Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Wall Street Journal Pines for the Return of Liar’s Loans

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial staff (WSJ) disparages the Dodd-Frank Act and the leaders of the financial regulatory bureaus. I agree with many of those criticisms; but I distance myself from them on their horrified stance against the Act, saying that: “The regulation micromanages bank decisions down to the type and nature of loan.” The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits a “type” of loan according to the innately deceptive “nature of [the] loan.” The Act disallows liar’s loans. The WSJ believes this ban so atrocious, so evidently an infringement of the divine right of banks, that it calls it “micromanage[ment]” and presumes that the word establishes the irrationality of prohibiting liar’s loans.
As I have been discussing for more than twenty years, no truthful lender would make liar’s loans. Here is George Akerlof and Paul Romer’s clarification of the analytics in their well-known 1993 article in which they specifically alluded to my explanation. Notice the creepy manner in which they explain the explicit underwriting failures that characterized liar’s loans ten years later.
“[An officer] who is betting that his frugality might in reality create a profit would never operate the way many thrifts did, with total disregard for even the most essential tenets of lending: keeping sensible records about loans, safeguarding against external fraud and abuse, counter-checking data on loan documentations, even striving to have applicants fill out loan forms for applications. 5
5. Black (1993b) vigorously makes this point” (1993: 4 & n. 5).
When a lender fails to observe “even the most elementary guidelines of lending” it will incur grave losses. The controlling officers, however, will be made rich by making sloppy loans. Indeed, Akerlof and Romer emphasized that accounting control fraud is a “sure thing” (1993: 5).
Here are the five most notable warnings of the mortgage industry’s anti-scam unit (MARI) that the Mortgage Bankers Association sent to practically all significant mortgage lenders as early as the start of 2006:
·  Stated income loans “are open invitations to con artists”
·  Study: fraud occurrence is “90 percent”
·  “[T]he stated income loan deserves the label utilized by many people in the industry, the ‘liar’s loan.’”
·  “Apparently, many people in the industry have little … understanding of the mess produced by low-doc/no-doc products that were in fashion in the early 1990s. Those loans created hundreds of millions of dollars in losses….”
·  “Federal regulators of insured financial agencies have voiced out concerns about safety and soundness regarding these loans….”
Even Ben Bernanke, the Nation’s chief anti-regulator, used the Fed’s distinctive statutory power under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) of 1994 to proscribe liar’s loans in mid-2008. Bernanke deferred the effective date of the rule by 15 months because one would not want to give a deceitful lender a hard time.
Alan Greenspan disregarded Fed Member Gramlich’s popular warnings about non-prime loans and also rejected his plea that Greenspan send the Fed’s analysts into the bank holding company affiliates to uncover the real story. The Fed’s supervisors were subjugated to the menial role of asking the systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs) what kind of loans they were making (a procedure that would definitely lead to significant understatement by the SDIs).
“Sabeth Siddique, [queried] large banks in 2005 …how many of which types of loans they were originating. Siddique discovered the data he obtained “very alarming,” [N]ontraditional loans comprised 59 percent of originations at Countrywide, 58 percent at Wells Fargo, 51 at National City, 31% at Washington Mutual, 28.3% at Bank of America, and 26.5% at CitiFinancial.

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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Find an Apartment with Bad Credits

There is one more painful than the ability to get a loan it is having bad credits. As a consequence the ability to get a good job and ultimately, the ability to rent a decent apartment is affected.

Here are ways how, so don’t give up just yet.

Month to Month- this style permits the landlord and the tenant much more leniency, which is why many apartment owners have gone to this month to month style. As compared to those who signed for a year lease month to month as landlords are not so concerned with poor credits. And to tenants with bad credit, they find apartments to rent with month to month leases great.
Clear Debts- Pay off debts that might be a hindrance, work on clearing your debts before apartment hunting. Even up to seven years some things stay on a credit report. But even so it is always better and looks better to have a past due debt that has been paid than to have a bad debt that is not paid or there has been no effort to pay it. Most landlords will look at paid off late debts as an attempt to be responsible. And may be you key to get your new apartment.

