Why Being A Loan Officer In The Mortgage Business Is Horrible

Why Trying to Be a Loan Officer (that is, Sell Mortgages) Is Especially Grim

… and why pursuing a career in home loans is pretty much doomed to failure.

I gave the mortgage industry — the whole loan originator gig — a serious go of it a few years back. That was just before the entire real estate market melted down.

But even then, I knew after about six months that it just wasn’t for me. And as it worked out, I ditched just before thousands of loan officers were driven out by the economic collapse.

It’s odd, really, that I even gave it a whirl. I already had a great freelance sales gig in place, and that was earning me a great income. But I’m the kind of guy who is always out there looking for something new and more exciting. It was right when I was moving to Dallas, and the whole “mortgage consulting” thing seemed as if it could be fun, and I had buddies in the industry pulling down $25K a month routinely. So I thought what the hell, and I gave it a go.

But it didn’t take long for me to realize I was in the WRONG PLACE.

Because there was no way it was ever going to create the lifestyle I wanted for myself.

Even leaving aside all of the stuff I’m about to cover here, (even leaving aside having to pander to real estate agents, and what that does to your soul), at the end of the day, trying to sell mortgages — working in that industry — is just nowhere near capable of creating the kind of life I’ve got going on and had come to get used to.

The hours, the office, the boss, the stress, the tedium, the grief … It’s enough to make you want to jump off a bridge. Seriously.

But even leaving that stuff aside. Even assuming you’re a glutton for misery and your idea of a good time is a life of constant, bitter struggle and mind-wracking tedium … Fundamentally there are three main reasons why I think trying to sell in the mortgage industry is a really bad idea, especially right now.

FIRST –
The gravy train is over. It has become harder than ever to close deals.

There are several reasons for that. I’ll list a few of them:

The housing market has tanked, taking with it a lot of the people who used to be in the industry. The ones who are left are desperate for business. This has the effect of not only putting you on a crappy level with the client (since it’s get the deal or eat Ramen noodles all next month, you end up begging for business, cringing under anything a client says or demands), but it also has the effect of making the whole mortgage racket more and more a rate game.
And that’s the second reason for why it’s harder than ever to close deals. Rate are too damn high, they’re fluctuating all over the place because of all the government interference in the economy, and your prospects are OBSESSING over rate, ready to cut your throat and run to the guy down the block and leave you high and dry with nothing, over an eighth of a point.
What else is making it hard to close deals is the fact that they’ve taken away all but a small handful of programs — I think you’ve got THREE now; used to be dozens. Everyone needs to put money down, and everyone is stuck in a fixed rate. Like it or lump it. (Problem is, a lot of people are choosing to lump it.)
And finally, one other thing making it harder to close deals is the increased difficulty of getting lenders and proposed loans to fall in line with the new guidelines. Used to be, deals could be slam-dunks and you knew it. You could bury three points in the YSP and still slam-dunk it. Nowadays nothing is a slam-dunk, even at par, and underwriting can kill a deal sixteen different ways before sun down, and leave you feeling you’ve been mugged in a back alley.

So those are some of the reasons why it’s become harder to close deals. And that’s assuming you can even find prospects and get the deals into processing and submitted to begin with. That takes me to the second reason I think trying to sell mortgages as a loan officer is a bad idea:

SECOND REASON –
It is just flat out hard as hell to attract attention anymore, much less differentiate yourself from all of the other loan guys out there.

For one, people are jaded and afraid of getting screwed. They’ve become insanely suspicious — in part because they’re being flooded every day with offers for free credit reports, refinancing opportunities, doom-and-gloom horror stories of foreclosures and mounting unemployment.

Try marketing yourself as a loan officer. Good lord. You’re competing against fifty thousand other hungry mortgage guys. You’re competing against huge banks and desperate net branches. And everyone is selling on price, price, price. Selling on having the “lowest rate.” Everyone is fighting to make a buck. They’re running ads, they’re running banners, they’re sending out useless mailings, they’re falling over each other trying to get someone –anyone — in town to refer them some business.

Not a pretty sight.

And to make it worse, the big advantage you USED to be able to have was in specializing in something, some niche. The guys making the best money were framing themselves as “mortgage consultants,” and trying to stand somewhere between being a loan officer and a financial advisor.

