In the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, some consumers are looking for ways to tighten their belts and prioritize finances.  For other consumers who were already behind on their bills, the virus could spell financial disaster.  This is especially true of workers who abruptly lost their jobs due to [...]

Your cell phone is a great convenience, but it also provides a dangerous privacy threat that can have a devastating impact on your finances.  By setting up a phony cell-phone account in your name, criminals are able to access your bank account, sign up for credit cards and run up huge bills you will be responsible for, [...]

Credit card debt can be bad for your health as well as your pocketbook, but if you aren’t paying off what you owe each month, you have plenty of company.  According to the American Bankers Association, 43 percent of card holders carry a balance each month, and the Federal Reserve reports that outstanding card debt has [...]

Personal finance apps are convenient and provide benefits such as saving money and managing your investments from your mobile devices, but they also put you at increased risk for having your financial information hacked. Services such as Mint, Paypal, Venmo, and Digit, as well as apps from your bank and investment company, allow you to [...]

Your FICO credit score is something you may not think much about until you need it for making a big purchase, but it affects you in more ways than you think. In fact, according to new data by LendEDU, an online marketplace for student loan refinancing, one in five Millennials have never even checked their [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Your mounting debts can be creating enough stress to make you sick.  The more debts, the greater the pressure to meet them, and the greater your stress level can become.  It’s no wonder that researchers at the Ohio State University found that people with higher levels of debt showed higher levels of physical impairment and [...]