New research from the debt consolidation companies  finds that these loans, which allow cash-strapped consumers to restructure multiple debts into low monthly payments, leave borrowers with greater overall debt burdens by stretching out the payments over longer periods.

For example, NEFE says, a five-year loan for $20,000 at a 10% interest rate would cost about $425 a month, and interest payments would total $5,496 for the life of the loan. Extending the debt to 15 years in a consolidation loan would knock down the monthly payment to $215, but it would increase the total interest payments to $18,685 — a fact that is conveniently left out of most debt-consolidation advertisements. Post continues below.

Get Your Bills In Order

If уou are in thе hole wіth debt payments, then debt consolidation maу bе yоur wаy out. Debt consolidation programs lower уоur interest rates on unsecured loans with creditors. With thеіr low fee, thеy handle payments, account paperwork, аnd direct dealings with creditors. All you do іѕ send them a monthly payment fоr all уоur consolidated bills.

Initially, you will sеe a slight drop in your credit score, eliminating уour ability to apply fоr more credit. However, wіthin two years уоu can apply for credit aѕ lenders seе your commitment to repaying loans. You cаn еvеn apply fоr а mortgage loan аt this time.

To make ѕure yоu аre betting the bеst deal, shop аround for a debt consolidation company. Request quotes оn fees аnd information on thеir services. While уоu want thе beѕt deal, don’t bе lured bу false promises.

Pay Bills Faster

Once уоu have one account paid off, apply thаt monthly cash tоwаrd аnоthеr account. Not onlу will yоu be paying оff your bills sooner but with a reverse mortgages, but yоu wіll bе saving money on interest payments. Also cоnsіdеr applying any refunds or bonuses tоwаrd yоur bills.

Also, look for ways уоu cаn cut spending, even іf juѕt temporarily. Cell phones, cable TV, or eating оut cаn all bе reduced оr cut out. It іѕ difficult, but kеер уour eye оn your goal of bеing debt-free.

Plan For Your Future

It іs not enough to get оut оf debt, уou аlsо nеed tо plan for yоur future. You may find а credit counselor саn help уou create goals аnd design a budget. You сan alsо find a lot of good information оn finances online or thrоugh books.

One оf уоur future goals ѕhоuld bе creating a financial safety net. Even whіlе уоu arе paying оff debt, you ѕhould be saving money еvеry month if you use debt consolidation companies.  While a job loss оr а major illness can’t be avoided, уоu can minimize thеir financial impact by being proactive wіth уour finances.

Ever since last summer, when it became clear that private sector bond investors would need to take a loss to ease Greece’s debt burden, some hedge funds have been betting large sums of money on different outcomes. And for the most part, the funds have lost their collective shirt as the value of the investments sank

Now their investment noses are twitching again, this time at the prospect of buying the cheapest Greek bonds debt relief company on the street: long-term, local-law bonds that currently trade at 19 cents on the euro — a knock-down price that reflects Greece’s current condition. A number of funds of late have been assessing the debt as a potential investment, according to brokers and traders with knowledge of the matter.

Of course, the hedge funds are well aware of Greece’s woes, even after it was promised 130 billion euros in additional bailout funds this week.

But therein lies opportunity.

By buying these bonds and then swapping them for new longer-term Greek securities when the debt restructuring takes place next month, they stand to make a quick profit. Traders and analysts expect the new bonds to have a market value of 26 to 30 cents. As a bonus, the exchange would also include two-year bonds issued by the Europe Financial Stability Facility, the European rescue fund backed by guarantees from Germany, France and other euro zone countries.

“It’s a perfectly decent trade, although you will need broad shoulders given the risk,” said Gabriel Sterne, an economist at Exotix, a London-based boutique bank that specializes in trading and analyzing distressed debt. “Let’s say you buy at 21 and the deal goes through at 27 — that is a 28 percent return.”

To a certain extent, the trade mimics the first one put on by funds last summer when they bought bonds at 40 to 50 cents, hoping to swap them for new securities worth about 80 cents. They were burned, however, when Europe scrapped the first 20 percent haircut proposal for a much deeper one, sending the bonds to their current rock-bottom levels.

More recently, funds scooped up billions of euros of bonds maturing on March 20 in the 40-cent range, expecting Europe’s bailout of Greece to include funds to repay these bonds in full. With that prospect no longer likely, these bonds have been falling too, and now trade in the low 30s.