And it worked for long time. The guys who were good at it made a fortune.

But things have changed. Back in the day, you had dozens of programs to choose from. You could customize a mortgage solution for a client, and really bring value to that interaction. You could build a plan for them, around their goals and dreams, and show them how the mortgage you were structuring for them would help them and their families get where they wanted to go.

Well … That’s all gone now.

You’ve got THREE programs you can offer nowadays. Conventional, VA, or FHA. Fixed, fixed, or fixed. That’s it. That’s all.

No more no-money-down programs. No more stated-income or stated-asset programs. No more negative amortization loans with investment plans behind them.

Increased restrictions on investment properties.

Massive reduction of new-construction loans, and the effective extinction of jumbo (much less super-jumbo) loans.

There’s no way to “consult” or offer “mortgage-planning” when it comes down to a fixed rate. People have been trained to focus exclusively on price.

And there’s always someone willing to cut your throat for an eighth of a point.

So the second reason why I’m against selling in the mortgage industry came down to how hard it is to find good leads, and how hard it is to differentiate yourself, or in any way rise above price.

The third reason is more personal:

THIRD –
It just takes so much damn WORK to try to close a mortgage deal.

Even leaving aside the effort it takes to bring in a qualified lead. (And “qualified” has a whole other meaning when it comes to home loans. Someone can want a new home loan all he wants. Whether he qualifies, under the new guidelines, however … That’s a completely different story.)

Even leaving aside the effort it takes to get the prospect to want to work with you.

That still leaves all of the endless documentation required to get the deal closed and a commission check in your pocket.

There is the appraisal, the sales contract, the gigantic loan application, the credit check, the required bank statements and pay stubs, the verification of employment and income, the verification of bank funds, the home-owners insurance, the mortgage insurance, and on and on and on it goes.

Then the client has to actually get approved.

And come up with the down payment.

(And somehow, during all this, manage to avoid the hoard of hungry banks and mortgage companies and other loan officers out there trying to steal your deal out from under you before you can get it to closing.)

And even THEN it’s not over. Because it takes time, you see. And you have the pure joy of sweating under the stress of endless underwriting grief, where nothing is easy anymore, and every closing is precarious and uncertain.

So let us try to sum up …

At the end of the day, trying to sell home loans in the mortgage industry is hell on wheels. It is getting harder and harder, to earn less and less.

This year the industry is predicted to take another slug in the head, and thousands more will end up unable to close enough loans to pay their bills, or see their mortgage companies chain their front doors closed, without so much as a severance check from commissions on deals that had already funded.

I predict that we’re headed toward complete and utter commoditization of mortgage lending, with mounting government controls, where everything becomes cookie-cutter and in the hands of a few gigantic banks.

So unless you want a future in a cubicle, taking down loan applications over the phone and entering them into a computer for eight bucks an hour (assuming things don’t go completely automated, and they still need someone to at least type the stuff in) …

Here’s my recommendation:

– Forget the mortgage industry.
– Find something different.
– Find something better.

I’ll be talking a lot more about that “something better” here real soon …
At MaverickSalesGuy (dotcom)

What Is Sales Recruitment And Who Conducts It

Recruitment activities are sometimes conducted by the organization itself, or it can be outsourced to an external agency that specializes in sourcing and screening candidates.

The recruitment industry operates through four main types of media: (i) employment agencies, (ii) “head hunters”, usually for executive level sales recruitment roles, (iii) in-house recruitment, usually via an internal Human Resources department, and (iv) passive candidate research firms.

The stages involved in sales recruitment can vary depending on the needs of the organization and the type of sales role in question. Generally, recruitment for most types of jobs involves several steps and includes sourcing candidates by advertising or “head hunting”, followed by screening and selecting candidates using tests and interviews.

Agency Types

There are four main types of agencies who conduct recruitment, with some agencies specializing in certain job markets, for example sales recruitment or hospitality recruitment or secretarial recruitment.

The recruitment agencies are usually paid by the companies wanting to fill a position, and not the candidates.

Traditional Agency

Traditional agencies are also known as employment agencies. Candidates can and do approach them directly, either by responding to an advertised vacancy, or to register onto the agency’s books. Recruitment consultants then work to match their pool of candidates to their clients’ vacant positions.

