October 31st is they day we pay tribute to witches, vampires, zombies and all manner of terrifying things that go bump in the night. Too bad the real scary things go bump in your mailbox. Big bills, past-due notices, collection letters and credit card statements that make you wish you were simply warding off a [...]
The mission of the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to make financial markets work better for ordinary Americans. Now that total outstanding student loan debt is over one trillion dollars and exceeds total credit card debt, it only makes sense that this agency will put student debt squarely in its sights. To assist [...]
No matter how frugal you want to be, there’s always going to be the need to shop for goods and services that you need. The trick is getting value for your money and in the Internet age it’s easier than ever to comparison shop with the help of online advice. That’s where one of our new [...]
To get out of debt you have to stop your money leaks, seemingly small expenses that add up to big money over time. Bank fees have always been money leaks, but now that big national banks are gouging their customers for more and more cash (like the recently announced $5 monthly fee that Bank of [...]
Buy now, everyone who owns a smartphone, computer, newspaper subscription, TV or shortwave radio should be familiar with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Despite the fact that the protestors’ message isn’t entirely clear and many could use a good shower, the fact that so many diverse groups and individuals are coming together across the globe [...]
Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus tracking how you pay your bills, and whose score can make or break credit decisions in your favor. For the second year in a row they have published their State of Credit Map showing ten cities in the U.S. with the highest and lowest credit scores. [...]
With the looming prospect of an even worsening economy, retailers are looking to take advantage of any opportunity to get shoppers to part with their money early and often. To that end, they’ve dusted off a blast from the past, the layaway plan. Simply put, a layaway program allows shoppers to pay for a purchase [...]
Are you familiar with the term Christmas creep? This is the term used to describe the phenomenon in which retailers start putting out decorations and sale merchandise many months before the actual holiday season. Nowadays it’s not unusual to see Christmas wrapping paper in the same aisle as Halloween costumes. So while retailers are getting [...]