Interest in residential mortgage loans fell 6.25% for the week ending April 1 as rates jumped yet again, ever nearer to 5%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association‘s latest survey.
Refinance applications are in a free fall, as few borrowers these days have an incentive to change their current loans rates. Additionally, home price appreciation and insufficient for-sale inventory are holding back purchase activity.
According to the MBA, refi applications fell 10% from the prior week and 62% from a year ago. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 3.4% from the prior week and was down 9% year-over-year.
“Mortgage application volume continues to decline due to rapidly rising mortgage rates, as financial markets expect significantly tighter monetary policy in the coming months,” Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, said in a statement.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $647,200) increased to 4.90% from 4.80%. Meanwhile, for jumbo mortgage loans (greater than $647,000), rates on average jumped to 4.51% from 4.40% in the same period.
According to Kan, as higher rates reduce the incentive to refinance, application volume dropped to its lowest level since the spring of 2019. In total, refinances share of all applications dipped to 38.8%, down from 40.6% the previous week and 51% a year ago.
Why lenders should think about non-QM now, not later
Agency rates are on the rise and refinance volume is down. Originators who had their best year in 2021 will have to utilize something else to make up for this loss in 2022 and non-QM can be the answer.
Presented by: Angel Oak
Regarding purchases, Kan said the hot job market and rapid wage growth continue to support housing demand. However, surge in rates, home-price appreciation, and insufficient for-sale inventory is restraining purchase activity.
“Additionally, the elevated average purchase loan size, and steeper 8% drop in FHA purchase applications, are both indicative of first-time buyers being disproportionately impacted by supply and affordability challenges.”
The MBA found that the adjustable-rate mortgage share of the activity increased to 6.8% of total applications from 6.6%. The FHA share of total applications dropped to 9.2% from 9.3% a week earlier, and the share of VA applications increased to 9.8% from 9.5%. The USDA share remained unchanged at 0.5%.
The survey, conducted since 1990, covers over 75% of the retail residential mortgage applications.
Whenever I first started in the financial services industry when I was 24 none of my friends wanted to talk to me about life insurance. Most of them didn’t see the point and they had too many other financial goals on their mind. Buying new cars, buying big screen TVs, paying off debt.
Now that they are in their 30’s and their family has become more of a priority life insurance has taken on a more serious role. If you’re in the beginning stages of starting a family, life insurance in your 30’s is vital. There’s no more just worrying about you. Now you have to worry about a spouse and possibly young children.
If you feel like I feel turning 30 is not the end of the road. So it’s never too late to think about life insurance planning.
How Much Does Life Insurance Cost When You’re 30?
One of the common misconceptions when it comes to life insurance is people think it costs too much and that is not the case. Life insurance in your 30’s doesn’t cost that much either.
Just out of curiosity I ran a quote for $1 million for term life insurance coverage and the lowest rate is only $695 for the entire year.
So that’s $1 million of coverage to make sure that your family is taken care of and it costs you as little as $57.91 per month. That’s it and that’s for $1 million of coverage. If you’re a 30- year- old female, the cost is going to be that much less. The important thing is to not wait any longer for your term life insurance. The younger that you are, the cheaper your monthly premiums are going to be.
Additionally, you never know what tomorrow is going to bring (cheery, right?) if something were to happen to you, how would your family be able to recover? Not only will buying life insurance today let you know that your family will be covered, but it can also save you money in the long-run.
Life Insurance In Your 30’s Will Not Break You
The point is life insurance in your 30’s does not cost a lot. You will not break that bank by making sure that your family is taken care of should something happen to you. You can’t put a price tag on the peace of mind that this policy will bring to you. There is nothing like knowing that your family will have the funds they need if anything tragic were to happen to you.
If you’re not sure exactly how much you need check out my other post Term Life Insurance for a 30 Year Old, as I take you through my process where I decide how much of term life coverage I needed for my family.
If you want a quick answer on how much you should get, look at your total debt and how much you would leave behind. Add all of that up and that is a good starting point. Also, include your annual salary.
Saving Money on your Monthly Premiums
Nobody wants to spend more money than they have to, especially when it comes to life insurance. There are a few ways that you can easily save money on your monthly premiums.
The first way is to use the company that you already have insurance plans with. If the company that you have your car insurance through also offers life insurance, you can probably get a “multi-policy” discount for purchasing your plan through them.
But don’t automatically go with the same company because you already have purchased an insurance product from them. Another way to ensure that you have the best rates possible is to shop around with several companies before you decide on one. Because each company is different, they are all going to look at applicants differently. Your rates could be significantly different depending on the insurance company.
Second, if you want to save money, it might be time to hit the gym. One of the biggest factors in determining your insurance rates (aside from age, which you, unfortunately, can’t change) is your health. After you apply for the insurance policy, the company will send out a nurse or paramedic to do a health exam. The results from the exam can save you hundreds of dollars, or cause your premiums to go through the roof.
A healthy diet, regular exercise, and quitting smoking are some of the best ways that you can save money on your insurance. Any applicant that is overweight or obese could expect their monthly premiums to double. If you’re a smoker, your premiums are going to be doubled or even tripled, regardless of the rest of your health. Before you apply for a life insurance policy, spend a couple months losing a few extra pounds and kicking the cigarettes. Your waistline and wallet with thank you.
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The Importance of Life Insurance
An adequate life insurance policy is one of the best things you can purchase for you and your family. Every year we hear stories of families that lost a loved one unexpectedly. On top of all of the emotional strain they are feeling, they are left with thousands of dollars of debt because of a mortgage payment, student loans, credit card bills, and funeral expenses that they can’t pay for.
Life insurance provides a safety net for your family that you hope to never use. Most people put off life insurance because they don’t want to think about their own death, but that is one of the worst mistakes that you can make.
SURFSIDE, FLORIDA – JULY 31: In this aerial view, the cleared lot that was where the collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building once stood on July 31, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. A total of 98 people died when the building partially collapsed on June 24, 2021. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Joe Raedle/Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty I
In the two years after a notorious Surfside, Florida condo collapse, new temporary rules and increased enforcement have been instituted to ensure building safety, but these measures have also intensified the challenge involved in finding affordable financing in this market.
“There are more and more buildings that don’t meet the warrantable guidelines,” said Melissa Cohn, regional vice president, William Raveis Mortgage, referring to the standards buildings must meet for government-sponsored enterprises to back condominium unit loans.
At the same time the banking crisis reportedly reduced the supply of low-rate condo unit financing.
“You have the secondary market in the last two or three months somewhat collapsing, where you see these banks are starting to fold,” said Orest Tomaselli, president of project approval at CondoTek. “Some of these are banks that have provided residential mortgage financing to owners and purchasers in these condominium developments.”
Borrowers are still able to pay up for other options in the private market but these developments have generally limited the availability of more cost-effective loans for buyers of condo units, Cohn said.
“There are still financial institutions that will lend at market rates in nonwarrantable buildings,” said Cohen. “But they may not drop the rates below market for anyone.”
That’s a concern, because condos can be a source of scarce affordable housing in a high-cost market, and while Surfside-inspired rules as now configured are aimed at making buildings and units safer, some think they run the risk of having a counterproductive impact on financing.
“If it becomes more difficult to make those loans, it will become more difficult for people to enter into the housing system,” said Taylor Stork, chief operating officer of Developer’s Mortgage Company and president of the Community Home Lenders of America. “Most of our borrowers are first-time homebuyers in metropolitan areas and they tend to go toward the housing stock that is less expensive. In those areas, it’s more likely that a condominium will be an option.”
A growing list of “unavailable” buildings
To understand Surfside’s ripple effects in the condo market, consider the list of buildings that don’t meet Fannie Mae’s lending requirements.
The growth in the so-called unavailable list, which is constantly changing in line with the status of different buildings relative to Fannie’s requirements, has drawn attention because it’s caught an increasing number of condo associations and would-be borrowers by surprise.
“Hundreds of buildings have been added since Surfside,” said Tomaselli. “It seems like every day, there’s another one going on.”
Some of the market frustration with the list has stemmed from the fact that only Fannie, lenders and other entities with a permissible business purpose have had access to what traditionally have been called unwarrantable condos and they’ve been loath to share it outside of that.
“Approved parties that access [Condo Project Manager] for project eligibility information are not permitted to disclose Fannie Mae eligibility determination to third parties,” a Fannie Mae spokesman said in an emailed statement. (CPM will become mandatory for full reviews in July.)
The access restriction has meant some buildings have been unaware that they’re on the list until someone tries to finance a unit. The listing isn’t even always related to post Surfside rules, but the increased enforcement of other traditional condo standards in response to the collapse.
The CHLA, National Association of Realtors, and the Community Association Institute have all called for public access to the list and guidance as to how buildings can regain eligibility. (Lenders have said some fixes can be done in time to close a loan but others are more complex.) The trade groups also are asking for a minimum 60 day comment period before any condo lending rule changes.
There’s some precedent for a public list. Unlike Fannie’s technology and Freddie Mac’s platform for condo information, which provides feedback based more on discrete criteria rather than by building, the Federal Housing Administration’s list is public.
The FHA’s specific lookup tool provides information on building approvals and rejections and is designed for specific searches related to a particular property or area. While it has different criteria and costs than the GSEs (of the three, only Fannie and Freddie lend on cooperatives), some of the FHA’s feedback on buildings may mirror theirs.
CPM also is formatted as a lookup tool and its exclusive use mandate narrows the channels through which Fannie loans can get done, Stork said. Not only vendors but some originators who don’t work directly with Fannie, like aggregators or brokers, lack direct access to the system.
The situation can lead to frustration and costs for borrowers because once a loan has property-specific information, lenders tend to start worrying about time-sensitive disclosure requirements and start a more detailed application process. For borrowers in this market, that can come with the usual mortgage costs like the appraisal in addition to, for example, fees buildings charge for supplying certain condo information, said Stork.
“A borrower can easily put $1,000 to $1,500 into a transaction and then learn that it is never going to be approved, and there’s no way that the lender, or the borrower, or even the Realtor could know all of this, in many cases,” Stork said. “First-time homebuyers generally don’t have that money just laying around.”
Fannie’s spokesperson said that it considers lenders it works with to be “in the best position to have conversations with their customers about mortgage finance.”
With the advent of the banking crisis, more private lenders are increasingly likely to pile on if they become aware of Fannie’s approval status for a building, either by seeing it as signifying risks they should charge more for or that they should avoid financing it altogether.
“Being on that list, it sometimes can mean that other lending shuts down in the building as well,” Tomaselli said.
Therein lies a key dilemma in the wake of Surfside: lenders may have less tolerance for giving money to buildings with strained finances just when condos are most likely to need more cash to ensure their structures are sound.
Layers of rules and costs to navigate
Fannie and Freddie’s temporary criteria in response to Surfside have focused on restricting single-family financing for units in buildings that have deferred maintenance and public repair directives related to unsafe conditions.
The GSEs have noted that as they get a better sense of the mitigants that could be used to address the risks in aging condo buildings Surfside epitomized, they could rethink their criteria. Lenders generally would like that to result in some more leeway, but think further tightening might be more likely.
Meanwhile, even with the temporary constraints, the share of condo and co-op loan acquisitions at Fannie Mae has remained largely consistent around 9% as of year-end 2022.
And sometimes those constraints are necessary, lenders agree. As much as the market is short of housing at affordable entry-level price points and the buy-in cost for owning a condo may be lower than a traditional home, if a building’s not sound or ongoing maintenance and assessments won’t be financially manageable for a particular borrower in the future, they shouldn’t get a loan.
“The piece that Fannie Mae’s focused on…is how do we ensure sustainable homeownership,” Jake Williamson, senior vice president, single-family collateral risk management, in an online video forecast about the condo outlook. “Part of that is keeping in mind the ongoing cost.”
Adding to that concern are regional rules that have been put into place in areas where condos are concentrated. Access to this type of housing has been increasingly costly and constrained.
In Florida, June marks not only two years since Surfside, it’s also the 12-month anniversary of the state’s Building Safety Act. Because of its passage, buildings have been grappling with how to make assessments for new structure and reserve requirements affordable to their unit owners
“Each association or board president is going to have to take a damn good look at their resident constituents and figure out what their ability to pay is,” said Greg Main-Baillie, executive managing director for the Florida Development Services Group at Colliers. “Unfortunately, some board presidents could end up putting their buildings into default if they don’t.”
Baille, who acts as an owner’s representative and project consultant for condo associations facing inspections and structural repairs, said he doesn’t deal directly in unit financing, but noted building finances are inextricably linked to those of single-family owners and mortgagors.
State or regional programs that help some unit owners obtain financial assistance to help with assessments could mitigate condo default risk, Main-Baille said. Miami-Dade County has offered up to $50,000 to owners with an area median income of 140% or less.
Condo boards also might want to judiciously use a home equity loan of credit related to their multifamily building mortgage to, for example, extend the amount of time unit assessments can be spread out over, reducing monthly payments for potential future owners, he suggested.
“It may be better for the condo to actually go and leverage that debt on the behalf of their residents than the residents going and sourcing loans themselves, and it’s probably going to be cheaper too,” he said.
While the costs associated with Florida’s rules have been the most prominent so far, given the national impact of Surfside on Fannie’s temporary standards and the wide distribution of states on the unavailable list, it’s likely regional responses will grow too and become a factor in lending. New York City, for example, also has had some problems with aging infrastructure. Local rules were implemented in response to it in the past.
“Florida is really the only one that is pushing this mandate to this level and degree at this point in time…but you just have to wait to find out if more states will start following suit,” Maine-Baille said.
The total number of unavailable buildings in the Sunshine State topped several hundred at the end of May, according to lender estimates. As of May 31, every state but three had at least one building on it. The exceptions were Arkansas, North and South Dakota. The number of buildings listed per state was generally under 100 and sometimes as low as one at that time. The state with the second largest numbers of listed buildings was California, which had over 200.
With its discount fares, a fleet of new Airbus jets and a robust frequent flyer program, Frontier Miles can be a great value for Frontier Airlines travelers. As a Frontier Miles member, you can earn miles and elite status. Frontier elite status has many perks to make your travels more enjoyable and less expensive, including complimentary carry-on luggage, advance seat assignments and the ability to pool your miles. You can then redeem your miles for award travel.
Surprisingly, despite being one of the top low-cost carrier loyalty programs, the program often flies under the radar. You can quickly earn enough miles for a free trip even after just a few flights. And recently, the airline launched a limited-time promotion where eligible Frontier Miles members with a travel rewards credit card can secure Elite 20K status for as little as $199.
Here’s an overview of how the program works.
How to earn Frontier Miles
The interior of a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321neo. DAVID SLOTNICK/THE POINTS GUY
The Frontier Miles program is free to join. You can earn Frontier Miles by flying, through its cobranded credit card and transacting with Frontier partners.
Earn Frontier Miles by flying
Unlike many loyalty programs nowadays, you earn Frontier Miles on the length of your flight (rather than the price of your ticket). You earn 1 mile per mile flown regardless of your fare type. For example, if you fly from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), you’d earn 950 miles.
Mid and upper-tier elite members earn the following bonuses on their flights:
Elite 20K: No bonus
Elite 50K: 1.25 miles per dollar bonus
Elite 100K: 1.5 miles per dollar bonus
Earn miles with the Frontier Airlines credit card
Frontier Airlines partners with Barclays to offer the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard®.
New card members earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $500 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full within the first three months of cardmembership.
With this card, you’ll earn 5 miles for every dollar spent directly with Frontier (including airfare, fees and onboard purchases), 3 miles per dollar spent at restaurants and 1 mile per dollar spent everywhere else. The miles you earn on this card count toward elite status.
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The card also offers valuable benefits like Zone 2 boarding on all Frontier flights and family pooling. You also earn a $100 flight voucher after spending $2,500 or more on purchases with your card during your cardmembership year (terms apply). Cardholders also get waived award redemption fees. We’ll discuss redemption fees later, but Frontier charges between $15 and $75 for close-in reservations.
Unless you place a high value on Frontier Airlines miles and elite status, we generally don’t recommend this card. Most travelers are better off with a transferable points credit card like the American Express® Green Card.
The information for the Frontier card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Earn points with Frontier’s partners
Frontier has relationships with several major rental car companies, so you can earn bonus miles and access negotiated rates when booking through their transportation partner page. While earning rates depend on the rental car company, you can generally earn between 50 and 100 miles per rental day or 1,000 miles per rental.
