Tag Archives: rules
Credit Cardholder Protections
Certain laws are on the books to protect consumers from unscrupulous credit card issuers. It pays to know what guidelines the various financial institutions should follow in regards to cardholder protections.
You are entitles to have your credits posted promptly for your payments. By law your payment must be reflected on their books the day they receive it or the next business day after if it was received if arriving in the afternoon generally. Each issuer can make up certain rules of their own within the confines of what is legal and allowed but your payment must be treated with due process when it arrives..
Be certain to follow the postal instructions so your funds reach the issuer’s billing department without any hassle. If you accidentally send your payment to the wrong place it could take weeks or more to correct, and you would still be liable for your payment not reaching the credit card issuer or financial institution in time. I f you can’t find the proper mailing envelope that came with your statement, be care to correctly copy the address off of the statement itself or call the credit card issuer to request the proper mailing address.
You might be entitled to refunds of credit balances. When you make a deposit that is over the total amount of credit allowed on your card, you are entitled to have the extra funds added or be issued a refund for the excessive amount of your deposit. Your money must be returned to you within seven business days of your request. If a credit remains on your card for more than 6 months, the issuer must make a good faith effort to send you your monies due.
Keep a close eye out for errors on your billing statement. Many people have a tendency to not notice this. Credit card issuers have the burden to be certain that your statement is correct, as they hold the responsibility to act when corrections are needed and justified. Albeit, many people have noticed that this is not the case in reality. Still consumers must be aware that they have the upper hand and that the law is on their side. Generally you will receive a brochure from your card issuer concerning what the individual rules are for the credit card you have at issue, and again about after every year passes. You might even receive a summary of these rights with your bill. Make sure you are aware of the rules in the long version instead of the smaller “key point” list that may come with your bill.
If you find a problem with your credit card bill, you can have a temporary hold put on the transaction while it is being disputed. If the resolution of the dispute ends in your favor, you will receive a credit for the amount. The dispute can be due for any a number of reasons including having recieved broken goods, services you purchased but did not receive. Remember that you still are responsible for payment of any amounts that are not in dispute on the bill, and that your due dates and the like are not adjusted because of a pending dispute.
What are Hard Money Loans?
For the purpose of financing your investment properties there are two options- Hard Money & Soft Money.
Soft Money- is simply money that is borrowed from banks and other lending institutions. This is the normal loan process where the loan is underwritten by an underwriter. There are rules and guidelines that are made by the lenders or by the groups that buy the loans from the lenders. This would include all loan types and verities.
Hard Money- is money from investors to fund your investment property. Hard Money is normally sort term. Hard Money is normally used when the property needs some repairs and rehab. With Hard Money you can finance the expense for repairs as a part of your loan. If you are able to locate a home with good equity you will be able to do the entire purchase and rehab with no money out of your pocket.
The Rules- since the money is coming from private investors they can make their own rules, unlike soft money above where the rules can be more restrictive. For this reason you can obtain money and eventually additional money based upon your track record and performance with a particular Hard Money Lender.
After Repair Value (ARV) – This is what the property would be worth after your rehab is competed and this value is normally determined by appraisers that work with your hard money lender. Normally Hard Money lenders will loan 65 of the ARV. This is how it works
if you buy a home for $100,000 you can borrow $65,000, 65 of that amount or $130,000, now you have money to buy the house for $100,000 and pay for your rehab.
Escrows- This is money that is held by a 3rd party, normally a Title Company, for a specific purpose. In the case of Hard Money Lending they would escrow your repair money and in some instances they would escrow your first couple of payments. This is done to ensure that the work on the property is actually completed. When you first apply for your Hard Money Loan for a specific property you would prepare a work sheet of what needs to be done and the cost of that work. This would be used to set up your escrow account.
Draws- The way the money for repairs is disbursed is by using draws. The Hard Money Lender would physically inspect the property to ensure the work was actually done and disburse the money accordingly. The money is not released all at once, rather in gradual portions as the work is completed. Each portion is a draw.
When & Why- There is a time a place to use Hard Money Loans. Normally for Soft Money to be used the property needs to have a roof, windows, doors, floor coverings. If the property does need some work this is called deferred maintenance. This would be noted by the appraiser when the appraisal is done. Traditionally if this number is over $2,000 you would not be able to receive a Soft Money Loan. The other reason investors use Hard Money Loans is so they do not need to use any of their money or to personally fund their project. As you can see a good portion of the properties an investor buys would be financed with a Hard Money Loan. This is due to the fact that most foreclosed properties are not well kept. However, there are always exceptions to this.