Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with money and Loan

Is there any way to estimate what a car & car insurance would cost me if I moved to San Francisco?

scazza — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:16:16 -0800

What are ways to estimate what a car and car insurance would cost me if I moved to San Francisco? I'm looking for what it would cost to have a reasonable, eco-friendly (not necessarily a hybrid, probably not a hybrid) car for 2 people in San Francisco. Something like a hatchback that's 1-2 years old. I live in NYC now so I have no idea how to go about estimating insurance and car loan payments. Resources? Thanks!

(There is a question about this from 2005, but I think things may have changed by now.)

Where to hide the money?

odi.et.amo — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:15:22 -0800

How can I figure out the minimum amount to keep in my checking account? Basic financial stats: I pay for everything I can (including bills) with my American Express for the cash back bonus. A few utility bills are withdrawn from my checking account, as well as rent. I pay my CC bill from checking, and my paycheck is deposited there. Income > Expenses.

My only debts are student loans (at such a low rate that I have no intentions of paying it off early), and about 4k left on a car loan that I could probably pay off now if I wanted to.

I'd like to make the most out of my savings account, though, and even though I feel like this should be easy, I can't figure out how little I need to keep in checking. Is there an easy way to figure this out? I know I can move some money to savings now, but I'd love a formula to figure out how much that should be (in addition to the money that I have automagically transferred every month).

Side question - should I put this extra money towards my car loan instead so that I can start saving even more each month? The interest rate on the car loan is between 5-6% if I recall. Online savings is with INGDirect which is somewhere around 1.4%.

Payment schedule for dodgy debtor

southof40 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:52:50 -0800

How to determine how much I'm owed by someone who's not going to pay regularly ? (in Excel preferably). I lent $x as a favour to a person I knew on the basis they would make six monthly payments of $y - the idea was they were paying me an interest payment of 7%.

It's pretty clear now that rather nice picture of life is not going to be how it is.

In the best case what's going to happen is that they're going to make more than six payments and they're not going to be monthly (the worst case is I get an expensive lesson in life).

I want a model I can use to show how much is outstanding at the end of each month and then add the interest onto the principal.

There's an awful lot of 'if you borrow this much how much will the bank charge' stuff out there but I need something which will cope with irregular payments and recalculating the principle based upon the interest received.

Something in Excel would be great but just a desciption of how it should be done would do.

Scared of going to prison due to tax payments. Need advice...

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:11:31 -0800

Scared of going to prison due to tax payments. Need advice... Please note:
*I was based in the UK.

*I know my spelling and grammar is terrible, I have learning difficulties.

* I now live in a EU country

I recently ran a company for 2 years, 1st year went very well and paid all the taxe for the company, myself and the staff contributions. 2nd year I was hit hard due to rates rising and customers going bankrupt. Which left me in no position to lay-off all the staff and leave the company premises. I tried to keep the company running but was failing to keep up with loan repayments and tax. I barely had enough to survive to pay the bills. I notified companies house that I will no longer be trading in the UK. They asked to write them a letter and I managed to get my accountant to sort out. However taxes was owed to the tax man in which I cannot close the company. There is no chance of getting out of it without declaring myself bankrupt. Which in my proffession means I cannot become a professional in that field anymore. I cannot risk this.

So I decided to move abroad to a country in Europe to start fresh. I left all my personal debt behind for personal loans which started up the company in the first place. My old company will becoming struck-off soon as lack of communication. I have been living abroad for about 8 months, starting up from scratch. Same again, finding it hard to pay bills but without owing anyone where I live. (I will no longer loan money). However I recieved a letter from one of the banks that I owe £800 too, I had not left any information of my wareabouts. They have thretened to take my belongings (Which I don't have any, apart from clothes and work computer). I'm baffled on how they found my address.

I owe approx: £30,000 spread out between banks, loans and credit cards. I leave no bad debt for my company apart from the 2nd year tax in which I lost everything.

I owe approx £3,000 in tax. I had to pay my old staff by selling equipment in the office. Nothing left on the old company is left.

My question is:

* Can the money I owe in the UK get shifted to my countries debt handlers? and risk bailiffs at my door?

