Proof of Identity

Most lenders of traditional and online loans will not loan money to individuals if those applicants cannot provide some sort of proof of their identity. This means you must have a valid government issued identification of some type. Even something as simple as a driver’s license will be sufficient.

Proof of Residence

Many lenders require that you be able to prove that you do in fact live where you say you live. This can often be verified by providing the lender with a copy of a recent utility bill or the contact information for a landlord. Having a verifiable residence is an indication of stability, something that lenders tend to desire when it comes to lending anyone money.

Proof of Income

Demonstrating that you have the ability to repay the loan is extremely important. To that end, providing verification of employment or documentation that confirms other streams of income will be part of the application process. Provide legal documents such as employment check stubs, child support payments, dividend payments or any other documentation that proves you have consistent income that can be used to repay your debt. Even short-term lending arrangements, such as payday and similar types of online loans, will require verification of income before the loans can be approved.

Credit Ratings and Scores

Lenders not only want to make sure you have enough money coming in to honor your debt, but that you are up to date on your current obligations. For this reason, lenders will often order credit reports from at least two of the major credit reporting agencies. A great deal of attention will be given not only to your credit score but also any positive and negative feedback that current and former creditors have submitted to the agencies. For this reason, it’s a good idea for the applicant to order copies of his or her reports ahead of time and go over them carefully. If any data on the reports is outdated or incorrect, steps should be taken to update the reports before applying for any loan.

With so many loan options today, it is sometimes confusing to know exactly how to prepare before submitting a loan application. Check with lenders in advance, since most will provide a breakdown of the information required as well as any supporting documentation. Taking the time to assemble the right data in advance means there are no delays in considering the merits of your application and receiving an answer. Assuming you do meet all the lender’s criteria, the application will be approved and the borrower can begin to use the proceeds from the loan for the intended purpose.

I have a friend who is a Six Sigma, black belt Ninja for a fortune 300 company here in Michigan.  My understanding is that his job is to dive deep into many different areas of the company, seek to understand, and then to offer insights and perspectives to improve those areas if he can.

When I asked him to give an overview of his process for trying to express an opinion, and improve upon, areas of a company that he may not fully understand…his answer struck me…

“I JUST LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THE WORK.”

He went on to explain that he has observed over the past 10 years that management can no longer take a top down approach to leading their employees.  Today’s workers are educated and informed, and the best way to lead them is to simply ask them “What can we do, to help you do what you do, even better?”

By asking questions like this and others, and by genuinely trying to inspire and serve the workers he is tasked to help improve, he earns their respect and trust…and can get things done!  In contrast, he believes he would be a complete failure if he simply observed an area, made notes, and then told these folks what HE thought they needed to DO.  That is the management style of the past, that just doesn’t work here anymore!

Anyways, it was a great conversation, and I could go on for an hour.  The bottom line is this…The only thing that is truly required of anyone in a leadership position, in business today, is to serve those you work with!

ENJOY THE CITY http://www.enjoythecity.com is a Fundraising company that allows you group or organization to sell fundraising books to earn money for whatever it is you are raising money for.

For Example, a group at my church was selling these coupon books for $20, and I believe that the church group gets to keep 50% of that money, or $10.00.

Initially, these books with hundreds of restaurant and other coupons seems like a great deal…mostly because they have several pizza restaurants involved that actually offer you a coupon for a FREE pizza is you meet the manager.

For Example, Today I drove 40 minutes to Happy’s Pizza at 6045 S. Cedar St. in Lansing, MI to use my “Enjoy the City” coupon the says the following “MEET THE MANAGER SPECIAL:  ENJOY ONE FREE LARGE TWO-TOPPING PIZZA”  No purchase necessary, carry out only!  Valid through December 31 2012. I was VERY excited to use this coupon to try a new pizza place, and truly, these types of coupons was EXACTLY why I bought the coupon book in the first place.

When I go to use the coupon, the girl at Happy’s Pizza tells me the following, “We are not accepting these coupons!  This is fraud, and we never signed up for this program.  We feel terrible, and have upset a lot of potential customers.”  I was very upset, and she told me the following…”The coupon book companies phone number is 1.866.359.2489, you can call them to complain.”

I, of course, try to call ENJOY THE CITY to ask for my $20 back…but as you can expect, no one at the company will answer the phone.  My only option was to leave a message…we will see how that goes.

This seems a little bit like my Restaurant.com problem!

Has anyone else had a problem with the  ENJOY THE CITY Fundraising program?  Let me know!

Thanks,   -TAM

The major banks are getting REALLY aggressive with their credit card rewards programs.  It seems like I’m seeing an ad on ever site I visit tempting me to open up a new credit card account with Chase or Citibank…and their are offering me 50,000 Bonus Points, and more, if I take the plunge.

This is a pretty amazing deal!  These bonus points are very easily turned into cash or gift cards at almost any major retailer or restaurant.  The catch is that generally you have to spend around $3000 on the card, in the first 3 months that your new account is open, t0 get the bonus rewards.

In addition to the bonus, you still get the normal 1%, or somethings 2%, rebates on all of your purchases.  The free stuff can add up fast if you are a big spender and if you pay off your card in full each month.

