Walmart purchases thousands and thousands of dollars of product from companies all over the world.  If someone enters a Walmart store today to buy a box of Lucky Charms for $3 would be cheaper than going directly to General Mills and purchasing that box of Lucky Charms.  Why?  Because Walmart buys thousands to millions of dollars of product from General Mills so they offer major discounted prices to Walmart.  If you decided to go buy one box of Lucky Charms through General Mills the cost of the box of cereal and the time it would take you to get that box of cereal would make purchasing the item through Walmart an obvious choice.

The same concepts apply to refinancing your VA home loan.  If a veteran walked into Chase Bank today to refinance his home loan, there is a good chance the interest rate they offer would be higher than going with a broker approved by Chase. Why?  Brokers closing hundreds to thousands of loans are given discounted pricing giving the consumer a better interest rate.

Owner of LowVARates.com, Eric Kandell, has been in the VA mortgage industry since 1997 and understands brokers can offer wholesale rates.

“When we show some of the representatives at various banks the wholesale rates we are able to receive, most of the time they tell us they are unable to compete with those rates,” Kandell said.

Chase and other banks still have the capability to refinance your home loan through one of their branches or offices.  As a consumer if you refinanced through one of Chase’s offices that would be considered dealing with a “retail channel.”  A retail location would basically be the Chase Bank in your local town. If you were to call Chase Bank today you would have access to their “retail rates”.  However, if you contact a Chase broker you would have access to their “wholesale rates”.

Giving brokers the discounted or “wholesale” rate, makes perfect sense for both the broker and the bank, just like it makes sense for General Mills to offer Lucky Charms at a discounted rate to Walmart.  Chase understands that brokers, like LowVARates.com, can close thousands of loans nationwide and make them more money than trying to ONLY sell loans directly through them.

Veterans and military families with high interest rates should make sure to check there options to ensure they are making the best financial decision for their families.  With rates at historic lows, many veterans can be lowering their monthly payments hundreds of dollars per month and save thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

Make sure to check VA Streamline rates through Chase Bank, LowVARates.com and other brokers to see which can offer you the best streamline for your situation.

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The contest is intended to help military families in need that otherwise would not receive a nice Thanksgiving dinner for their family.

The employees of LowVARates.com have stepped up and decided to donate a portion of their paycheck to help these families receive a Thanksgiving Dinner.  Many employees have offered very generous donations to ensure this contest and promotion will be a success.

The winner of the giveaway in each state will receive a free family dinner on Thanksgiving Day November 24, 2011.  LowVARates.com will arrange the full details with the winning family and ensure they are completely compensated for their Thanksgiving feast.

Owner of LowVARates.com, Eric Kandell, hopes the contest will give deserving military families across the nation a nice Thanksgiving dinner.

“We are so thankful for the service our troops give that we want to give back to 50 military families nationwide,” Kandell said.  “Everybody deserves a Thanksgiving feast and we want to make that a reality for many of our military families in need.”

Many military families spend holidays, like Thanksgiving, with a family member deployed on military service.  This can make the holiday season a particularly tough time to have a loved one away from home.  Thousands of troops are currently serving deployments nationwide. These families are great to consider and nominate for the Thanksgiving Dinner contest.

“It is really hard to have a loved one away during the holidays,” Kandell said.  “There are a lot of military families that could use a free thanksgiving dinner and we just need our fan base to help us find those families.”

The contest is running through Thanksgiving Day and many Face book and Twitter posts will keep company fans up to date on where LowVARates.com needs help.  LowVARates.com is now accepting nominations for military families in need.

Families can nominate themselves or another military family in need.  We need one military family from all 50 states. To submit an entry for the contest, please submit a 100-300 word essay to PR@LowVARates.com and tell us why the military family should be selected.

Please include the following information:

1)      Your Name and name of nominated Family (You can submit your own family or another family in need)

2)      State the nominated family lives in

3)      Number of people in the family

4)      Contact Information (Phone # or Email)

5)      100-300 word essay

“If we can just help one military family have a happy Thanksgiving that will be worth it,” Kandell said.  “This will definitely be the largest and most elaborate contest we have ever run, but we feel it will be well worth the time and effort.”

The family must be associated or enlisted with the military or they will not qualify for the prize.  All entries must be submitted by November 18^th, 2011 to enter the giveaway.  LowVARates.com will pay for dinner for up to 8 individuals in the family.  Any number more than 8 will not be compensated by LowVARates.com.

