Personal Finance and Investing

“Vitally important for a young man or woman is, first, to realize the value of education and then to cultivate earnestly, aggressively, ceaselessly, the habit of self-education. ” – BC Forbes

It is never too late to go back to school and learn. Whether you are taking a single course or beginning a whole course of study – it important to keep yourself educated. There is a limitless supply of knowledge in the world and you have every right to it. Increase your skills, your knowledge, your technical expertise and become well informed. Learn about new places, become a proficient computer user or learn a language. It does not matter if you have a degree or would like to have a degree, keeping your mind active is the best thing you can do for your body and soul.

In the past continuing education was hard for adults to do. Classes often interfered with daily responsibilities. However, today, many classes can be taken online – there is no need to go in a classroom. You can learn, do assignments, and test at your own convenience. Your work might even offer tuition credits. Many companies will pay for their employees to take classes and stay current in their field. There are many specific programs which offer coursework in a particular business sector. These sectors include financial, education, and technology.

If learning a new profession does not interest you there are plenty of other opportunities. Perhaps you have always wanted to be a chef, learn to sew, or trouble shoot a computer. In addition to hobby classes most colleges offer seminars which cover a wide range of information. You can learn about investing, how to renovation your house, become a real estate agent, or learn about ancient history.

Some continuing education courses offer college credit while others do not. Make sure you understand the credit situation before you take a class. Another benefit of going back to school is that you may want to get certified in something you already do. Perhaps you are a medical technician but you are not certified. There are courses available which will allow you to review, learn core knowledge, and prepare for certification exams on your own time.

You might be thinking, “How will I pay for these classes?” If your job does not offer education credits you might want to seek out local organizations which offer grants or loans to continuing education students. Most communities understand the need for it’s members to be educated and informed. It is only through the aggressive pursuit of education that a person can grow, achieve, share, and then teacher. Take control of your life and future today, go back to school, and watch yourself flourish.

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Whether you are applying directly to your lender or claiming eligibility under HAMP, the practical decisions are all to be made by the lender. You do whatever you can to set out your side of the proposed bargain with a clear set of accounts showing money in and money out. The need is to demonstrate a guaranteed slice of your monthly income that can be devoted to paying a reduced instalment. So list everything you are obliged to pay to keep body and soul together, from food to utilities to transport to health insurance, and so on.

Without the modification, this is going to be negative, i.e. on paper, you are spending more than you earn. The “trick” is to show enough to cover a modified instalment, perhaps with a tiny slice of money left over for the inevitable emergencies. If the modified instalment you prove can be paid is enough to keep the lender less unhappy, the modification will be agreed on a trial basis. But if the minimum instalment the lender requires will leave you in negative territory, your offer to modify will be rejected. Why reject a good faith offer? Because people who have to juggle monthly payments to fit into the available money almost always default again. Your income must cover all outgoings.

If the modification is agreed in principle, it moves on to a formal trial basis. In theory, this is a three-month trial, but the reality is that the lenders usually drag their feet and are very slow to convert the trial into a permanent modification. This ought not to affect you. After all, you are paying the agreed amount. But there is a problem. Until the modification is made permanent, the lender will report you to the credit rating agencies as still delinquent. This is grossly unfair.

You are paying what is agreed. But, as the law stands, the unpaid balance each month will be reported as late. Thus, the longer the trial period is allowed to drift the worse your credit score will become. This requires action. You should contact the three major agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and ask that details of the trial be added to your credit file. That way, even though your score will continue to decline, all other lenders will be able to see what is going on.

So what is happening during the trial other than you proving your ability to pay the reduced instalments on time? The answer is slightly disheartening. It is always in the lender’s interest to collect as much money from you as possible on your mortgage. But, while you stay in default, the lender is entitled to foreclose at any time. If the lender judges it will make more money by foreclosing rather than accepting the reduced payments over the rest of the term, it will always foreclose.

It is simply collecting as much cash from you as possible before triggering your eviction. No-one said the home loan industry had to work fairly, and it does not. The only time the lender will accept a permanent modification is when the accounts clearly show more profit in keeping the mortgage alive. While the housing market remains depressed, the odds are in your favor. But if resale prices start to rise, the odds will swing against you.

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