Frontier Airlines also partners with Marriott Bonvoy, Radisson Rewards and Wyndham Rewards. You can transfer Marriott points at a 3:1 ratio (with 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer), while Radisson Rewards transfer 10:1. You can’t transfer Wyndham points to Frontier.
These are not favorable ratios; you’re probably better off redeeming those points for hotel stays. However, it’s an option worth knowing about if you ever need to top off your Frontier Miles account.
Depending on the Marriott brand, you’ll generally earn either 1 or 2 Frontier Miles for every qualifying dollar spent. You must update your Marriott account preferences to earn Frontier miles instead of Marriott points. We don’t recommend doing this since you’ll get a maximum of 2.2% back in Frontier Miles instead of at least 4.2% back in Marriott Bonvoy points for your Marriott stays, based on our valuations.
Like Marriott, you can also opt to earn Frontier Miles instead of Wyndham points on your eligible stays:
Wyndham Blue (standard): 1 mile per dollar spent on all stays
Wyndham Gold: 1 mile per dollar spent
Wyndham Platinum: 2 miles per dollar spent
Wyndham Diamond: 2 miles per dollar spent
Again, we generally recommend earning hotel points instead of Frontier Miles.
You can also buy or gift Frontier Miles and earn on eligible Vinesse Wine and Teleflora purchases. Finally, you can book a cruise through Frontier Cruises and earn miles at a preset rate. Often, you can earn more miles by booking through other cruise programs.
One- to five-night cruise: 1,500 miles
Six to nine-night cruise: 3,000 miles
Nine to 12-night cruise: 5,000 miles
Cruises 13 nights and longer: 10,000 miles
Related: What it’s like to fly Frontier Airlines from Miami to Newark on the Airbus A320neo
How to redeem Frontier Miles
Your carry-on bag and personal item must fit in Frontier’s sizers. CAROLINE TANNER/THE POINTS GUY
You can redeem Frontier Miles for two things: flights and magazines. As you’d expect, the best use of Frontier Miles is redeeming them for award flights. The airline publishes an award chart with starting award rates, but there are a few added fees that you should be aware of before booking. Here’s a look at the specifics.
Frontier offers three different redemption tiers: Value, Standard and Last Seat.
Value: This is the lowest redemption rate for all Frontier redemptions and can be compared to a “Saver” ticket on a traditional carrier. These are generally offered during off-peak dates and less desirable flights, but we’ve also found Value tickets when there’s low demand.
Standard: Standard awards are generally priced out at twice the cost of a Value ticket. These awards are available on more (but not all) dates.
Last Seat: As the name suggests, Last Seat awards are available for booking until the last seat on the plane is booked. Unfortunately, these awards are only bookable to Frontier elites and cost 2,500 more miles each way than Standard awards. This can be a good option if you’re booking at the last minute and paid fares are high.
Here’s a look at Frontier’s current award chart, with starting award rates:
Travel within the U.S. and Puerto Rico
Value
Standard
Last Seat
10,000
20,000
22,500
Award tickets to or from Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Bahamas, Costa Rica and Antigua
Value
Standard
Last Seat
15,000
25,000
27,500
Fees associated with Frontier award tickets
Unfortunately, Frontier adds a booking fee to most award tickets. You’ll pay this fee when you book an award flight within 180 days of departure; the closer you get to departure, the higher the fee is.
Here’s a look at the fee structure — note that these fees are charged in addition to other taxes and fees:
At least 180 days before departure: $0
21-179 days before departure: $15
7-20 days before departure: $50
Six days or less before departure: $75
These fees are waived for Frontier elite status members and those with a Frontier Airlines credit card. If you frequently book award tickets close to departure, you may find applying for a Frontier credit card worthwhile, as this can save you considerable money. Additionally, companions booked on the same reservation as a Frontier cardmember or elite member receive waived redemption fees.
Be sure to factor these fees into the cost of your ticket when booking travel on Frontier Airlines. In some cases, booking a paid ticket instead of an award ticket may make more sense if you’re subject to a booking fee. Frontier often offers low-cost tickets at the last minute, making the cent-per-point redemption value extremely low.
Related: 7 takeaways from my first Frontier Airlines flight in over 4 years
Discount Den membership
ELIZABETH PAGE BRUMLEY/LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE/GETTY IMAGES
Frontier Airlines offers a subscription service called Discount Den. While not the same as elite status, the program gives members access to discounted fares for $59.99 annually. New members have to pay a $40 enrollment fee.
Children under 15 fly for free when accompanied by the Discount Den member on select flights, offering excellent savings on certain routes.
We’ve found that Discount Den can offer pretty excellent deals, too. On a given flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), a Discount Den member would save $20-$30 per ticket over the standard price.
FLYFRONTIER.COM
These discounts also apply to international flights. For example, you can score a $10 discount per person when flying from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Cancun International Airport (CUN).
FLYFRONTIER.COM
We recommend that frequent Frontier flyers consider a Discount Den membership if they’ll get more than $59.99 annually in savings from the service. That said, a family of four may recoup the cost of a Discount Den membership from just one family vacation a year.
Related: Should you join Frontier’s Discount Den or the new Spirit Saver$ Club?
Go Wild! Pass
AL DRAGO/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
Frontier Airlines also offers an all-you-can-fly pass, which it calls Go Wild!
TPG tested the pass and found unexpectedly high fees and limited availability. Additionally, while it’s advertised as an all-you-can-fly pass, it doesn’t provide unlimited free travel after you buy it.
You generally can get the most value from the pass by booking last-minute flights. Here’s an example from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Las Vegas.
FLYFRONTIER.COM
Go Wild! Pass customers can get confirmed bookings the day before flight departure for domestic travel and starting 10 days before flight departure for international travel.
