America’s debt load continues to rise. According to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit from the New York Federal Reserve, our collective debt is $13.54 trillion as of Q4 2018.
While the vast majority is mortgage debt, credit card debt topped a trillion dollars recently, and we’re compounding the problem by paying
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You’ve set up a spending plan – but your plan didn’t consider the fun events that you see on your social media feeds. You can’t afford to go to all of them, yet you can’t afford not to thanks to the fear of missing out (FOMO). What do you do?
According to Charles Schwab’s 2019
By Eric Olsen, Executive Director, HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm
Recreational Vehicle (RV) loans last typically for 10-15 years and sometimes up to twenty years. Often a medical condition or simply a change in lifestyle makes the RV no longer necessary. Sometimes a high RV payment can become simply unaffordable. What are the solutions for seniors
Do as I say, not as I do. Do you ever fall into that trap? New research from Debt.com suggests that you might have that attitude when it comes to budgets.
Debt.com recently surveyed the budgeting habits and attitudes of Americans and found a wide discrepancy in following through on budgeting beliefs. A huge majority
Congratulations! You’re worth a bit more this year than you were last year – at least in the eyes of identity thieves.
The website Top10VPN recently released their 2019 Dark Web Market Price Index, a summary of current market prices for individual pieces of stolen identities.
Last year, Top10VPN estimated that an identity thief could
Your home equity is the amount of your home that you own – in other words, the market value of your home minus the amount of principal that you owe on your loan. For many Americans, it’s one of their largest financial assets.
If you need money for various projects and expenses, your home equity
Watch Your Credit Card Debt Are you keeping your credit card debt under control? Recent data from Bloomberg shows that more consumers are having a hard time doing so.
Credit card issuers reported a 3.82% charge-off rate on credit cards in the first quarter of 2019 – the highest percentage of written-off accounts in almost
How much does your credit score affect a mortgage offer? In some cases, a credit score could make the difference between purchasing a home or being forced to rent instead.
That’s especially true for millennials. Many entered the housing market at the worst possible time – amid the Great Recession. They dealt with a crumbling
Can you raise your credit score by taking out a personal loan? You can if you borrow responsibly – and a new study from LendingTree.com shows that borrowers with lower credit scores can see significant benefits.
Outstanding personal loan balances have nearly tripled since 2011, rising from $46.4 billion to $125.4 billion by June 2018.
What do you plan to do with your tax refund? Maybe you have your eye on upgrading your phone, buying a new computer, or splurging on a long overdue vacation.
Have you considered using your tax refund to build your credit?
Granted, credit building doesn’t compare with lying on the beach enjoying the sunshine, but
Beware of Credit Score Inflation America’s credit scores have improved along with the improving economy. Compared to 2006, there are approximately fifteen million fewer Americans with credit scores below 660 and a corresponding increase of fifteen million Americans with scores greater than 740.
That’s good news, with a potential downside. Federal Reserve research suggests that
You’ve reached a point where you don’t have to use credit cards anymore. Your home is paid off. You don’t have other outstanding debts. You must be an excellent credit risk, right?
As strange as it sounds, creditors do consider you a risk when you’ve become “credit-retired.” If you haven’t been using credit for some
If you’re in the market for a home, a high credit score is key to qualifying for a mortgage loan and getting the lowest interest rates possible. What do you do if your credit score is toward the lower edge of qualification?
The March 2019 Chartbook from the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center has
You reach for the bill, and then realize that your wallet is missing. You mentally retrace your steps, add up how much cash was in there, and stress over whether someone will use your credit cards and try to steal your identity. Besides all the time it will take to cancel your credit cards
It’s bad enough when someone steals your identity and opens accounts in your name. What happens if thieves steal part of your identity and use it to create a non-existent person?
Synthetic identity theft occurs when criminals “synthesize” a false identity using made-up Social Security numbers and other personal information. Sometimes, synthetic identity thieves start
Welcome to the 2018 Consumer Fraud Awards Show! We have a great show for you, with criminal activity galore. Tonight’s winners are chosen based on information from the Consumer Sentinel Network 2018 Data Book and brought to you by the Consumer Information Group at your Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Okay, there really isn’t a consumer
What was America’s fastest-growing type of consumer debt in 2018? You may think credit card debt, given that revolving debt has topped the trillion-dollar mark – but according to new data from the credit reporting agency Experian, personal loans had the greatest percentage growth last year.
In 2018, outstanding personal loan debt grew by 11.9%
Congratulations! You’ve made it through the home-buying process. You feel a great sense of satisfaction and relief. Will you feel the same way over time?
According to a new survey from Bankrate.com, you have a decent chance of regretting something about your home purchase – especially if you’re a millennial.
While 79% of survey respondents
You probably receive plenty of credit card offers, through both direct mail and digital methods like card issuer e-mails and social media ads. Which path is more effective? If you aren’t receptive to a new credit card offer, neither path works – but for consumers who are interested in a new card, digital methods are
What are your top five must-have factors in a romantic partner? If you selected trust, communication, honesty compatibility, and sexual chemistry, you’re in sync with most respondents in a new survey from Elevate’s Center for the New Middle Class.
The Elevate survey was designed to study how finances play a role in dating for both
Simplification Creates Complexity Do you love getting a big tax refund? You shouldn’t. You paid more than you owed and gave the government an interest-free loan when you could have been putting that money to better use.
Believe it or not, the government agrees. The IRS prefers that you pay the exact amount of taxes
Procrastinator alert: your taxes are due! If you are nowhere near ready as the scary deadline approaches, you may file an extension with the IRS that gives you up to six more months to file your taxes. Filing an extension will spare you from late filing penalties — 5% of the amount of tax you
How many people like the IRS? According to Facebook, it’s almost 110,000! Does it bother you that the Internal Revenue Service is more popular than you are?
If you regularly use social media outlets to stay in touch with friends and follow people or businesses that you find interesting and relevant, consider adding the Internal
Can you eliminate debt by settling with a creditor to pay less than you owed and still come out on the short end? It is possible, based on potential tax liabilities. Not only that, but “…any time an account is settled for less than you originally owe, it’s going to hurt your credit scores,” cautions
Do you whip out your credit card to take care of every large purchase? Maybe you shouldn’t. A personal loan may be a better alternative – but when would it be best for you?
A recent finder.com survey explored the reasons why just over one-third (34%) of Americans took out a personal loan in the
Expand Your Horizons You’ve been searching for a long time for your new home, without success. Maybe you’re looking in the wrong place.
According to the Census Bureau’s 2017 American Housing Survey (AHS), 35% of people who had recently moved did so because they wanted a larger or higher-quality home – and that dream home
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could deduct your credit card debt from your taxes? For most Americans, that’s just a dream that will never come true. However, some circumstances allow you to deduct some credit card debt – all related to using your card for business purposes.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
You’ve completed your 2018 tax return, and you don’t like the results. How did you end up owing so much money? There’s nothing you can do about it now … or is there?
While the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made sweeping changes to the tax laws, it didn’t offer any retroactive means
You know you need to protect your accounts and personal information – but what is the best method? Should you use a credit monitoring service or subscribe to identity theft protection instead? What’s the difference between the two methods?
Credit monitoring services do exactly what they say they do – monitor activity on your accounts
A stable income is critical to a comfortable retirement – as is limiting the amount of that income that you give to Uncle Sam. Maximizing retirement income and minimizing taxes requires advance planning – as illustrated in these seven tips.
1. Use a Roth IRA Because Roth IRAs are funded with post-tax dollars, they are
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