Thursday, May 28, 2009

Is An Online Savings Account For You

It used to be that there was just one option for those who wanted to open an account for their savings. Most people went to the local branch of a bank and deposited their money in a traditional savings account. You were offered a reasonable annual interest rate and you were happy knowing you had a little cushion at the bank in case any type of emergency should arise. With the advent of the information age, you can now do your banking in a variety of ways.

Conventional banks now offer the bare minimum benefits from a savings account. Most interest rates hover around one to two percent annually. With those rates, keeping your money in a bank won't afford you much additional savings on your money. When you look to open a savings account online, you will be offered interest rates that are much higher. You may be offered an interest rate as high as five percent. When you have your savings account online, you have instant access to your money and can see updates on your balances whenever you like. It will be much easier for you to keep track of your money when you save online.

Sometimes when you open an online account, you may be automatically signed up for a checking account. You don't have to use the checking account, merely keep a small balance and use the account only for your savings. Some banks will require you to have a minimum balance. This amount can range anywhere from $200 to$500. For those interested in opening a savings account, it shouldn't be too difficult to come up with the minimum deposit.

When you decide that you want to open an online savings account, be sure that you proceed with caution when it comes to revealing personal information. Properly activate your firewall and close out of your browser completely when you are done as well as empty your cache. If you are still nervous about your money floating in cyberspace, look for the FDIC logo. This will ensure that your money is protected up to $100,000.

You may experience some inconveniences because the online banking services are not as fast as conventional banking. You may have to wait anywhere from five to ten days to have access to your money. Be sure you arm yourself with a toll free number in case you have any questions that can't be answered online.

When you search for a bank online, compare the interest rates that you will be offered. You can browse many different banks to ensure you get the most for your money. Online savings accounts can save you time and add convenience to your otherwise busy and hectic life.

When you bank online, you can avoid long lines at your local bank, save gas by not having to drive to get there and have access to all your account information right at your fingertips. Banking can finally be done at your convenience and not at theirs.
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Car Loan For Students

A car nowadays is no longer considered a luxury but a necessity. There are many students who want to have their own cars but don't have a source of income. In such a case, it is necessary for them to take on a car loan in order to be able to purchase a car.

Numerous online lenders actually have car loans targeted at university and college students offering loan solutions for those types of people who do not have a steady source of earnings. It is very essential to make a distinction between student car loans that are being offered by your traditional credit unions or banks that may not have flexible terms with those student car loan programs that are easy and flexible for students to actually repay.

Generally, student car loans have a lower interest rate and a repayment term that could be extended in order to afford the students a reasonable monthly installment. To be able to avail of a student car loan, you must be a United States resident and must currently be enrolled in a university or college. If you are searching online for companies that offer student car loans, opt for one that gives a comparison of the various lenders as well as options available that could give you the best package possible.

It is of utmost importance that before selecting a particular lender for the student car loan program, you must have read the terms and conditions. It is not easy when you purchase a car. You have to consider if you can afford the monthly loan repayment as well as other expenses that come along with owning a vehicle like maintenance costs, insurance, etc. Taking on a student car loan though can help increase and improve your credit rating or score if you maintain yourself as a good borrower and payer of your loan.

Student car loans actually have lower interest rates but if you are a student with a bad credit history, the lender may not make you eligible to avail of such an interest rate. It is natural for a student to either have no credit history at all or to incur a bad credit history. However, there is another option for you to obtain a student car loan despite your bad credit history. You can basically take on the car loan with a co-signer. A co-signer is an individual with a good credit history who guarantees for the borrower that he or she will repay the loan in full amount. The co-signer is held responsible in case the student fails to repay the loaned amount for the specified period. Typically, many of the students are able to repay such loans after graduating and finding themselves jobs.

Even if you are just a mere student, you can still have the opportunity to purchase your own car with the help of student car loan programs.
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Understanding Virtual Banking

The technology has helped banks to improve its services and even offer some on a 24 hour basis thanks to the availability of account information, transfer of funds, bill payments and account management services that customers can access online by logging into the their personal page on their bank's website. Customers need a personal and confidential password to log in to the website just like the personal identification number used at the automatic teller machine.

Internet banking has been a welcome option for many customers but quite a number of sceptical customers still prefer to do it the old way. This group comprises those who may not be too comfortable with computers nor with the internet. It has certainly improved the pace at which business is transacted.

Gone are the days when you had no chance of paying that late bill in time because you remembered it when the bank was already closed, you can always get home and pay it electronically. And sending money to a friend or child in need no longer needs to be expensive and time consuming. And we can save the paper and sign less checks or none at all.

It is the growing number of virtual banks that are threatening traditional banks as we know them. Virtual banks offer most if not all their services online and are therefore able to offer customers no charge transactions and higher interest rates. ING and HSBC are good examples of virtual banks.

ING started its operations in Europe and is now established in North America. It is able to offer customers no account fees savings accounts at a higher rate than regular banks, there is no charge either for withdrawals at certain levels. ING also offers very competitive mortgage rates with many flexible options that traditional banks are just catching up to. And most of the services can be done online and completed by phone or by one time paper work.

