How you are able to get probably the most from that unemployment check

Joblessness needs a great deal of pavement pounding, which has been scientifically proven to crush the soul into tiny pieces. Hopefully, the rigors of the job hunt do not make an individual forget that they are going to have to live on their unemployment checks in the interim. To do this, you need a plan. Post resource – Stretching the value of your unemployment check by MoneyBlogNewz.

Reaching backward for relief

The U.S. job market might be slowly improving, but that doesn’t mean the necessity to live frugally on unemployment benefits have gone out the window. Simply cutting out the Starbucks and purchasing less at the grocery store won’t do it, advises AOL Jobs. Work backward, personal finance expert Jean Chatzky says. Once you’ve locked down the essential, fixed expenditures, you are able to focus on what may have to go.

“I think the easiest way to budget is backward,” she says. “This is where my money is going now and then you can make changes.”

Know your expenses outside fixed costs

Changes are necessary for many people. A joblessness check isn’t typically enough. Savings isn’t the only thing to consider. Chatzky claims there is more. Anything that isn’t a fixed or essential cost in the spending budget needs to stop. There is hardly any way to change rent, mortgage or vehicle payments. They’re fixed costs. Do you have public transportation? Consider the saved costs by using it.

Cable television and Internet are both non-essential items. When you have 600 channels but feel like there’s nothing on most of the time, consider the TV bill carefully. Sometimes the Internet just wastes a lot of time. It is valuable to some parts of life though. Try going to the public library to use the Internet instead.

“The people that I’ve seen throughout this recession that have the biggest problems are the ones who continued to live as if there were two salaries coming into the family when there was really only one,” says Chatzky.

More revenue-generating, future-preserving ideas

The unemployed may have to consider some difficult questions to be able to remain above water financially. Will you rent out that room above the garage, pull the kids out of private school or sell your prized guitar collection?

Taking money out of a retirement account like a 401(k) is an option some consider, although financial experts advise the unemployed not touch that money unless it is a dire emergency. That nest egg was built for a reason, and the tax penalties can amount to 30 or 40 cents on the dollar for early withdrawal. Now it is getting harder and harder to file for bankruptcy. That is an option though if you are really struggling. Consult with a credit counselor.

Articles cited

AOL Jobs

jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/04/04/tips-to-stretch-your-unemployment-check/

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue on unemployment benefits

youtube.com/watch?v=BwkD8Kyb96A

Home remodeling that you need to do now

Completing house renovating tasks have traditionally been great for home resell value. However, the housing bubble collapse has made large house renovation tasks a calculated risk. In pockets of the U.S. where the real estate market is more favorable, renovating tasks can still provide good value for the cost. SmartMoney has a few ideas about where to start if you’re seeking to remodel your house. Source for this article – Home remodeling projects that are worth the money today by MoneyBlogNewz.

Spending to fix your kitchen

Today, kitchen remodeling is a $12.6 billion industry. After the 2009 housing bubble collapse, kitchen remodeling became something many people wanted to do. SmartMoney reports that $27,300 is what the average homeowner spends on kitchen remodels. Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies showed the amount spent on remodels is only 8 percent lower than the top of the housing boom, although there are ways around the high costs.

The higher quality work and wood doesn’t cost as much for some cabinet manufacturers. They’re eager to sell. Just ask about this. It could conserve you a lot of money. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for hand-painted tile, as there is not the kind of backlogs that would necessitate driving down prices. A major tip SmartMoney offers kitchen remodelers is not to source materials directly from manufacturers simply to conserve cash. The potential for sizing error increases, which could force you to pay more for return shipping and repairs.

Bathroom has difficulties also

Even in a sluggish real estate market, studies indicate that bathroom remodelers recoup 53 percent of costs on average. Prices for high-quality granite have come down by as much as 50 percent since the housing boom years, in part due to increased competition from Asian and Brazilian rock quarries. There has also been a huge decrease in the porcelain sink market, Chinese import activity has caused it to decrease 50 percent also. Thus, high-end restroom remodeling projects aren’t out of the question.

SmartMoney suggests doing a spa shower in a bathroom project. One water hookup is necessary to get streams of water from various areas. It can be hard though if there are individuals of various heights using the water since the shower tower kits aren’t adjustable.

