Universal Careers plans open house

universal careers review

The job hunt can be a time consuming task. Preparing resumes, scouring job boards, calling on prospective employers. Universal Careers is helping to bring the job hunt to you.

Universal Careers, a leader in the training and certification of EMT/paramedics, is holding a recruitment open house on January 18, 2011, for EMTs and paramedics.

The organization is working to bring in representatives and recruiters from the database of clients that it has already placed UC graduates into. The open house will allow Emergency Medical Services professionals the opportunity to talk one on one with these companies and organizations in both the public and private sector. The potential attendees include city emergency services, public and private hospitals, schools and care facilities.

Jack Peterson, career development for UC, said, “We are excited about bringing in a large pool of potential employers for EMS professionals to meet with. We already work with several of these groups through Universal Careers' aggressive placement programs, but the open house allows more people to benefit in one large area.”

Since 2005, Universal Careers has been training EMTs to certify in all 50 states. By using experienced paramedics as instructors, and employing hands-on state-of-the-art training in and outside of the classroom, Universal Careers has helped thousands of students certify as EMTs through their intensive course.

With employment needs in both public and private sector jobs, and an expected growth of 9% over the next decade in the EMS field, certified professionals are in demand.

For more information about the open house or to ask about programs offered at Universal Careers, call an admissions representative at (213) 290-4682 or visit the web site at www.universalcareers.org.

Universal Careers is a national leader in EMT and paramedic training and preparation. With customer service offices in Los Angeles, Calif., and a training partner in Fredericksburg, Va., UC is a state-of-the-art provider of training for individuals interested in joining the health care field. Upon successful completion of the Universal Careers EMT Basic course, students will receive additional help in obtaining their EMT Certification which makes them eligible to work with paramedics in every state in the U.S.

FHA mortgage calculator: Calculate your FHA loan easily

Description: The FHA mortgage calculator can help you easily compare loan options and work out payments on your FHA loan.

FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans were designed to assist first time homebuyers and minorities to buy a home. If you’re thinking about an FHA loan for buying your dream home but you don’t know how much you would need to spend each month, you should use an FHA mortgage calculator to calculate mortgage payments. FHA mortgage calculators are user-friendly tools and they’ve been tailored to help you work out how much you can securely manage to borrow for financing your home.

An FHA mortgage calculator can help you know more about your Federal Housing Administration home loan. Remember the following details when you’re using such a calculator.

You’re allowed to pay as little as 3.5% of the purchasing price of your home as your down payment and your closing costs can be financed through your loan. The FHA can let you know about programs that need no down payment.
FHA loan limits differ from 0one state to another. Check the loan amount for which you can qualify.

Types of FHA mortgage calculators

To calculate mortgage payments on your FHA loan, you can typically use the following calculators:

Loan affordability calculator  

With this calculator, you can easily find out whether your monthly income is adequate to become eligible for a loan.

Loan borrowing calculator

This calculator would help you work out the maximum monthly payment (principal + interest) and the maximum amount of loan for which you might be eligible. You have to input all your income and expenditures as monthly and not yearly figures.

Loan payments calculator

This tool would help you figure out the amount of your monthly payment. Calculate your insurance and taxes so that these figures can be included in the calculation process.

Loan comparison calculator

You can use this tool to compare up to three different loan products.

Amortization schedule calculator

This tool permits you to enter various loan amounts, interest rates and loan terms so that you can work out mortgage payments for different loans. In addition, you can get an amortization schedule that would demonstrate how much of your monthly payment is used to pay down your principal and how much for paying down the interest. You would get a ballpark figure since this tool doesn’t take into account insurance and taxes.

The ins and outs of car loans

Description: Get an idea about car loans or automobile loans that are popular financing options for buying a car.