Although internet banking is a welcome option that makes the lives of customers easier and improves business efficiency, it faces a negative aspect in terms of the chances of fraud. Electronic fraud occurs when criminals get hold of an account holder's details and log in names or password and use their account or move money from the account.

They may do this by hacking which is a way of illegally surpassing a website's security barriers to gain access to confidential information, or they may do so through phishing. Phishing is a practice whereby an account holder receives an email purporting to come from their bank asking them to confirm their bank details like names and passwords. They then use these details to access their accounts.

Sometimes confidential information falls on the wrong hands due to client carelessness; this is something banks cannot control. Banks try to use the latest security technology available to protect their clients.
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All About CDs (Certificate Of Deposits)

When the richest people in the world are asked to give advice about how to earn and retain money, their response almost always resounds with the same principles: Your money should always be working for you, instead of you working for it.

The ideal situation is to put your money into something with a high rate of return. Then, while you are enjoying life, your money is constantly returning more. One option is to put your money in a CD (Certificate of Deposit), which is a type of account offered by many banks. They don't work like regular bank accounts. So if you've been contemplating ways to make your money work for you, read on.

CDs are characterized by being registered for at a fixed amount of time. When you put your money in, you tell the bank that you are going to leave it for a certain amount of time. The most common amounts are 3 months, 6 months, or any amount of years up to 5. The specific interest rate is set at the beginning, and does not change over the period of time.

The money in the CD is held until it 'matures', at which point the customer can withdraw it without bringing about any fees (which are applied if he or she withdraws before the date of maturation).

This may sound like a bad deal, but consider this: since the customer has to put up with having their cash unavailable for so long, they have their diligence rewarded with a particularly high interest rate. This is the aspect that attracts people to using CDs. Since they are offered by regular banks, they are completely insured. This makes them an almost entirely risk free investment, as long as you know you won't need the money.

If you've got a large sum of money sitting around and you're not doing anything else with it, then you should make every effort to put it to work. Some people are not cut out for high risk investments like the stock market. If this is the case, then the calm assuredness of CDs could be perfect for you.

Talk to people at your local banks to find their specific terms and conditions for CDs. Look for things like flexible liquidity, high interest rates, and time periods that suit your needs. Hopefully you will find something that is perfect for your finances, and will put your money to good use.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

Getting a Job in UK Banking

Getting a job in banking can be a drawn out process as recruitment cycles often take up to 6 months and the top banks may look at hundreds of candidates for a single post and go through 2 or more interviewing stages often in addition to a competency assessment. If you already work in banking or the finance sector you may be familiar with the recruitment process and if you're looking for a change of career within banking this article will discuss briefly the best approach to successfully finding a new job.

Agency or direct

At the start of your journey to find a perfect banking job you will usually be faced with 2 routes (although you can take both simultaneously). Whether you should use a recruitment agency to source suitable opportunities for you or go direct to financial institutions with your applications.

Using an agency
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Agencies are widely used in financial recruitment particularly for skilled banking jobs as the recruitment process is a labour intensive one often comprising of weeks of processing under qualified or inappropriate candidates before arriving at a list of high quality potential employees. The banking sector more than most appreciate the added value of dealing with an agency for some or all of their recruitment rather than managing their own extensive human resources based recruitment programme.

Recruitment agency consultants are driven to match the best candidates to the clients banking jobs, usually more so than the person to whom responsibility falls within the client institution- often the HR department or busy heads of department who may not have the required time to properly process high volumes of applications.

For the candidate, using a recruitment agency can also offer some distinct advantages over applying directly to individual companies in response to banking job vacancy advertisements. An agency will be working closely with the banks with a range of vacancies both current and upcoming available. If an advertised vacancy does not prove to be suitable your recruitment consultant will often be able to recommend an alternative position to apply for.

If you have the skills and experience that an agency is looking for they will actively seek out new opportunities for you as they become available, this can take much of the time consuming work out of applying for a new job in banking as agencies will only put candidates forward for positions they feel they are well suited for and capable of obtaining. Agencies can also deal with the initial contacting of the financial institutions and get interviews arranged on your behalf.

Going direct

Many applicants prefer to go direct to recruiters rather than going through a specialist recruitment agency as this allows them to make direct contact with the companies they are applying for and pick their applications based on job vacancies posted by the banking institutions.

The easiest way to find job vacancies if you want to apply straight to a recruiter are to search job listings on online job boards, newspapers and corporate websites. The downside of applying for jobs this way is the time it can take to find appropriate advertisements, approach the recruiter, submit applications and arrange interviews often based on limited information about the position you are applying for.

Choosing an agency

If you choose to use an agency to find you a new job in banking it is important to approach an agency who understand the unique and often specialist nature of the banking industry and have direct relationships with the banks themselves. Banks will often not deal with recruitment agencies whom they do not have a working relationship with due to their HR procedures. So make sure the agency representing you are talking to the banks or financial institutions directly and are on their preferred suppliers lists.

The main advantage of an agency is having an agent working on your behalf so make sure you get on with your agent and you feel comfortable with them representing you in front of potential employers- if an agent expects you to lie about your skills or experience on a CV its unlikely they're working for your best interests.

