cheapest-car-insurance-some-common-myths

Cheapest Car Insurance: Some Common Myths

Writen by Matt Poilisant

Although locating the cheapest car insurance isn’t too difficult to secure, there are a few misconceptions when locating the top company for your needs. These myths can confuse you when just starting out finding the cheapest car insurance. Please be careful to steer clear of the following errors and myths.

First Myth: One insurance company has lower rate overall than another. While this is not a myth when considering the exact same coverage for the identical person, there’s no such thing as a provider that always provides the lowest premiums. So whenever your situation alters, and changes will always happen as get older, you should go looking again.

Second Myth: After you find the lowest price, you ought to keep it. Allow me to ask you a few questions. Have you received a moving violation in the past few years? Have you aged lately? Have you moved? Had any more children? Year by year, the circumstances of your cheapest car insurance have been altered. The most competitive rates have almost certainly altered also. You need to review companies again for optimum savings.

Final Myth: You should rely on a quote comparison service. When looking for the cheapest car insurance, you will likely use some sort of service to get many rate quotes. You must be careful, however, because your needs often won’t line up with those providing this service.

Likely conflicts of interest are: 1. They may only be reviewing a small number of insurers with which they get kickbacks. 2. They may overtly highlight their product or the one that produces the highest payout for them. 3. They may highlight unnecessary riders or coverage so their preferred plan will come out on top.

Have you met someone who has fallen for the above errors? Now that you know what to watch out for, you are set up to get the very cheapest car insurance! The more who comprehend this subject the better. If you want to submit your findings in getting the cheapest car insurance, you are invited to submit it to the URL mentioned below. Each author is welcome!

wall-street-to-main-street-news-views-and-commentary-april-25-2006

Wall Street to Main Street: News, Views and Commentary: April 25, 2006

Writen by Louis Victor

It’s Tuesday April 25, 2006, and Congress is back in session, on tap this week for Congress includes the Immigration bill and oil. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Denny Hastert, both Republicans, have called for an oil industry probe.

The NAMC Newswire’s “Wall Street to Main Street” segment in its entirety is only available to subscribers as of Monday April 17, 2006. Don’t miss out and Keep in mind that all subscriptions are free and will remain that way. All that you need to do is go to www.namcnewswire.com and add your email address to receive the full segments.

We want to hear from our readers/listeners, so drop us a line, maybe you have a question about a certain company or perhaps you want to introduce us to a company that we should know about.. All that you need to do is either shoot us out an email using our contact form on our website at www.namcnewsiwre.com or give us a call toll free at 888-463-9237 between the hours of 6:30pm and 12am EST weekdays. Your question could be a part of the Wall Street to Main Street radio show that is syndicated daily.

Remember that you can always listen to the NAMC Radio on Streetiq.com, the leader in financial podcast. www.streetiq.com and is also available on iTunes.

Political Front

In Nepal the tension has been relieved at least for now as King Gyanendra announced on television that he would reinstate the nations parliament. On that news a mass celebration broke out in Kathmandu.

The countdown continues, as the United Nations Security Council may slap sanctions against Iran if they do not cease their venture into nuclear power and enriched uranium. Both India and China urge for a diplomatic approach as any force against Iran may grow into a larger issue. Iran stated that if sanctions are imposed against the country that they will cease cooperating with the UN nuclear watchdog. This may lead to Iran dropping out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and could have an impact on the oil supply coming out of Iran.

Movers and Shakers

Some major movers in Monday’s trading session include Carpenter Technology (NYSE: CRS) which traded up $12.53 to close at $123.55, U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) which traded up $$4.17 to close at $41.90, Industrial Services of America (NASDAQ: IDSA) Which came close to a double , it traded up $4.02 , over 80% to close at $8.99, National Coal (NASDAQ: NCOC) traded up $2.06 to close at $10.13, Ballard Power (NASDAQ: BLDP) traded up $2.24 to close at $12.50, Foundation Coal Holdings (NYSE: FCL) traded up $4.10 to close at $52.10, Empire Resources (AMEX: ERS) traded up $4.21 to close at $45.20 and TravelZoo (NASDAQ: TZOO) had another roaring up day as it traded up $6.00 to close at $50.35, now TravelZoo just 8 days ago was trading in the $20 range and the short squeeze keeps pushing the stock to new highs..

Tid Bits

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) rips through 1st quarter projections as the heavy machinery company announced that their profit rose 48% to $1.20 a share, this pounded the analyst estimate by a good 20 cents. The company still has more growth both in the United States and overseas as China and India continue to grow and the U.S. rebuilds New Orleans and other parts of the nation.

TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) beat the analyst estimate be a penny as they announced earnings of 22 cents up over 29% from the same time a year ago. But they implemented a price restructuring that reduced their flat fee by a buck to $9.99. some analyst feel that this will take a nice chunk out of their future earnings. Another stock to keep close tabs on in the online brokerage arena is E-Trade (NYSE: ET) as it powers up in 2006.

Rambus (NASDAQ: RMBS) zooms up as they receive a favorable ruling in a patent litigation case. The California court ruled that the Korean chipmaker Hynix infringed on over 10 patents owned by Rambus.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ SUNW) CEO Scott McNealy has announced his resignation from the company after a 22-year stint. This could wind up to be a turnaround situation that investors have been looking for and maybe it will generate a newfound energy into the company that it desperately needs. He will be replaced by Sun’s current president Jonathan Schwartz, and McNealy will continue as the Chairman of the Board. Certain analyst have jumped on the bandwagon and upgraded the stock from a hold to a buy, which it just may be at this point.