This latest trade carries profound risks as well. While the new bonds might hit the market at 27 cents or so, there is no guarantee that they will stay at that level, let alone appreciate in value — especially if Greece’s economic prospects continue to deteriorate and the country has to either restructure its debt again or default and leave the euro. And if the new bonds plummet in price, unloading them will become nearly impossible.

But the upside may be too tantalizing to ignore, given the short time frame involved (the deadline to get the deal done is March 20, when Greece faces a 14.5 billion euro bond repayment) and the potential return (possibly 28 percent in less than a month).

Moreover, if investors pile into the bonds and then agree to the swap, the chances improve that enough investors vote to participate in the transaction so that it actually takes place. That would make the trade a win for speculators as well as for Greece, whose debt will be reduced by 100 billion euros if the deal is completed.

In many ways the investor interest is a sign that the debt restructuring — without which Greece will certainly face a chaotic default — has a good chance of succeeding.

The latest sign is the draft of a collective action clause law that is expected to be passed by the Greek Parliament in the coming days. Known as a CAC, this clause is being attached to existing Greek bond contracts, giving Greece the right to force all investors to accept the 75 percent loss on their holdings – even those who choose to spurn the offer.

A CAC can be imposed only after it has become clear how many investors want to swap their bonds and how many will choose to opt out of debt settlement companies . Greece — in setting a participation threshold of 66 percent — is more or less indicating that it believes that percentage of investors will participate. Once that many vote to accept the terms, minority investors will be forced to share in the losses.

“My bet is that the reason they have set the threshold at 66 percent is because they believe they can meet that easily,” said Mitu Gulati, a sovereign debt expert at Duke University Law School. “No one wants this deal to fail.”

That especially applies to hedge funds holding Greek bonds.

The president proposed cutting the top corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 35 percent. This would address U.S. corporations’ long-standing gripe about the rate being too high. It is the world’s second-highest after Japan’s corporate rate.

In return for lowering the tax rate on businesses, the plan calls for broadening the corporate tax base by ending a number of tax breaks, some spelled out previously in Obama’s budgets, and most sure to be resisted by powerful corporate interests.

In a move partly to counter the unveiling of an economic plan by Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, Obama’s proposal was rolled out at a briefing by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, likely marking the start of lengthy negotiations.

“The current tax code was written for a different economy, a different era,” Geithner said. He plans to meet next week with members of Congress to try to win support for the plan.

“This process will take some time. It will be politically contentious, some will say these proposals are too tough on business, others will say they are not tough enough,” he said.

Complicating the effort will be the approaching congressional and presidential elections in November, as well as deep divisions in Congress that have prevented lawmakers from dealing effectively with tax and budget issues for many months.

One tax break targeted in the Obama plan is the “carried interest” loophole that lets managers of private equity and some other funds pay the 15 percent capital gains tax rate on much of their earnings instead of the 35 percent top income tax rate.

The plan also tries to reverse tax incentives for corporations to relocate jobs and research overseas, while giving domestic manufacturing operations a special tax break.

In a new twist, the president proposed imposing a minimum tax on corporate profits earned in low tax countries.

Chances of a deeply divided Congress revamping a tax system regarded as convoluted across the political spectrum seems remote in an election year. The debt consolidation announcement is certain to fuel debate in the run-up to November’s elections.

‘HELPFUL START’

The president’s plan “is a helpful start to the much-needed discussion about how best to reform the corporate tax code,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a deficit hawk activist group.

“However, it would be best to reform the entire code – corporate and individual – as well as major spending programs, to pass comprehensive fiscal and tax reforms at once. That would be a real boost to the economy,” she said.

After the presidential and congressional contests are decided in November, a number of major tax and budget issues will converge on Washington and new momentum for comprehensive tax reform may follow, analysts said.

Analyst Greg Valliere of Potomac Research Group called the timing of the release of the Obama plan a “cynical ploy” because Romney is expected to release his own tax reform plan shortly.

The administration’s plan “has virtually no chance of winning enactment this year,” Valliere said.

The last major rewrite of the tax code came in 1986 under Republican President Ronald Reagan, who raised corporate taxes.

Romney on Tuesday called for a flatter, fairer and simpler tax code. He is set to make a major economic speech on Friday in Detroit. Details of his tax plan were expected on Wednesday.

Obama last week unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget-and-tax proposal that called for aggressive government spending to boost the economy and for higher taxes on the rich.

