Q An off-the-cuff remark about mortgages has got me worried. My partner and I have a joint mortgage on our current home. I also have a 50% mortgage on a previous home, which I rent out. I obtained a consent-to-let form from my lender before doing this, but to date I have not changed to a buy-to-let mortgage and have not received any instruction from my mortgage provider to do so. A friend said it was illegal to have two residential mortgages so I would appreciate any advice you can provide. PW

A Your friend is talking rubbish. It is not illegal to have two residential mortgages; you can have as many mortgages as you like on as many properties. The issue is that the terms and conditions...

Dear New Frugal You,

I have a 30-year loan on my townhouse with 6% interest. I paid $72,500 and three years later I owe about $70,000. My only other debt is a six-year new car loan with 11.6% interest. I paid $24,000 and have not made my first payment yet.

If I have extra money each month to pay toward one of these debts, say, $400, which one should it go to? Things to factor in: Property values seem to have dropped the value of my house by about $10,000. I dont know how long Ill live there. I wanted to calculate an answer, but wasnt even sure which numbers to include. I want to get these debts paid off so I can start seriously saving for retirement.

- Kylie

Dear...

New lending by Chinas four biggest state-owned banks was flat in the first two weeks of May and total deposits extended Aprils decline to fall by around 200 billion yuan ($31.65 billion), the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

As of May 13, two of the big lenders posted higher loans, while another two saw their loans fall from a month ago, the paper said, citing an unidentified authoritative source.

Falling deposits were also squeezing the amount of credit that banks were able to lend, with one of the four banks suffering a 90 billion yuan drop in deposits.

The paper did not identify the banks.

It sounds almost too good to be true, and for some people it might be. 

Reverse mortgages are financial instruments that replace your monthly mortgage payment with a tax-free income advance on the equity of your home. This relatively small corner of the lending sector all but vanished after the housing collapse as many banks stopped offering the option after defaults rose.

But in recent months, they’ve made a comeback. New applications are rising sharply with new players stepping into the void left by big banks and touting their services with high-profile ad blitzes on cable TV and Web sites.

Although the overall level is far below the pre-collapse peak, home finance...

Operational Investment at Contractor Mortgages Made Easy
Contractor Mortgage Specialists, Contractor Mortgages Made Easy have invested heavily in the operational side of the business during the first quarter of 2012.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) — College could get even more expensive for more than half a million students in New York State. Interest rates on federally subsidized student loans are set to double in July. If a bill to delay the increase isnt passed by Congress, the current rate of 3.4 percent will jump to 6.8 percent.

For the average student, that amounts to an extra $3,800 on a ten year repayment period, which would make it increasingly difficult for students to handle.

Nearing the end of his sophomore year at Syracuse University, Dylan Lustig has his sights set on an ambitious career.

Im looking to go into the CIA. Thats what Ive always wanted to do, Lustig said.

But...