Have a better backyard

It might be worth your time and energy to redo your backyard also. This might end up benefiting you with more money after all is said and done. Deluxe grills, pizza ovens, refrigerators, warming drawers, wine chillers and cabana roofs have sold well during the recession, states SmartMoney. Costs have not changed with the rising demand. This is good news. The installation costs are down 20 percent or more. Homeowners know that landscaping negotiation is easy too.

A “hot tip” SmartMoney offers readers is to consider a gas fire pit instead of a masonry fireplace. Pits are often portable, which offers greater flexibility with décor. Not only that, but gas pits can cost thousands of dollars less.

Citations

Oprah

oprah.com/money/How-to-Make-Your-Home-Renovation-Pay

Smart Money

smartmoney.com/spending/for-the-home/3-renovations-worth-the-money-now-1302561618674/

Knowing when renovating your home is worth it

youtube.com/watch?v=zBSeQgJ1ANE

Borrowing for college to enter billion-dollar sphere

student loan debt is increasing commensurate with a greater number of students paying higher tuition. Students borrowing money for college have racked up a higher amount of debt than those people who have financed any number of things in life with credit cards. In fact, the amount of money people while students have borrowed to finance education and its relevant accessories is about to blow by $1 trillion and gain momentum to the future. Student loans, long considered a “good debt,” may morph into a bad debt for graduates faced with decades of student loan payments.

Increases in school costs means increases in debt

In 1993, less than half of students earning a bachelor’s degree graduated with student loan debt. That number increased to two-thirds by 2008. In 2009, college graduates left school with an average of $24,000 in student loan debt. The total amount of student loan debt is intended to get to at least $1 trillion this year. It is anticipated to continue to grow rapidly. Republicans in Congress want to cut Pell grants, a form of federal financial aid for lower-income students. The states are starting to cut college and university funding right now. Also, tuition is increases at most of these places which may hurt the current generation of college students quite a bit. The rate of student loan default is growing quite a bit with the student loan debt. Credit damage, as well as burdensome student loan payments for those who do not default will limit the range of opportunities when it comes to purchasing a home or having children. The choice between saving for a child! 217;s education and paying for own school loans might be one that many parents have to make.

Debt that is good

When it comes to debt, student loans have always been considered “good debt,” as opposed to “bad debt” for instance credit cards, auto loans or payday loans. At the end of the recession, debt became bad altogether. It is now considered bad to take any out. However even as the average cost for a four-year private education has reached more than $37,000 a year, according to the College Board, student loans can be good debt if the degree results in a salary that allows the debt to be paid in a reasonable amount of time. Most financial advisers suggest that people do not borrow more than they could make the year after they graduate. That rule of thumb, however, highlights the risk of taking on student loan debt. It isn’t going to be simple to get a job in sociology or history that pays off the loans. There is less of a risk in degrees such as medicine or engineering. More debt has to be taken out with them though.

It is not always safe to take loans

When it comes to good debt versus bad debt, the bottom line these days is simple: all debt is bad if you cannot pay it off. Right now there’s a huge default rate. In just for-profit schools, the rate is almost to 50 percent. The student loans will never go away. Even bankruptcy cannot get rid of them. Any student loans that are guaranteed by the government will be even worse for you. You will end up having tax refunds withheld, Social Security payments docked or even your wages garnished. Anyone who pays the 15 percent of income for 25 years, or 10 years in a public service position, can have that debt forgiven which the Obama administration has done to help those in low paying jobs.

Information from

New York Times

nytimes.com/2011/04/12/education/12college.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Creditcards.com

creditcards.com/credit-card-news/does-good-debt-still-exist-1264.php

care 2

care2.com/causes/education/blog/student-debt-for-college-likely-to-exceed-a-trillion-dollars/

Amazon to launch ad-supported Kindle for $114

The traditional writing industry has lost ground to e-readers, tablets and other mobile devices, and Amazon is sitting fairly with its Kindle platform. Once the $114 Kindle with Special Offers ships May 3, Amazon should improve its 60 percent share in the e-reader market. Yet there’s a catch – those Special Offers are advertisements, a move that has many worried about the shape of the reading experience to come.

Putting ads on a kindle; pay less

The price of the Amazon Kindle has fallen a few times since the first generation was introduced at $399 in 2007. In order to try and compete with the iPad in the e-reader market, the ads were put on it this time in the price deduction. The Kindle with Special Offers is slated to ship May 3. Target and Best Buy will sell the ad-supported version of the Kindle 3 in stores at that time.

Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos state it is a “chicken in every pot” move. Every person will want the Special Offers $114 kindle:

“We’re working hard to make sure that anyone who wants a Kindle can afford one,” he said via a statement.

Reader response to a Christian Science Monitor article about the price cut seems to echo the fears most customers have about an advertisement-based Kindle. With 99 cent books, one reader would be okay as long as the ad based e-kindle was free. The price of books becomes a different issue then. Another reader concurs that a $25 discount isn’t enough to make up for the presence of ads, however one thing experts believe Amazon has done right is to isolate the ads to the Kindle’s screensaver and the bottom of the home screen.

“It’s very important that we didn’t interfere with the reading experience,” Kindle director Jay Marine told the Associated Press.

Price matters

Getting to the $99 Kindle for Christmas 2011 is very important, TechCrunch believes. That is what the $114 Amazon Kindle is leading up to with its Special Features. 99 is a magical number. Most marketing would suggest this.

This is not real anymore though according to research done at the New York Columbia Business School. The Columbia study showed that the “dollar-minus” approach bringing it down to 99 cents was not nearly as effective as bring it up a penny for a “dollar-plus” approach. There was a 3 percent increase in sales of dollar plus method products. This is because they did not seem as manipulative to customers.

Citations

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0413/Will-readers-accept-ads-in-exchange-for-a-cheaper-Kindle

Columbia Business School

gsb.columbia.edu/ideasatwork/researchbriefs/7314376?&top.region=main

Knowing and Making

knowingandmaking.com/2011/04/new-research-99-no-longer-optimal-for.html

TechCrunch

techcrunch.com/2011/04/11/amazon-kindle-99/

Kindle sales tripled after last price drop

youtu.be/PaAFm_fZQ2A

Installment loans are not the reason for poverty

The cure for poverty is employment. Having a job empowers consumers to provide. If it were left up to the Anti-Poverty Coalition of Greater Dallas, some jobs should actually be forfeit in their crusade. The coalition told the Dallas Observer that payday lending jobs must be sacrificed, supposedly in the name of fighting poverty. Source of article – Killing payday lending does not fight poverty by MoneyBlogNewz.

Getting poverty taken care of

Dallas-based non-profit CitySquare’s CEO, Larry James, said that there is a desire to get out of poverty for the coalition:

“The Anti-Poverty Coalition of Greater Dallas is a new coalition that seeks to move 250,000 people out of poverty permanently by 2020 by coordinating efforts to keep people from falling into poverty and increasing pathways out of poverty,” writes James.

'A treadmill of debt’ is there

There’s a reason why the unsecured loan and quick installment loan industry is being attacked. James said that “a treadmill of debt” is created with them helping individuals into poverty. All zoning ordinances would be challenged with legislation like SB 253 and Texas HB 410 that would keep payday lenders out of the credit service organization category. The poor would be much better off with a “strong zoning ordinance to decrease the clustering of payday and auto title lending stores.” This is why the Poverty Coalition of Greater Dallas is attempting to get it put together. Those who are hurt by the so-called payday lending evils, rather than bad personal spending habits and Wall Street, would be much better off. In truth, eliminating payday lenders limits customer choice and costs Texas jobs, both dire consequences in l! ight of the recession-ravaged economy.

Attack should have been played better

Industry experts are worried that more would come if zoning ordinances requiring installment and personal unsecured loan outlets to be at least 1,000 feet apart with ordinances for instance SB 253 and HB 410 that there would turn out to be more. Direct attacks against payday loan lenders for instance demanding an untenable 36 percent Annual Percentage Rate cap have proven unpopular when it comes to battling poverty, as it would shut payday loan lenders down, which means people would lose their jobs.

The zoning attacks do not show everything. The “anti-poverty” coalitions must want something else. Communities without access have a higher poverty level in reality according to extant independent research. The Anti-Poverty Coalition of Greater Dallas and other charitable groups should take the time to review this research before putting all this effort into something that may actually hurt the end goal.

