| Crush your Credit Card Debt
It is not an exaggeration of fact that the recent decade has been witnessing an explosion in levels and numbers of credit card debt among the Britons. The relative ease of obtaining plastic money coupled with the anemic growth of wages has inspired more and more Britons to spend more than they make. Many of them are in a regular practice of living on borrowed money. It is easy to collapse under the pressure of crushing credit card debt. But smart people take some sensible steps to protect themselves and their credit worthiness. It is a myth that getting into debt is easy and getting out of debt is difficult. The loan that took only days or weeks to accumulate can take years or even decades to get rid of. You may be aware of the statistics of the BoE that a small credit card balance can take 30 years to pay off if only the minimum payment is made each month.
Winning the Credit Card Game
It seems the better people get at paying off their credit card balances each month, the nastier the companies get. Why? This is because the better you are at paying off your balance every month, the less profit for the company. Companies are responding by becoming more creative in finding ways to make money off of you. Thus, it is more important than ever to master the rules of the game. Rule 1: Don't be a revolver.
The first rule of credit cards is avoiding the evil "balance." Carrying a balance means paying far more than you should for everything you charge to your card. And it is one of the fastest ways to fall deep in debt. Are you what the credit card companies call a revolver -- someone who carries a balance -- or are you a freeloader, someone who pays off their balance every month? With any luck, you are a freeloader.
Kerry's served with bankruptcy letter over her £1m debts
They warned her insolvency proceedings were going aheadand secured her two properties so they can be sold off to pay creditors. The big spending ex-Atomic Kitten singer and her husband, former drug dealer Mark Croft, have hired a team of insolvency advisors to help sort out their main debts. These comprise 700,000 claimed by the taxmanincluding an immediate 200,000 instalmentand 60,000 in loans and credit card bills. A close friend of the 27-year-old Iceland advert star said: "She was told she needed to pay 200,000 in tax by Christmas. She could lose everything." Yet last month Mark got a new 127,000 Ferraridespite having a Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche 911 and Mercedes in the garage of their 1.2million home in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now the property, where Kerry lives with Mark and her three daughters, could be sold to meet her debts.
Home market under $200K super hot
Marshall and Wendy Kauffman were drowning in debt six years ago. After paying off about $15,000 in credit card bills, they recently got the keys to their first home: A 1,150-square-foot three-bedroom, two-bath house in a nice Gilbert neighborhood. They paid $185,000. The Kauffmans, who are both 29 and have three children, are among homebuyers fighting over a growing inventory of homes in the Valley's super hot sub-$200,000 market. The sub-prime debacle, foreclosures and short sales are continuing to drive Valley real estate prices down, making more homes than ever affordable for first-time homebuyers and investors. .
Fort Lauderdale man faces uphill battle with a mountain of debt
Big student loans and a heap of credit-card debt, but a low-paying job. It's a mismatch so many people face when they're trying to live on starting salaries. For Jamell Vanterpool, the mismatch is hurting him and limiting his future prospects.
"I can't keep up with the bills," he wrote, seeking a South Florida Sun-Sentinel Money Makeover.
There are two big questions he faces: Can he live on his salary? The answer to that one is no. And what can he do about it? That answer depends on what Vanterpool does next.
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Credit card industry tries to hook young people
All major banking institutions pay big money to colleges and universities for on-campus recruiting rights, offering students low initial interest rates and/or other sweetheart deals if they accept a credit card. The rest of us get solicitations through our phone or the mails.Seductive sales campaigns focus on high school graduates and for all kinds of items that TV, movies or society has told them they want, need, should have because they deserve it and others have, so why don't they? Car dealers offer "one-time sales events" to first-time wage earners, high-end electronic stores give 90-day-same-as-cash deals and guarantee that no one will be turned down, furniture showrooms offer newlyweds "no payments 'til next year," cell phones, Internet providers, cable companies, satellite dish outfits all make it sound as if you can't have a decent life without their help.All this has given birth to an additional parasite - the debt-consolidation, paycheck-cashing, payday-loan, instant-refinancing-of-your-car (and you get to keep your car - 'til they come to take it away) industry.Public schools teach kids how to drive, play sports, fit a condom, take birth control pills, find an abortionist or fill out a job application at McDonald's.
Spending detox worth every penny saved
I loved blogging daily at MiamiHerald.com/business (The Frugalista Files) about my experience in spending detox. There were ups (realizing that I had leftover cash after paying both my rent and light bill in a single pay period) and downs (staying home Valentine's Day with no plans). But over all, this has been one of the best experiences of my life. After doing the no-buy month, I realized that I spent way too much and, more importantly, I could change my situation. Like me, many young consumers have a spending problem. According to cardtrak.com, the average credit-card debt per household with a card is $9,659. Many college students graduate with an average of $20,000 in student loan debt. I have both a credit card balance and a student loan to pay off. I want them gone, sooner rather than later.
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