Explaining MMA

May 7th, 2008

There are few things I want to point out to help you understand MMA better.

First, putting all of your eggs in one basket. Actually, my agent asked for our information based on what we are doing now. We contribute to 401(k) and savings for our children. We are saving for rainy days. When I gave him my numbers, I took those variables out. In other words, I told him the money I have left over AFTER contributing to those accounts. There’s no reason to stop doing that. MMA will work with what’s left, even if it’s only $25/month. People say that putting all of your savings into your mortgage will pay it off faster. Yeah, of course it will, but, like you, I don’t want to put myself in that position. In the end, it is your money and you are the only one who has control over it.

Second, the rainy day. What if you lose your job? You’re still going to have to come up with that $$ to keep your house. If you can’t make the minimum pmt on the house, you’re in trouble regardless. One thing about MMA is that it will cushion any TEMPORARY setback. So if one of us lost our job, we could continue to pay our bills out of the heloc (or tap into our rainy day fund) until we got a new job, without hurting our credit or asking for help. We still have access to our money. The MMA will adjust itself while showing us the effect it will have on our payoff. If this was a permanent setback, we would have to make some major changes, MMA or not. The fact is that if you don’t have the money to cover your expenses, you need to either make more money or lower your expenses. MMA isn’t going to change that fact. MMA isn’t causing the setback to happen so it’s something you would have to deal with regardless. If you already have a plan, stick with it.

Third, you send in a lump sum, pay it down, then send in another lump sum and pay it down. It tells you to send an amount that it has mathematically figured to optimize your interest savings within your ability to pay it down quickly. If the balance on your heloc is too high, it will NOT prompt you to send $$ to your primary mortgage. It will wait until the balance of the heloc is low. Another thing tdenny says is that interest is interest. That is correct. But the types of loans they are utilizing are different. Your mortgage charges interest on the balance of the loan at that time and only adjusts the balance once per month. A heloc figures interest on the average daily balance of the account and adjusts the balance each time you make a transaction. So if you charge all your expenses on a credit card and pay it in full each month, but deposit your paychecks weekly, your average daily balance will stay low, therefore cancelling a large amount of interest.

One feature that sold me on the program is the visual aspect. The fact that I can immediately see where I am in the payoff and the effects of our financial habits. Sure a setback will prolong the outcome, that’s why it’s called a “setback”. But it’s easier to stay on task if you can see it. You may think twice about your spending. You may question wants vs. needs before a purchase. I feel much more in control of our financial future than I ever have before.

MMA truly has little effect on your current lifestyle. You can continue to do the same things you are doing right now, and still accelerate your mortgage and debt payoffs. It is a tool, not a cure. If you continually overspend and find yourself upside down with collectors calling daily, MMA isn’t going to fix that. We are all responsible for our own spending habits and our own future. I’m not trying to change your mind, I just want you to have a true understanding of the program. I’m very excited about what MMA has done for my life and I hope many more will experience it too.

U1stFinancial is not a scam

April 21st, 2008

Please allow me the courtesy of discussing United First Financial in a professional manner. First and foremost the MMA product is not a scam. If it were a scam they company would not be in business and I’m sure that 20/20 or some other media outlet would have some sort of expose exposing the company as being fraudulent.

As with anything the wording used in advertising can be somewhat misleading. I for one with my income level would not be able to pay off my own mortgage in as little as 8-11 years. I would be able to pay off my mortgage in 16.5 years, saving myself over $200,000 in interest using the MMA program. I will be utilizing the program when my income becomes steadier as I am self employed and just invested a ton of money into my own mortgage brokerage.

At first glance I though it was a scam myself until I researched the company and viewed the presentation video for a 2nd time as I had failed to take notes at during my first viewing. A common occurrence in actual MLM scams is that the company generates most of their revenue from the sales of their product/service to the agents of the company. This is not the case with United First Financial. Agents are not required to purchase the MMA program which I feel is not a bad thing. I have many friends who are loan officers but do not own homes themselves. Doe this make for a deceptive business practice? I feel that it does not.