Conclusion:  The best offer that I’ve found at this point is from Citibank.  Check out http://www.citi.com/rewards

Remember, USE CREDIT CARDS WISELY!  If you buy a bunch of stuff you don’t need, or carry a balance and pay interest, you will never get ahead…and you could be stuck being an “Almost Millionaire” forever

Firstly, it is important to make sure that you are clear about your budgeting goals. How much are you aiming to save each month, and where will the remainder be spent? After all, even if you’ve got a great credit card deal from somewhere like lovemoney.com, you will still need to prioritize your outstanding payments above the money which you might otherwise allocate to various leisure activities. Rather than being vague and simply suggesting that you ‘budget’ in order to ’save’, you are far more likely to achieve your aims if you set specific goals and limitations on your overall spending.

Another good way to stick to your budget is to try and use cash wherever possible. Paying by card can sometimes be much too easy, and you are more liable to forget that the money which comes out of your account can be eating into your budget. By handing over physical cash, you will be automatically more aware of exactly how much money is changing hands each time you make a purchase.

Rather than just wandering around various stores when you are picking up your family’s groceries, make a list of what you actually need while you’re at home, and then stick to it. It is also a good idea to hang on to your receipts, so that you can keep a record of exactly how much of your budget has been spent, and where.

Is Quicken Loans a Scam?

I had had a relatively good experience with a mortgage refinance with Quicken, and had suggested Quicken to a friend, but my friend felt like Quicken Loans scammed him out of $750.00.

As of today’s date, this question about Quicken Loans has lead to over 110 comments…and most of them are truly worth taking the time to read.  Many of my readers have left rather lengthy accounts, and sadly, many feel they were duped by “mortgage experts” at quicken loans.

I give you this update because this morning I found This Quicken Loans Article online and it made me sad for my readers who have complained.  I don’t know anything more about this West Virginia fraud case, but my suggestion is to do your research before giving Quicken Loans, or any mortgage company, any upfront deposit money.

Again, I personally had a very good refinancing experience with Quicken here in Michigan in 2009, but there is quite a bit of feedback here that stopped me from using them a second time, when I refinanced again this week.

The basics of FirsTrade.com is that they offer $6.95 Stock Trades, free real-time quotes and research tools. The company has been very good to work with. I have had to call customer service only once, and I had a real person on the phone within 5 minutes…which is acceptable.

FirsTrade.com has a clean, easy to follow trading platform. The only issue that I’ve run into is that when I try to place a market order, I get an error message, and I’m, basically, required to place my order as a limit order. Other than that, I’m quite impressed with FirsTrade.com and have recommended them to friends.

My only suggestion to the company is that they allow you to make a trade order, and view a real time quote, on the same screen. As their software is currently configured, you are sent to a different screen when you request a quote.

For what it is worth, I had been sitting on about 50% cash in my retirement account for almost a year.  I went heavy into the market on last Wednesday after the “mini crash” that we experienced.  I picked up some great companies at pretty nice discounts to what I feel they are truly worth, and I’m hopeful they will grow nicely over the long term.

I would love to have a comment about what you were investing in last week!!!

Happy Trading and Investing!

What a big, fat waste of time and money!

Restaurant.com advertised that I could buy a $25 Gift Certificate for a small restaurant located near me…The End Zone…in Horton, MI FOR ONLY $10!!!

What a great deal, I was excited to try a new place!  I loaded up my 4 kids, and my wife, and jumped into the Ford Expedition for our mini road trip.

So we get to The End Zone, order drinks, and immediately give our gift certificate to the waitress.  We are excited to try $35 worth of food and drinks (that is a stipulation of the deal, our gift certificate clearly says that to use the $25, we need to spend at least $35…not hard for a family of six!

The waitress frowns and tells me that The End Zone in Horton, MI, DOES NOT participate with Restaurant.com, and that I’ve been scammed!

I WAS MAD!  How does this happen?  Restaurant.com seemed like a legal website.  Are they selling gift certificates to restaurants WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE RESTAURANT OWNER?

Please let me know if this has happened to anyone else!!!

Not much to say about this video, except that technology is amazing!  It has been a big week for my family.  My oldest daughter learned to ride a Segway…and more importantly…a bicycle!  She is very excited to be able to cruise without training wheels.   AND my 4th child and only son started crawling this week, at 7 and a half months old…everyone is getting mobile!  Life is good!

Well…I hate to say that I told you so…but I will   As many of you remember, I was buying Silver a couple of years back (Investing in Silver) and it has turned out to be quite a strong investment!

The question now is, at $50 per ounce, is it time to sell my silver holdings and lock in significant profits?

I have a history of selling at the completely wrong time!  Recent Example:

Bought Apple @ $87 per share in about Nov. 2008, and sold it at $175…just to see it rocket to $350 about a year later.

Is silver going to do the same thing to me that Apple stock did?

All the reasons I was buying Silver in 2008 seem to still be in place.  For example, our government continues to print money and kill the value of dollars at an alarming rate!  And I suspect they will continue to do that, as the best way to pay off down our $15 Trillion of dollar denominated debt is to significantly lower the value of US dollars…which means Silver could keep running up.

Anyways, I’d appreciate the input of the financial wizards who visit this blog, so PLEASE, let me know what you think!