Author Archives: Jay Butchko

Credit Card Debt Relief for Broke Chumps
You can tell how privileged someone is by the advice they give you. The people who tell you to get up at 5:00 in the morning and go on a walk before taking a shower and getting dressed for work do not work from 8:00 a.m. until midnight like you do. The ones that… Read More »

Home Improvement Contractor Faces Criminal Charges After Ghosting Client
Winter is delightful when you are warm inside your home. Under ideal circumstances, being snowed in for days feels like a cause for celebration. You can get creative modifying recipes so that you can prepare them with the ingredients already in your kitchen; you get to be proud of yourself for your frugality and… Read More »

A View From the Credit Card Debt Treadmill
One of the ugliest aspects of the mass media is its effectiveness at convincing us that other people’s apparently perfect lives are real. As we speak, your children are watching videos where Everyman-coded YouTubers hide Elf on the Shelf around their five-bedroom houses as their purebred dogs scamper in and out of the frame. … Read More »

Are Bots to Blame for Your Medical Debt?
Perhaps you have heeded one of those roadside billboards or cheap TV commercials and called a personal injury lawyer if you were struggling with medical bills after a car accident. When you went to the consultation, the lawyer probably explained that car insurance companies are in the business of protecting their financial interests, not… Read More »

Consumers Receive Settlement From Earned Wage Access App Brigit After Lawsuit
When you are young and have no financial responsibilities, the anticipation of payday is fun, because you get to spend your paycheck on fun stuff. As you work each shift, you imagine the money adding up and look forward to splurging it on junk food and Laser Tag on the weekends. Waiting for payday… Read More »

Does Paying Your Bills on Auto Pay Make Your Financial Situation Better or Worse?
Almost every Pennsylvanian has experienced a multilevel marketing (MLM) sales pitch. An acquaintance that you see regularly or a former classmate or coworker you have not heard from in a long time invites you to a social gathering or one-on-one coffee date. First she tries to convince you to buy overpriced vitamin supplements or… Read More »

Assumable Mortgages Are Overrated
An assumable mortgage is one where the homeowner can transfer responsibility for the mortgage loan, and with it ownership of the house, to another borrower. Especially in today’s housing market, it seems like an irresistibly good option. After all, the main draw of an assumable mortgage is that the new borrower gets to keep… Read More »

Will the Nation Follow Philly’s Example in Providing Cash Assistance for Tenants?
Being a homeowner has its share of annoyances, but as long as you make your mortgage payments every month, you will always have a place to live, and when you are finished living there, you can sell it at a profit or pass it on to your descendants in your will. It is up… Read More »

Effective Fixes for Common Used Car Scams
Questionable practices surrounding the sale of used cars are almost as old as the automobile itself. Unscrupulous sellers have been saying “caveat emptor” since the days when buyers knew what that meant. When people buy cars under shady circumstances, it is usually not because of a lack of caution, but rather because of a… Read More »

Zombie Mortgages Are as Scary as They Sound
Mortgage foreclosure is an ordeal. The bank could kick you out of your house in an instant, but instead they drag the process out for months, with final notices, additional notices beyond the final ones, a foreclosure case, and court order, and then the auction of your house, like a cat toying with a… Read More »