Finance

How to do a Vins Revs Car history finance check in Australia

July 4, 2020 by Reporter Leave a Comment

A revs check or vins check used to be free on the government website before, but now they charge you $4 $2 currently for a vins check. This will also depend from state to state. WA, SA, VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS & NT have their own laws around this

The new website for vins check is http://www.ppsr.gov.au/ (direct links below for checking)

Did you know that if you buy a used car with money owing to a financier from a previous owner, it could be repossessed? (check below for more tips on what to look for while buying a motor vehicle)

Everything you need to know about VINS number for vehicles in Australia

A vehicle identification number is also known as a ‘VIN’ or a ‘Chassis’ number.
A VIN is the 17-character identifier recorded on most vehicles built after 1988.
A VIN can only be made up of the following characters: 0-9, A to Z (uppercase) excluding letters I, O and Q.

Before purchasing a used vehicle, you should always do a REVS or VINS check to see if there is any money owing on the vehicle you are buying.

If you type in vins check OR revs check as it is also known, on google or other search engines, you will get many results showing websites available which will do this check. Unfortunately, these websites are only there to make money and will charge a hefty fee compared to the government website as below.

Go Here – Main website

https://transact.ppsr.gov.au/ppsr/Home?li=False

You can either click on Quick vehicle search link on that page or Then here – to quick vin search or search by serial number or then go here >>

https://transact.ppsr.gov.au/ppsr/QuickVINSearch?li=False

The click the continue button

To go here

third step in process for checking car chasis number and finance owed on motor vehicle

Enter the vins/chasis number and make payment by credit card and you will get details of the check done in next screen, with a email also sent to your with report and receipt immediately.

You can retrieve the search done as well at a later date if you wish with the search number, they email you.

Here is the rate comparison for a revs or vins check on different websites

Official govt website Vins search –$2

Compared to private agencies below

www.revscheck.com.au/Australia‎ – $36.95 for a car history report
www.carhistory.com.au/REVSCheck‎ $36.95 link goes to same website
http://checkvin.com.au/ – 9.90

After signing transfer papers and Transfer of the Registration

After you purchase the vehicle, you must visit a Motor Registry within 14 days to transfer ownership of the vehicle to your name.

You will need:

your proof of purchase
at least two forms of identification

and money to pay the stamp duty and transfer fee

What to look for while buying a motor vehicle

Here are some helpful questions to ask when buying a car, motorcycle, or other vehicle from a private party or dealership:

Are you the owner of the vehicle? How long have you owned it?
How has the vehicle been driven? (Around town vs. long trips)
What major work have you done on the vehicle? Do you have receipts?
Did you buy the vehicle new?
Has it ever been wrecked, had body repairs, or been repainted?
Do you have the title?

What to check for in the vehicle you are buying

Make sure everything works, including the radio, heater, windshield wipers, lights, and turn signals.
Check the brakes
Check the tires — look for good treads and matching tyre rim sizes.
Check under the hood — look at the battery for leaks, check for dirty oil, check the hoses, etc

Dont get fooled by websites that charge you much more that official rates for the same data and checks , get your checks done by using our links above.

The official website is the Personal property securities register and ti is maintained by the government body Australian Financial Security Authority.

Big four banks to dish out refunds into bank accounts before June end

June 27, 2020 by Reporter Leave a Comment

No one gets money for free, but the refund from Commonwealth bank, Westpac bank, ANZ and National Australia Bank might be hitting your bank account soon.

Forget EOFY tax return refunds from the tax office, this is sweeter as you don’t have to apply for it, its your money getting refunded without any paperwork needed.

If you see this in your commonwealth bank account

Additional interest
refund
Value Date_ 25/06/2020

The refund posting may look different depending on which bank you bank with.

Fancy a $10,000 refund?

Refunds can be anywhere from couple of thousand dollars to even $10,000 or more depending on how many loans you have with the bank.

Why the refund ?

If you have a refund looking like above in your bank account you could have possibly got a refund related to remediation done on your home loan, refunding you amounts of interest that was wrongly charged by the bank.

This is due to the remediation the banks have been forced to do due to the government enquiry into banks and how they treat and charge their customers.

CBA Refund on home loan interest charges 2020 for COVID19

This is not a refund, but more like a payment for the interest on interest you get charged for your deferred home loan repayments. Australia’s largest bank will make payments to home loan customers impacted by coronavirus to offset interest charges.

