Staff Writer
Bill Fay
Bill “No Pay” Fay has lived a meager financial existence his entire life. He started writing/bragging about it in 2012, helping birth Debt.org into existence as the site’s original “Frugal Man.” Prior to that, he spent more than 30 years covering the high finance world of college and professional sports for major publications, including the Associated Press, New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His interest in sports has waned some, but he is as passionate as ever about not reaching for his wallet. Bill can be reached at [email protected].
Debt recovery and debt collection are similar terms with one small, but very important distinction. The difference is who is trying to retrieve a debt. Debt collection is when a…
The term “sticker shock” was born in auto dealership showrooms, but it’s new home is the administrative offices of colleges and universities. Schools have blurred the true cost of college…
Two discussions give parents the cold sweats. Telling your kids where babies come from, and telling your kids where debt comes from. Fortunately, I have two girls so I fully…
Private loans for college are fraught with negatives, including high interest rates and unforgiving repayment schedules that often end in lawsuits for many borrowers. Unlike government student loans that typically…
If you want to hit the mute button on conversations at any dinner party, family outing or evening at the pub, start giving debt help advice. Nearly every adult in…
You’re unlikely to reach retirement age without somebody asking you about annuities. They want to know whether you considered buying one, and if they work for an insurance agency, they’re…
The cost for a college education has rocketed out of sight since 2000, but so has the financial reward graduates earn when they bring home a diploma. Tuition and fees…
What is a Secured Loan? A secured loan refers to a loan contract in which the borrower puts up collateral (like their home or car) to acquire immediate cash. They…
Want a scholarship or grant money for your education? The easiest way to accomplish that might be to select a career that’s in demand. Whether it’s the government, college and…
Statistically speaking, almost three out of four people are going to die with debt, which raises a very real concern for spouses and children of the deceased: Can you inherit their…
Choose Your Debt Amount Types of Repayment Plans Standard Extended Graduated Income-Based (IBR) Income-Contingent (ICR) President Obama’s Pay As You Earn Plan Perkins Loans & Private Loans If you have…
Stories about the Loch Ness Monster, George Washington having wooden teeth and cracking your knuckles causing arthritis are nice pieces of fiction with no proven basis in fact. In other…
Retirement can be an idyll time or a struggle depending on how well you’ve prepared. For an increasing number of Americans approaching their golden years, mountains of unpaid debt threaten…
For service members, the thought of going into debt isn’t as troubling as the thought of going into battle. After all, filing for bankruptcy is not usually a life-threatening experience.…
College graduation day is supposed to be fun, but it’s hard to celebrate when there is a hefty student loan debt attached to your diploma That is the grim reality…
Genes are important. A mother’s sparkling eyes or a father’s big feet are among the countless traits parents pass to their children. The same thing can happen with debt. Though…
Choose Your Debt Amount What Is a Debt Management Plan? How Can It Help? A debt management plan is a way to pay off high-interest unsecured debt – mostly credit…
For American households, debt has become a way of life and in some of those houses, the figures are staggering. Household debt (mortgage + home equity loans + credit cards…
Note: Payments for federal student loans are suspended through May 1, 2022 » More Information here: Student Loans Payments During Covid-19 The “honeymoon” phase for most college graduates lasts exactly six…
Stafford loans, also known as William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans, are by far the most common type of student loans with 32.8 million recipients borrowing a total of $705.3…
With a nod to Mark Twain, inflation has replaced the weather as the thing everyone talks about it, but nobody seems to do anything about it. Until now. Not that…
America has turned into a nation of quitters, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Spurred by the COVID pandemic, millions of people have joined “The Great Resignation” that’s happening…
The rules governing repayment of federal student loans contain so many nooks and crannies that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you may have missed one created during the…
The average Joe – not Biden – figures to benefit most from passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Approximately 145 million Americans will receive a third round of…
Biden wants the minimum wage – currently set at $7.25 an hour – to jump to $15 an hour by 2025. The increases would be phased in at approximately $1.75…
President-elect Joe Biden unveiled the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion war on the prolonged suffering of Americans hardest hit by coronavirus. Included in his proposal: a fresh round of…
The second COVID-19 relief bill is now law – all 3,126 pages of it. The people in Congress who passed it admit they don’t know what all is in it,…
If you haven’t looked at your bank account this week, now might be a splendid time. The long wait for a second stimulus check from the U.S. government finally is…
A second stimulus check – the financial gift from the U.S. government to help consumers recover from the economic belt coronavirus gave the American economy – needs only a signature…
If the biggest employee benefit you receive is when your company bothers to fill the toilet paper rolls in the employee bathroom, you might not want to read this: Google…
If you are paying on a federal student loan, you probably already know that the government CARES Act has provided benefits that suspends payment and interest requirements through May 1,…
Americans with student loan debt have a $1.6 trillion question on their minds: What would President Trump or a President Biden do about all that money these 45 million borrowers…
There hasn’t been much good economic news in 2020, but if you’re buried in student loans, there was an astoundingly positive development recently. Thanks to a recent court ruling, you…
The COVID-19 pandemic has created record unemployment, erased profit margins, closed businesses and wreaked havoc on almost every family’s money outlook. It has even affected America’s ultimate get-out-of-jail financial symbol…
Veterans indebted to the Department of Veterans Affairs won a partial payment reprieve this summer that will last at least through the end of 2020. The VA action extends a…
Dorothy surely wasn’t thinking of life in a COVID-19 pandemic when she clicked those heels in the “Wizard of Oz” and opined that ‘there’s no place like home.’ But her…
Congress and the White House are still debating whether the HEALS Act, HEROES Act – or some compromise Act in between – will deliver the next round of coronavirus relief…
When the House of Representative passed the $3-trillion HEROES Act on May 15, it all but guaranteed that a second stimulus check would arrive for Americans in need of financial help…
The storm is coming. American consumers will be filing personal bankruptcies in record numbers by the end of 2020. That is the projection from bankruptcy attorneys, bankers and other experts…
The phrase “stimulus check” is second only to “coronavirus” or “COVID-19” as something to talk about these days and people are definitely talking. About 159 million Americans have received the…