Category Archives: Financial News & Updates

Thinking Of Losing Your House To A Foreclosure? Think Twice!

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Posted by Vedis the DMP Blogger on February 4, 2010 – 9:11 am
Filed under AKPK Debt Management Plan, Credit Card Debts, Financial News & Updates, Home Installment Loans

I used to think losing a house to foreclosure is a financial relief. Well, I was wrong! It is a relief only if there’s NO “deficiency judgment” or difference between what you owed on your mortgage and what the bank sold it for at auction.

There was once upon a time when my credit card debt was so unbearable that I did think of giving up my house. Fortunately, I didn’t. I got help from AKPK free debt management program to help put my financial back on track again.

Are you thinking of putting your home on a short sale or have you already lost your home to a foreclosure? If so, read You Lost Your House – But You Still Have to Pay. You’ll think twice.

(CNNMoney.com) — As terrible as it is to lose your house to foreclosure, at least it’s a relief to put your biggest financial headache behind you, right?

Wrong.

Former homeowners may still be on the hook if there’s a difference between what they owed on their mortgage and what the bank could sell it for at auction. And these “deficiency judgments” are ticking time bombs that can explode years after borrowers lose their homes.

It can even happen to people who got their bank to approve them selling their home for less than it is worth.

Vanessa Corey, for example, short sold her Fredericksburg, Va., home in April 2008. She and her husband built the house in 2004, but setbacks, both personal (divorce) and professional (housing bust), made it impossible for the real estate agent to keep her home. So she negotiated the short sale and thought that was the end of it.

“My understanding was that the deficiency was negotiated away,” she said. “Then, last November, I got a letter from a lawyer telling me I owed my lender $65,000. I had to declare bankruptcy. There was no way I could pay it.” Read More »

How To Make $300,000 Life Insurance Proceeds Last A Lifetime?

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Posted by Vedis the DMP Blogger on February 3, 2010 – 3:41 pm
Filed under Financial News & Updates, Insurance, Questions & Answers, Saving Money

I think I, the AKPK DMP blogger, am taking my financial aspect more seriously now than ever. I find myself reading tax, insurance, home mortgage, retirement fund and a few money topics which I previously hated a lot. ;-)

They still don’t interest me much, but I am doing my best to know more. Life is unpredictable, right? What if something happens to hubby? Touch wood. What should I do with his life insurance proceeds?

Speaking of life insurance, you really have to read this article – Making $300,000 Last A Lifetime. It gives you a general guideline on how to turn your retirement savings into income for life.

(Money Magazine) — Question: My mother-in-law, who’s in her early 60s, was recently widowed. She now has Social Security and approximately $300,000 from a life insurance policy to live on. She’s not comfortable taking on much, if any, risk but she does need to generate income from the life insurance proceeds. Any recommendations for how she should invest this money? –Chris, Atlanta, Georgia

Answer: Before you and your mother-in-law can even begin to think about investments, you first need to address two fundamental questions.

The first is how much income does your mother-in-law require to maintain an acceptable lifestyle for the rest of her life? If she’s in her early 60s, she could easily live another 30 years, if not longer, depending on her health and genes.

The second question is, how much of that income can she reasonably expect to withdraw from the $300,000 in life insurance proceeds?

Three hundred thousand bucks is a lot of moolah. But there’s a limit to how much lifetime income you can get from it — probably much less than most people think.

Making a retirement budget

Start with a pencil, paper pad and a calculator by going over her current outlays and then making reasonable assumptions about the future, such as how much different expenses might rise (such as health care) and which might decline or even disappear (paying off a mortgage other loan, perhaps). Read More »

How AKPK Debt Management Program Blogger Saves Money As Emergency Fund?

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Posted by Vedis the DMP Blogger on January 30, 2010 – 3:20 pm
Filed under AKPK Debt Management Plan, Credit Card Debts, Credit Cards, Debt Management Tips, Financial News & Updates, Free Debt Reduction Tips, Saving Money, Spending / Expenses

Question: My wife and I know we should have an emergency savings fund, but with one income we have nothing left to save after paying expenses.

