Dental Insurances and Discount Dental Plans

There are numerous dental insurances available from a variety of companies. Many companies can be found through insurance agents or online at carrier websites. You can even find sites that compare dental cover for you. By entering some basic information several carriers are notified about your interest and they contact you with quotes and details about the policies they have available. While finding dental coverage has gotten easier, the cost can still be expensive if you don’t choose plans carefully. Dental coverage is a necessity when it comes to maintaining your dental health, this makes choosing the right plan and the right company extremely important.

Just like health insurance, dental insurance can be available through an employer or purchased individually. For those who can’t get one of the various dental insurances, dental discount plans may be a good alternative. Some of the common plans you will find are dental ppo plans, group dental plans, individual plans, and discount dental programs. Each policy has set coverage amounts an limitations which must be considered when choosing the one for your needs.

Group dental, dental ppo, and individual dental plans are all dental insurances that provide a portion of coverage. Often basic treatment is covered up to 100% with other treatments being covered anywhere from 50% to 80%. Insurances have deductibles, co-pays, and annual limits that must considered. Choosing an insurance plan that offers little coverage and has high premiums may not be much benefit to someone who needs an affordable dental care option. Comparing each of the dental insurances to determine what deductible you can afford, what premium fits your monthly budget, and how much coverage they provide is key in getting the best plan. It may be necessary for you to sacrifice in one area of the plan to make it affordable for your monthly budget. For example, get a plan with slightly higher deductible or higher co-pays to allow for lower monthly premiums. If dental insurances are out of your budget or you aren’t eligible, discount dental plans may be an alternative for you.

Dental discount plans, unlike dental insurances, do not cover any of the expenses for dental care. These plans simply provide a discount on treatments through participating providers. This program is designed to allow anyone to join with an annual premium in exchange for discounts on treatment. The discounts can vary greatly from one plan to another and the same comparisons should made with discount plans as those made when choosing dental insurance. Discounts can range from 20% to 50% off of various types of procedures. Generally the higher the annual premium, the greater the discount. For someone who requires a lot of dental care, the greater discount may be worth paying higher premiums for. If you don’t frequently need dental visits, you may opt for a cheaper program.

No matter what option you choose or what kind of dental care you need, having some kind of dental insurance or discount plan will likely save you thousands in the long run. This will not only allow you and your family to have healthy teeth, but also be financially sound. The savings from one major emergency or procedure could easily cover the expense of the premiums you pay for dental insurance. This is why it is important for everyone to maintain some form of dental coverage.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Commercial Real Estate Loans – 12 Problems to Avoid

This article describes 12 recurring problems with commercial real estate loans that commercial borrowers and their advisors need to anticipate before it is too late. The following problems are common in traditional bank commercial real estate loans and should be avoided if feasible (special circumstances will periodically make some of these terms unavoidable).

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 1: Tax Returns versus Stated Income

Most traditional banks will require several years of tax returns in order to qualify for a commercial real estate loan. The alternative is to use a Stated Income lender that does not verify personal income or assets. Many borrowers will simply not qualify for a commercial mortgage loan if tax returns are used due to high business expenses (and low net income). Many lenders using tax returns will also continue to verify income after the loan closes. Stated Income lenders will not engage in this practice.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 2: Special Purpose Properties

It is becoming increasingly difficult to get commercial loans for special purpose properties. Properties that do not fall in the categories of apartments or retail/office buildings are often placed in this special purpose classification. This means that business acquisition loans for commercial properties such as restaurants/bars and auto service businesses are frequently hard to find. Commercial financing will be even more difficult to locate for such specialized properties as churches, funeral homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 3: Recall/balloon features

These terms are used by many banks to effectively shorten most commercial real estate loans to 3-7 years.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 4: Short-term loans (less than fifteen years)

15-40 year commercial property loans without recall/balloon features are available.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 5: Up-front Commitment fees

Under most circumstances, commercial borrowers should not pay such a fee. Please note that processing/retainer fees are not included in this discussion of commitment fees. Processing/retainer fees should be viewed as an acceptable and standard business practice when dealing with commercial real estate loans.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 6: Business Plans

Under most circumstances, commercial borrowers should not use a lender that requires a business plan.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 7: Cross-collateralization

Commercial borrowers should not be required to use their personal assets as collateral for a commercial property loan.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 8: Sourcing and seasoning assets. Seasoning of ownership.

This particular problem will not be relevant to all business borrowers. However, if it is relevant, you should seek out a lender without sourcing and seasoning requirements or limitations. Most banks have strict guidelines for sourcing and seasoning of assets or ownership to qualify for commercial real estate loans. For a purchase, commercial lenders will frequently want documentation about where the down payment is coming from (sourcing). Commercial lenders will also frequently have very specific requirements stipulating that the funds must have been in a specific account for a specific period of time, often 3-6 months or longer (seasoning). Seasoning of ownership is similar to seasoning of funds, except this requirement involves the minimum time someone has owned a commercial property before they can refinance the property.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 9: Requirement to sign IRS Form 4506

IRS Form 4506 authorizes the lender to obtain a borrower’s tax returns directly from the IRS. This form is routinely required by most traditional banks and many other commercial lenders for a business acquisition loan. Commercial borrowers using a Stated Income lender with limited documentation requirements will avoid this requirement.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 10: Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) in excess of 1.2 for a business acquisition loan

The most flexible approach to DSCR for a commercial property loan will require a DSCR in the range of 1 to 1.2, with exceptions permitting a DSCR less than 1.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 11: Minimum commercial property loan size that is too high for your commercial mortgage needs.

It is not unusual to encounter a minimum commercial real estate loan requirement of $500,000 to $1,000,000.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS PROBLEM NUMBER 12: Excessive length of the commercial real estate loan process

Many traditional banks require three to nine months to close a commercial mortgage. A more action-oriented commercial lender will close commercial real estate loans in 45 to 60 days.

Copyright 2005-2006 AEX Commercial Financing Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Stephen Bush is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AEX Commercial Financing Group, LLC (http://steve.bush.googlepages.com/aex). Information about enrolling for a free online six-part series of Spe

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off