Writing a CV

The CV is a critical part of successfully applying for banking jobs as its all an employer has to go on when deciding whether or not to invite you to interview. As the people up against you for banking jobs are going to have often very similar skills and experience due to the nature of the industry your CV has to not only be watertight in terms of the information it gets across but also make you stand out from a crowd of other financial experts. Banking is still a formal institution and you resume should reflect this, but some creativity will help to show your character and the effort you've put into your application- think about ways of presenting your CV with a unique personal touch, if you're photogenic a picture of yourself is often a good start (don't forget to smile!).

Again a recruitment agent should be able to help you get your CV up to a standard where they are confident it will be acceptable by the banks and financial institutions whom will be recruiting. There are lots of template CV's and CV writing advice available online by searching for 'banking job CV'.

The interview

Interview skills are a subject in their own right and beyond the scope of this article. There's a lot of things to remember you should and shouldn't be doing in an interview but most of these are common sense things about the way you want to present yourself. The best advice ultimately is make sure you do yourself justice, listen to the interviewers and think about the sort of things they want to hear from you. They want to find out about your personality and character as much as anything else so show you are a person they'd like to work with.

Again a Google search for 'interview tips' will give you plenty of helpful advice and a recruitment agent will also help to prep you before setting you up with interviews.

Good luck finding your dream job in banking.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/
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Earn Money With Free Stuff

Offers for free stuff abound online and most of them are completely legitimate. Although it might be nice to get a free sample of mocha coffee or a free pair of baby booties, what do you really do with all that free stuff? Why not make some cash with it?

Free samples are so prevailing online that you can virtually can order five or six things every day and be getting free stuff in the mail for months! These free samples are available for everything from coffee creamers to baby wipes and antacids. The idea behind them is to turn you onto the products so that you will start buying them, but you can also turn free stuff into cash in your pocket by reselling it.

Let's start with some ideas. If you bundle similar items together, you have the perfect "sampler kit" or gift basket. All you need is three or four related items and you are ready to start. For example, you could put together some baby products, a sample of Dove soap, a couple mini packs of baby wipes, a formula sample and maybe even some talc powder or baby perfume. Put those all in a cute basket along with a bow and cellophane and you have the perfect newborn gift basket.

To create a sampler pack, you need items that are even more similar, like coffee. If you can get eight to ten different coffee samples, they can be packaged together in a neat little box, perhaps along with a mug or creamers and sold as a sampler pack. No one will ever know it was created from free stuff!

Larger free stuff like baby booties and T-shirts can be resold online, on Ebay or Craigslist, for example. If you get put together several T-shirts or other items that are similar, you can sell them on Ebay as a package deal, charging only a few dollars per item. Let's face it after all, this was free stuff, so even a few dollars are pure profit!

Oftentimes, the for free stuff that is actually worth something, like a necklace or a book, you will have to do something in exchange for these items. This might be signing up for an email newsletter or giving some kind of information, but there will be an exchange required. In most cases this is completely worth it since you can resell the item for a small profit.

To get really great free stuff, look for 100% rebates. This means that you actually buy the item, but with the rebate, the cost of the entire item is refunded, leaving you with high quality free stuff. You can find great rebates at places like buy.com, or search for them on Google.

Not only is it fun to get free stuff, but if you can also make money from it, what's stopping you? Start ordering your free stuff today and in 4-6 weeks, you should have all the product you need to get your own free stuff business off the ground!
Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

The Options For Credit Repair

Credit repair today is a thing that is being discussed in various circles and there is no surprise in that because consumer debt today has hit an all time high in the US. There are different options available to you for your credit repair. We discuss a few here.

Personal loans are generally a good option when it comes to credit repair. This is because you can get a loan sanctioned with relatively little paperwork. The loans are sanctioned quickly. And the loan comes with a moderate rate of interest, much lower than what you pay on your dues on a credit card. Also personal loans don't require you to provide any security. So unlike home equity loans you are not risking something very important to you.

The home equity loan is very popular, both with the investor and the creditor. The reasons are simple. The creditor sees that his loan is secured because you are putting your most prized possession on the line. As an investor you will be happy because you will be getting generous interest rates from the creditor. On top of that some tax systems actually give you tax benefits on the interest of your loan if it is under the home equity loan.

But there are definite risks involved with such loans. You are putting your most precious possession at risk and if something goes wrong you will have to do away with your house. You wouldn't even have the option to file for bankruptcy. Therefore you should go for home equity loans only when you are doubly sure about repaying the loan according to the terms agreed to by you and the creditor.

If you are far from retirement, doing well in your job and reasonably in good health, then you can always draw a loan from your retirement account. The interest you pay is low. And the best thing about it is that you lend yourself money and you pay the interest also to you.

Debt Consolidation Services are profit making businesses and you will be paying them at one point of time. Although their ads might read attractive and convincing, that is just about the only thing good about these Debt Consolidation Services. They provide you loans with almost no security. Whenever they do that they would ask for a premium interest. Obviously you will be paying more interest than other options offer you. This should be reason enough for you to stay out of the Debt Consolidation Services and look elsewhere.