term life assurance

Term life insurance or term assurance is life insurance which provides coverage at a fixed rate of payments for a limited period of time, the relevant term. After that period expires coverage at the previous rate of premiums is no longer guaranteed and the client must either forgo coverage or potentially obtain further coverage with different payments and/or conditions. If the insured dies during the term, the death benefit will be paid to the beneficiary. Term insurance is often the most inexpensive way to purchase a substantial death benefit on a coverage amount per premium dollar basis.

Term life insurance is the original form of life insurance and can be contrasted to permanent life insurance such as whole life, universal life, and variable universal life. Unlike permanent life insurance policies guarantee coverage at fixed premiums for the lifetime of the covered individual. Additionally many permanent life insurance products build a predetermined cash value over the life of the contract available for later withdrawal by the client under specific conditions.

Term insurance functions in a manner similar to most other types of insurance in that it satisfies claims against what is insured if the premiums are up to date and the contract has not expired, and does not expect a return of Premium dollars if no claims are filed. As an example, auto insurance will satisfy claims against the insured in the event of an accident and a home owner policy will satisfy claims against the home if it is damaged or destroyed by, for example, an earthquake or fire. Whether or not these events will occur is uncertain, and if the policy holder discontinues coverage because he has sold the insured car or home the insurance company will not refund the premium. This is purely risk protection.

employee leasing

A professional employer organization (PEO) provides outsourcing of payroll, workers' compensation, human resources and employee benefits administration. It does this by hiring a client company’s employees, thus becoming their employer of record. It then leases them back under contract to the original employer. This practice is known as co-employment, employee leasing, or staff leasing.

As of 2007, there were more than 700 PEOs operating in the United States, covering 2-3 million workers. PEOs operate in all fifty U.S. states, Sweden, Germany, the UK,and Russia.

Business model

In a co-employment contract, the PEO becomes the employer of record for tax and insurance purposes, filing paperwork under its own identification numbers. The client company continues to direct the employees’ day-to-day activities. PEOs charge a service fee for taking over the human resources and payroll functions of the client company: typically, this is from 3 to 15% of total payroll. This fee is in addition to the normal employee overhead costs, such as the employer's share of Medicare and unemployment insurance withholding. In addition, PEOs benefit from aggregation of employee headcount: by combining the employees from multiple clients, they qualify for lower premiums on health insurance plans.

A PEO generally generates some of its income through various methods of insurance, wage and tax arbitrage. In insurance products, a PEO will purchase workers' compensation, employment practices liability and employee benefits insurance at a given price. The PEO then adds a markup to the premium costs and bills that rate to the client company, which is still less than the company would pay on its own. A PEO is often able to negotiate volume discount deals with payroll service providers, allowing client companies to reduce payroll processing costs.

The value proposition to client companies is that the use of a PEO saves time and staff that would be used to prepare payroll and administer benefits plans, and may reduce legal liabilities or obligations to employees that it would otherwise have. The client company may also be able to offer a better overall package of benefits, and thus attract more skilled employees. The PEO model is therefore attractive to small and mid-sized businesses and associations, and PEO marketing is typically directed toward this segment.

In the United States, many small to medium size professional services firms utilize PEOs to allow them to provide the kinds of benefit plans which otherwise could only be made available at a prohibitively high cost to both the employer and the employee.

Several variations on the PEO model exist, differing in the nature of the relationship formed between PEO and client company.

• Administrative services organizations (ASO) are PEOs that provide outsourcing of human resources tasks but do not create a co-employment relationship. Employees remain solely under the control of the client company. Tax and insurance filings are done by the PEO, but under the client company’s Employer Identification Number.
• Umbrella companies, found primarily in the UK, act as employer of record for independent contractors instead of permanent employees. The contractors become employees of the umbrella company, but do not also become employees of the client. The growth in umbrella companies in the UK is attributed to legislation targeting "disguised income" by contractors performing the same duties as employees but hired via intermediaries. The press release announcing the legislation, IR35, is often used to refer to the legislation itself.
• Pass-through agencies are staffing firms that act as the employer of record for independent contractors, but do not obtain work for them. Like umbrella companies in the UK, the contractors do not become employees of the client.
• Financial intermediaries, also called fiscal intermediaries, act as an employer of record for home healthcare workers who serve disabled persons. This streamlines the process of hiring such workers, because neither the household hiring them nor government units that provide funding need to take on the duties of an employer. They are part of the self-determination movement in disability care.

Early History

Employee leasing in the United States began as early as the 1940's. In the early 1970's, the concept was popularized by a consultant named Martin Selter, who leased the employees of a doctor's office in Southern California. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) contained an exemption for multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWA), which provided a loophole for employers with leased employees to claim they were exempt from the ERISA requirements. Passage of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) further encouraged employee leasing by providing a tax shelter for employers who contributed a minimum amount to employee plans. More stringent guidelines in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 later eliminated most of the TEFRA incentive, however.

