Comments on: Money Merge Account http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/ Christian Personal Finance - Financial help blog, debt help and other financial resources Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:22:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: JoeTaxpayer http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-104558 JoeTaxpayer Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:46:55 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-104558 Leroy - respectfully, the introduction of the refinance issue is a Red Herring. One needs to look at refinancing very carefully, understanding the cost and impact to term. You realize - one can pay what they will regardless of the term. When refinancing from a 30 year mortgage, the borrower may not be able to afford to drop to a 20 year term, but can make the same payment to not let their payoff date slip. This is a simple calculation. If your calculator is lost, just use the same payment, but any extra goes to principal. Ironic, however, that the refi cost you cite is still equal or less than MMA cost. Even at zero cost - MMA is inefficient. Agent sites that show a years cash flow easily prove that the HELOC withdrawal MMA dictates are not optimum and cost more, not less interest. In this economy, pulling large chunks of money from a HELOC is a higher risk strategy than ever. As MMA is programmed to use up all of one's "idle" cash to put toward the mortgage, it leaves the user with little to no emergency account, and if the HELOC is shut down, there's trouble ahead. Last, and then I'll close, everywhere on UFirst's site, they state they are not in the business of offering financial, mortgage, or real estate advice. Just selling the use of software. Yet, on every agent site, they dispense advice which is financial in nature and not sound. Leroy – respectfully, the introduction of the refinance issue is a Red Herring. One needs to look at refinancing very carefully, understanding the cost and impact to term. You realize – one can pay what they will regardless of the term. When refinancing from a 30 year mortgage, the borrower may not be able to afford to drop to a 20 year term, but can make the same payment to not let their payoff date slip. This is a simple calculation. If your calculator is lost, just use the same payment, but any extra goes to principal.
Ironic, however, that the refi cost you cite is still equal or less than MMA cost.

Even at zero cost – MMA is inefficient. Agent sites that show a years cash flow easily prove that the HELOC withdrawal MMA dictates are not optimum and cost more, not less interest.
In this economy, pulling large chunks of money from a HELOC is a higher risk strategy than ever. As MMA is programmed to use up all of one’s “idle” cash to put toward the mortgage, it leaves the user with little to no emergency account, and if the HELOC is shut down, there’s trouble ahead.
Last, and then I’ll close, everywhere on UFirst’s site, they state they are not in the business of offering financial, mortgage, or real estate advice. Just selling the use of software. Yet, on every agent site, they dispense advice which is financial in nature and not sound.

]]> By: Leroy http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-104538 Leroy Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:53:00 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-104538 Another observation, I notice that it seems everyone is concern about the cost of the money merge account program more than anything else. Let's thing about something here, people refinance day in and day out and they pay for it without any quams. A typical refi on a $200,000 mortgage may run as much as $2,500, a $300,000 is about $3,500. Now, we will pay that kind of money to restart a mortgage, even though the payments may be lower, but we are back to the original term period no matter that you have paid off several years on the mortgage already. The MMA will illiminate all that and give you a way better result in the end; think about that for a minute. Another observation, I notice that it seems everyone is concern about the cost of the money merge account program more than anything else. Let’s thing about something here, people refinance day in and day out and they pay for it without any quams. A typical refi on a $200,000 mortgage may run as much as $2,500, a $300,000 is about $3,500. Now, we will pay that kind of money to restart a mortgage, even though the payments may be lower, but we are back to the original term period no matter that you have paid off several years on the mortgage already. The MMA will illiminate all that and give you a way better result in the end; think about that for a minute.

