Do you remember having to go to the bank to get cash?  I do.  I remember always having cash on hand in case you needed something and you usually went to the bank before the week was over - to stock up on cash for the weekend.

Those days are long gone.  With the advent of ATM machines, we no longer had to talk to a teller to get money from the bank - we could do it anytime we wanted to.  There was still the limitation of having to go to the bank to use the ATM - but you didn’t have to talk to a person to use it.

Now, things have moved forward again.  When I was in an ATM rental shop today, I was talking to the sales clerk about renting some ATM machines for my lounge.  He immediately took me over to the mobile ATM machines.

He explained to me that mobile ATMs were the way to go - all they needed was a wall outlet for power and that was it.  I had to ask about needing a phone line - but he said that the communication equipment was all self contained in the ATM - so I could conveniently move it around as I pleased.

I have ordered a couple, and they should be at the lounge in the next day or two.  I cannot wait until they invent something that gets rid of having to plug in things to the wall.  Wait… I think I read something about that too…

Looking through the mail today, there was the usual junk.  Flyers for stores, some deal on used cars, and one piece that was interesting.  The interesting piece of mail was about credit and bill consolidation help.  Why is this interesting?

Well, you see, my in-laws have had a big money problem for some time now.  Unfortunately my father-in-law has been in construction all his life and his body is starting to give out on him.  It is so bad that he is unable to work full days anymore - and their finances have been suffering.

Quite often, you can hear them having fights when you are over to visit, or talking to them on the phone.  Sadly, their burden of debt is affecting their marriage, and I fear if they don’t figure something out, it will be the end of their marriage too.

Reading the flyer I found out that they have a debt negotiation program - where they negotiate to reduce your debt and monthly payments.  I think for my in-laws, they will be especially happy that they offer credit card negotiation services as their cards are all at the limit.

So, next time I see them, I’ll have to give them the flyer.  They have been talking about going bankrupt, but dad is too proud to do that - maybe the solutions presented in the flyer will help them out.

Now, if you are like many homeowners, you might be having problems keeping up with your mortgage payments.  Now, one month might be okay, but if you have a persistent problem keeping up you are heading for trouble.  Your home may become part of your lender’s repossessed properties - and you definitely want to avoid that.

If you do have your home repossessed, you will also have to find a new place to live - which is usually a lot of stress.  So, what I would suggest, is deal with your mortgage payment problem before your home is repossessed.

Where do you start?

What I would suggest is look online for a sell and rent back company.  What they do is buy your home from you (solving your money problem) and they rent it to you (solving your need to move).  You can also have a buy back option on your home, so that when you are in a better financial position, you can buy back your home.

Now, I know the title I put on this article seems a little incredible - getting financing for whatever project your business needs in the next 24 hours.  For those of you out there, you are probably familiar with unsecured business loans - filling out the paperwork, providing the piles of financial documentation, and the long wait to get approved.  I have had times in the past where the wait resulted in missing the opportunity that I was after.

I should mention businesses that have bad credit as well.  For those of you who have had a business loan for bad credit - and I know some of you out there have had some of these loans - you can appreciate having an option that is quicker.  For the loans for bad credit, sometimes the wait and paperwork can be overwhelming - especially if you are trying to take advantage of a limited time offer.

Now, I promised there is a way to get approval for financing in 24 hours or less.  The financial product you need to do this is a business cash advance.  In terms of time to fill out an application, you can do it in about ten minutes online.  Like I said above, approval usually takes less than 24 hours, and you can have the money in your hand in less than a week.  Even those of you that have bad credit can take advantage of this type of financing - companies that offer business cash advances are not as concerned with credit ratings - rather the ability of the company to pay back the advance.

My advice would be to check them out - chances are that they will help you business grow and take your business success to the next level.

Now I know some of you readers out there are dead set against leasing.  You may have heard horror stories or received some free advice from someone that had a bad experience.  I encourage you to read this article to discover the benefits of leasing and to dispel whatever myths you may have about it.

First off, I am going to talk about financing.  This would be a loan or line of credit available to your business.  One common use of this product would be equipment financing to pay for equipment the company needs.  On one hand ownership has its’ privileges: you can do what you want with your equipment even sell it should you want to.  But with privileges comes responsibility: it breaks down you fix it, if it makes it to the end of its’ useful life, you need to replace it.  In most cases by the time you have finished paying off the loan, the money you would be saving on loan payments is being used to maintain the equipment - no real savings for the company.  Also, by reducing the amount of credit available to the company, it may be unable to continue daily operations effectively.

Consider our example from above, except look at equipment leasing instead of financing.  There are some distinctive differences between leasing and financing.  Most notable is that leasing does not affect the credit available to the business.  This frees the company to continue operating at full capacity, able to draw upon its’ credit as needed.  This usually allows the company to take advantage of opportunities that a company that uses financing cannot.  Also, in terms of maintenance, there is very little if any expense for the business - it is usually provided as part of the lease.

