Obtaining A Mortgage When You're Self-Employed

As intimidating as buying a home is to a traditional employee, to those who are self-employed, it can seem unattainable. However, with the proper knowledge and by following a few extra steps, a qualified self-employed buyer can become a home owner.

According to the United States Department of Labor, approximately 10,507,000 Americans are self-employed, with about 1 million more reporting self-employment as a secondary source of income. With the current economic climate, self-employment has boomed, rising along with corporate down sizing and telecommuting capabilities. While many mortgage lenders are aware of the increase in self-employed loan candidates, they still consider them to be higher risk borrowers.

Some Things You Might Encounter As A Self-Employed Borrower:

* Higher Interest Rates

* Reduced Ability To Negotiate

* Higher Down Payment Requirement

* More Paperwork

As someone who is self-employed, mortgage lenders may see you as a less-attractive loan candidate. Expect to be quoted higher interest rates than what you might see on the company's website or advertisement. Those rates are typically for people who are considered ideal borrowers due to verifiable incomes and excellent credit scores.

Lenders may also want to see a lower loan-to-value ratio, which will require a larger down payment. As for the extra paperwork, you won't be able to provide your lender with W2s for the past couple years like traditionally-employed borrowers. Instead, you'll need to provide things like tax returns from the previous year, a current business license, a letter from your accountant, and financial statements showing the income and value of your business.

If possible work with a mortgage consultant who has experience originating loans for self-employed home buyers. He or she will know the right questions to ask and documentation to ask for up front, avoiding frustrating and costly delays down the road.

Applying for a joint mortgage with a traditional W2 employee such as a spouse or significant other, is one way of improving your chances of getting a mortgage with a lower interest rate. It's a good idea to do whatever you can to make yourself a more attractive loan applicant. Improving your credit score, offering a larger down payment and being willing to provide documentation can make you appear as less of a risk to mortgage lenders. It is important to understand that most lenders will want to see that you have at least a two year history of working as a self employed individual in your industry.

3 Foolproof Ways Of Selecting The Best Corporate Governance Training Course

Have you recently completed your MBA course, and are looking for a managerial job? Or are you already employed in a managerial position, and are trying to find a way of further enhancing your CV? Either way, a corporate governance training course might be just the thing you need. Several top ranked universities, and also some of the major consulting firms offer these courses to professionals.

However, when you are choosing a corporate governance training course, be sure to exercise caution. These high profile courses cannot be taught by just about anyone, and choosing the wrong kind of trainers would translate to nothing but wastage of cash. Here are some tips that should help you choose the course that is just right for you:

1. Decide on the duration of the course. If you are just a fresher straight out of a B-school, then corporate governance training courses of duration of 3 months or more would be the best ones for you. On the other hand, if you have been employed in a managerial position for several years, then a seminar lasting around 3 hours or so should be just perfect for you. The duration of the course plays a significant role in determining how much you are likely to be charged for it, so choose wisely.

2. Select the specialization depending on your requirements. Fe specializations that are usually available include international business trends, corporate social responsibility (CSR), financial transparency, and maintenance of shareholders' rights. Choose the one that is most likely to be relevant to the industry where you are employed, or are seeking employment.

3. Do not ignore the basics. If you haven't taken a corporate governance training course ever before, then talk to the course coordinators to ask for a basic course first. These usually do not cost much, and will go a long way in setting the foundation, before you can benefit properly from the course.

Once you have completed a corporate governance training course, do not just toss the books in the shelf and go on with your life. Managers and directors need to complete refresher courses from time to time, in order to make sure that they are well-aware of ever changing business policies across the globe. So, don't wait any longer. You need the refresher now, in order to stay in demand in the job market.

How to Prevent Unclaimed Money

Unclaimed money is an odd, but huge problem most governments are facing. In spite of the various measures taken up by the federal and state governments, the unclaimed money flow continues reach new heights every month. Every concerned official is weary of the unclaimed money pile that is growing at an alarming rate across all the state treasuries. Needless to say that every division and authority has been working full time towards creating a simple and robust platform towards a simplified unclaimed money search process and a rapid disbursement and management of unclaimed funds.

Until a few years ago, it was inconceivable for the majority of the people that there is some unclaimed funds lying with the government and which is rightfully theirs. I can be said that the unclaimed search process was a secret known to a very few, but now the accessibility to Internet and access to online resources have made sure that relevant information is available to the potential owners of these unclaimed funds. The efforts of all the major state and federal government divisions have ensured that the right information is reaching the target audience at the right time.