References- References are very significant and can be sufficient to convince a landlord to make you rent his apartment even with bad credit that is why landlords always ask for them. The landlord might be willing to move forward with a lease if someone with a good reputation is willing to give a good reference to the landlord.

Avoid Real Estate Agents- it may be hard for a landlord to let a person with bad credits rent the apartment but there is a good chance that he still will but a real estate agent rarely will though. Shun eyeing at apartments a real estate agent is managing. Real estate agents strictly verify backgrounds and credit reports. There is slim hope of finding a good apartment through a real estate agent if you have bad credits.

Bad credit does not prevent people from renting an apartment and if you want, the greatest chance of a decent apartment on bad credit is a month to month lease. This makes both the landlord and tenant feel more comfortable in the situation plus it is an easier payment terms.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

What is a structured settlement?

structured settlement is defined as an agreement by which an insurance company makes payments to an injured person as the result of a bodily injury claim settlement. The money then will be awarded to their surviving family if in the case that the injured individual is deceased.
For about 30 years, structured settlements have been around aiding injured person. For the insurance companies, rather than paying all at once, it is easier to pay over a period of time that is why structured settlements were established. Payouts must follow a certain structure that is why it was named structured settlements.
A financial institution is the only authorized body who can distribute structured settlements. In many cases, these institutions will specialize in structured settlements.
For a certain period of time or even over a lifetime the payments are made in installments. Some settlements accommodate immediate payment to comprehend a specific damage that occurred.
The defendant usually buys an annuity for you in the amount of the settlement. There are many different ways you can set the money such as when you are sick and entail medical care; you can save funds for your medical treatment.
Over a certain amount of time, a structured settlement annuity offers tax-free payments. In some cases, the payments can be made over the lifetime of the individual. In the event that the payee dies, then the payments can be made to their beneficiary.
The settlement cannot be changed once established. Hence, you need to be certain that it is arranged the way you want it. It will be helpful to have an attorney in determining the terms of the structured settlement.
Structured settlements are sometimes bought by many companies so that you can receive a lump sum. There are investors that are always seeking for people who want to cash out their structured settlement. If you really want to cash it out you may sell it by parts, or sell just a part of it.
You may exchange it with some companies who are willing to trade it with you if you think that selling your settlement is not a good idea.
Some states do not allow structured settlements so better think about it many time before deciding. Make some research about its pros and cons and weigh if they are right for you. Who knows it might be a good way for you to get the money that is meant for you.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Will paying my utility bills on time improve my credit score?

No, it doesn’t factor into the credit score.  Paying your utility bills such as electric company, the gas company, and your television and phone service, it also includes cellular phone providers, on time would not reflect and it doesn’t make it to your credit score.
Your utility companies has nothing to gain if they report you timely paymentsthat is why most utility companies don’t go to the effort and expense of reporting your timely payments to the credit bureaus.
But the thing is some utilities will make a report if you are late on your payments.  Therefore, it will likely go on your credit report if the account goes to a collections agency.  This will not happen unless you make an arrangement for payment with the
But you would rather not do so because this doesn’t mean that you have an excuse of not paying your bills on time.  The utilities are charging interest on late accounts, and therefore they can send the account to a collection agency.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

CONTACT

Our qualified, professional tax consultants can save you time and money, we are living to that promise and we will never disappoint you. With years of experience we have earned satisfied and happy clients. The generations of satisfied customers will still continue because we are here to provide quick, reliable, and professional service that you are looking for from yesterday, today and many tomorrows. Read More: http://hassassociates.org/contact/

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Miscellaneous

If still doubtful and you have a lot of questions to ask feel free to bring any other official tax documents you received not mentioned above. See it more

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Foreign Nationals on a F-1 or J-1 Visas

Please bring your Visa and passport and summarize the following information: Your permanent address where you are a citizen. Your F-1 / J-1 VISA number. The actual dates entered / left the United States in 2011. The number of days you were in the United States for the previous three tax years Source Site

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Residential Energy Efficient Improvements

Please make the cost of the following applicable items available: high-efficiency heating & cooling systems, water heaters, windows, doors, insulation, qualified solar electric property, solar water heating property, fuel cell property, small wind energy property and geothermal heat pump property. Continue reading