Auto loans or car loans are popular financing options for buying cars. You can take out an auto loan for either buying a new or old car. Besides buying a home, buying a car is definitely an important investment in your life since it requires a lot of money. A car loan can fulfill your needs when you’re short in cash but want to buy your favorite car. Nowadays, people with bad credit can also qualify for auto loans. However, the interest rate applicable might be slightly higher than the usual.

Obtaining a car loan is not so difficult. A host of auto lenders have come up with online car financing services. They frequently offer attractive discounts and use aggressive marketing policies to pull consumers.

What is an auto loan?

An auto loan is a secured type of loan that is similar to a mortgage since the car you’re going to buy with the loan would work as the security against the loan.

What are the features of an auto loan?

A car loan typically has the following features:

The repayment term of an auto loan is generally less than the repayment term of a home loan. The loan term is also dependent on the functional life of the car.
These loans can be obtained either directly or indirectly. A bank or any other type of auto lender can finance the loan for you directly. You can also get a loan through a car dealership indirectly. The dealership works as the intermediary between the borrower and the lender.  

Calculation of your car loan payments

For working out your car loan payments, the following elements need to be inputted:

Auto loan amount
Repayment term (the number of years for which you want to take the loan)
Interest rate
Start date of loan

You can also work out the amortization schedule for your loan. Using a loan calculator, you can see how making extra payments on your loan can cut down your repayment term.

Advantages of car loans

Given below are the advantages of car financing:

These loans help you make your dream of buying your own car true
You can lower the interest rate by making a sizable down payment
You pay off the loan through scheduled monthly installments hence it’s simpler for you to budget your expenses
After paying off the loan, you can sell the car according to your convenience
You can modify your car

Disadvantages of car loans

Given below are the drawbacks of car financing:

If you fail to make your car payments in time, the lender might take away your car. It can be used, hired or sold off for recovering the loan amount.
Sometimes, the loan payments might get so high that you have to go for another loan to pay it off. In this way, you can fall into a debt trap.
The lender might ask for prepayment penalties if you pay off the loan early.

For getting the most affordable car loan rate, you need to shop around and compare rates offered by multiple lenders.

The basics of annual percentage rate and its limitations

Description: Get to know the basics of annual percentage rate and also its shortcomings.

The annual percentage rate or APR is a useful tool to compare home mortgage loans offered by various lenders. The Federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) has made it mandatory for the lenders to disclose the annual percentage rate whenever they advertise a rate.

APR basics

The APR has been formulated to regulate the advertising of interest rates and demonstrate the actual cost of borrowing to the borrower. It is expressed as an annual percentage rate. The goal of APR is to stop lenders from concealing upfront fees and other costs at the back of affordable publicized interest rates.

One puzzling feature of the annual percentage rate is that the calculation depends on the loan repayment term and hence it can’t be used to make comparisons between loans with different terms (for instance, 30 years vs 15 years). Due to this reason, annual percentage rates must only be used to compare same types of loan products and not loan products that have dissimilar repayment terms related to their payments.

What are the limitations?

The APR does have a number of limitations, largely connected to the fact that APR calculations are quite complicated and the methods of calculation differ among lenders. This indicates that two lenders with similar information might still work out two different APRs. Lenders use some caution while choosing which fees to include in the calculation of an annual percentage rate. Hence, different numbers might be generated by different lenders.

Furthermore, this model is imperfect in that when a loan product has an adjustable rate and is attached with a market index, it is believed that the index would never vary for the calculation purposes. This is a wrong belief that can generate APR numbers that can’t be compared between various lending sources.

The APR wouldn’t also inform you about prepayment penalties, balloon payments or for how much time your rate is locked in.

Under the APR, the upfront fees are distributed throughout the term of a loan. Hence the comparison of this is only precise if you intend to maintain the mortgage for the whole loan term. As most borrowers don’t retain the mortgage for the entire term (they usually refinance or shift), the annual percentage rate might make some loans appear superficially better.


You can use this number as a common rule of thumb that can help you shop around for loans. However, you must not only rely on the annual percentage rate to select which loan is most suitable for your requirements.