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Bank of America’s announcement this week that it would resume foreclosures in 23 states doesn’t mean the crisis is ebbing—or that banks are off the hook. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, maintains that all foreclosures should stop until lenders can prove they’ve adhered to all laws, regulations, contract guidelines and stated internal policies with regard to foreclosures, loan modifications, and other forms of foreclosure avoidance. Recently, CU posted its position on its advocacy Web site, Defend Your Dollars, on what banks should do now to prove their compliance: • Obtain an independent audit evaluating and describing the current level of compliance, as well as identifying any deficiencies in the past 36 months.

• Make public the results of the audit. • Correct any deficiencies identified in the audit and undergo a re-audit after six months until an audit shows that all deficiencies in compliance have been fully corrected.
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High earners have been urged to make the most of their pension contributions while they still can.

Sean McCann, tax specialist at insurance, pensions and investment specialist NFU Mutual, stressed that high earners try to maximise this year’s tax-efficient pension contribution immediately.

“Someone with a yearly income between 50,000 and 130,000 should consider investing more of their savings and disposable income before the reduced annual allowance comes into force in April 2011,” he remarked.

Mr McCann explained that the Treasury has simplified some of the rules, which he said is good news for people earning over 130,000 each year.

“Full tax relief will be available on the first 50,000 of contributions,” he explained. Read full post…

If you would like to take advantage of the low mortgage refinancing interest rates currently available, but your bank account is lacking, take heart. There are ways to refinance your home with zero money down.

1. HAMP: First, seek out the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). This program is designed to help ensure that no homeowner is paying more than 31 percent of his take-home income toward his housing payment. Under the HAMP program, your current lender is required to modify your mortgage to make this happen. This may occur in one of three ways: your interest rate may be reduced, your loan term may be extended (up to 30 years), or your principal may be reduced.

2. CASH-OUT REFINANCING: If you have more than 20 percent equity in your home, you could do a cash out refinancing.

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It is pretty much investing convention that a household should ideally set up an emergency fund of 3-6 months of fixed expenses. The question that rarely gets asked is when do you set up the emergency fund? Or, when do we pay down debt or build or augment an emergency fund?

“As soon as possible” or “always build and augment your emergency fund” is an ideal but sometimes impractical answer. For example, it would be nice for a 23 year old recent graduate to begin to accumulate an emergency fund. Problem is that most 23 year old years are probably trying to pay off student debt on a modest salary and an emergency fund is more of a want than a need at that point in their lives.

Like most things personal finance related, there is no size fits all answer. One wou

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Scorned and ridiculed in their day, WIN buttons may deserve a little belated respect. (For those who weren’t around at the time, WIN, or Whip Inflation Now, buttons were a 1974 Ford Administration gimmick to rally Americans in the fight against the dreaded economic scourge, then in double digits.) I bought one for $5 on eBay recently to illustrate a piece in our Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter and decided to check how its value had stood up against inflation. Contemporary newspaper accounts indicate that many WIN buttons were distributed for free. Others were sent to anyone who wrote the White House, pledging to support the cause. Let’s say you invested 10 cents in a first-class stamp and mailed in a request. Accounting for inflation, that 10 cents would now be the equivalent of about 44 cents—or less than a tenth of what the WIN button is worth today. So it Read full post…

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a new accounting standard coming into force in January 2011 (except for the U.S.; think of IFRS as the metric system of measurement for accountants; it works for everyone but the Americans). Only geeky accounting folk are excited about the introduction of IFRS. But for investors, it may have a large impact.

As I posted earlier, the insurance stocks as a whole is experiencing a downturn which is more structural in nature than company specific. IFRS will only make the situation worse in the short term. As reported in Advisor Magazine, the board which governs how IFRS is applied is proposing new valuation rules starting 2013 which would require insurers to value their assets on an almost risk free discount rate for present value policy liabilities (i.e. payouts of policies).

In plain English, the accountants are asking the insurance companies to value their policies as if they would all be paid in full and making them set aside money for this contingency (or liabilities on the balance sheet are being increased and more assets are required to balance off liabilities).

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Two rehabilitation experts, Moving Minds and IPRS are joining together to offer programmes for improving the treatment provided to victims of accidents and ill health, in a move that should also help lower the costs of claims for health and accident insurers.

Moving Minds, which specialises in psychological rehabilitation, and IPRS, which focuses on musculoskeletal injury management, are partnering to fill a need for a service that recognises that psychological needs also have to be met, and that ignoring them can delay recovery for the patient and add to the cost of claims.

The two companies have stated they will provide “a comprehensive and seamless 360 degree assessment and treatment service for patients, ensuring an individual’s needs are met in the best possible way through evidence-based interventions”, primarily through addressing the relationship between mental and physical health issues .

David Bingham, who is group chief executive for IPRS, said “Working closely with Moving Minds, we are now able to offer clients advice from a unified source.”

He went on to say “Further assistance in managing insurance cases can also be given to claims handlers and employers, thus easing their workload, and referrers will be made aware much earlier in the rehabilitation process of how successful the ongoing treatment is likely to be.”

Bankruptcy filings continue to rise, according to the latest numbers from the American Bankruptcy Institute. This may be grim news, but it’s hardly surprising.

With the national economy continuing to struggle, many U.S. residents are left with little choice but to file for bankruptcy protection. Filing for bankruptcy is no easy decision: It causes serious damage to consumers’ credit histories, but for many, it’s at least one way to deal with rising credit card debt.

According to the institute’s numbers, bankruptcy filings rose again in September. The total number of personal bankruptcy filings for the first three quarters of 2010 has now neared 1.2 million. That’s up significantly from 2009. In fact, it’s the highest this number has been since the first nine months of 2005. Back then, the bankruptcy numbers were inflated because Congress had approved changes to the bankruptcy code designed to make it harder for people to file. Many consum

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