5 tips to improve your credit rating

Your credit rating is crucial when applying for a mortgage or any type of loan. The better your credit rating, the higher the chance you will qualify for a good rate from your lender. Having an average or below average rating can greatly reduce your choice of lender and have an adverse affect on your rate. Here are some tips to make sure your credit rating is as high as possible.

1. Use Credit cards wisely

Using credit cards responsibly on a regular basis is key to boosting your score. Banks may ask you for 12 months of credit card statements, and being behind on your credit payments will decrease your chances of getting a loan. Instead, use your credit card for small amounts, and keep up with your monthly repayments. This shows that you can reliably pay back the money you borrow.

2. Don’t miss loan repayments

Making all your payments on time is the factor that impacts your credit score the most. When you pay your credit cards or other loans on time, it goes on your file …

Read More →

Three Things to do Before Taking out a Mortgage

Let’s face it mortgages are daunting; with interest rates, terms, and credit scores. Many things can make finding a mortgage a challenge but what are the most important things you need to know before taking out a mortgage? Well, you’re in luck, these are three main takeaways that you should know before taking out a mortgage.

SAVE SAVE SAVE

When preparing yourself to take out a mortgage, being financially secure is extremely important. You will want to have enough to make sure you have enough for a good down payment. This isn’t the only reason you want to be saving though. You will also want to have enough in your account for any unexpected expenses that may pop up due to things such as closing costs, and inspections. Liquidity (cash) is just as important as saving for a down payment. Banks and other financial lending institutions look at the balance of your accounts prior to approval to validate your ability to afford your desired home.

Along with saving, you will want to keep your account in order. Avoid overdrafts, late …

Read More →

Bank loans in Bulgaria

Bank loans in Bulgaria

My name is Hristo Dimitrov. I’m a student from Varna Bulgaria.

How to pick bank loans in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria you can borrow relatively easily for an apartment and pay it off within 30 years. The maximum loan amount for the banks are up to EUR 200,000.  Also, Bulgaria has low interest rates compared to other countries. The best conditions for buying a home are on Postbank

And DSK Bank.

For specific rules and percentages, you can look at them.

APR at individual interest rate selected for the purposes of the example * – 3.66%

An example of a fixed interest rate for the last 3 years and a variable interest rate (benchmark interest rate + margin) for the remaining term of the loan when included in the DSK Coz Plus Sales Prohibition Program.

 

The long-term interest rate for the implementation of the DSK Coz Plus program can be set in the range of 3.00% to 4.49%.

 

 

Amount of credit

BGN 100,000

 

Monthly payment

448,49 BGN

 

Term of the loan

30 …

Read More →

Our submission to the Central Bank on CP87 – Mortgage lending caps

We submitted a paper to the Central Bank on the mortgage cap proposal they have put out for consultation. Our view is that apart from being a crude instrument that it doesn’t work, Hong Kong is being used as an ‘example’ when in fact they are the very example that demonstrates best that the policy is misguided.

As practitioners we think a far more nuanced approach with other solutions such as higher stress tests, a freeze on underwriting criteria and mortgage insurance should the lender wish to avail of it are better.

Our submission can be downloaded here.

Read More →

Sunday Business Post – Deposits

This story appeared in the print and online edition of the Sunday Business Post on the 9th of June 2013.

Another banking win is how some heralded the  move by the NTMA to drop their savings rates, in some instances these rates reducing by over 40%. The savings products are distributed on an agency basis by An Post, but was it a decision made due to bank pressure and is there anything a saver can do about it?

To start we need to remember that typical deposit rates in normal nations with healthy banks are generally about one percent or less. Our nation is not typical, our banks are still far from healthy, so we have seen elevated rates for the last five years.

At one point in late 2008 early 2009 you could get over 5% on a one year deposit. And although the banks whine about An Post having state backing and great rates they didn’t do this when their members had the best rates during the financial crisis and only existed due to state support, sauce for …

Read More →

Capital and interest mortgage, annuity, repayment – defined

There are four main types of loans, these differ in the way the capital is repaid to the lenders.

Capital & Interest, the most popular type of housing loan, where the borrower makes regular repayments – part interest / part capital. These are usually for an agreed term, typically 25 years however in recent times the term can be as long 30 -35 years.

C&I loans are also know as Repayment mortgage, Standard mortgage and Annuity mortgage. In the early years of a C&I loan the majority of the repayment is used repaying the interest, so the capital reduces slowly.

So as the capital reduces with each repayment, so does the amount of interest payable on that capital.

The other types of loans are interest only repayments with the capital sum been paid at the end of the term from, a:An Endowment Mortgage b:A Pension Mortgage c:The sale of the property / asset.

This means that the borrower pays interest only for the term of the agreement and only repays the capital sum at the end by means of a …

Read More →

DEAR CLID

This is a useful little acronym in accountancy, you may well learn it when studying financial accounting. It has to do with how you either debit (dr) or credit (cr) an account depending on the type of transaction you are considering.

So ‘DEAR’ stands for ‘Debit any Expense, Asset or Reduction in Liabilities’

and ‘CLID’ stands for ‘Credit any Liability, Income or Decrease in Assets’.

Knowing these will help you make the right choice in nearly all of the journal entries you might make, so if for instance you had a sale for €400 and you put the money in the bank it would be fair to say that

1. the sale is an income (therefore credit ‘sales’) and 2. the cash paid to you is an asset (debit bank or cash).

The idea of placing this money in different named accounts can be tricky once you move beyond a simple cash sale. For instance, if you sold something on credit you would have a ‘trade receivables’ account to debit and you still credit ‘sales’, but only upon payment of …

Read More →
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
← Older Entries