Other lenders are tying down potential refinances by requiring costly appraisals and hefty credit score requirements making it nearly impossible for borrowers with bad credit or lost home equity to refinance.

LowVARates.com has relationships with lenders that are willing and able to refinance existing VA home loans without any of these requirements.*

“We have a very unique situation where we are basically able to refinance any veteran with a VA home loan,” Owner of LowVARates.com, Eric Kandell said. “With the rates as low as they are right now we have helped hundreds to thousands of veterans with subpar credit get locked in at lower interest rates.”

Many borrowers have even tried to refinance with their current lenders, but are still unable to meet the FICO requirements and forced to stay at higher rates in a poor economy.

Home appraisals have always been a standard procedure for veterans looking to purchase or refinance their home.  However, LowVARates.com does not require an appraisal to refinance an existing VA loan saving the borrower typically about $400-$500.

With the unique ability to refinance loans with no FICO score or appraisal, LowVARates.com is required to lock loans in a pool forcing many of these loans to wait to have their interest rate locked.

Because the loans are locked in a pool, LowVARates.com is maneuvering a massive amount of loans through a very small window. Because the rates are so low, thousands of people want to lower their rate and save money.  When the lender pool is filled LowVARates.com is unable to lock new loans until the new pool of loans is funded.

The consequence is that many borrowers may have intended to get a certain rate at a certain cost, but because the pool was full, the borrower is pushed back and unable to lock in the interest rate.  This can cause the interest rates and cost to change on a VA streamline before the loan is processed.

“Most of our current clients are unable to refinance through other outlets and we are doing everything we can to help them,” Kandell said.  “We are attempting to funnel through as many loans as we possibly can sometimes causing our pool of loans to be filled.”

However, potential borrowers are never tied into doing a loan. LowVARates.com compensation on the loan does not change regardless of the costs or interest rates. This puts LowVARates.com in a great situation to advocate for borrowers to help every potential borrower get the best possible interest rate.

“Potential borrowers should understand they still have control over what they want to do.” Kandell said. “When lenders come back and offer a different rate they have the right to take the current rate offered or wait the market out to see if the rates drop again.”

Borrowers not locking their interest rates do run the risk the market will change and the rates can rise.  There is no way to predict what the interest rates will be the next day, week or month.  Interest rates can be very volatile and there are never any guarantees for borrowers that have not locked their loan.

For those borrowers that find themselves in this situation, the increase in closing costs is usually around $1,000 -$3,000 and those costs are able to be rolled into the loan typically only increasing the loan $3- $7 per month.  LowVARates.com guarantees it will provide the best interest rate available to borrowers looking to refinance.

With this situation LowVARates.com remains one of a very small number of lenders that is able to help veterans with lower FICO scores and refinances without an appraisal.  Thousands of veterans are finally able to lower their rate and save hundreds of dollars every month.

The current rates for a 30 year fixed loan are around 3.75% right now and continue to hit record lows.  For veterans stuck in higher interest rates now is the time to refinance and save some cash.

* Though LowVARates does not require a minimum FICO score, they will look at the overall ability of the Veteran to make timely mortgage payments and may decide to not offer a loan if someone has had 30 day late mortgage payments in the recent past, has had a short sale or foreclosures or other extreme credit issues.  The score if not needed, but the history tells a lot about the home owners ability to make their new mortgage payments.

** Flagship Financial Group, LLC is licensed as: NMLS No. 3133; Alaska Mortgagee Licensee #100278; Arizona Banker 0908193; Department of Corporations under the California Residential Mortgage Lending act Lender 413 0854; Florida Correspondent Lender CL 0703188; Georgia Mortgage Broker Licensee 17297 – 3130 W Maple Loop Dr, #200, Lehi, UT 84043 (GA); Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee MB6760204; Kansas Licensed Mortgage Company, License No. MC.0001780; Maine Mortgage Lender License# SLM9424; Maryland Mortgage Lender 16461, Mississippi Supervised Mortgage Company 308/2006; Nevada Mortgage Broker 1385 – 1349 Galleria Dr., #110, Henderson, NV 89014; New Hampshire Banking Department Mortgage Broker 13439- MBR; North Dakota Money Broker MB101563; Oregon ML-2543; Licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking (PA); Utah Mortgage Loan Company 5493106; Licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission, License MC-2980. In certain states in which we do conduct business, certain restrictions and limitations apply. Rates and terms subject to change. If you have any questions or comments regarding this offer please email to lharris@ffgcorporate.com.