FURIOUS FIVE

This is the second of our “Furious Five” companies that we see excelling in their industry in 2006. Our second addition to this week’s Furious Five is OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol OVTI.

To get our outlook on the Furious Five and other vital information about this company and others, just subscribe to Wall Street to Main Street FREE at www.namcnewswire.com

We cannot stress enough that investors need to do their due diligence, call the companies, get the information, consult with your investment advisor and if you do not have one consider getting one. Put the same time into investigating these companies as you do when you go to purchase a new television, it’s only for your protection. When it comes to thinly traded securities stagger your orders or put a limit order in to avoid a run up.

NAMC Newswire Note

Go to the NAMC Newswire for updates at www.namcnewswire.com and you can listen to the NAMC Radio for the audio version of “Wall Street to Main Street” at www.namcnewswire.com/namcradio

To register to receive the Wall Street to Main Street Free Daily Newsletter Click Here or go to our site and click on the Newsletter section. www.namcnewswire.com/newsletter CEO’s that want to contact us can do so by going to www.namcnewswire.com or call us at 888-463-9237.

Louis Victor NAMC Newswire 888-463-9237

Disclaimer: None of the information contained on the NAMC Newswire constitutes a recommendation by the NAMC Newswire, its journalist, nor its parent company that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific investors or person. Each individual investor must make their own independent decisions regarding any security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy featured on the NAMC Newswire or NAMC Radio Any past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. The NAMC Newswire, its journalist nor its parent company does not guarantee any specific outcome or profit, and all investors should be aware of the real risk of loss in following any strategy or investments featured on the NAMC Newswire or the NAMC Radio. The strategy or investments discussed may fluctuate in price or value and investors may get back less than you invested. Before acting on any information featured on the NAMC Newswire website or the NAMC Radio segment, investors should consider whether it is suitable for their particular circumstances and strongly consider seeking advice from their own financial or investment adviser. Investors are also urged to do their own due diligence before investing in any security.

All opinions featured on the NAMC Newswire or NAMC Radio are based upon information that is considered to be reliable, but neither the NAMC Newswire, its journalist, its parent company, affiliates nor assigns warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. The statements and opinions featured on the NAMC Newswire by its journalist are based on their outlook at the time of the statement or opinion, and are subject to change without notice. NAMC may at times hold a position in the companies that it features, in these cases appropriate disclosure is made.

best-leveraged-uranium-companies-to-benefit-from-increased-nuclear-energy-demand

Best Leveraged Uranium Companies to Benefit from Increased Nuclear Energy Demand

Writen by James Finch

Summary: Sprott Asset Management uranium expert Kevin Bambrough talked with us about the “second leg” of the current uranium bull market. Bambrough names his favorite uranium companies, where he believes there is still room for growth.

StockInterview: How does the major nuclear energy build up you envision impact uranium mining?

Kevin Bambrough: I think, with the passage of time, all types of mining will again be done again in the United States. They’re going to need the supply. There is no alternative. If you look at Energy Metals Corporation (TSX: EMC), part of their plan is to start with some ISL operations, some of which will come at a facility that’s already fully permitted. Then eventually, they’re going to try to move into places like New Mexico, where I think with the passage of time, common sense will prevail and people will become more pro-mining for uranium.

StockInterview: We now have about ten times the number of uranium companies, some purporting to be a “uranium company,” than when we first started covering this sector. How is this sector going to play out?

Kevin Bambrough: It’s been very difficult to try and follow what everyone is doing in this space. Right now, the uranium story is looking so good. It’s still relatively early that anyone seems to be able to raise some money, tell a story and perform well. It’s unbelievable how the sector has performed this year. With the passage of time, the guys with the real resources, who can also develop them and produce, are going to do well. The other guys are going to have to keep coming back to the market, raising capital, raising capital and diluting their shareholders in order to try to drill and find something. Of course, there is going to be the odd one here and there that actually strikes something big. It’ll give people hope but, that’s not the way we want to invest.

StockInterview: Have the uranium stocks gotten out of control? Are we looking like another train crash like the internet stocks of a few years ago?

Kevin Bambrough: The majority of stocks in the uranium space, we will not own. We only own a really select few, probably just over a dozen. We have some explorers, we have some producers and we have some, what we believe to be emerging producers and we’re sticking with that mix.

StockInterview: So which companies do you like?

Kevin Bambrough: Obviously, there is a lot of mud slinging that goes on in all sectors of the mining business. You talk to different people, and they say, “Oh this is going to be higher cost, that is going to be higher cost, and our properties are better than their properties.” From where I sit, Energy Metals (TSX: EMC) was one of the companies to get in there early, and pick up a lot of known resources and databases. I think they’ve done a great job of doing exactly what they said they were going to do. We started funding them in the early days. Those are the (types of) companies I want to stick with.

StockInterview: What do you like about Energy Metals?

Kevin Bambrough: I’m happy to say that we’re a very large shareholder of Energy Metals, and I continue to love the story. The most recent presentation they gave shows what the company will look like after they fully complete the Standard Uranium and Quincy Energy mergers. The combined entity in their presentation shows to have about 236 million pounds of uranium resources, I believe, and a market cap of around C$360 million with $60 million in cash. We’re still a shareholder of Paladin (TSX: PDN). I think we’re up about 40 or 50 times on the first shares we bought. If you compare the two, you’ve got a market cap of close to C$2 billion on Paladin with around 180 million pounds. If you look, you’ll notice the real big move in market cap occurred, when Paladin started to get close to production and they signed contracts.