On Friday, Congress approved extending a payroll tax cut through the end of 2012. Its expiration will coincide with several other fiscal earthquakes: the expirations of individual tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, and $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts across all government programs imposed as part of last year’s deal to raise the debt ceiling.

After these events and others, analysts said, thorough tax reform may be a realistic prospect. For now, they said, tax proposals will largely amount to political messaging.

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Callers drew on personal data snatched from payday loan websites, Federal Trade Commission official Steven Baker said. More than 20 million calls may have been placed over the past two years, with collectors demanding between $300 and $2,000 per call.

Such a far-reaching fraud with so many millions of calls flooding in from India is something investigators haven’t seen before and was fostered in part by the plummeting costs of international calls, Baker, the FTC’s Midwest director, said.

While federal authorities seem to have put a halt to this one scam by freezing the assets of a California-based business allegedly involved, Baker said other similar scams are almost certainly up and running.

“We think this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Authorities have received more than 4,000 complaints about debt-collection schemes in recent years, said Baker. They describe aggressive, foul-mouthed callers, some of whom claimed to be agents of a nonexistent Federal Department of Crime and Prevention.

JanLaree Dejulius, of Las Vegas, was at work at a university office when she got a call from a man who gave his name as Officer Black. He knew one of her relatives had taken out a debt consolidation loan online. If Dejulius didn’t pay up, he said he would send someone to her work to arrest her, she said.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll pay you — whatever it takes (not to get arrested),’” the 57-year-old said at a news conference in Chicago. “I consider myself savvy, but I fell for it.” She eventually agreed to pay $763.

Some callers threatened to call victims’ bosses or sue them. The scare tactics were so effective that in some instances people agreed to pay hundreds of dollars even though they knew that neither they nor any acquaintances had payday debts, said Baker.

From 2010 to 2012, $5 million was paid in 17,000 transactions to accounts controlled by the alleged fraudsters. The targets included people who applied for loans by punching personal details into a payday site but whose applications were rejected, Baker said.

Payday loans are typically small, very short-term loans with extremely high interest rates that are effectively advances on a borrower’s next paycheck. It is often people cash-strapped or living from paycheck to paycheck who use the service, Baker said.

Baker said to guard against scam artists, consumers should demand a written notice with debt amounts and the names of creditors. Debt collectors never have authority to arrest anyone, Baker added.

Asked what advice she’d give to would-be victims if they get a call, Dejulius said they shouldn’t give in.

“Call them on it,” she said. “Call their bluff if you know you haven’t taken out a loan.”

Baker said many questions remain unanswered, including how debt consolidation companies callers obtained such a vast amount of payday-loan information. He said the U.S. government needs help from authorities in India, where it is thought that all of the bogus calls came from.

The FTC charged Villa Park, Calif.-based American Credit Crunchers LLC, Ebeeze, LLC and their owner, Varang K. Thaker, with violating the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. No criminal charges have been filed.

Thaker allegedly withdrew thousands of dollars paid by victims that ended up in his company accounts, though Baker said it wasn’t clear if the overall scheme was directed primarily from California or India.

A U.S. district judge in Chicago has issued an order freezing Thaker’s assets.

American Credit Crunchers or Ebeeze in Villa Park, Calif., did not have a current phone listing. There also was no listing for a Varang K. Thaker in the area. Federal court filings did not list an attorney for Thaker.

The Online Lenders Alliance, an industry group for companies that offer loans over the Internet, said it reported complaints about the fraudulent calls to the FTC two years ago and has worked with authorities to stop the scam.

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Reverse mortgage is really a financial transaction whereby an older person can set up his pr her house or an element of the property because the collateral and may obtain a lump some cash against that. The idea of reverse mortgage was created by the HUD (department of housing and urban development) bearing in mind the issues that an older person faces. With senior years is available in lots of problems which is due to the fact their monthly earnings stops. Retirement is among the most problematic things if proper formulations aren’t made promptly. The Nevada reverse mortgage continues to be designed bearing in mind the issues that an older person of the particular place may face.

You will find some qualifying measures, which have to be satisfied if a person desires to go for this insurance policy. The one who really wants to choose a Nevada reverse mortgage must be of age minimum 60 5 years old and really should possess a house or perhaps a property with their title. Once these qualifying measures are satisfied, the individual can go for this insurance policy. The good thing of the policy is the fact that despite the fact that a home is set up because the collateral from the amount borrowed, the individual can continue to carry on living in the home before the time she or he desires to. However, she or he must spend the money for regular maintenance cost of the home and also the other outlays.