* My debt: I have been told if I leave the UK for more than 5 years. The money owed will be cleared. However I have to stay annonoymous in my new address. Is this true?

* I know my company is being struck off in the UK, but the tax I owe. Can I risk getting jailtime for this?

* If I visit family in the UK could I be arrested?

* If I become a registered resident of the new EU country. Could I be tracked by other owed banks in the UK?

Bankrupsy isnt an option :(

I'm having sleepless nights over this and feel like its the end of the road.

I really appriciate any serious response, I know I'm bad for owing money to the banks. But that money was personal to setting up the company in the 1st place.

Wishing I could call JG Wentworth

bmalicoat — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:28:45 -0800

Loan to pay back loan until I get another loan? Bad idea? First, I know no one here is my financial advisor :)

I'm a college student with rent+car payments every month. During the school year I usually have extra cash from student loans that pay for those expenses. However now that it's summer I need probably 2 grand to cover them. The obviously solution is to get a job of course, however I do iPhone and other software development that pays well but only after a few months of working without pay.

So my question is what's the best way to get 2 grand with about a months notice? Right now I plan on going to my bank (the one I have my car loan through) and asking for a signature loan or seeing if they have student loans I could get now. Any other suggestions? Feel free to tell me this is a dumb idea ;)

SallieMae won't cut me a deal, who else will?

SansPoint — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:12:25 -0800

How can I consolidate my PRIVATE student loans, to make my financial life a little easier? I recently consolidated my student loans through the Federal Loan Consolidation program. My payments are now over $100/mo less than before, which is wonderful... but I could only consolidate my Federal Loans, the Staffords and such. I have about $40,000^1. in loans through Sallie-god-damn-Mae, though, that I'm paying $250/mo on. I tried consolidating those through Sallie Mae, but $40,000 isn't quite enough to consolidate with them, and now they're not even doing private loan consolidation. This is bad.

There are private loan consolidation places, but... who the hell do I trust to a) be legit, b) not go out of business or go bust due to the stupid economy, c) be *really* legit, d) not screw me over. Honestly, I don't know where to look. This is, as always, where MeFi comes in.

If it helps, right now I make around $30k a year, before taxes, insurance, and other deductions at my day job, and a varying second income of $400-$800/mo (on average) at my night job. Actually, my night job netted me $17,0000 last year, but that was my only source of income and it was five days a week—I'm down to four days a week now. I started my day job in October, after graduating in May. I don't have the cleanest record in borrower history... failing out of college, missing payments due to low income, and general idiocy, but I've begun to make up for it.

Who can I trust to take these private loans, and say, "Buddy, you can pay us $200 a month, instead."? Help!

^1. All told, having only this much in loans isn't as bad as some people, but since I'm working two jobs to make sure my head stays as much above water as it can right now... well, I don't want to hear any finger-waggling on financial irresponsibility.

Getting loan check in mom's name into my bank account.

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:52:42 -0800

My mother was recently approved for a Parent PLUS loan to cover my tuition for this year. The check is now on its way in mom's name to my address, and I have some questions... My mother, who lives across the country from me, was recently approved for a Parent PLUS loan to cover my tuition for this year. The check for $6000 in mom's name is on its way to my address, and due to several issues, I need help figuring out how to get the check into my account. The issues:

A) There is a branch of my bank where mom lives, but not a branch of mom's bank where I live
B) Mom has a long history of inability to manage finances and bouncing checks, and is currently a month behind on all of her bills
C) Mom has a husband with a drug addiction and very few scruples with whom she shares a bank account
D) The distance between us (so that we can't go to a bank together)

As far as I can tell, there are only a few options here. One, which Mom suggested, is that I sign her name, "Pay to the order of" my name, and deposit the check into my account. But: Since this is such a large check, will the bank give me problems about depositing the check without my mom being there in person? Could I deposit it in the ATM without issue?

Another option would be to send mom the check with my signature and "For Deposit Only" with my account number on the back. I would have my mother sign it and deposit it into my bank account in person. Would writing "For Deposit Only" ensure that she couldn't put it into her own account? Would my bank give her any problems for depositing the check without me being present?