I do believe that there are people out there who can achieve similar results without using the MMA program but don’t believe that these people will save as much as they would by using the program. This is a product for Middle America where most homeowners do not have the ability to make lump sum payments. The first scenario in the presentation video does show a couple with a pretty high discretionary income level but the 2nd scenario shows what the program would do for a person with a little over $200 in discretionary income.

Yes I am an independent agent of the company but I would not be if I believed United First Financial to be fraudulent in any way shape or form. Just with anything, the product is not for everyone but is beneficial to many. The company does have a testimonial video of actual users of the program. These people were not paid for their testimonials.

As far as I’m concerned the company being a MLM opportunity is not a bad thing. Avon is a MLM based company as is Primerica. Avon is a multi million dollar company as well as Primerica which is affiliated with Citigroup. Just because United First Financial is a MLM opportunity doesn’t mean it’s a scam.

Lastly, I am more than comfortable with the company requiring certain production levels from their agents. It assures that people who choose to get involved with the company will continue to represent the company and will assure that these people are continuously marketing the product. Every company I have ever worked for in a sales capacity required me to meet certain production levels and had I not I would have been fired. Same thing with United First Financial.

In my opinion I feel that if someone from United First Financials legal department came across this thread they would probably have a good case to seek damages for slander. Of course, I am not an attorney so this is only my personal opinion. To those who believe United First Financial to be a scam, please provide some concrete proof before continuing to bash a legitimate company.

How a Money Merge Account Works

April 17th, 2008

You’re right, this will only work if you have positive cashflow in your checking/savings account ever month. Additional payments are defintly the way to go, but unfortunatly we lack consistency. If you are disiplined enough to make additonal payments every month then do it. I know the mma presentations suck and whoever created them should be fired, but the program does work very well.

Hopefully this will make it more clear…
(Same examle in the video)
$200,000 loan

6%

$1,199 payment

30 years

$431,677 total

$231,677 in pure interest.. Hopefully we can agree that this doesn’t make sense.. Not only do we pay double but we pay off this interest first. Also keep in mind that statistics show that people move or refinance ever 7 years, so they never get to the heavy principal contributions..

(bear with me..)

If we wanted to apply $5,000 additional principal or $6,199 payment. We would decrease our schedule payments by 23 months and save $23,304.

Sounds like a Good deal..but most of our customers don’t have this kind of money laying around..

So we instruct our customers how to use the line of credit as a checking or savings. Deposit all income and pay all debts…I know you’ve heard this before, but it gets better…Having our money sitting in a ch/sv is not efficient.. Instead of using the line of credit to pay for bills, what if we just used one credit card (with rewards)(That has a latter billing cycle than the line of credit. )

Example:

Customers make $5,000 a month and have $4,000 of living expense, i.e. mortgage, groceries, car payment, going out, etc.

Steps:

Move $5,000 from Home equity line of credit payable towards equity, or principal contribution.
Use credit card to pay for all expenses-$4,000 on credit card( latter billing cycle than line of credit)
Deposit our paycheck which leaves us with a balance owed of $0 interest in line of credit. We decreased our schedule payments by 23 months and saved $23,304..Sounds good to me.

Pay off the credit card in full. Which leaves you with a balance owed on the line of credit of 4k, and no interest on the credit card. The more money you have leftover the more you are going to be able to duplicate this process. Also consider the tax savings from the Heloc!

This is creates an auto system towards paying off your home as fast as possible with leftover money and some other concepts. There are a lot of variables to make this process run. This is what the mma does, mangages the concepts and takes out the guess work. Keep in mind there are other concepts to make this work even better. U1st does have a good product..

Keep in mind that situations change every month, so the software adapts. This increases your equity much faster than any other technique, pays off your home, and saves you money bottomline.

Another key principal that helps is bi-weekly type savings. I know U1st doesn’t want to give out all the info but geez, tell it how it is.(build value somewhere.)( no one is going to watch a confusing 45 min product plan)

You can do this on your own, but most peole will gladly pay $3500 if it gurantees them paying off their home in 1/2 time and saving $100,000-$200,000. Should it be cheaper? 4 sure!, but it’s not my company to decide what people would pay for such a service. If you want to develop a better cheaper product then do it! Hopefully you can all find what your looking for..

