meet their loan obligations. Schools may not be able to get federal loans for students if they have a default rate over 35 percent if the Department of Education gets its way.

Citations

CNN

money.cnn.com/2011/05/20/news/companies/trump_university/index.htm

New York Times

nytimes.com/2011/05/20/nyregion/trumps-for-profit-school-said-to-be-under-investigation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=education

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/education-forprofit-idUSN2028820820110520

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-education-idUSTRE74J55O20110520

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/43130397″>MSNBC

Boston Globe

http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-17/business/29552871_1_college-access-success-college-students-schools”

Great Britain sees a rise in cash advances

The amount of cash advances has increased considerably in Great Britain over the last month or so. The number of loans has grown sharply since the Financial institution Holiday at the beginning of May. The demand has increased by about 58 percent from what it was in this same period last month.

Increase in price continues

Many think that Great Britain’s economy could be predicted based on the boost in cash advances. According to Moneysupermarket.com, which is a product comparison site, the weekly expenditures for a working class family in Great Britain have risen by an alarming 54 pounds (close to $87) a week over the last six-month period.

Stagnant wages

There has been a huge struggle for working individuals since wages have been stagnant. At the same time, costs have been increasing quite a bit. About 8.5 million households would have a lot of problems without their primary source of income according to a Scottish Widows report. Financial stability is something only 25 percent of individuals would be confident with if this income were lost. At least there is that.

The Customer Protection Report from Scottish Widows also reported that almost half of the country’s families with children are reliant upon two salaries.

Measure the economy in installment loans

Moneysupermarket.com’s head of loans and debt Time Moss claims, “These products act as a barometer, giving a unique insight to the state of the nation’s finances.” Moss continues, “It’s no surprise to see the demand for payday loans rise so sharply in the current climate.”

Paying for cash advances or overdrafts

Getting an overdraft fee penalty is typically worse than these loans. This is what Moss explains despite their critics.

Decisions should be weighed carefully

When taking out a cash advance, make sure you are very careful and think about the decision. Installment loans can be costly if they aren’t paid back on time, and payday advance terms generally only last a few weeks.

Articles cited

My Finances

myfinances.co.uk/loans-and-credit/2011/05/17/payday-loans-rise-in-popularity-after-bank-holiday-spending

Payday Bank

paydaybank.co.uk/news/

Yorkshire Post

yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/business-news/demand_for_payday_loans_on_the_rise_1_3403086

Will small financial institutions sink beneath the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau waves?

The American Bankers Association has a bone to pick along with the CFPB, according to Investor’s Business Daily. Community banks and credit unions suspect over one thousand of their kind will cease to exist, thanks to what they see as over-regulation from the Dodd-Frank Act. Regulatory control unchecked – that’s what the ABA calls the big Dodd-Frank gun in the CFPB’s hands.

The new adjustment is coming

All U.S. Financial institutions should watch out since “change is coming” and they’ll have to follow new rules, according to interim chief of the CFPB, Elizabeth Warren. More than half of the Customer Financial Protection Bureau’s spending budget will be directed at supervision and enforcement, a fact Warren has used on multiple occasions to accentuate talk of the fervor with which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will defend the financial rights of United States consumers.

Future of banks not looking good

Many of the ABA representatives explained that the Dodd-Frank rules could be devastating to banks. Over 1,000 could go out of business before the end of the decade with the rules. Any information requested, in any format requested, must be given to the CFPB by banks. The resources taken to put this together could possibly be devastating to small banks. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will probably make an effort to figure out if discrimination is taking place by asking the banks to get even more information about a borrower’s demographics in order to stop predatory lending with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

According to Investor’s Business Daily, ABA Chairman Stephen explained that this is bad for credit unions and small community banks. They will make the loans larger banks won’t much of the time. It would be hard if small banks started to shut down. There would be fewer places to get capital. Wilson explains that customers will end up with higher rates and fees this way.

“If we tie up our capital system, it’s going to take money away from the people who need it to create jobs,” warned U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue.

Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hasn’t been picked yet

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not have a chairman still even though it is expected to launch on July 21. President Obama will probably nominate Warren although lawmakers are not so keen on the idea if they support the banking industry. Warren states that her goal is to make the CFPB “toothless” although Republicans are concerned too much power is being given to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In just two and a half years, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 changed sixteen rules. The Dodd-Frank Act will require more than 250 rule changes over several years.

