Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: home + card + web  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/7/2008)

Vigilance necessary to protect credit cards Chicago Tribune, United States - 35 minutes ago By Susan Chandler | Chicago Tribune reporter A former Countrywide Home Loans employee was charged last week with stealing and selling the private financial ... CreditCards.com Even card purchases at home trigger 'international' fee CreditCards.com, TX - Who's affected: Anyone making purchases online (such as on eBay or other Web sites), by telephone or in person from merchants using non-US banks. ... Technology That Can Help With a Home Sale Wall Street Journal - Aug 4, 2008 ... can upload it on your home's Web site, or on one of several sell-it-yourself Web sites, like ForSaleByOwner.com and BuyOwner.com. Real Estate E-Cards. ... The virtual vacation home Baltimore Sun all 3 news articles » Ticket scam hits home Press-Enterprise, CA - I wrote them an e-mail back, told them they should be able to buy tickets in China, and to turn in their claim to their credit card company. ... RovAir Allows Users to Rent Net Data Cards By the Day RedOrbit, TX - The process is easy -- a user simply places an order on the company Web site, www.rovair.com, or over the phone. RovAir then ships the data card to the ... SYS-CON Media 1200 Attendees from 42 Countries Flock to Sybase TechWave SYS-CON Media, NJ - 54 minutes ago "In our lifetime, I really believe that we will see the death of the credit card as the mobile device becomes our secure payment medium of choice," he said. ...SY Virgin Mobile Arc review infoSync World, Norway - 48 minutes ago There is no memory card slot, and no Bluetooth file transfer, so the only way to get pictures off the device is to send them, either as MMS messages or as ... News for nerds, stuff that matters Slashdot - Grant Joy runs a program that surreptitiously records every keystroke on his machine, including user names, passwords, and credit-card numbers. ... Samsung's Instinct is competition for iPhone CNN - Among other things you can search the Web page, open your favorites list, return to your home page, review your surfing history, and zoom in on a page. ... Nokia 6301 review infoSync World, Norway - Aug 4, 2008 Unfortunately, the fact that it doesn't use Wi-Fi for data keeps it from being more of a messaging and Web browsing powerhouse, and the tiny keys kept us ...AMS:NOKA - NOK

Introducing The Home Forum; Now I'm wondering: must my cards be paid off to qualify for a mortgage?

Welcome to Home Forum, a new weekly column devoted to answering the real-estate questions of Seattle Times readers. Written by staff reporter Elizabeth Rhodes and based on the opinions of local experts, Home Forum is your chance to ask questions about everything from buying or selling homes to renting, refinancing and remodeling.

Rhodes, a Seattle native and 16-year Times reporter, has long had an interest in this region's residential real estate, some of it gained by simply living much of what she'll be writing about. She's been a renter, a home buyer and a seller. She's endured remodeling and tries her hand at decorating. Currently she's wondering what vacation or retirement housing may lie ahead.

Q. I want to buy my first home soon, but I went a little crazy and ran up a lot on my credit cards while saving cash for my down payment. Now I'm wondering: must my cards be paid off to qualify for a mortgage?

A. Depending on how much debt you have, we may have good news for you. Craig Brand, Great Western Bank's regional vice president for residential lending, says in general "you don't have to have all the cards paid off" because lenders focus not on debt itself, but the percentage of your pretax income that goes toward debt.

The common rule is that no more than 28 percent of your income can go toward your house payment, including taxes and insurance, excluding utilities. Lenders also look at the percentage of your income that goes toward all debt - your credit cards, mortgage, car payment, etc. If this doesn't top 36 percent, you're OK. But since you're a first-time home buyer, Brand says you may be able to fudge a little because special programs for folks like you allow more generous percentages - like 33 for your entire house payment and 38 for all debt.

Q. We want to tap into our home equity to pay for our daughter's college education. Which should we do: take out a home-equity loan or refinance our house?

A. Go with the home-equity loan advises Penelope Haase, a certified financial planner and former president of the Washington chapter of the International Association for Financial Planning. "In the case of refinancing, there's often substantial expenses; you don't have these in taking out a home-equity loan." Haase also notes that if you get a home-equity line of credit, you pay interest only on the money you actually use, rather than the entire amount, as you would with a refinance. Depending on when you apply, there may not be a significant difference in interest rates between the two. Interest on each is tax deductible.

Q. I'm new in Seattle, looking for a house to buy and being pressed by a realtor to sign a contract agreeing to work just with her. Should I do this? What benefit is it to me?

A. Some agents think exclusivity contracts are great; others think the opposite, so we'll present both points of view and let you decide what works best for you.

April Kieburtz, a Windermere agency owner and chairwoman of Windermere's legal advisory committee, says you should sign an exclusivity contract because "it really engages an agent as your advocate and protects your confidentiality." In other words, the stuff you tell your agent about what you can really pay won't be used against you because your agent won't be passing it along to other agents, or worse yet, the current owner of the home of your dreams. Kieburtz says signing an exclusivity contract shows an agent you're really serious.

But signing also means that the agent will be paid - by you - if for some reason the home seller doesn't pay the commission. This could happen, for example, if you buy a "for sale by owner" property.

If you're uncomfortable signing an exclusivity contract, agree to work with one company but not just one agent, Kieburtz suggests.

Bob DelBianco, recent past president of the Puget Sound Multiple Listing Association and owner of West Seattle's Coldwell Banker DelBianco office, advises against signing an exclusivity contract. "I don't think the customer is better served; most agents are willing to put forth 100 percent effort for a qualified buyer without a contract."

There can be problems, DelBianco says, if you sign with an agent and then find you're not compatible, or the agent doesn't know some of the geographic areas where you're house hunting.

He suggests that if you do sign an exclusive agreement, you limit it to a certain geographic area (with the understanding you're free to work with other agents in other areas) and you limit it to certain period of time.

As for the confidentiality problem, DelBianco says recent statewide changes in how real estate agencies operate make the sharing of your information less problematic.

Regardless of which way you go, remember that by law an agent must disclose who she/he represents both in writing and verbally before a written offer is presented on a house.