Recent News
Veteran Rebuilds Personal Finances After Blowing $100,000
The U.S. government handed Travis Fugate a $100,000 check in 2006 after he was seriously injured by a bomb explosion in Iraq. Fugate was 22 at the time and used the money to buy two cars, a boat, a home in the small town in Kentucky where he grew up and “lots of beers for [...]
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Proposal to Cut Student Loan Interest Rate to Near-Zero Percent
Today, more and more attention is being paid to the $1.1 trillion in outstanding student loans owed by more than 38 million American borrowers. That’s because student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt for the first time. Also, there’s mounting evidence that student loans are beginning to crowd out other types of borrowing and [...]
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U.S. Economy Is Slowly Improving
The snapshot of the U.S. economy in the first week of May looks unusually promising. Almost every arrow economists want pointing up – home sales, auto sales, stock market – is up. Meanwhile, interest rates and unemployment figures continue to decline. Whether that picture is a true reflection of an economy on the mend is [...]
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Bill to Pay Back Student Loans Proposed by Congressman Tom Petri
Legislation has been proposed to help people pay back student loans, but the bill’s sponsors disagree with doomsayers who say a disastrous economic bubble is brewing over defaults and late payments. Representative Tom Petri (R-WI), co-sponsor of the Earnings Contingent Education Loans (ExCEL) Act that would simplify student loan repayment by tying it to the borrower’s salary [...]
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How to Be A Debt Hero: Pay Back $107,000
Toni Husbands was 31, unemployed and $107,000 in debt when she convinced her husband, Colin, that it was time to get serious about where they spent their money. The Husbands, both computer engineers, were making payments on two cars, student loans and owed the federal government more than $20,000 in back taxes in 2005. They were [...]
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Credit Card Debt Decreases Even as Consumer Spending Climbs
After years of focusing on paying down debt, American consumers have started opening their wallets to spend again. Both moves helped the economy. Consumers paid down debt, especially mortgage and credit cards, at a record pace from 2008 to 2010, a decision that helped stabilize the American economy after the credit crisis and financial meltdown [...]
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College Debt Dragging Down Future of Graduates and Economy
Recent studies delivered another round of warning shots that the U.S. economy is losing a spark from one of its most potent sources – college graduates – because of problems repaying student loans. Researchers from three separate agencies recently released data that showed graduates are leaving school with so much debt that it’s affecting their [...]
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Boston Tragedy Sparks Warning About Charity Scams
The registration of 125 “charitable” websites within an hour of the explosions at the Boston Marathon on April 15 brings light to the issue of charity scams. In what is now becoming an all-to-familiar pattern, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley issued a warning to people to validate the charity before they donate, especially if the [...]
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Despite Positive Economic Indicators, Consumer Confidence Continues to Decline
American consumers are a step slow in accepting the news that the U.S. economy really is on the mend. Consumer confidence and retail spending dipped in March, while the rest of the economy puttered along at a good-to-great pace. Housing starts in March were up 7 percent over February and leaped 46.7 percent over March [...]
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Harassed by Debt Collectors, One Man Sues and Wins $1,700
Andrew Katzman recognizes that his story – debt collector ends up paying a bill – is one of life’s ultimate ironies. “It is incredible irony, almost a paradox, isn’t it?” Katzman told Debt.org. “These guys (debt collectors) kept harassing me over a bill I didn’t owe, and then they end up having to pay me [...]
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