Posted July 10, 2009 - 16:00 by Andrea Dickson
Bank of America policy whistleblowers, credit freezes, getting enough sleep, the weather forecast for the next year or so, lowering your credit card balance with the rest of the country (good on ya), and more.
Posted July 10, 2009 - 04:00 by Philip Brewer
One of the most common questions over on the Wise Bread forum is some variation on, "I have $X in savings but $Y in credit card debt. Should I use the savings to pay down the debt?" The answer, of course, depends on your situation--and there's a reason why the question keeps showing up. Here's how to do the analysis.
Posted July 2, 2009 - 12:04 by Xin Lu
When the Obama administration first announced the details of the Making Home Affordable program in March, the guidelines for the refinance portion stated that the loan refinanced cannot be more than 105% of the value of the home. Now a new expansion of the program allows the loan to value ratio to be up to 125%. Will this help consumers or just worsen the situation?
Posted July 1, 2009 - 23:40 by Andrea Dickson
Finding online coupons, learning to live in this depressing economy, selling your house in this depressing economy, going to the gym (no, really), ignoring Canada, looking beyond erasing debt, and learning to calm your #!$%)&@ nerves.
Posted June 30, 2009 - 13:34 by Xin Lu
On May 1st a new set of home appraisal rules called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct was put into effect by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to distance realtors and mortgage brokers from appraisers. This was put in place because during the housing bubble appraisal fraud was rampant and some appraisers felt pressured by realtors and brokers to hit the desired numbers. How is this affecting consumers?
Posted June 30, 2009 - 08:50 by Paul Michael
Home alarm systems can be expensive. A basic alarm system can be hundreds of dollars. Move up to the home-monitoring systems of ADT and Brink's, and you're talking big money. Installation can cost over $1000, and the monthly monitoring fee can be upwards of $40 a month. But, chances are, you already own a pretty good alternative.
Posted June 30, 2009 - 05:34 by Philip Brewer
The economy is way short of full employment, so naturally, consumer spending is down. Sooner or later employment, I think, will return to normal levels. Consumer spending will return to normal too--but don't look to the first half of this decade as "normal." Normal is something very different.
Posted June 29, 2009 - 13:31 by Xin Lu
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the personal savings rate in May 2009 was 6.9%. This a 15 year high and a far cry from the negative savings rates of just a few years ago. Although a part of the increase in savings comes from the large stimulus bills passed recently, most of the increase seems to come from changes in Americans' spending habits. So who benefits from a higher personal savings rate?
Posted June 29, 2009 - 03:29 by Philip Brewer
I have a pair of shoes that are about to wear out. This sucks because they're shoes I wear pretty often (which is no doubt why they're wearing out). I'll probably have to replace them. I was mulling over a possible post on the universal experience of things wearing out, when it occurred to me that this experience may not be quite as universal as it used to be.
Posted June 26, 2009 - 11:59 by Andrea Dickson
Storing summer's bounty, saving money on a gym membership, talking about finances before the honeymoon, how to get divorced while the world is watching, buying a car without getting ripped off, stay-at-home dads and more.
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