“Dear Steve, I live in Los Angeles, CA and was unemployed for several years and was not able to pay my credit card and student loan bills among other bills. Now I have a job with okay salary and my living expenses are not much. I can afford to start paying off my debt. I …
“Dear Steve, My husband almost died due to an abscess on his liver. Medical bills piled up. Then he lost his job. Then I lost my job due to budget cuts. Currently my husband is unemployed, and I am working, but for less than my last job. Credit cards were used for everyday items such …
Ray “Dear Steve, I have about $75,000 in credit card debt on 3 cards. I know I have been spending beyond my means and I have already changed my ways. I didn’t have any trouble paying my bills until a few months ago, when several things that needed cash added up. I have never been …
“Dear Steve, 3 months late on a signature loan. Now they want payment in full. Can a company (HFC) or thier debt collector tell you that they will only accept payments from you if you send them a copy of your pay stub along with a list of all of your debts. I’m not about …
I was looking through the recent search phrases on the site this morning and thought I’d take a whack at answering some of them quickly so I’m trying a new approach, the speed round. What happens if you do not answer a debt collectors who is an attorney? If you mean answering the phone, you …
“Dear Steve, I have piled up over $60k of credit card debt over the past couple of years. My gross income has been in the $55k range for the past two years. I am in a business where my income should continue to grow but with minimums around $1300 per month I’m very close to …
The sagging home values are drawing attention to a gaping hole in bankruptcy protection, the ability for U.S. bankruptcy judges to be able to modify the terms of a mortgage to keep people in their homes that want to pay. A couple of recent article really caught my eye, “Delahunt: Empower judges to modify mortgages” …
Last week I wrote an article Banks Agree to Wipe Out Up to 40 Percent of Credit Card Debt But Watch Out but more information has come to light since then. While consumer advocates are happy about the possibility of getting banks to write off as much as 40% of the debt in order to …
Credit card lenders include Discover Financial Services LLC, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Capital One Financial Corp., American Express Co. and HSBC Holdings have finally come together with the help of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Service Roundtable to start the process …