The debt settlement industry can afford some extravagance. The long recession has delivered an abundance of customers — debt-saturated Americans, suffering lost jobs and income, sliding toward bankruptcy. The settlement companies typically harvest fees reaching 15 to 20 percent of the credit card balances carried by their customers, and they tend to collect upfront, regardless of whether a customer’s debt is actually reduced.
State attorneys general from New York to California and consumer watchdogs like the Better Business Bureau say the industry’s proceeds come at the direct expense of financially troubled Americans who are being fleeced of their last dollars with dubious promises.
Read More June 19, 2010
What You Need to Know When Applying for Financial Aid Student loans have been in the news lately, with more new student loan legislation pending. I thought this would be an excellent time to offer information on education financing to Indy's Child readers. Read More July 1, 2009
When You Can't Do Debt Alone Debt counseling, debt management, debt settlement, bankruptcy—so many options, so little time. You don't know where to turn. What you do know is you need help. If you go to one of these companies, what will that do to your credit report? How much does it cost? Are you better off dealing with your creditors by yourself? Read More May 1, 2009
Learning PlasticSpeak Learning any new language can be fun and educational, but if there is room for only one language at the top of your must learn list—make it PlasticSpeak. After almost twenty-five years helping people with their financial affairs, I have found credit card offers and credit card statements seem to be written in a language all their own. There is a lot of valuable information if you understand the language. If you do not, though, the fine print can lead to big, ugly debt problems. Read More Apr 1, 2009
Take Time for a Credit Self Check Merchants, banks, employers, insurance companies: in today's economy, they're all busy reducing their risk. One way they do that is to run a credit check before lending you money, hiring you or even before selling you insurance for your car or your health. But while the institutions and companies are being pro-active in protecting themselves, you too can be pro-active by regularly performing credit checks on yourself. Just as breast self-exams are recommended for early detection of cancer, credit self-exams can discover threats to your credit in time to prevent serious problems. Read More Mar 1, 2009
'No Matter What' Gifts Come With No Paper Or Ribbon Okay, so we survived the holiday season, even though the budget was a lot tighter this year. The decorations are down and the gifts in use or put away (or exchanged, or returned, or broken). But it's never over for parents, is it? From the moment our children come into this world, we're busy doing everything in our power to provide for their needs. We try our hardest to protect them from pain, worry, hunger and all the dangerous situations they seem to love to get into. We try and provide for their education and even their recreation— it's a never ending process, isn't it? Read More Feb 1, 2009
Identity Theft: From Bad to Worse All the studies confirm what I already knew from more than 20 years as an Indiana bankruptcy attorney: identity theft is the fastest growing crime in our country. The legal definition of identity theft is "the use of another person's information in ways involving fraud and deception." This crime doesn't necessarily mean stealing a credit card or other ID and using that to open a telephone account or buy clothing, furniture, gadgets, or—even worse—drugs. The Executive Office for U.S. Trustees in Washington D.C. reports cases where people bought real estate using stolen identities or transferred part ownership in property to another person in order to avoid foreclosure—the different permutations of theft seem endless. In my work I've come across cases where one person obtained a professional license using someone else's identity, and even cases where one person filed bankruptcy in the name of the identity theft victim.
Read More Jan 1, 2009
Don't Let your Gifts Go to Waste! Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza: they're right around the corner, and so are the cards. Colorful holiday greeting cards will adorn your mantel, and, more than likely, in your wallet will be a little stash of colorful merchant gift cards that you received as holiday presents.
Read More Dec 1, 2008
Paying Yourself First Grandpa taught this to Dad. Mom heard it from her mother. And no doubt some version of this piece of wisdom was passed down to you by a loving parent or other relative: Out of every paycheck, before you even pay your bills, set aside money for savings and for your rainy-day fund.
With food and gasoline prices so high it may seem more difficult today to put good savings habits into practice, but Pay Yourself First is every bit as good an idea now as it ever was.
Read More Nov 1, 2008
5+2+9 Adds Up To Protecting Your Children's College Money As a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana for more than 20 years, I help folks with their finances. While I'm always up-to-date on Indiana bankruptcy law (in fact I helped write the latest changes to our laws), I also do my best to keep up with the news on savings and investment opportunities.
That can be important when people turn to me for advice on their financial situation. Then again, after I help people work through the bankruptcy process, my knowledge of money matters comes in handy as they emerge from bankruptcy and begin to rebuild their financial lives.
Since it's back-to-school time again, I want to be sure parents know about the benefits of 529 plans.
Read More Sept 1, 2008
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