]]> By: Leroy http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-103806 Leroy Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:20:02 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-103806 Great responses from all and each persons opinion is crucial. I am currently a user of the MMA account. I had a 15 year mortgage which was at 9 yrs when I signed up along with three CC accounts and I put in a new wood flooring to my home. When the program was intorduced to me, I was estatic, yet, very cautious; it predicted 3.0 yrs to pay off 9 yrs worth of mortgage and those other debts. It took me a whole month of investigative work to see what was really up with this company before I signed up. Honestly, I could not be more pleased with the results. I was able to clear up $45,000 in debt for the first year alone which included $6,600 towards my morgage priciple. I did not work it from a HELOC, I utilized my checking account and the program showed me how to save and when to apply what amount I needed to eliminate those hefty interest that the bank would normally be getting. I assure you, based on the numbers, I am on schedule to be paid off in less than 1.5 yrs and I am convinced that this was worth every dollar I spent and If I, God's willing, will apply my monthly payments to some sort of savings account for the rest of the 9 yrs, after I'm paid off, that will be my reward of what the bank would have gotten from me. Let's face it folks, when you purchase a $200,000 home and end up paying over $400.000 after the life of that mortgage, where is the incentive it that for you a borrower? I don't mind paying for some service but when it comes to paying more for the service than the merchandise, something is awfully wrong from where I sit; evaluate for yourself and make up your own mind. Remember, you can always give your money to the bank or you can reward yourself; you choose. God bless Great responses from all and each persons opinion is crucial. I am currently a user of the MMA account. I had a 15 year mortgage which was at 9 yrs when I signed up along with three CC accounts and I put in a new wood flooring to my home. When the program was intorduced to me, I was estatic, yet, very cautious; it predicted 3.0 yrs to pay off 9 yrs worth of mortgage and those other debts. It took me a whole month of investigative work to see what was really up with this company before I signed up. Honestly, I could not be more pleased with the results. I was able to clear up $45,000 in debt for the first year alone which included $6,600 towards my morgage priciple. I did not work it from a HELOC, I utilized my checking account and the program showed me how to save and when to apply what amount I needed to eliminate those hefty interest that the bank would normally be getting. I assure you, based on the numbers, I am on schedule to be paid off in less than 1.5 yrs and I am convinced that this was worth every dollar I spent and If I, God’s willing, will apply my monthly payments to some sort of savings account for the rest of the 9 yrs, after I’m paid off, that will be my reward of what the bank would have gotten from me. Let’s face it folks, when you purchase a $200,000 home and end up paying over $400.000 after the life of that mortgage, where is the incentive it that for you a borrower? I don’t mind paying for some service but when it comes to paying more for the service than the merchandise, something is awfully wrong from where I sit; evaluate for yourself and make up your own mind. Remember, you can always give your money to the bank or you can reward yourself; you choose. God bless

]]> By: JimmyDaGeek http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-13764 JimmyDaGeek Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:32:26 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-13764 “Using the banks money” – We started out by taking out a loan called a mortgage, using the bank’s money. Now that it’s time to pay the loan back, we need to get the money from somewhere. Usually, it comes out of our paycheck. But MMA claims that if we use a HELOC, we are not using our money anymore, we are using the bank’s money. But, wait, we started all this by using the bank’s money to take out a mortgage and now we have to pay it back. So that means if we use the bank’s money by taking a loan out of the HELOC, we have to pay that back, too. So all we did was postpone having to pay the bank back by using the HELOC money to pay the mortgage. We still have to pay the HELOC back. Where is that money going to come from? Out of our paycheck. So why should we spend $3500 on MMA to play a money shell game with a HELOC? “Interest cancellation” – MMA claims that by loading up the HELOC and running our paychecks through the HELOC, we reduce the balance so much that we save lots of money that way, and that alone is worth $3500. OK, so how much can we save? Well, let’s assume our mortgage rate is 6%. That means each month, we are charged 1/2% on our mortgage balance, the whole balance. But if we are using interest cancellation, the most that we can save is whatever our monthly salary is. So, if we bring home $5,000, the largest HELOC balance we can offset is $5,000. How much will that save? $5,000 times 1/2% is $25. That’s $25 per month or $300 per year. So MMA wants you to spend $3500 upfront to save $300 per year. Do you know how much interest you would save if you just put $3500 towards your 6% mortgage? OVER $16,000 and 16 months. (Not $4000 as I said in a different post) “Factorial math” – MMA claims no one except a computer can figure out the best possible way to pay all your bills and debts because of all the possible combinations. LIES. There is only one SIMPLE BEST way to pay off all your debts. You pay off the highest interest debt first and work your way down using a DEBT SNOWBALL. It only needs addition and subtraction. “Using the banks money” – We started out by taking out a loan called a mortgage, using the bank’s money. Now that it’s time to pay the loan back, we need to get the money from somewhere. Usually, it comes out of our paycheck. But MMA claims that if we use a HELOC, we are not using our money anymore, we are using the bank’s money. But, wait, we started all this by using the bank’s money to take out a mortgage and now we have to pay it back. So that means if we use the bank’s money by taking a loan out of the HELOC, we have to pay that back, too. So all we did was postpone having to pay the bank back by using the HELOC money to pay the mortgage. We still have to pay the HELOC back. Where is that money going to come from? Out of our paycheck. So why should we spend $3500 on MMA to play a money shell game with a HELOC?

