Debt
How To Opt Out of Credit Card Offers
Does your mail box fill up with offers from credit card companies? Sometimes they will mail you checks and pre-approved credit cards. It is annoying, and its also a waste of time to go through them. You must also shred them to be sure no one steals your identity.
Those of you with an ecology [...]
Are the Educated Smarter With Finances?
A new study shows that prior to the current economic crisis, it was the highly educated people that were more inclined to have unmanageable levels of debt. The percentage of Americans with more than 40% of their income going to debt payments increased from under 15% in 1991 to 27% in 2008.
You [...]
Debt Collector Fraud in the News
Over the last 4 years we have seem an epidemic of people that have been late on their monthly debt repayments. Many of these borrowers have never been late on payments before, however during the recession people often have to deal with multiple problems. It used to be common that someone just had [...]
Credit or Gift Card Positives, Negatives and Innovation
The banking industry has never been known as innovators or centers of creativity, that’s why an article in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention today: Ice-Cream Bank’s Rocky Road. I’ll get to the article in a moment, but my gripe with credit cards and gift cards is that although they provide [...]
Home Mortgage Good News
I’ve talked to several people who have been having difficulty staying current on their mortgage, some just over the past year, and others that have been struggling for several years that have qualified for help recently, and they are able to stay in their homes. Some have even been turned down [...]
Wrongful Foreclosure Compensation Deadline Approaching
If you’re one of the millions of people who’ve faced losing your home through a wrongful foreclosure, you might get help, but you must act quickly. Homes that were foreclosed on in 2009 and 2010 should find out about the free Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) process. The IFR process is by the [...]
Is Loaning to Friends a Good Idea?
Often I am asked what I think about loans between friends or family. There are usually two reasons where I see this happening, either to help bail someone out of a difficult financial situation or as way for the lender to earn interest, while helping a friend reduce their debt.
If the motive is [...]
Capital One Credit Card Woes
The credit card industry, within the last few years, has come under closer oversight and regulation. Dave Ramsey in his Financial Peace University class lessons of Dumping Debt and Credit Sharks in Suits has been particularly critical of the bad behavior and sometimes illegal practices of credit [...]
Lender Reduced Interest Rate to 1% for Veteran
I just spoke to a good friend and veteran in Columbus Ohio that has a mortgage with JP Morgan Chase for 30 years at just over 6%. Chase lowered their interest rate to 1% for 3 years, which made their monthly payment drop by about $400. They were told that this was a special program for people who [...]
When to Pay off Your Mortgage
There is quite a bit of miss-information when it comes to whether someone should pay-off their mortgage. On one hand it is wise to have as a goal to someday have a mortgage free home, especially as one enters the retirement years, and minimizing of cash flow and simplification are goals. Many [...]
When to Use Credit Counseling Agencies
US households debt service ratio is now down to 11.5 percent from a high of 14.0 percent, in the third quarter of 2007. People are making great strides to reduce or eliminate debt altogether. This is good news, however many people are still concerned about their debt. The conventional ways of debt [...]
Important Credit Score Information
This is a follow-up to an earlier article about an excellent series from The Columbus Dispatch about significant errors of credit agencies combining the credit history of other people, usually family members or others with similar names, that have bad credit. Some of the stories really blew my [...]
Credit Score News
The Columbus Dispatch reported significant errors of credit agencies combining the credit history of other people, usually family members or others with similar names, that have bad credit. Bad credit and other bad information on the reports prevents people from obtaining all sorts of loans, such [...]
How to Break the Pay-Day Loan Trap
A lot of people are stuck in a cycle of using Pay-Day and Checking Cashing stores, and they don’t know how to get out of them. First let’s understand how they work to both help people then trap them in an ever ending cycle of debt and pain.
Loan is given, equal to one or two paychecks, and is [...]
Bank of America New Plan for Foreclosing Homes
The Wall Street Journal reported that BofA is initially offering in New York, Arizona and Nevada homeowners who are having difficulty making mortgage payments, to lease their home back to them, at market rates, in exchange for transferring the deed to the bank using a ‘deed-in-lieu of [...]
What to do with your Tax Refund
When we find out we are going to receive what might be thousands of dollars in tax refunds from the Federal or State Governments, we have two competing impulses: wants versus needs. Those that are struggling may want to give this issue serious consideration, because any windfall like tax refunds [...]
The Challenge of Low Interest Rates
Interest rates are extremely low, providing challenges for borrowers and investors alike. For potential buyers there may be the temptation to purchase things using debt, instead of saving money for things that are wanted. Renters of apartments are attracted to buy homes since interest rates are at [...]
News about lenders: Post Bankruptcy Collections, Auto Loans, and Pay-Day Lenders
If you have had some difficulty with making debt payments recently, this article may be for you.
It is has been reported in several places including the Wall Street Journal, that even though people declared bankruptcy, some lenders still tried to collect on the old debt. This is an illegal [...]
The truth about teens in debt
This is a guest post from Stewart Smith
In the present financial situation, the money that you earn from your job is just not sufficient to cover everything you want. Now, the most obvious solution would be to get a credit card in order to fulfill all your desires. Well, this is the way how most [...]
Refinancing Mortgage Considerations
Should I refinance our mortgage to get a lower interest rate? The old rule of thumb was if you are going to stay in your home for a few years, and interest rates drop more than your current rate by 1%, then it will be worth your while to refinance. Meaning since there are closing costs, it may take [...]
Repay debt or fund 401k?
Dave Ramsey in his Financial Peace University class advocates that in order for people to pay off their non-mortgage debt like credit cards, car and student loans, that they should get the Gazelle mentality: temporarily cut back on all expenses, get second jobs, and stop funding their 401k and [...]
