It appears that the latest political football is the interest rate on student loans. The loan program in the news this week is the Stafford subsidized loan program. The government guarantees the repayment of these loans which are made by private lenders. In the case of the subsidized version of the Stafford, the government funds the cost of bringing the interest rate down as well. The current interest rate on these loans is 3.4% but may be doubled to 6.8% if the government interest subsidy is not renewed by July 1. The interest is paid entirely by the government while... Read more →

I was listening to a talk radio show a couple of weeks ago and heard an ad for a company offering consumers the service of auditing their mortgage. I was not aware of such a practice so I became curious. A Google search for "mortgage audit" brings up nearly 100,000 results. Mortgage auditing firms will put your mortgage under a microscope to look for deficiencies such as incomplete documentation and/or legal disclosure, failure to accurately account for your payments and interest charges, and if the mortgage was recorded properly and if sold transferred correctly. Why Get A Mortgage Audit? These... Read more →

One of the silver linings in this tough economy has been that the cost of rental housing has been very affordable nationwide. The bad news is that this seems to be fading quickly. Recent statistics are showing double digit increases in rentals nationwide. Of course, prices seem to be going up on everything right now so this is no surprise. Whether it is the cost of food, gas, clothing, inflation is taking hold. The Federal Reserve has been artificially propping up the economy for at least three years by increasing the money supply. This is really starting to show up... Read more →

Raising capital has historically been a very complicated process filled with legal landmines. As a result, only large companies go through the red tape and legal costs to bring in investors to help finance their ventures. A new law aims to change this and make raising capital easier for small businesses. Imagine that you had 20 friends that each wanted to invest $10,000 in a new business that you planned to launch. With $200,000 of working capital there are a lot of options that you could pursue. You might think that all of this could take place at your kitchen... Read more →