“Interest cancellation” – MMA claims that by loading up the HELOC and running our paychecks through the HELOC, we reduce the balance so much that we save lots of money that way, and that alone is worth $3500. OK, so how much can we save? Well, let’s assume our mortgage rate is 6%. That means each month, we are charged 1/2% on our mortgage balance, the whole balance. But if we are using interest cancellation, the most that we can save is whatever our monthly salary is. So, if we bring home $5,000, the largest HELOC balance we can offset is $5,000. How much will that save? $5,000 times 1/2% is $25. That’s $25 per month or $300 per year. So MMA wants you to spend $3500 upfront to save $300 per year. Do you know how much interest you would save if you just put $3500 towards your 6% mortgage? OVER $16,000 and 16 months. (Not $4000 as I said in a different post)

“Factorial math” – MMA claims no one except a computer can figure out the best possible way to pay all your bills and debts because of all the possible combinations. LIES. There is only one SIMPLE BEST way to pay off all your debts. You pay off the highest interest debt first and work your way down using a DEBT SNOWBALL. It only needs addition and subtraction.

]]> By: JoeTaxpayer http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-9495 JoeTaxpayer Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:41:36 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-9495 Jim - both of your posts are much appreciated. And at 46, I must say, your's was the kindest apology I ever received in my life, which I of course accept. (Honestly, I didn't ever take personal offense, I need a thick skin to keep expressing my opinion in public.) It's obvious you have a good heart and your family is blessed to have you as a husband and father. Be well. Joe Jim – both of your posts are much appreciated. And at 46, I must say, your’s was the kindest apology I ever received in my life, which I of course accept.
(Honestly, I didn’t ever take personal offense, I need a thick skin to keep expressing my opinion in public.)
It’s obvious you have a good heart and your family is blessed to have you as a husband and father. Be well.
Joe

]]> By: Jim http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-9494 Jim Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:16:24 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-9494 Joe, This is a public apology for my private rant. I do love the Lord and do want to be obedient to His word. I was hurt when I was, in my initial estimation, unjustly and publicly mocked in regards to my walk with God. So, that being said. I want to honor you and the work you are doing. We, my family and I, on this side of the blog, will lift you and your family to God with our prayers. Be Blessed! Jim Joe,

This is a public apology for my private rant. I do love the Lord and do want to be obedient to His word. I was hurt when I was, in my initial estimation, unjustly and publicly mocked in regards to my walk with God.

So, that being said. I want to honor you and the work you are doing. We, my family and I, on this side of the blog, will lift you and your family to God with our prayers.

Be Blessed!

Jim

]]> By: Jim http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-9490 Jim Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:36:34 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-9490 Your "MMA Analysis Compilation" is a great read with excellent documentation - Good work! And, in my humble opinion, the "MMA_Sheet.xls" spreadsheet is a work of art. Thanks, Jim IXOYE Your “MMA Analysis Compilation” is a great read with excellent documentation – Good work! And, in my humble opinion, the “MMA_Sheet.xls” spreadsheet is a work of art.

Thanks,
Jim

IXOYE

]]> By: JoeTaxpayer http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-9487 JoeTaxpayer Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:28:33 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-9487 Jim- I thought you were selling the UFirst Money Merge Account, but it appears you have a competing product. If you visit my site, you will find that I've analyzed MMA exhaustively. Yes, it (MMA) is hyped to the point of fraud. So forgive me if I put you in the same group. I did, however, focus a post or two on the "HELOC shuffle" which you can find by simple googling the phrase, I am the lucky first hit. Those posts offer the math which shows that the HELOC use offers more risk than reward, which leaves us with prepaying, which everyone is invited to do. And from my MMA links page, you are invited to pull a copy of a free spreadsheet (as are all readers of Christian PF) and see how one need not spend a dime. The sheet is free, and most people own a computer, which MMA would require anyway. Funny - you ask why "taxpayer". My family asks "why Joe?" When I started posting on financial topics it just occurred to me to be a catchy name, the question for me was whether the Joe remain separated by a space. I usually write it as one word JoeTaxpayer. Or sign posts just Joe. (Of course this is a variant of Joe Sixpack, or the concept of the "average Joe". Nothing more or less than that. Jim-
I thought you were selling the UFirst Money Merge Account, but it appears you have a competing product.
If you visit my site, you will find that I’ve analyzed MMA exhaustively. Yes, it (MMA) is hyped to the point of fraud. So forgive me if I put you in the same group.
I did, however, focus a post or two on the “HELOC shuffle” which you can find by simple googling the phrase, I am the lucky first hit. Those posts offer the math which shows that the HELOC use offers more risk than reward, which leaves us with prepaying, which everyone is invited to do. And from my MMA links page, you are invited to pull a copy of a free spreadsheet (as are all readers of Christian PF) and see how one need not spend a dime. The sheet is free, and most people own a computer, which MMA would require anyway.

