What to Do Immediately when Facing Wage Garnishment
You work hard for your paycheck. When a wage garnishment threatens to leave you with only a portion of it, know that you have options, but you need to act quickly. Request credit reports While dealing with wage garnishment can be stressful, having your wages withheld for a debt you don’t rightfully owe is even […]
In the Great Recession’s wake, debt still trumps savings for many
Some consumers — the most fortunate among us — manage to save money just fine, while keeping troublesome debt levels at bay at the same time. Others, conversely, neither save much nor tap into their credit cards to an extent that causes them to lose sleep at night. For them, personal finances are essentially a […]
A growing consensus that student loan reform is urgently needed
Today’s post is essentially a transition piece that we believe tightly and logically links back to our immediately preceding post on student loan debt. In our entry dated March 12, we noted that “loan payback amounts sometimes loom as lifelong obligations for select borrowers.” Those obligations can seem far more onerous, we remarked, when authorities […]
Many Americans continue to cite money as top stress inducer
Work-related stresses? Check. Sleepless hours at night spent thinking about family responsibilities? Check. Money worries? Check — underscored and in bold. Americans worry about a great deal of things, which is understandable, given the nightly parading across the television screen of stories relating to terrorism, geo-political conflict, climactic change, legislative malaise on Capitol Hill and […]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; what it is, what it does
It is probably safe to say that American consumers are at least as savvy and circumspect as their counterparts in other countries across the globe. After all, the United States virtually created large-scale capitalism, with its market economy dwarfing all other national economies. Sellers and buyers transact many millions of times each day across the […]
What does the future hold for Texas payday lenders?
Readers of this blog will appreciate that we are not great fans of payday lending operations. As we noted in one recent article, there are aspects of the service that can make it attractive. The borrower of such a loan doesn’t usually have to put up collateral, though some consumers do go so far as […]
A novel approach to the nation’s massive student debt problem
It is flatly hard to overestimate the broad-based impact that spiraling student loan exactions are having in the United States, with scores of millions of people being saddled with long-term debt that can affect their spending and consumption decisions for decades. Here is a telling piece of information supplied courtesy of a national media story […]
Garnishment: What it is, and what you can do about it
Here’s a hypothetical that’s just about assured to induce cold sweat for any Texas resident considering it. You’re relaxing at home, attending to some personal budget matters. In perusing your bank statement online, you suddenly notice with due alarm that its entries seem strongly out of whack. Checks aren’t clearing. Your account seems frozen. And […]
Ignoring your creditors will not help you
Imagine for a moment that life throws you a curveball, and as a result your finances are thrown into turmoil. In response, you seek out new lines of credit or you start relying on your credit card far more than you ever have. As a couple of months go by, the life event that was […]
Is bankruptcy a viable response to a financial emergency?
Have consumers changed their approach to finances in the wake of the 2008 recession and housing crisis? A recent report suggests there may be cause for alarm. Specifically, a survey conducted by an entity that trains community development professionals indicates that almost one-quarter of households in Texas and across the country have only enough savings […]