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Business Use of Home

If your business uses a portion of your home, please provide a square footage calculation of the area used for business. You also need to provide the date you began using the space for business, how much you originally paid for the property and a summary of your utility expenses (gas, electric, oil, condo fees, landscaping, snowplowing, maintenance, etc), major home improvements and direct office expenses (repairs, business phone, etc). See it more

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Higher Education Expenses

In the condition that you are qualified to deduct your higher education expenses, please summarize how much you paid in tuition and books during the applicable tax year. You might also need to bring in all actual tuition billing statements as well. Amounts paid for tuition may include loans credited to the University. If valid, please have on hand how much you received in scholarships or fellowships and also bring in receipts for computers and peripherals you purchased for school. Note: Form 1098T (Tuition Statement) represents tuition billed during the current tax year. This is not always the number to use. You can only deduct the amount of “qualified tuition” & related fees paid. Continue reading

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Rental Property

Prepare a simple 1 page income statement showing the gross rental income you received during the tax year and your applicable expenses categorized and summarized by the type of expense (i.e. advertising, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, repairs, maintenance, condo fees, etc) if you received income from rental property (Schedule E). Also provide details like when you started renting the property and how much you originally paid for the property. Continue reading

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Self-Employment

Get ready with a simple 1 page income statement which summarizes your gross self employment income for the tax year and your applicable expenses categorized and summarized by the type of expense (i.e. advertising, equipment, supplies, etc). Full Article

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Dependent Care Expense



Please present the names of each care provider, their address, federal identification number or social security number, and the amount paid to each provider. Names of each child that was cared for and the total amount paid in child care expenses for each child are also needed. If you have a nanny and use a nanny tax service to handle the employment taxes, please bring in a completed Schedule H.

Full Article

Monday, April 1, 2013

Moving Expenses



Please summarize your moving expenses if move is employment related. The only items you can deduct are the following: the cost to move your household goods, storage and the one time trip to make the final move to your new location.

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Business Rents Paid


Provide your landlord’s name and address. Please summarize the rent you paid for business purposes during the tax year.


Full Article

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Estimated Tax Payments


We might need to know details of your transactions like if you made any estimated tax payments this tax year, we will need to know the dates and amounts paid of all federal and state estimated tax payments.

Continue Reading

Friday, March 22, 2013

Stocks & Mutual Funds


Please be very wary of this one. Do not assume your cost information is provided on Form 1099. Please provide a spreadsheet showing the date you bought each item that was sold along with the total purchase price of each item sold, if you sold stocks or mutual funds.

Please carefully review all your stock sales to ensure you have the purchase date and cost information for each stock or mutual fund sold during the year.

Contine Reading

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

IRAs



The amount you contributed to a traditional IRA (Form 4598). If you converted a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, please supply the amount of any applicable after-tax Traditional IRA contributions you made over the years.

Full Article

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Dependents



If you desire to claim dependents, provide all dependent’s full names (as they appear on their social security card), dates of birth, & social security numbers.

Full Article


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Itemized Deductions

Compose a spreadsheet/list summarizing your deductions (Schedule A) if you are planning on itemizing them. Itemized deductions include: medical expenses, personal property tax, state and local sales taxes, tax preparation fees, custodial fees, financial planning fees, interest on mortgages and home equity loans (bring Form 1098), mortgage insurance premiums, real estate taxes, casualty and theft losses, investment related subscriptions, uniforms, cash and non-cash charitable donations, safe deposit box fees, unreimbursed job related expenses (such as job seeking expenses), cell phone charges, tools, dry cleaning, luggage, PDAs, online service fees, trade journals, travel, meals and entertainment.

Full Article

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Income Statements


Carry with you all applicable W-2 forms, 1099 forms, interest income, dividend income, K-1 forms, pension or IRA distributions forms, brokerage account forms, social security, and student loan interest forms.

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Prior Year Tax Return Copies



A new client may bring copies of your last 3 years federal and state income tax returns. The best part is HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING will review the for FREE, yes for free. You may think that you don’t have any problem with your tax returns but we may be able to amend mistakes/omissions getting you back additional refunds.