Citations

Dallas Observer

blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/04/new_anti-poverty_coalition_to.php

Payday Pundit

paydaypundit.org/2011/04/12/flawed-plan/

Texas HB 410

capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=82R&Bill=HB410

Texas SB 253

capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=82R&Bill=SB253

Texas Secretary of State

sos.state.tx.us/statdoc/faqs2800.shtml

Jobs fight poverty

youtu.be/w0v7OMt3vio

14 banks required to pay property owners back for bad foreclosures

The financial institutions that wrongfully foreclosed on people in the robosigning scandal have been ordered to pay those people back by the federal government. Those people which were foreclosed on without having deserved it could be compensated. Source for this article – 14 banks ordered to pay homeowners back for bad foreclosures by MoneyBlogNewz.

Largest financial institutions in the nation to pay the price of incompetence

Federal regulators recently reached a settlement with the financial institutions involved in the robosigning scandal, in which foreclosure proceedings were improperly started against property owners because financial institution officers could not be bothered to do their due diligence on the paperwork concerning the state of the homeowners’ personnel loans. Reuters states that the homeowners who were foreclosed upon wrongly will get money. The banks will pay them back. Total, there were 14 businesses. USA Today reports that they’re Ally Financial, Aurora Bank, EverBank, HSBC, Sovereign Bank, SunTrust Banks, MetLife Bank, OneWest Bank, PNC, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Citibank. Loan servicing companies MERSCORP and Lender Processing Services have also been ordered t! o pay back improper foreclosures. Impacted homeowners will likely be contacted by these institutions in the near future to make arrangements.

Determining the total fallout in the future

The numbers of people that need to get paid or the fines that can be placed have not been added together yet. Some government officials have been recommending up to $20 billion in fines be levied against the financial institutions involved. Financial institutions have even more to worry about. This settlement really only has reached the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Every state attorney general nevertheless has settlements pending along with federal agencies.

Costs of mortgages to increase

Banking and real estate insiders are insisting that the new legislation and increased regulatory scrutiny will increase the costs of lending a mortgage to a prospective homeowner. MarketWatch reports that loan officer commission could be dropped due to new Federal Reserve rules. Most institutions are no longer giving out commission based on rates of interest on the mortgages. That means lots of profit could be lost. The Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy group that has endorsed reform of financial products from mortgages to payday loans, insists that costs to consumers won’t go up, however decreasing revenues are typically passed to customers in the form of increased costs.

Citations

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-financial-regulation-foreclosures-idUSTRE73C3DV20110413?pageNumber=1

USA Today

usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2011-04-13-wrong-foreclosures-repay.htm

MarketWatch

marketwatch.com/story/home-loan-brokers-face-new-limits-on-pay-2011-04-11

Gasoline prices nearing record and energy crisis rumors start

The steady increase in gas prices, which are nearing record highs, has started distant rumblings and rumors of looming energy crisis. The price of gasoline has been rising for weeks, causing ripple effects throughout numerous sectors of the economy. There isn’t likely to be a slowdown in the price hikes, either. Post resource – Energy crisis jitters hit as gas prices approach record high by MoneyBlogNewz.

20 cent increase in gasoline occurs easily

In the past week gasoline prices have increased by 20 cents. Reuters reports that gasoline was $3.57 on March 18, but $3.76 on April 8. The price of gas has increased by nearly $1 in the past year. In July of 2008, gasoline hit a record high at about $4.11. Currently, large cities in the U.S. are averaging more than that. California, according to CBS, has already reached a statewide average of $4.14 per gallon as of April 8.

Gas prices could clip wings of airlines

CNN has reported that jet fuel is increasing also and air travel is impacted. Jet fuel costs go up with the price of petroleum, which recently climbed to $112 per barrel. The bottom line of airline industries was really hurt in 2008 when barrels of fuel topped out at $150 a barrel. Shares of major airlines have started to fall on stock markets due to the increasing cost of oil. On April 8 stock costs for many airlines had dropped; Jet Blue by five percent, UnitedContinental by seven percent, and Delta by four percent. Costs of oil and gasoline aren’t likely to decrease, as analysts do not believe that unrest in the Middle East is subsiding. Airline tickets will only continue to go up as the cost of gasoline continues to go up in tandem.

Slashing other areas of spending

Customers want to do something about the increase in price. Charge card companies, according to Daily Finance, have noted falling gasoline sales for the past five weeks, and 70 percent of the nation’s gas station chains have noticed the same. More economic cars have aided in this decrease of sales at gasoline stations. There has been a 37 percent increase in hybrid vehicles this year, reported by the USA Today. Lower demand is resulting from the increase in prices, which might just keep costs high.

