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Managing Your Personal Finances During COVID-19
Managing your personal finances during COVID-19. How those who are struggling can utilize COVID-19 relief programs and prioritize bill payments. The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is putting an unprecedented strain on Americans’ finances. Half of those who were laid off due to COVID-19 remain unemployed and most workers who lost wages are still [...]
Healthcare System Concerns Heightened During COVID-19 Pandemic
Healthcare system concerns heightened during COVID-19 Pandemic. Americans share how they feel about healthcare during COVID-19 in a new survey. It’s no secret that the U.S. healthcare system is broken and the COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened Americans’ concerns about rising costs. The majority (60 percent) of Americans rated the U.S. healthcare system as “poor” [...]
What Can I Do If My Building Isn’t Following Local COVID-19 Rules?
What can I do if my building isn’t following local COVID-19 rules? What you can do about it and how to keep yourself safe. Q: Our city maintains a list of states that have high COVID-19 cases and requires local residents or visitors to quarantine for two weeks after traveling to these states. One of [...]
COVID-19 Pandemic: How Can You Enforce a Quarantine?
COVID-19 Pandemic: how can you enforce a quarantine? This reader wants to know how travel quarantines can be enforced in a 55+ condo development. Q: We live in Florida in a 55+ condominium development in Florida. Our question is whether residents who visit out-of-state folks need to quarantine themselves upon return. And, what about residents [...]
How Do You Make a Consumer Complaint?
How do you make a consumer complaint? How to file a complaint against a company and the top 10 most common consumer complaints. Who do you complain to when the used car you bought breaks down as soon as you drive it off the lot? Or when the handyman you hired to work on your [...]
How Can I Build My Credit If I Have No Credit?
How can I build my credit if I have no credit? This reader wants to know how to go about buying a car and a home with no credit history. Q: I'm in the process of buying my first car (researching, calculating finances) and I wanted to ask what your advice would be as I [...]
COVID-19: Unemployment and the Mounting Financial Crisis
COVID-19: unemployment and the mounting financial crisis. Understanding how people live paycheck-to-paycheck and the implications of extended unemployment. Q: In your recent column in the Washington Post, it was stated that “nearly 80 percent of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic…” I want to know how do you define living paycheck-to-paycheck when [...]
COVID-19: 5 Easy Home Improvement Projects
5 easy home improvement projects you can do during the COVID-19 pandemic. Simple DIY home improvement projects that homeowners can start on now. The past four months have felt like four years. Most of us have spent more time at home than ever before, and are quite sick of our four walls, floor and ceiling. [...]
COVID-19 Scams: What to Look for in a COVID-19 Scam
COVID-19 scams: what to look for. How scammers are targeting Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and what to do if you’re a victim of a COVID-19 scam. Update: The types of COVID-19 scams were updated to include a new national unemployment mailing scam on July 30th, 2020. Scammers have been working overtime this year, preying [...]
Top 5 Home Remodeling Trends in 2020
Top 5 home remodeling trends 2020. Take a closer look at remodeling activity and the projects and features homeowners are trending towards. What are the top home remodeling trends? The annual Houzz & Home Study, the largest survey of residential remodeling, building and decorating activity, answers that question, and more. Not surprisingly, given the strength [...]