Accessibility of resources and unclaimed money information is crucial to the success of the program, and the authorities have to be commended for that. Considering the large spectrum of people, with various levels of literacy, it was necessary that the availability of relevant information, as well as the simplification of the process of unclaimed money search, was vital to the success. Anybody who is searching for the unclaimed money, one of the fundamental factor is the simplicity of the unclaimed search process. There is no doubt that the process of unclaimed money search is for everybody, of all educational levels.

As has been said repeatedly by the unclaimed money experts, the first task is to identify the states where you have either stayed or have been employed. Once the identification and search process has begun and the actual application process starts, the reliable online resources are identified and the process of claim is understood. Now is the time to utilize the extremely useful information present on the state treasury websites.

A majority of the states have their unclaimed property website where the details of the claim process have been laid out, and it can be accessed by anybody. Almost all of the states have a very informative website in place with unclaimed funds database updated frequently so that the most updated information is available to the potential claimants of unclaimed money.

As a simple check-list towards the successful execution of unclaimed money search process, the following points will be decisive in the outcome:

• Jolt your memory and list down every state where you have either resided or have been employed.

• Mark down the website/phone number of the financial controller of your state.

• NAUPA is the major source of information related to the unclaimed money search. It has the most current information and database regarding the unclaimed money and the owners of these lost funds. Once you are on this central site, you can click on the state of your residence or employment.

• The most important search parameters for locating any unclaimed funds against one’s name are the first and the last name.

• Verify the unclaimed amount with all your personal details along with the date of residence and the city of residence.

• Now is the time to go to your state treasury website and fill up the online claim form. This form is extremely simple and easy enough for people of all literacy levels and can be filled if you have all the information regarding yourself or your ancestors.

• The above process can be repeated for all the states where you have lived in.

The above process has been tried and tested by millions of people and has resulted in uniting a lot of people with their lost funds.

Sectors Benefitting From Indian Mobile Commerce Growth

The advent of cell phones is itself a revolution in the area of mass communication. In a developing country like India, it has changed the way people used to interact with each other. A majority of Indian population have embraced mobile phones as compared to other electronic communication devices. With advancements in the technological aspects of mass communication, cell phones are not just a medium of communication but, are also used for shopping and making financial transactions. Indian mobile commerce growth has now made it possible for the citizens to make payments and do financial transactions using their mobile phones! With suitable m-commerce application, need for physical presence at the stores or access to the Internet is not required for shopping.

Not just for shopping, but, in India such platform is also used in various areas from financial to information sectors. In all these sectors, mobile commerce is being widely accepted as a popular way of commerce or business. There are many sectors where m-commerce has been accepted and integrated. Each of the sectors has also reaped a lot of benefits from Indian mobile commerce development. Here is a list of the benefits to each sector to help you understand better –

Financial sectors: Do you know that m-commerce has been widely accepted in big and small financial institutions, banks, share broking companies, and stock markets in India? Users can access financial services or register to the required services via voice calling or SMS (Short Message Services). There are also some WAP based mobile commerce applications that allow the users to access the official websites of the financial institutions.

The major benefits of growth in m-commerce is that the customers can now transact or transfer money, pay bills from a bank account, and can access various facilities and offers through their Smartphones. Round-the-clock customer care services are accessible through such applications. Current trading status is also accessible via both voice and non-voice forms.

Telecommunication sectors: India has got a lot of boost in its telecommunication sectors with the advent of m-commerce. Today business-to-customer communication has developed a great lot. Effective communication networks have been setup by the corporate to connect effectively with their clients and customers. Furthermore, bill payments can be made and queries can be cleared with the help of suitable m-commerce platform.

Service or retail sectors: Service or retail is the sector that has nurtured use of mobile commerce application the most. Mobile commerce applications have helped them in finalizing big and small business dealings. Customers are able to place orders, hire courier services, and make payments of the things bought.

Information sector: The growth of mobile commerce has a maximum influence on the information sectors. Webmasters and customers have exploited the possibilities well. Mobile commerce growth in the information technology sector has helped the customers to gather financial news, sports figures, stock updates, and other necessary information.

So, you can see that the growth of Indian mobile commerce

has affected all sectors in a positive way. So, while the whole country or rather, the whole world is benefitting from such a platform, why are you left behind? Use a software like Cart2Mobile, and you will be able to enjoy both your shopping and banking through your cell phone.