Now Energy Metals has about one-fifth of the market cap and a fully permitted ISL facility down in Texas. They’re at the point where they’re going to sign the contracts and move forward into production. I think people are going to wake up and start giving them more credit. I think that positive permitting developments will continue to occur in places like New Mexico. Obviously, the friendly environment in Wyoming for bringing on production will make Energy Metals perform very well going forward. It’s going to be fantastic for shareholders if it can duplicate the move that Paladin has over the last year or so.

StockInterview: You said earlier “common sense would prevail” in New Mexico. How does that impact Energy Metals?

Kevin Bambrough: New Mexico is more in the back burner for now, but I think the stock (Energy Metals) will continue to perform well as the regulatory environment continues to improve in the area. I should touch on Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM). We’ve been pleased to see they’ve been bringing out their (National Instrument) 43-101’s on a couple of their (New Mexico) properties and show an increase in reserves. I believe they’re doing some work right now on their Dieter Lake project up in Quebec that could be interesting. They’ve got some good resources and reserves. I think at some point, someone is going to want to cut some deals with them, or they’re going to just keep chugging along and bringing things forward.

StockInterview: You were excited about Tournigan (TSX: TVC) the last time we talked. How is that one turning out?

Kevin Bambrough: Tournigan is really developing into a great story. Originally, when we first got into this, it looked reasonably valued and interesting on its gold prospects. When they picked up deposits in Slovakia, we got in deeper. I think the story just keeps getting better as we look more into what they actually may have in these properties. They’ve also brought on a new hire, who was the head of the Slovakia uranium program years ago. He’s joined the team and he’s basically said that the Jahodna district) is probably not just a 3km strike length but probably more of a 7km potential. The current resource estimates are only based on 500 meters of the zone. They’re going to start stepping out and drilling it.

We’re hoping it could get much bigger. It’s open at depth as well. There is also reasonable chance this could become a large uranium district. They’ve found out there were a lot of other targets in the area, in the past. They are going to try to work these targets as well. Slovakia is a major past producing country. A lot of its power currently comes from nuclear. They have two other properties in Slovakia with resources. They’re going to drill and are hopefully going to show better grades and larger resources, with time. Of course, you’re always hopeful, no guarantees, but our experience is that in the uranium business: As you go and drill old properties, redo old drill holes with larger cores, you get better recoveries and can show higher grades. That seems to have been the case for both Tournigan and Western Prospector (TSX: WNP). I should also mention that on the Jahodna property, it’s interesting that, not only did the uranium grade jump but also the molybdenum grade jumped up substantially to where this is now some very valuable rock.

StockInterview: Any final recommendations?

Kevin Bambrough: SXR Uranium One (TSX: SXR), I think it’s a great story. There’s no doubt that the uranium is there, but some people debate about how difficult the mining is going to be and what the cost will ultimately be. But they’ve got a good gold credit in there to help bring down the overall cost. Again, we believe the uranium price is going to be much higher than most people believe for a lot longer. We love investing in companies with huge resources and plenty of leverage to both uranium and gold.

StockInterview: Do you still see some of your uranium holdings, certain ones as cheap, still in play, and to be looked at?

Kevin Bambrough: Most definitely, and we’ll be helping to finance some all the way to production.

the-convenience-of-online-bill-paying

The Convenience of Online Bill Paying

Writen by Jeff Lakie

If you are like most people, you know that paying bills is an important part of maintaining good credit. If you are late or if you miss payment on a particular bill, you could soon find yourself hit with dunning letters or worse: your credit score could take a hit. Thanks to online bill paying those cares are done away with for the most part. If you aren’t paying the majority of your bills online then you are missing out on a step that is convenient, affordable, and a great organizer.

Online bill paying came of age in the late 1990s when many commercial banks began to encourage this option for their customers. Many banks charged a nominal monthly fee for this service but quickly did away with it once they realized that check processing fees were dropping dramatically and when small competitors rushed in to offer their online bill paying services for free.

Starting online bill paying is easy and your current bank may already offer this for you. If so, simply ask your banking representative how to sign up and then take it from there.

If you bank doesn’t offer online bill paying, consider visiting a competing bank to open up a checking account with them. Shop around as several banks still offer free checking or free checking with a minimum monthly balance.

If online bill paying is offered, you can benefit by:

Scheduling monthly payments that are for the same amount every month such as your mortgage, car loan, or student loan payment.

When bills arrive, log on and set up payments to be paid on days that you designate. Pay the phone bill on the 9th, the water bill on the 14th, the cable bill on the 16th, your store card on the 21st, and so on. Or, you can simply enter the amounts due and payment will be made to each account as soon as possible.

Even if you wanted to make payment to a friend in another state you can set up a “bill payment” for them and the bank will write out a check and deliver it to them with no additional charge for you.

Best of all you can track bills, transfers, debits, and credits from the convenience of your computer. You get instant access to your statements; no need to wait monthly for your post office delivered paper copy: you can read an up to date statement at any time of the day!

Yes, online banking is here and it is here to stay - have you taken advantage of this terrific method of paying and tracking invoices yet?

internet-stock-broker-referrals-sales-leads-for-financial-advisors

Internet Stock Broker Referrals - Sales Leads For Financial Advisors

Writen by Tino Buntic

Consumers looking for stock brokers and financial advisors are, more and more, doing internet searches to find a professional to invest their money with. If you do not have an internet presence you may be losing out on valuable business referrals and stock broker sales leads.

