Americans are getting back into the bad habit of thinking they can get whatever they want with borrowed money – the very thinking that caused major problems during the Great Recession. According to the August quarterly household debt and credit report by the New York Federal Reserve, Americans' debt rose to a new record high [...]
If you find yourself bogged down with so many financial problems that you are considering bankruptcy, you’re in good company. Money problems can occur even to the richest and most famous celebrities. Just like the average person, when the rich and famous make mistakes or mismanage their funds, they can wind up harassed by creditors [...]
It’s a new year, the perfect time to evaluate your finances and determine whether you are on the right path to financial solvency. While there are personal things that you should do, such as creating a budget and sticking to it, there are also some economic trends you should be aware of that may help you [...]
Millennials are having problems making ends meet. About 57 percent of them named poverty and economic inequality as their top concern in a survey conducted this spring by the Center for Marketing and Opinion Research for the University of Akron's Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. The survey showed that concern about poverty or inequality was [...]
Owning a home has always been a big part of the American Dream. Children of hard-working parents grew up believing that if they worked hard to get ahead, they could have a better life than the previous generation, and that included having their own home. However, recent statistics show that this dream has been starting [...]
You work hard at your full-time job, so you figure you should be able to pay your rent and put food on your table. Guess again. Some people making minimum wage in Ohio, are not going to be able to rent a median two-bedroom apartment without heading toward bankruptcy. According to new research by the National Low [...]
Getting credit is easy in the United States, so it’s tempting to use credit cards and loans to make purchases you otherwise couldn’t afford. When you use debt wisely, it can be a positive way to build wealth. But too many people are sucked into taking on the wrong kind of debt, the dangerous kind [...]
When you’ve worked hard to accumulate assets, the last thing you want is for your beneficiaries to lose it all if they find themselves having to file for bankruptcy. This can happen if your heirs wind up in financial trouble and have to face bankruptcy when their inheritance arrives. While assets from an estate can [...]
It is wonderful to receive an inheritance, but you may not be able to keep it if you have recently filed for bankruptcy. It all depends on factors such as timing, the way the inheritance was created, the exemptions you can claim, and what type of bankruptcy you have filed. The bankruptcy process is complex, [...]
If you are a gun owner who is worried about losing your weapons when filing for bankruptcy, there is good news. Both Ohio and federal bankruptcy laws exempt certain property, so your guns may be part of the property you wind up keeping. Most of the time, the federal property exemption is large enough to [...]
Medical bills are a leading cause of people filing for bankruptcy in Ohio, but the situation has improved since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Since the act went into effect and expanded public healthcare coverage, fewer Americans have taken the step of filing for personal bankruptcy. Filings have dropped about 50 percent, from [...]
There is bad news for those who are behind in paying tax debts -- the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is taking a hard line against taxpayers who have certain overdue tax debts by hiring private debt collectors to do their collecting. These private collectors are allowed to use tactics and methods that government agents are [...]
Student loan debt is a major problem in Ohio, with 67 percent of the state’s college graduates dealing with debt from financing their education. According to The Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt report, the average Ohio student loan debt stood at $29,353 in 2014, a 53% increase from 2004. Since [...]
The bad guys are after your credit cards, and you can’t be too careful in protecting them. Credit card fraud costs billions of dollars each year in the United States, and everyone winds up paying through increased finance charges and annual fees. In Ohio, credit card fraud is defined as the unauthorized use of another [...]
If you are a last-minute tax-filer, you get a break this year -- three extra days to file your taxes. The deadline is April 18, 2017, because April 15, the day taxes are usually due, falls on a Saturday, and also because on Monday, the District of Columbia celebrates Emancipation Day. As a result, the [...]