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Providing a Safety Net

According to KaiserEDU.org, approximately 1.8 million veterans do not have any other health insurance available to them. This translates into 12.9 percent of veterans under the age of 65 who depend solely on the Veterans Administration for both their preventive and emergent health care needs. VA health services provide access to care for many, many lower income veterans in the form of doctor appointments, prescription benefits, outpatient and inpatient surgical and other hospital care.

For many veterans, the VA is their only option for health care services. This can be especially true for veterans who live in rural areas or those who have long-term health care concerns, or are facing a difficult cancer prognosis. For example, many veterans who discover later in life they have developed mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure while they served in the Navy or other branch of the military find that they have significant health care needs that may not be served elsewhere.
Access to Care

Often, veterans who have not been part of the Veterans Administration health care system are confused by the process. The first step is to contact their local VA representative and become enrolled in the system. The VA website has a great deal of helpful information about local services available and the location of clinics and hospitals in your area.

Also, if you discover that your health care issues are service-related, do not waste any time applying for disability compensation from the VA. While it may take a considerable amount of time and effort to be approved for this compensation, it is one of the benefits to which you are entitled as a veteran. As your disability rating increases, so does your access to health care assistance. Additionally, your copay amounts will decrease or may be eliminated entirely.

Health care is one of the benefits that come along with service to your country in the military. Today’s Veterans Administration is making a greater effort to meet the health care needs of veterans, no matter what age they are and how long it has been since they returned to civilian life. By accessing the VA’s health care programs, you can not only receive primary care services, but also prescriptions, surgical care, dental care, mental health care and an entire realm of other types of health care services.

1.  I Want You

Although there have been many variations of an assertive Uncle Sam saying, I want you, this campaign has been a steady go-to across the years for military recruitment. After all, what young perspective army recruit could ever say no to such an intimidating stare?

IMG SRC: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/tlc0090.jpg

2.  We Can Do It

Before there was Nike’s Just Do It there was Rosie the Riveter’s We Can Do It. Arguably the most popular of all wartime schwag, this WWII campaign was created as a result of the women being asked to replace the men in the factory lines and therefore, stood as a symbol of feminine support for the troops.

IMG SRC: http://www.crazywebsite.com/Free-Galleries-01/USA_Patriotic/Pictures_WWII_Posters_LG/Vintage_WWII_Patriotic_Posters_United_States_America-4LG.jpg

3.  Can All You Can

Created around 1943 in the heart of WWII, this Can All You Can campaign was a food conservation and preparedness movement, as well as, an effort to encourage housewives to be productive yet frugal.

IMG SRC: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CiLNu129D5Q/TNmKwnk-YGI/AAAAAAAACGE/2XmIkZdf05w/s1600/American+Legion44.jpg

4.  She Wants You … for the Navy

No matter the generation, even in times of war, there’s no doubt in the world of advertising that sex sells. In this case, I pretty young woman is used to lure men into signing up for the Navy, in the hopes that a beauty of this caliber is waiting for them at their next shore leave.

IMG SRC: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Dm7MjGjBsZg/SwZQyUChu4I/AAAAAAAAAK8/m2Y2MkDIASI/s1600/i-want-you-for-the-navy.jpg

5.  Gee … I Wish I Were a Man

While the poster above relies on sexual appeal, this war poster seems to lean on sexual confusion to recruit for the U.S. Navy. While this is a bizarre attempt from top to bottom, we suppose the purpose was to subliminally appeal to the insecure boys that wanted to prove that they are, in fact, manly men.

IMG SRC: http://americanhistorya.yolasite.com/resources/vintage-war-propaganda-posters171.jpg

6.  Ready … Join U.S. Marines

This poster, however, leaves no room for error; if you join the U.S. Marines, you’re clearly a manly man. The only question we have is, how did they know what Aaron Eckhart would look like if he wasn’t even born yet?

IMG SRC: http://www.airforcetimes.com/xml/news/2009/03/lifelines_recruiting_posters_031609w/031609LL_posters4_800.JPG

7.  If We Produce Enough of These…

A call to action; if the government can create more fighter planes to combat the enemy, there would be less casualties amongst the infantry. It may be a bit of a scare tactic, but the reasoning is sound.

