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].
At its base, card ownership is a limited personal loan to you, whenever you need it. Keep a credit card in your pocket and you have the ability to make…
Child support is a legal obligation that a biological parent has for providing for the basic living expenses of a child: food, clothing, shelter, health care and education. It is…
Are you worried about identity theft and someone ruining your good credit name? The Fair Credit Reporting Act was designed to ease your fears. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)…
The Federal Trade Commission, launched in March 1915, was created in response to a groundswell of public concern that followed separate U.S. Supreme Court antitrust rulings against Standard Oil and…
Weddings are significant and important milestones in every society and culture. They celebrate and solemnize the marriage vows that unite a couple, and often their families, in many different ways…
Marriage is an intricate arrangement. Two separate individuals decide to join together to form a new institution – the married couple. Each person brings the totality of his or her…
The famed patriot Patrick Henry proclaimed “Give me liberty … or give me death!” at America’s founding. As the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans’ motto has changed to…
“Predators” in nature are defined as animals that prey on others, like wolves eating rabbits. Unfortunately, there are a lot of wolves in the lending business. Predatory lenders don’t care…
Military spouses and dependents share in the benefits earned by service members and that often includes the pressure and stress that comes with trying to collect those benefits. Military spouses…
The U.S. government created retirement accounts as investment vehicles for people so they could save more of their income to pay for their lives after they stop working. These savings accounts…
The Employment Report put out monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is one of the most-watched indicators of the state of the United States economy, headed by…
Before the creation of the nation’s Social Security system in the 1930s, 75 percent of American senior citizens lived in poverty. Today, thanks to Social Security, workers’ pensions and retirement…
When a government or organization spends more money than it has available, a deficit is created. In some cases, a government may borrow money to fill the deficit. This borrowing…
There has always been a lot of lending in the United States. There hasn’t always been a lot of truth. Lenders could obscure information on interest rates, finance charges and other…
In 1979, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), also known as Regulation E, was implemented to protect consumers when they use electronic means to manage their finances. Electronic fund transfers…
Businesses, like individuals, sometimes suffer from too much debt. Taking on the right amount of debt – and at the right time – can mean the difference between a business…
Debt Relief Programs in Michigan For the residents of the Great Lake State there are a number of different banks, credit unions, online lenders, and debt-relief companies (for profit and…
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created by Congress in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its function, as articulated in its mission statement is to…
Debt Relief Programs in Virginia If you need debt relief in Virginia, credit counseling agencies (nonprofit and for-profit), banks, credit unions and online lenders specialize in helping consumers pay off…
Debt Relief Programs in Ohio Several options exist to provide relief for those burdened by debt in Ohio. Credit counseling agencies (nonprofit and for-profit), banks, credit unions, online lenders and…
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…