Category Archives: Debt
Are Microloans Your Best Hope For Getting Access To Credit?
In 2006, the economist Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in founding Grameen Bank, an organization that provides microloans to women in Bangladesh who would not otherwise have access to credit. In 2008, Professor Yunus founded Grameen America, which operates on a similar model to provide microloans to women in… Read More »
Another Extension Of The Student Loan Pause Gives Borrowers An Opportunity To Tackle Their Debt
In some ways, life has gone back to normal two years after Florida reported its first cases of the illness now known as COVID-19. The mask mandates are a thing of the past, classrooms are full of students, and tourists have returned to Florida’s beaches. No one knows when the next new variant is… Read More »
Can You Talk Your Way Out Of Unfair Medical Bills?
Yes, it is good news that credit reporting agencies will exclude many medical debts from your credit report. It is also encouraging that the No Surprises Act has lowered the cost of emergency treatment for patients with health insurance. Meanwhile, medical bills remain a major source of debt and financial insecurity for Floridians. It… Read More »
Can Your Cannabis Business File For Bankruptcy In Florida?
Floridians love weed and have loved it for decades. Local lawmakers’ attitudes toward it vary from one jurisdiction to another, which is why recreational cannabis remains illegal at the state level, even though it has been decriminalized in some counties and municipalities, starting with Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties in 2015. Meanwhile, federal… Read More »
What To Do If A Creditor Sues You
Have you ever heard someone tell a bully to pick on someone their own size? Someone should say that to businesses that sue consumers for unpaid debts. Business to consumer lawsuits have become frighteningly common in recent years. Most of the time, the court allows these lawsuits to proceed without regard to the fact… Read More »
Don’t Let Buy Now, Pay Later Make Your Debt Problems Worse
Some of the habits we as a society have picked up during the pandemic are more useful than others. Learning to cook your favorite restaurant foods from scratch is a habit worth keeping even when in-person dining is in full swing. Conversely, doom scrolling has not done anyone any favors. Buy now pay later… Read More »
Maybe They Should Call It The Slightly Fewer Surprises Act
On paper, it looks like 2022 will be the year when medical bills impose less of a debt burden on American consumers. Medical debt is the single biggest contributor to most people’s financial struggles; nationwide, approximately $88 billion of unpaid medical bills are bouncing around from one collection agency to another and hindering people’s… Read More »
Staying Out of Trouble With Buy Now Pay Later
As the Internet will not let you forget, you know you are a geriatric millennial if you read BuzzFeed listicles, and when it’s a slow news day, BuzzFeed trots out new listicles about signs that you are rich or signs that you are poor. Making purchases on layaway has always been the province of… 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 »