Now with any item there usually is a deluxe version or "be all, do all" version of that product.  I like to call these items the "Swiss Army Knife" of that type of product.  Today I am going to touch upon the Swiss Army Knife of bank machines: mobile ATMs.

Now, mobile ATM machines are perfect in any setting.  Why?  Well, except for needing a wall outlet for power, they are self contained.  You don’t need any special wiring, a dedicated phone line, or really anything else.  These all steel ATM machines have build in wireless communication that allows them to work at an event or in your business with ease.

If you need one of these machines to either replace your existing ATMs or "stand-in" for your broken ATM, give an ATM rental company a call.  They quite often have them on hand and can deliver them to your business or even with 24 hours - quicker than your existing machine can be fixed.  So, consider a mobile ATM next time you need a new machine - they are the Swiss Army Knives of ATMs.

For those of you who extend credit to your customers, or if you are a lender, I bet you’d agree with the title of this article, right?  For those of you who don’t belong in this category, consider this:  if your friend were to lend you $100, and something happened that you couldn’t pay it all back, wouldn’t you try to give them something?

I know I would.  That should be your attitude as well with respect to your debt.  You wouldn’t tell your friend "Oh too bad" and expect them to be your friend, and the same goes with your lender.  If you think about it, part of the reason you did get the loan is that the lender trusted you.

The thing to consider is that a lender is just a person too.  If you were to say "Look I cannot afford to pay back everything but I’ll see what I can do", they would appreciate the effort.  If you are looking for some way to pay back the money you borrowed, even though you cannot afford the whole thing, you should look into a debt negotiation program.

What these programs do is negotiate with your lenders to get both a reduction in your balance as well as a reduction of the interest rate - all lumped into one payment.  You can think of this as credit and bill consolidation help - they help you by reducing your monthly payments, and at the same time, they help the lender get some of their money back.

Even if it is as simple as you being overburdened by credit card debt, you can use credit card negotiation services to reduce your debt load and your payment.  The trick here is just ask - the worst they can say is no.

So, have some consideration for your lender and try to find another alternative instead of bankruptcy.

If you have ever been to the point where your home may become a repossessed property you are not feeling so happy.  It is perhaps one of the most disheartening things that could happen to you.  Usually when you get to this point, you feel like the world is against you and you have no other options.  Or do you?

In fact you do have another option when your property is heading for repossession.  There are companies out there that specialize in "saving" people from repossession without you having to be evicted from your own home. 

To put it simply, you would sell and rent back your home.  You would sell the house to pay off your mortgage (and maybe get some money in your pocket) and then you can rent your home so you do not have to move.  This saves you from losing everything when you would have defaulted on the mortgage as well as minimizes the damage to your credit score.

So, if you are facing the repossession of your home - don’t worry.  Help is only a phone call away.

Traditionally, when a business needs more cash than it has on hand, the business would get a loan.  For smaller purchases, something as simple as an unsecured business loan would do the trick.  For larger purchases a company would use a mortgage - but this is a subject for another discussion.

For purchases where there is no immediate deadline a business loan is usually sufficient.  One challenge in applying for the loan is the amount of paperwork and proof you need to provide in order to be considered.  If your books are not in order, you may find yourself scrambling to do your accounting and apply for a loan.

If your business is unfortunate enough to have bad credit, you will face more problems and delays.  When applying for business loans for bad credit, there are even more hoops to jump through to be approved.  If you have an immediate deadline you can forget about it - these types of loans are just not instantly approved.

If funding for an immediate deadline is important for you, I know of an alternative to business loans: business cash advances.  You will usually get approval in less than 24 hours and the money in your hand within a week.  You can even fill out the application online - and leave the piles of paperwork at home.

So, if your business needs quick cash - and you want to save yourself some trouble, a business cash advance is the way to go.

If you are reading this, I would guess you either have a business, or are considering starting one with bad credit.  Usually if you are in these situations, most businesses require some sort of equipment to run, no matter the size and scope of the business.  Most companies would have a myriad of choices on how they would acquire the equipment, but if you have bad credit - your choices are a lot simpler.

First off, you could get equipment financing and just buy the equipment you need.  Now, with bad credit, chances are you will either pay a higher interest rate, or need to jump through more hoops to get it.  In most cases, the extra trouble is not worth your time - or your money.

With that choice off the table, everything becomes a lot simpler.  Equipment leasing would allow you to bypass the need for any credit available to the company, and you can avoid needing a lot of capital to get started.  In fact, leasing allows you to make money on equipment you never had to purchase - effectively leveraging the earning power of your business.

Even though most people consider bad credit in business a bad thing, but it can be good.  It simplifies things, makes life a little less stressful and allows you to leverage the earning power of your business.  Contact a commercial leasing company to see the options available to you and your business.

As most of you have read earlier in this blog, I am a loans officer at a bank.  Now, most days are quite routine - a car loan or two, some mortgage applications and that is about it.  In some respects, my job is a little boring as each day is very similar to one another.  Now it has been like this up to this point, but on Friday I had a different experience.