When a home loan repayment is deferred for six months, interest is calculated and added to the loan balance each month which can result in customers paying interest on interest each month. Anyone having a home loan could possibly get this refund before end of June this year.

“This means for an average loan of $350,000, CBA will be refunding approximately $45 to offset the effect of interest on interest over the six-month period. Customer payments will vary based on their loan amount and interest rate.” Commonwealth bank representative said.

2020 – Big four’s Banks current relief packages for covid19

The four major banks in March announced they would allow home loan customers to defer mortgage repayments for six months as part of a $100 billion scheme with the Reserve Bank of Australia to alleviate stress on Australian households, as thousands are tipped into unemployment.

CBA – Following the end of the six-month pause, home loan repayments remain the same as before, with the loan term being extended. CBA will also make a one-time payment to offset the interest on interest being charged to customers over the deferral.

Westpac – Impacted customers are being offered a 3-month pause with the option for a further 3 months after review. Home loan repayments increase after the deferral, but the loan term remains the same.

NAB – Following the repayment holiday, home loan repayments increase, but the loan term remains the same.

ANZ – Customers can choose to keep the loan term the same or extend it by six months, with a review at three months, with both options likely resulting in mortgage repayments increasing after the pause.

Robodebt refund: June 2020

The Federal Government has announced it will refund more than $721 million dollars in wrongly issued Centrelink debts to over 373,000 Australians.

The incorrect debt collections made between the 2015/2016 financial year and November 2019 targeted individuals who had supposedly received more welfare than their income entitled them to.

The debts were automatically calculated by special algorithms without human intervention and became known as rob debts.

How do I get my robo debt refund?

If your eligible, the amount will get credited in your account, so update your details on mygov if not done already. Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said 190,000 individuals will be repaid starting from July 1.

Royal Banking Commission Australia

Started: 14 December 2017

Ended: 4 February 2019

The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, also known as the Banking Royal Commission and the Hayne Royal Commission, was a royal commission established on 14 December 2017 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and report on misconduct in the banking, superannuation, and financial services industry.

2018 CBA Junk Insurance Refund

After the royal commission, refunds for 140,000 were said to be issued to CBA customers

Commonwealth Bank will issue $16 million in refunds to 140,000 people who were sold add-on insurance right before the bank’s ‘junk’ products become the subject of royal commission hearings.

“Consumer credit insurance” has been pitched to customers as a safety net that’ll help them meet their credit card or loan repayments if they lose their job, become sick, injured or die. The financial regulator characterises them as not of much value and consumer groups simply describe them as ‘junk’.

Consumer Credit Insurance. Consumer credit insurance (CCI) covers you if something happens to you that affects your ability to meet your credit repayment. You may be offered CCI cover by your lender when it approves your credit (such as a credit card, personal loan or mortgage).

Find more about this here- https://www.choice.com.au/money/insurance/insurance-advice/articles/commonwealth-bank-refund-16m-junk-insurance-royal-commission-080318

2016 -Recent Fee for no service scandal:

The sweeping scandals – tagged by ASIC as “fees for no service” in its landmark report in October 2016 – saw the big banks and AMP targeted for practices dating back years where millions of dollars in fees were creamed off accounts for financial advice never given.

Wealth management and financial advice industries were involved and investigated in the banking royal commission for this scandal.

Commonwealth bank Wealth package refund in 2015

This happened in 2015. If you held a wealth package, you could have got a refund. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) was said to refund approximately $80 million to around 216,000 Wealth Package customers as compensation for failing to apply fee waivers, interest concessions and other benefits since 2008.

It equated to an average refund per customer affected of around $370, which includes interest. In this case bank staff had to manually apply many of the discounts available under the Wealth Package, which in some instances did not occur.

2017 – CommInsure refunding – CCP premiums

Commonwealth Bank and insurers QBE and Virginia Surety would repay a total of over $26 million to people who were mis-sold add-on insurance, including consumer credit insurance.

CreditCard Plus (CCP) Insurance protects customers’ credit card repayment obligations in the event of death, terminal illness, disability and involuntary unemployment.

Following a review of their records, they identified that CCP Insurance may have been sold to a number of customers who may not have been eligible for all the benefits when they bought their policy. Therefore, they were refunding the premiums paid by impacted customers.

More details here – https://www.commbank.com.au/insurance/creditcard-plus/faqs.html

2020 Westpac refund for small business – Merchant terminal fee relief

The Merchant terminal fee relief was a part of Westpac’s COVID-19 support package for Australian businesses, for 3 months, starting in April 2020.