Those candidates who best meet the selection criteria of the vacancy are short-listed and put forward for an interview with their clients.

Recruitment agencies are usually paid a contingency fee by the client once a recommended candidate accepts a job with the client company.

Typically, the fee is 20% to 30% based on the appointee’s first year base salary and usually comes with some form of guarantee (30 to 90 days is standard). Should the appointee fail to perform or leaves the company during the guarantee period, the agency would normally offer a replacement candidate at no further cost to the client company.

Headhunters

A ‘headhunter’ is a term used to describe a recruiter who seeks out candidates, often when the usual recruitment processes (e.g. advertising through an agency) fails. Headhunters usually have extensive industry experience and source their candidates through their contacts. There are headhunters who specialize in the sales recruitment industry.

However, because headhunters typically charge more than agencies (often more than 30% of the candidate’s annual compensation), they are usually employed to fill more senior sales management and executive level sales roles.

In-house Recruitment

Larger employers often will undertake their own in-house sales recruitment, usually through their human resources (HR) department. In-house HR staff either (i) co-ordinate external recruitment agencies who have been commissioned to find staff for the company, or (ii) conduct the end-to-end recruitment processes themselves, from advertising through to interviewing and hiring.

Passive Candidate Research Firms / Sourcing Firms

These firms conduct research to identify potential candidates and generate information about them. Often these research firms uncover candidates that cannot be found using other, more traditional methods. These firms usually charge a per hour fee or by candidate lead.

Your Environmental Leadership in the Upstream Petroleum Industry

Identify your real needs for secondary containment leadership and how to support them with the right choices for your field tank operations. Choices and decisions need to be made for secondary spill containment, tank secondary containment, spill containment berms, and secondary containment systems for above ground storage tanks that are all representative of secondary containment for environmental protection. Gaining the tools and right information in order to form leadership decisions in your field can be a weighty responsibility and one that demands your attention and with the abundance of misinformation out there it may also be tedious. Leadership in your Field Operations however requires that the question be answered: “what is in this for me” as a leader?

We understand your scope-of-your-work, responsibilities, as leaders that you must give to environmental protection today, it is significantly important and often also urgent. Gaining the tools and right information in order to form leadership decisions in your field can be a weighty responsibility and one that demands your attention and with the abundance of misinformation out there it may also be tedious. We believe that you will find the support network in this article that you need to form quality leadership decisions toward environmental Secondary Containment for your field operations. You will find this approach is different in that we believe that making a difference is often more important than simply making a sale.

First lets identify your real needs for secondary containment leadership and then support them with the right product choices.

1. “Protecting Your Investment; Preserving Our Environment”. You need what may sound simplistic but really isn’t and is stated in our Manufacturing Division use for their trademark: “Protecting Your Investment; Preserving Our Environment” – a simple slogan but saying much more.

2. Confidence, Security, Assurance. Your secondary containment installation should leave you confident at the end of the day that it will provide the level of protection required. You need to know that potential spilling from the primary tank will remain secure within the bounds of the containment. And you need the assurance that you as a leader have made the wise choice best suited for your operations. In many ways assurance is most important of these three as it really defines that question we have about any product: “what’s in it for me?”.

3. Environmental Regulatory Compliance. You need to be confident that your secondary containment installation meets all of the county, state or provincial, and Federal Codes. EPA, SPCC, NFPA, OSHA, OH&S, ERCB, SEM and more. Does your secondary containment supplier have these codes considered in their product engineering? Confidence, security, & assurance in your product supplier and the product goes a long ways in answering real needs.

4. To ‘Audit-Proof’ your site. Today with so many large EPA fines and shut-downs in the news almost weekly it is critically important that you ‘audit-proof’ your site. While most of the “news” related fines are in reaction to an actual spill occurrence rather than a regional inspection, it is wise to give leadership to secondary containment in SPCC plans in a proactive way rather than to follow through after a spill occurrence. Poor leadership tends to react rather than act. This is true leadership when we can foresee potential problems and place actions in place beforehand. One of your real needs is to ‘audit-proof’ your site in a proactive way.

