Recent Blog Posts
Is There Really Such a Thing as Good Debt?
An old saying goes that if you have zero debts and you have ten dollars in your pocket, you are the richest person you know. Many of us would love to live debt free, but we simply cannot afford to provide for all our necessary expenses without borrowing. Most debt free people have benefited… Read More »
Dave Ramsey Has No Idea How Broke You Really Are
You have been in debt for so long that you have probably read Dave Ramsey’s baby steps to financial independence multiple times. Now that you are a grown adult, a member of the generation on whom everyone depends, it is painfully obvious to you that “baby step” is a subjective term. For example, Dave… Read More »
What Can Go Wrong With Buy Now Pay Later?
Remote learning, homemade banana bread, and Paycheck Protection Program loans have gone the way of the socially distanced social gathering, but buy now pay later (BNPL) is one pandemic-era habit that seems to be here to stay. You can set up installment plans for online purchases using BNPL services such as Affirm, Afterpay, or… Read More »
Refinancing Your Car Loan When You Are Flat Broke
Refinancing a loan is when you take out a new loan to replace an existing loan. It often happens with secured loans, such as auto loans and home mortgages. For example, let’s say that you took out a car loan for $25,000, and by now, you have paid it down to $20,000. You can… Read More »
Chasing The Elusive Dream Of Creditworthiness
The credit reporting system currently is supposed to be fair. The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 went into effect in order to prevent subjective decisions by lenders about which borrowers to approve for loans and how much to charge them to borrow money. Before the days of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, creditors… Read More »
How Are FICO Credit Scores Different From VantageScore?
Sometimes it seems like the credit reporting system is designed to make it difficult for people who do not have generational wealth to build their creditworthiness. Only certain types of financial obligations factor into consumers’ FICO credit scores, and these tend to be types of financial obligations only accessible to middle class and upper-class… Read More »
How To Keep Your Car After A Bankruptcy Filing
Walking into a courtroom and then walking out with a much lighter debt burden, or at least a promise of a much lighter debt burden, sounds like a dream come true, but filing for bankruptcy protection is not quite that simple. For one thing, it costs money to file for bankruptcy, and if you… Read More »
How To Buy A Car When You’re Broke And Your Credit Score Is Terrible
These days, everyone is living paycheck to paycheck, and in South Florida, the only way to get to your job and your gigs is with a car. The financially prudent thing to do is to drive your old car until it will no longer budge. Of course, you are probably already doing that, which… Read More »
Is Co-Signing On Loans Fatal To Friendships And Family Ties?
Conventional wisdom says that you should not let a sociable conversation turn to the topics of politics, religion, and sex, although it seems that fewer and fewer people are observing this rule these days. Meanwhile, people hesitate to talk about their finances, even though evidence suggests that doing so can only open the door… Read More »
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Imposes Penalties On Wells Fargo For Mismanagement Of Consumer Loans
Banks routinely charge people money to access their own money, and the less money you have, the more lenders charge you to borrow, and most of this is legal. It’s all written into the fine print of your loan agreement. When lenders fail to abide by the terms of the loans they have issued,… Read More »