With talk of stimulus checks and the economy, your child may be curious about what the future holds for their finances. Teaching healthy money habits can be challenging, but it's one of the most important lessons you can share and you don't need to be an expert to give kids a solid foundation in financial literacy. Use these tips for a simple yet impactful financial talk with your kids!

Make it Age-Appropriate

Finances are complicated, so make sure you tailor your talk to their level of understanding and interest. Discuss terms like "budgets," "overdraft fees," "interest rates," and "credit scores." Regardless of age, it's never too late or too early to teach financial literacy basics.

Take Advantage of Events

A grocery store is a

Thinking about buying a first home or a second? You have many loan options, and each one varies as far as their down payment requirements. Use this quick guide to get an idea of the amount you'll need to put down on your next purchase.

Is 20% Down Always Necessary to Buy a Home?

The down payment refers to the monies you'll put down during the mortgage closing, and it's often expressed as a percentage of the property price. For example, 20% down on a $200,000 home means paying $40,000 at closing.

20% down can make homeownership feel too out of reach. But take heart, very few loan programs are firm about needing 20% at closing. You can even get a conventional mortgage with as little as 3% down! Read on to learn more.

**Make better

With rates at incredible lows, Americans across the country are refinancing their mortgage. But if you have poor credit, you may be wondering if it's possible. 

Refinancing with a low credit score isn't the ideal position, but it is possible. Here's everything you need to know about refinancing into a lower rate mortgage while having bad credit. 

But first, why bother refinancing in the first place? 

Refinancing saves you money because you end up paying less interest over the life of the loan. That can also translate to lower monthly payment, but if nothing else, it means that more of your payment will go to the principal than the lender. 

A handsome prospect for anyone! But for those with less-than-ideal credit, refinancing at a fair

The idea of your home getting foreclosed on can send a chill up your spine. It's understandable. Thinking that a bank shuts you out of your home with ruined credit is an awful thought. 

But here's the reality check: Not everything that you've heard about foreclosing is true. Here are the most common misconceptions about the process.

Myth 1: Banks want to foreclose on your home

Not true. While the lender has a legal obligation to get back the money still owed, foreclosure is always the last resort. 

Remember that banks get revenue from collecting interest, not owning real estate. 

Myth 2: You can't refinance with another lender

Refinancing is one of the ways that many try to avoid foreclosure. But what you may not know

Your credit plays a key role in financial opportunities, today and in the future. Understandably, the current pandemic environment is making it more challenging. But still, there are actions you can take to protect your credit. 

Here are tips that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggested for protecting your credit during these trying times.

Request A Free Copy of Your Credit

Did you know that you're entitled to a free credit report every year? Unlike the hard credit inquiries that creditors do when you apply for credit, this free annual report does not negatively affect your score. 

Additionally, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian (the three nationwide credit reporting agencies), also provide you with a free credit report

Whether you are buying a home or are refinancing, there are fees required to finalize the loan. We lump all these together and call them closing costs. With refinance loans, the closing costs are a bit less because certain elements are missing (such as title fees, home appraisal fees, and other sale-related fees).

This article will focus on the closing costs that you can expect to pay when you buy a property.

How much can you expect to pay in closing costs? 

Closing costs are about 2% to 5% of your loan amount. So if your loan is for $250k, you can expect to pay about $5,000 and $12,500 in closing costs. Admittedly, this is a fairly large range but we’ll break down the costs so you can have a better understanding of why it varies so much. 

When you first took out your school loan, you did it to open more opportunities. Unfortunately, having a significant amount of school debt can challenge those opportunities. If you have a considerable amount of school debt and are left wondering how you can still qualify for a home loan, this article is for you!

The insights we’re about to share with you will help you get a better idea of how to manage your school loan as well as show how it’s possible to be a homeowner despite having student debt. 

How Student Loans Affect Your Home Loan Approval

The first thing to clarify is that student loans themselves don’t prevent you from getting a home loan. However, the debt of student loans can affect your debt-to-income ratio, and a poor DTI can

Foreclosed homes are some of the best home purchase deals you can find but that doesn’t mean that you should through caution to the wind when considering purchasing a foreclosed home. 

In fact, some foreclosed homes can end up costing you more money (or headaches) than they’re worth. Here’s what you need to know about purchasing a foreclosed home. 

Foreclosed Homes are a Diamond in the Rough 

The first thing to understand is that foreclosed homes are often in a rough state. This may be partly due to the fact that the previous owner was unable to make their mortgage payments, and therefore, couldn’t afford the upkeep either.

Or it could be that the previous owner was imbittered about their home being foreclosed on and abandoned the home,

Saving for a downpayment is one of the first steps to buying a home --apart from getting pre-qualified for a mortgage. Starting your savings also requires quite a bit of commitment. It takes discipline to forgo that weekend getaway with friends or reduce everyday purchases like your usual morning latte. But when you're saving for a house, every purchase and dollar saved must be a deliberate choice.

But where's the best place to store your home-savings nest egg? After all, you'll be saving in the tens of thousands, not just a couple of thousand. Lenders will also need to verify where your downpayment came from, meaning they'll want to see a record of deposits that prove your savings efforts or gifted funds.

Here are some suggestions for where to

Mortgage rates have been relatively consistent, but don't let that get you too comfortable. Rates are changing all the time --by how much, and whether it will be in your favor, we cannot say. We can make intelligent guesses, but we can't predict with any certainty.

However, that doesn't mean that you are entirely powerless when it comes to taking charge of the mortgage rate you qualify for. You hold a lot of power, including the ability to qualify for a lower rate by improving your credit score, buying points, and exploring the rates of various home loan options.

And here is another idea for getting a low mortgage rate in an uncertain market: get a floating mortgage rate.

Locked and Floating Mortgage Rate Compared

Mortgage Rate Lock