The annual pass costs $1,999, but you might be able to find limited-time promotions here.
Related: I bought an all-you-can-fly pass — here’s what it was like to use it
Frontier elite status
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
Frontier elite status has three tiers: Elite 20K, 50K and 100K. You can achieve these elite status tiers by earning 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 Frontier miles from flying on Frontier or spending on the cobranded credit card. Frontier Airlines also has a promotion where eligible cardholders can secure Elite 20K status for as little as $199.
Let’s look at each of these status tiers and their respective benefits.
Benefits
Elite 20k
Elite 50k
Elite 100k
Qualification
20,000 qualifying miles or 25 flight segments annually
50,000 qualifying miles or 50 flight segments annually
100,000 qualifying miles or 100 flight segments annually
Redeemable mileage earning on Frontier flights
1 mile per mile flown
1.25 miles per mile flown
1.5 miles per mile flown
Carry-on
✓
✓
✓
Seat assignment
✓
✓
✓
Family pooling
✓
✓
✓
Priority boarding
✓
✓
✓
Waived redemption fees
✓
✓
✓
Waived travel fees
✓
✓
✓
Last Seat availability
✓
✓
✓
Stretch seating
At check-in
✓
✓
Family seating
✓
✓
Discount Den membership
50% off
✓
Checked bag
✓
Family status (the Works bundle)
✓
Family status (the Works bundle) is the key benefit here. When you reach Elite 100K, you and your family get free checked bags, carry-on bags, priority boarding and seat selection. Plus, you can change or refund your flight for free, giving you the utmost flexibility when flying with Frontier. This can save your family hundreds of dollars per flight, making the Works one of the most impressive Frontier elite status benefits.
Related: How to get airline elite status
Bottom line
Frontier may not be the most exciting airline, but its loyalty program is worthwhile for those who fly on the airline often. Its award chart is extremely easy to understand and can provide excellent value if you avoid pesky booking fees. Furthermore, Frontier Airlines’ elite status is great for families and those who want to avoid fees when flying on a low-cost carrier.
Now, you have the background to decide if Frontier Miles is the right program for you.
Direct link to offer, if the link doesn’t work try scanning the QR code below
Capital One Venture is offering 100,000 miles after $5,000 in spend within the first three months
Card Details
$95 annual fee; fee is not waived the first year
Card earns 2x points everywhere (the equivalent of 2% everywhere)
Card earns 5x points on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
Card earns 5x points per dollar on Turo car rentals through 5/16/23
No foreign transaction fees
Visa Signature benefits
Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
Our Verdict
This is the best offer we have seen, previous best offer required $10,000 in spend. Terms do state ‘only be accessed through the Venture airport kiosk and is not available elsewhere’ so there might be some risk that you don’t get the bonus if not applying through the airport kiosk but it should work OK if you can get the link to load but YMMV if that risk is worth it. Because of that risk factor we won’t add it to the best credit card bonus page.
Of the eight million homeowners currently not making mortgage payments, six million are expected to lose their homes over the next two years, according to the latest Market Intelligence newsletter from John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
As a result, the national homeownership rate will fall to just 61.7 percent.
Here’s the math:
The numbers might be even worse if you factor in the additional five million homeowners with no equity in their homes, assuming they strategically default.
Fortunately, most borrowers don’t walk away voluntarily until equity falls to -62 percent of their home’s value, at least that’s how the study from the Federal Reserve goes.
You could also argue that homeowners with less than five percent home equity could default as well, as you need an equity cushion to unload a home to pay for associated closing costs (and to buy a new one).
John Burns also noted that “loan modifications have little prayer of helping,” citing the fact that homeowners who received permanent loan modifications use more than 30 percent of their income to pay off debt other than the mortgage.
And we all know consumers prefer to pay their credit cards over their mortgages.
The sliver of good news is that 58 percent of homeowners can afford the median priced home vs. 45 percent historically.
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.
If you like flying for (much) less, want to maximize frequent flyer award chart sweet spots and have transferrable credit card points to redeem, it’s time to learn about some of the amazing deals you can book with Turkish Miles&Smiles.
Just how good of a deal are we talking?
How about a 7,500-mile award from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii on United? Perhaps you’d prefer a lie-flat seat on a cross-country journey for 15,000 miles? Or Europe in business class for 45,000 miles each way, compared to the 200,000 plus miles some programs with dynamic pricing are now charging? The Turkish Miles&Smiles program makes all this possible.
Even better? The program is a 1:1 transfer partner of three popular transferable currencies.
If you want to learn about an international frequent flyer program that’s jam-packed with redemption sweet spots, here’s what you need to know about Turkish Airlines’ Miles&Smiles.
How to earn Turkish Miles&Smiles
THE POINTS GUY
Transfer points from credit card programs
While there are no Turkish-branded credit cards available in the U.S., you can transfer rewards from three programs with transferable currencies directly to Miles&Smiles at a rate of 1:1: Bilt Rewards, Capital One and Citi ThankYou Rewards.
There’s only one card that allows you to earn Bilt points: the Bilt Mastercard (see rates and fees). While it doesn’t offer a welcome bonus, it does allow you to pay rent with no fees and earn 1 point per dollar (up to 100,000 points per year). You’ll also earn 3 points per dollar on dining and 2 points per dollar on travel, though note that you must have at least five eligible transactions during your billing period.
Meanwhile, here’s a list of some currently available cards that earn transferable Capital One miles:
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Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card ($95 annual fee, see rates and fees): New cardmembers earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card ($395 annual fee, see rates and fees): New cardmembers earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (no annual fee, see rates and fees): New cardmembers earn 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 within the first three months from account opening.
