by Melinda Torbay
Debt or Savings?

I guess most of us dream about living without debt. If you are like me, you sit down and pay bills, and think about how much money you would have if you did not have to service credit card bills, car loans, or a mortgage. Maybe a picture of a shack on an island even comes to mind.

I really think that those end of the world books became popular as an escape. Even if something awful happens, like a zombie invasion, it would still wipe out all of our creditors too.

But are we better off without debt, or should we had onto cash? I think the answer is complex, and like most things in life, it depends.

Move Credit Around

Maybe you can improve your debt situation even if you cannot eliminate it. It is tough these days, but many people can still find offers for …

by Bob Boog

Now that the ink has dried on the Obama Housing Stability Plan, people want to know what’s in it for them. So here goes: basically the Treasury Department will offer inducements and put pressure on lenders to reduce monthly payments for borrowers at risk of losing their houses which should result in five benefits for homeowners. They include:

1. The main benefit is that it provides assistance to homeowners who wish to stay in their homes. The sour economy has made it tough for many homeowners to refinance because for most, their equity has dried up and they are unable to do so. This plan also helps those who may have lost income due to the current recession.

2. The Plan only helps Homeowners wanting to stay in their homes. Real estate investors must look elsewhere.

3. It Helps to Protect Neighborhoods: This plan helps to stabilize home …

In 2005 I travelled to the UK to study the UK banks. I should have shorted the lot of them. But I didn’t. But for the record here are my notes – written on a slow English train – about Northern Rock – and never finished. I have edited it only to remove references to my actual sources.

I put this up not to gloat (but its nice). Rather I am going to do an expose of another UK bank shortly.

I cannot gloat too much - because whilst these notes are amazingly prescient I did not make a fortune on the stock. I predicted rain - but its making an ark that counts!

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Quote:

Northern Rock – leverage mortgages to the max

Northern Rock is a very simple bank. It has only one strategy and it makes no

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CNBC Stock Blog: Bernie McGinn says forget subprime — buy bank stocks. Which one did he call a “tremendous franchise”?

He also likes Bank of America (BAC).

“Bank of America represents a pretty good buy right here,” he said.  “It’s a tremendous franchise; it’s the number one in deposits, it’s number one in credit-card balances, it will be number one in mortgages.”

Of course, it is that last part that makes me nervous. In the models I use, Bank of America is most notable for poor earnings momentum, poor earnings quality and poor price momentum.

In the recent months, interest rates of Banks and Finance Companies in Singapore have been trending downwards.

Here are two reports from Straits Times and AsiaOne:

1) March 24, 2008
Singapore interest rates likely to fall further Fed cut and robust Sing$ could push interbank lending rate below 1%
By Nicholas Fang
SINGAPOREANS can expect cheaper mortgages but lower savings and fixed deposit