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Payday Loans on the Internet Have Their Risks
If you have insufficient credit, or a previous bankruptcy, it can be difficult to take out a loan from banks or credit unions. The payday loan industry was created to offer short term financing to customers with little credit, and the industry is doing brisk business. There are now more payday loan stores in the United States than Burger King, Subway and McDonald’s restaurants combined.
The interest rates, or “fees” charged for payday loans can add up to 400% per year on an annual basis. While they may be expensive, payday loans are, indeed, easy to obtain, and borrowers need only have a checking account and a steady job to qualify.
An extension of the brick and mortar cash advance loan business is the Internet lending business, and there are now thousands of Web sites that offer short-term financing. The businesses say that they can put the money straight into your bank account in as little as twenty four hours. The simplicity of doing business right from your PC, rather than driving down to your local lender, has encouraged untold numbers of people to borrow money online. Internet loans are just as easy to acquire as financing from payday loan stores and they are open for business 24 hours a day. Consumers should be aware, though, that borrowing from online lenders can be rather dangerous.
The risks tied to taking out a loan from online lenders include the following:
Unclear terms – If you live in Kansas, your neighborhood lender is subject to banking laws established by that state and you are protected by those laws. If you borrow online, the transaction is subject to the statutes of the jurisdiction in which the lender resides, but you may not be protected. If the lender is located outside the United States, there may be no caps of any kind regarding how much interest they may charge you. There may also be no recourse if the online lender doesn’t honor the terms of your agreement.
Potential identity theft or credit theft – By providing personal financial information to total strangers over the Internet, customers face the risk of having their identity stolen. Identity theft is a rapidly expanding crime and individuals who engage in it are becoming more proficient by the day.
Financial risk – Due to the fact that online lenders put money into your checking account, they could potentially take money out of your checking account, as well. Stealing from your account is a potential risk of engaging in business with an Internet company. You simply do not know who the online lenders are or what their motives might be.
If you have to apply for a cash advance loan, you would be safer in doing so locally and in person, rather than on the Web. There are frequently alternatives to high priced lending, and you would be smart to find them rather than to borrow money at high interest.
Fixed Rate Bonds vs. ISA's (Page 1 of 2)
It is difficult to know where to put your money these days to get the best returns, especially with the way the economy has suffered over recent months, pushing the Bank of England to make a string of cuts to its Base rate which have in turn been passed on to savers rates.
With the Base rate now down to the lowest level ever recorded, rates on normal savings accounts have been slashed, which has limited our saving options.
The two obvious choices in today’s savings market are Fixed Term Bonds, and Individual Savings Accounts (ISA). Although both types of savings accounts have their similarities, there are several advantages and disadvantages to each and it is this topic of discussion that this article will be focussing on.
Fixed Term Bonds
Fixed Term Bonds provide a rate that is fixed throughout the duration of the bond, giving savers a predictable income with no surprises. Once you have chosen a fixed term account, you are able to calculate exactly how much interest you will earn, minus the tax, to give you your end balance.
Most Fixed Term Bonds offer very high deposit limits, generally between £500,000 to £2 million, but some, such as ICICI, will let you invest as much as you like. You must deposit the full amount upon opening the account and cannot add to this once active.
There are no limits to how many fixed term bond accounts you can open within any one year, so unlike ISA accounts, if you decide to close your account for any reason, you can still invest any amount elsewhere at any time.
Fixed Term Bonds generally offer the highest saving rates available, but these tend to be on shorter-term bonds, as they carry less risk to significant rate cuts leading to banks and building societies paying you over the odds in interest for long periods of time.
‘What goes up must come down’
If you are extremely lucky and do your research, you could open a fixed term bond before rates significantly fall, allowing you to earn well above savings rates offered to new and variable rate customers. If you cast your mind back to October last year, when the Base rate stood at 5%, you would be very happy with yourself if you were earning this kind of rate on your savings today, with the Base rate now at 0.5%.
A big element to a fixed term bond account is the “fixed term”. You must be realistic with your finances and only go for this option if you can afford to lock your money away for some time. If you find that you need to withdraw any amount from your account, the bond will close and in most cases you will lose any interest to accumulated to date.
As well as the possibility of rates falling during the life of your bond, you could see the opposite effect, with rates significantly rising, leaving you locked in at a low rate. It is always a good idea to look at recent trends in Base rate changes to enable you to make an educated prediction on the direction it’s headed. Many economists believe that rates will continue to fall during 2009, going as low as 0%.