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Posted
Feb 01 2008, 02:47 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What happens to people after they lose their homes to foreclosure or a short sale? DebtKid lived in his office for two months until he saved enough cash to rent a place. He showered at a nearby gym every morning before returning to the office for the workday. His employees never suspected. His post, part of a group effort by several personal-finance bloggers on the topic of homeownership, provides several options for no-cost housing until you can get back on your feet -- and tips for finding a rental despite your damaged credit score.
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Posted
Jul 22 2008, 11:34 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
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.
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Posted
Aug 19 2009, 06:14 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Xin Lu at partner blog Wise Bread.
Rising home loan delinquencies and foreclosures have made con artists very busy.
These scammers use public records to find homeowners who are in trouble, and then use a variety of schemes to take their money and property in the name of helping them avoid foreclosure. If you have late payments on your home loan, it's likely you will be targeted.
The following are some warning signs that you are dealing with a possible scammer:
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Posted
Sep 22 2009, 04:19 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Conventional wisdom would seem to dictate that someone with an excellent credit score is less likely to walk away from a mortgage than someone with poor credit.
That's not so, syndicated real estate columnist Kenneth Harney writes in a story The Washington Post headlined "Good credit scores, deadbeat choices." In fact, people with excellent credit scores are 50% more likely to "strategically default" on their mortgages -- intentionally walk away -- than are lower scoring borrowers, according to a study by credit bureau Experian and consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
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Posted
Apr 14 2009, 11:51 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Madison at My Dollar Plan launched an ethical debate. She and her husband qualify on paper for a mortgage modification through the Making Homes Affordable program -- but they don't really need it.
Is it OK to take advantage of a program intended to help struggling homeowners when you can easily afford your monthly payment?
That's one of several questions about ethical personal-finance behavior that have surfaced online recently. Age-old dilemmas have been cloaked in modern terms. Here are a few that PF bloggers have addressed:
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Posted
Feb 04 2008, 10:36 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Randall at Credit Withdrawal equates a soon-to-be-unaffordable adjustable-rate mortgage to the shark in "Jaws," and advises, "It's not going to get any easier by ignoring the problem and hoping it swims away." Randall provides some steps to take to try to keep your roof over your head, as well as sources of information about avoiding foreclosure. If you can't refinance and you have a good relationship with your lender, you can ask to renegotiate the loan or reschedule the payments, Randall says. Some people are eligible for no-interest loans to catch up on missed payments. Study your options, he adds. "With the upswing in mortgage defaults, there's more organizations than ever before that are trying to help the consumer to get through the tough times," he writes. Find a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, and check out Web sites like those provided by HUD and the FHA. For Randall's complete list of online resources, click here.
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Posted
Nov 24 2008, 12:04 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
History shows that in bad economic times, people prefer slow songs with meaningful lyrics -- and Playmates of the Year are more mature and are less voluptuous. Is the current economic slump affecting human behavior in bizarre or unexpected ways? We looked around for clues on the Web. This seemed the most amazing: Last month's Mega Millions $42 million winner opted to take the jackpot in 26 annual installments rather than a lump sum.
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Posted
May 28 2009, 08:13 AM
by
Catherine Holahan
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
 The family dog is the latest casualty of rising foreclosures.
As more families are forced to sell their homes, an increasing number of pets are being left behind in shelters or, worse, empty houses. Though it is difficult to put an exact figure on the number of abandoned pets, shelters across the country say they are seeing double-digit percentage increases in the number of animals left in their care. The Humane Society estimates that more than 3 million animals will be euthanized this year.
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Posted
Dec 01 2008, 07:50 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
I spent Black Friday on foot and on the bus, which is unusual for me. Although I take public transit to the university, I do most of my shopping by car -- in part because I'm pressed for time and in part because it allows me to buy heavy items or stock up when there's a particularly good sale. And I've always done Black Friday with a car, but this year my daughter and son-in-law borrowed my vehicle to visit his folks.
Taking buses to the stores meant being limited to the transit schedule, and having to carry my purchases from place to place instead of putting them in the trunk. It meant being exposed to windy, rainy weather. It meant a lot of walking in one shopping area, which aggravated a foot problem; I was hobbling pretty painfully by the time I got home.
All of which was an object lesson: Not everyone is lucky enough to live relatively close to stores and to have access to a car or public transit. A lack of shopping options coupled with rising food prices hits some populations pretty hard.
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Posted
Oct 29 2008, 05:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Lisa Wade McCormick at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com: Leanne Potts can't shake the painful image. A distressed pet owner told Potts she'd lost her home and business and could no longer afford to take care of her beloved dog. The Chattanooga woman then asked Potts' organization to take her 8-year-old basset hound. The story is one her animal-rescue group in Tennessee is encountering often during these tough economic times.
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