For short term equipment needs, you can also get an operating lease from a commercial leasing company and lease an asset for less than its’ expected life.  For example you could lease a hoist to use to paint the roof inside your warehouse for eight months instead of buying it.  In these cases you still benefit from the maintenance and insurance provided within the lease.

Feel a little better now about your understanding of leases.  They are not so bad, are they?  In fact, for most businesses, leases make good business sense.

I have always thought that loans were all the same.  Perhaps it was a simplistic view of the world, my thoughts were as follows:

1. Pick size of loan
2. Fill out application
3. Get money

Now isn’t it that simple?

Well not quite.  Perhaps that would work if there was just one lender, but with hundreds of companies lending out money, it is not that easy.  In fact, there are different types of loans that you can get depending on what you need the money for (maybe I am a little naive).

For me, I was looking for a home refinance.  I do have some credit card debt that is getting paid off too slowly for my likes.  Instead of spending an eternity trying to pay them off, I was looking to pay them off in one fell swoop.  With the home refinancing loan, I didn’t want to pay the going rate: I wanted the best refinance rates out there. 

So I went online and compared offerings from different lenders.  Man, there were sure a lot of selections.  After all is said and done, I found one that would fit what I was looking for and submitted an application.  I should hear back in the next few days.  If I do get it, some stress will be gone as that credit card debt just stresses me out.

Well, I am sad to say that my best friend is moving - and it is not just down the street.  Unfortunately (or fortunately in his case) he has been promoted to a regional manager in his company.  But this promotion means that he will have to move from the town we grew up together and have been friends in for twenty five years.

So, we have been hanging out a lot lately, knowing that a change in our friendship is immanent.  I have been helping him pack and get his house ready for sale.  We have also been looking for a new home for him in the new town that he is moving to down in Indiana.  Thanks to the Internet, this has been a relatively painless process - when we do find a property that he is interested in, we can just call the realtor on the website and get more details.

We have also been using the Internet to get him a mortgage for his home.  We have looked up Indiana mortgage rates to get an idea of what size of home he can afford and what kind of payments he is looking at.  It ends up that he will get to upgrade and get a bigger home - the money he will make on the sale of his home here will give him a little extra to spend on a home there.

Well, the countdown is on.  He will be moving in about two weeks and I dread the day that he goes - I’ll probably cry.

I wanted to apply for my first loan and I didn’t know where to begin.  I need a new car as mine is no longer very reliable and I am worried about making it through the winter.

I could just go to the dealership and get a car loan through them.  But that is not always the best option.  I want a cheap loan that will get me what I want for as little money as possible. 

Isn’t that what everyone wants out of life?

I could could go for an unsecured loan, but I don’t know if that would be the best decision either.  A bank loan is another option that usually offers a lower rate of interest, but still it is just not what I am looking for.

In the end, I am going to end up driving my jalopy for another winter and will end up making the loan decision only when I am force to.

My son came home today with an assignment from his teacher: doing a report on businesses in other countries.  Now, you might think that this is an easy assignment, but there was a twist: they couldn’t have offices in our country.

Wow.  Now that was something a little different.  It is one thing to write about businesses that you are familiar with, but it is another to write about something that you know nothing about.  We did a little brainstorming and came up with two industries we had some knowledge about: real estate and finance.

Living in in Canada we decided to pick a country around the world from us: Africa.  We fired up our computer and looked online for real estate and finance companies in Africa - there were quite a few.  What we were looking for was two companies that were in the same part of the country.  After about an hour we found two that fit the bill.

The first company we found was a real estate company that is very popular in South Africa.  The company is Pam Golding International and they employ over 1600 people in over 140 branches.

The second company we found was a finance company that was founded by the lawyer Ian Slot.  Seef Homeloans works with their staff to find financing for people looking to buy property in South Africa.  Established in 2000, his company is widely recognized for outstanding service.

We are going to have to collect a lot of information to write this report.  We are going to use what we found and what we find when we go to the library to write it.  He has to get it done by next Friday, so we are going to the library tonight.

I have had a home for a number of years now.  Every five years or so, I go talk to my banker to renew my mortgage.  I have shared my experiences with my friends and family, but I ran into something new that I thought I would share with all of you.

You see, my brother had some credit problems in the last year forcing him to go bankrupt.  Now, don’t get mad at him, it came down to him having large medical bills and he had no other recourse.  In his bankruptcy, he did not have to give up his home.  Fast forward eight months and he needs to renew his mortgage.

We both thought the process was the same, especially since he owned his home before he went bankrupt.  When he got to his meeting with his banker and let them know, he found out that he had to apply for a bad credit remortgage.  This is a little different than the times that he had gone there before. 

The big difference for him ended up that his interest rate on his mortgage went up half a percent.  Though that might not seem like much, that can add up to thousands of dollars over the course of his mortgage.  Mortgages after bankruptcy can also have other conditions as well, but he lucked out since he knew the bank manager and has made his payments on time for the last ten years.

So, if you have gone bankrupt and are in need of remortgaging your home, talk to your banker beforehand - chances are you won’t be treated the same as you used to.