All eligible merchant customers would have received their final refund payment and westpac are working to provide you with a GST adjustment note for tax purposes in the coming weeks.

Who is eligible? -Merchant customers with a total card spend of less than $5 million per annum.

More here- https://www.westpac.com.au/help/disaster-relief/coronavirus/business/merchant-terminal-fee-refunds/

2015 – 2019 Nab Refunds

NAB’s refund program was set up in 2015, however only about $300 million has been paid back to customers. IN 2015 National Australia Bank WAS SAID TOl refund A$25 million ($18.38 million) to around 62,000 wealth management clients who were wrongly compensated.

https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2015-releases/15-194mr-nab-wealth-refunds-additional-customers-following-asic-action/

In 2019 Nab was ordered to pay back money to customers for junk insurance given to customers by shoddy financial advice. This came about by the royal banking commission.

It now expects another of its remediation Project Hunt to be finished in October.

ASIC is currently overseeing more than 100 remediation programs expected to pay out more than $2 billion to consumers on top of the almost $1 billion that has already been returned. About $10 billion has been set aside by the industry for remediation programs.

Qantas refund /Airline refund/ Flight Centre Travel agent refund

Qantas and Singapore airlines have many destination flights from Australia and there are thousands of customers still waiting for refunds directly from the airlines or then from flight centre or travel agents.

Airlines have given a mix of “travel credit” “travel vouchers” flights for future and money refunds. Flight centre has attracted court action and being looked into by authorities for delay in them giving refunds to customers.

Those customers who have accepted a travel credit voucher may not be eligible for a refund of money, however those whose flights got cancelled will be able to claim a refund.

Delayed air ticket and hotel accommodation refunds by travel agents and airlines could lead to further legal action being taken by irate customers due to interest charges escalating on credit cards.

Qantas Refunds

https://www.qantas.com/us/en/book-a-trip/flights/compensation-and-refunds-policy.html

Singapore Airline refund

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/us/travel-info/charges-changes/cancellations-refunds/

Flight Centre Refunds

https://www.flightcentre.com.au/support/bookings#my-options

https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/flight-centre-to-refund-cancellation-fees

The ACCC has received more than 6000 complaints from consumers dissatisfied with travel companies’ refund policies and cancellation fees, with thousands more contacting their local state or territory fair trading agencies seeking assistance resolving individual disputes.

Qantas is refunding customers for flight cancellations after the ACCC COVID-19 Taskforce raised concerns with the way the airline had handled claims

CRUISE REFUNDS

COVID-19 has been called one of the worst things to happen to the cruise industry in decades.

Thousands of cruise customers from big cruise companies like Caribbean Cruise, Princess Cruise, Carnival Cruises and P & O Cruises are awaiting their refunds due to cancellation of cruises all over the world.

Most cruise liners though American owned, operate from overseas tax haven countries and so has been denied by USA for financial bailouts in the COVID19 Crisis times.

Most cruise liners are offering cruise credits to their customers leaving not many options to disgruntled clients.

Princess cruises

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/refunds-and-future-cruise-credits.html

Royal Carribean Cruises

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/booking-cancellation-refund-policy

P&O cruises

https://www.pocruises.com/request

Carnival Cruises

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/list/search/suggested/1

Reference Websites

Banks:

Westpac Bank – https://www.westpac.com.au/

ANZ Bank – https://www.anz.com.au/

National Australia Bank – https://www.nab.com.au/

Commonwealth Bank – https://www.commbank.com.au/

Government:

ASIC – https://asic.gov.au/

ATO – https://www.ato.gov.au/

APRA – https://www.apra.gov.au/

ACCC – https://www.accc.gov.au/

Search Keywords to Article:

Refund from CommBank 2020

Commonwealth bank refund

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When do I get my cruise refund

How To Handle Employee Payments As A New Business

January 28, 2020 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Setting up a new business is filled with uncertainty and lots of learning. Many new business owners may start out with a great idea and a solid business plan but run into the harsh reality of bringing that plan to life. Things like payroll processes, for example, can seem like a trivial detail but they require careful attention to get them right.

Heeding the advice of a professional payroll service provider is a good option for new business owners with little payroll experience. However, for an overview of some of the most salient things to consider when setting up your payroll, let’s look at the best ways to handle employee payments as a new business.