By 1985, there were approximately 275 staff leasing companies in the United States

ca lemon law

Lemon laws are American state laws that provide a remedy for purchasers of cars that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance. These cars are called lemons. The federal lemon law (the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) protects citizens of all states. State lemon laws vary by state and may not necessarily cover used or leased cars. The rights afforded to consumers by lemon laws may exceed the warranties expressed in purchase contracts. Lemon law is the common nickname for these laws, but each state has different names for the laws and acts.

In California, lemon laws cover anything mechanical, as do the federal lemon laws. The federal lemon law also provides that the warranter may be obligated to pay the prevailing party's attorney fees in a successful lemon law suit, as do most state lemon laws.

100 home equity loan

An equity loan is a mortgage placed on real estate in exchange for cash to the borrower. For example, if a person owns a home worth $100,000, but does not currently have a lien on it, they may take an equity loan at 80% loan to value (LTV) or $80,000 in cash in exchange for a lien on title placed by the lender of the equity loan.

Many lending institutions require the borrower to repay only an interest component of the loan each month (calculated daily, and compounded to the loan once each month). The borrower can apply any surplus funds to the outstanding loan principal at any time, reducing the amount of interest calculated from that day onwards. Some loan products also allow the possibility to redraw cash up to the original LTV, potentially perpetuating the life of the loan beyond the original loan term.

The rate of interest applied to equity loans is much lower than that applied to unsecured loans, such as credit card debt. The reasoning behind this is that equity loans involve collateral, and credit card debt does not.

home equity loans

A home equity loan (sometimes abbreviated HEL) is a type of loan in which the borrower uses the equity in their home as collateral. These loans are sometimes useful to help finance major home repairs, medical bills or college education. A home equity loan creates a lien against the borrower's house, and reduces actual home equity.

Home equity loans are most commonly second position liens (second trust deed), although they can be held in first or, less commonly, third position. Most home equity loans require good to excellent credit history, and reasonable loan-to-value and combined loan-to-value ratios. Home equity loans come in two types, closed end and open end.

Both are usually referred to as second mortgages, because they are secured against the value of the property, just like a traditional mortgage. Home equity loans and lines of credit are usually, but not always, for a shorter term than first mortgages. In the United States, it is sometimes possible to deduct home equity loan interest on one's personal income taxes.

There is a specific difference between a home equity loan and a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC). A HELOC is a line of revolving credit with an adjustable interest rate whereas a home equity loan is a one time lump-sum loan, often with a fixed interest rate.

When considering a loan, the borrower should be familiar with the terms recourse and nonrecourse loan, secured and unsecured debt, and dischargeable and non-dischargeable debt.

US traditional mortgages are usually non recourse loans. "Nonrecourse debt or a nonrecourse loan is a secured loan (debt) that is secured by a pledge of collateral, typically real property, but for which the borrower is not personally liable." A US home equity loan may be a recourse loan for which the borrower is personally liable. This distinction becomes important in foreclosure since the borrower may remain personally liable for a recourse debt on a foreclosed property.

Home equity loans are secured loans. "The debt is thus secured against the collateral — in the event that the borrower defaults, the creditor takes possession of the asset used as collateral and may sell it to satisfy the debt by regaining the amount originally lent to the borrower." Credit card debt is an unsecured debt such that no asset has been pledged as collateral for the loan. Using a home equity loan to pay off credit card debt essentially converts an unsecured debt to a secured debt.

When deciding upon a type of loan, the borrower should also consider if the debt is dischargeable in bankruptcy. For instance, US student loans are "practically non-dischargeable in bankruptcy".

This is a revolving credit loan, also referred to as a home equity line of credit, where the borrower can choose when and how often to borrow against the equity in the property, with the lender setting an initial limit to the credit line based on criteria similar to those used for closed-end loans. Like the closed-end loan, it may be possible to borrow up to 100% of the value of a home, less any liens. These lines of credit are available up to 30 years, usually at a variable interest rate. The minimum monthly payment can be as low as only the interest that is due.

Typically, the interest rate is based on the Prime rate plus a margin.

e loan

E-Loan, Inc. is a Rosemont, Illinois-based financial services company that offers savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs) and access to partners that may be able to assist customers in obtaining loans.

In October 2008, E-Loan's parent company, Popular, Inc. said E-Loan would no longer operate as a direct mortgage lender in 2009, but would continue to provide certificates of deposit and savings accounts. Operational, general and administrative support functions would be transferred to other Popular subsidiaries.The company subsequently moved its headquarters in 2009 from Pleasanton, California to Rosemont, Illinois.

Company officials said customers who have already obtained loans through E-Loan would not be affected

History

E-Loan was founded by Janina Pawlowski and Chris Larsen in 1997 to provide customers with access to mortgage loans over the Internet. In 1998, the company received venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital.