Recent Blog Posts
The Big Five Junk Fees at Real Estate Closing
Everyone knows that homeownership is expensive, but at first glance, this extraordinary expense seems to defy the laws of mathematics. If you are gainfully employed, you have probably scrolled through real estate listings at some point, and if you found a house you loved, maybe you opened the calculator on your phone app. You… Read More »
Can Bankruptcy Make Your Tax Debts Worse?
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It is easy to find big promises of debt relief if you are struggling to keep up with your debt payments. Debt settlement companies promise miracles, and so do credit repair companies. You know you are poor when most of your junk mail… Read More »
How Good Is Good Debt?
If you dream of being debt free, you are not alone. It is easy to find podcasts, YouTube channels, and blogs providing a steady stream of aspirational content about a lifestyle that does not revolve around money. The trouble is that it takes a lot of money, a lot of luck, or a considerable… Read More »
The Next Junk Fee to Disappear From Your Bank Statements Might Be Your Unused Subscriptions
Personal finance experts have been saying for years that, by canceling subscriptions to services you rarely use, you can find more money in your budget to pay down debts, thereby reducing the overall amount you will spend on interest. In fact, they have been saying that since they operated out of blogs instead of… Read More »
How to Get Out of a Mortgage Loan That You Can’t Pay
Mortgage foreclosure is not a quick process, and that makes it even more painful. Much of the advice that you can find online is about how to stay in your house until the bitter end, trying to buy time until the bank, which now legally owns the house, can evict you. You might also… Read More »
Can You Afford to Hire a Debt Relief Lawyer?
If you are wondering whether you are legally eligible to file for bankruptcy protection, the answer is yes. Everyone, individuals and corporations alike, has the right to discharge eligible debts in bankruptcy court if they cannot repay them. The only exception is that, if you have previously filed for bankruptcy, you must wait several… Read More »
Should You File for Bankruptcy a Second Time?
Life is not a Monopoly game, and filing for bankruptcy does not mean that you are out forever. Instead, after the bankruptcy court discharges your eligible debts, or perhaps even before, you start looking forward to rebuilding your credit. Only a cynical person or the serial entrepreneur villain of an anti-capitalist webcomic would walk… Read More »
Who’s Afraid of Reverse Mortgages?
When you close on the purchase of a house, especially if you are a first-time homebuyer, you have high hopes about paying off the mortgage. You make a budget where you pay more than the minimum payment each month, thereby making a dent in the principal so that you pay less interest over time. … Read More »
Beware of Zero Percent Down Mortgages
Whether or not you were old enough to understand debt and financial risk when the 2008 housing market crisis happened, you were probably dismayed to hear about the people who borrowed subprime mortgage loans and then, to no one’s surprise, defaulted on them. How could anyone be so unscrupulous as to lend huge mortgages… Read More »
What Do the New Buy Now Pay Later Regulations Mean for Your Efforts to Get Out of Debt?
Is buy now pay later (BNPL) a financially sound choice for people who want to avoid racking up interest charges and credit card debt? Is it subprime lending that consumers choose because they do not have access to more affordable and less risky forms of credit? It is both. As with so many other… Read More »