Debt Relief Blog — Page 8

More debt relief strategies, credit card debt tips, and financial advice from Adem Selita — CEO of The Debt Relief Company.

tabler:menu-2
The Student Debt Crisis
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

The Student Debt Crisis

The student debt crisis is not just about student loans. It is about what student loan payments do to every other aspect of your financial life — including, and especially, credit card debt.

The Cost of Starting a Business
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

The Cost of Starting a Business

Unfortunately, most people either think the cost of starting a business is too significant or on the other end of the spectrum they heavily underestimate the associated cost. They’re both extreme viewpoints and no matter what your opinion is, there are always ways to save costs and lower you bottom line.

How to Set a Realistic Holiday Shopping Budget You Can Live with
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Set a Realistic Holiday Shopping Budget You Can ...

The best way to craft a budget for the holidays is to write down who you will be spending for and how much you plan on spending for each individual.

What Do Decreasing Rates Mean for Consumers?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What Do Decreasing Rates Mean for Consumers?

Lower interest rates mean that homebuyers have more buying power. If rates are low, homeowners will be able to pay more for homes and this should in turn raise the price of real estate.

Great Ways to Give Holiday Gifts without Getting into Debt
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Great Ways to Give Holiday Gifts without Getting into D...

If you listen attentively to the needs of the recipient you can become a better gift giver. However, you can still WOW your friends and family and stay within your budget, the two things are not mutually exclusive!

How to Reduce Lifestyle Inflation and the Wealth Effect
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Reduce Lifestyle Inflation and the Wealth Effect

Odds are, the more money you earn the more money you tend to spend. Some consumers that earn $300k-$400k+ are still unable to effectively manage their finances due to this issue.

What Makes a Good Manager?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What Makes a Good Manager?

A true leader is in the trenches with their team, not only watching them from the sideline giving orders. Managers that do not occasionally get on the phone or travel on site to close a deal are a lot less respected than those that do. Lead by example and this will in turn help you further develop your empathy as a manager.

What Are Good Credit Habits?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What Are Good Credit Habits?

There's no shortage of advice about building good credit. The problem is that most of it conflates what sounds responsible with what actually moves your score. People agonize over things that barely matter while ignoring the two or three factors that do almost all the work.

Seniors with Credit Card Debt
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Seniors with Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt in retirement is more common than most people realize, and it's not a character flaw — it's usually the result of medical expenses, income reduction, or helping family during difficult times. The important thing is knowing your options and your protections.

How to Fix Your Financial Situation
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Fix Your Financial Situation

"Fix your finances" is one of those phrases that sounds straightforward until you're the one trying to do it. Where do you start? What comes first? What do you do when the numbers don't add up no matter how carefully you budget?

Habits of Successful New Hires
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Habits of Successful New Hires

Regardless of your line of work, or the level and position you are entering, it is crucial that you start off on the right foot and set yourself apart from other new hires. If possible you want to set yourself apart from those just going around performing the “status quo”, that is the quickest and easiest way to gain recognition.

Why is Being in Debt So Emotionally Damaging?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Why is Being in Debt So Emotionally Damaging?

The numbers matter — interest rates, balances, minimum payments — but those are not what wake people up at 3 a.m. What wakes them up is the shame. The anxiety. The feeling of being trapped in a situation they cannot see their way out of.

How to Maintain a Home Well into Retirement
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Maintain a Home Well into Retirement

Many Americans find it difficult to maintain a home and the financial liabilities that come with it well into their retirement years. Although many Americans have some savings for retirement for many it’s simply not enough.

Common Excuses for Staying in Debt
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Common Excuses for Staying in Debt

Every excuse for staying in debt makes some kind of sense in the moment. That's what makes them effective. But most of them are really just different versions of the same thing: the fear that addressing the debt will be worse than living with it.

The 80/20 Budget
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

The 80/20 Budget

The 80/20 budget exists for people who need structure but cannot sustain complexity. It is the simplest viable budgeting framework — and for the right financial situation, it works remarkably well.

How to Build a $5,000 Emergency Fund
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Build a $5,000 Emergency Fund

In order to build an emergency fund of $5,000 you first need to create a budget. Carefully crafting a budget is typically going to be your first step. Once you write down your income and expenses and see what’s leftover at the end of each month you’ll have gotten a rough estimate of how much money you can work with.