IMG SRC: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CiLNu129D5Q/TNmJRP0VHeI/AAAAAAAACFA/UqLJ_yz3W4w/s1600/American+Legion27.jpg

8.  Doing Our Bit … or We’re Slackers!

If you weren’t physically fighting in the war, the government put extreme pressure on the stay-at-homes to invest in war bonds, as their contribution. Sure enough, if an angry Uncle Sam was charging at us full steam and calling us Slackers, we’d do our bit.

IMG SRC: http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/l-akfc5v757kkawc.jpg

9.  Hit the Nazis

In its 5th round of funding, we see the United States government pin the U.S. citizens up against the Nazi regime with a not-so-subtle subliminal message – buy bonds or you’re no better than a Nazi.

IMG SRC: http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/l-5yzkzizkqv817z.jpg

10.  Now … All Together

One of our favorite wartime photos turned wartime advertisement, this poster uses the pinnacle proud moment of the marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II as a way to fuel the 7th round of war bond support.

IMG SRC: http://www.crazywebsite.com/Free-Galleries-01/USA_Patriotic/Pictures_WWII_Posters_LG/WWII_War_Bond_Poster_Marines_Iwo_Jima_American_Flag-1LG.jpg

11.  Let’s All Fight

Building off the notion of teamwork in wartime, this poster aims to sell war bonds by illustrating that it’s a team effort – yes, a soldier is on the front lines but the factory workers are the ones fueling the fight.

IMG SRC: http://www.samuelowengallery.com/images/P/775.jpg

12.  Use V-Mail

Long before e-mail, there was v-mail. While modern technology allows us to send lightning quick electronic mail, it’s funny to see that this vintage ad is boasting a 12-day delivery time – wartime or not, that simply would not fly these days.

IMG SRC: http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/l-wcyqjd1owm24wg.jpg

13.  Do Your War Job Well!

Killing all birds with one stone, this wartime poster shows all divisions of military and makes you believe that their lives are literally in your hands – if you don’t do your war job well (i.e. buy bonds), they die!

IMG SRC: http://www.legion.org/documents/legion/posters/1102.jpg

14.  Victory

Giving credit to the Coast Guard as the first step toward wartime victory, this recruiting poster makes the Coast Guard division look like an absolute barrel of laughs, chalk full of good times. Or not.

IMG SRC: http://www.nwcfoundation.org/Files/Products/Postcards%20for%20Website%20Victory%20Coast%20Guard.jpg

15.  I’m Counting on You!

Coming full circle, here is a final poster featuring Uncle Sam, however, rather than recruiting by means of intimidation, he’s leaning on a different emotion this time – guilt. We can just picture him saying, “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed.”

IMG SRC: http://www.militarytimes.com/xml/offduty/technology/offduty_last_minute_gift_guide_121509w/121409OD_gift_poster800.JPG

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Over the weekend many market analysts and gurus were trying to guess and predict what would happen to interest rates in response to the credit downgrade.  If you were to read a book on the economy or bet on the most likely outcome, you would have predicted, just like the pros, that interest rates would be higher today.  Here is how you look at why that would happen.  Suppose you were lending someone money who had perfect credit and no likelihood of not being able to pay you back, it was almost guaranteed you would get your money back plus the interest.  You would probably give them a very low and stable interest rate in return for them not being a risk to you or your money.  Now suppose that you had a very good reason to believe that the once perfect credit person you were lending money to, would perhaps not be able to pay you or would maybe miss some payments here or there?  Would you want to keep lending them money at the same interest rate or even the same large amounts?  Most likely no!

Well this is how countries, investors, and institutions that were buying US treasuries were expected to react this morning.  One would think they would all start taking money back from the US and this would in turn put the US in a tough position and would ultimately increase interest rates.  However, interestingly enough money poured into US treasuries today and drove VA interest rates lower!

One thing that is worth noting however is that VA mortgage lenders did not pass on a lot of the gains interest rates had today, but instead are in essence sitting on the side lines to see what happens tomorrow.  Normally with as big of a rate rally as we had today interest rates on VA loans would have gotten better than they have, but VA mortgage lenders are waiting to see what tomorrow brings.  The Federal Reserve has their FOMC meeting on interest rates tomorrow too!

Here is to lower VA interest going forward.