But don’t despair as it is quite easy to generate stock broker leads via the internet. The fastest and easiest way to do so is to create a website for your business and start a PPC campaign to generate referrals. The following is an easy step-by-step guide:

1. The first step is to create a website for your business. If you do not already have a website, you can hire a website designer to create a professional-looking site for under $100.
2. Create a list of keywords that you think consumers searching for your services are using to search on internet search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. A sample list of keywords associated with stock brokers and investment advisors are listed below.
3. Sign up for PPC campaigns with internet search engines. PPC is short for “pay-per-click.” The most popular PPC program is Google’s AdWords program. The way it works is you choose a set of keywords and then every time someone searches one of those keywords, a link to your website will show in the “sponsored results” section. You pay a small fee whenever someone clicks on your link. The fee normally ranges from a few pennies to two dollars, depending on how popular the keyword is.
4. Be sure that your website is informative and has your full contact info so that you can capture stock broker referrals every time a consumer visits your site. This includes you full address phone, fax, and email.

Creating a PPC campaign to generate stock broker sales leads really is that simple and it only takes a few minutes to start a PPC campaign. Below are just a few examples of keywords that you can use for your lead generation campaign:

• Discount stock broker
• Registered investment advisor
• Stock trading information
• Free stock quote
• Penny stock broker
• Bond broker
• Stock market
• Stock traders
• hot stocks
• CBOE options quote
• Certified financial planner
• Investment advice
• Investment stock trader
• New York Stock Exchange

Nutritional Supplements The Amazing Benefits of Vitamin E

The real benefits of Vitamin E may surprise you. First of all, what is Vitamin E? Vitamin E is not one nutrient but actually a group of eight nutrients known as tocopherols and tocotrienols. Each one of these groups is further broken down into alpha, beta, gamma and delta.

Alpha-tocopherol is the most active and common form. This is the form most often found in vitamin supplements. This is also the only form of Vitamin E given an RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance). Folks who eat lots of fruits and vegetables and not much fat in their diet, probably don’t get their RDA of alpha-tocopherol. Although alpha-tocopherol is the only Vitamin E component given an RDA, Gamma tocopherol is an important component as well.

Vitamin E is an oil soluble vitamin and is stored by your body.

Benefits of Vitamin E and What It Does For You

What does Vitamin E do? Vitamin E acts as what’s called an antioxidant. If you’ve read the section of my site on Health Supplements, you’ve no doubt read about what an antioxidant does. If not we can review quickly.

The cells of your body are under a lot of stress… oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when highly unstable molecules called free radicals roam freely throughout your body. Free radicals are a by-product of not only the normal metabolic processes of your cells but also your environment. Things such as air pollution, sun exposure, ozone, nitrous oxide (from auto exhaust), cigarette smoke, alcohol consumption and so on.

Free radicals damage cell membranes and can result in changes to your cells that cause chronic diseases down the road. When your cells are being damaged by these free radicals, we say your cells are experiencing oxidative stress… and one of the benefits of Vitamin E is that it is an antioxidant and can significantly neutralize the free radicals that cause oxidative stress.

Benefits of Vitamin E and Heart Disease

Does Vitamin E aid in the prevention of heart disease? Well, the jury’s still out on this one. Theoretically, the benefits of Vitamin E and its ability to significantly reduce the progression of atherosclerotic plaque (buildup on the inside of your artery walls), says yes, without a doubt.

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association says so also. Using angiography, a correlation was found between taking Vitamin E supplements and a reduction in coronary artery atherosclerosis. Remember the above benefits of Vitamin E and how Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant? Well this is the same mechanism.

As Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., F.A.C.N. of Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts states “… surveys of over 200,000 people in different communities around the world have provided compelling evidence that diets high in vitamin E and/or use of vitamin E supplements reduce the risk of heart disease.”

Dr. Blumberg stresses the importance of making the distinction between what he calls primary and secondary prevention. Primary prevention focuses on groups of healthy people and testing for new heart disease against different levels of Vitamin E intake over many years. Secondary prevention is taking groups of folks with existing heart disease and testing for a short duration using Vitamin E supplements along with placebos.

It is felt that the results of some secondary trials (the ones that claim no beneficial relationship between Vitamin E and heart disease) may be skewed by other factors in these heart patients such as smoking and diabetes. Also the drugs that these folks are taking along with the Vitamin E supplements could also affect the outcome of the research.

Concerning the benefits of Vitamin E, Dr. Blumberg goes on to state, “In thinking about the value of vitamin E supplementation, particularly in primary prevention, it is important to appreciate not only its potential benefit in heart disease but also in a variety of other chronic diseases associated with oxidative stress, including age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cataract, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.”

Two other studies were reported on in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These two studies followed thousands of women and men. The researchers found a significant reduction in heart disease of the folks taking Vitamin E supplements.

Benefits of Vitamin E and Alzheimer’s

Can Vitamin E help cut your risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia? New studies seem to suggest so. A recent report found in the Archives of Neurology showed that vitamin E taken together with Vitamin C had significant benefits.

The study’s author, Peter Zandi PhD with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health stated, “These results are extremely exciting. Our findings suggest that vitamins E and C may offer protection against Alzheimer’s disease when taken together in the higher doses available from individual supplements.”

