Articles revolving around debt related issues. These are geared towards advice for consumers and general debt news.
Debt is crucial for business. It helps companies to maintain operations and propel growth plans. It keeps the economic wheels of our nation turning. As such, the government encourages entrepreneurs to take loans – and you can deduct loan interest from your income when preparing tax returns. But entrepreneurs can make mistakes. For example, such … Read more
Today I’m starting a new series where we look back on how much or how little debt issues have changed over time. The first book in this series is “CHICAGO AND ITS CESS POOLS OF INFAMY” by Samuel Paynter Wilson. This is the 1910 edition and dedicated to the good men and women of the … Read more
Last year, in response to the COVID pandemic, the Department of Education pressed the pause button on the federal student-loan program. In March 2020, DOE allowed 30 million student borrowers to stop making payments on their student loans with no penalty and no accumulation of interest. DOE also stopped collection actions during this moratorium and … Read more
It’s no fun to be fined for parking in the wrong place at the wrong time or getting a speeding ticket. Driving safely is important, which means that these infractions can even affect other things like your car insurance or life insurance rates. Will parking fines or speeding tickets affect my credit score as well? … Read more
In 2020, Debra Jean Marchus filed an adversary proceeding in a North Dakota bankruptcy court, seeking to discharge about $38,000 in student-loan debt. After a trial, Bankruptcy Judge Shon Hastings wiped out the debt. As summarized in Judge Hastings’s decision, Ms. Marchus began her journey through higher education in 1975, forty-five years before she filed … Read more
Diane Ashline, a 47-year old single mother, worked for 20 years as a dental assistant. Hoping to increase her income, she took out student loans to get an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree from Kaplan University, a for-profit school. Unfortunately, these degrees did not help her financially. Ashline never defaulted on her student loans. … Read more
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cotton production was a staple of America’s Southern economy. Even today, the United States is one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton. But cotton has some problems. Grown year after year, cotton depletes the soil. Before commercial fertilizers became available, cotton growers simply grew cotton on a … Read more
According to a recent report by the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), the 2020 class of college graduates has amassed $136 billion in private student debt. When this amount is added to the total student debt from federal student loans–about $1.8 trillion, Americans are on the hook for almost $2 trillion in student … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I keep getting calls nearly daily from the Debt Relief Center, but I have no debt. None. How do I stop these calls? Robert Answer: Dear Robert, Trying to stop spam calls is a nearly impossible battle. National Do Not Call Registry I’ve had one of my phone numbers on the National … Read more
Even the savviest budgeter occasionally runs into a circumstance they’re simply unprepared for, which is where a personal loan may come in handy. Common personal loan uses include covering an unexpected medical expense or home repair or even managing existing debt. Borrowing money vs. paying cash isn’t ideal, but if you need cash ASAP and … Read more
I recently stopped off at my local natural food store to pick up a box of my favorite organic breakfast cereal. The stuff tastes like maple-flavored cardboard, which I prefer to strawberry-flavored cardboard. This cereal is expensive, and when I picked up the box, I noticed it seemed too light–like it was only half full. … Read more
When I was a child, my parents were poor. That was OK because almost everyone in my little Oklahoma town was poor, and we all told each other that we were in the middle class. By the time I graduated high school, my parents had clawed their way into the actual middle class, and they … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, Early June 2021, my car was repossessed due to my inability to make my car payments for many months. I contacted a local attorney, and he helped me get my car returned to me by initiating a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. He did tell me that if the car hadn’t been repossessed, a … Read more
If you are thinking about going to law school, you should read a recent report titled “Student Debt: The Holistic Impact on Today’s Young Lawyers.” According to the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division, 90 percent of young lawyers who responded to an ABA survey said they had taken out student loans to finance their legal education. … Read more
While some drivers have been through car breakdowns, others have no idea what to do when this happens. It can be overwhelming and scary when your car suddenly stops working, especially if there wasn’t an incident that caused the problem. Do you need to call the police? Should you contact your insurance while you’re sitting … Read more