Recent Blog Posts
Using Social Media To Get Out Of Debt: Dos And Don’ts
When you were young, your grandparents balked at how little you hesitated to enter your credit card information online to make purchases or even enter your bank account number in an online form in order to receive direct deposit payments from your job. Today, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook are an… Read More »
What To Do If You Can’t Afford Your Credit Card Payment This Month
According to recent estimates, more than 60 percent of American adults are in debt, and many of them must resort to credit cards to pay for necessities such as groceries and utility bills. Between inflation, the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, and the approach of a new fly season and perhaps even a new COVID… Read More »
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Urges Credit Reporting Agencies To Fix Errors On Consumers’ Credit Reports Promptly
Anyone who has been in debt for a while, which is almost everyone two-and-a-half years after the COVID-19 pandemic first arrived in Florida, has seen advertisements by companies that promise to improve your credit score quickly for a price. While some of these are outright scams, others can genuinely give your credit score a… Read More »
What Is The Cheapest Way To Deal With A Lawsuit From A Creditor?
Business to consumer lawsuits were rare a few decades ago, but today they are on the rise, especially in states like Florida, which offer little protection to consumers. Creditors and collection agencies have the right to sue you over credit card debt, unpaid medical bills, and many other kinds of consumer debts. If you… Read More »
Credit Karma Agrees To $3 Million Settlement Over Deceptive “Pre-Approved” Credit Card Offers
It isn’t just your imagination that a big part of your debt problem is not due to lack of discipline over your spending or to you not working hard enough but to policies that make it difficult for all except the wealthiest of working people to access affordable financial products. You might be doing… Read More »
Can Second Chance Credit Cards Help You Rebuild Your Credit?
Filing for bankruptcy can lower your credit score, but not everyone who has trouble qualifying for credit cards has a history of bankruptcy filings. The more common problem is that it is hard to get started building your credit, especially in an economy where most people who work full-time live paycheck to paycheck. To… Read More »
Second Chance Banking Can Help You Rebuild Your Finances
Your credit card has a low credit limit? Your auto loan has a high interest rate? Your credit score hasn’t budged even though you have been making payments on time, even though you have been making all the payments on your buy now pay later (BNPL) purchases for more than a year? Those all… Read More »
Deceptive Advertising Practices Are Rampant In Car Sales, And The FTC Wants Them To Stop
Medical bills are the biggest source of consumer debt, and payday loans are probably the most predatory, but car-related expenses are not especially benign. In most parts of Florida, it is virtually impossible to commute to and from work without a car. Buying a car often feels like a Faustian bargain for several reasons. … Read More »
What Could Possibly Go Wrong With Debt Settlement?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could pay $500 to make an $800 debt go away? Sometimes you can. When creditors despair of collecting the full amount of a debt, they are sometimes willing to discount the amount that they originally asked for, based on the principle that getting some money is better than… Read More »
How To Finance A House So Small That It Doesn’t Qualify For A Mortgage
Home ownership remains the mark of financial stability, and for everyone except the wealthiest people, the only way to buy a house is by taking out a mortgage loan. Of course, mortgage loans come with their own mountain of stress. People spend years trying to get their finances in order so that they can… Read More »