Filed under: Credit, Debt, Credit Reports, Credit Cards
We’ve heard the warnings before, but now that the holiday shopping season is upon us, it may be useful to hear it again: Back away from the wallet, put down that credit card, and think about what you’re about to do. Even the tiniest action, when it comes to credit, can hurt your credit score.
Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Extracurriculars, Shopping, In the News
Pre-recession, driving a fancy car was the status symbol of choice. You were what you drove and you drove to impress. This attitude led to the practice of leasing the fanciest car you could afford.
Filed under: Retire, Saving Money, Health, Insurance – Health Insurance
Alzheimer’s is the scariest disease of them all. Slowly losing your sight or your hearing is bad, but relentlessly losing your mind is terrifying.
Filed under: Banks, Economizer
ATM fees have become even more of a budget buster in the last year, especially in cities like Seattle, Denver, Houston and Miami where fees ATM owners charge non customers are, on average, 30 cents or more higher than in other parts of the country, a recent Bankrate study found.
Bankrate’s 2010 Checking Study found the highest ATM fees in Seattle, where the average fee is $2.69, 36 cents higher than the national average of $2.33. Since we’re talking averages, that means some folks in Seattle are actually paying as much as $4 a pop when they visit an ATM that isn’t part of their bank’s network. (Continue the story…)
Filed under: Debt, Saving Money, Black Friday
If you’re thinking about making a New Year’s Resolution of any kind — maybe to lose weight, pay off debt or stop a bad habit like smoking — waiting until January 1 to get started is probably the single worst thing you can do.
Filed under: Retire, Retirement Advice
Kay Reimer and Nancy Welsh share a home in Pittsburgh. At 68 and 74, respectively, they are two retired, widowed show dog enthusiasts who find living together a lot more fun than living alone.
When Welsh, a retired teacher, went to Paris for 10 days last month, Reimer minded their three Great Danes and greyhound, and when Reimer visits her children in Florida and Detroit over the holidays, Welsh will return the favor. (Continue the story…)
Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Family Money, Fraud, Consumer Ally, Mortgages
A rogue’s gallery of more than a dozen mortgage relief scammers have been charged with deceiving desperate homeowners in a string of separate crackdowns by the Federal Trade Commission.
Filed under: Debt, Consumer Ally
Melanie Beacham had received letters, phone calls and a courier from the auto loan debt collector, but when an agent contacted her family and friends through Facebook, she decided to fight back.
Beacham sued MarkOne Financial LLC of Tampa, Fla. for harassment and inflicting emotional distress and has asked a Florida court to bar the agency from contacting her loved ones through the social media site in what the lawsuit said is “a campaign to embarrass, intimidate and harass her into paying an alleged debt.” The lawsuit seeks $15,000 in damages and also seeks punitive damages.
Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Family Money, Fraud, Consumer Ally, Mortgages
Homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments will soon be protected by a new Federal Trade Commission rule banning providers of mortgage foreclosure rescue and loan modification services from collecting fees until homeowners receive a satisfactory written offer from their lender or loan servicer.
Filed under: Banks, Real Estate, Mortgages
As a real estate and mortgage market commentator, I’ve had to say the phrase “interest rates are at historic lows” so many times, it would be my choice of tattoo text if I were into that sort of thing. (A temporary tattoo, of course.) But last week, mortgage rates went up! And, as a result, the number of consumers who submitted applications for home loans went down, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, released today.