Ilyce Glink Radio Show Notes – Free Books, Discounted Ebooks, Black Friday, Foreclosure, Unemployment Benefits Extension?

Black Friday 2010: More Shoppers, Less Money Per Shopper

With shoppers scooping up discounted items, total sales rose a slight 0.3 percent over last year to $10.7 billion, while customer traffic increased 2.2 percent, according to ShopperTrak, which records sales and customer traffic at more than 70,000 stores and malls. That’s about the same annual sales increase in Black Friday sales as stores saw in 2009.

ShopperTrak’s data shows early holiday sales and door buster promotions impacted Friday’s performance as the company saw some unexpected strength in early November – as sales and traffic for the first two weeks of the month through Nov. 13 increased 6.1 and 6.2 percent respectively versus the same two week period in 2009. ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin says this early boost could impact retail performance beyond Black Friday and into the weeks leading into Super Saturday.

READ MORE: ShopperTrak.com

Will Congress Renew Unemployment Benefits?

From The New York Times:

Lame duck lawmakers will have only one day when they return to work on Monday to renew the expiring benefits. If they don’t, two million people will be cut off in December alone. This lack of regard for working Americans is shocking. Last summer, benefits were blocked for 51 days, as senators in both parties focused on preserving tax breaks for wealthy money managers and other affluent constituents.

This time, tax cuts for the rich are bound to drive and distort the debate again. Republicans and Democrats will almost certainly link the renewal of jobless benefits to an extension of the high-end Bush-era tax cuts. That would be a travesty. There is no good argument for letting jobless benefits expire, or for extending those cuts.

The recession that began in 2007 has led to the worst unemployment in nearly 30 years. We have record levels of long-term unemployment. The jobless rate, 9.6 percent, has been essentially unchanged since May, and nearly 42 percent of the 14.8 million jobless workers have been sidelined for six months or more.

READ MORE: Will Congress Renew Unemployment Benefits?

Sacrificing The Digital Life for a Day To Raise Awareness of World AIDS Day

You may not hear from your favorite celebrity this Wednesday, as a whole bunch have decided to sacrifice their digital lives for a day to raise awareness of those who have died from AIDS on World AIDS day.

Who won’t you be hearing from? Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Lady Gaga, David LaChapelle, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Serena Williams and Elijah Wood, among others.

Should you join them? Maybe ThinkGlink will stop tweeting on Wednesday as well.

READ MORE: Celebrities Go Offline on World AIDS Day

492 Days From Default To Foreclosure

It’s been 492 days (or more than 19 months) since the average borrower in foreclosure made a house payment. That number is growing because lenders simply can’t keep up with the number of borrowers who have gone delinquent. In short: They can’t foreclose fast enough.

The number of borrowers in severe delinquency (at least 90 days) has been falling, but is still around 700,000 for October, or twice the number of foreclosure processes that lenders have started. As a result, banks are taking longer to foreclose. A year ago, banks took 382 days to put a delinquent borrower into foreclosure. In 2007, it was 244 days.

Have you ordered your FREE BOOKS yet?

From LPS Mortgage Monitor

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – November 23, 2010 – The October Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS) shows that accelerated foreclosure referral activity over the last several months has pushed the foreclosure inventory rate to all-time highs. As of the end of October 2010, foreclosure inventories are 7.4 times historical averages and rising.

The report also shows that foreclosure sales decreased dramatically over the last month as a result of the widespread moratoria. Overall, the percentage of loans moving from the foreclosure process to bank-owned status (or other involuntary liquidation) dropped by 35% in October. The moratoria contributed to further timeline extensions, as the average number of days past delinquent for loans in the foreclosure process approaches 500.

As foreclosure activity increases, more 6- and 12-month delinquent loans are moving to foreclosure, but the extremely delinquent category (more than 12 months) continues to grow and age. A payment has not been made in more than year on almost one-third of all loans that are 90 or more days delinquent. And, of loans that have not made a payment in two years, more than 18% are still not in foreclosure.

In the month of October, 263,000 loans entered the foreclosure process, which represents a 4.4% month-over-month decline. Total inventory of foreclosures is nearly 2.1 million loans with another 2.2 million loans in the “greater than 90-days delinquent, but not yet in foreclosure” status. While delinquencies remain elevated – currently registering at 2.7 times historical averages – an ever-growing number of new 60-day delinquencies are re-defaults of loans that had previously been 60-days or more delinquent, and had become current. The number of “first-time” troubled loans, however, remained relatively stable during the last several months.

As reported in LPS’ First Look release, other key results from LPS’ latest Mortgage Monitor report include:
Total U.S. loan delinquency rate: 9.29 percent
Total U.S. foreclosure inventory rate: 3.92 percent
Total U.S. non-current* loan rate: 13.20 percent
States with most non-current* loans: Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana
States with fewest non-current* loans: North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana

*Non-current totals combine foreclosures and delinquencies as a percent of active loans in that state.
Note: Totals based on LPS Applied Analytics’ loan-level database of mortgage assets and are extrapolated to represent the industry.

READ MORE: 492 Days From Default To Foreclosure

Have you ordered your FREE BOOKS yet?

On the show today, I also talked about book deals and a GREAT gift-giving opportunity: Free books from ThinkGlink.com and Free Ebooks. See below for details.

Give the FREE Gift of Knowledge: 50 Simple Steps You Can Take To Disaster-Proof Your Finances and the REALLY Useful Guide to Working Smarter Not Harder.

The books are FREE (and retail for $15 each) – you pay the S&H.

If you order 4 or 10 books, SHIPPING IS DISCOUNTED UP TO 28%! BEST DEAL YET

Warning: We’re on our last box of the Really Useful Guide to Working Smarter Not Harder, so order soon if you want one. Once they’re gone, they’re GONE!!!!

Check out our selection of Ebooks and Podcasts for Purchase!

We have terrific ebook packages on investing in real estate and managing your money. There are more than twenty ebooks and podcasts for sale on the site. Use the discount code freeebook for our buy-two-get-the-third-free deal. This time, you pay a little for great content, and nothing for shipping!

Today’s Callers

I suggested the following websites/organizations to today’s callers:

For Loan Modification Assistance: Credability.com which is the former Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Greater Atlanta (404-527-7630)

To File a Complaint Against a Big Box Lender: HelpWithMyBank.gov/complaints (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – OCC – which regulates the big box lenders)

For Small Business Loans: SBA.gov Small Business Administration.
You might also try: Score.org for mentoring and possible business partners

Small Claims Court
Fulton County Small Claims Court
185 Central Avenue Southwest
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 613-5002

READ MORE: How to File in Small Claims Court (Claims up to $15,000)

Flood insurance information: FloodSmart.gov

Georgia Association of Enrolled Agents

Get your FREE credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. While you’re there, pay the $9 and get a copy of your credit score.

Find more information about credit scores at MyFico.com

Don’t Miss Ilyce’s Show on Sunday Mornings: Next week we fall back to our regularly scheduled time of 11a to 1p, after Wes Moss on Newstalk WSB

Check out Ilyce’s Blog on CBS MoneyWatch.com

Check out Ilyce’s Blog on the Equifax Personal Finance Blog