The last option that I can think of would be to send the check to mom, have her put it into her bank account, and then write me a new check from that. This is not ideal for the aforementioned reasons.

What is the best, easiest, fastest way to get this check from my mailbox into my bank account with the smallest risk of mom or her husband taking the money for themselves? Is there another way I'm not thinking of?

It should be noted that this loan will get lumped in with the rest of my loans and get paid back by me, not by my mother, and that without it, I will be unable to complete this semester at school.

How do I give money to a friend who is too proud to accept it?

pennstatephil — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:55:49 -0800

A friend of mine is coming in from a couple hours away (each way) for the night (halloween party), and money is tight on her end. I would go pick her up myself, but have to work late into the afternoon and wouldn't have time to drive up and back twice between today and tomorrow. I want to give her the money for gas (I am in a much better position financially), since I know this is a big expense for her and she is saving me the trip, but she is very independent and does not want me reimbursing her. How can I get her to accept it without making damaging her ego or seeming like this is out of pity?

Name That Loan Company

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:41:47 -0800

Help name my friend's finance business! Name my friend's finance business!

My friend is starting up a personal loan type business. (Personal, or debt cosnolidation - NOT Mortgages - Think Prosper.com) She's essentially a broker who helps get the I's dotted and the T's crossed.

Before you cry foul, the business model is based on 2 sales types.

1) a DIY kit that provides the basic information needed to phone/mail down the loan that fits your needs and listings of lenders that will meet that profile based on credit score and the types of lending they do. Cost for this will be a basic $49.95.

2) A "hold-your-hand" service with no upfront costs. Percentage due upon obtaining a loan. This service will likely speed up the results for the borrower as she's already got relationships with many of these smaller lenders and can likely pinpoint the best place to give the loan in short time frames.

A Bonus for both of these is that Credit/Debt awareness, ways to use the money to improve credit score, and a combination of the various Consumer spending knowledge/facts will also be distributed in package 1 and more direct training will be provided in package 2 (think consumerist, iwillteachyoutoberich blog, etc)

She also hopes to educate the borrowers on how she thinks it might be best get out debt or at least be on the right path with the new money they borrow (likely at way better interest rates than credit cards and such if they have a decent income and can snowball or payback their debt with a little help)

Problem is she's not a marketing whiz (nor am I)

Looking for a business name that sounds and looks good, hopefully with the .com available and if we're really lucky.. a 1-8xx-abcdefgh telephone number also available. (Phone number doesn't need to match the name, but bonus points if it can)

I think it's a worthy goal and many of the people she expects to help are either not web-savvy or wouldn't have the time and patience to try to sift through and piece together all the info and filter out the bad to get to the good stuff.

What do you think MeFi-tes? Worth your time and effort to help on this goal?

Wamu failure: Action items?

everichon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:04:55 -0800

We have some money in a Wamu checking account, and an equity loan. Since the word is that Wamu is teetering, what should we expect to happen to the checking account money and the equity loan? Specifically:

* If they get bought up, will we lose anything?
* If they simply fail, will we lose anything?
* Does it make sense to yank our checking account?
* What happens to your loan when your lender folds? (I know you don't get off the hook, I just want to know if there are action items).

Can I take a Stafford loan without the help of my school?

serazin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:29:07 -0800

Can I apply for a Stafford loan without going through my school? I am enrolled in a nursing program at a very disorganized and poorly funded community college. I started August 20. Due to "the new computer system isn't working" type problems, no one's financial aid paperwork has been processed for this year. So I've received no aid and neither has anyone else. The person in charge of loans is refusing to even talk to any students until "the computer system is fixed" which could be "never" as far as I can tell. I'm a broke single mama and I'm starting to get desperate.

I want to apply for subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. Is there any way I can do this on my own - since the financial aid department will not help me or even talk to me?

Thanks folk!

How can I use my law degree and still like my life?

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:47:38 -0800

I'm getting a law degree but I hate being adversarial. Any ideas for something fun to do with this degree? I know there are books about this question, but I thought some of you lovely people might have personal experiences you could share, or at least some outside-the-box ideas.