But I’ve been thinking of a way to deal with this problem. We charge about $2,000 in monthly expenses to our credit cards, which we then pay in full each month.

My idea is this: Instead of paying off the cards every month, I’ll make only the minimum required payment and save the rest. Once I’ve accumulated a decent emergency fund, I would then begin paying down the cards. Do you think this is a good strategy? — N.G., California

Doesn’t this sound familiar to many people? It definitely sounds familiar to me. ;-)

There was once upon a time in 2007 that hubby and I were living on one income. Life was tough then because there’s so little income in hand, yet there were so many bills like car and home loan installments, term loans, and as many as 15 credit card payments waiting to be paid every month!

It’s very difficult to save for emergency fund after paying all the expenses because there was literally no money left at all!

But since hubby and I enrolled in AKPK debt management program and hubby started his full time teaching job, we have been able to save money as emergency fund.

If you are thinking of paying the minimum credit card payments and saving the rest as emergency fund until you have accumulated a decent amount of emergency fund to paying down the credit cards, well, it may/might never come true.

Financial experts say so. And I say so; I did what the reader above thought of doing and it didn’t work for me. It’s either you find extra money/income or cut down on expenses or do both if you want to save money as emergency fund.

I agree with Walter Updegrave, the author of the article of Big No-No for Building Emergency Savings that, “If you can’t save today because you have no money left after paying your expenses, how are you going to pay those expenses, plus come up with an extra $xxx a month to pay down the credit card balance you racked up to accumulate your emergency fund?”

I also concur with him that it’s more practical to spend less than you make or cut down your expenses to save money.

Well, the reality is that there is only one way to save — and that’s to spend less than you make. There are a number of ways to do that. You can go the “cut the latte” route and avoid relatively small daily expenditures that add up. You can create a budget and then go over it line by line, looking for specific areas to squeeze. You can try two techniques that I’ve advocated in the past, focusing on big-ticket items or employing strategies that can effectively fool you into being a better saver. Whatever works for you. But one way or another, you’re going to have to find a way to pare your spending.

… But I also know that borrowing to save is an oxymoronic concept that’s more likely to create problems than solve them.

A Must Read For Malaysian Credit Card Holders: ‘Those Bloody Banks, Credit Card Companies and Bank Negara!’

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Posted by Vedis the DMP Blogger on January 17, 2010 – 8:35 am
Filed under Credit Cards, Financial News & Updates

I, the AKPK DMP blogger, chanced upon this interesting article, ‘Those Bloody Banks, Credit Card Companies and Bank Negara!‘ by Fahri Azzat at loyaburok.com, at The Malaysian Insider.

You may have missed this article that relates how banks and credit card companies can be so unreasonable when it comes to credit card terms. Enjoy reading!

(Source) JAN 16 — Diana Chee Vun Hsai, like many of us owned a credit card. She had two. One from Citibank Berhad, the other from HSBC Bank Berhad. On 7 September 2008, HSBC called up her to alert her about her credit card being used. When she checked her purse, she discovered both her credit cards were missing. She notified both the credit card companies of the loss of her credit cards on the same day and lodged a police report at Dang Wangi police station about it the following day. She understandably thought that was the end of the matter. She was wrong.

On 16 September 2008, Citibank told Diana Chee Vun Hsai they were billing her for the unauthorized transaction of RM 1,859.01 done on 6 September 2008. She responded through her solicitors to inform Citibank that the limit of liability for a lost credit card was RM 250.00 as provided in clauses 15.1, 15.2 and 15.3 of the Bank Negara Guidelines BNM/RH/GLO-041-01 (“the BNM Guidelines”). Citibank’s lawyers replied pointing out to her that the terms of her credit card the crux of which is as follows:

