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Even people who avoid debt will likely need to take out loans at some point. While it’s a good idea to keep student loans, which cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, to a minimum, it will be hard to graduate at today’s tuition levels without taking on some, and if you get tired of renting, a mortgage will be out there waiting for you. The interest rates at which you…

Many of the obvious benefits that major corporations offer us are sometimes accompanied by fees that are not obvious at all. There are often hidden fees tucked away in the fine print of service contracts that only steely-eyed lawyers are likely to uncover. Because we realize that you would rather not surrender your free time to read the fine print and find these fees, that is what we have…

Unless you do a strict accounting of your income and expenses each month, it’s not easy to clearly determine whether you are living within your means and remaining solvent. And if you have a mortgage and unavoidable expenses such as child care, you may have a daunting monthly nut even if you are maintaining frugal spending habits. For busy people who are not accountants, and do not have the…

While consumers can be penalized by credit bureaus for an imperfect payment record on their medical debt, they will not be rewarded for good payment behavior.  Medical payments, like utility payments, do not show up on your credit history when timely made, and therefore do not operate to bolster your credit. Missed or late medical payments, however, will harm your credit rating. And because medical bills can grow quite…

The celebrated American novelist Ernest Hemingway went bankrupt once during his career. When he was asked how it happened, he said, “Slowly at first, and then quickly.” We all know of other celebrity bankruptcies, and if financial calamity can happen to them, it can certainly happen to us. As a result, we have decided to list the five worst financial blunders a person can make, in the hope that…

It often happens that we go for a long period of time without needing credit. If you’re income is sufficient, and you are not making any major purchases or looking for a job (since employers may wish to check your credit history), months or years can go by without your credit score being an issue. But your credit can become an issue very quickly, if the time comes to…

For many people, one of the most frustrating situations they encounter is having bad credit. When this is the case, many things that seemed easy become difficult if not impossible. Obtaining a loan for a car, gaining approval for a mortgage to buy a new house and obtaining new credit cards can become acts of futility to a person whose credit has been damaged. As a result, many consumers…