I came to law school because I wanted to be a public interest lawyer -- I like helping people. I have one year left before I graduate and sit for the bar. I have spent the last two years learning about indigent defense and working at the public defender's office. Even though I think the work public defenders do is very important, I think it makes me miserable.

I admire public interest lawyers who fight for good, but the truth is that I just hate fighting! That is hard to admit, and it took me a long time to own up to it, but it's just true. Fighting just depresses me.

If I could turn back time, I would never have gone to law school. I would have opened up an organic coffee cart near the beach, or become a dog walker or something. But now I owe $120K in student loans (and by the end of this year, I'll owe around $180K). So I sort of feel like there is no turning back...I'm going to need to get a decent-paying job just to pay off the loans, which means something in the legal field. ...Right?

(For anyone wondering how my debt could be so huge: tuition is $35K per year, and I get about $25K per year for living expenses. Cost of living in my city is pretty much as high as it gets within the US.)

How much interest for a family loan?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:32:51 -0800

A family member loaned me money a few years ago. I would like to pay it back with interest. How much interest should I pay it back with? A few years ago, I had some financial troubles and I was too proud to ask for money. A family member recognized the difficulty I was in and wrote me a large cheque for a few thousand dollars. She told me to take it with no strings attached and just to pay it back whenever I could. She has been gracious about this and has never mentioned it since. It has taken me a few years to get back on my feet and I have been slowly saving up over the years to try and pay this amount back.

However, I would like to pay this back at its "real" value as the loan has been for a few years now and I feel it is only fair to add some interest to it. At the very least, I figure I should add some to it due to inflation and the fact that if the money had otherwise been invested, it could have grown a little bit.

Assuming the loan was for $2500, what would be a reasonable rate / amount to repay?

Help with student loan

Black_Umbrella — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:17:05 -0800

I am looking for the best general student loan company. What are your experienes with specific student loan companies? So I have managed to pay for the first 4 years of my 5 year program. But now I am completely broke so I need a student loan.

I have talked to a financial officer at my school who more or less said "most are good". What I would like from the hive are some of your experiences with specific loan providers.

Perhaps you may even know the "best of the best" loan providers if you have recently spent time researching this.

My permenent address is considered to be Maryland and my school is located in New Jersey.

I already recieve federal perkins and direct loans.

Misc. Information:
I NEED the loan to cover everything...i.e.: food, housing, books, tuition, etc

I just put myself into credit card debt by flying back to my school from Australia (study abroad). Can I increase my loan to pay off this debt and consolidate it under a better APR?

Am I allowed to increase my loan by a few grand, 3K - 4K, for my own personal use during my last year? Most will be spent on drinks, concerts and the occasional weekend trip - so not exactly a school expense, just a little NECESSARY relaxation.

Money for the American dream...

odi.et.amo — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:36:53 -0800

What's the best way to loan money to a friend? Besides the obvious answer that most will come up with of "Don't do it at all", does anyone have experience with making a personal loan (1500 US) more official?

The friend specifically suggested having some sort of documentation and interest involved in the payment process. How should I go about doing this?

And to avoid any speculation in the responses, the loan is to help cover costs associated with filing for citizenship.

Student Loans and FHA Debt to Income Ratio

Dr. Zira — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:35:13 -0800

Does a student loan in deferment count as debt for the purposes of figuring debt to income ratios in an FHA loan? We're looking at applying for an FHA home loan. I had a lender tell me that my student loans, currently in deferment until graduation in May, then in grace period for six months after that, would be counted against my debt to income ratio now.
The lender says that in order to not have them counted against my debt to income ratio right now, I would have to provide documentation from the student loan lender that they would be deferred from one year of closing date of the mortgage. At best, I think I could only document the current deferment and subsequent grace period (six months after I graduate). As to applying for a forbearance, I don't think I can apply for that until I'm actually in repayment and even at that most lenders, apparently, only grant forbearances for 6 months at a time. It seems weird to count this as debt now, especially since my future income from my full time job which will kick in the future won't be counted.

Is this one-year deferment doc requirement a lender-specific thing or a HUD thing?
Anybody have experience doing this?

