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For this debtor, home equity loan makes sense
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While there are many Americans who have experienced gains in their income and financial assets over the past several years, there are countless others who are in your position. You are probably working harder today with your two jobs than you were when you had just one, but your pay is substantially less. For that I am truly sorry.
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Collecting overdue medical bills now a growth industry
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A phone call from a bill collector is never a welcome one, especially when it comes after surgery or another major medical event. But hospitals and doctors want to be paid without losing a patient. That has business booming for Bill San Marco's San Antonio-based collection agency, DataSearch Inc.
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Credit card balance transfers
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Those low-interest credit-card balance transfer offers showing up in your mailbox almost daily -- some going as low as 0% -- are hard to resist. But read the fine print on those credit card contracts before you leap. You could end up paying more in credit card interest than you would have if you'd just stayed put.
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Debt counseling firms can be shady
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Government regulators have forced one dubious credit counseling company out of business, ordered two others to make restitution to consumers they were hired to help and required a fourth to post a bond to protect future clients.
The Federal Trade Commission shut down AmeriDebt - a once-heavily advertised national credit counseling service - on charges that it deceived consumers into paying at least $170 million in hidden fees.
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The student loan scramble
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According to the 2003-2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, at least two thirds of all undergraduates and graduate students will complete their education with some debt. In some instances, as much as $125,000.
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American consumers doing better managing massive credit card debt
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Credit Card delinquencies are down, for instance, and fewer folks are responding to those annoying credit card offers in the mail. So what are credit card companies doing in response? They're stuffing even more credit card offers into our mailboxes. According to the research firm Synovate, credit card issuers mailed out a record 1.4 billion credit card offers in the first quarter, putting them on track to send out nearly 6 billion credit card solicitations this year.
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Credit card plastic has pitfalls for small businesses
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Experts say entrepreneurs would be wise to avoid loading down their fledgling ventures with too much high-interest credit card debt. The credit card can be a valuable tool, allowing a small-business owner to move fast when the need for a purchase comes up.
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Taming extreme debt
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Eight in ten Americans say they are very confident or somewhat confident that they would know how to deal with extreme debt.
This is according to a survey by TrueCredit.com, a Website that helps consumers learn about and improve their credit scores.
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Rising credit card fees are costing consumers billions
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Consumer activists have become increasingly vocal in denouncing credit card practices, calling them deceptive, unfair and even predatory. They're demanding action by regulators and lawmakers, and their cries are being heard.
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One-Third of Consumers Have No Money Saved for Retirement
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Experian-Gallup Personal Credit
Index(SM) finds a public that is much more worried about its overall credit
situation than it was last month. The Personal Credit Index is now at 79,
down 15 points from last month and at the lowest level since its launch in
March.
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Bankruptcy bill full of loopholes
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The stated goal of the new legislation, which was pushed by the credit card, auto and retail industries, is to end abuse of the bankruptcy system.
But many bankruptcy experts worry it will only add cost and red tape to the process of filing for bankruptcy and not necessarily curb abuse.
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Bankruptcy laws could affect small business
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It's not just debt-burdened consumers who end up in bankruptcy court, snowed under by medical bills and credit card debt, bedeviled by job loss and divorce. Entrepreneurs by the thousands file personal bankruptcy when their businesses go bad.
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Credit Card Issuers: Top 10 to control 90% of consumer debt
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Bank of America said Thursday that it's buying MBNA, the largest stand-alone credit card issuer, for about $35 billion. The deal, assuming it vaults over the usual regulatory hurdles, will make BofA one of the biggest credit card issuers in the United States and means top 10 card issuers will control nearly 90 percent of the market.
This has serious implications for the rates and fees people are charged, as well as the reach of companies that control our personal data.
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