Financial News Headlines

Should you stay in debt to help your scores?

January 24th, 2012

I have a high-interest car loan (more than 10%) and just landed a part-time job to add to my full-time cash flow. I want to pay the car off as quickly as possible, but I have read and been told that paying a loan off early doesn’t help scores as much as paying the duration of the loan. Is there truth to this? It seems foolish, though, since won’t I be paying more interest?

Answer: The primary concern with paying off a loan is that the lender may stop reporting the account to the credit bureaus. Although there are limits to how long most negative information can stay on a credit report, there are no limits to how long good information can or must be reported.

Still, most lenders continue to report accounts that have been paid off for several years. If

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Suze Orman Shows True Colors With Her Approved Prepaid Debit Card

January 12th, 2012

If you havent heard by now, personal finance guru Suze Orman has launched a new prepaid debit card called The Approved Card. Thats right, another celebrity-backed card similar to what Russell Simmons has done, and what the Kardashians tried to do. But since this card is being endorsed by a well-respected personal finance expert it has to be a great card, right? Well, thats where things get a little murky.

These prepaid debit cards are notoriously marketed toward those on the lower end of the economic spectrum because these people often cant open or maintain accounts at a traditional bank for a variety of reasons. W

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Tags: Card, Debit Card, Prepaid Debit, Prepaid Debit Card

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How Alabama Consumers Can Repair Their Credit When False Information Is On Credit Reports

January 10th, 2012

Alabama consumers are sometimes amazed at the number of errors on credit reports, and there is conflicting advice on how to fix credit reports which have errors.

Some advise disputing every negative item.

We don’t.

We do advise disputing with the credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and Trans Union, any information that is false.

On our sister website, Alabama Consumer Protection, we have a detailed description and video on how to recognize credit report errors and how to dispute them.

If you still have errors after properly disputing them, then we have some suggestions on how to ultimately correct those errors — normally by suing the (ir)responsible companies.

We hope you enjoy this information and find it useful.

John Watts

Tags: Alabama Consumers, Credit Reports, Reports

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I apologize to waiters everywhere

December 7th, 2011

Apparently a number of restaurant servers thought my column on holiday tipping was advising people that they could stiff their waiters and waitresses in December.

Good heavens.

The column “Holiday tipping: When it’s okay to skip” points out that holiday tips are voluntary and can be reduced or eliminated if you’re in tough financial straits.

Now, I knew that some people don’t know what a holiday tip is. I hear from them every year when my holiday tipping columns run, because they think I invented the custom and they want to let me know how outraged they are that I did so. I typical

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Tags: Waiters, Waiters Everywhere

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Betterment iPad 2, Kindle Fire, and Nook Giveaway

November 29th, 2011

Santa is coming early this year because Ive got a great giveaway for you. Ive teamed up with a few other bloggers and Betterment to bring you some great prizes. We are giving away three great tablets: a Nook, a Kindle Fire, and a 16 GB iPad 2. Thats three chances to win.

This giveaway is in large part thanks to Betterment. If you arent familiar with them be sure to check out my Betterment review. They are a relatively new company that makes saving and investing incredibly easy. Their platform is great for those who are too busy to do a bunch of investment research on their own, but dont want to go as far as working with a financial planner and handing their money over to them.

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Tags: Giveaway

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A Detailed Discussion Of What Happens After You Win Your Alabama Collection Lawsuit

November 27th, 2011

Check out our other website where we have a long article on what it means when you win your Alabama collection lawsuit. This article discusses many of the illegal collection actions that collection agencies, debt buyers, and collection lawyers (all of these are debt collectors) take after you beat them in the lawsuit they filed against you.

Let us know if you have any questions about this and we hope this article is helpful.

Tags: Alabama Collection, Alabama Collection Lawsuit, Collection Lawsuit, Lawsuit

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