World of Finances

Debt is a crazy thing, and while laws vary state to state, there was a question that I was reading about the other day, and I thought I would set aside a few hours to explain the following:

Can you go to jail for not paying debt?

With a short answer, I’m going to say, “no”, but let’s take a look at why people think this.  You’re going to find that if you’re in debt, you’re going to hear everything from debt collectors.  You will hear everything from, “I’m a police officer getting ready to arrest you”, all the way to “You’re going to go to jail if you do this.”  These are just scare tactics, and while it is illegal, you will need to know what you can do about it.  This is why I wrote up an article on debt harassment and your rights.

Failing to make your payments isn’t considered a crime in the United States.  Hence, you will not go to jail, if you didn’t commit a crime.  The last time a debt prison was in tact was back in the early 1800s.  While it is crazy to think that people could go to jail, do you think it would actually set people to pay their bills on time?

How to pay your bills and avoid defaulting:

If you don’t want to go to court, or have your wages garnished, you’re going to want to either settle your debt in full with the collection agency (many will negotiate on a lower term), you will want to file bankruptcy, of if you wish, you can start paying it back in increments, which many will oblige to.

Are there any chances that you can go to jail?

There is only one way that you can go to jail for not paying your bills, and that is if you don’t show up in court.  While this is very rare, it can happen.  You will want to make sure that you always show up for your court cases, as you will find that you could go to jail for “contempt of a court order.”

Overall, you will find that you’re not going to go to jail.  While it will be best to pay off your debts to avoid any court dates, etc, be rest assured that 99% of the time, jail time won’t be served.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has announced the launch of a new TV and advertising campaign to reassure consumers about their savings and investments, and their compensation levels being brought into line with European rules.

The campaign will also raise awareness about the new level of protection that the FSCS now offers to savers, as from the start of this month the organisation guarantees savers the first GBP85,000 in a deposit account if their bank or building society goes under. With the previous level of guarantee being GBP50,000, this is a major rise in individual protection; also, those with joint accounts can be protected up to GBP170,000 between them.

The FSCS have also introduced a speedier payout process, which should allow most claimants to receive their payment within one week, while the remainder will get theirs within three weeks. Full Article…

Pending and contingent home sales data are very important metrics when determining how strong real estate sales will be in the months ahead. I like to carefully review this information for each of the communities where I am most active on at least a monthly basis as it gives me a heads up on what the future might bring for my clients. 

When a bilateral contract is entered into there are typically contingencies, historically mainly for home inspections and financing, but in today’s world more often that not they are short sales waiting for third party, or bank, approval. Once these contingencies are lifted the change should be properly recorded into the MLS system as “pending”. History  shows us that the large majority of pending listings will ultimately close, usually within the next two months. The volume of both contingent and pending listings is a good leading indicator of what we can expect in closed sales of Jupiter homes in the weeks ahead.

Over the past 30 days in Jupiter we have seen a nice increase in pending home sales with 89 on January 15th up from the 82 we had on December 15th.

Full Article…

Talking about starting a business? Before you start the talking, identify yourself and your business on this scale. It makes a huge difference. Try to choose one of three possible choices, the one that most applies to you and your business.

1. Just get going: you don’t need anybody’s approval except possibly your first customer or client. You’re a consultant, artist, artesan, professional service, or something else that doesn’t require building a product, or packaging, or design. Nobody has to approve your plan except you. You have what you need to get going, or the money you need to acquire what you need to get going.
2. Building something: You’re looking to start a business that requires more start-up money than you have, maybe more knowledge than you have. This is like a restaurant, an auto body shop, a retail store, a serious website, anything that requires building serious products, or packaging, or significant market launch.

Full Article…