May
25
2010

Are you being seduced into “debt settlement”?

Watch out. They may just want your money. We heard the story so many times, that you need to hear about it too.
Many companies promise people (who are usually in a desperate situation) that they can settle their debts for pennies on the dollar. Now, while there certainly are honest, reputables companies that will deliver [...]

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Mar
05
2010

More People Skip Mortgage To Pay Credit Cards

From The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2010
U.S. consumers are starting to look like a frugal, debt-fearing lot as they pay down billions of dollars in credit-card obligations. But an alarming trend is emerging: A small but growing number of people are skipping mortgage payments in favor of paying their credit-card bills.
In an unprecedented [...]

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Jun
29
2009

The secret history of the credit card

In case you have not seen it, I’d like to offer you a link to a program that KPBS put together some time ago. It is a MUST watch! It’s called The Secret History of the Credit Card and it aired a few years ago, but luckily for those of us who missed it, we [...]

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Jun
26
2009

When will you get out of debt?

That’s probably the million dollar question, right?
Are you making it a priority? “It’s very hard to be disciplined enough to avoid spending money on things you want simply because you have bills to pay” told me a visitor to this site once. And I know she was right, it’s not easy. But you still have [...]

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Jun
18
2009

What are you focusing on?

One of the things that helped me the most in my life is to control what I’m focusing on at any given time. It is so easy to get carried away by the news, things happening around us, etc that if we don’t learn to control our focus, we will end up depressed! We have enough reasons to feel bad (economy, people being laid off, credit crisis, etc) so we need to be careful with what we put in our minds. The good news is, that this is something that is entirely under our control.

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Jun
01
2009

Why is Identity Theft on the rise?

Well, you probably read it on the news or seen it on tv. Identity Theft is simply when a person “steals” the identity of another person, usually to take advantage of them. The most common way is by using their social security number or credit card number to either purchase things or apply for a [...]

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May
29
2009

Talking about scams…

Yesterday I was talking about scams… what a coincidence. A friend just called me and said that he needed to get a loan for his business and the banks where he had applied rejected his application. So he went with a company in Los Angeles that told him it would be an easy approval, he [...]

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May
28
2009

Reality check: there’s no free money

It’s unbeliavable: my inbox is full of emails claiming I won the lottery in Nigeria. They are eager to send me the money, they just need all the details of my checking account so they can wire it. How convenient!
Have you ever fallen for a scam? You have to be very careful these days, scammers [...]

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May
22
2009

Credit card companies are changing their tactics

I was reading this New York Times article and I thought, “I was so naive to think that Credit Card companies wouldn’t fight back”. It’s obvious now that they will be very creative coming up with new fees. They are even doing a deep study on our psychology: based on the items and brands we [...]

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May
21
2009

Credit Card reform is one step closer to reality

Now that both the Senate and the House passed the bill, it is being sent to President Obama, who already said was going to approve it.
What will this law mean for us? Tens of millions of credit card users will have more time to pay their credit card bills and will also avoid retroactive [...]

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