Remember when the only way to buy stocks was through a full-service broker? Even if you already knew which stocks and how many shares you would want to buy, you would still need to pay the broker’s hefty commission fee. You may not have needed or even wanted his or her advice, but you had no choice but to pay the full fare anyway.

The Internet changed all of that. You can now do your own investing without having to worry which particular stock the broker is attempting to push that day. He or she may have had little regard for you and your needs, but primarily had the need to fatten his or her own wallet.

An area of investing that could be made far more efficient is mortgage lending.

Everyday in America, thousands of consumers are victims of mortgage loan officer schemes that ultimately cost the borrower thousands of dollars more than they originally were led to believe. This is so common, that “predatory lending” and its impact is a growing concern among consumer interest groups and government regulators.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, like in the ability to purchase your own stocks, you could do your own research and choose your own loan without having to worry about the needs of a greedy, self-serving loan officer (many of whom have been written up, after the fact, in the press)? Their extreme practices have even led some trusting consumers into foreclosure.

Thanks to a mortgage company in Chicago, the Internet and technology, you now have the ability to go online and within about 15 minutes receive a loan approval for their client without having to go through the traditional mortgage process. The system is so sophisticated that it is predatory lending proof. The computer does not have the ability to charge a consumer more because it thinks the borrower does not know any better. It simply evaluates the client and gives him or her the right program at the right price, saving the consumer’s money and time.

Jonathan Cosie, CEO and founder of MortgageTrends & RealEstatePro News, has endorsed this technology as a 2006 Top Industry Technology pick stating that “This is the first, true self-serve online mortgage solution we have ever seen. Other online lenders state that you can do a mortgage online, but the reality is that you either give them information that they sell as a lead to loan officers or they have a loan officer call you. Both of those scenarios often lead to added costs and frustration to the consumer. Our team is very, very impressed with this concept.”

Once your information has been entered, a loan manager works with you to complete the loan package in a low pressure environment. After the financial information has been evaluated, you simply selects the type and term of loan that they are interested in and the system then immediately begins the underwriting process. You can view all actual (not estimated) closing costs for each loan match presented. This leaves little margin for error and no opportunity for predatory lending practices. Once a loan is selected, the loan manager gets the client to closing on time, with no “packing” of fees. No games and no gimmicks.

In the same way that Amazon.com has changed the way consumers buy books, this mortgage company in Chicago will soon change the way that borrowers buy mortgages, forever.

Experienced mortgage broker, creator of one of the most informative home-buying educational seminars in America and author of Kickback: Confessions of a Mortgage Salesman, one of the best-selling mortgage books on Amazon.com, Ted Janusz educates first-time home buyers and seasoned real estate professionals on the Top 10 Mistakes people make when obtaining a mortgage. For more information, please visit his website at http://www.januspresentations.com/. You may also email Ted at tjanusz@gmail.com.

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“J” is a smart man. He is also a very poor man in a developing African country, with a family to feed, an inadequate housing situation and not a lot of opportunities. However, with just a few dollars “J” could set up a small shop that would bring in enough money to support himself and his family, with enough left over to begin saving for a better home. The only problem is, a few dollars might as well be a million to “J” given the state of the local economy.

That’s where you come in. Instead of denying and backing away from the title “rich Westerner,” why not embrace it and use it to do some good? Even if you don’t feel rich in comparison to the Jones’, when compared to the “J’s” of the world you’re Croesus in a spiffy suit. And it really doesn’t take that much to do a world of good.

How much? How about $25.00?

That’s the minimum contribution to Kiva, a new peer-to-peer microloan project that enables those of us who have been fortunate enough to be born into a relatively wealthy, first-world situation to help those whose fortune didn’t pan out so well.

The concept is simple: First, you sign up for and “purchase” a piece of a loan via Pay Pal a credit card. Kiva then combines that purchase with money from others to make short-term loans to needy African entrepreneurs. The beneficiary sets up shop (or whatever) and pays the loan back. After the entire loan is repaid, you get your money back (no interest is paid to donors, although interest may be charged to the beneficiary of the loan to help defray costs), at which time you can opt to take your money out, re-loan it, or donate it to Kiva to either cover administration costs or to be added into a growing permanent loan pool, whichever you choose.

Of course, Kiva does due diligence research before adding prospective loan recipients to the pool and all of the money you put in goes toward the loan process - Kiva’s low overhead is covered by interest charges (if any) on the loans, fundraising and donations. So far, Kiva’s payback percentage has been 100%, although the microfinance industry average is 97% so there’s always a chance, however small, that you won’t get your money back.

But the coolest part of the whole process is that you get ongoing monthly updates about the person or business your money is helping. You get to see the good you’re doing. You can be a part of the conversation, as well, by posting a comment on the site’s update center. Comments are reviewed by staff and passed onto the business, if appropriate.

So what’s stopping you? Go on now - it’s only $25. What’s that these days, for a rich Westerner? A haircut? Dinner out? A Dixie Cup of gas? Whatever it is, it isn’t much. But for a poor but motivated African entrepreneur, it’s the chance of a lifetime to make a lifetime’s worth of change.

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