The Best Way to Use Credit Cards
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

The Best Way to Use Credit Cards

The best way to use a credit card can vary depending on your purpose. Credit cards are typically not a good option for borrowing since interest rates tend to be higher on them then many other borrowing options however they are good in acting as a buffer and insurance plan on larger purchases and can provide some benefits via points.

Financial Mistakes to Avoid Making in Your 20s
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Financial Mistakes to Avoid Making in Your 20s

Your 20s are the decade where financial habits either set you up for decades of stability or create problems that take years to unwind. The good news is that the mistakes are predictable. The same patterns show up over and over, which means they are avoidable if you know what to watch for.

What is a Mortgage Note?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What is a Mortgage Note?

A mortgage note is an agreement between two parties (a lender and a borrower) that outlines the terms of repayment regarding a specific piece of property. In layman’s terms, a mortgage note is simply the agreement outlining how a borrower will pay back a lender for a loan they gave them to buy a given piece of property.

What Is Financial Insomnia?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What Is Financial Insomnia?

Financial insomnia isn't a clinical diagnosis — it's a term that describes something millions of people experience: lying awake at night, running the numbers, worrying about debt, calculating whether the checking account will clear, mentally drafting the conversation with the credit card company they've been avoiding. The mind won't stop, and sleep won't come.

Impacts of a FED Rate Cut
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Impacts of a FED Rate Cut

Interest rates go up a lot quicker than they go down. Due to this, a lowering of the Fed Funds Rate will not have an overnight change in the real economy. Interest rates can tend to be quite sticky and the fed funds rates usually takes about 12 months to have a real impact on the economy.

Back to School Budgeting Tips
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Back to School Budgeting Tips

For parents and anyone spending on back to school supplies. There are definitely still some good “back to school sales” however it's important to try your best to stay in budget. Try to avoid spending too much money on things you might spent on in the prior year.

One of The Biggest Problems with The Banking Industry Today
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

One of The Biggest Problems with The Banking Industry T...

According to the FDIC, approximately 14.2% of Americans are unbanked (approximately 19 million households). Being one of Americans’ unbanked consumers is not easy. You have to wait in line at a cash checking location and pay excessive fees to cash your paycheck. You miss out on the safety and security of being able to seamlessly and cheaply transfer/send funds and are unable to make standard ACH transfers or Zelle payments to friends and family.

Savings Goals
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Savings Goals

Many consumers that are not saving as much as they want to are underperforming their saving goals because they don’t fully understand their budget. If you don’t have the “full picture” in regards to your finances, and understand your monthly expenditures, it’s very hard to meet your saving goals and improve your situation.

Should You Borrow Money?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

Should You Borrow Money?

Borrowing money isn't inherently good or bad. It's a tool — and like any tool, it produces very different outcomes depending on how it's used, what it costs, and whether it's the right instrument for the situation.

How to Get an Apartment with Bad Credit
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Get an Apartment with Bad Credit

Renting an apartment with bad credit is genuinely more difficult than it used to be. Most large property management companies run credit checks as a standard part of the application process, and a score below 620 — or a history that includes collections, evictions, or charge-offs — can result in an automatic denial before any other factor is considered.

What is the Safest Loan to Take?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What is the Safest Loan to Take?

Depending on what your opinion is, there are different associated risks with different types of loans. Certain loans carry more favorable risk for repayment while other loans carry more interest rate related risk.

What is Interest Rate Margin?
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

What is Interest Rate Margin?

Interest rate margin is the effective interest rate you pay to borrow stocks with interest in your portfolio. This interest rate is typically only applicable to investors that are borrowing cash against their portfolio.

How to Send Your Kids to College Without Getting into Debt
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Send Your Kids to College Without Getting into D...

If you are reading this as a parent who already carries education-related debt — PLUS loans, credit card balances, or both — the priority is addressing it before retirement.

How to Qualify for a Business Credit Card
Photo of Adem Selita
By Adem Selita

How to Qualify for a Business Credit Card

The main determining factor for qualifying for a business credit card is your business credit score (business credit scores are determined by Equifax, Experian, and Dun & Bradstreet). However, if it's a new business, lenders will use your personal credit in order to check if you qualify for business credit card.