Another study also in the Archives of Neurology found that Vitamin E intake may slow the progression of cognitive decline as we grow older.

How does Vitamin E do this? Well, remember some of the benefits of Vitamin E cited above and how Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant? It is widely accepted that oxidative stress plays a role in the bringing about Alzheimer’s. And by its antioxidant properties, Vitamin E is able to reduce this oxidative stress to the cells of your brain.

More Benefits of Vitamin E

Because of Vitamin E’s antioxidant properties, it has been shown effective in helping treat osteoarthritis. Vitamin E has also shown to be helpful in preventing the formation of cataracts in your eyes. And it might also help in protecting your eyes against ARMD (age related macular degeneration) as you get older. ARMD is the major cause of blindness in the U.S.

In folks with diabetes, Vitamin E and other antioxidants have been effective in controlling blood sugar levels. There has also been found to be a relationship between low levels of Vitamin E and an increased risk of getting diabetes.

Vitamin E has also been found to reduce hot flashes for women going through menopause. And for male smokers, it has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

Is Vitamin E Safe

A recent article appearing in the Council for Responsible Nutrition stated that Vitamin E is safe for folks in the general population at doses up to 1600 IU daily. With most of the daily doses you’ll find out there being in the 200 - 400 IU range there should be no concern.

You can learn much more than just the facts about Vitamin E at our content rich site called Health Supplements Advisor.

[tags]nutritional supplements, dietary supplements, vitamins, health supplements, vitamin e[/tags]

spread-betting-day-trading-and-futures-explained-in-plain-english

Spread Betting, Day Trading And Futures Explained In Plain English

Writen by Justin Power

Spread betting, day trading and futures explained in plain English

Have you ever been attracted by some of the more exciting financial opportunities often written about in the media? Spread betting, for instance? Day trading? Futures? Those promoting these strategies speak of the potential for massive gain. It is possible, they claim, to double, treble, quadruple your cash - or more - in the shortest possible time. The idea of making a vast profit in a matter of weeks, days, even hours, is - of course - extremely tempting. So this week I thought I would explain how these much publicised financial instruments work.

Spread betting has garnered a great deal of attention over the last few years. Its appeal lies in the fact that it allows you to bet cheaply on the rise or fall of an asset without actually owning it. Historically, if you wanted to trade in different markets - such as international shares, indices, property or commodities - you had to use a variety of different methods to do so. Not with spread betting. You can get exposure to a market instantly, with only a small deposit - typically about 10% - 20% of the value of your bet. In other words, a

lender-the-godsend-financial-cherubs

Lender: The Godsend Financial Cherubs

Writen by James Monahan

When you are heavily buried in debt and your finances are not enough to cover additional expense, lenders seemed like godsend angels from above.

Basically, a lender refers to any financial institution, whether a bank, lending company, cooperative, credit union, or agencies, which provide or extend help to those who need hefty amount of money for some personal reasons.

A lender is actually a company that represents the institution as a whole. Generally, these type of moneymakers earn a living by lending money to people and reap interest rates in return.

These interest rates are being charged by the financial institution on the debtor while the loan is still in full force.

Additional charges can be made in the event that the debtor was unable to pay back the loan within the agreed period. In this case, the loan officer will, then, make necessary procedures in getting back the loan amount in a more legal way.

Normally, lenders work hand in hand with realtors or real estate companies. They provide the appropriate financial aid to the clients of the real estate company.

Real estate agents will mostly refer you to a loan officer that has an established track record. Or better yet, they will recommend you to portfolio lenders because these are the type of persons who are usually capable of closing a deal with the clients.

On the other hand, loan officers may also take the form of a mortgage lender. They are the ones that provide mortgage loans to people who have assets that will serve as collaterals.

Generally, every loan officer would claim that their company is better off than the others. But when you encounter the same person a few years later, he will still tell you the same thing even if it means that he is already in a different company.

This only means that a lender will typically tell you that he or she can give you the best deal when it comes to loan and credits so as to earn interest from your loan.

That is why most financial experts contend that it is best to consider the individual loan officer rather than consider the financial institution as a whole.

The basic concept of a lender’s job is confined on two things: First, to be your backer so as to get an approval in your loan request; and secondly, one who is suited to provide you with quality and feasible loans.

These all boils down to the fact that an ideal lender should be trustworthy enough to give justice to the details of the job.

Consequently, loan officers should take extra effort in rendering quality customer service to their clients or borrowers. After all, it is where they get their earnings. Even if it seems that it is the lender who extends help, it is still best for a loan officer to consider his or her customer’s satisfaction.

Moreover, it is the responsibility of the lender to safeguard the personality and well being of his or her customer. Therefore, he or she is not allowed to categorize his or her clients in terms of skin color, race, religion, gender, nationality, marital status, and disability.

Plus, it is extremely unethical for the lender not to extend loans to borrowers based under this condition.

Indeed, lenders can be very useful especially in times of extreme need. But they should also keep in mind that the very reason their clients borrow money from them is because of an imminent financial problem.

That is why it is best for these loan officers to be considerate enough when extending loans. After all, it is still the quality of customer service that counts most in this kind of venture.

when-an-offshore-bank-fails

When an Offshore Bank Fails

Writen by Gissela Martinez

Introduction - What we are going to do is describe the legal and mechanical process relating to offshore bank failures. We will discuss what leads up to them, what happens if they fail, and how do the depositors get their money back. The terms and scenarios we depict are generally what happens in the world of offshore banking. In some jurisdictions the terminology and procedures may be slightly different but the general way things proceed will be in line with the scenarios depicted in this article.

