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) [...]

He Who Talks It Is Usually Full Of It If you read the Facebook blogs and the online spam from many credit repair companies, you will find a lot about how to handle debt collectors.  One of the many narratives you will see is the claim from some credit repair companies that under no circumstance [...]

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- [...]

  So You Have a Note and No Car...   If you have found yourself in a car accident and the car is totaled, you may not see the immediate importance of paying on the existing car note since the auto insurance is going to pay it off.  You need to make sure that you [...]

If you have Medicare or Medicaid, you may not be responsible for remainder bills for hospital stays. Further, if you visit a hospital that is in your network, but receive services from an out-of-network physician, the overage that the out-of-network physician charges you may be limited to the cost that would be assessed by an [...]

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 [...]