Make A Budget

As a new business, it can be tricky to know where your money is being spent. There are a lot of capital costs that need to be covered right at the outset including securing an office and furnishing the place if you have a brick and mortar shop, or website design fees and the like if you are going the e-commerce route. With all of this, you may quickly become overwhelmed and wind up with insufficient funds to pay your employees.

Making a budget will help you avoid this disastrous scenario. If you want to retain your staff, then you will need to maintain a set amount of your budget for payroll. As an added bonus, set a maximum cap for your payroll expenses to keep enough money around for all of the other expenses. The more work that you can do yourself, the fewer staff you will need to hire, and the higher your profits will be.

Inform Yourself About Payroll Legislation

It is important to be fully aware of payroll rules and regulations that apply to your business. Complying with these for your employees will allow both you and them to stay on the right side of the law. This includes things like making the appropriate deductions for social security and keeping track of benefit payments. Paying your employees under the table may seem like an easy way to avoid extra tax expenses, though this will end up with you in hot water.

These details can often be overwhelming for new business owners, so be sure to seek out professional guidance from someone who knows the ins and outs of these topics.

Use Payroll Software

If you lack the funds to hire a professional accountant or payroll manager, make sure to invest in high-quality payroll software that works for your business. Contemporary payroll software is easy to use and can be customized to the needs of your payroll structure. Even the least computer-savvy business owners will be pleasantly surprised at the ease of use and flexibility of these programs.

Consider Wage Or Salary Payment

There are many different payment and payroll structures to choose from when deciding on how to compensate your employees. Salary payments can make the matter much more straightforward, as your employees will receive the same amount each year and each pay period. Wage payments are a bit more labour-intensive, as hours need to be tracked and verified on a regular basis.

As another option, you can also hire freelance workers on a project basis for a bit of extra help when you need it.

Take Your Time To Learn The Basics

As a new business owner, it is important to set aside enough time to learn the basics of payroll processes before you get started. Having a solid background in best practices and legal requirements will allow you to launch your business and get it off of the ground without running into any hiccups along the way.

What do you need to become a profitable trader?

October 3, 2019 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Many traders are concerned about the required timeframe to become a profitable trader. They try to get a basic idea of how much time it takes to become a proper trader. It must not be the main concern of the rookie trader. Instead of thinking of the timeframe to ensure a decent profit, you need to think of the trading quality. It is necessary to think of the trading plans. If not you, someone else will take your place with an improved trading mindset. He or she would work with a proper trading plan. There can be a good risk management plan for the trades. With the two important things for the trading business, it is possible to manage a decent profit from the trades easily.

All of it is not possible unless you ask the right question related to becoming a profitable trader. In this article, we will discuss the necessary aspects of trading properly. You will get the idea of preparing a proper plan for the trades. Besides, you also will get a decent idea of risk management.

Take care of the risk exposure properly

To become a profitable trader, you will need a proper risk management plan first of all. It will improve a proper trade setup for the executions of the trades. The risk management plan helps you to create a proper order for the trades. Being concerned about the safety and security of the trading business, the traders think of the least investment into the trades. Then they also decrease the investment with simple leverage. You need to know a decent risk management plan so that the risk exposures get a consistent setup every time of executions.

If you use a 1% risk management policy and leverage it with a 1:10 ratio, it will be good for your business. It helps to work with a proper position sizing. From the influence of decent risk management, you will also think of decent profit potential. So, the market analysis will be easy for you to handle. With all things covered for quality execution of a trade, it is possible to expect a decent profit. Make sure you use the best SaxoTraderPro trading platform to filter the best trades. Keep things simple in trading to reduce the risk exposure.

Use an effective trading plan

From the risk management plan, the pro AU traders will hold the trading money properly. But, the actual execution of the trades will need a proper plan. That is why the position sizing and market analysis needs a proper plan. The traders need to be consistent with every single procedure of trading. Along with the risk per trade, it is also necessary to trade with profit target. When you have a decent profit target like 2R as compared to the risks, use the other strategies for the position sizing. Try to find a proper signal which can satisfy the pip count necessary for your profit target. Also, try to use the fundamental analysis to understand the market condition properly.

After every necessary element is being used for a quality trading approach, you can expect profits. Even if the market behaves the opposite of your assessment, you can handle the losses with proper stop-loss. For a rookie trader, it is the first duty to learn to be safe in Forex trading.

