71. Save $500+ per month Negotiate with banks for all your family's bank products and use an entry product, like mortgage refinance
This article describes how to negotiate with banks to save a lot of money.
For example, you go to several banks (also check out bank ratings of financial products on website bankrate.com), and ask them for a combined quote (in combination with mortgage refinance or new mortgage):
1. Refinance mortgage or get new mortgage (variable rate or fixed rate, interest rates will go up eventually)
2. Lower APR credit card with higher limit (like 10% APR, $20,000 limit), cash-back credit cards, or transfer other credit card debt to this new credit card, for you and your spouse
3. Refinance of student loan debt or personal loans
4. Car refinance or new car finance or take over car lease
5. (Combined) car insurance and home insurance, you will always get a cheaper car insurance rate, year after year because your car loses value (on average after 5 years, you car is worth only half, resulting that the insurance company in case of damage will only insure for its real value at that time anyways)
6. Other family loans or debt
7. Consolidate (home equity) loan (like Chase) in order to refinance all your (family's) credit card debt and other personal loans, this also includes tax-advantaged home equity loan, make sure this is not a reverse mortgage
8. Life insurance, use cheapest term insurance for only $250,000 rather than $1 million and close down on whole life insurance policy to cover debt
9. Health insurance - maybe they provide an interesting quote
10. Ask them to waive banking fees, credit card fees, etc, this could add up to $100 per month.
Do this with about 4-5 banks, this is some work visiting those banks, but saving you $500 per month is not bad.
Dont have them sell your investments, like stock, retirement accounts, only put money in FDIC-insured savings accounts and you decide yourself how you will invest those savings. Your 401K (and Roth IRA) is the perfect retirement plan account, no life insurance needed, get the cheapest term insurance.
As always, prior from signing any documents (especially the home equity loan agreement and any home mortgage refinance or new mortgage), have an attorney check the documents.
You could also jointly negotiate for you and your spouse or you and your relatives.
Also very important, your savings (like over $100,000) make sure they are with multiple, biggest banks because one could go bankrupt. The FDIC insurance is limited per account per bank. Before opening a savings account, find out whether the account is insured by the federal government (FDIC for banks or NCUA for credit unions). Financial institutions offer a number of products, such as mutual funds and annuities, which are not insured.
Not only banks, also check insurance companies for term policies, car insurance rates, health insurance rates, see insweb.com
Be careful with banks to refinance your mortgage, make sure you follow the contract, have an attorney check the contract first, if you make a couple months of too low payments, like they say one thing and do another, you may lose your house in foreclosure. For example, they say, it is $500 per month, while it is $1,000 per month, they may steal your house and your home equity. Never trust what they say, only that what is on paper is legal. Ask them to put on paper the monthly payments you have to make for the mortgage or refinanced mortgage, so there is no dispute possible.