Information from

American Bankers Association

aba.com/default.htm

Florida Realtors

floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=259538

Investor’s Business Daily

investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/572889/201105201812/1000-Small-Banks-May-Be-Shut-Down-Due-To-Dodd-Frank.htm

SEC

sec.gov/about/laws/soa2002.pdf

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.) fights for community banks and credit unions

youtube.com/watch?v=8yqmp_kIucQ

513 individuals crammed into Mexico semi-truck

Mexican authorities recently stumbled across two semi-trucks packed with 513 illegal immigrants, bound for the American border. Law enforcement in the Mexican state of Chiapas found the trucks at a security checkpoint using x-ray equipment. They found a ton of people packed together in extreme conditions, like sardines.

Finding human smugglers close to Guatemalan border before they enter

A small human smuggling operation was found by Mexican authorities. They found it near the Guatemalan and Mexican edge in the Chiapas state. MSNBC reports that there were two semi-trucks found, with X-ray equipment, with hundreds of people packed in them while driving through checkpoints near Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. Between the two trucks there were 513 people who were hungry, dehydrated and holding on for dear life to the cargo ropes that had been strung between the walls for them to keep themselves upright.

Immigrants not all from the same place

Those in the trucks were from different nations, not just one. Much of the people were from Guatemala; however, some were not. There were 6 from Nepal, one from japan, 1 from china, 12 from India, 47 from El Salvador and 32 that had come from Ecuador. There were 32 females and 4 children and the rest were male. The Mexican authorities are responsible for the humans being transferred while four smugglers tried to escape and were arrested, CNN states. The trucks only had air holes drilled into the top of the trailers, and the Chiapas lawyer general says the smugglers demanded $7,000 per person. The trucks were en route to Puebla, where the people would be transferred to different trucks headed for the U.S.. In January, a truck containing 219 migrants was discovered in the same region.

Using Mexico to get to the United States

To be able to the get the United States, several illegal immigrants will go to Mexico. According to Mexican cops, a find like this has not happened in a long time. BBC states that it was a fairly large find. Coyotes, or coyotaje, are what the human smugglers are known as. They get illegal immigrants across the edge for a payment. If there is an injury or abuse, migrants cannot do anything over it. According to the Christian Science Monitor, there were 72 migrants killed by the Zetas drug cartel in August last year while between April and September last year, 10,000 were kidnapped.

Information from

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/43073023/ns/world_news-americas/?GT1=43001

CNN

edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/05/17/mexico.migrants/index.html

BBC

bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13434589

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2011/0518/More-than-500-migrants-found-crammed-in-trailers-in-Mexico

Term life insurance swapped out by mixed policies

The nature of long-term care and life insurance plans has been quickly changing in these uncertain financial times. Today’s buyers are often reluctant to spend large amounts on items with benefits they’ll see much later, if ever. In order to counter this trend, the insurance industry is now offering hybrid policies which combine long-term care benefits with term life insurance.

Choosing the long term care might be good

Generally mixed life insurance policies utilize universal life, in which a portion of the death benefit might be used early to help pay for long-term care should it become necessary. These mixed policies have been available for a while but have recently been gaining popularity. Having two products in one is a great deal for some. Several consumers like hybrid products for this reason. It may never be necessary to get the long-term care. Still, the policy holder can get life insurance upon death.

Standard policies in decline

Gebworth Financial Inc., states that mixed policies doubled in sales by 2010. There has been, in just the last five years, a decrease of nearly 25 percent on traditional long-term-care insurance plants.

John Ryan is a Colorado-based broker. “Most people who purchase hybrid insurance aren’t getting it because they want life insurance,” he said. “They’re getting it because they need long-term-care insurance, and the sales pitch that you are able to get your money back no matter what is quite compelling,”

Retired class growing rapidly

About 69 percent of Americas turning 65 every single day will need long-term care eventually, according to Washington-based lobbying group for retirement homes, LeadingAge, with those numbers doubling by 2040.

The way to use hybrid policies

Several mixed policies are currently available. There’s a huge variation in them though. Typically an individual is given a cash-value life insurance policy with the choice to use it for long-term care benefits instead. Death benefit values will be reduced though if the long-term care benefits are used.

May not be the choice for you

A two-for-one product does seem nice to several individuals. There are a few things to consider though. With a combined product, you’ve to follow the rules strictly. Generally a hybrid product does not cover home care. It does not change for inflation either. The different long-term care accessible to be covered is typically specialized. It isn’t possible to predict needs for long-term care. Still, life insurance corporations make an effort to do this. It is generally more costly to get a mixed product than it is to just get a long-term care policy, although it is cheaper than getting both goods separately.

Read up on it

As with any large investment, the consumer needs to be cautious and well-informed when shopping for these products. An impartial financial adviser can help you. Get some advice.

