Letters to the Editor

Cheers to the Roneys

Dear Louis and beautiful wife Joy,

I hope this note finds you well and enjoying the days together.

I so much enjoy your articles, and I savor each new edition. You are a voice of reason in a wilderness of deceit and greed. Please keep up the “crying in the wilderness” — your wisdom does not all fall on deaf ears.

As you can tell, I am a terrible writer, but I hope it is enough for you both to know how much you are appreciated and thought of in our community — and by Bill and me, especially.

—Margie Bridges

Former Winter Park commissioner

Senate should OK Clean Energy bill

Another oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico is not reassuring.

Injured workers, polluted waters, closed fisheries and contaminated wildlife are just some of what the last 100 days of the BP oil rig explosion and collapse produced. While Americans need jobs, good jobs that could be provided by solar, wind, geothermal or even vegetable-based fuels, the Senate has failed to pass legislation — called Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S. 3663) — to match the House of Representatives’ action last summer.

Such action could give welcome relief to those workers displaced by our oil dependency and the rising cost of fueling their cars to get to work. The plight of our workers is tied directly to the loss of turtles, dolphins, manatees and fisheries polluted by oil because we could offer long-term, good-paying jobs instead of short-term work cleaning up oil from stained beaches or oil soaked birds and wildlife.

Our Gulf coastal wetlands will suffer from the long-term effects of oil pollution affecting juvenile fish, shellfish, lobsters, crayfish and shrimp for years to come. Their needed coastal nurseries could be purchased by existing funds made available by the bill. Congress should act now.

—Dr. Joseph Siry

Winter Park

The devastating Deepwater Horizon oil disaster has killed thousands of birds, hundreds of endangered and threatened sea turtles and dozens of marine mammals. The full extent of the environmental and economic impacts may not be known for years.

Senators Bill Nelson and George LeMieux and their colleagues in the U.S. Senate should take immediate action to pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S. 3663) when they return to Washington, D.C., this month. This critical legislation will address much needed drilling reforms and safeguard our wildlife and wild places.

The preservation and protection of the Gulf of Mexico and the wildlife and marine life are vital to Florida’s economy.

The bill would also guarantee funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund — an important tool for preserving and restoring habitat in the Gulf.

—Wendy Errickson

Lockhart

The devastating Deepwater Horizon oil disaster has killed thousands of birds, hundreds of endangered and threatened sea turtles and dozens of marine mammals. It has impacted hundreds of miles of coastline and severely damaged the tourism- and fishery-based economy of the region. The full extent of the environmental and economic impacts may not be known for years.

Senators Bill Nelson and George LeMieux of Florida and their colleagues in the U.S. Senate should take immediate action to pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S. 3663) when they return to Washington, D.C., this month. This critical legislation will address much-needed drilling reforms and safeguard our wildlife and wild places.

The media is still the most powerful source of information, so please make this horrible catastrophe the forefront of your news so we can keep the fallout of this spill from falling off the political radar, and encourage constituents to use their power as voters to effect positive change for the Gulf region and beyond.

—Michaela Fazecas

Oviedo

Deep water drilling has impacted our environment by endangering the wildlife and our communities. The EPA is underfunded and ineffective.

We as a country need to pursue other means of power, solar and wind energy and we need to take action to pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S.3663). I urge our politicians to stand on the side of common sense and environmental protection.

—Barbara Young

Orlando

Credit crunch

Considering today’s financial climate, sitting before a loan officer and applying for a mortgage can be a stressful endeavor. In order to determine if you’re a viable candidate, lenders will review your credit score. And it better be good, because lending institutions consider this a key factor when deciding whether or not you’ll be deemed “creditworthy.”

Unfortunately for consumers, many lenders have recently raised their minimum score requirements from 580 to 620 in an attempt to mollify high foreclosure rates. This means that institutions who want to sell their mortgage loans have to use that same minimum score as a cutoff point. The good news is that thanks to Fannie Mae’s “expanded approval” program, consumers with slightly blemished credit can also qualify for mortgages at competitive rates that are as much as two percentage points lower than alternative financing.

If your credit isn’t good enough for Fannie Mae, you may qualify for a loan insured by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). These government-insured loans are issued with more lenient credit criteria — allowing borrowers to put as little as 3 percent down and wrap closing costs and fees into the mortgage. Although these are more flexible and up front, interest rates are typically less than a quarter of a point higher than those in the conventional market. To be considered for FHA financing, find a HUD-approved lender or a mortgage broker who works with one.

Another option is to improve your credit score before qualifying for a mortgage. This can be accomplished fairly quickly if you pay down your credit cards, limit your charges to 30 percent or less of a card’s limit, and use your older credit cards every few months (the older your credit history, the better).

Being “mortgage-savvy” has become critical, especially when the ways and means of securing a home loan have become more involved than they were just two years ago. A good mortgage lender will provide you with the information you need to better understand the loan process. If your credit score doesn’t pass muster, knowing your options can help you make informed, financially sound decisions.

—Andy Insua

Head of mortgage for the Fifth Third Bank Central Florida Affiliate