How do I take on these financial burdens, step by step?

cowbellemoo — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:15:25 -0800

My crappy car was deemed totaled and I'm going to accept the payout and finance a new used car. I'd also like to move into an apartment soon. Step by step, how do I wrangle this plan into fruition? Current situation: I co-own an old Corolla with my mom and I'm listed on her insurance. I was in an accident and the at-fault driver's insurance is taking the claim. I went in for an estimate and they said they're considering it totaled and will contact me with an offer. I'd like to take the payout (guessing ~$800) and finance a reliable car for around $10k. I have good credit for my age, $4k in credit debt, $15k in student loans, no savings. I pull in about $1300 per month after stu. loan payments. I live with my mother (so no rent, but I pay utilities and groceries). I'd like to move out within a few months.

So my three financial changes are: finance new used car, move auto insurance to my own account, and eventually get a modest apartment.

My questions: Step by step, what should I plan on? How much cash I should have available, and at what point for each step? Since the car's financing is adjustable, what downpayment/monthly bill/contract length should I shoot for? How can I handle the car handover so I'm not carless at any point?

I've only recently developed the confidence to strike out on my own, and these problems are one of my biggest sources of anxiety, so any help on these points is deeply appreciated.

Certificate of Deposits

benji — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:32:26 -0800

What is the best place to get a CD (Certificate of Deposit)? I am looking at getting a CD for about 10,000 for around a year. Anyone have any experience with this? How legit is eloan.com (who seems to have the best rates)?

Refinancing my home, but it's appraised too low.

foodybat — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:19:10 -0800

Trying to Refinance my home (& consolidate some bills). 1 year ago it was appraised at $410k. In the middle of this process, my lender indicated that 2 different appraisers indicated that it's only worth $350k compare to other similar homes in my area... although they haven't come out to do the appraisal yet. I'm concerned that because this is what they believe the value to be, it will be that or close to it. In order for me to do what I need to do (with my bills), I need the value of my home to be at $410. What can/should I do? I have a $325k balance on my home, i need about $30k ... so at 90% (yes, not 80, but I had to go to 90 ... and that was using $410k) Loan to Value, I can accomplish what I need to.

If the appraisers are correct (which they probably are)...is there anything I can do to increase the value of my home in their eyes, or is there anyway the lender can use the appraisal from a year ago or something?

What can I do, if anything?

How to not break legs in case of default?

Clementines4ever — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 05:26:45 -0800

How do I lend someone money? I would like to lend someone 5000 dollars. What documents should I draw up to protect myself in case the person is late or refuses to return the loan (it is low risk)? The loan would be for a period not exceeding 60 days. Also, how can I get around the usury laws in Canada (max 60% interest) if the person has offered 15% over the 60 days (90% APR)?

Want to cheapen my debt expenditures. Know of any cheap money (unsecured loans)?

zpousman — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:29:03 -0800

Cheap Money Filter: I've got a moderate amount of credit card debt right now ($15k), at reasonable but not great rates (13-18%). I'll be making more money in the upcoming year, and the debt load is manageable, but I want to explore trading these loans with an unsecured line-of-credit type loan or some other loan. Advice? Suggestions on where to get a good rate (i.e. got any good junk mail lately)? Should I even look at a credit card loan (i.e., open a new card and transfer balances)? These have the advantage of having low introductory rates, and, if the rate lasted a year, that's a year of free money (I'll probably pay this debt off in 2 years). I've got a flyer from B of A with a 9.9% fixed loan that seems like it would serve me well. It's a line of credit (unsecured). Has anybody gotten similar but better offers in the recent past? Pitfalls to avoid? If so, I'd love to hear about it. I see that lending tree can show me loans of this type, but I'm sure that means trading info for thousands of pieces of email and junkmail.

Need $3000 liquid cash

|n$eCur3 — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:00:24 -0800

I just landed a well paying job in Seattle after having a soul sucking job, where I did not save a penny for about a year. While the new salary will be great, I am essentially broke, and I need a $3000 loan to relocate and get started (which has been determined to be my responsibility to cover by negociation). None of my relatives or friends have this kind of cash, nor do I have a credit card. So how would I go about getting $3000? Can I just take my job offer into a bank and use that as leverage for a loan? Mefites, help me back out of this corner and find the cash to live my dream.

when it rains...

whatitis — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:42:11 -0800

How much money should I loan a very good friend of mine in a tough situation? I feel lost as to what I should do. (extended facts in the extended) A very good friend of mine has had things go horribly wrong for her in the past couple weeks. Fiance broke up with her, lost her job, car had a boot put on it...

