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What to Do When You’re Saving too Much Stuff

August 26, 2010 – 12:42 am

Skokie, Illinois fire rescuers recently drilled a hole in the ceiling to rescue an 82 year-old woman from her apartment. They couldn’t use the door because the space was piled to the ceiling with hoarded stuff. Earlier this year, an El Paso, Texas woman died by fire when the newspapers she had hoarded fed the flames. Firefighters couldn’t get through the clutter to save her. These may sound like extreme cases, but hoarding is becoming an ever-increasing problem. Those who find themselves in cluttered surroundings could end up like one of these women if they don’t take steps to clear up the clutter now.

 

What is Hoarding?

A commonly accepted definition of hoarding is having “an excessive collection of items and the inability to get rid of them.” Hoarded items can include personal possessions, animals, or even trash. There is so

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The Pros and Cons of Debt Settlement

August 25, 2010 – 8:50 am

Debt settlement is like any type of debt management, there are pros and cons. A lot of consumers find that the pros far outweigh the cons and proceed with debt settlement. While debt settlement is not for everyone, it does work quite well for those that proceed. Despite its many successes, you should be aware of the pros and the cons before you decide that debt settlement is the right option for you.

The Pros of Debt Settlement

1. Debt settlement often allows for debt to be repaid within three years. 2. You’ll be able to build your credit back up in less time than you might have thought. 3. Your accounts may be brought to current status to instantly raise your credit score. 4

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Consumers took on more mortgage debt in July

August 24, 2010 – 12:29 pm

Consumers took on 2bn more mortgage debt than they repaid in July, according to the latest figures from the British Bankers` Association (BBA).

This represented a 4.1% annual increase in net mortgage lending by banks, the report adds.

Gross mortgage lending came to 8.4bn in July, but this was down on the 8.6bn seen both a month earlier and on average over the six months before that.

Mortgage lending for house purchase came to 5bn, while remortgages came to 3bn and `equity withdrawal and other purposes` accounted for 0.5bn.

Meanwhile, the BBA`s figures also showed a slight increase in net consumer credit lending in July. Read full article…

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Falling consumer credit card debt: Are we learning a lesson?

August 23, 2010 – 7:05 pm

This week’s news brings interesting implications for consumer finances. First we learned that existing home prices have slumped to record lows, which has the media buzzing about the “new role” of owning a home. The new role is that our homes no longer function as limitless ATM machines. No more buying electronics, recreational vehicles, jewelry, and designer wardrobes with home equity loans and lines of credit. Under these circumstances, it appears that consumers would again turn to credit cards for the instant gratification of discretionary purchases. No way. Ameri

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Bankruptcy Filings Rise 20 Percent in June

August 21, 2010 – 1:20 pm

Bankruptcy filings rose 20 percent in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2010, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. A total of 1,572,597 bankruptcy cases were filed in federal courts in that period, compared to 1,306,315 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2009. This is the highest number of bankruptcy filings for any period since many of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 took effect.

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