| 6 Million Brits Consolidating Their Loans
The preferred method of debt consolidation in the UK is where unsecured personal loans are combined into one loan with a lower monthly payment. While this is a positive move in the short term, it can be fiscally devastating over the long-term if done in the wrong way. Unsecured personal loans are the preferred method of consolidating loans. The interest rate is normally lower than interest being charged on credit cards and store cards. Research from uSwitch.com revealed that a number of Brits who consolidate their loans continue to use their credit cards and store cards to create further debt. The number of UK consumers who apply for personal loans that are higher than the amount they need to consolidate their loans are using the extra money, not for wealth generating, but to maintain a higher lifestyle.
Woman steals thousands
When Kim Elliston got into debt she tried to get millions of dollars from banks and finance companies by stealing and forging cheques and bank statements.
She did not want any help, started lying and it all spiralled out of control, she told police.
On one occasion she wrote out a cheque for almost $2.6 million and tried to bank it.
The 26-year-old Rotorua housekeeper, who is bankrupt, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to 12 charges including forgery, obtaining money by deception and using forged documents.
She forged several bank statements and a receipt to show she had a large amount of funds in a joint account with her husband so her father-in-law would invest his money with her. .
Germans call for return of paintings seized by British troops
MRWIK. Pressure is mounting for the return of paintings seized from Germany in 1945 and now at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
In January, The Art Newspaper revealed that Claus Bergens Wreath in the North Sea in Memory of the Battle of Jutland had been taken by British troops from the Mrwik Naval Academy. The following month, we reported that six additional German paintings had come to the museum as war trophies (January 2007, pp 1,8 and February, pp 10,11).
Professor Lars Scholl, director of the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven and a Bergen specialist, last month called for the restitution of the pictures: "It would be desirable to return them to Germany so that they could play an important role in changing our views on the issue of war propaganda and trophies.
Borrowers and lenders share blame
Many in Congress have declared the growing number of foreclosures a crisis -- one that government needs to address, although no one is clear on what it is government should do. Those of us who live in Indiana, and Tippecanoe County in particular, may have a hard time understanding why so many people across the country were surprised when housing markets -- new and existing homes -- turned down after interest rates went up. Did people really think that housing prices would continue to increase by double-digit percentages forever? Did people really think that adjustable mortgages -- or teaser rates -- would never be adjusted? Did people really believe that lax financing policies -- in some ways encouraged by the federal government as a means to increase home ownership -- wouldn't lead to more home foreclosures? As a region that has been struggling with stagnant housing prices for more than five years, Tippecanoe County perhaps understands better than most the financial problems families face.
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