Citations

Dail Finance

dailyfinance.com/2011/05/19/term-life-insurance-declines-as-hybrid-policies-gain-ground/

Elder Law Answers

elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=7812&Section=4&state=

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-18/insurers-pair-long-term-care-with-life-to-entice-older-buyers.html

OnDeck platform gives credit to small businesses

In business, there are big-idea startups that attract millions of dollars of funding. Many of the companies that we all use every day, however, aren’t a big idea. They’re the restaurants, boutiques, coffee shops, and hotdog carts that we use every day. OnDeck owners have a new chance to create a credit rating separate from their owners. This credit rating would supply a new opportunity for entrepreneurs to build or expand their business.

Small Businesses having difficulty getting loans

It can be difficult to qualify for a small company loan. Several financial institutions are wary of lending to companies without a credit history or business history. Businesses typically don’t like to do loans less than $100,000. The work involved in a 14-item business loan package just is not worth it. Financing could be secured by business owners with less than 25 employees as long as they use their personal credit. This could be dangerous since all the risk is there for the business owner and is tied to personal accounts.

OnDeck provides a business solution

OnDeck is interlinked and Cloud-based. It can help lenders get the financial reports they need. Businesses input their business profile, link the profile to their online banking, accounting and credit-card processing accounts. That information is mixed with industry data, tax data and regional information to create a full financial profile, prospectus and business credit report. This system, five years in the making, creates the kinds of reports that large companies use to qualify for choice loans. For loans between $5,000 and $150,000, the report hopes it can streamline information for banks.

Small Businesses have more resources

OnDeck is not the only resource for small company credit even though it is helpful. A new government partnership called StartUp The United States aims to provide discounts, resources and information to help small business owners get their business going or growing. The SBA also provides loan guarantees, counseling and information for small business owners. More resources are accessible for any entrepreneur that wants one.

Articles cited

Tech Crunch

techcrunch.com/2011/05/19/smart-lending-on-deck-gives-your-startup-a-credit-score-so-you-can-secure-a-loan/

Startup America Partnership

startupamericapartnership.org/

Cadillac's all new XTS will replace two previous models

Cadillac plans to replace both the DTS and STS car models with the new XTS, due out next year. The date for production to begin has yet to be announced. GM first wants to sell off the DTS and STS models still in stock on its dealer’s showroom floors.

Depending on concept vehicle unveiled last year

Cadillac’s new flagship, the XTS, is situated on the Platinum concept vehicle shown at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. The automobile will be built on a stretched form of GM’s front-wheel-drive Epsilon II platform (which underpins automobiles as diverse as the Chevy Malibu and the Buick LaCrosse) and will be built at GM’s Grand River plant in Lansing, Mich.

Perfect, comfortable and convenient automobile

The production model will apparently be slightly narrower than the concept car and feature a slightly longer rear overhang. Both the front and rear seat passengers will experience connectivity and infotainment features. Power in the auto will come from a direct injection. GM’s 3.6 liter V-6 will be in there. It will hopefully be a very gentle ride. That is the plan with the electronically controlled shock absorbers on it.

If the production model remains true to the concept, the XTS could come with an all-wheel-drive option, various V-6 power plants and potentially a plug-in hybrid drive line. There’s a chance than an 8-cylinder engine option will be added. That is just a rumor for now.

BMW v Cadillac

In an attempt to rival MNW’s 5-series and the Mercedes E-class, Cadillac is replacing the DTS and STS models with the entry-level CTS. This in turn will make room for the new, smaller ATS sedan (which is slated to arrive in the summer of 2012) to go up against the BMW C-class and the 3-series.

Old leaves so new can stay

The STS is not being made by Cadillac already. In the next 3 or four weeks, the last of the DTS models will be built. Before the XTS replacement is built, Cadillac has plans to sell the 900 STS models and 3,000 DTS models left.

Information from

Car and Driver

caranddriver.com/features/10q1/2012_cadillac_xts-feature

Autoblog

autoblog.com/2011/03/11/spy-shots-latest-cadillac-xts-prototype-caught-inside-and-out/

Automotive.com

blogs.automotive.com/6737284/miscellaneous/saying-goodbye-to-cadillac-sts-dts-sedans/index.html

Waiting over as Ron Paul announces he will be running for president

Congressman Ron Paul has just declared that he will run for president in 2012. It will be the 3rd time he has run for election to the highest office in the land. Many consider the obstetrician-turned-politician a highly influential figure among tea party groups and candidates. Ron Paul failed to capture the 2008 Republican nomination, and ran in 1988 as a Libertarian candidate.

3rd time is the charm, says Libertarian-leaning Congressman

Nobody knows what will occur with Ron Paul. He could result in being a presidential candidate that wins. Texas Representative Paul is seventy five years old and tends to be pretty Libertarian. He announced his plan to run for the Republican party candidate while on “Good Morning The United States.” He was in an interview during this, the Los Angeles Times states. This is the third time Ron Paul will be involved in running for President. This occurred in 1988 and 2008 also.

