Seem Like You Can’t Get Rid of That “Thing”? Shelf Lives Of Bad Credit Items We are often asked how long something stays on your credit. Even if you pay off a bad debt, it is still a matter of record on your credit report and will remain there for some time. When you falter [...]

Unbelievable 300% Interest Rate: This is real! It amazes us what people endure during hard times. This customer not only got locked into this RIDICULOUS title loan contract, but because it was related to the owner of a pawn shop, it was actually a pawn loan. That means it restarts every month. So even though [...]

Those Debt Collectors Have Balls! Ever notice how debt collectors always seem to pop up at the worst time? It's like they seem to know when you are resolving issues to buy a home. They don't exactly have crystal balls- they have access to your credit. If you or someone you know is about to [...]

Hitting the Snooze Button (Financially)? The end of the year is approaching. Now is the time to start preparing to make next year a different year financially. The year is almost over. You keep hitting that snooze button on your budget, you will be repeating the same habits next year. You know it- we know [...]

If you are looking to dispute items on your credit report there are several laws that you may want to familiarize yourself with first. One of these laws is found in section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act -FCRA 611 (15 U.S.C. §1681i). This section of the law explains the responsibility (or lack thereof) [...]

Can Teachers afford to buy a house? To become a teacher, the cost of a four-year degree in education at USF is $102,560. For FSU it is $90,500. For UCF the cost from start to finish is $89,016. To get an FHA mortgage, FHA allows 45% of your income to be encapsulated by one's debt- [...]

Breaking A Lease To Buy A Home To clarify, there is NO Florida law that allows you to break a lease to buy a home as a first time home buyer without penalty. There are options you can create in a lease as you are signing it called "liquidated" damages or "preset" damages, but this [...]

The Psychology of the Shopping Cart You would not believe the number of studies done regarding shopping behavior and shopping carts. Cart abandonment, drive patterns, the creating of "dead zones" in the aisle, and yes, the quantity of purchasing. There are two takeaways from these studies we would like to share: 1) Using a larger [...]

Late Pays on Closed Accounts Be advised that you cannot be late on an account that is closed. However, a non-payment on a closed account can be entered if there is a balance due on a closed account. If the account is charged-off, then there can never be a late or missed payment reported- however [...]