Fed hikes rates to highest since dot-com bubble. The central bank’s key overnight rate will rise to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. That is higher than it has been in decades.
(www.washingtonexaminer.com)
🤑 MONEY COLLAPSE 💥
In New Zealand one signs up for a fixed rate for 1, 2, 5 or even 10 years. Then it devolves back to flexible unless fixed again.
The problem is that the rates are different, so the 10 yr fix is far more expensive than say, the 1 yr rate. Sometimes the flexi-rate falls below those fixed rates as well. So, it is a crap shoot to pick for how long to fix the rate for, and the perception is that one pays for the luxury of fixing.
We guessed 5 yrs for a rate that was more expensive than the flexi-rate. Six months later, the flexi-rate shot above that rate - so we guessed right. We read the tealeaves correctly, I guess.
On the other hand, my son went with the cheapest rate available at the time, which was the flexi-rate, and got screwed.
How hard is it to open a bank there, because I can guarantee US banks make lots of money doing fixed rates. We have points and ppi (mortgage insurance, I think), but all that can be negotiated. Credit rating and down payment are key to a decent deal.
Massive foreclosures, in a down market, isn't a good business strategy. Empty houses get sold at a loss and houses deteriorate fast when they stand empty.
We just went through the process of opening a bank account for one of our kids. One needs two forms of photo ID, say a passport and a driver's license, but there are some other forms that they'll take like a birth certificate or a community services card from the government.
If one does not have those two forms of photo ID, then, one also needs a JP to sign a document that one is who one is. Kind of silly, but there it is. Furthermore one needs a letter addressed to one's address to verify that address.
Of course, the bank's discretion comes into play regarding credit rating. So the average pede starting out cannot immediately request a mortgage.
Yup. Now when seeing homeless people it gives a different perspective.
When I left everything behind when I was 18 and moved across this country. I had to fight to get a bank account. My mom would used my SS numbers and her friends would too.
If a person doesn’t have a drive to get off the street due to ptsd and they lose all their records. In one sense they are free from the system but the system brainwashed us into looking at them as filth.
All while many of them are very smart, educated. Very sad state we are in around this place.
Oh yeah we are all racist now if we don’t bend the knee to Marxist ideology. In which we are going to see a huge boom of more homelessness.
When is enough?
Good points, all. Time was all it took was gumption and a work ethic. If one job went away, there was always something. Not the case now.
We have credit rating companies and if you don't pay your bills, they keep track. Ironically, your rating is positively affected by having debt that you pay on time. A hefty savings account doesn't give you a good rating. It's all very counter intuitive, and when even modest homes cost a half million, few people can save enough.
There's six year financing for cars which cost more than my first house.
Actually paying off one's credit cards is viewed as suspicious activity too. You are not seen as a good consumer if you do that.