“Our client imposes a duty on the cardholder to notify the loss one (1) hour prior to the unauthorized use and to provide proof of acting in good faith and exercising reasonable care and diligence to prevent such loss or theft of unauthorized use of the card before our client can exercise its discretion whether to resolve the liability or not. Such a clause is not in contravention of the Bank Negara guidelines.” (emphasis mine) Read More »

Top 3 Financial Worries For Malaysians – Living Cost, Salary & Personal Debt

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Posted by Vedis the DMP Blogger on January 15, 2010 – 8:42 am
Filed under AKPK Debt Management Plan, Credit Card Debts, Debt Management Programs, Financial News & Updates

Top 3 Financial Worries for MalaysiansAccording to a recent survey done by global payment firm Visa, cost of living, salary changes and personal debt are the top 3 financial concerns for Malaysians.

In the survey conducted between Aug 21 and Sept 23 last year, 69% of Malaysians said they were extremely concerned about the cost of living expenses while 62% and 59% were worried about salary changes and personal debt respectively.

“Malaysians were less worried about the value of their retirement fund and portfolio, and fluctuating interest rates,” the company said in a statement here yesterday.

However, 25% of those surveyed also said they were more confident about their personal financial situation compared to six months earlier although 52% felt there would be no change.

Only 23% indicated they were less confident than earlier.

Sixty-six per cent of Malaysians also said they were more concerned about the impact of the global financial crisis on the local economy.

The survey involved 5,520 respondents aged between 18 and 65 years, of whom 500 were from Malaysia.

The rest were from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.

Visa country manager Stuart Tomlinson said Malaysians were being practical during the current economic climate by focusing on managing their concerns, providing themselves with a level of security and peace of mind.

“For Malaysians, potential changes in salary levels are also of concern,” he said, adding that across the region, consumers were looking to see how they could manage their expenses, savings and job security, rather than macro-economic conditions such as exchange and interest rates.

As a credit-card-debt woman who has been in AKPK debt management program since October 2008, I no longer need to worry about my credit card and loan debts. Phew, no more harassing phone calls and legal notices from banks!

AKPK DMP Blogger Is Free From $50 Annual Service Tax Per Credit Card!

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Posted by Vedis the DMP Blogger on November 13, 2009 – 2:38 pm
Filed under AKPK Debt Management Plan, Credit Card Debts, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Debt Management Companies, Debt Management Programs, Financial News & Updates, PayPal Withdrawals

Am I considered lucky to be able to escape from the new RM50 service tax a year on every principal credit card and charge card since I am now in AKPK debt management programme? So is hubby :-)

Imagine how much annual service tax hubby and I had to pay if we still had the 15 credit cards!! 15 principal credit cards from 6 banks. Phew, it’s RM750!

According to financial analysts, it is predicted that at least 30% of the holders of 11 million cards in circulation who have more than one card will have to pay RM100 every year.

You know, the applications for new credit cards dropped by 80% following the Government’s announcement of the service tax starting 2010.

Don’t you think this new imposition is good to those who are thinking of applying credit cards? It scares them off and thus they carry no credit cards. No credit cards mean no credit card debts, right?

When there are no credit card debts, people will have no reason to turn to non-performing loans, short-term loans, personal loans, debt consolidation loans, AKPK debt management programs, or bankruptcy easily.

It’s also good to those of you who have stacks of credit cards; you are forced to reduce the number of cards you own. Having fewer credit cards means you have to cut down on spending, retail purchases and impulse buying.

Also, you get to learn to use cash and debit cards. As a credit-card-debt woman who is in AKPK’s debt management plan, I must say that I love using cash and debit card now.

I have had two debit cards, Public Bank Visa debit card and Tune Money Visa debit card. Both cards are not used for retail purchases. Noop. They are only used for collecting PayPal money from my online income.

Since PayPal has now allowed Malaysians to link their PayPal accounts to their Malaysian banks or overseas banks operating in Malaysia, I think I can totally stop using and renewing my Tune Money Visa debit card.

As for the Public Bank Visa debit card, I will keep on using as a backup for PayPal fund withdrawals.