“Dear Steve, I wrote to you about two months ago stating that my wife and I have a combined income of $150K, live in Long Island, New York and have two college aid kids. Our home was too small for a family of four six years ago and renovated it, spending $228K on construction. We have only been paying the ... Read More »

The Federal Trade Commission has warned the operators of six websites that share information about consumers’ rental histories with landlords that they may be subject to the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The letters inform the recipients that if they meet certain criteria, namely collecting information on tenants and their rental history and providing that information to ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, My boyfriend and I live in an apartment together which my aunt paid a year for in advance to the complex and have been paying her back monthly at regular price since we were forced out of my parents’ house. Well it’s time for us to move out of our apartment now but there’s a problem… When we ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, My wife just filed bankruptcy recently because a family friend, a mortgage broker, put the house she owned previiously in foreclosure. My wife had a subprime loan and tried before the 2 years were up to refinance and everyone who came along (Real Estate agents and others) gave her wrong advise. My wife signed a quick claim deed ... Read More »

The site just answered a question on how to rent after bankruptcy but I wanted to explore that more and give you some additional resources on how to accomplish that. Renting a place to live after a bankruptcy is actually a relatively easy thing to do with some insight. Granted, the major apartment complexes might not be interested if they ... Read More »

“Dear Lewis, We are looking to rent a house and we want to know how long our chapter 7 bk we filed in 2006 will be on our records. we are having grave difficulty getting any credit because of this. How long does a chapter 7 stay on someones trw? if yu can answer this promptly it would be greatly ... Read More »

TransUnion is reporting in a recent release that due to demand for rental units after the wave of foreclosures rental prices have actually increased. For apartment complexes of more than 201 units, sixty four percent of property managers reported an increase over last year for apartment rent. “Finding reliable tenants at an optimal price point is paramount for this industry. ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, My husband and I have inherited many bills from our children over the last year. One son was in a car accident and was sued by the other party for damages to their vehicle. Since he was under 18 at the time, I had to pay $6000.00 that my husband’s insurance refused to pay, plus our attorney fees. ... Read More »

“Hi Steve, My husband and I are trying to decide if it makes sense to sell our home and rent for a while to pay down our credit card debt. We have $78,000 in credit card debt – we have been using the credit cards to cover the gap between our expenses and our earnings. We have not been late ... Read More »

Stuck “Dear Steve, I am seeking to divorce my husband who I have found out is cheating. We live in a no fault state so that is not an issue. However, though the title to the house is in both our names, the main mortgage is in my husbands. I say main because we qualified for the house from a ... Read More »

Jahmiel “Dear Steve, I’m 30 yrs old. I have a full time job paying at least $30,000 a year. With the student consolidated debt of $60,000. my private loan is $20,000 with 9.25% rate. My federal loan is $36,000 with a 3% rate. My credit card payments is currently $1800. I’m sending extra payments. I’m able to pay on my ... Read More »

Megan “Dear Steve, My husband and I currently have around 10-12,000 in credit card debt and medical bills. About 2 years ago, after our 2nd child was born we became unable to make the minimum payments on the credit cards (about 10 different credit cards) and we have also been unable to pay the medical bills from our son’s birth ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, I have bad credit because I got in a relationship very young and have credit cards maxed and a few things in collection. Now I have 2 children and am not working I am on maternity leave and really want to get out of a bad relationship. I have looked at renting at another location but found out ... Read More »

Yesterday I wrote about a little old hardware store that had noticed an increase in card purchases over cash. That’s not a good sign if people are using plastic more for routine things and especially in this environment of credit card issuers reducing credit limits, raising interest rates and closing cards. You see, the credit card issuers are getting freaked ... Read More »