How the tea party feels over it

Tea party groups consider Dr. Ron Paul a “godfather” in several ways. Several call him “Dr. No” as a joke. This is because he has been unwilling to vote for anything that isn’t in the constitution, the Christian Science Monitor states. Some of the entities he considers unconstitutional contain Social Security, Medicare and the Internal Revenue Service. Other positions have put him totally at odds with mainstream conservatives. For instance, he wrote a blog post for CNBC in which he advocates for decriminalizing cannabis. He is also a constant critic of aggressive foreign policy and the military-industrial complex. Paul is notoriously antagonistic to the Federal Reserve, which he wants to get rid of, according to Reuters.

Next presidential elections he will be 77

In November 2012, Paul will be quite old. He will be older than the average death age in the U.S. Currently 75, he will be 77 in Nov of next year. Still, he feels believes winning the Republican primary is “an absolute possibility many, several times better” than at previous times. Young individuals like Paul over Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrinch and Mitt Romney. He also does great with fundraisers. He elevated $35 million for his 2008 presidential bid. He also ran in 1988 as the presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party.

Information from

Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-ron-paul-president-20110513,0,626706.story?track=rss

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-usa-campaign-paul-idUSTRE74C2XB20110513

CNBC

cnbc.com/id/36267220/End_Insanity_Of_The_War_on_Drugs_Start_With_Decriminalizing_Marijuana_at_The_Federal_Level

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2011/0513/Election-101-Ron-Paul-sets-sights-on-2012.-Ten-things-to-know-about-him/Why-is-he-running-again

Is May 21, 2011, the time of the Rapture?

End of the world and apocalypse forecasts have existed for as long as humankind has had religious beliefs to gently (or not so gently) suggest how they should think and behave. May 21, 2011, will reportedly be the day of the Rapture. According to WFMY 2 News in Greensboro, N.C., there are even billboards advertising the event.

‘The Bible guarantees it’

Judgment Day can be May 21, 2011 if you ask Family Radio network in Oakland, Calif., founder Harold Camping. He has put that individuals should “cry mightily unto God” on several billboards. On May 21, from 8:30 to 10 p.m., the Family Radio affiliates will broadcast the program. There are over 150 affiliates around the country to do this.

Camping believes May 21, 2011, will be the Rapture, when true Christians are gathered together in the heavens to meet with Jesus Christ. Five months later on Oct 21, 2011, Camping believes God will destroy the Earth and the universe entirely. The last time Camping forecasted these events would kick off was in Sept of 1994.

Hard to determine when Doomsday will appear

Harold Camping isn’t unlike the many before him who forecasted the end of the world. They have all used the Bible to figure it out. End of the world is decided depending on the belief that seven days is equal to seven millennia where mathematical calculations are needed. Camping used the Hebrew calendar to determine when 7,000 years from the day God told Noah judgment would be is. He decided it was May 21, 2011.

“The Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment,” says Camping on FamilyRadio.com.

Four memorable doomsday prediction failures, Caucasian blend

For doomsday pleasure, here are four of many notable apocalypse reservations which were broken:

The Prophet Hen of Leeds, 1806

Supposedly, there was a hen that laid eggs saying “Christ is coming” in 1906 in the English town of Leeds. Closer inspection of the egg-laying process bucked this disaster.

Guessing April 23, 1843 for the Millerites

Doomsday was anticipated in a one year span by New England farmer Miller. He thought someplace between March 21, 1843 and 1844 would be when the ending of the world came. His followers, the Millerites, helped him figure out an exact date. This is how April 23, 1843 came about. Followers sold much of what they owned. They didn’t even sell it for much money. Eventually, some formed the Seventh Day Adventists. They worked together to do this.

End comes from Halley’s Comet in 1910

In 1881, Astronomers decided that 1910 would be the end. This would be due to a tail of Halley’s Comet the Earth would pass through. Stories about mass extinction via poison gas made the front page of the New York Times, but by 1910, scientists knew better.

Heaven’s Gate, 1997

There was a mass suicide with the Heaven’s Gate cult. There were 39 members that passed away. The alien spaceship was anticipated to be coming in 1997 when really it was the Hale Bopp comet. Marshall Applewhite as the Heaven’s Gate leader told everybody that leaving their bodies would be the only way to get to paradise.

Citations

FamilyRadio.com

familyradio.com/index2.html

LiveScience

livescience.com/7926-10-failed-doomsday-predictions.html

WFMY News 2

bit.ly/ksDgPL

Wikipedia entry for Harold Camping

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping

Doomsday and apocalypse (Beware: Contains scripture)

youtube.com/watch?v=djH4NZo78Rw