You see Friday started out like most days.  I had an appointment for a car loan as well as a couple of mortgages.  There was also an appointment for a home refinance for one of the bank’s richer clients, so I thought that would be interesting.  I did the motions of the day, eager to get to the rich client as his meeting with me promised to be interesting.

As 2:30 rolled around, it was time for the appointment.  He was in for a mortgage refinance - but not an ordinary one.  He came to get a jumbo loan refinance - that is a mortgage valued at over $417,000!  In fact, he is my record for the largest mortgage I have ever issued.

I left work that day feeling good - for a change work was a little less ordinary.

My newest assignment for my commerce class is to write a research paper on estimated cost of living.  We needed to prepare a budget on what the estimated cost of living as a single person, a couple, and a family would be over ten years.

The first thing I looked at was mortgages.  I researched what the average cost of a mortgage was right now and then estimated the increase in mortgage payments over the next ten years.  I did this for three different sizes of houses for the different family sizes.

Then I did the same thing for other major expenses such as car payments, car insurance and home insurance.  The hardest part was estimating the costs of smaller things such as groceries, but I did my best using historical statistics and the average inflation rate provided by the government.

Next, I had to estimate family income.  I used historical statistics again and I used the average salary increases as recently reported in the personal finance news section of the paper for the last twenty five years to calculate wages over the ten years.  Childcare was the last number I had to come up with for the project.

What I came up with is that I need a good mark on this paper and in this class, so I can afford to live in ten years.

If you are not familiar with banking on the Internet you should be.  The internet provides a one stop financial store for you to use.  The following are some things that you should familiarize yourself with that you can do online:

1. Credit Cards

   Now, if you haven’t seen an ad or offer to sign up for a credit card online, you are missing something.  In fact, by looking online you can see the best credit cards side by side and find one that works the best for you.  Try going to your bank and ask them to show you their best offering and the best offerings from their competition - bet you they won’t.

2. Bank Accounts

   If you are like most people, chances are that you have banked with the same financial institution for years.  But did you know that there may be better options for you?  You can use the internet in the same fashion as looking for credit cards to compare bank accounts from other institutions side by side.  Want a better interest rate, lower fees, or other rewards - you can find it all at your fingertips online - something your bank won’t share with you.

3. Car Insurance

   Now, if you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of commercials on the television advertising that you can go online and compare car insurance policies between the different companies.  Whether you are looking for cheap car insurance or lower deductibles, you can use your computer to compare all the companies side by side.

Don’t be afraid to look online for your next financial product - with so many resources at your fingertips, you are bound to find a product meant for you from the large selection of companies around the world.

You know, I use the Internet for a variety of tasks.  Sometimes I shop, pay bills, look at auctions, and follow the stock market online.  Were you aware that many people use the Internet for common financial tasks that they used to go visit a bank just a few years ago?  Here are some common financial tasks that are done online today.

First off, we should mention mortgages.  You can now apply for mortgages online and usually get a response instantly.  Also, you can take advantage of the fact that there are many companies that are willing to compete for your business, and you can see all the competing offers online.  It saves you time from shopping around as you can do it all in the convenience of your home.

In the same group as mortgages would be home refinancing.  You can look online to see what the interest rates are and refinance your home to get a better rate.  Basically, you have the same options as with a mortgage - there are competitors willing to present you offers to get your business.  Approval for refinancing is usually instant as well, unless you have bad credit or other blemishes on your credit history.

Lastly you can apply for a home equity loan online.  You can use this as a tax free way to get money out of you home if it has increased in value or use the money to renovate your home.  Again, there are plenty of companies competing for your business, so you could get a better rate online that you can from your traditional bank.

These are only a few of the many daily financial tasks people perform on the Internet.  As years go on, there will be more and more things that we go to the internet to do as opposed to a regular store.

I am a loans officer at a bank and sometimes you just feel bad for people that come in to visit you.  Mainly I deal with loans and mortgages, and I have a story to share with you today.

Steve (name changed due to privacy laws) came in to talk to me today about his mortgage.  He has been living at his home now for about ten years and he is an excellent client.  He always pays on time and really there are no problems.

He came in today to renew his mortgage as his five year term was up.  Steve seemed kind of embarrassed and more timid than usual.  I asked him what was wrong and he looked at me with sadness in his face,

"I went bankrupt."

He seemed really ashamed.  Talking to him a big, I found out that their business had gone under and his wife needed some expensive surgery and they had used all their life savings.  I felt bad for him as this was something he really didn’t have a lot of control over.

I proceeded to explain that this time we would have to go through and file his application as a bad credit remortgage.  You could see fear in his eyes:

"We cannot lose our house!"

I calmed him down and explained there were a couple of hoops to jump through.  I also explained that since he never missed a payment, there shouldn’t be much of a problem getting is remortgage.  Worst case, he would have to pay a higher interest rate, but that was it.

He left my office feeling better than when he came in.  I will find out in a few days if he got it or not, but I feel in my gut that he did.  I am sure that will lift a weight off his shoulders.