Offshore Banks - A brief definition of this term is in order. These are banks that are located in various countries around the world many being in Caribbean Island Nations. These banks have a license that enables them to only do business with people and entities (trusts and corporations) that are not from that country. The offshore jurisdiction does not trust the offshore bank to accept deposits from its citizens or corporation filed in that country. This right away should tell a moderately astute investor that he or she is perhaps not exercising the correct amount of caution when it comes to selecting a bank and an offshore jurisdiction. So the first warning sign is be careful of offshore banking licenses. A bank can be in an offshore jurisdiction and not have an offshore banking license, instead be a regularly licensed bank. Offshore bank licenses can be had in some jurisdictions with as little as a $50,000 deposit with the country issuing the license. Usually this amount is never more than $500,000 and many countries require less. As a point of comparison a regular bank operating in Panama is required to post $10,000,000 cash deposit and the owners go through a rigorous background investigation.

Bank Failure - This is a term relating to the offshore bank being unable to fulfill the demand for funds from their depositors. This can occur for a number of reasons, some bad and some not so bad. The offshore bank may have been found to be below its protective ratios and the government bank auditors or financial ministry may decide to shut the bank down in terms of money going out for a limited period of time to see if the bank can return their ratios quickly to an acceptable level. In the event the ratios return to an acceptable level the bank operation resumes normally and the depositors may not even know anything occurred.

Complaints - The way offshore bank failures generally start is with complaints to the licensing authority of the country where the bank is located stating that requests to withdraw funds are not being met by the bank. To document this the account holder generally retains legal counsel in the country where the offshore bank is located and files a formal demand for the funds to bank with a very short deadline. When this demand is not met the law firm will file a formal complaint to the offshore bank licensing authority who will generally conduct an investigation. They may have their own auditors or hire an independent team of auditors to go through the offshore bank records. They will look to see if there are any loans on the books that do not meet the guidelines for lending such as writing uncollateralized loans is usually considered an offense. Loans to the principals of the bank are another red flag. Real estate acquisitions like mansions on the island where the offshore bank is located for the bank executives to live in is another red flag as well. Usually without loans the bank would not fail to meet its ratios. When these loans go bad and there is no collateral to go after then the banks get into trouble. The complaint process is possibly the only way the government is going to know their offshore bank is in trouble and by then it may be too late, but it may not be too late. Remember we are talking about offshore banks here, not regularly licensed regular banks which are audited and watched way more closely by the government and usually by a different government agency than the agency supervising offshore banks. We as a Panama Law firm do not introduce clients to offshore banks which should tell you something.

Loss of Correspondent Bank - Sometimes the offshore bank has just lost one or more of its correspondent banks and can not execute wire transfers until it replaces the correspondent with another correspondent bank which may take several weeks. When the complaints hit the government they will investigate, see that the funds are in place and allow the offshore bank a reasonable period of time to secure another correspondent bank, checking with them for progress reports. This is a not so bad problem that will only serve to scare and inconvenience the depositors.

Offshore Bank Receivership - This is a process whereby the government agency that licenses the offshore bank takes over the offshore bank to control its operation with an eye towards saving the bank. Sometimes they are successful and well sometimes not. Often a team of professionals from a large auditing or accounting firm are brought in. Receivership practices can frequently mean that a percentage of your funds will be unavailable for withdrawal for sometime. This is to prevent a run on the offshore bank which would for sure topple it and thus cost the depositors substantial losses. You may be only able to take out say 25% of your funds. What can often happen is the depositors lose faith and take as much money out as they can and avoid putting in any more money. This usually results in the offshore bank failing totally and being shut down.

Suing the Offshore Bank - What often happens in these offshore bank receivership scenarios is some depositors get scared and act jumpy and sue the bank. The lawsuits generally involve having the court encumber or tie up an amount equal to their deposit. To accomplish this the depositors generally have to resort to deceit or twisting the truth minimally, to make the court think they were not ordinary depositors or the amount in question consisted of funds to be handled in a special exceptional manner. The way the depositors are playing their hand is get the court to hold my money before the bank goes down completely and then my funds get mixed in with all the depositors in the fracas. If one files such a lawsuit they are generally excluded from filing claims as regular creditors (depositors) of the bank in the event of a liquidation and if they lose their lawsuit (an expected occurrence if based on fraud or deceit) they can lose all. Usually several depositors will file such lawsuits if there is any official action taken against the offshore bank and this could push the offshore bank into greater difficulty and if there is a bank liquidation it will be a most complex one with a lot of depositors funds eaten up in legal fees.

Offshore Bank Liquidation - This is of course the sword of gloom in the world of offshore banking. For things to reach this level the government had to have felt that the offshore bank is not salvageable. Generally a bunch of depositors filing lawsuits and jamming up the court system of some island jurisdiction is going to encourage the government there to liquidate the offshore bank in hopes of freeing up their courts. Imagine an offshore tax haven island court system. A small building with one to three courtrooms and maybe three or four judges. These courts hear divorce, child custody, personal injury as in auto accidents, bankruptcy, collection cases, resident disputes with building contractors, traffic court cases, and criminal cases. The court is there to enable the island jurisdiction to function as an independent governing state. It is not going to jam up its courts increasing the wait times for its citizens that are trying to deal with vital matters like child custody where one of the parents is an abusive drunk hurting the children. When the offshore bank gets put into liquidation generally the court cases can be disposed of quickly or even by summary dismissal. The government knows that the people behind these lawsuits are trying to get more money than they would if they just waited for the liquidation to proceed and are not amused by their litigious behavior.

