Category Archives: Debt
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 »
Don’t Ignore Calls From Creditors, But Don’t Give Away Too Much Information
A common feature of lawyers, diplomats, and the most successful social hosts is that, when put on the spot, they can think of something to say that sounds appropriate but cannot be used against them later. They have spent years practicing this skill. You should also employ this tactic when dealing with debt collectors;… Read More »
Beware Of Fake Medical Bills
Healthcare in the United States is obscenely expensive, even for people with employer-provided health insurance and public marketplace insurance. Some people’s response to getting a medical bill in the mail is to put it in a drawer or the trash can, despairing of ever being able to pay it. Others call the number listed… Read More »
The Nursing Home Debt Nightmare
“Don’t get sick” is both the truest piece of financial advice and the most difficult to follow. Approximately half of adults in the United States have medical debt, and what you should do to address the debt depends largely on whether or not you are still young enough and healthy enough to work. If… Read More »
What Are Charge Offs?
In horror movies, sometimes the scariest sound is silence and the scariest sight is nothing at all. The same thing can be true with debt-related communications. As nerve-wracking as it is to receive constant reminders about debts you can’t pay, whether these reminders arrive by postal mail, email, or phone, it is even scarier… 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 »
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 »