Capital One VentureOne Rewards for Good Credit (no annual fee, see rates and fees).
Capital One Spark Miles for Business ($0 annual fee for the first year, then $95, see rates and fees): New card members can earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 in the first three months of account opening.
Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business (no annual fee): New cardmembers can earn 20,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months of account opening.
The information for the Capital One Spark Miles Select has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Finally, here are some of our favorite Citi cards that can earn ThankYou points:
Related: Is Citi ThankYou Rewards the most underappreciated and misunderstood program?
Transfer points from hotel programs
You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a rate of 3:1 (so 3,000 Bonvoy points would become 1,000 Turkish points).
For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you’ll receive a bonus of 5,000 Miles&Smiles.
Related: 17 ways to earn lots of Marriott Bonvoy points
Earn points from flying
You can fly Turkish Airlines-operated flights, and you’ll earn reward miles based on your fare class, Miles&Smiles elite status level and the distance of the flight.
If you flew Turkish Airlines from Los Angeles to Istanbul (a 6,865-mile route) in a discounted ‘U’ economy fare, you would earn 25% of the miles flown or 1,716 redeemable miles. That’s not great, but it’s something.
Turkish Airlines is in the Star Alliance, and as a result, you can also earn miles by flying Turkish’s partner airlines and crediting those miles to your Miles&Smiles account. For many U.S.-based travelers, the most likely partner to fly and credit to Miles&Smiles would probably be United Airlines — especially given the program’s recent devaluations.
You’ll earn Turkish miles based on the fare class and distance of your United-operated flight.
There are different earning charts for each partner airline. So, be sure to check if your fare class is eligible to earn miles and how many miles you’ll earn before deciding to put your Turkish frequent flyer number on a partner reservation.
Finally, Turkish miles expire three years from the time they’re earned. You can pay a rather expensive fee of $10 for every 1,000 miles that are about to expire to extend them for another three years. However, you should plan on using your Turkish miles long before they expire.
Read more: How to keep your points and miles from expiring
How to redeem Turkish Miles&Smiles
How to book a Turkish Airlines-operated award flight
If you want to book an award ticket operated only by Turkish Airlines, you can get to the award booking engine from the Turkish home page by clicking the “Award ticket” checkbox.
TURKISH AIRLINES
This will require you to log in to your Miles&Smiles account and then bring you to the award ticket booking engine, where you can enter your origin, destination, dates, class of service and number of passengers. Pro tip: Don’t include the leading TK portion of your account number when you log in. Also, remember this first search screen is only for Turkish-operated flight itineraries.
TURKISH AIRLINES
After you select a flight option, you’ll see the flight details, aircraft type and the award space labeled as promotional pricing or regular pricing, which will match the published award charts:
TURKISH AIRLINES
The following page will give you the total flight cost, including taxes and fees, even if you don’t have the required miles in your account.
TURKISH AIRLINES
How to book a Star Alliance partner award flight
If you want to search for Star Alliance-operated award flights (such as those operated by United, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand and others), you must find the Star Alliance award search engine.
To access Star Alliance award searches, log into your Turkish Miles&Smiles account and, on the drop-down menu (below your name), select “Miles Transactions” as shown below:
TURKISH AIRLINES
On the next page, you’ll see the link that will take you to the Star Alliance award ticket booking engine:
TURKISH AIRLINES
The engine looks identical to the Turkish-operated award search engine, except it says “Star Award Ticket” at the top:
You can then follow the same process to book partner flights.
Related: The best websites for searching Star Alliance award availability
Things to know about Turkish Miles&Smiles
The best way to redeem Turkish miles is for award flights. While other options may exist in the program, booking Turkish or Star Alliance-operated flights will get you maximum value.
With that in mind, here are a few of the most important rules and nuances of Miles&Smiles:
Miles&Smiles prices award flights on region-based award charts.
There are two levels of award availability for Turkish-operated flights: regular and promotional. Regular doesn’t technically have a name. It is just “award ticket” when you see it in the search results. Promo space (still referred to as “limited space capacity” in the terms and conditions) means fewer seats are available at a much lower mileage cost than the regular “award ticket” space.
Award ticket prices for flights within the same region cost 15,000, 25,000 and 40,000 miles round trip for economy, business and first class, respectively.
You can book one-way awards for half the price of a round-trip journey.
You can redeem miles for anyone besides yourself, but you must register them in your Miles&Smiles account first.
If you need 10,000 additional miles or less to issue an award ticket, you can buy them at a rate of 25 euros (about $27) per 1,000 miles.
Fuel surcharges are not charged on United flights and are somewhat reasonable on Turkish flights, but can be problematic on some Star Alliance carriers like Lufthansa.
Award tickets can be canceled or changed for a fee of $25.
One open jaw is allowed on a round-trip ticket. An open jaw is an itinerary when you fly into one city and out of another.
One stopover is allowed in Istanbul on the outbound or return of a Turkish Airlines-operated award itinerary. A stopover is when you stay in a city along the path of your itinerary for a period of time.
Award tickets can have a maximum of eight segments: four on the inbound and four on the outbound.
You can put award tickets on hold for 72 hours, even with zero miles in your account.
Best uses of Turkish Miles&Smiles
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
Hawaii for 7,500 miles one-way, 15,000 miles round trip
Flights within the same region, as defined by the Turkish region chart, cost 15,000 miles round trip. Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) is specifically included in the North America region (though all other Hawaii destinations price out the same) along with the rest of the U.S. This makes one-way flights to the Aloha State just 7,500 miles each way. These awards are bookable online and carry no fuel surcharges.