The Offshore Bank Liquidation Process - So now the bank is in liquidation. What does this mean? Basically a liquidator will be appointed to determine what assets the bank has, liquidate what can be profitably liquidated and then see how much money is left. The remaining money will be divided up amongst the depositors fairly depending on how much they had on deposit in the offshore bank. They will get a percentage of their deposit back. What would be a good return in a liquidation, 75%. What would be a bad return well there was a liquidation in Latvia a few years ago where the depositors got 2%. What is a typical return? There is no number but it should be 33% to 60% unless the bank has been really mismanaged.

The Offshore Bank Liquidator - This is generally a person with an accounting, legal or banking background. They can understand the books of the offshore bank and the laws pertaining to the offshore bank and the liquidation. If the offshore bank had secured loans that went bad (payments not be made according to written loan documents) they will analyze the worth of going after the collateral. If there was a farm in Argentina posted as collateral for a three million dollar loan he may order an appraisal of the farm to see if it really worth that much. If the value of the farm is more than the legal expense of securing and liquidating the asset the liquidator should go ahead and liquidate it. This process may take a year or longer. If a loan was made to a trucking company in Belgium for a fleet of trucks the same liquidation process may occur. This sort of liquidation may take even two or three years depending on what type of liquidation processes may need to be followed. The borrower may file bankruptcy making the liquidation of the secured assets difficult and time consuming in some countries. The bankruptcy court might let the borrower continue making payments and keep the asset which can make for a rather problematic liquidation because now the loan must be sold to reduce it to a net value. Generally such a loan is going to go for a deep discount at best. The liquidator may have to sell the banks real estate, computers, office equipment and furniture, cars, boats, planes etc. All this is time consuming and the assets should be sold at an auction to keep things fair avoiding accusations of selling under the market for kickbacks. There is an inherent conflict of interest in the liquidation process. The bank liquidator generally gets paid handsomely. Think perhaps $150 to $300 an hour or maybe $10,000 to $30,000 per month. It is in his best interest to keep things going for as long as possible. The lawyers the bank liquidator uses are also under this same conflict of interest. How honest and upright these people are going to be is something for which there is no rule but there is generally a control element in the form of a creditors committee. In an honest liquidation the liquidator may elect to distribute the readily available assets the offshore bank has right away. These assets would be the actual cash deposits. This is an encouraging sign to the creditors. Money would usually be held back to allow the liquidation to proceed further allowing for legal expenses etc. Then as real estate and other assets are sold further distributions would be made. Not all liquidations are done so directly.

The Ugly Side of Offshore Bank Liquidations - Sometimes the offshore bank assets are deposited by the liquidator in another bank. Whether or not this is in an interest bearing account is always a good question. If there is $12,000,000 in cash in a bank the interest at 4% a year is a serious amount of money that will tempt people. Legal fees can be padded and kickbacks made to the liquidator from the law firm located on the island jurisdiction the offshore bank is in. Some of these islands where these offshore banks are have less than 100,000 people living in the country. You are foreigners and don’t expect such honest treatment in these tourist island jurisdictions. They may view these offshore bank liquidations as a feast for the locals courtesy of all the rich foreigners. Excessive travel can be run up by the liquidator. He can travel abroad going first class all the way even bringing the lawyers along, all on the clock. The liquidator can reach crooked settlements with people who posted collateral for loans with the offshore bank. Depositors of the offshore bank can file lawsuits for special treatment and the liquidator can settle with them in a crooked manner for an illegal kickback and then they get all their back while you only get a fraction back. Real estate owned by the offshore bank can be sold under market value for a kickback to a friend or relative of the liquidator. Same can be done with cars, computers etc. The liquidator can elect to chase assets not worth chasing to continue his high paying job some years longer than it should require. Remember offshore bank liquidations do not come along every day and the liquidator has no idea where his next job is going to come from. There is a check and balance usually in the bank liquidation process which is described below.

Offshore Bank Liquidation Creditors Committee - A creditor of the offshore bank is generally a depositor but it could be the electric company or the phone company. Generally, the employees are considered priority creditors when it comes to their wages and they get paid off first and fast. The depositor is owed money by the offshore bank based on their deposits, thus he or she is a creditor as far as the offshore bank liquidation is concerned. An offshore bank liquidation is sort of like a bankruptcy proceeding. In an offshore bank liquidation a creditors committee is formed which is something done in many bankruptcy proceedings. The creditors committee could possibly have been formed before the liquidator came into office and they appoint the liquidator with or without the approval of the court, rules vary some depending on the offshore jurisdiction involved. The creditors committee generally is voted into existence by the creditors, the creditors with the most dollars on deposit having the most votes is one way to look at it. All creditors are generally not treated equal. The creditors committee members are all on the same side and that side is interested in getting as much money back as they can. Decisions as to how to spend money chasing assets or potential assets are usually made by the liquidator but the creditors committee can exert control over the liquidator even replacing the liquidator in extreme circumstances. Some bank liquidations have taken place without creditor committees in place. These are generally less than above board liquidations.

