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How to Choose a Home Health Care Service

Whether you need help recovering from an accident, surgery, or need long term care for a chronic illness or disability, home health care is often a viable option that has been gaining popularity, for a reason. Studies have shown that recovering at home is better for a patient’s physical and mental health. Today’s home health care services can provide everything from help with errands and chores like cooking and cleaning, to skilled medical care from nurses and therapists. But with so many new home health care agencies popping up, how do you know which one to choose?Luckily, if you follow these basic guidelines, you can be confidant when choosing your home health care provider :o Check out the agency’s credentials.
Make sure the home health care service you choose is licensed in your state, is certified by Medicare, and is accredited by a governing agency such as The Joint Commission’s Home Care Accreditation Program.o Check out the caregivers’ credentials.
Besides looking for providers that are friendly and helpful, make sure you inquire about the caregivers’ professional training. Are they bonded and insured? Does the home health care service have a supervisor oversee the quality of the service? Also, ask for references for the caregivers themselves, and find out if the home health care agency screens their employees.o Clarify all billing issues.
The agency should be able to provide literature clearly explaining its fees and services. Make sure you know up front about co-pays, deductibles, and uncovered expenses. Ask if they offer any kind of financial assistance to those in need.o Be clear on what services you are getting.
Inquire about receiving a written plan detailing the services you will be receiving, so that there is no confusion. Make sure you know the specific services your home health caregiver will be providing, including any chores or housework. Also, find out what hours the home health care service provider has on-call help, in case of an emergency. A 24 hour hotline with someone on call is desirable and helpful.Finally, after your home health care plan is in place, monitor the services, making sure it is in line with what was actually discussed. By taking these steps you can assure that your home health care service will be beneficial to all.

Mortgage Loan Originator Licensing Education Requirement

When the SAFE Act was passed by the US Congress in 2008, it mandated that all States require that Mortgage Loan Originators meet certain minimum requirements to obtain and maintain a Mortgage Loan Originator License. Once of those requirements was Education. The SAFE Act mandated 20 hours of Pre-License Education in order to obtain an LO license and 8 hours of Continuing Education each year in order to maintain and renew an LO License. Over the next couple years, each state passed legislation to meet this federal education mandate and regulators worked with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) to implement this requirement.State-Specific Mortgage License Education
When the states passed legislation to meet this federal SAFE Act Education requirement, many of them decided to also require additional education above and beyond the minimum federal requirement of 20 hours of Pre-License Education and 8 hours of annual Continuing Education. Many states require anywhere from 1 to 15 hours of state-specific Pre-License Education and 1 to 3 hours of annual Continuing Education. And as more states have adopted the Uniform State Test (UST) in lieu of a state-specific NMLS Test, many of those same states have decided to recently add additional state-specific education requirements.Mortgage License Education Types
When the NMLS started working with the states to implement the LO License education requirements, they came up with 3 ways to meet the mortgage loan originator education requirement. Live, Webinar, and Online Instructor-Led. These three options were developed in order meet certain NMLS requirements that the mortgage education course be timed and that there be interaction between the instructor and the mortgage loan originator. The Live and Webinar versions clearly meet this requirement, but for the Online Instructor-Led Course to meet that requirement, but still give the LO the ability to work at their own pace, the NMLS along with the states created a requirement for the online mortgage education course to include questions and answers between the instructor and the Mortgage Loan Originator. The live course is generally only offered to large groups such as large companies that have many LOs that need mortgage licensing continuing education at the same time. Most mortgage education companies offer the Webinar option, but then the LO has to sit through the entire education course all at one time. So most Mortgage Loan Originators prefer the Online Instructor-Led Education Course. You can do it at your own pace and have much more flexibility.

Homeownership Improves Terms On Non-Home Loan Types

Whether you want to apply for a car loan, student loan, home loan, home equity loan, business loan, or any other kind of loan, being a homeowner will guarantee you better terms on your loan.
Homeownership has many consequences that affect variables that are considered by the lender when analyzing a loan request. These will affect not only approval of your loan but also loan terms like the interest rates, loan length, monthly payments, fees and charges. Knowing these facts we’ll let you be in a better position when it comes to negotiating with lenders.”Home Loan” Loan Types These loan types include home mortgage loans and home equity loans and lines of credit. The first ones are loans that use a real estate property (house or apartment) as collateral for the loan. These loans usually carry low interest rates, long repayment programs of up to 30 years, higher loan amounts (enough to purchase the property) and also lower monthly payments.Home equity loans and lines of credit on the other hand, use the equity left on the home in order to guarantee the loan. Equity is the difference between the home value and the outstanding debt guaranteed by the property. These loans also carry low interest rates only slightly higher than regular home loans and long repayment programs of up to 15 years. The loan amount is generally determined by the available equity and the credit worthiness of the applicant. Other than that, these loans have similar advantageous terms to the loan conditions of mortgage loans. Non “Home Loan” Loan Types These loan types are all the other loans that are not guaranteed by a real estate property. The category includes car loans, student loans, unsecured loans of all kinds, and many other financial products both unsecured and secured with other assets. It may sound strange that a loan that is not specifically guaranteed by an asset would benefit from the existence of that asset, but truth is that assets represent a guarantee for the lender regardless of their use.Thus, homeowners can also get lower monthly payments, longer repayment programs, lower interest rates, higher loan amounts and many other benefits like lower fees and costs on insurance for these loan types as well as with real estate secured loans. Moreover, the costs of these loans for homeowners are significantly reduced to the point of matching the loan terms of secured loans even if they are unsecured loans.As you can see, being a homeowner has benefits even if you are not applying for a secured loan that will make use of a real estate asset as collateral.
And that’s why more and more homeowners are turning to unsecured loans: they get all the finance they need at very reasonable rates without risking repossession on their properties.