The position sizing is very important

If the traders can define a position sizing for the trades, it is possible to set the stop-loss and take-profit. They are both useful to keep your trading business safe from losses. The stop-loss helps to protect a trading position from losing too much. On the other hand, the take profit helps to be safe when sudden price movement tries to turn your profit into a loss. Both of the tools are good with the executions of the trades but traders need to learn using proper position sizing. If they can learn the best market analysis strategies, it will help them to set proper entry and exit points for the trades. Thus you can use the stop-loss and take-profit properly.

The Most Common Financial Mistakes Made By Startups

September 25, 2019 by Reporter Leave a Comment

As an entrepreneur, your day is full of finding your way, building and refining your services or products, growing your business and achieving your overall goals.

This can make it hard to keep up to date with all of the daily accounting tasks and the bigger picture finances. This is a problem because some important financial decisions and information can fall to the side.

If you are a financial whiz, you might still have a problem creating a financial plan and managing all of the finances. However, this is something that you need to stay on top of because it will affect the stability of the company and your ability to work towards your definition of success.

You will also need the financials to convince and assure your investors of the viability of the business.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of financial mistakes that a startup can make. Fortunately, when you know what these common mistakes are, you can take some steps to avoid them. Many of them are mistakes that you can easily sidestep.

So if you’ve got your financial startup ready to launch, here’s the mistakes you have to avoid.

Mistake #1 – Miscalculating Or Not Calculating Your Cash Burn

Not taking the time to do this will be a major issue. First, you need to know what cash burn is. The burn rate will be the amount of capital your business will go through each month to ensure it operates. If you do not have a clear understanding of this rate, you will have problems achieving your goals before you run out of capital.

A recent survey of new business owners has should that around one-third of them have underestimated their monthly expenses. Almost 20% of those surveyed also realized that they did not have enough financing for their business. It is very easy to miscalculate your costs and this results in your assumptions for initial capital being off. A good step to take will be to keep track of all the expenses you have.

To calculate your burn rate, you need to create a bottom-up projection that uses real-world variables. If you try top-down forecasting, you could be overly optimistic in your sales predictions and this will lead to an unrealistic expectation of revenue. Bottom-up projections are considered more realistic and will show you how much money you need to keep your business going month after month.

Reforecasting is also important and you need to do this. You will have to take into account variable and fixed costs to continually determine the real state of your business. If you are new to burn rates, it is recommended that more research be done on this topic.

Mistake #2 – Not Understanding Your Marketplace Completely

When you do not completely understand your marketplace, you are more likely to misprice your services and products. You should not calculate your costs and then add the margin that you would like to make. You have to consider your market position as well as the value of what you offer. It is better to start with price and work backwards.

When you calculate this, you need to come back to the marketplace and how it affects the price. You need to know who your clients are, what needs your offering fulfils and what you have to offer. Take a look at your competition and what differentiates you as well as the trends which affect your market. All of this will need to be combined to understand your market and how it affects your business.

Mistake #3 – Hiring And Expanding Too Quickly

The people in a company are one of the largest expenses they have. If you want to keep your costs low, your staff expenses should be the first place you look. A mistake that a lot of startups make is hiring too many people too quickly. Too many employees will drain your funds and affect your ability to keep the doors open.

It is not only the recruitment and salary costs that you need to consider. Max Funding ’s business loan team explain, “you also need to consider whether you need a larger office with more equipment and supplies for the new staff. There are also some psychological costs that you need to consider such as what will happen to these new people if your business does not grow as it should and you have to let them go. How your investors will take you needing to disassemble your team will also need to be considered. To overcome all of these issues, you need to hire slow.”

Mistake #4 – Hiring The Wrong People

Finance startup Credit Capital state, “a way to save on staffing costs is to hire for potential and not experience. You should not waste your money hiring experience for the sake of having experience. When possible, you should outsource your non-core tasks such as marketing, accounting and development”.

Mistake #5 – Handling Your Finances Yourself

If you have ended the seed round of funding, have many expenses or are earning real revenue, you need someone to manage your finances on a strategic level. A CFO will generally be the best person for this job. If you do not have much financial activity, a CFO might not be the best solution, but you will still need some help with the daily bookkeeping and accounting.

According to Robinson Accounting’s experts, “while you might have the accounting skills needed for block and tackle accounting, it will not be the best use of your time. It is better to hire a professional to help with this so you can focus on the core business. Administrative tasks can take your focus from where it really needs to be. So it’s vital to weigh up whether you’re actually getting value from saving money but losing time trying to do everything yourself.”

