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.
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.
Your financial health is something used to gauge how durable you are in terms of your finances and whether you have a strong financial constitution. If you have good financial health this typically means you have good credit and you are someone that won’t necessarily need to rely on others for financial assistance.
A monthly minimum payment is the lowest possible amount you can pay towards your credit card payments. Paying credit monthly minimum payments is the bare-bone minimum of what you can do in order to pay down credit card debt and should always be avoided whenever possible.
Tighter lending, higher rates, and reduced credit limits are hitting consumers harder than the headlines suggest. Here's what worsening credit conditions actually mean for your debt.
Bear markets are caused by a decrease in prices and a correction of market valuations. Bear markets do not have to occur during recessions, they can technically occur at any given point in time.
Gig work has become pervasive throughout the US economy, and we aren’t only talking about the younger population. Over 6 million American over the age of 55 are currently part of the gig work economy and this number is growing at a vastly rapid pace.
All consumers have different risk appetites for different things. Some consumers feel extremely confident with being able to heavily invest into various markets like equities and cryptocurrencies, while others do not.
A layoff fund is exactly what it sounds like; it’s an emergency fund for the purpose of maintaining financial solvency for those that are experiencing a layoff and/or work transition.
Moving away from home isn’t for everyone. Some due it for better weather and some do it so they can enjoy the golden years more and retire sooner. Others will move for tax benefits or to start a new beginning.
One of the most common financial dilemmas for adults in their 30s and 40s is the apparent conflict between two equally valid priorities: paying down debt and saving for retirement. Every dollar directed at credit card debt is a dollar not going into a 401(k). Every dollar going into a 401(k) is a dollar not accelerating debt payoff.
A credit limit increase sounds straightforwardly good: more available credit, lower utilization ratio, better credit score. And in the right circumstances, it is exactly that. However, in the wrong circumstances — specifically, when the higher limit becomes license to carry a larger balance — it makes your situation worse, not better.
Most advice about managing monthly bills assumes you have enough money to pay everything. It covers automation, organization, and payment timing. That advice is fine as far as it goes — but it misses the more important scenario: what do you do when your bills exceed your income, or when covering everything means not covering the things that matter most?
This is a walkthrough of an actual client's program — the starting point, the strategy we built, how each settlement played out, and where she ended up when it was all done. I've changed her name and some identifying details for privacy, but the financial figures represent a real outcome from our program.
The absolute best way to set up a bi-weekly mortgage payment is by enrolling in a program with your mortgage lender directly. If your lender doesn’t offer this as an option, there are third party services which will allow you to pay off your mortgage in bi-weekly installments.
Most of the industry falls into three categories. About 15% of the market is made up of companies described as legitimately good — properly structured fees, strong disclosures, solid negotiation teams, reasonable track records. About 50% is middle-of-the-road — technically compliant but mediocre on execution. And about 35% is either actively predatory or grossly incompetent.
There is a great feeling associated with doing this and starting fresh allows consumers to get out of any rut allowing them to put their full attention and focus towards the future.
"What's a good interest rate?" is one of those questions that sounds simple but doesn't have a single answer. A 6% interest rate on a mortgage is solid. A 6% rate on a credit card would be unheard of. A 6% rate on a payday loan would be miraculous. Context is everything.
Doing debt relief will typically have a negative impact to your credit worthiness, have tax implications and cause you to close out your credit cards. All in all debt relief is a net positive for most consumers but like with anything there can tend to be a few negative side effects.
Consumers that are considered to be credit seeking are those that are looking for new credit opportunities since their current ones do not suffice. They are typically categorized as bad credit risks and due to this, lenders tend to stay away from them.
The instinct to pay off a car loan early makes sense — nobody likes making monthly payments, and the idea of owning your vehicle outright feels like freedom. However, whether you should pay off your auto loan early depends entirely on what other debt you are carrying and the interest rates involved.
Financial hardship is broadly defined as a situation in which your income or financial resources are insufficient to meet your existing obligations and essential expenses. Financial hardship can be triggered by any number of life events. Some are sudden and unexpected (a medical emergency, a layoff, a car accident). Others develop gradually over time (rising costs outpacing stagnant wages, the slow accumulation of credit card debt, a business that's not generating enough revenue).
Credit scores are forward-looking by nature — recent behavior matters far more than old behavior, and the scoring models reward consistency over time. The path from a post-debt-relief credit score to a healthy one is entirely walkable. It just requires understanding what factors you're working with and applying some patience and discipline.
A credit union is a member-owned, nonprofit financial cooperative. Unlike a traditional bank — which is owned by shareholders and operates to generate profit — a credit union is owned by its members (account holders), and any surplus earnings are returned to those members in the form of lower loan rates, higher savings yields, and reduced fees.
The position on a given loan typically refers to the order in which a lender will get paid out from a particular borrower. The easiest and most concise example of this can be related with mortgages. A mortgage is going to be the first loan position on the home which is used as collateral for the loan. The first position gets paid out first.
A revolving line of credit is a type of borrowing that gives you access to a set amount of money that you can use, repay, and use again — repeatedly, without reapplying. The most common example is a credit card.
Buy now, pay later — BNPL — has become one of the fastest-growing payment options in retail. Services like Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm, and PayPal Pay Later are now embedded at checkout across thousands of retailers, offering what looks like a simple deal: get the item now, pay in installments, often with no interest.
When you owe money on multiple accounts — credit cards, a car loan, student loans, maybe a personal loan — the question of which to pay first is not academic. The order you choose determines how much total interest you pay, how quickly you see progress, and whether the strategy is psychologically sustainable over months or years.
An income and expense evaluation is exactly what it sounds like: a structured accounting of your monthly income from all sources alongside your monthly expenses across all categories. The output is a clear monthly cash flow number — surplus or deficit — and a complete inventory of your debt obligations.
A debt obligation is any financial commitment where you have borrowed money or received a service on credit and are legally required to repay the amount according to agreed-upon terms. That definition sounds simple, but the practical implications of debt obligations touch almost every aspect of your financial life — from your ability to qualify for a mortgage to the options available to you when things go wrong.