The average American has more than $9,000 in credit card debt. While having a credit card isn’t a bad thing, letting credit card debt pile up over time can place an enormous strain on your finances. Take a look at the articles, Q&A’s, blog posts and videos we have linked to this topic for ideas on how to handle credit card debt and your personal finances.
Repair Credit Before Applying For Mortgage
Sometimes when you go through a divorce one partner lashes out at the other by running up credit card debt. If the credit cards are in both spouses' names it can be a real problem. What can you do post-divorce if you want to buy a home? If you're low on cash and your credit is bad, you should pay down down and raise your credit score in order to qualify for a mortgage.
Bankruptcy Only Way Out Of Credit Card Debt
A mother let her son use her credit card to help set up his new home and now she is in significant financial trouble. You should never let anyone use your credit card without your permission. If the credit card debt is bigger than her income, her only solution might be to file for bankruptcy.
Can Payday Lenders Be Non-Profit?
For millions of Americans, pay day can't come quickly enough. In fact, many employees run out of cash before the next paycheck is handed over. Payday...
Credit Card Balance Hurts Mortgage Applicants
Should you pay off credit card bills before applying for a mortgage? Lenders are used to seeing credit card balances, and they can adjust for them. What happens is that the lender adds up how much you can afford to spend each month on your mortgage, interest and taxes. Having a zero balance on credit cards will help your chances for getting a good rate on a mortgage.
Ilyce Glink on WSB Radio – December 27, 2006
Substituting for Clark Howard on December 27, Ilyce Glink discusses mortgage fraud. According to the FBI, organized labor has become involved with mortgage fraud. On today's show, Ilyce talked about how the FBI is prosecuting cases at an average rate of one per day. She also talked about how auto title lending has been growing and took calls on debt, home buying and cleaning up your credit.
Using Home’s Equity To Pay Off Credit Card Debt
A homeowner has already used her home's equity to pay off credit card debt. Now the credit card debt is run up again but she needs a home equity loan to pay for home repairs. Credit counseling might be in order to get the credit card debt under control before this homeowner thinks about home improvements.
Negotiating Repayment Of Credit Card Debt
Negotiating repayment of credit card debt can impact your credit score and your tax bill. One problem with offering credit card companies less than what you owe them is that you may have a hefty tax bill because the IRS views the settlement as "phantom income." If you negotiate and settle with your creditors, be prepared to pay the tax bill the following year. You should also - as part of your final agreement - get the credit card company to report your balance as "paid as agreed" or "paid in full."
Use Cash Savings To Pay Off Credit Card Debt
If you've found yourself in a situation with a large amount of credit card debt and cash on hand, take the cash to pay off the credit card debt. While it might be nice to think you have a cushion of cash for an emergency, there's no point in paying high credit card interest rates when you have the cash to pay it off. If you simply pay off the debt, and then start to "repay" yourself with the savings, you'll quickly replenish your cash savings.
Ilyce Glink on WSB Radio – December 3, 2006
This week, Ilyce Glink talked about how crazy it is for the best chefs in the country to be using common refrigerator items when constructing their $50 to $75 per plate entrees. Apparently, Heinz ketchup and Wonder Bread are favorite base ingredients. Ilyce also took calls about the news that the federal government is now collecting information on our international travel, data that's being kept for 40 years. One caller talked about how she is a single mom, with $80,000 in credit card debt and asked for help in sorting out her next steps.
Do Credit Card Companies Protect Your Privacy?
I've written about the new "blink" technology that allows you to simply hold up a credit card with radio frequency (RFID) identity tags to pay for som...