This does not mean that you need to hire a full-time accountant or CFO. If your startup is still small, you should outsource these functions and get the support you need on an as-needed basis.

Do you know of any startup mistakes we missed?

Let us know in the comments!

5 Tips To Buy A House In Australia In A Competitive Price

July 31, 2019 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Buying a new property is a big deal. One should not take it lightly. Proper research and evaluation should be there before making the final purchase. So, tips in this regard will be pretty helpful!

When you need to find your place, you need to get all the help in the world that you can. After you have done your research, you need to know about the proper procedure of buying a property. For this, you need to know about the regulations of the country. A visit to one of the many Australian accounting and law firms is a must.

The Australian Market

The Australian market has been seeing some drop in the real estate prices since 2014. There are many reasons for this drop, and the experts say that the trend will continue in a coming couple of years too.

For a regular customer, the top spots to look for a new property is below:

Photo courtesy: https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/housing/

These are the areas where the prices are affordable. Most of the people opt for these areas as it favors the customers. But moving to such an area will also require you to know a few things about buying a new house. Here are a few tips for you:

1. Evaluate Your Finances And Budget

You’re probably wondering how much you can borrow from the bank. Good question! Get in touch with your bank and work out a plan. Mortgages are not easy. You need to select the best possible option.

2. First Home Buyers Grant

YES. There is a first home buyer’s grant! If you and your partner haven’t ever bought a property before, there’s a good chance you are eligible to receive the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG). This scheme varies state to state, so be sure to check with your local authorities.

Photo courtesy: https://www.realestate.com.au

3. Research The Market

It is almost obvious. You cannot hope to move into a new place without inspecting the market. You should know about the current trends of your locality. The best way to evaluate the markets is to check the future trends of the market. What will be the value of your property after a year?

4. Use A Buyer’s Agent

A buyer’s agent can be pretty handy in this regard! He will probably help you n the negotiation process. Moreover, he will have the knowledge that you cannot simply gain by visiting the area yourself.

5. Research The Property

You should ask the following questions:

· Why is the vendor selling this property?

· Are they looking for a quick sale?

· How long has the property been on the market?

· Is the buyer willing to negotiate on the price?

· Dos the property has any known issues in the past?

Hopefully, with these tips, you are all set to start your search for a new place! Get going!

Paid invoices make the world go around

January 29, 2019 by Reporter Leave a Comment

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_{Photo by Mohamed Hassan / CC0 1.0}

Late payments are the bane of a business owner’s life. They limit cash flow and prevent you from paying your own bills. In the aftermath, suppliers feel disgruntled, your stock runs low, and perhaps you can’t pay your employees. Whatever the effects, it’s safe to say, they’re not pretty. Unfortunately, this is something that typical business insurance policies don’t cover.

So how do you deal with late paying customers and clients? We’re glad you asked because there are a few simple measures you can take to protect you and your business.

Discuss terms upfront

Before you provide a service or a product, make sure that your customer or client understands the payment terms. Some business clients assume that they have 30-days to make payment while others may even assume they have three months. Be sure to clearly outline how soon they must pay so they can budget accordingly.

Ask for 50% deposits

Some service providers ask that their clients make a deposit of up to 50% of the full payment before they carry out any work. This 50% should ensure that your own expenses are covered and allows you to pay your employees or suppliers on time. Not all clients or customers will agree to this, so again, be upfront and honest about your plans.

Make late payments fees part of your terms

Late payment fees are a great way to discourage clients from taking advantage of the line of credit you extended. Once this is clearly outlined in your original payment terms, then they can have no complaints when you charge them extra for being late. Ideally, you’ll never have to charge them as this is more of a deterrent than anything else.

Offer discounts for upfront payments

A 5% discount for full payment upfront is a nice benefit that many of your customers and clients will jump at. While you may make a bit less on the deal, the security of having that payment upfront is well worth the cost. Just ensure that the discount doesn’t mean you lose money on the deal. No need to be too generous!

Consider a short-term loan

If all of your measures to limit or prevent late payments have failed, then you may find yourself in a position where cash flow is low and paying your own bills or employees’ wages is a struggle. In this case, a short-term loan could be the solution. Even if your credit score has taken a beating due to matters outside your control, a short-term lender will still be able to help you. While it’s not an ideal scenario, it does provide you with a safety net of sorts should your clients fail to make payment on time.