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Saturday, March 9, 2013

WHAT TO BRING TO YOUR TAX APPOINTMENT



Every problem is unique and so thus every taxpayer’s situation. We cannot list all the items one must bring in for a tax appointment for every type of tax situation so we recommend to rather bring the item in question to your tax appointment. The following is a good general list of the items to bring in with you for your scheduled tax appointment:

Prior Year Tax Return Copies
Income Statements
Itemized Deductions
Dependents
IRAs
Stocks & Mutual Funds
Estimated Tax Payments
Business Rents Paid
Moving Expenses
Dependent Care Expense
Self-Employment
Rental Property
Higher Education Expenses
Business Use of Home
Residential Energy Efficient Improvements
Foreign Nationals on a F-1 or J-1 Visas
Miscellaneous
See More

Monday, March 4, 2013

B2B: SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR BUSINESS OWNERS AND MANAGERS


Would like to provide their employees with a valuable service while saving money? Who doesn’t, right? That is why HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING offers income tax preparation services to business owners and managers.

Money Saving Options:

Group Discount – Offer HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING tax preparation services to your employees for a discounted rate*.
Flat Rate Promotion – Cover the cost of tax preparation services for your employees and HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING will charge a flat rate per employee*.
Saving you time and money is what we are all about that is why specializing in Individual, Partnership, Corporate, and Estate Income Tax Returns; we can reduce your employees’ taxes to the bare minimum because we understand that time and money is important to everyone.
See more

Thursday, February 28, 2013

NEED EXPERT ADVICE ON YOUR FINANCES?



They say there is no such thing as free lunch but come and visit any HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING office, you can schedule an appointment with an Experienced Financial Advisor for a free financial review.  Not only you can ask advice from experts but they will review your finances, assess your goals, and give professional advice based on years of experience.

Whatever your financial needs are HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING is here to meet all of them.  We look forward to advising you.  You will be a great addition to our family of satisfied clients.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013

HAVE YOU PAID TOO MUCH?

If you are thinking that your income tax returns are doing good and you do not need a professional help you can think again because it is better to be sure than sorry when after all HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING can do it for FREE. Come into any HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING and we will review your last three years of income tax returns, yes you heard it right, for FREE. We look for any errors or missing deductions & credits. Many times we can amend your returns to get you additional refund money. When you thought you have no more issues and additional refund money, we can find them for you. Read more

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

FREE 1040EZ

We all realize how life can get rough these days and at HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING we are aware that the economy at times is getting tougher as well and it is not likely to get better. HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING is full sentient of your hardships and in order to provide a little financial relief to those that need it, we are offering free federal 1040EZ tax preparation for all new clients during the 2012 tax season. No need for many hassle to make advantage of the offer, just come to any HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING locations with the “Free 1040EZ” coupon, and if you qualify, we will prepare and file it for free* See it more

Thursday, February 14, 2013

PROMOTIONS


“Believing in yourself” they say is the secret of success but there is more to that.  Making other people believe in you is the way to success.  We believe in our services and so as our

clients.  Time and money are two of the necessities in life and HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING can save them for you.  HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING saved time and money of many

satisfied clients, we are sure you will be too.
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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

HOW WE CAN HELP YOU


Your money should be inside your pockets and not in Taxes.  HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING Income Tax can help ensure that your well-deserved money stays in your pocket.

HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING philosophy offer professional & affordable services.  Many who tried to self-prepare their returns or got to under-qualified tax preparers often caught themselves overpaying their taxes. HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING would not just cover a quality service but would also include a FREE review of your last three years tax returns.  This would help us find mistakes or omissions and can amend your returns to get you back additional refund money.
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Friday, February 1, 2013

ABOUT US


HASS ASSOCIATES ACCOUNTING was at first doing business as the Tax Center and was then evolved to an accounting industry concerning about income tax preparation.

Years thought us many things, introduced us many people and their walks of life.  We have worked on many types and diverse range of clients, each client was never disappointed because we have prepared millions of personal and business tax returns.  We deal in volumes but we never take superior quality or personalized attention for granted.  Our core principles have always been a focus on customer service and client relations.


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