Creditor Claims in Offshore Bank Liquidations - When the liquidator is in office the depositors are generally required to file claims. The claims process involves filing identity documents with the liquidator and identifying your account and how much money was in it. Offshore bank liquidations are conducted in open court and these claims wind up as exhibits in the public domain. What I am saying is bank secrecy is not in place once the bank is in liquidation. What one can expect to see is a fair number of depositors failing to file claims because of various reasons often relating to bank secrecy. Of course this means a greater recovery for those who do file the claims while the other folks walk away with a total loss of their funds by choice.

What to do if you are in an Offshore Bank Liquidation - If you are already involved in a bank liquidation you made a mistake and you are going to get hurt. How badly hurt is the question so you should be trying to mitigate your damages. If a creditors committee is forming try to get involved actively, even try to sit on the committee. If the liquidator has not yet been appointed do get involved in that process. Try to find ways to meet other depositors. Call lawyers on the island and ask them to represent a group of creditors collectively. Rest assured other depositors will be calling lawyers on the island and the lawyer can be a contact point to form a creditors committee. The idea may not occur to a lot of these lawyers so help them out a bit. If you can get a creditors committee in place and have it appoint a liquidator you will probably have a honest liquidation, probably. That having been said one must still leave room for the offshore bank itself having been intrinsically dishonest and the bank owners have since ran away with the funds. When you read the offshore bank liquidation horror stories you see that the money trail goes from country to country, bank to bank and then it ends up with a large cash withdrawal which is usually the end of the trail. The offshore jurisdiction may fail to ever prosecute them or file charges which of course make one wonder what was going on. So the key here is to get involved actively. It is real important to open communications with other creditors and get organized.

How to Avoid Being in Offshore Bank Liquidations - The answer is of course simple, avoid offshore banks. Stick to banks with full banking licenses that can conduct banking business with the residents of the country as well as with entities not located in the country.

Offshore Bank Alternatives - The best alternative to these tax haven island offshore jurisdictions is Panama. Panama is a solid offshore tax haven jurisdiction that does not tax offshore derived income and has no capital gains tax or tax on stock market gains. Panama has fully anonymous bearer share corporations where the owners are not recorded in any registry or database. Panama has anonymous foundations which are able to have generally non-freezable bank accounts. Panama has no tax treaties with any country so fishing expeditions are not going to happen. Panama has the tightest bank secrecy laws in the world and when coupled with an anonymous bearer share corporation it becomes the most secure and private structure one could have in the world today. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered there as well as many of the merchant marine vessels and cruise ships in the world. Panama has about 150 banks many of which are large multi-billion dollar international conglomerates, yet the banking operation in Panama is a separate bank corporation operating under Panama bank secrecy laws. Panama has not had a bank failure in over five years. Panama has had only a few bank failures in its history whereas Switzerland had over 15 bank failures during the years 1999 to 2000. Panama tightly regulates its banks. Every Panama Bank must submit monthly auditing reports to Panama’s Banking Superintendent, which is under direct supervision by the Banco Nacional de Panama (BNP), the National Bank of Panama. A list of prominent international banks in Panama includes: Citibank, HSBC, Dresdner Bank, Bank of Tokyo, Bank of Boston, Banco Nacional de Paris, International Commercial Bank of China, Societe Generale, Banque Sudameris, BBVA, Banco Uno, Banco General, PriBanco, Banco del Istmo, Global Bank, MultiCredit Bank, PanaBank, ABN Amro, Banco Aliado, Banco Continental, BancoLat, BIPAN, Lloyds TLB Bank, and the Bank of Nova Scotia. Many of the Panama banks own office building skyscrapers 40+ stories tall with their name on the building. These are not grocery store sized banks found in the island jurisdictions. The Panama Stock Exchange has an average trading volume of $900,000,000.

Panama is free of hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes, and earthquakes which is why the Panama Canal was built there. Panama uses the US dollar as their national currency. Panama has modern telephones, cell phones and internet being a country having been built by the Americans which left Panama in 2000. Panama has a treaty with the USA calling for the USA to protect the Panama Canal if it was threatened. This means the peace and security of the Republic of Panama is protected by the USA which could have jet fighters there in minutes. Panama is the new Switzerland of the world.

business-check-printing

Business Check Printing

Writen by Jason Gluckman

Prior to 1950, checks were a convenience that could be afforded by only a small percentage of bank customers. Most people used banks for savings and paid for goods and services with cash. Increased business activity over time has forced business to offer competitive rates and increase productivity. This has made businesses realize that they can save time and money by printing checks.

Business owners prefer to use checks due to their increased volume of transactions. They are the most convenient method of payment. Most business checks are printed using laser printers. Better and new software and printers allow an entire check to be printed that includes the logo, signatures, and MICR or Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, the characters at the bottom of the check. These characters encode the account number, bank transit and check numbers. If prepared properly, checks with MICR encoding can be processed automatically by the bank’s equipment at a minimum cost to the bank.

Many organizations use computers to generate as well as track checks. Laser printer check printing systems overcome most of the problems related with record keeping and auditing. Check forms designed for laser printers are less expensive than those of impact printers. A single form is used for all accounts.

Electronic publishing and non-impact printing technologies are available in the specialized area of MICR printing. Being automated through a computer, most of the setup costs associated with conventional MICR printers is eliminated and no stock is wasted when changing jobs. These savings can be passed on to the end user, as it results in the pricing of computer check being comparable to personal check costs. MICR check software is compatible to work with most computer systems.

Business checks are printed on laser printers as they have been proved to be efficient in check writing. Many organizations have saved time and money that otherwise went into the production of checks.

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