Don’t offer credit

This is the toughest one of all but the most effective. If you set a policy that all services and products must be paid for upfront, then you’ll never have a problem with late payments. You may feel like this isn’t possible, but it’s your business, and you can set your own terms. If you are providing high-quality service that guarantees satisfaction, then your clients and customers won’t think twice about paying upfront.

Unfortunately, late payments are part and parcel of business life. Dealing with them could be the difference between staying afloat and shutting up shop. So take a moment to consider the tips outlined above before agreeing to providing a service without upfront payment.

Tighten Your Belt – 5 Secrets to Creating a Stable Financial Future

July 15, 2018 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Photo by Vitaly Taranov on Unsplash

It can sometimes seem impossible for low-income households to get ahead in today’s economy. Financial pressures can have a debilitating impact on your life. Too many families are familiar with the pattern of purchasing only the bare necessities, putting off replacing broken appliances, and spending all their time commuting to and from jobs that pay too little and ask too much. The economic hamster wheel leaves little opportunity for saving, or to enjoy your daily existence. The following are a few creative, yet simple ideas to help you get a handle on your financial stress and get back to loving life.

Wiggle Room

Unfortunately, lower-income families can find it nigh impossible to access credit with mainstream lenders. Locked out of the market, many turn to high-interest options such as payday loans for a lifeline that ends up being a deadweight around their necks. Fortunately, a growing number of government agencies and not for profits are offering interest-free loans for people on low incomes, to spend on necessities, like home appliances, or car insurance. Sometimes that wiggle room is all you need to ease yourself of some of that stress.

Master Chef

The ease of ordering takeaway in our modern society means a lot of money can quickly disappear on food. Yet it’s cheaper and healthier to cook your meals at home. All you need to do is change your perspective on meals preparation. Instead of a chore, transform it into a fun-filled activity. Numerous celebrity chefs that have a wealth of cheap, easy recipes that turn into delicious meals. So, get a quick recipe online, put on some music, and turn it into a joyful ritual. Get your family involved, and make preparing the meal just as enjoyable the meal itself.

Saving Grace

It’s hard to think that a small amount of money set aside every day can make a significant difference in the long run. However, with a bit of discipline and patience, you will be amazed at how much it can add up to over time. Even as little as 50 cents a day, or 10 dollars a week squirreled away into a dedicated savings account you don’t regularly check, your long-term savings can really start to grow. If you can’t get yourself into the habit of putting the money aside, there are apps that can do it for you, all at a rate you’re comfortable with.

Free Entertainment

Just because the budget is tight doesn’t mean you have to skimp out on cultural activities. You can spend hours wandering around free museums, markets, and historic buildings. Your local backyard is someone else’s tourist daydream. Check out the tourism travel page for your local city and see what they recommend is a must do for free. There are always plenty of ways to entertain the family without having to fork out hundreds.

Au Naturale

Whatever the weather, whether you feel like lazing around or getting active nature has you covered. Plan a trip to the beach, and spend the day lazing on the sand. Alternatively, plan a trip to the hills and go for a hike. Getting out of your four walls and enjoying nature has many mental health benefits, and it doesn’t cost a cent. Even if you end up doing precisely what you were planning on doing inside, such as relaxing with a book, or tapping away on your computer, if you do it outside, you’ll feel much better for it.

Having money problems doesn’t have to take the joy out of life. Cheap activities are still fun activities, and clearing your head of stress can help set you up for a financially stable future.

How to Use Business Debt to Your Advantage

April 23, 2018 by Reporter Leave a Comment

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Debt is good. While this idea seems to go against common financial wisdom, in some cases, debt can be advantageous. The most nightmarish stories involve would-be entrepreneurs trying to establish their start-up in a market only to find themselves drowning in debt, whether the business is a good idea or not.

Using debt does not have to end with your business going under or you incurring a ridiculous amount of unmanageable debt. With a strategic plan that has a manageable budget, business owners can find incurring debt can work to their advantage. Whether standing on solid financial ground or trying to navigate the sometimes tricky business landscape, certain types of debt can be used in positive ways to save you money.

For ways to use debt to your advantage, keep reading below.

More Freedom

While in the midst of financial misery, debt consolidation loans from Latitude and other loan programs offer businesses teetering on the verge of collapse more autonomy. Typically, the ideal loan would allow a person low monthly payments with a low interest rate, something many consolidations loans offer their clients. More importantly, though, consolidation loan programs offer business owners a little more autonomy.