However, one minus point in regards to a Nevada reverse mortgage would be that the owner of the home cannot sell the home or cannot provide the house for an heir because following the demise of who owns the home, a home is taken through the agency, who further sells the home to obtain the amount borrowed back. However, whatever stated and done, this is actually a useful insurance policy for any senior who’s facing some economic crisis and doesn’t know from whom to obtain the help.

A Houston reverse mortgage has numerous benefits that rank it greater on recognition and preference than a number of other types of mortgages and financial loans. Underneath the Houston reverse mortgage, the home remains as underneath the title from the original owner and then the to sell a home is also intact using the owner. Also, the customer doesn’t have to pay back his mortgage amount throughout his lifetime. The mortgage debt doesn’t pass onto his heir in case of the debtors demise. Just in case the customer decides to market from the property, the reverse mortgage would need to be compensated off first prior to the money could be provided to the dog owner or his family.

A disadvantage to the Houston reverse mortgage is always that the mortgaged property can’t be left towards the heir from the customer. However, in the modern era everybody is working towards building their very own future and obtaining property through their very own capacity. Hence, not departing a mortgaged house for your heir can’t be this type of bad factor in the end. Even the owner could live in the premises from the mortgaged house as lengthy because he wants, without paying back any mortgage amount. Just the regular costs of maintaining the home, for example bills and house tax, must be compensated through the customer. The home owner may also decide the way he really wants to get the mortgage amount, whether like a lump sum payment or perhaps in payments.

Many seniors choose the installment method, because it guarantees a normal inflow of cash for that daily household expenses. Therefore, for those who have mortgaged your home after retirement, you can keep to keep your previous quality lifestyle, because of the borrowed funds amount around the house. A Houston reverse mortgage, therefore, provides every senior of America residing in Houston, who’s an individual, the dignity of just living individually up until the very finish of the lives. It guarantees that you simply never need to request for just about any financial support from the 3rd party up until the time you’ve your house.

The idea of Nevada reverse mortgage is really a boon to accommodate proprietors who’re above 60 2 yrs old. The home owner can obtain a loan by setting up his property like a mortgage. The primary distinction between reverse mortgage and mortgage is based on the truth that within the situation of Nevada reverse mortgage, the customer from the loan could remain in the home as lengthy because he is alive. The customer (home owner) can opt to accept home equity within the property like a lump sum payment amount or perhaps in multiple obligations at regular times. The Nevada reverse mortgage therefore turns into a supply of earnings for that home owner who are able to be guaranteed about his finances as lengthy because he is alive. The Nevada reverse mortgage offers the customer the dignity of the regular earnings and also the dignity of ongoing to reside in their own house.

The Nevada reverse mortgage also provides the advantage of another or third reverse mortgage on a single property if following a time that it increases in value in addition to the first home equity. Nevertheless the only criteria to become maintained within the U . s . states plus some other areas would be that the reverse mortgage adopted the home should be the foremost and only mortgage on that house. Nevada reverse mortgage has handled to simplify existence for that seniors in multiple ways. It provides an assured monthly earnings along with a credit line or perhaps a lump sum payment payment of cash. It may be a personalized solution that provides a mixture of all the above options. It’s also financing that’s assured for the whole duration of the customer. The customer isn’t needed to pay back the borrowed funds as lengthy because he is constantly on the occupy the home like a primary residence.

Nevada reverse mortgage also guarantees the title from the property remains within the title from the customer. The home could be offered at any time of your time and the quantity of reverse mortgage could be compensated off completely. Thinking about each one of these options it may be stated the Nevada reverse mortgage is actually a silver lining for that seniors of Nevada.

The initial relief created Tuesday by the 17-nation eurozone’s approval of a new euro130 billion ($170 billion) rescue package was offset by a grim reality: Greece faces many more years of sacrifice throujgh debt consolidation loans, on top of a grueling 24 months of austerity measures that have contributed to record high unemployment and a rapidly contracting economy.

“I don’t see (the agreement) with any joy because again we’re being burdened with loans, loans, loans, with no end in sight,” Athens architect Valia Rokou said.

The deal in Brussels gives Greece its second financial lifeline in less than two years — a combined package of foreign loans equivalent to about euro22,000 ($29,000) for every Greek citizen, children included. National debt already amounts to about euro32,000 ($42,300) each.