5. To Show Community Responsibility. More and more Producers are recognizing this need in a participatory way by actively including themselves in the local community. For many of us leaders, we must live in the same community that we work. To answer some of the community’s concerns about our operations and the environment some producers today join league with other producers in the region to give ‘town hall’ type presentations to address community questions. Our community needs to know that we as Producers are showing community responsibility. Secondary Containment does have a role to play in Showing Community Responsibility. To many local residents the sight of a Steel Containment Berm surrounding the tank speaks “confidence” and “security” more than the former days when tanks were bermed only with dirt. It gives assurance to the community that your operations are environmentally responsible in the community. (You may have noticed here the law of leadership… Only when the leaders has confidence, security, and assurance himself can he give confidence, security, and assurance to others…)

6. Ease of Construction. The ease of construction of your secondary containment system becomes important on two levels. First, in the matter of overall project cost. Second, in consideration of your local roustabout crew doing the assembly. A rule-of-thumb with any product and project is “to keep it simple”. A typical secondary containment berm should be assembled in less than a day following proper pad preparation. Aside from the visible sense of accomplishment at day’s end though is that the ease of construction reflects highly upon your leadership among even the working crews. Leaders make wise choices before construction commences. Another real need then is ease of construction.

7. To Demonstrate Financial Responsibility. As an operations leader you need to demonstrate that you have been “financially responsible” in your decisions for the Owners and Shareholders of your Production Facility. Knowing that you have gotten a ‘best price’ on the product and the ease of construction goes a long way in showing leadership in this arena. We have discovered that at many locations where indigenous soils are not available to berm tanks and must be hauled and constructed, the cost of dirt berms is often greater than that of assembled steel. Care must be taken however with choice of steel product. Some agricultural manufacturer steel products supplied for upstream petroleum secondary containment may appear lower in initial cost only to suffer in installation costs and time creating a higher project cost. There is a real need for operations leaders to demonstrate financial responsibility. We help you meet these needs.

Bristar Containment is a leader in Secondary Containment Manufacturing based in Denver CO and Wimborne AB that has addressed these real needs with products and services that give Leadership to this sector of the industry Secondary Containment. Bristar’s leadership in 15 years of serving Upstream Petroleum Operators & Producers needs has tailored solutions directly for the field and for leaders in the field. Bristar Containment Industries Ltd is the only Steel Berm Manufacturer specifically native to the Upstream Petroleum Industry. Why does this make a difference?

“The difference is in the engineering”. Bristar Steel looks different. (See: The resource box below for details.) Bristar’s design approach to secondary containment has not been adapted from agricultural backgrounds but is rooted in Professional Civil Engineering that meets specific “oilfield” parameters and codes & requirements. Being birthed out of a background of Oilfield Production Tank Fabrication and Production Measurement in 1995 Bristar employed veteran Petroleum Engineering Services to engineer a secondary containment system specific to Upstream Petroleum use. Being strict in their parameters to meet various codes, Government regulatory requirements and their own critical goals gives Bristar the confidence, security, and assurance that manufactured Secondary Containment products meet your real needs.

The Retail Innovation Leader

When was the last time you did anything in your store that was truly innovative?

Or have you been standing pat, waiting for the customers to return?

Many
of my clients come to me with one thing in common – they are doing
things the way they’ve seemingly always done them. Only the results have
changed, and not for the better.

I’m reminded of a saying I
first heard years ago, in an earlier incarnation in my retail career –
If you’re not going forward you’re going backward, because the world
never stands still.

The retailing future belongs to the
innovative. It’s always been that way. When you first opened your store,
you offered your community, your customers, something new, fresh and
exciting – and better. Whether you offered better assortments, better
quality, better service, a better experience, it was better. That’s why
your customers came.

For many independent retailers, however,
there aren’t quite as many customers as there once was. For several
years, transaction counts have been under a lot of pressure. The
customers that came were spending as much as they ever had, if not more,
but there just weren’t as many of them as there had been.

It
seems to me there are two ways to respond to this. The first is to do
nothing. Assume the problem is the economy, and that as things improve
the customers will return. As more people find they have money to spend,
they’ll once again spend it with you.

The other response is to
become the innovation leader. Innovating in retail takes many forms. It
may be a store remodel. It may be remerchandising the existing space. It
may be extending assortments into fresh categories. It may be offering
brand new services. It is whatever makes you distinctive, fresh,
compelling.

