Recent Blog Posts
Is Opening A New Credit Card The Solution To Your Credit Card Debt Problems?
Credit cards can make your financial situation worse, but if you use them strategically, they can also make your financial situation better. For example, opening a credit card, but only using it to make small purchases can increase your credit to debt ratio, thereby improving your credit score, especially if you pay off your… Read More »
What Is The Difference Between Discharge And Dismissal In A Bankruptcy Case?
In bankruptcy cases, as with many other legal matters, many words mean something other than their usual meanings. On the surface, bankruptcy seems to mean not having any money, but the legal term is actually “bankruptcy protection,” where the court decides which of your possessions and how much of your money creditors cannot take… Read More »
Beware Of Credit Repair Scams
It is possible to get out of debt, but there are no quick fixes. Most of us are stuck in a situation where, even though we work day and night and live modestly, we barely have enough money to keep up with the payments on our debts, and with big debts like student loans,… Read More »
Peer-To-Peer Lending For Cash-Strapped Borrowers: Friend Or Foe?
When you need money quickly in order to avoid defaulting on existing debts, the question tends not to be whether to borrow more money but where to borrow it. Taking on new debts to keep existing ones from getting bigger, or worse, being sold to collection agencies, is a necessary evil from cash-strapped borrowers. … Read More »
How Much Credit Card Debt Is Too Much?
Almost everyone uses credit cards, and almost everyone has an opinion about what constitutes safe or dangerous credit card use. The more money you have, the more choice you have about what to pay for with credit cards and when to use other sources of funding; likewise, the higher your income and the greater… Read More »
Can Bankruptcy And Divorce Occur Simultaneously?
Some couples’ relationships improve after one of them files for divorce; they are relieved that they can move on with their lives separately without getting on each other’s nerves about every little thing, and they can transition to treating each other as friends or extended family members without having to fight about money. Unfortunately,… Read More »
Dispelling Bankruptcy Myths
When you hear about bankruptcy from the outside, most of it is negative. For example, maybe your coworker has a relative who filed for bankruptcy and keeps bugging your coworker to cosign for a loan with him. News headlines about companies contemplating bankruptcy tend to be about the ones that have been in a… Read More »
Is Filing For Bankruptcy Better Than The Alternatives?
Certain corners of the Internet extol the virtues of living debt-free, but they can come across as smug to anyone who has ever walked in your shoes. Most of the denizens who inhabit the debt-free message boards live in parts of the country that are much less expensive than South Florida. Most of them… Read More »
Can Fraudulent Charges On Your Credit Card Ruin Your Finances?
If you visit your parents this holiday season, ask them how different life was before the age of debit cards and ATMs. They will tell you about balancing checkbooks with pen and paper, marking your calendar as to when to send checks for the utilities and other monthly bills, and having to buy money… Read More »
How Long Does Bankruptcy Affect Your Credit?
You might have heard the urban legend that, if you file for bankruptcy, you will never be eligible to borrow money again, or that you will be ineligible for credit for the next seven years. Neither of these rumors is true. Bankruptcy is not a temporary or permanent financial death certificate. It also does… Read More »