Citations

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/04/11/us-energy-gasoline-retail-idUSTRE73929V20110411

CBS News

cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/10/eveningnews/main20052599.shtml

CNN

money.cnn.com/2011/04/08/news/economy/American_Airlines_fuel_crisis/index.htm

Daily Finance

dailyfinance.com/story/drivers-hit-the-brakes-as-gas-prices-rise/19908875/

USA Today

usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-04-06-prius-tops-one-million-in-sales.htm

Rising stocks act out of nature with optimistic careers document

The stock market approved of the numbers released in the Labor Department’s latest jobs report. The acceptance of employees into the midst of companies has been occurring frequently, so much so the economy at large has not seen such a gain of individuals getting up early and going to work and working all day and then going home since the last recession started. In the past, when joblessness is high stocks are too, so the inverse at the moment may seem kind of perverse. Article resource – Rising stocks behave out of character with positive jobs report by MoneyBlogNewz.

Careers and stocks in first quarter go up

The Labor Department reports a drop from February's 9.8 percent joblessness rate to 8.8 percent in March in the U.S. This is the lowest rate in two years. Stocks started to go up due to this. A new high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average happened with a rise of 87 points to 12,406. The 0.7 percent increase means a new 2011 high. There was a rise in the Standard & Poor's 500 as well. It went up 0.8 percent, 10 points, to 1,335. There was a 15 point raise, 0.6 percent, in the Nasdaq composite to 2,796. In February, there was a 194,000 increase in the number of workers on payrolls in the U.S. In March it went up another 216,000. The joblessness rate has been dropping since it was 9.8 percent Nov, the biggest four-month decrease since 1983. In the three months that ended with March, there was the first biggest first-quarter gain with a 5.4 percent increase since 1998 in the U.S.

market and labor relationship

Normally corporations announcing layoffs benefit on Wall Street because investors believe smaller payrolls equal higher profits. When the labor market was hemorrhaging jobs in Jan 2009, the stock market gained. In fact, in the past 60 years the stock market has performed better on average when the United States unemployment rate was higher rather than lower. Each year the joblessness rate was over 6 percent, there were huge increases in the S&P 500, states Ned Davis Research. It would go up 13.5 percent. Joblessness beneath 4.3 percent would mean a smaller increase. On average, the S&P 500 increase would be 2.1 percent. In January 2009 Ed Clissold of Ned Davis Research told MarketWatch that in addition to lower costs and higher profits, traders salivate at high unemployment because it means they will benefit from economic stimulus provided by the federal government. Most traders are able to make a profit quite very easily too. This is because stock costs are im! pacted by unemployment before the information gets out, so traders can do a flip to make money.

All of the traders do not want careers to get better like this

Friday's good labor market news helped stocks increase. More than likely this was because there was not too large of a stock decrease. Strategy for the long term is uncommon among traders. They are more interested in short term gains. Traders think that the Federal Reserve bond purchasing program, QE2, has helped the stock market. There are many traders with fixed-incomes that are worried about the labor markets. They worry that in June the Fed won’t purchase bonds anymore as the QE2 program will end. The good stock might not be great for everyone not involved in Wall Street which has been shown as Americans struggle and Wall Street bonuses increase. If more Americans keep finding work, the markets could change their tune.

Citations

Associated Press

finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-rise-after-apf-653435655.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

Market Watch

marketwatch.com/story/bad-news-on-job-front-doesnt-have-to-be-bad-for-stocks

CNN Money

money.cnn.com/2011/03/31/news/economy/thebuzz/index.htm

Work from home and keep away from the rip-offs

Jobs are still hard to come by, making the act of getting by all the more difficult. Work from your home opportunities abounds, however – and most of them do not even involve eBay. Try some of these suggestions on for size. Source for this article – Work-from-home job ideas you can use by MoneyBlogNewz.

Advantages to working from home

Many people pursue gainful employment because they need money to meet their expenses. Workers can work at home 50 percent of the time or telecommute, reports the Telework Research Network. By doing this, they’re able to save more than $750 billion per year between United States workers and employers.

