Today’s Top Story – Consumer

4 Ways to Protect Your Personal Data when Filing Taxes Online

RISMEDIA, March 24, 2009-(MCT)-As April 15 approaches and taxpayers scramble to complete their tax returns, it's critical that they take extra care to guard their personal information. Consider what's exposed and vulnerable: your Social Security number, address, name and financial information. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, "These numbers can be a gold mine for identity thieves. Your personal information can enable a thief to obtain a job, open up new lines of credit, access existing financial accounts or stock portfolios, get welfare, avoid a criminal history and generally create havoc in your life."

Mortgage Rates Dip in Response to Fed’s Decision to Buy Treasury Bonds and Mortgage Securities

RISMEDIA, March 23, 2009-(MCT)-Mortgage rates are again dropping to near-record lows - below 5% - in the wake of the Federal Reserve's decision to buy up Treasury bonds and mortgage securities. Lower rates may help spur home sales, but analysts expect much of the action to come from homeowners who are looking to refinance, but mortgage experts caution that many homeowners are bound to be disappointed.

Reverse Mortgages Serve as Lifeline for Seniors

RISMEDIA, March 20, 2009-In the midst of the current credit crunch, we tend to overlook the financial needs of senior homeowners, especially those who own their homes free and clear or are pretty close to being debt free. However, these homeowners often experience their own credit crisis - having loads of equity locked up in their homes and not being able to get at it. President Obama's plan is not designed to bail them out, and many don't qualify for refinancing to cash out some or all of their equity.

Homeowners Hit the Road in Hopes of Mortgage Relief

RISMEDIA, March 19, 2009-(MCT)-Homeowners across the country are losing out on the American Dream as they find themselves faced with out-of-control mortgage rates they can't afford to pay. The third installment of The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America's Save the Dream tour that made a stop in Columbia, South Carolina may be the lifeline that these homeowners need.

Fed Chairman Believes Recession Will End by Year End

Ben Bernanke sits down for rare interview with CBSNews' 60 Minutes, discusses, banks, unemployment, American's frustrations over bailout money, and how we will avoid the next Great Depression RISMEDIA, March 17, 2009-In a rare interview with Ben Bernanke this past Sunday on CBS News' 60 Minutes, the Fed Chairman said he sees the recession ending by the end of this year. When asked by 60 Minutes Corresponded Scott Pelley, ""Mr. Chairman, I'm gonna start with a question that everyone wants me to ask: when does this end?" Bernanke said:

A Sinking Feeling: One-in-Five Homeowners Feels ‘Underwater’ on Mortgages

RISMEDIA, March 21, 2009-The latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that 20% of all homeowners-or 30% of mortgage holders-say that if they had to sell their home right now, it would sell for less than they owe. And homeowners who feel underwater on their mortgages report considerably more financial strain that those who do not.

DTI Ratios: What Homeowners Need to Know

RISMEDIA, March 13, 2009-Ask homeowners about their DTI (debt-to-income) ratios, and they're likely to respond with something like, "My what ratios?!" However, when distressed homeowners are sizing up their foreclosure options, they need to brush up on DTI ratios. Lenders will be scrutinizing these ratios to determine homeowner eligibility for loan modification and other debt relief.

Do You Understand Your Credit Report?

RISMEDIA, March 21, 2009-Over 70% of consumers identify errors on their credit report. Twenty-five percent of those are serious enough to deny consumers and business owners access to credit, preferred interest rates or even a job. With over 54 billion credit updates occurring each year, it's very likely you-or your clients-may have errors that are negatively impacting the ability to get credit and/or causing you to pay unnecessary interest expenses.

Upgrades to Home Mean Extra Cash Now, Tax Breaks Later

RISMEDIA, March 11, 2009-(MCT)-Part of the president's stimulus package will allow homeowners to save money on energy and on their tax filings. That's good news, not only for homeowners, but for businessmen such as Steve Plumley of Thermal Specialties and Installation Co. in Adamstown. "I see it as the biggest call to action since World War II," Plumley said of the move to save money and be less dependent on foreign sources for energy.

Can a Year-Old Rescue Plan Help the Current Crisis?

RISMEDIA, March 10, 2009-(MCT)-It's coming. But will it help? The long-awaited federal program to try to get up to $1 trillion in loans flowing into the hands of consumers and small businesses is ready to be launched March 17, but it has taken so long in coming that some analysts wonder if it will be the boon for the economy that many envisioned. The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, known as TALF, is aimed at providing money for loans to people for cars, college, credit cards and small businesses.

Home Buyer Tax Credit Website Attracts More Than 840,000 Visitors

RISMEDIA, March 9, 2009-A record 844,000 prospective home buyers visited NAHB's FederalHousingTaxCredit.com website in February to learn about the new $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers that was enacted last month as part of the landmark $787 billion economic stimulus package. "We are very pleased and encouraged that so many people are visiting our informational website at www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com," said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla.

Homeowners Stand to Gain from Energy-efficiency Stimulus Funds

RISMEDIA, March 6, 2009-(MCT)-In Santos Espinosa's small beige house near Arden Fair mall last week, a crew installed fluorescent lightbulbs, swapped out an old water heater and filled drafty gaps beneath doors. For thousands of Sacramento-area households, this sort of work stands to be the biggest direct benefit of the federal economic stimulus package. The bill pumps at least $20 billion into energy efficiency, by far the largest such investment in U.S. history.

Shelters Stand Guard for Pets Abandoned by Desperate Homeowners

RISMEDIA, March 5, 2009-(MCT)-She was all ribs, except for a bloated stomach filled with babies. In her back yard, she and her two playmates waited. The September days stretched into a week. They were hungry, thirsty and flea-bitten. The dogs kept waiting. But their owner wasn't coming back. A neighbor noticed. For several days, he fed and watered the Rottweilers. Then he called a friend, who had a contact at Operation Kindness, a no-kill animal shelter in Carrollton.

How to Save in Our New Frugal World

RISMEDIA, March 4, 2009-(MCT)-What a difference nine months make. In the not-long-ago credit-card binge days, one of the "in" things was to own a TV the size of a bus. Today, it's to have six months of living expenses saved in case you get laid off.

As Housing Slips and Credit Tightens, Assessments become Far More Critical

RISMEDIA, March 3, 2009-(MCT)-Stunned by falling home values and rising foreclosures nationwide, mortgage lenders have become more critical of the appraisal process and begun insisting the assessment of a home's worth be far more rigorous than it used to be.

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