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HLS
ParticipantCOOP,,
Depending on what amount you are looking for, most popular way is COINS.
You want to buy bullion, coins or gold stocks ?Popular coins are:
American Gold Eagles
South African Krugerrands
Buffalo Gold Coins
Mexican 50 Pesos Gold Coins
Hungarian 100 Korona Gold Coins
Austrian 100 Corona Gold Coins
Austrian Philharmonic Gold Coins
Australian Kangaroos Gold Coins
Canadian Gold Maple Leaf Coins
There are China Panda coins alsoThere is a small premium on the coins when you buy, but you get the premium back when you sell to someone honest.
One of the most popular is still the South African Krug’s.
The price today is around $735 to buy and they would pay you $725. Other coins have different premiums/spreads.The spreads are usually larger on coins under 1 ounce.
The coins weigh a bit over an ounce, but they have an ounce of gold in them.Coin business is competitive, but an honest dealer works on volume and low margin.
Larger cities with more dealers should be more competitive. Some dealers will work on a $5 per coin spread, esp in volume.If you need help, I know a wholesale guy in OC.
As far as Greenspan, I don’t blame him directly for the housing bubble. I think that it was brilliant lowering rates to keep us from going into a depression after 9-11.
The real problem was allowing 100% Financing on mortgages with wasn’t his department.Quite simply, low rates that we had coupled with a 10% minimum down payment requirement would have responsible people in homes today with payments that they could afford at market levels probably at 50% of what they were in 2005, and no ARM crisis.
Low rates WERE the answer, the problem is they screwed up the question!
ParticipantI left Wells Fargo when they started charging me a fee to deposit CASH into a business account.
Haven’t been back since.ParticipantNot a teaser, no mortgage required, no strings.
Less than $10K it’s only 4% APY (3.92% APR)
$10k-$250K is 5.50% APY (5.35% APR)
Over $250K is 5.65% APY (5.49% APR)
(Retirement accounts have FDIC coverage of $250K)They may lower the rate soon, will see. If I request transfer by 4pm, it is in my WAMU acct the next morning. It’s worked great.
It was 5.40% APY, they raised it a few weeks ago.
They need the deposits, and it’s better and cheaper for them than the discount rate. It’s the highest liquid rate that I know of, and I haven’t had any problems.
Seriously don’t understand why anyone with $10k-$100K wouldn’t use them with the FDIC insurance.
Some of the “big banks” are paying like 3%…
https://bank.countrywide.com/Am I missing something ???
ParticipantCMB,
Thanks for playing along.When I wrote: FED FUND RATE and PRIME RATE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH MORTGAGE RATES OR ARM RATES
I was responding to:
Will this affect the October ARM resets on existing mortgages?Which was a posting related to a 50 bps drop in FF rate.
(If FF rate drops another 50bps or more, wake me up)And per my explanation above, it WILL NOT help most people with ARMS that have not had a 1st or 2nd adjustment, unless rates continue to fall. I don’t think it is likely that a current 5 YR ARM will not be adjusting upwards in year #6.
There is no ONE index that is used for ARMS. There could be one with a WHOPPER + a margin for all I know.
LIBOR, COFI, TBILL rate etc are common ones.
Price of Countrywide stock isn’t :-0ParticipantIt’s the same company that Wesley pitches for. LENOX.
The fact is that MOST consumers do not understand their true mortgage costs or have a clue about how to shop for a mortgage.
The ONLY way that you get a “no cost loan” is to pay a higher interest rate and monthly fee than you really qualify for, which results in the lender paying a commission to the broker as a reward for overcharging you.
It’s a lie to say that it’s FREE.
Every loan prices differently as do the buy-down and buy-up options. A direct lender such as a bank doesn’t disclose their fees to you in the same way that a broker MUST. Their overcharging is internal. They may say that they don’t have any fees, but their retail rates are usually higher, and the bank employee pushing the product may not really understand it and is told what to say and what not to say.
They only offer their bank’s products/programs.It’s not a given that a bank or broker will ALWAYS have the best program available, and because most people don’t know how to shop, they truly get screwed on their mortgage in either rate or fee, or both.
It’s more accurate to use an interest only loan for comparison because you aren’t complicating the equation with principal paid, but’s it is the same idea with a fully amortized loan. It’s just misleading to only compare payment amounts on a full am.
Say that a $400K interest only loan @6.25% pays ZERO commission.
You will need to add all fees/closing costs, say $7500 to cover everything.
At 6.75% the $400K loan pays a $7500 commission to cover the fees. At 6.875% the commission is $9000. Etc.So at 6.75% your payment is $2000 a year higher,if you don’t pay $7500 up front. Some people think that it’s less than 4 years to break even, but it’s longer than that.
It really depends on how long you intend to keep the loan.
In this case, short of 5 years, take the higher rate and higher payment.
Longer than a 5 year plan, pay the fee and get the lower rate (assuming that you can) Sometimes it’s a qualifying issue.At 6.875% the commission is $9000. Etc.
ParticipantCMB,
I use Coutrywide Savingslink at 5.50%, and it’s FDIC insured. Probably works similar to ING.ParticipantThose with ARMS that have LIBOR as an index still have a margin.
Will LIBOR will drop 50bps tomorrow ? I don’t know.
Many ARMS have a +2% point cap on their 1st increase with no neg am.
IF your index plus margin is over that cap, the drop in rate isn’t going to change your increase in rate OR your payment one single penny. It depends on where you are at in your cycle.A 5% rate with a 2% increase, is going to be a 7% rate.
