Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Beware Of Parent PLUS Loans
Saving money to fund your children’s college education is a dream for many parents, but as the cost of university tuition has skyrocketed since today’s parents were in college, that dream has become unattainable. You may have put checks that you received as wedding gifts or enclosed in cards attached to the crocheted blankets… Read More »
Public Universities In Pennsylvania Will No Longer Refer Unpaid Student Fees To Collection Agencies
Even if you have scholarships and grants, even if you hold paid employment every semester that you are in college, and even if your parents have lived below their means for your entire life in order to build a college fund for you, higher education has a way of hitting Generation X and everyone… Read More »
Pennsylvania’s Lemon Law Is For New Cars, Too
The difficulties of knowing how reliable a used car is before you buy it are well known. Plenty of nice-looking cars do not show their true colors until after you drive them away from the used car dealership. Between the fine print on all the papers you are signing and the gleaming grins and… Read More »
Two Bad Reasons To Choose An Adjustable-Rate Mortgage And One Good One
Adjustable-rate mortgages have a bad reputation these days; many members of the new generation of first-time home buyers first heard of adjustable-rate mortgages in the context of the housing market crash of 2008, a financial crisis which cast a shadow over their youth. Blaming the entire financial crisis of 2008 on adjustable-rate mortgages is… Read More »
Proposed Legislation Aims To Ease Pennsylvanians’ Student Debt Burden
Perhaps you have heard that, now that the results of the most recent census are in, Pennsylvania will be losing an electoral college vote. The state that decided the last two presidential elections will cast only 19 electoral votes in the 2024 presidential election. This is because Pennsylvania has not experienced the same population… Read More »
Three Red Flags To Avoid When Hiring A Home Contractor
According to Pennsylvania law, home contractor fraud is a serious crime, punishable in some cases by prison. If a building contractor defrauds you and then gets convicted of home contractor fraud, then you, the homeowner, are still stuck with a house that needs many thousands of dollars of repairs. Many homeowners who suffer heavy… Read More »
Is It Theft When You Return A Lemon And The Dealership Refuses To Give You Your Money Back?
When you buy a car, the dealership gives you the title to the car, indicating that you own the vehicle and that it is roadworthy. If you finance the car, the dealership keeps the title until you have paid the car loan in full. If the vehicle is salvaged, however, then you do not… Read More »
Student Debt: The Dropout’s Dilemma
Opinion pieces about how the cost of college isn’t worth it are older than the Internet; they might even be as old as the 20th century shift in the mission of universities from finishing schools for young gentlemen and ladies to institutions that prepare students for a wide variety of professional careers. The trouble… Read More »
The Personal Representative’s Guide To Debts Owed By The Estate Of A Recently Deceased Person
Grieving the loss of a family member is hard enough, but settling the financial affairs of a recently deceased relative comes with its own set of hassles. The relatives of people who were averse to decluttering often dread going through the possessions of a deceased family member and making the agonizing decision about which… Read More »
When Are You Obligated To Pay A Family Member’s Credit Card Debt?
Spending beyond one’s means is a frequent source of conflict between family members, but most of the time, the conflict is not really about the credit card bills themselves. Most of the people who are angry or worried about a family member’s credit card debt are not themselves legally responsible for paying back the… Read More »