- She does not have enough money ($851) to pay to get the boot taken off. It was apparently put on because of outstanding tickets from a prior roommate who used the car, but my friend never knew of the tickets.
- Her parents are already loaning her money to cover her bills.
- I am in school, but work weekends. I've been working and saving up money for something. Without getting too specific, it's something that would make me a very happy person for a long time, I've been looking forward to it for a long time, etc. etc. but it is not a necessity.
- The money I have saved would cover the boot bill.
- I don't know when I would be payed back, but probably not for a long while.
- She lives in another state, needs a car to get a job, and the likelihood of getting the city to waive $851 in tickets is nil.

So how much should I loan my bestest friend? I have the money and want to help her, but am struggling with my own... selfishness. Do I offer to pay part of it and hope the rest of our mutual friends pick up the rest? What are my obligations?

Or just a discussion.... I feel more than a little lost. Any thoughts to help me help her are appreciated ahead of when they are posted.

How do I pay a large amount of money on my student loans?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 07:16:23 -0800

I have a surprise chance to pay off my student loans (!), so how do I go about doing this in the way that's best for me? My "more inside" has a few details about possibilities / ideas. I got money from a relative's will that is to be used only to pay off my student loans. I'm intensely grateful for this chance, and now I'm just figuring out how to handle it in the most practical way.

So what is the best material way to pay my two loan holders (Sallie Mae and the US Dept. of Education) in the way that's most beneficial to me -- such as via a card that gives a small amount of cash back, because any cash would be really helpful to me.

I have my paypal debit card that I use for all my everyday stuff because it gives me 1.5% cash back. (1.5% cash back would be over $700, given this amount I'm paying to the loans.) But my cash limit on that card is only $400 a day, and at that rate I would be paying them every day for 3.5 months (over which time my loans would increase in interest enough that it might not even be worth it?).

I have poor enough credit that I can't get another credit card with a higher daily limit right now.

Is there something I'm not thinking of (I know very little about money) that is a way to get 44K total to my two loan holders and get some kind of cash back? Should I see if my mom (who has good credit) can get some cash-back credit card, so she can do the payments? If so, what card should she get??

I am not at all used to dealing with money correctly, so any help would be hugely appreciated. If it matters, the money was not officially willed to me but to my mom (nothing was willed to me), and the agreement is that from that I get the amount of money that will directly pay off my student loans. Also, student loans are the only debt I have, if that matters.

Help my friend stay away from the Loan Tree!

blindcarboncopy — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 11:48:51 -0800

I am seeking some unbiased advice on personal loan consolidation. Search engines are too spammed by commercial outfits of dubious value to be of any help. But MeFi knows everything! I am asking this for a friend (yes, really) who has fallen on hard times financially and is asking me for advice. I can certainly help her with things like budgeting and planning and so on; however I feel it may be in her best interest to get her high-APR loans consolidated. Problem is, I don't know very much about how this process works.

The situation in a nutshell is this: she has a new steady but not highly-paid job - for argument's sake, let's say $12/hour takehome - and maybe 10K of loans overall. I haven't seen the full financials yet so this is my guesstimating. Of that, about 3 thousand is ridiculously high-APR credit card loans that need to go; the rest is more reasonable but still way above market rate. She also has an immediate backlog on bills that she just doesn't have the money to pay (rent and utilities) amounting to something like $800.

The question is thus: what is the best way to get all her loans consolidated into one, with a reasonable APR? Also, is there a chance of taking out an additional personal loan (said $800) under the same rate at that time? I want to emphasize that my friend is overall fiscally responcible and I am confident in her ability to make timely payments once she gets out of the immediate hole. I feel confident enough about it to offer to put up some cash as collateral on her loans (which she's refused to accept so far but is still an open possibility as far as I am concerned). All advice is much appreciated!