Recent Blog Posts
The Perils Of Renting An Apartment When Your Credit Score Is Low
These days, complaining about how your credit score does not enable you to qualify for a mortgage loan sounds like a humblebrag. If your credit score is high enough to pass muster with the landlords of reputable rental properties, then you are in a better financial position than most people. A low credit score… Read More »
Can You Boost Your Credit Score By Paying Your Utility Bills On Time?
Watching your debts get bigger every month, even though you spend every waking moment on work and gigs is incredibly stressful and frustrating, but just breaking even each month brings its own kind of discouragement. Just barely being able to pay your bills each month is a lot better than not being able to… Read More »
Debt Is For Doctors, Too
The motivations for pursuing an advanced degree are various. Some people do it for bragging rights, or maybe you just wanted to let your nerd flag fly. Almost everyone agrees, though, that doctors, lawyers, and professional scientists can easily get jobs that pay six figures. If you spent years in school to get a… Read More »
Is Another Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis On The Horizon For Florida?
Florida deserves its reputation as a place where people spend money beyond their means, especially on real estate. Who can resist the siren song of Florida thunder echoing through a Star Island beachfront palace or suburban McMansion? Local news reports are replete with tales of people who bought mansions, horse ranches, and luxury condominiums… Read More »
Using Your Inflation Relief Check To Make A Dent In Your Debt
This summer, the state government of Florida sent $450 checks to about 59,000 families. Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida officials decided to use the $35.5 million in the state’s budget for the benefit of the Floridian families that it determined needed the money the most. Florida’s leaders have branded the checks as an… Read More »
Dirty Tricks That Collection Agencies Play And How To Avoid Them
The fifth book of Plato’s Republic, written in Greece in the fifth century, B.C. includes a reference to a riddle in which a man who is not a man threw a stone which is not a stone at a bird which is not a bird sitting on a tree which is not a tree. … Read More »
Can You Go To Jail For Failure To Pay A Debt?
Until the 19th century, imprisoning people who could not repay debts was a common practice in many countries. There are even some buildings still standing in the United States that used to be used as jails for debtors. While the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbids excessive fines and cruel and unusual… Read More »
Lending Scams To Avoid At All Costs
If you read debt-free lifestyle blogs for inspiration on how to get out of debt, you run into a lot of advice about how you should never borrow money out of desperation. This kind of advice comes across a lot like when Baby Boomers give you financial advice with the assumption that everyone has… Read More »
The Next Worst Thing To Payday Loans
Payday loans deserve their reputation as instances of predatory lending. There is a reason they are so popular, though. People who take out payday loans know that the interest rates and fees are astronomical, but they take the loans, anyway, because it is the easiest way to get the money they need to pay… Read More »
What Is The Difference Between Credit Counseling And Credit Repair?
Improving your credit score and paying down your debts go together, but they are two separate personal finance goals. Some people are trying to improve their credit scores so they can get out of debt, while others are trying to pay down their debts in order to improve their credit scores. In the latter… Read More »