Innovation is reinvention. It involves refocusing
your passion, and thinking about your customers in fresh ways. Think
outside the box, smash a few sacred cows. Why do your customers really
come to you? What else can you do for them? What else can you sell them?
What can you offer that’s new, fresh and exciting?

It may seem
that adopting a strategy of innovation is a risky proposition. But you
never find hoardes of customers in stores that are merely doing the same
old thing. Standing pat is standing still – and standing still is the
same as going backwards, because the world never stands still. It’s
always moving forward.

Facts Related To Choosing Small Business Advertising In Sydney

Advertising agency in melbourne looks after advertising in different fields be it of print magazines, book, media or business or builders enterprises. They take care of your need for publicising your product or your business for more people to see and know about it. Before you choose an agency you should keep in mind certain facts

Choose according to the size of your business

If your business is on the smaller scale it is preferable for you go for small business advertising in sydney. This is because large agencies are usually used to working for the large businesses and fail to understand the needs of small businesses. If you are part of the small local tradies in sydney you should go for smaller agencies. They would understand your needs better and would also cost you less. If you own a huge business, you should go for large advertising agencies since the smaller ones are less equipped to handle your companys needs.

Choose according to your tastes and needs

Different companies have different ways of working. You might like ones ways while you might despise anothers. Thus talk to the representative of the advertising agencies to know what they can offer. Also investigate into your own business to see if you have any loop holes. If you have been hiring designers from outside to help you in your business see whether the advertising agency can offer to do the needed designing as well as publicizing. This way you would be able to get your entire job done by a single company and in the process you would save money too.

There are various specialties that each marketing and advertising agency focuses on. Some small business advertising in melbourne is known to be experts in the field of advertising in form of videos and posters. Then there are some who expertises in above the line of advertising and come up with new campaigns. While advertising for local tradies in melbourne, you would want catchy advertisement lines and interesting posters to be put up around the city. Go for advertising agencies which specializes in this field. A video or research would not really help in this field.

Advertising agencies work towards making a company or product popular. They should be able to represent your company in such a way that would touch people and draw their interest. Think and choose wisely!

Promotional Gifts Dubai – A Company’s Strategy to Escalate

The best way of expressing love to the dearest ones is to gift them. A gift is nothing but presenting the love and care for those you care for. A gift is sometimes an excuse for those who could not attend an event or an occasion. Their absence is felt with the gift reaching them showing that they have not forgot the person and could not attend the event only cause of the appropriate reason. Moments are made more special with gifts. There are many kinds of gifts present for different kinds of occasions. One could not gift a teddy bear for their manager on his birthday. So there are different kinds of gifts like promotional gifts, corporate gifts etc.

A corporate gift is the one that is sent by the company to a person who may be a person working for them. But for this you need to put some extra effort for the growth of business of that particular company. Only after recognizing your effort the company gives the corporate gift. Sometimes the corporate gifts given by a company is a part of the charity work they do. The corporate gifts are mostly presented to the employees of a particular company who performed an extra ordinary job that benefited the company. By doing this the company is not simply paying the person for her effort but also encouraging him and the other employees to do more of that kind work that can benefit both the company and the individual he. There are many corporate gifts and some of them are exemplified in the list below, A Vocation with the entire family and paid expenses, a new car or some cash gifts. Also with the help of corporate gifts the company is developing a strong relationship with its employees, particularly with those who can put extra ordinary efforts and can take part in the company is growths which help the employees to bind to the company for long time.

The corporate gifts are not simply a gift given to the employees but a business strategy to bind all its employees to the company and get the best out of them which can help in the growth of business. Sometimes these corporate gifts are given to that person who opt the company service over other companies. They are awarded to the customers who made use their service. By doing this they are advertising their company which sometimes invites lot of customers and thus the corporate gifts help in increasing the business.

Dubai is such a place known for its industrial growth and their concentration. There are many companies in this place who deal either directly or indirectly with people on international platform. This Corporate Gift Dubai is more than a necessity to extend their business.

For More Details Visit Here: — Business Gifts Dubai

How Innovation Fuels FMCG

Globalization
and technology driven economy has given the consumer access to a wide
range of FMCG products from across the world. Moving down the
supermarket with trolley at hand, the customers have the liberty to pick
and choose products from a wide array of available goods. As one rolls
the trolley along these shelves, consumers find familiar products, with a
different name, brand and packaging or a new product vying for
attention either with a new and attractive packaging, competitive rates,
or innovative marketing. The consumer finally ends up buying five more
newly launched products.

