Browse by Tags
-
Posted
Jul 22 2008, 11:34 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Two reports released this week show that bankruptcy reform passed in 2005 -- rather than helping consumers -- actually costs consumers in the form of more credit card debt, and may be causing greater losses to banks due to increased foreclosures. According to a study by Michael Simkovic of the John M. Olin Center for Law and Economics at Harvard Law School: Supporters of the law claimed that it would benefit consumers as well as creditors, because reducing the losses faced by creditors would lower the cost of credit to consumers. ... The data suggests that although bankruptcies and credit card company losses decreased, and credit card companies achieved record profits, the cost to consumers of credit card debt actually increased. In other words, the 2005 bankruptcy reforms profited credit card companies at consumers' expense.
Read More...
-
Posted
Apr 09 2008, 03:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Do not -- we repeat, do not -- try the drinking game created by "Finance Girl" if you've made a mess of your finances. (Actually, in the name of responsible consumption, you probably shouldn't try it at all.) But Finance Girl's post at Finance Gets Personal about her game -- which she calls "Financial I Never" -- makes solid points about money management in a roundabout way. Plus, her running commentary as she pretends to play (we're actually guessing that she's pretending) is pretty funny. To play this game, all you have to do is down a shot every time you've done one of the things on her "I never" list. The first question is: "I've never bounced a check."
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 04 2008, 08:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
If anything is apparent from our recent economic slide, it's that many good people could use help to learn more about the financial basics they need to get through life. It doesn't stop with shopping for a mortgage. How many people know the best way to pick car and health insurance,  and investment and retirement accounts? For starters, did you know that you can get all three -- yes, there are three -- of your credit reports for free? Help has arrived in the form of National Consumer Protection Week. Organizers around the country -- including government agencies and consumer-advocacy groups -- have joined forces this week to teach people about these fundamentals. As this government Web site notes: "Education is the first line of defense for consumers to manage their money wisely and protect themselves against frauds or rip-offs." For a comprehensive list of online resources, click here.
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 28 2008, 12:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
If your lifestyle is dependent on a home-equity line of credit, your spending may be in for a sudden adjustment. Lenders are lowering or cutting off access to HELOCs, particularly in areas where property values are declining. Blogger Mighty Bargain Hunter has an opinion about that. "Since trying to borrow your way to prosperity doesn't work," MBH writes, "I'm very glad to see this happening."
Read More...
-
Posted
Jan 22 2008, 05:38 PM
by
Karen Datko
As if we needed another indication that the U.S. economy is stressed, car-buyer blog KickingTires reports that the average age of people buying new cars has gone up significantly in the last year. It was 43 at the beginning of 2007. It's now 48. "Buyer age rose because young consumers were forced to the sidelines by having to make mortgage and credit card payments at the expense of car installments," KickingTires says. This post also shares some noteworthy statistics about the car preferences of different age groups.
Read More...
-
Posted
Dec 19 2007, 06:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Are you struggling to spend all of your money each month? Do you get to the end of the month, only to learn that cash is just sitting there in your checking account? Well, if you've got this problem -- and who doesn't? -- here are 10 surefire solutions: Stop tracking your spending. When I see a family with excess cash each month, nine times out of 10, the problem is they're keeping track of what they spend. So turn off that spreadsheet and uninstall Quicken. And while you're at it, go ahead and disable the check- engine light in your car. Buy more house than you need. Buying a monster house and financing 100% of the purchase with a first mortgage and one or two equity lines of credit is a great way to rid your bank account of all that excess cash. Oh, and make sure the loan comes with a variable interest rate and interest-only payments. You may spend less at first, but don't worry, in a few years money will by flying out of your checking account like chili out of a drunken sailor.
Read More...
-
Posted
Dec 03 2007, 12:42 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
How did the concept of the American dream devolve into the American nightmare? The concept started out as a noble one, writes The Baglady, who traced it to "The Epic of America" by James Truslow Adams. The historian wrote: "But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement." How the heck did this ideal become the sales pitch for buying oversized homes with no money down? asks The Baglady, who discards the term "home buyer" in favor of "home debtor."
Read More...
-
Posted
Nov 27 2007, 01:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
You don't get deeply into debt overnight. Glblguy at Gather Little by Little , quoting from a song by Casting Crown, calls the process a "slow fade." It took considerable guts for him to tell the story of his fade; he made a multitude of bad financial decisions. It began with his first credit card and slid downhill from there: more credit cards , bigger balances and minimum payments; a car purchased with no down payment; a house with only 5% down . "The only good decision we made here was getting a 30-year fixed-rate loan," he writes. At one point he used retirement savings to pay off the credit card debt, only to allow it to balloon again. The next sentence will sound chillingly familiar to many: "Our path to financial problems started with a $500 credit card when I was 18 and snowballed into a sizable chunk of debt across more than four credit cards, a camper, two new cars and a mortgage." The slow fade has stopped, and glblguy has seen the light of financial responsibility. He warns
Read More...
|