Paying for gas causes a lot of this cost, that is where the huge savings comes from. A 6.2 million increase in man-years would be shown for productivity. The labor would go down $200 billion every year. A decrease in highway maintenance and traffic accidents would be fairly common to see. There would also be less money put into utilities and real estate for companies.

Best work from home option for you

It could be really hard to make a lot of money on eBay, although it is always a choice. This is as the cost of product and shipping needs to be less than the amount getting paid, which is uncommon. Without getting on Craigslist and finding too many scams, there is a lot of work from your home options available to you. Clark Howard points out that, some companies want an upfront fee to pay for an at home job. That is a scam, more than likely. If it is a work from your home idea, try to get one without red tape. Keep in mind that some might charge a background check fee.

Everybody can find a work at home experience

• AlpineAccess.com: AlpineAccess.com will get you to a virtual call center career after you pay a $45 fee for a background check. The positions are consumer service related. This is usually the case.
• ConvergysWorkatHome.com: Convergys can get you, on top of consumer service telephone positions, work from your home opportunities on billing service and human resource areas.
• Elance.com: A fantastic source for freelance talents who like flexibility. Smaller businesses look to Elance for web design, programming, Search Engine Optimization, graphic design and copywriting professionals. You will have to start bidding lower than normal rates at Elance unless you are very experienced since there are so many individuals willing to do it.
• LiveOps.com: Fortune 200 businesses use this for virtual call center agents. LiveOps.com can get you there, provided you pay $175 for a more extensive background check than the standard $50 check gets you. LiveOps.com will require a phone line. It should be a landline that is only there for this reason.

All the frauds work at home can have

Check with the Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau websites for advice on how to spot work from home rip-offs. You will conserve lots of time and money this way.

Citations

Better Business Bureau

bbb.org/Alerts/article.asp?ID=436

Clark Howard

clarkhoward.com/news/employment-military/work-home-guide/nFZH/

Dr. Phil

drphil.com/articles/article/494

Federal Trade Commission

ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/invest/workhome.shtm

John Tesh has everything you need to work from home

youtube.com/watch?v=RLSvN6f-nvw

Ponzi scheme by Utah payday cash loans provider shutdown by Feds

Two online pay day loans lending businesses and the owner of both businesses have all been named in a SEC lawsuit in Federal Court, alleging fraud. The man at the center of the suit, John Scott Clark, is named in the suit for having allegedly run a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme using the two companies he owned. Clark is alleged to have stolen $47 million from more than 120 investors.

New fraud suit against online lending companies

The owner of two companies involved in lending payday loans online has been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued John Scott Clark, of Cache County, Utah, for defrauding more than 120 investors over a period of five years in return for investing capital into two companies that he owned, Impact Cash LLC and Impact Payment Systems LLC, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. An average return of 80 percent was promised to investors which supposedly would come from reliable customers that are getting pay day loans with the cash, Clark said. From March 2006 to September 2010, Clark recruited investors and got over $47 million, reports the Credit Union Times, in investment.

Purchasing Mercedes with Clark's investor funds

Clark would gain the confidence of investors and allegedly use new investment funds to pay dividends to initial investors and fund his lifestyle, according to Deseret News. A 1963 Chevrolet Corvette and three Mercedes-Benz vehicles were purchased by Clark during this period. He also purchased several home furnishings including a $25,000 theater system. Clark refused to give investors their money when they started to get suspicious in 2009 that something was wrong. Clark got a lawsuit with five Securities Act violations by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Impact businesses were put into receivership and were frozen by a Federal judge.

One ruins it for all

A lot of people have a bad connotation of online payday lenders. They’re considered evil. That is far from the case, but transactions that are completed fairly and honestly don’t go widely reported. The individuals you give money to have to be trusted. Be careful about it. There’s a reason why the Better business Bureau and other companies are around. An informed customer will always be in a position to make a better decision, and something that sounds too good to be true typically is.

Citations

Salt Lake Tribune

sltrib.com/sltrib/money/51503972-79/investors-clark-complaint-payday.html.csp

Wall Street Journal

online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110328-710072.html

Deseret News

deseretnews.com/article/705369480/Cache-County-man-allegedly-bilked-investors-of-millions-to-feed-lavish-lifestyle.html

Credit Union Times

cutimes.com/2011/03/28/sec-halts-47-million-payday-loan-ponzi