From: owner-persfin-digest@lists.xmission.com (persfin-digest) To: persfin-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: persfin-digest V5 #70 Reply-To: persfin Sender: owner-persfin-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-persfin-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-No-Archive: yes persfin-digest Saturday, November 28 1998 Volume 05 : Number 070 In this issue of the Personal Finance Digest: Message Received Disability Insurance Change in ISP. More - NPNC Conversation The messages posted to the Persfin-Digest are opinions and are not intended to substitute for qualified professional advice. Subscribers should seek the services of qualified professionals for such advice. The publisher, Internet provider, and Digest contributors cannot be held responsible for any loss incurred as a result of the application of any of the information provided here. To ask questions or provide answers, send your email to "persfin-digest@lists.xmission.com". Also, you can "reply" to the persfin-digest and your email tool should fill in the same address. However, if you "reply", be sure to edit the subject field in your email to reflect your topic. Copyright (c) 1998, Jeff Salisbury POSTED SUBSCRIPTION FEE: $20/year. Payment is optional. You will not be billed. The Digest is available to all subscribers, whether or not they pay. I do not discriminate either in favor of paying subscribers or against nonpaying subscribers. If you feel that the information presented here is worth the fee, and you feel comfortable paying it, send cash, check, or money order (U.S. funds), payable to "Jeff Salisbury", to: Jeff Salisbury 65 North 1300 East Logan, Utah 84321 Payment will be acknowledged by e-mail if you include an e-mail address. Subscribe: e-mail majordomo@xmission.com, text: subscribe persfin-digest Unsubscribe: e-mail majordomo@xmission.net, text: unsubscribe persfin-digest ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 17:48:58 -0500 (EST) From: BATTA@stsci.edu Subject: Message Received I am going to be away from the Institute beginning Tuesday November 24, 1998 through Friday December 4, 1998. If you need to reach someone in the Grants Administration Office, please call (410) 338-4201 for Elyse Wagner or send e-mail to wagner@stsci.edu I will return all messages beginning Monday December 7, 1998. Thank you and have a happy Thanksgiving! - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 19:21:12 -0500 (EST) From: "Gary M. Oppenheimer" Subject: Disability Insurance How does one find the best price for Disability Insurance? Is one company known for better prices than others? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:19:40 -0500 From: Howard I Cohen Subject: Change in ISP. This week has been very busy for me. Besides my mortgage refi I also got a new Internet Service Provider. I started using MediaOne, paying approx. $40 a month more over my cable bill. But my personal comment, and a fact I am happy to share is that the service is GREAT. A bit pricey but GREAT. Now the only time I wait on the net is waiting for some distant server to 'reply.' But then the web connections come in like I'm leafing through pages of a letter. Boom, boom, boom. No delays, no waiting for a screen to complete. And downloads that are unbelievable. The simple fact is that I am paying for what in telephony jargon is called 'T-1 Carrier' service. In actual numbers that is 1.5 Megabits or 150K Bytes/sec., compared to 28.8K bits (equivalent - 2.8K Bytes) or even 56K Bits (= 5.6K bytes/sec). Yes, it is 30 to 60 times faster. I bought a regular cheappy PnP LAN card - $30. The installer put a splitter on my video cable, complete with RF filter (keeps computer noise out of my TV), one leg to the house video, other to a modem box they supply. Then he connected the modem box to the LAN card - an RJ 45 connection. A little software hanky-panky and I saw the web the way it was intended to be seen. What a joy. And note that I am connected all the time - my own little video feed. No more 'dial-up,' hope it rings, hope it answers - then waiting for the home page to evolve. Also note that I am not tying up a phone line. I click on Netscape on my desktop, and INSTANTLY I am at the home page. Bye-bye TIAC, bye-bye World, bye-bye modem, ungodly modem screams and all that old stuff. Incidentally, I set up Eudora to let me access any of my three services (MediaOne, TIAC, World) through the one mail manager and everything goes through MediaOne at T-1 speed. I'll drop the others as usage drops off, but keep them for a 'cut-over' period. The bigger issue that I find interesting is that a cable company is actively, and effectively competing with good old Bell Atlantic and the ISP crowd. I used to pay $.05/minute (after the first 3 hours) to browse the web. I will not have that expense any more. The cost figures breakdown as follows: I will be giving $40 to MediaOne, some of which ($22.99) would have gone to the ISP and some x-hours at $3.00/hour to BA. If you're