If your index plus margin on your first reset is 12% or 7.01%, you rate will STILL BE 7%. Often future increases are capped also, so the fact is that the FF decrease may mean not a penny in savings to some.Some of you seem to know what you are saying or wanting to say. Others may not understand the terms of their loan, which isn’t surprising.
I have callers who insisted that a cut by the fed will be a half point cut to their rate. I sure that many people agree with them.
If you want to know if the cut in FFR is going to lower your ARM payment, do the math, but the answer to the earlier question is that it isn’t going to change your October payment.
I guess I just don’t understand loans, sorry.
PS:
LIBOR = “London Inter-Bank Offered Rate.” Based on rates that banks in London offer each other for interbank deposits. From a bank’s perspective, deposits are funds that are loaned to them. LIBOR is a rate at which London banks can borrow money from other banks. Rates are complicated. There is a 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year LIBOR rate.Rates before July 2007 usually reflect the Fannie Mae LIBOR rate which used a different calculation. Fannie Mae discontinued its use and publication of LIBOR rates at the end of June 2007.
ParticipantWAMU blows BofA away. BofA sucks, always has in my opinion. Depressing branches.
WAMU has Long hours, great service, online banking, free checks, no monthly service fees, free outgoing wires, unlimited phone access…etc.. even a free overdraft once a year. (OK, OK crappy interest rates on deposits)
Best thing to do is keep liquid money in online FDIC insured bank account that pays over 5%, and transfer to WAMU
one day before you need it in there.
It’s been working like a charm.(Hi CMB!)
ParticipantCMB….
OK…digested all that. What’s lesson 2 ??
ParticipantOH YA,,
Just to help you understand, when FFR was 1%, prime rate was 4%.. and when FFR was 2% Prime was 5% get it ??It’s not just BofA genius. It’s people EXACTLY like you that are probably on their way to BofA right now because you think that they have something special to offer.
The same mentality that withdrew money from Countrywide Bank that was FDIC insured.
I gotta go study. Somebody above suggested I needed to.
ParticipantCMB,
You are a GENIUS. Coincidence, no. It’s called MATH.I’m typing it slow, so you can understand. When FFR was 5.25%, Prime was 8.25%
I haven’t studied it yet, I’m slow, but did you forget to add that mortgage rates are affected too ??????
The prime rate is a benchmark used to set interest rates on corporate and consumer credit.
Perhaps you didn’t know, Prime is 3 points above FFR.
Let’s see 4.75% + 3.00% = 7.75 %OH MY GOSH,, you are SO right……
ParticipantCOOP,
What dictates rates depends on who the ultimate buyer of the loan is, and the profit margin before it gets to them.Most loans that are conforming anount of $417K or less today, are sold to FNMA, FHLMC (or FHA at their limits)
The rates change daily and there are markups along the way, resulting in the net rate to the borrower. The 10 YR bond is an indication of which way rates “should go”, but it doesn’t control the profit margins.In addition, most people do not qualify for the best rates, which allow for greater profit margins.
Competition keeps the margins low, but the lenders that have huge exposure to risky loans on their books will need to start making larger profits to stay afloat.
(WACHOVIA may have HUGE exposure)Loans that are “portfolio” are from institutions that plan on keeping them to maturity. They usually only keep strong loans. High credit score, low LTV. Many would rather have a strong 6% loan on their books than a risky 9% loan.
Portfolio lenders need to be competitive, so on shorter term (5 years or less) they are generally in line with other lenders and will also consider jumbo loans, over $417K, however their rates often aren’t as good for terms over 5 years. Institutions that offer 5 YR CD’s know their cost of funds. It’s not worth gambling on longer terms, so their rates are higher so they can sell them off and still profit.
They also offer ARMS which keeps their return in line with their cost of funds at any given time.
In reality, if they could get deposits locked in at 5% for 5 years, they loan it out for 5 years at a higher rate.
The bonus for them is that they can loan out up to 10x what’s been deposited, but if they are keeping the loans, it raises a risk factor.
(WAMU, WELLS and WACHOVIA and others have exposure)I don’t think that any one lender has the lowest rates all the time any more than saying that one airline always has the cheapest fares.
This morning, Conforming 30 YR Fixed Fully amortized were around 5.875%-6.00% at PAR. 10 YR bond was up .01 today.
FFR was down .50, Mortgage rates my drop a tiny amount tomorrow.In a nutshell, it’s the best that I can do with my 3rd grade education. I’m guessing that CarlsbadMountainBiker will point out my errors when he has time.
ParticipantCMB,,
I only in 4th grade right now. Thanx for the edukashen.I assume that you are a finance major with an MBA, so I will bow down to you. Can you please point out to me in your link what I am supposed to study that shows that mortgage rates are affected by FFR…
I am willing to learn.- The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight.
This is weak attempt by your intelligent friends to stimulate spending. Please find a statement for me from anybody that has studied (like you) that says the FFR drop will directly decrease mortgage rates.
The govt & fed are trying to keep us from heading to a depression. The lower that consumer rates are the more stupid people will spend cuz the rates on their HELOC and credit card just dropped ½ point.
Their mortgage rate DIDN’T JUST DROP.FYI, when FFR was 1% (that was about 4% ago) 4+ years ago,
MORTGAGE RATES were 1 point lower than they are now.Most ARMS are tied to LIBOR. Go back and read the OP question. Thanks for clearing this up to me.
I gotta go, it’s time for recess.
ParticipantUnless your ARM is tied to prime, which I have never seen.
It will affect HELOC rates that are tied to prime and Credit Card rates.
READ your loan docs to know what index your ARM is tied to, then add your margin, then throw up once you understand.
Repeat as necessary. -
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