Sure you could do it yourself – but why?

April 15th, 2008

I have researched the Money Merge Account offered by United First Financial. If you follow the prompts offered by the software it works risk free. That said, I’d like to address the $3,500 cost of the software. I’ve come to the realization that people are willing to pay large sums of money for tangible items (cars etc.) and labor-intensive services (new roof for the house etc.). They never say “I can do that myself.” or “I’m being overcharged.” I think everyone would agree that a $30,000 car does not cost anywhere near $30,000 to manufacture. And, a $6,000 roof does not use anywhere near $6,000 in material. But when it comes to the financial world everyone thinks they can do it themselves — from buying and selling stocks to using Turbo Tax to do their income tax. If you have time to research stocks and time to keep up on the tax laws then by all means do these tasks yourself. However, if you don’t have the time, or perhaps just don’t want to do these tasks, there is nothing wrong with hiring someone else.

Buying the MMA software is just like hiring someone to figure out the amoritzation formula for you. That may make it expensive, but it doesn’t make it a scam. One of the aspects I liked about it the program was that when you were done paying off your house and other debt, you were also done paying of your home equity line of credit. In other words, you weren’t just trading one debt for another. In the example shown to me, I would pay off a 28 year mortgage, plus another $50,000 in loans in 10 years. At the end of the 10 years I would own my home and not owe a dime to the line of credit. I haven’t done it, but I would be foolish not to at least consider it.

U1stFinancial well worth the money

April 2nd, 2008

Yes some think $4,000 is a lot of money for a soft ware program that you can use to save tens of thousands of dollars. Being a mortgage loan officer working for the nations largest mortgage brokers, the CMG program mentioned will have a higher interest rate than you would normally quailfy for and work in a similar fashion to the United First program. If you are not buying the home you want to use the CMG loan you will have to pay closing cost to refinance your home and you can only use it as long as you have that loan.

I am doing research on the United First Financial program and know several people that are using it. I have run the numbers and the program works. I have also looked at it for investment homes and it can also be used for comercial property. You can use the program for your current loan as well as any loans you may have on that property or any other home you have in the future. Looking at the flexibility you gain with the United First program it may be well worth the money since you do not have to refinance your home to use it. The software also will work on any other type of installment debt.

Most banks will open a HELOC with out any charge as long as you leave it open for 2 to 3 years. So once you have that in place you can use it with out being charged closing cost to use United First software.

As with any financial decission you should always do your homework and make the best decision for your family. That is why I have looked at this program and realize that the software does more for you than you could even with an advisor helping you.

Banks like United First Financial

March 19th, 2008

I am the director for PCM Mortgage in Memphis TN and done a lot of equity lines for customers to get on the software. We host seminars every thursday evening in the Clark Tower which is where our office is located. The software does work, and works extremely well (i do not use it because i dont have a mortgage, but my aunt, mother, father, grandmother and uncle use it and they all are extremely happy and excited.. I know it works because I have seen it working for them). Our company has been to seminars where bank of america, first tennesee, and a few other large banks have attended. The banks love this program. The VP for BANK OF AMERICA stood up in front of the whole crowd and stated that he “LOVES THIS PROGRAM” unfortunently they cannot sell it due to banking regulations. The reason for me saying that is obvious, if the VP of the largest bank in the united states is willing to take time out of his life to attend a meeting and make it a point to tell everyone that he loves what we are doing then there must be something to it. Everybody that posts a negative comment in here has no clue and truly make themselves look like complete idiots (anybody who is affiliated or on the software can attest to that.) And for those who say you can do it on your own, I beg to differ. The head of the math department for one of the major universities in the US went to utah with his spreadsheets and tried to calculate this himself, guess what the software beat his projection by 7 years and he is now on the software. So if you want to waste weeks developing spreadsheets that still are not going to compare to MMA then go ahead, nobody is stopping you. We will focus on the people that are smarter than you all and realize true benifit of the MMA program and are serious about getting out of debt in a way that does not affect their budget, and does not take up all of their time. So in the words of Les Pryor, YOU ALL BE RIGHT AND WE WILL BE RICH (by the way, Les came and spoke for our company for FREE and is an agent for us… if you dont know who he is then look him up.

