By Mark Foster The new year is underway. Everyone should have some kind of goal for their money, and now is the perfect time to be thinking about goals for 2012. Many people wish for good things to happen to them financially, however many take little or no action to turn those wishes into becoming [...]

By Sara Gilbert With the new year upon us this might be a great time to figure out how to worry less about your finances.  Maybe one of your resolutions this year is to make a plan to pay off your credit card or other debts. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 56% of [...]

By Gail Cunningham As the new year approaches the NFCC offers these financial resolution tips for 2012:     Have adequate savings. You might ask yourself how you paid for your last emergency. If it was with a credit card, that’s a red flag. A person who cannot afford an emergency is not likely to be able to [...]

Although the federal government and many household budgets have one thing in common, both are in the red, there is one critical difference: consumers cannot raise their debt ceiling in order to continue borrowing. Further, they cannot operate in the negative year after year, or financial doom is a certainty. “Many consumers have been renting [...]

When it comes to boosting your FICO credit scores there are a variety of strategies that will yield varying amounts of improvement.  Many people believe that getting negative information removed from your credit reports is the number one way to increase your scores.  This is correct but only if the consumer is successful at getting [...]

The stand-off between President Obama and Republican Congressional leaders over whether or not to raise our federal government’s debt ceiling continues to be a center of focus for Washington and the rest of the country. A debt ceiling, simply put, is a cap on how much money the federal government can owe. It is currently set [...]

Consumers in financial distress are often focused on one thing— relief.  After all, the mailbox is full of collection letters, and the answering machine is filled with calls from those you owe.  Money is tight and it seems as though there’s no way out.  When you are at your lowest, you hear a commercial that [...]

With July 4th just around the corner we take time to celebrate our nation’s independence. Why not take this opportunity to state your freedom from debt! Start by taking this pledge: Commit To Save! Americans are great spenders and lousy savers. Without a well-funded savings account, you are on a very slippery slope, one that becomes [...]

Find an extra $20 per week for the remainder of the year, and put it toward debt reduction. Not worth the trouble? Consider this: If you currently owe $1,000 on a credit card, have an Annual Percentage Rate of 18 percent, and are making a minimum monthly payment of 2 percent of balance, even if [...]

Simply put, don’t spend more than you make. To accomplish this, put the credit cards away. Many well-meaning people resort to living off of credit when facing a financial crisis, digging an even deeper financial hole. Instead, try living on a cash basis. People who do this typically spend 20 percent less, and they do [...]