What comes to figuring out how much mortgage they can afford, many consumers find out the hard way that they were wrong, especially when their mortgage bills start piling up. Unfortunately, many consumers find out that their house isn’t worth what they actually owe on it, a term called having an … Read more about Drowning under your Home Mortgage? Here are some Options to Keep you Afloat
Top 5 Ways to Lower Your Tax Bill in 2015
Tax season for 2014 is coming to a close. To that end we put together the Top 5 Ways to lower your tax bill in 2015. Open a retirement account or increase your contributions to them. Opening a retirement account is not only a great way to reduce your taxable income but also improve your future, … Read more about Top 5 Ways to Lower Your Tax Bill in 2015
Why it Helps to Know your Rights when it comes to Banking
Joyce and Nelson Coniglio are pretty typical American consumers. Like millions of other Americans over the last few years, they’ve had problems keeping up with their home mortgage. Unfortunately, and also like millions of other Americans, Bank of America has been hounding them relentlessly over … Read more about Why it Helps to Know your Rights when it comes to Banking
You Might Be Paying More for Your Health Insurance
According to a recent CNN Money comparison, under the most popular Obamacare plan, which is the "silver level", consumers will pay more for their deductibles, copayments and prescription drugs then they will with the typical employer policy. The comparison was based on reports from both the … Read more about You Might Be Paying More for Your Health Insurance
Falling behind on your Bills? Here are 6 Tips for Negotiating with your Creditors
The first thing that happens, unfortunately, when you start falling behind on your bills is that the people you owe money (i.e. your creditors and, oftentimes, debt collectors) start calling you nonstop. If you’re like most consumers, you probably put off talking to them and even avoid picking up … Read more about Falling behind on your Bills? Here are 6 Tips for Negotiating with your Creditors
Small Mistakes that can lead to Big Credit Problems
The average consumer spends years working on their credit score, building it up to a level that helps them to get better interest rates on everything from mortgages to car loans and more. Occasionally however, even for the most careful consumers who watch every credit step that they make, a small … Read more about Small Mistakes that can lead to Big Credit Problems
The Importance of Saving
Spending and investing are part of the modern consumer culture, reinforced by Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and, yes, even Uncle Sam. Truth be told, our government doesn’t always encourage us to save, even though we’re saving less in real terms than we did at the start of the 1990s. During the bear … Read more about The Importance of Saving
Should We Think about Our Financial Future?
We Americans are an optimistic lot, except when it comes to one thing—our ability to save money. Today we have so many Americans trying to learn how to survive on minimum wage jobs. Consider this sad but telling fact: More Americans of modest means think they stand a better chance of accumulating … Read more about Should We Think about Our Financial Future?