Even one-stop itineraries from the East Coast cost just 7,500 miles each way.
TURKISHAIRLINES.COM
Theoretically, you can fly in business class for just 12,500 miles each way (a tiny fraction of the more than 40,000 miles United would charge). However, know that business-class awards to Hawaii are extremely hard to find.
Alaska, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands for 7,500 miles in economy or 12,500 in first class
We’re starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but hang in there: San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as Alaska and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are grouped in with the rest of the U.S. This means award flights are 7,500 miles each way in economy or 12,500 in first class.
While United doesn’t usually fly fancy lie-flat seats to these destinations, the flight can be long enough that doing it in domestic first class is still a bargain for just 12,500 miles. That is, if you can snag it.
U.S. to Mexico for 10,000 miles one-way in economy or 15,000 miles in business class
You can book that beach getaway from the U.S. down to Mexico for just 10,000 miles in economy or 15,000 in business class. Whether you want Cancun International Airport (CUN), Puerto Vallarta’s Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR) or Mexico City International Airport (MEX), the Turkish award price to fly United is the same awesome deal. For comparison, United would usually want at least 17,500 miles each in economy or 30,000 miles to sit up front in each direction.
U.S. to Europe for 45,000 miles one-way in business class
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
You can fly From North America to Europe Zone 1 and Europe Zone 2 for the same miles. Economy costs 30,000 miles one-way, and business is a fantastic 45,000 miles, flying either Turkish Airlines or Star Alliance partners (or a combination of both). This is arguably the best business-class price you will see to Europe (outside of the occasional Flying Blue Promo Awards).
North America to India for 52,500 miles in business class
One of the most common award routings we’re asked to find is a round-trip flight to India. India is included in the Central Asia zone on the Turkish chart. These tickets cost just 34,000 miles one-way in economy and 52,500 miles in business class.
Intra-Oceania for 15,000 to 25,000 miles one-way in economy or business class
Intra-Oceania is a big zone stretching from French Polynesia to Australia, New Zealand and beyond. It’s available for 25,000 miles one-way in business class. These can be tough awards to score, often on Air New Zealand, but it’s a steal when you can book one. The catch? We haven’t gotten the online search site to recognize the gateway to French Polynesia — Tahiti’s Faa’a International Airport (PPT) — so you may have to call to book those awards.
Bottom line
The game of chasing the best frequent flyer programs and redemptions is always changing. No single program is the best at everything, but the Turkish Miles&Smiles program is worth investigating. Especially for those who have access to Bilt points, Citi ThankYou points or Capital One miles and like to fly on Star Alliance airlines, there are some excellent value redemptions.
Additional reporting by Ben Smithson.
See Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here. See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.
Just prior to the mortgage crisis, stated income loans ran rampant, and once home prices took a turn for the worse, many of these loans defaulted at a fast clip.
Over time, it became clear that stated income was not the best way to measure a borrower’s ability to repay their obligations, especially when guaranteed home price appreciation was no longer around to pick up the slack.
The same seems to be true of loan modification performance, as evidenced by the conversion rate of mods under the Making Home Affordable program.
Loan servicers who have required income documentation prior to starting trial loan modifications have seen much greater success than those who haven’t asked for income documents upfront.
For example, subprime servicer Ocwen Financial Corp. (who required verified documentation) has seen an 83 percent success rate in converting trial loan modifications to permanent ones, while others accepting stated income have seen success rates as low as six percent.
In fact, juggernaut mortgage lenders like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase are seeing conversion rates at the low-end of the spectrum, at or around 25 percent, thanks in part to accepting stated income to get things going.
This seemingly haphazard approach (similar to the ways things were run prior to the crisis) may explain why 277,640 of the 1,214,085 trial loan modifications have already been canceled.
Fortunately, all loan servicers will be required to use verified income prior to starting a trial loan modification with an effective date on or after June 1.
That should result in a much better conversion rate for all loan servicers going forward, especially the big guys that don’t seem to be getting the job done.
Nobody likes those random extra fees that go by various names — resort fees, destination fees, amenity fees or urban fees, just to mention a few of the monikers — that get tacked onto nightly hotel room rates.
Some don’t like it so much that they’re willing to file a lawsuit against the world’s largest hotel company.
Hotel guests filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Marriott International in Los Angeles County Superior Court for what they allege were nightly surcharges on room rates that violated California’s consumer protection and unfair competition laws. The fees were labeled as “Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance Cost Surcharge” on guest bills and ran anywhere from $10 to $14 per night, depending on the hotel.
Those charges first appeared in response to an ordinance signed last year by then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. That measure requires Los Angeles hotels to provide workers with security devices like a panic button to better protect themselves against potential sexual assault. The measure also required larger hotels to provide higher wages to housekeepers cleaning above a certain threshold during a shift.
But the lawsuit maintains that the surcharge — billed as covering the costs associated with the employee protection measure — goes well above what it would actually cost a hotel owner.
“The Los Angeles Airport Marriott, for example, is a 1,004-room hotel that typically averages around an occupancy rate above 80%. Even at just 80% occupancy (803 occupied rooms per night), however, the hotel makes over $10,000 per night from guests by charging the [Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance] Fee—working out to over $3,600,000 annually at that single hotel,” reads the lawsuit. “The HWPO Fee is nothing more than a ‘junk fee’ under the guise of ‘worker protection,’ directly benefiting Marriott at the expense of their guests.”
Representatives with Marriott declined to comment when contacted by TPG.
