Are you planning on applying for a loan anytime soon? If yes then here is something you might want to consider: when you go to meet with the loans officer make sure you are in a relaxed mood and have all the documentation and numbers that might come up on the course of discussing the approval of your loan. Going through the loan aplication process can be quite stressful and if you are prepared then it will go much smoother and you will have a better chance of recieving a personal loan or mortgage. You must also remember that whomever is responsible for approving your loan will be working from a general set of financial critera but they also have their own job performance on the line and don’t want to be responsible for approving a loan that might be defaulted on.

I am a big fan of credit cards in genreal and I also support using credit cards for gas, but here is a major pet peeve I have when using my Paypal Mastercard for purchsaing gas. For some reason when I proccess the card at the pump it always dials in for approval of a $75 minimum charge and then because my Mastercard is directly linked to the card it puts a hold for that amount of funds in my Paypal account. Sometimes it takes a whole week to release the funds and it always nags at me because I am worried I will be charged the $75 amount instead of the actual amout of gas I purchased. It has become such a problem that I am seriously considering getting a gas credit card to use for my fillups instead of my Mastercard, they ask me everytime to apply for one anyways.

Google reported earnings and sales for the fourth quarter that missed Wall Street estimates, sending the stock falling after hours.  Shares of the leading Internet search company, which has typically blown away analysts’ forecasts, plunged nearly 9% after the closing bell. The stock had risen about 3% in regular trading Thursday. Google’s stock has taken a hit in recent weeks, dipping nearly 25% below its all-time high of $747 last November.

Google reported that its fourth-quarter revenue came in at $4.83 billion, up 51% from a year ago. Excluding advertising sales that Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) shares with partners (also known as traffic acquisition costs or TAC), the company reported revenue of $3.39 billion, below the $3.45 billion analysts had expected, according to Thomson Financial.

Google posted net income of $1.44 billion, or $3.79 a share, up 17% percent from a year ago. Profits, after backing out certain gains and charges, came in at $4.43 per share, narrowly missing Wall Street’s expectations of $4.44 a share.  Many are calling Google recesion proof but I am not quite convinced of that.

The number of Americans filing for consumer bankruptcy increased by nearly 40 percent in 2007, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.  In a report released Thursday, the ABI said that the number of overall consumer bankruptcy filings reached 801,840 last year, compared to 573,203 in 2006.

“The roughly 40 percent spike in consumer bankruptcies during 2007 presages] even higher filings this year, as the heavy consumer debt load is made worse by the home mortgage crisis,” predicted ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano.  A statement echoed by others in the industry.

However, the report also showed that the number of bankruptcy filings declined 7.5 percent in December from November. And Chapter 13 filings - those available to individuals with regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts - also showed a decline from November to December.  It appears that bankruptcy has become a method of doing business.

School districts, counties and cities across Florida are seekingt to raise cash after being denied access to their deposits in a $14 billion state-run investment fund.  The Jefferson County school district was forced to take out a short-term loan to cover the payroll for the 220 teachers and other employees in the system after $2.7 million it held in the pool was frozen yesterday. At least five other districts also obtained last-minute loans, said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.

Florida’s State Board of Administration, manager of the Local Government Investment Pool, halted withdrawals yesterday at an emergency meeting after $13 billion was pulled out this month from participants. Governments from Orange County, home of Disney World, to Pompano Beach asked for their money back following disclosures that the fund held $1.5 billion of downgraded and defaulted debt.

An advisory panel of school and local government officials with money in the frozen investment pool told the fund’s management late today, following a more than two-hour conference call, that they won’t accept a return of less than 100 percent of their investment.  The board said $1 billion was withdrawn from the pool just before the freeze, reducing the fund’s size to $14 billion, a 48 percent decline for the month. Yesterday, state officials said the pool held $15 billion.

By freezing the Florida fund, officials left governments without ready access to cash they are accustomed to drawing upon for routine expenditures. The pool was the largest of its kind in the U.S. at $27 billion before the unprecedented withdrawals.  Wilson at Jefferson County said he plans to withdraw the school district’s money from the pool as soon as he can, and won’t consider investing there again.

So the world of low interest rates is finally starting to catch up with me. Because of the low rates over the past few years I kept applying and getting approved for every new “low rate” introductory offer available. Now a year later all the interest rates are jacked up and I really have to figure out how to get my credit cards in order, or find someone that offers 0% credit cards! The best way to keep your finances healthy and your credit card debt affordable is to do credit card comparision shopping, find the lowest rates that last longer than 3 months.

There are specific times in your life when you must seriously consider getting different types of insurance. Of course we all remember our first car and calling around to compare car insurance rates hoping to get an affordable price. When you get married that is the time to start looking into life insurance and when you finally get your first home most mortgage providers insist on home insurance. Just make sure to do all your research so you get the best value for your money.

Last week I finally had to have that talk with my accountant, to get a loan or not. No matter what type of loan you are applying for, personal loans, home improvement loans or even if you are just looking to consolidate debts you must make sure you have up-to-date financial information available so as to make the entire process quick and painless, sort of like pulling a tooth.

Getting a loan can be stressful but if you are prepared then your chances of success are greatly increased. Remember to your research and even if you have to pay your accountant or personal financial adviser a few bucks it will be worth it by saving you money and trouble in the long-run.

I have finally found the solution to my mounting credit card debt. Besides cutting up and disposing of three of my five credit cards I also decided to look into getting a loan to pay them off. By getting an unsecured loan I was able to consolidate my credit cards into one payment at a much lower interest rate. If you debts are large you might have to go for a secured loan but it is still worth it because the interest savings over-time are huge! Finding the loan that is right for you can be a challenging task but if you do your research and compare loans then you should end up with much lower montly payments and a peice-of-mind.  Be sure to check around for the best rates because over the term of your loan you will end up saving a lot of money.

This past Summer I had my house painted, inside and out. What I learned from the experience is that painting is not an easy job to do. I began this project by painting one of the small upstairs bathrooms by myself. My game-plan was to paint the smaller rooms by myself and ask friends to help with the larger ones.

Needless to say, things did not proceed as planned. I had trouble painting close to the ceiling, I had trouble with the baseboards (I actually bought the wrong paint and then could not even return it). When I started calling all those great friends of mine for help I received excuse after excuse but I could not even blame them because after the mess I made of the bathroom I would not have helped someone else paint either. I ended up hiring professionals.

I have been semi-retired for almost 5 years now and was thinking about buying some type of franchise to run. My recent experience this summer got me thinking that a painting franchise might be perfect. I could hire some young hard-working painters and the marketing and advertising is my forte. After a brief web search I was able to find the perfect painting franchise opportunity I hope to be up and running by spring so if you need any painting done in the Detroit area please feel free to leave a comment with your contact information.