You can pay off your mortgage

March 8th, 2008

I have heard many say that they can do it themselves, but yet they are still paying on a mortgage. It’s like the banks taking you on a taxi cab ride with the meter still running.

Here were it started:

1997 – The planning for the launch of the One account commenced in the Spring of 1997 as a joint venture between Virgin Direct (Virgin’s financial services company) and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

The One account was launched on 17 October 1997 to Virgin Direct’s 200,000 strong customer base and was an immediate hit.

1998 – After the successful launch to Virgin Direct customers, the One account advertised direct to the public for the first time in May 1998.

A high profile TV campaign followed in September – to reinforce and build on the growing awareness of the One account in the UK.

1999 – In 1999, research from NOP Financial and David Goldreich of The London Business School proved that eight out of every ten people in the UK with borrowings of more than £50,000 would be better off with a One account.

The findings were widely reported in the press – and supported with a press and TV marketing campaign sharing the news. Not surprisingly the popularity of the account increased still further.

2000 – We caused a furor within the banking industry with our January 2000 marketing campaign – promoting the Virgin One account with posters which cheekily suggested ‘all the rest are bankers’. A full internet banking service for One account customers was launched on Valentine’s day.

In March, Richard Branson stepped to the fore by jokingly changing his name to “Frank” for a new marketing campaign, declaring “You know me as Richard – but now I want to be Frank – there’s a better way for you to manage your money”.

At the end of 2000, the company had acquired well over 50,000 customers, lent more than £2.5 billion (pounds) and doubled in size year on year.

2001 – The year started with a marketing campaign designed to bring the company’s ‘uncommon sense’ philosophy to life.

The TV ad, which showed challenging situations that required the viewer to confront their preconceptions, was a massive hit – and was even the subject of a sketch by Rory Bremner on his TV show.

The thought that the One account defied the traditional ‘common sense’ view in banking to deliver a much better result – ‘uncommon sense’ – was rolled out across all press and poster advertising through the Spring and into the Summer.

In June, the Virgin One account scooped both Best Mortgage provider and Best Current Account provider at the Guardian/Observer Consumer Finance awards.

More awards followed in August when the One account won the prestigious Unisys Service Excellence award.

2002 – In January, the Virgin One account launched sales of the One account through intermediaries – forming business partnerships with some of the biggest IFA networks in the country.

In the same month we launched a £10 million (pounds) advertising campaign called ‘Live your life differently’ – which communicated the value and flexibility of the One account and asked people to think differently about their lives and finances.

We also wrote to all of our customers asking them to share their experiences of how the One account has changed their lives. The response was overwhelming and stories ranged from customers who have been able to pay off their mortgage years early to people giving up their jobs and using the flexibility of the One account to achieve their life’s ambition. Many of these stories featured in our advertising.

In June, the Virgin One account scooped both Best Mortgage provider and Best Current Account provider at the Guardian/Observer Consumer Finance awards.

Our philosophy of focusing on customers’ needs continued to prove successful as we celebrated lending over £5billion (pounds).

2003 – From January 2003, we became known simply as The One account.
A big advertising campaign saw us use characters from the classic children’s TV program, Hector’s House, to show how a couple of simple changes will help you make the most of your money.

Awards continued to flood in with The One account picking up ‘Best Mortgage Provider’ for the 3rd year running at The Guardian/Observer Consumer Finance Awards, ‘Best Current Account and Offset Mortgage Provider’ at the Moneyfacts Awards, ‘Best Current Account Mortgage’ at the Your Mortgage Awards and ‘Lifestyle Lender of the Year’ at the Mortgage Strategy Awards.