Funny – you ask why “taxpayer”. My family asks “why Joe?” When I started posting on financial topics it just occurred to me to be a catchy name, the question for me was whether the Joe remain separated by a space. I usually write it as one word JoeTaxpayer. Or sign posts just Joe. (Of course this is a variant of Joe Sixpack, or the concept of the “average Joe”. Nothing more or less than that.

]]> By: Jim http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-9478 Jim Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:17:42 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-9478 Feel free to visit the web site link provided and actually take the time to do an analysis. Then after that, test drive the software. The analysis is free, the 1 week trial of the actual software is free. Then you look at the numbers yourself. No cost, No fuss, No hype - just numbers. The whole problem, I think, is the various mortgage interest payment reduction programs promoter use a lot of hype to market their deal. I just don't want people to throw out the baby with the water. The hype doesn't diminish the facts - the math works. When the 401K was introduced, people thought is was a scam. No sales pitch here. Just try it. See for your self. BTW, I was wondering... Is there a difference between the word "taxpayer" and "tax payer"? I noticed the use of the word in your screen name. If I have scales over my eyes, pray that I would have eyes to see and ears to hear. May you be richly blessed :-) Feel free to visit the web site link provided and actually take the time to do an analysis. Then after that, test drive the software. The analysis is free, the 1 week trial of the actual software is free. Then you look at the numbers yourself. No cost, No fuss, No hype – just numbers.

The whole problem, I think, is the various mortgage interest payment reduction programs promoter use a lot of hype to market their deal. I just don’t want people to throw out the baby with the water. The hype doesn’t diminish the facts – the math works. When the 401K was introduced, people thought is was a scam.

No sales pitch here. Just try it. See for your self.

BTW, I was wondering… Is there a difference between the word “taxpayer” and “tax payer”? I noticed the use of the word in your screen name.

If I have scales over my eyes, pray that I would have eyes to see and ears to hear.

May you be richly blessed :-)

]]> By: JoeTaxpayer http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/comment-page-1/#comment-9473 JoeTaxpayer Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:10:29 +0000 http://christianpf.com/money-merge-account/#comment-9473 Jim - God does not approve of debt? How, exactly do you suggest a Good Christian buy a home? I bought mine by preparing (saving) to put 20% down on a new home, and having 10% more in case of overages. I then took a mortgage that had payments equal to only 15% of my monthly gross. That's as conservative as I've seen. How long would one need to save to buy a house with no mortgage at all? And how would your savings grow? The interest a bank pays comes from someone at the other end who is borrowing. I don't smoke, and I don't buy tobacco stocks, but it appears that if you are a saver and not a borrower, that, to be blunt, you are counting on those who are not Christians to be at the other end. Back to MMA - Since the product is a scam, sold to people who are ignorant of finance, I suspect that when you ask WWJD, the answer is "He wouldn't appreciate those who scam while using His name." I'm afraid your post is not reverent, but appears to be blasphemy. Have a nice day! Joe Jim – God does not approve of debt? How, exactly do you suggest a Good Christian buy a home? I bought mine by preparing (saving) to put 20% down on a new home, and having 10% more in case of overages. I then took a mortgage that had payments equal to only 15% of my monthly gross. That’s as conservative as I’ve seen. How long would one need to save to buy a house with no mortgage at all? And how would your savings grow? The interest a bank pays comes from someone at the other end who is borrowing. I don’t smoke, and I don’t buy tobacco stocks, but it appears that if you are a saver and not a borrower, that, to be blunt, you are counting on those who are not Christians to be at the other end.

Back to MMA – Since the product is a scam, sold to people who are ignorant of finance, I suspect that when you ask WWJD, the answer is “He wouldn’t appreciate those who scam while using His name.” I’m afraid your post is not reverent, but appears to be blasphemy.

Have a nice day!
Joe

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