The alternative for business owners would be to seek funding from angel investors or others, but that would reduce the amount of control you have over your business. In situations where your business finances have been overextended, a consolidation loan provides you with a little more control over the everyday operations of your company, and more significantly, you retain full ownership of the business.

Certain industries like manufacturing and retail also benefit in terms of taking on financing. By virtue of the fact that materials have to be purchased to make products, financing these costs allows business owners a little more autonomy. In fact, when demand increases, financing is a realistic solution.

Tax Advantages

One of the major ways debt can be used to your advantage is in terms of offsetting tax liability. Lucky for you, the Australian government offers business owners the advantage of writing off several types of finance-related charges. Some debts that can be deducted include bad debts, credit card charges, and banking fees and charges. You can even deduct the amount paid from leasing an office for the purpose of running your business. In just tax deductions alone, businesses owners save thousands of dollars at the end of the year.

Lower Interest Rate

After completing your taxes, compare the percentage you paid in taxes with the percentage of interest you paid to the bank. Incidentally, this is a lot easier to figure with one loan as opposed to trying to figure out a percentage for multiple loans.

However, depending on the rate of your loan, you can find that debt works to your advantage in terms of the impact your tax deductions have on your interest rate or rates. At the end of the year, if the percentage of your business income you pay is less than or equal to the percentage of income your business pays in taxes, this is one way debt will have worked to your advantage.

Predictability

One of the best ways to use debt to your advantage debt is to use the fact that most loan terms are predictable. This predictability allows you to plan for the future, whether you plan to relocate or expand. Most financial institutions provide business owners with financing solutions that allow them to plan for long-, mid-, to short-term goals.

Using a Disadvantage to Your Advantage

Common financial wisdom dictates that debt-free is the ideal goal most businesses should achieve. However, if you are just starting your business or find yourself in a place where financing is mandatory for growth, debt becomes a necessary evil, maybe. Ultimately, debt can be used in some cases to offset tax liability while in the long run giving your business the autonomy it needs to thrive.

Real Estate Investment: Why You Should Opt for a Preferred Equity

April 18, 2018 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Real estate is considered as one of the best investment sectors. It’s because the property values usually stay stable for long and you can earn a good return on your investment. If the country is economically strong, you’re likely to earn big profits with time.

Preferred equity is another way of investing in real estate sector. You may have heard of the term ‘preferred’ in the stock market where investors are allowed to buy preferred shares of the stock. Although these stocks are relatively expensive, they offer a good ROI.

When it comes to preferred equity in real estate, you can go for a project that has a low priority in terms of mortgage debt but possesses a higher priority in terms of the equity of project sponsor.

The project financers usually offer a loan within the range of 60-70% of the original commercial property’s value. This way, they’re able to earn profits without risking their investment. Therefore, most mortgage debts are usually funded by the investors. However, when investors are willing to invest even more funds, preferred equity comes into play.

Why Investors Go for a Preferred Equity

Preferred equity is more expensive than mortgage debts or senior debt. Although it offers more revenue, the investment encounters more risks. If the property value suddenly drops, the investors can lose their entire investment in no time. But the probability of higher profits attracts investors.

Also, preferred equity holds capital repayment priority. It depicts that even if the commercial property is unable to generate the expected revenue, you can claim your original investment once the property is sold. It reduces the risks to your investment.

Be it real estate or any other investment sectors, you can’t earn a good return unless you’re ready to take risks. By opting for the preferred equity, you can claim benefits from property appreciation, get tax deductions and earn rental income benefits.

A majority of preferred equity investors choose a fixed return on their investment as well as of their investment. It aids them in protecting their original investment and increasing their profit.

A preferred equity usually involves a fixed term of 2 to 3 years. The sponsor can upgrade the interest rate after this term on the basis of the unreturned capital.

How to Invest in a Preferred Equity

Investing in a preferred equity can help you earn a good income over time without risking your savings. However, it’s recommended to get in touch with a professional commercial property advisory service to make the most of the investment opportunity. You can visit http://www.stamfordcapital.com.au/ to know more about preferred equity.

Stamford Capital is a reliable name when it comes to financial advisory services. They can guide you about the most suitable real estate projects that will work for you. Since they have contacts in the industry, they can suggest investment opportunities on the basis of your financial needs and goals.

All in all, a preferred equity is a feasible way of investing in commercial real estate. With professional guidance of Stamford Capital Australia, you can further increase the return on your investment.

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