However,
not all products are sold like hot cakes as consumers are dubious of
the contents. To provide the consumers with the required know-how before
purchasing a product is a herculean task. The concept of supermarkets
facilitated customers to walk through the shelves stacked with variety
products, read through the packaging, understands the benefits and
selects the product. The acceptance of innovation products by today’s
next generation consumers find supermarket shelves lined with well
accepted creative products and uncommon combinations such as oats
noodles, Manchurian upma or a lemon flavored salt.

Fueled by
innovation, the FMCG business machinery does not just relate to creating
new products but also includes the process of renovating, restructuring
the products. Brand renovation is a process aimed to constantly renew
the product equity with the consumer by making the product current and
contemporary in tune with the emerging consumer preferences. Further,
with a number of untapped markets, ideas and customers available, the
need of the hour is to find the right idea which would click for the
business to surge ahead. Companies today are extremely aware and have
the capability to listen to the consumer and develop innovative products
tailored to their needs.

The
Consumer Goods and Retail companies need innovative ideas to retain
their customers. Leading FMCG company Britannia entered the health drink
sector, and took steps to reinvent the brand name by entering the
pre-cooked breakfast category with creative ideas identified through
brainstorming sessions across departments and from consumers. FMCG
brands such as Frito Lays and Procter and Gamble (P&G) find their
storehouse of ideas from their consumers. The upside down packaging of
Heinz ketchup is the result of a consumer’s observation of the ketchup
resting at the farthest point from the opening.

Innovative ideas
can come either from the consumers, employees or even the management or
all. Whatever be the source, effective idea management service needs to
be in place to ensure that the revenue grows continuously. Market
research showcases facts that most of the leading FMCG brands both India
and abroad use strategic innovation by crowdsourcing software to bring
out ideas and creative thoughts from consumers. Such exhaustive idea
management implementation tactics will help enterprises to attain higher
brand recall value and better consumer connects.

Classic Car Restoration Hobby To Career

Classic car restoration can be both a satisfying hobby and a lucrative career. In fact, the lucrative career usually starts out as the satisfying hobby. Such was the case with me. Car restoration to me was like a kid working on model cars at the table. Only my table was a garage floor, and my model would actually squeal tires when Ifinished. I have been building and rebuilding classic cars for 37 years now, and I have picked up some experience and lessons learned that I would like to pass on to you.

The first thing you need to determine is your budget. How much can you afford? Unless you are very rich, you probably shouldn’t shoot for history making classics. Model T’s and such are most likely not in your grasp. Realize though, that some of the cars that weren’t the hottest model on the streets in the 60’s really turn heads today when you roll by a crowd in the gleaming relic. One thing that will help you keep cost down is to find a car that is in already decent shape. The less abused, the easier and less expensive it should be to restore (not to mention the saved labor time).

You will also need to decide what type of car you are after. In this day and age of mini compact fuel efficient cars, muscle cars seem to be making a real comeback among collectors.

Then you will need to decide whether you want to go for a true classic car restoration; using all original parts, or a custom updated version of the classic. True classic generally will take alot more time and money. Tracking down the parts you want can be very difficult, though the internet has made a profound difference in the ability to locate parts. Specialty auto parts websites, internet auction websites and junkyards are all great places to find what you need. There is very little room for creativity in true classic, as your aim is to reproduce what used to be. In custom car restoration, there is plenty of room for expression and creativity. It is generally less expensive, but will also sell for less (much less) than a true classic. It is, however, very fun to put your own spin on a classic. Plus, with the right flare and twist, you can sell customs very quickly and easily.

Whatever route you take, I know that you will find classic car restoration to be a satisfying hobby and/or career. Always respect the vehicle, and above all, have fun!

How to Start Saving for the Future With Long Term Investment Vehicles

In an uncertain economic climate, keeping your finances in good shape can be a difficult task. If you have long term goals, or simply think it’s a good idea to be prepared for unexpected financial burdens, a savings or investment plan makes a lot of sense.

