Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Seven-Year Auto Loans Are Here to Stay
Car loans with a repayment term of seven years have become the new normal. Ten years ago, five years was the standard term of a car loan. Seven-year loans existed, but they were only for the foolhardiest or the most financially desperate people. The pandemic changed everything, when shortages drove up prices, so no… Read More »
Never Trust an AI Financial Adviser
Before we started applying it to the machines that do most of the heavy lifting in office work, the term “computer” referred to people who performed mathematical calculations. For example, the protagonists of the movie Hidden Figures worked as computers; their work consisted of solving mathematical equations to corroborate the answers that their coworkers… Read More »
Here Come the Subprime Debt Consolidation Loans
Debt consolidation is nothing new. People have been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul for as long as societies have been complex enough that intricate networks of indebtedness could arise. Consolidating your debt sounds like a brilliant solution to a stubborn problem, but it is really just a nice way of saying borrowing money… Read More »
About Those Overpriced Credit Checks
We are all familiar with the ways that people who rely on employment income get nickel and dimed in virtually every aspect of life. It is almost impossible to open a bank account if you have never had one; until you can produce a dozen different documents attesting to your financial stability, you are… Read More »
Why So Many Credit Checks?
Several stories in Greek mythology warn of looking too soon at the prize you are about to obtain. In the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus travels to the Underworld to rescue his wife Eurydice and bring her back to the world of the living. Hades agrees to release Eurydice to go back to… Read More »
Seniors, You Don’t Have to Struggle With Debt in Silence
Loneliness is terrible for seniors; the media have been saying this for decades, and yet, the senior loneliness epidemic has only gotten worse. In the next few years, many thousands of American “solo agers,” that is, unmarried people without children, will enter retirement. If you are married, you have spared yourself the worst of… Read More »
Is the Middle East Conflict Pushing Your Finances to the Brink?
The news you receive on your phone is an echo chamber. Your social media feeds keep feeding you more content about the things that you have previously clicked on. This has been going on since before chatbots came along to give you apparently polished mono answers that do little except repeat back what you… Read More »
Is Credit Insurance Just Another Junk Fee?
For the entire length of its existence, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been railing against junk fees, which it defines as fees that do not provide a service to the consumer. Of course, it is difficult to pin down a definition for junk fees. Companies will always provide some justification for why… Read More »
How Can Young People Bounce Back From Risky Financial Decisions?
It only makes sense to associate risky behavior with youth. Bold moves that risk physical injury or harm to one’s reputation tend to be concentrated early in life. When you see someone over 30 driving at double the speed limit, making incendiary statements on social media just to get a rise out of people,… Read More »
How Bad Is It to Withdraw Money From Your Retirement Account Early?
Debt relief is for everyone, not just people who are experiencing crushing poverty. You have probably wondered how celebrities can file for bankruptcy and still live in lavish houses. Debt relief options, including but not limited to filing for bankruptcy protection, are available to anyone who cannot keep up with payments because circumstances have… Read More »