Hard Money Loans

Facebook Inc., owner of the world’s most popular social-networking site, raised $1.5 billion in a financing round led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., less than the $2 billion it could have received.

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Nedbank says it will exercise its call options on several schemes when the lock-in period ends to buy back Nedbank Group ordinary shares.

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Transnet has a new board and one of its priorities is to appoint a new group CEO for the embattled parastatal.

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Pioneer Food Group says it has offered to buy KWV for R828m to diversify its revenue streams.

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Global resources group Xstrata has taken umbrage at insinuations of improper conduct in the sale of its former Maloma operations to Chancellor House.

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Standard Bank group CEO Jacko Maree has said that the bank’s Chinese shareholder ICBC did not pressure it to retrench staff.

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Third-quarter residential production by U.S. lenders fell 3 percent from the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association projected. The trade group has fourth-quarter production falling another 34 percent. But MBA’s forecast conflicts with third-quarter reports from major lenders as well as forecasts from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — all which indicated that third- and fourth-quarter volume will end up higher.

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Bergen, NJ, United States (AHN) – Federal agents swooped down on a suspected identity theft ring in New Jersey on Thursday and arrested dozens of suspects.

Forty-seven people were arrested in the massive crackdown. They face allegations including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, and unlawfully using identification documents to defraud the United States.

Prosecutors say the suspects were part of a group of mostly Korean immigrants in Bergen County who sold identification documents that were used to commit fraud. Allegedly led by Sang-Hyun Park, the group obtained Social Security numbers beginning with the prefix 586, which are issued to Chinese working in U.S. territories such as Guam and Saipan. The Social Security numbers were used to secure genuine drivers licenses and other state identification cards.

The group would then “build up” the credit scores of the Chinese identities on the IDs by attaching these identities to existing credit card accounts as authorized users. The suspects allegedly would then guide customers using identities with good credit ratings to open bank accounts, obtain credit cards and apply for loans, including those guaranteed by the federal Small Business Administration.

The fraudulently obtained credit cards were used by the group to buy expensive goods that were later sold. The cards were also used for fake transactions with conspiring business owners to obtain cash. The suspects are believed to have paid for the fake charges by drawing on other fraudulently opened bank accounts.

Among those charged were Chun-O Kim, owner and operator of what prosecutors said was a nonexistent general contracting company, and Nathan Buschman, a manager at a JPMorgan Chase branch in Edgewater.

Also part of the criminal complaint are Zakchary Benji, a loan officer in a Clifton bank, and Kang-Hyok Choi, who has been in custody since his arrest in 2008, when he is believed to have murdered three people who may have been involved in the identity theft operation.

Apart from JPMorgan, other institutions that were defrauded were Citibank and PNC Financial Services.

“The activity in this instance was a virtual crime superstore,” Special Agent in Charge Michael Ward said in a statement. “The criminal activity was sophisticated, and the extent of the fraud committed by this group is believed to be substantial, if not staggering.”

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions announced Monday it will lift exceptional restrictions on banks.

The move is Ottawa’s response to the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision’s Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) announcement on Sunday. The GHOS made additional detailed agreements on the calibration of, and transitional considerations for, the reformed capital rules.

The OFSI said it will issue guidance to affected financial institutions even though the international banking group has yet to formalize the new rules. The GHOS reforms will be released by the BCBS by the end of the year after the reforms are presented to G20 leaders at the Nov. 11-12 meeting in South Korea.

The changes would soften the OFSI’s policy of promoting increased conservatism in capital management put in place in October 2008 in response to major changes to international capital rules. The OFSI focused on regulated institutions transactions such as share repurchases, dividend increases and acquisitions that could negatively impact capital levels.

The new policy by the OFSI would free up billions of dollars sitting in Canadian banks to engage in dividend hikes, share buybacks and major acquisitions. If the OFSI retained its conservative policy, by the end of 2012 large Canadian banks are estimated to have accumulated $40 billion in excess cash.

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Gold Quest Group www.GoldQuestGroup.net is a hard money lender located in Houston, Texas.

A hard money loan is a type of asset-based loan financing in which a borrower receives funds secured by the value of a parcel of real estate. Hard money loans are typically issued at higher interest rates than conventional commercial or residential property loans and are almost never issued by a commercial bank or other deposit institution. Hard money is similar to a bridge loan which usually has similar criteria for lending as well as cost to the borrowers. The primary difference is that a bridge loan often refers to a commercial property or investment property that may be in transition and does not yet qualify for traditional financing.

Many hard money mortgages are made by private investors, generally in their local areas. Usually the credit score of the borrower is not important, as the loan is secured by the value of the collateral property. Typically, the maximum loan to value (LTV) ratio is 65-70%. That is, if the property is worth $100,000, the lender would advance $65,000-70,000 against it. This low LTV provides added security for the lender, in case the borrower does not pay and they have to foreclose on the property.

Home Equity Loan – Equity is defined as the monetary value of a property or business beyond any amounts owed on it in mortgages, claims, liens, etc. In simpler terms, home equity is how much house you have earned.

Equity is the difference between what your house is worth and what you owe on it. For example, if your house is worth $120,000 and you owe $100,000, your equity is $20,000. You can get a home equity loan, depending on your credit rating and a number of other factors, for the $20,000 that you have built up in equity.

Construction Loan – This type of loan is temporary and used for construction of buildings and homes. A construction loan also gives the contractor small amounts of money over the construction period. It is not till the job is completely finished when a permanent loan is used to pay off the rest of the construction.

To find out if a Hard Money Loan or a Bridge Loan or other Real Estate or Commercial Loan offered by Gold Quest Group is right for you, contact us at (713) 621-6466 or online at www.GoldQuestGroup.net