Saving for the future means you’ll be in a position to help your children through higher education, or insure that you retire comfortably in your old age. Whether you’ve gained experience or are new to navigating the savings and investment market, a solid, long term financial strategy gives you both options and peace of mind.

What do I need to know?

You have a range of options when it comes to choosing an investment or savings product. The approach you select should reflect your needs and long term goals and it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the different accounts or ‘wrappers’ financial organisations offer:

ISAs – Individual Savings Accounts offer a high-rate of interest with the added incentive of tax exemption on the money you accumulate. Be aware that there is a limit on the amount you can contribute to an ISA per year. ISAs are available in both ‘cash’ and ‘stocks and shares’ categories.

Investment bonds – a lump sum is invested in a range of funds and assets with the intention of making the highest capital gain. While this option carries increased risk, significant tax incentives are available.

Pension and retirement plans – it’s never too early to start thinking about putting money away for your retirement and tax relief on the many pension products available make this type of saving an attractive option. Keep in mind, money put into a pension scheme will not be accessible until you reach a certain pre-determined age.

Offshore investment – although a legally complex area, moving money into an offshore account may bring significant returns. While your money may grow in an offshore account, you’ll be required to pay tax on any gains should you decide to move the money back home.

What are the risks?

Choosing to save or invest depends a lot on the extent to which you want to risk your money. If you have a clear idea of an amount of money you wish to accumulate over a certain period of time, an ISA or similar savings plan could be the better option. While the amount you stand to gain may not be as much as an investment strategy, your cash will be protected against the dangers of the stock market.

On the other hand, if you feel you have the time and money to risk in an investment, the stock market can deliver the returns you’re looking for. If you don’t have the experience to devise an investment strategy on your own, finding a financial advisor to help you through your decisions is a very good idea. Financial advisors will be able to select an appropriate investment plan for your personal needs and provide information and advice at every stage.

Skye Bank Customer Alert – Beware Of Hackers

One of the features of online/Mobile banking is SMS banking services which are operated using both push and pull messages. Push messages are those that the bank chooses to send out to a customer’s mobile phone without the customer initiating a request for the information. For example push messages could be either Mobile marketing messages or messages alerting an event which happens in the customer’s bank account, such as a withdrawal of funds from the ATM or a payment using the customer’s credit card, etc.

Pull messages are those that are initiated by the customer, using a mobile phone, for obtaining information or performing a transaction in the bank account. Examples of pull messages for information include an account balance enquiry, or requests for current information like currency exchange rates and deposit interest rates, as published and updated by the bank.

The bank’s customer is empowered with the capability to select the list of activities (or alerts) that he/she needs to be informed. This functionality to choose activities can be done either by integrating to the internet banking channel or through the bank’s customer service call centre.
It is however sad to note that fraudsters and internet hackers have capitalized on this laudable innovation to rip people off their money. So it is important that as a bank account holder or intending holder you should be aware of this trend and choose the right bank to bank with where your money will be properly secured through adequate online security tips.

Skye bank as a customer friendly bank knows about the activities of these fraudstars and has developed security measures to protect its customers finances. If you are a Skye bank account holder, you might receive emails that seem to emanate from the bank.The mail might even carry the names of Skye bank top Management staff or Director. Some of them may require you to send in information on your Bank details, Pin codes and even your personal information as contained in the bank’s database of you. They might also claim to have access to large sums of ($)US dollars for you domiciled with the bank. Please note that these are scam mails and you should be very careful to avoid being a victim to fraudsters.

As part of its commitment to online security, Skye bank has developed some security tips for all its customers to recognize when they receive emails or letters from potential fraudsters.

Please note that Skye Bank would never ask you to disclose your account number or Pin code on the internet. Also Skye Bank would never ask you to disclose personal information on the internet.

You should also note that Skye Bank site would always carry a security certificate which would be visible on access to the bank’s site and be sure that the site you are on is a genuine Skye Bank site.

In addition Customers should not open attachments or follow Web links in unsolicited emails from unknown parties or from parties with whom you do not normally communicate, or that appear to be known but are suspicious or otherwise unusual.

The official Skye Bank web address is www.skyebankng.com. If you are still in doubt, please get in touch with your nearest branch or call us on (000 234 1) 8531655, 8948103, 07028390633-5