The hope is that the aid will grant the country the breathing space to enact widespread reforms and set it back on a path to growth.

Greece has been surviving since May 2010 on a first euro110 billion ($146 billion) batch of loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. That was not enough for the country to pay off its debts, however, and without more help the country faced defaulting on a bond repayment it could not afford next month.

Some in Athens noted that despite the gloomy future, the rescue deals lightened the immediate financial uncertainty looming over the countries debt relief.

“Everyone was depressed … This news gives me great joy,” said Christos Kontogeorgis, a pensioner.

As well as securing another deal with its European partners and the IMF, Greece is hoping to get its private creditors to agree a massive writedown in the holdings of their Greek debt. Banks, pension funds and other private investors are being asked to forgive some euro107 billion ($142 billion) of the total euro206 billion ($273 billion) in devalued Greek government bonds they hold.

Private bondholders will trade their bonds with new ones carrying much longer maturities and lower interest rates — an annual 2 percent by 2015, 3 percent to 2021 and 4.3 percent after that.

“It’s not every day that euro100 billion in public debt is written off, or loans for euro130 billion agreed,” Ta Nea newspaper said in an editorial. “There will be new sacrifices and difficulties, particularly for middle and lower earners. We must hope that this new period will become an opportunity for growth and better prospects.”

The head of the conservative New Democracy party, the junior partner in Greece’s interim coalition government, said the deal buys Greece time and hope of recovery.

“Greece is in pain and the people is suffering, therefore this is no time for jubilation,” Antonis Samaras said during a visit to Cyprus.

Greece is in a fifth year of recession, with the economy forecast to shrink 4.5 percent this year before starting to expand again in 2014 — although by then it will have contracted by more than 17 percent since the beginning of the crisis in 2009. Unemployment is at 21 percent, with one in two workers under 25 out of a job.

Majority Socialist leader George Papandreou urged Greeks “to continue the fight we have started, despite the huge price, and not abandon the effort halfway through.”

Without either aspect of Tuesday’s agreement, Greece would have soon been forced to default on its debts — halting pension and civil servant salary payments. In all likelihood, Greece would have had to leave the common European currency it joined in 2001.

“I feel relieved to start with, because my country has escaped the immediate danger it faced,” said Athens lawyer George Sabalos, 40. “But I’m also troubled by our partners’ demand that the country’s constitution should be modified as part of the guarantees they are seeking, because I believe that is a rather excessive demand that goes against the principle of solidarity.”

Greece has agreed to change its constitution, to give priority to debt servicing payments that will be put directly every quarter into a segregated account.

The country’s unions fiercely oppose further austerity measures that accompany the second bailout, and have called a protest rally outside Parliament in central Athens on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has called a cabinet meeting to discuss the additional cutbacks, which will be included in emergency legislation to be tabled later Tuesday. The draft law will force private sector employees to accept further salary cuts as a result of the minimum euro751 ($996) monthly wage being cut by 22 percent, and further cut pensions.

“Workers in our country refuse to accept the barbarity of the tougher neoliberal measures that have been extortionately imposed by our creditors, and that is why they will continue and step up their struggle … to block the destruction of our society,” the main GSEE private sector union said in a statement Monday.

GSEE and its public sector counterpart, the ADEDY, have staged a series of general strikes over the past two years. Many have turned violent, and as Greek lawmakers debated new austerity measures on Feb. 12 extensive rioting saw dozens of businesses in central Athens burnt and looted.

Three workers died in an Athens bank torched by rioters during a protest in May 2010.

Greek stocks opened lower Tuesday, and were 3.5 percent down shortly before closing. However, they’ve been enjoying big gains over recent weeks on the expectation that the bailout would be secured.

Greece is expected to hold national elections in April, after Papademos’ interim coalition fulfills its mandate by securing and implementing the twin bailout and debt relief agreement.

A new poll published Tuesday indicated that Samaras’ conservative party would come first in the vote, but without the majority needed to govern alone. The GPO poll for private Mega TV gave New Democracy 19.4 percent, followed by the Socialists at 13.1, and the new Democratic Left party with 12. The Communist party would get 9.5 percent, followed by the Syriza left coalition at 8.5 and the rightist LAOS — a former member of Papademos’ coalition — with 5.1 percent.

Some 63 percent of respondents said they would rather the elections led to a new coalition government.