Multiple Marriott-affiliated properties are highlighted in the lawsuit: the Los Angeles Airport Marriott, the Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles LAX/Century Boulevard, the Residence Inn by Marriott Los Angeles LAX/Century Boulevard and the Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles International Airport.
While most of the hotels accused of charging the fee were located near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the lawsuit also names the Beverly Hills Marriott.
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Fee fatigue
The lawsuit arrives amid swelling anti-fee fervor across the travel sector. U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this year even targeted resort fees in his State of the Union address amid a push to eliminate hidden fees, which are widespread in the travel industry, as part of his Junk Fee Prevention Act.
“We’ll ban surprise resort fees that hotels tack on to your bill,” Biden said in the address. “These fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren’t even resorts.”
Marriott settled with the Pennsylvania attorney general over a lawsuit targeting its resort fee practice, and the company now maintains that hotels include the fee as part of an initially advertised nightly rate.
Earlier this year, separate lawsuits in Texas were launched against Hyatt and Hilton over their respective resort fee practices.
While Marriott is once again in the legal hot seat over surcharges added to its room rates, the company’s CEO, Anthony Capuano, earlier this year touted the hotel brand’s leadership in bundling resort fees into nightly rates.
The fees aren’t going away, but better transparency might be the end game for the broader industry.
“It is not as if those were hidden somehow. We’re simply further clarifying and enhancing that transparency,” Capuano said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “I will leave it to the state [attorneys general] around the rest of the country for the rest of the industry. But I am pleased that we will lead the industry in terms of the transparency of our disclosure for our guests.”
A recent Zillow survey of housing experts found that rising mortgage rates and their impact on affordability would “be the most significant force driving the 2017 housing market.”
The prospect of rising rates beat out a lack of inventory, shifting household demographics, policy moves, and slow income growth coupled with rising home prices.
At the same time, the experts seemed to agree that 30-year fixed mortgage rates would need to rise to 5.65% before they actually “significantly” impacted home value growth. To be fair, some said 5% or lower could have an impact as well.
Another Zillow survey from a week ago that polled home buyers about their biggest concerns found rising mortgage rates to be a top factor, more so than saving for a down payment. In 2015, down payment beat out rates.
The 30-year fixed currently sits at around 4%, and because of its recent rise, along with rapidly appreciating home prices, mortgage payments are now the highest they’ve been since 2010.
But are rising mortgage rates really our biggest concern?
Rising Rates Don’t Impact Payments All That Much
While mortgage rate movement captures headlines
The math is often less exciting
A big rate change may only result in a small difference in payment
That is equal or similar to your cable bill
I’ve mentioned this before because I think mortgage rates always get the headline, but down payments and other costs are often ignored, or simply not interesting enough to talk about.
Let’s look at a $200,000 loan amount at varying interest rates to illustrate.
As noted, the 30-year fixed is hovering around 4%, maybe a tick higher. A $200,000 mortgage, which is above the national average, would cost just $954.83 in terms of principal and interest.
If that rate increases a full percentage point to 5%, a level we haven’t seen since early 2010, the monthly payment increases just $118.81.
Yes, it’s ~$119 more expensive than it was at 4%, but it’s only $119. When we’re talking about a huge home purchase, $119 shouldn’t make or break you. It’s probably less than what most people pay for cable, or their wireless bill.
If you don’t have an amount well above that set aside for ancillary expenses, maintenance, upkeep, etc., you might be overextending yourself.
At 6%, the monthly payment is $244.27 more expensive than the payment at the 4% rate. But, and this is a big but, mortgage rates would have to increase a full 50% percent from current levels for that to happen.
Again, $250 is real money, but it’s not a giant sum of money when we’re talking about a major home purchase.
If we consider the national average home price of $195,300, we’re talking a $99 monthly payment increase when rates rise from 4% to 5%. That’s less than $100, even if rates reach levels not seen in seven years.
Yes, these monthly payment increases will be felt more at higher price points, with LA home buyers paying an extra $283 per month and SF buyers forking over $396 more each month. But in relative dollars (and income) it’s not as bad as it sounds.
If rates increased to 4.5%, only four of the nation’s largest 35 metros would see mortgage payments rise more than $100. If rates increased to 5%, just 19 of the largest 35 metros would see $100+ monthly payment increases.
Amazingly, many people have indicated that they would plain give up if mortgage rates increased just 1%.
My Guess Is People Can Absorb the Higher Monthly Payment, not the Higher Down Payment
The bigger concern
Is coming up with a larger down payment
Seeing that prospective home buyers can barely muster 3% down
Even if they have no problem with the actual monthly housing payment
There is perhaps a more worrisome issue. That darn down payment. Oh, and property taxes and homeowners insurance, which also get more expensive with a higher home price.
Let’s focus on the down payment though. If the homeowner in our above scenario put down 20%, the purchase price would be $250,000.
Imagine the cost if those same homes rise to $300,000. The down payment requirement jumps to $60,000, a $10,000 increase over the prior amount needed. Even a $275,000 purchase price requires another $5,000 upfront.
If you’ve ever read a report about how much Americans set aside in savings, you’d know that coming up with an additional $10,000 (or even $5k) would be a big ask, if not an impossible one.
There’s a good chance it would force the buyer to consider a lesser down payment, and thereby get hit with mortgage insurance and/or a higher interest rate to boot. Maybe they could get a piggyback second, but they’d definitely be burdened more than if interest rates simply rose to 5%. Or even 6%.
Yes, if rates and home prices rise in tandem, which is certainly possible, it’ll hurt even more. But it seems the focus is always on interest rates. If a buyer can’t absorb another $100 to $200 a month in housing payment, you have to wonder if they should be buying the home to begin with.