2004 – In 2004 we’re taking The One account to even more people. We want to show everyone how we can help them achieve their goals.

Everyone has something they’ve always wanted to do ‘one day’ – it might be repaying their mortgage early, backpacking around the world or just having more time to themselves. Whatever their goal, we believe we can help people make ‘one day’ today – just by bringing their finances together in the One account.

This is what United 1st Financial has done with the MMA account in the United States!

Money Merge Account – Worth it

March 7th, 2008

Hello everyone, Just wanted to support the MMA. Have been on it for 2 mo. now. Makes an average guy into a mortgage free guy. $3500 is worth every penny, too me. Definately NOT a scam, just sounds too good to be true. The softwares ability to maximize the efficiency of your money is incredible. Lets me see what my money is doing everyday, for me. Well, just wanted to lend support for this unbelievable product.

Great program

February 27th, 2008

I just became an agent with ufirst in memphis tn, I have to say when i first heard about the program I thought it was a scam as well But Ive been using it for about 2 months and its great. What most people dont realize is that they are buying a program thats doing something we as humans have a hard time doing and thats managing our money. This should help anyone who has any quiestions or doesn’t understand what UFirst’s MMA program does.

Money Merge Accounts: Are They A Good Deal For Home Borrowers?

What is a “money merge account”? A “money merge account” is a special home equity line of credit placed on your home. Every time you receive a paycheck, the whole thing goes straight towards first paying off any balance in your money merge account, then the entire remainder of your check goes towards paying the interest, then the principal of your home loan. Let’s say you had a mortgage with $1,500 payments and you set up a money merge account. Each month, you received $3,500 in paychecks, but only spent $1,200 (and sometimes less). That means that automatically $2,300 (and sometimes more) goes towards that mortgage each month – an extra $800 towards principal every single month. This means a 30 year mortgage would be paid off in 13 years and two months.

Here’s the catch: to get into this program, it’ll cost you. I examined several money merge account options online and the rates varied from $1,800 to $4,500, with the average coming in around $3,000 to get started. This is added to the principal of the loan.

In other words, the fee adds about $20 to each minimum payment over the life of a loan, and in the accelerated calculation means that you’ll make almost exactly another month’s worth of payment – it will take you 13 years and 3 months to pay it off.

On the other hand, you could theoretically do it yourself. Start using a high-interest checking account (like Electric Orange, which gives you 4% interest) and then send every cent you can to the mortgage payment. Going back to the earlier scenario, if you always kept $1,000 in there as a buffer, got paid your $3,500 at the start of the month, spent $1,200 throughout the month, then sent off everything down to $1,000 at the end of the month to your lender, you would pay an average of $813 extra each month (that extra $13 comes from interest on the checking account). Given those numbers, you could pay off the mortgage in just barely over 13 years (the final payment is a tiny one).

Although that seems like a better financial deal than a money merge account (and it is), it has one huge risk: you. As we’ve discussed before, individuals are a huge risk because of their desire to spend money that’s “just sitting there” in an account. It wouldn’t take much at all over thirteen years for you to take money that’s already yours and spend it on something else.

One psychological advantage of a money merge account is that it encourages frugality. Why? It puts you in a situation where every dollar you spend basically goes onto your mortgage principal. See that bag of chips at the store? Is it worth it going onto your mortgage? You can use your own home as a psychological tool to be thrifty – and thus get out of the mortgage sooner.

If you have a lot of financial discipline, doing it yourself is a better deal than a money merge account. However, if you’re prone to spending extra at all and have found yourself saying, “Well, I have plenty extra right now, so I can afford it,” then a money merge account is probably the fastest way available to you to pay off your mortgage.

United First – love it

February 17th, 2008

I use the United First Financial MMA software (web based software), and I love it. It was well worth the 3500.00. It is helping me save thousands of dollars of interest and paying off my mortgage in half the years. Those who take an honest look at all the facts and figures from a reputable source will find that this system truly creates a significant advantage for homeowners. Contact me if you want any other information. I’m in Arkansas.