It’s hard enough to make good financial decisions when you are young without finding out that your college is out to get you. Or at least is encouraging bad decisions through unseemly agreement with banks. Not long ago, credit card issuers crowded American’s college campuses, offering free pizza in exchange [Keep reading]
Great news! Soon, the majority of Americans will have free access to their credit score. This is a major victory for consumers, a decade or more in the making. It means that they will be able to take action to improve it in readiness for something important like applying for [Keep reading]
A text-message spam campaign that flooded mobile phones and irritated perhaps millions of iPhone users last summer reared its ugly head again towards the end of 2014. The messages offer recipients a cheap way to order designer products like handbags and sunglasses, which can be done more easily and affordably [Keep reading]
It’s lovely that the now-famous British couple who made the mistake of having their preemie baby born in the U.S. won’t have to pay their potential $200,000 in medical bills. If they were in Europe though, having a European Health Insurance Card for their baby could have made such a difference. [Keep reading]
Are you getting collection calls and wish there was an easier way to handle the problem? Here’s a guide to dealing with a debt collector … using the least effort possible. DON’T ignore bills, letters and threats thinking that collectors will just forget about the money, or that the firm [Keep reading]
Here’s a great New Year’s resolution for you: Stop donating money to cable companies. Because I promise you, their resolution is to take more money from you. Cable will keep downloading increased piles of money from lazy consumers this year, but there’s good news: its stranglehold is starting to slip [Keep reading]
It’s a tricky practice from inside an industry that often mystifies consumers. Consumer groups have called it “debt laundering.” Debt collectors call it “withdrawal.” The strategy is simple, but troubling: If at first you don’t succeed at collecting on a debt, try, try again – by sending it to [Keep reading]
If 2014 was the year of the credit card hack, what will 2015 be? Here’s an early look at candidates — the scams, hacks and hiccups that could trip up the most consumers next year. 1. Hacked Kitchen Appliances and the Internet of Things Even as our cellphones get bigger, technology [Keep reading]
Doing some research for a larger story about the “damage points” associated with having a credit-related boo-boo, I stumbled on this important factoid: A consumer with excellent credit who maxes out a credit card will see a credit score drop of 25 to 45 points. In other words, someone with a superb 780 score [Keep reading]
We’ve long suspected, but now we know: A large part of America’s personal debt problem is medical debt. About half of the unpaid debt entries in credit reports are related to medical bills. Getting sick can ruin a household, leading to pock-marked credit reports, trouble with other borrowing, and eventually [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan