3 Ways Debt Elimination Software Can Help You Get Out of Debt
Paying off your mountain of debts can seem to be daunting at first. You have accumulated debt from credit cards, car loans, personal loans, and mortgages. You may even think that it would be impossible just to even get started with a plan. Using debt elimination software can have many benefits to help you succeed in your dream of eliminating your debts. Read more
Student Loan Get Declined? Here’s What You Need to Know
People believe that college is a completely new arena. This, of course, applies to the social aspects of college life, same as the financial investment required by higher education. The reality is, getting into the university can be a very expensive ordeal, pushing a lot of scholars and parents alike to seek out favorable student loans to help them with financing a college education. Read more
Total chief says too risky to invest in Iran
It is too politically risky to invest in Iran at present, the chief executive of French energy giant Total said in comments published Thursday.
Christophe de Margerie’s remarks cast doubt on the future of a major gas project in Iran where Total is slated, under a deal agreed in 2006, to exploit the phase 11 of Iran’s giant South Pars gas field to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export and to build a liquefaction plant.
Speaking to the Financial Times, he said: “Today we would be taking too much political risk to invest in Iran because people will say: ‘Total will do anything for money’.”
Iran warned in September it was prepared to go ahead with a major gas project using Iranian firms alone if Total gave in to political pressure and did not swiftly implement the deal.
De Margerie’s remarks come a day after Iran test-fired its “Shahab-3″ missile, tagged as having a 2,000-kilometre (1,240-mile) range, capable of reaching Israel.
LONDON (AFP)
Britney’s sister shows off baby
Weeks after giving birth to daughter Maddie, Jamie Lynn Spears is showing off the newborn, sharing memories of a “perfect” delivery and longing to be a Southern soccer mom.
The 17-year-old younger sister of pop singer Britney Spears poses with her baby on the cover of OK! magazine. Read more
US Open tennis slam boosts prize money payout
The US Open base purse will jump one million dollars this year to 20.6 million dollars with up to 2.6 million dollars more in bonus money available, the US Tennis Association announced Tuesday.
US Open men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive 1.5 million dollars, a record, with the chance at up to one million dollars more in bonus money based upon performance in a series of US Open tuneup events. Read more
Builders feel pain as house prices fall
July 10, 2008 by dez
Filed under Finance, Home Loans
House prices are sinking and housebuilders are first in the firing line for a property market downturn that is threatening to plunge the whole economy into recession.
The cost of an average home fell by 2 percent in June, data from HBOS, the country’s largest mortgage lender, showed on Thursday. Prices were 8.7 percent lower on the year, a bigger fall than at any time during the 1990s crash.
“It is fair to say we are now in the worst housing slide for over 50 years,” said Michael Saunders, economist at Citigroup.
Barratt Developments , one of the country’s best-known homebuilders, said it was going to lay off 1,200 people — a fifth of its workforce — because of the housing downturn. Nor would it pay a final dividend for 2007-08.
That took the total number of job cuts announced by homebuilders in the last week to around 4,000 as Persimmon , Taylor Wimpey , Bovis Homes and Redrow have all been warning of a sharp turnaround in business.
Austria’s Wienerberger , the largest brickmaker in the world, reported on Thursday a 10 percent drop in its core earnings for the first six months of the year, because of a collapse in homebuilding.
“The spread of the financial crisis to Great Britain triggered a slump in new residential construction beginning in April,” said Wienerberger.
SLUMP COULD GET WORSE
Hit by the global credit crunch, lenders have toughened up borrowing conditions, demanding as much as 25 percent of a home’s value as a deposit before making any new loans — until relatively recently 100 percent loans were commonplace.
Mortgage approvals have consequently collapsed, pointing to even sharper falls in house prices in the months ahead. Rising inflation, meanwhile, is preventing the central bank from offering any succour.
The Bank of England held interest rates at 5 percent on Thursday and analysts say it could be quite a while before they come down — experts are predicting a protracted and painful housing downturn.
Housebuilders could remain under pressure for a while and vulture funds are already circling them as their debt and equity prices fall.
With property market values sinking, housebuilders have been forced to write down the value of their land holdings. Barratt said it would cut it by around 85 million pounds.
Wienerberger Chief Executive Wolfgang Reithofer, meanwhile, said the company would close around 25 smaller plants in Europe.
He declined to give details, but added closures were most likely in weak markets such as Britain and Germany.
(additional reporting by Dan Lalor and Boris Groendahl in Vienna)
By Sumeet Desai, LONDON (Reuters)
Rising tension over Iran adds to oil investor doubt
Rising tension between Iran and the West has made major energy companies more reluctant to invest in the OPEC producer’s vast gas and oilfields, although talks continue.
As the Islamic Republic fired off a second round of missile tests on Thursday, France’s Total repeated that, like some of its rivals, it will not spend money in Iran for now. Read more
Credit Crunch: ‘Worst Yet To Come’
In the last six months, the Sky News Money Panel has become much gloomier about our economic prospects.Right now almost every statistic is pointing in the wrong direction – the cost of living is rising, house prices are falling sharply, companies are laying off staff.
And then there is the ongoing credit crunch.
The portents are looking bleak, the whisper is of recession. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has a lot to ponder. Read more
Millions Will Pay Higher Road Tax
July 10, 2008 by dez
Filed under Home Loans
Nearly nine million motorists will pay more road tax under the controversial changes to vehicle excise duty, it has emerged.The Government says the reforms – which will cost around 44% of drivers more money – are aimed at penalising the most polluting vehicles.
A third of car drivers are likely to be better off.
Official figures predict that 8.7 million vehicles will see tax increased in 2009-10 – all in the six most-polluting bands. Read more
Bank of England holds rates as economy falters
The Bank of England held its key short-term interest rate at 5 percent on Thursday in the face of high inflation, sliding economic growth and a housing market downturn.
Analysts said Britain’s economy needed a rate cut to boost growth, but the BoE had to sit tight for some time because of high inflation caused by record-high oil prices and soaring food costs.
“Inflation risks will make the MPC very reluctant to bring rates down at any time soon, and we think the committee will try to ride the situation out for a few months and then cut rates early next year,” Investec Securities analyst Philip Shaw said following the BoE’s decision on British borrowing costs. Read more