good at numbers you'll quickly realize that if I spend 10 minutes a day browsing and doing e-mail, than the service will have paid for itself. That's what I call real competition. Better service for 'cheaper.' Next I want to try phoning and video conferencing over the net. Should be very good. A friend of mine says he can phone voice duplex (talk and listen simultaneously) through his sound card and it sounds better than the regular phone. I'll report on it when I've tried it. The 'downside,' and it could be serious, is this: since they let your machine act like a workstation on their LAN, you can only relate with one machine. Note that they address your LAN card's ethernet number. No notebook by the bedside or in the car, or anything like that. I'm not sure about telnet-ing. Will have to try it. Also I want to try PC-Anywhere. Certainly if it's important you can always pay for a second line. BTW - Be well assured that I have not prior interest in MediaOne or any of the companies involved. I am a paying user, no more, no less. Sincerely, Howard I. Cohen, - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 18:42:32 -0500 From: "Howard I. Cohen" Subject: More - NPNC Conversation >> Dear Mr. Cohen, >> >> Your piece in the "persfin-digest" on the above subject was quit >> interesting. I have a few questions though. First of all, are >you sure >> the customary charges such as loan origination fees/points were >not >> included in the amount refinanced such that if your outstanding >> was $96K, the refinanced amount now is say $100K? Most lenders >or their >> representatives I have come across insist on such other charges >as >> title search, transfer fees for the rerecording of the new deed, >> How do you explain the $30 total fee charged? Another thing is >did you >> have the refinance done by the same bank that has the first >mortgage? > >Thank you for your query. Yes, I have become quite expert at >reading the HUD Settlement sheet, and also after 6 refi's have >learned to confirm all the relevant parameters, like partial >payments of the mortgage because I've changed banks in the middle >of the month, starting a new escrow account - and getting back >the balance in the old one, and on and on. > >My understanding of NPNC is precisely that. No charges to me for >origination fees, title search, credit check, transfer fees, the >bank president's retirement fund or anything else. Also on the >last three times I've always refinanced the same amount. The >accrued (paid down) principal is applied to the partial interest >due because we usually don't close on the end of the month, and >since mortgages are paid in arrears the old bank must receive a >partial for the days that the instrument existed and wasn't paid. >I had a disagreement on the daily rate of a few pennies, but I let >that one slide by. It may have cost me $1.52 (19 days at @.08/day) >but I was talking to an attorney who represented the broker who >represented the bank. That's not the path to argue $1.52. Also I >usually have to lay out some cash to cover the opening of a new >escrow account. Usually 3 months, sometimes 4 months payment. But >I don't mind because I get back the balance from the old one plus >we're talking escrow. > >I never talk to a bank. I talk to a mortgage broker who earns his >fees from the bank. I've inquired about refinancing through the >bank that holds the mortgage, but they neither sounded interested, >nor offered any competitive rates. Most of the time they sell the >mortgage anyway. > >The $30. was a 'closing out the account' charge the x-bank laid on >me. I didn't expect it, but the b--s (as in banks) get you every >way they can. The FEDEX charge was a given, the broker sends out >the application kit that way. I've suggested he use US mail, but >had two sound comments. He has a tracking receipt, and wants to >give the customer as much time as possible to fill out the papers. >Sometimes that's a real chore. > >Where do you live? Mortgage brokers are like real estate people >and car dealers. They are the 'middle-men.' The commodity they >sell is the 'money' offering of a bank that has a product and rate >that might be right for you. Its always been a different bank, >and I don't care. > >I don't pay any of the bank charges up front. And I've never had >charges carried into a new mortgage. I do pay about 1/2% more >interest. But at my level I'm saving over $4000. and a little >'mortgage' math shows that I would have to hang in there for 5 >years or more to break even. > >At the price of repeating myself, try the web, try the yellow >pages, try making a few phone calls (not to banks) and try asking >a lot of questions. > >Good luck, >Howard > > >> I appreciate your quick response. >> >> Thank you, >> Tom Batta >> - - ------------------------------ End of persfin-digest V5 #70 **************************** - To unsubscribe to persfin-digest, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe persfin-digest" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.