Author Archives: Jay Butchko
What To Know About Credit Card Refinancing
When people explain building credit to children, they usually describe it as borrowing money and paying it back little by little. There is a lot more to loans than that, though. First, most loans accrue compound interest, and this means that, by the time you have repaid the loan in full, the amount you… Read More »
Bad Credit Loans
In the 17th century, a French Jesuit was exploring the North American wilderness and keeping a diary about his experiences. One day, he saw a creature so beautiful that he devoted several paragraphs to its description, most notably its shiny black coat and the pristine white stripe down its back. The last paragraph of… Read More »
Florida Bankruptcy Filings Spike
Whatever metric you are using as a proverbial canary in the coal mine to assess the health of the economy recently, it is not doing well; everything that has yellow feathers on the outside has black lungs on the inside. Prices are high, wages are low, and the number of gigs listed on Craigslist… Read More »
What to Do With an Extra Paycheck
When financial stress has been part of your life so long that it has caused epigenetic changes that you can pass down to your children, your dreams, both when you are asleep and when you are awake, are about scenarios even worse than your current reality. If you missed a credit card payment, then… Read More »
Debt Repayment Apps: Friend or Foe?
These days, there are phone apps for everything. Everywhere that you shop frequently has its own app, which offers you coupons to entice you to shop there more frequently. There are apps for tracking your favorite fixations, whether it is exercise or horoscopes. In the old days, you used to have to navigate to… Read More »
Debt Relief Quick Fixes That Won’t Tank Your Credit Score
There is a reason that people think of filing for bankruptcy protection as a measure of last resort. Even though it can make your debts disappear quickly, it leaves an ugly stain on your credit report that lasts for up to ten years. Therefore, unless you have exhausted all your other options, you should… Read More »
Do You Qualify for Credit Card Debt Forgiveness?
When you are struggling with debt, then the names of the options for getting out of your situation blur together. You have a point if you think that debt consolidation, debt settlement, credit counseling, debt restructuring, and filing for bankruptcy protection sound like they are more alike than different. They sound even more alike… Read More »
Are You a Good Candidate for a Reverse Mortgage?
People have strong emotions about debt, but your perspective on debt varies according to your age and your general financial situation. When you are young, you feel like you have all the time in the world to make financial mistakes and learn from them. Later on, when you have employment income and a family,… Read More »
Beware of Cute Debt
How much is that doggie in the window? The sign says he can be yours for just $20, but when you read the fine print, you find out that the true price is $20 per month for 20 years, and this does not include vaccinations, vet bills, and dog food. That doggie is so… Read More »
Is Greater Housing Affordability Coming Soon to Florida?
Housing costs have been astronomical for as long as any of us can remember. Prospective buyers have such low chances of qualifying for home mortgage loans that prospective sellers do not even bother to list their houses for sale. They just wait until a mega millionaire, or worse, an LLC that is less than… Read More »