Mary Tomkins is a freelance writer located in Spartanburg, SC, with emphasis on economic news and research on the financial industry.
Credit cards issuers have reacted to the credit crunch by slashing credit limits. As credit cards issuers position themselves to prevent further long-term losses originating from the sub-prime mortgage mess, card holders should prepare for…
President Bush signed the housing rescue bill into law on Wednesday. The new laws have two main objectives; to help struggling homeowners refinance into affordable loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), and to…
Living from paycheck to paycheck? Using your credit cards to pay your monthly expenses? Wondering how you’ll ever get on top of your debt when the credit card balances seem to grow little by little…
What is a credit protection plan? A credit protection plan – also known as credit insurance – is an optional add-on with many types of loans, meant to protect your credit in the case that…
The credit crunch The U.S. mortgage meltdown of 2007 started the whole process of a global credit crunch. Extreme bank losses, due to record numbers of defaults and foreclosures, put some lenders out of business,…
When I first started driving as a teenager, gas was only $.99/gallon. And the car I drove was a Chevy Chevette. Not too glamorous, but I could get to school, work, and play for about…
Credit monitoring services offer subscribers access to their credit reports and credit scores from one or all three of the major credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Many monitoring services allow unlimited access to…
One of the decisions you’ll need to make when you move out on your own is whether to have a roommate. Having a roommate lets you share in the cost of having your own place,…
An emergency fund helps to get you through…an emergency. According to a Bankrate.com poll, only 4 in 10 Americans have an adequate emergency fund to fall back on. With three to six months of living…
The size of your emergency fund depends on your personal situation. Just as there’s a lot of conflicting advice on many money issues, there are different recommendations on how much to save in your emergency…