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.
Millions of Americans are getting buried in debt, literally. A shocking number are dying with unpaid mortgages, car loans, student loans and credit cards. It’s shocking in the sense that…
As we get closer to America’s 245th year of independence, it’s a good time to reflect on how debt is woven into our country’s fabric. Especially since we’re now weaving…
Now that residents of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize and regulate the sale of recreational marijuana for adults over 21, and 18 states and the District of Columbia all…
Over the next several weeks, there is going to be a lot of chatter about the debt, as the fight to raise or not to raise the debt ceiling will…
The job market just might be easing up for college graduates. That’s what some of the latest evidence suggests, which is good news for anyone scheduled to finish college with…
With 2012 coming to a close in a matter of weeks, now’s the time to start planning for a healthy and prosperous new year. October and November mark the period…
People are supposed to relax when they retire, not worry about financial problems. Studies show that a lot of retirees turn to alcohol for debt relief, but there is a…
There are 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring every day for another 14 years, which means a lot of people have a choice that will have a monumental impact on their retirement:…
With the latest in forecast technology, it’s no longer a surprise when a monstrous storm like Hurricane Sandy is on the way. There’s usually substantial time for meteorologists to carefully…
Keeping your small business finances separate from your family life is a smart strategy for many reasons. In fact, not separating the two is likely to cause all sorts of…
Starting and running your own business is the epitome of the American Dream. Who wouldn’t love to be their own boss, the master of their own destiny? As ideal as…
If you have children going off to college this year, and don’t already have an exaggerated list of study requirements mapped out for them, it’s wise to suggest they learn…
As the cost of college skyrockets, students are searching for ways to cut expenses. A good place to look is on their dinner plates. Food expenses can wreck a budget…
Now that you’re in college, it’s likely that you are in charge of your own financial affairs more so than when you lived at home and functioned mostly as part…
April 15 has come and gone, but millions of Americans are still fretting over their taxes, mostly because they haven’t paid them yet. The IRS estimates that 25 percent of…
Whether you’ve landed your first part-time job in high school or made your first career move after college, odds are that you haven’t taken a class on how to file…
The Millennial generation is moving back home in record numbers, and their parents are getting some sympathy from, of all people, the IRS. The much-despised agency has a soft spot…
The big financial question for Americans every spring: How should I spend my tax refund? The Internal Revenue Service says most of you – somewhere between 75 and 80 percent…
Tax fraud related to identity theft is a rapidly growing problem. It involves thieves using your personal identifying information to file false tax returns in order to receive big refunds.…
There has been much talk this campaign year about a “Wealth Tax” and whether it would impact the wallets of middle and lower-income America, even if its name doesn’t. Rest…
Medical debt and the problems they cause credit reports, have long gone hand-in-hand. Consumers behind on payments to healthcare providers, especially those whose bills have been sold to collection agencies,…
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…
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…