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How to Pay Off Debt: 6 Strategies That Work
In more ways than one, debt can be a four-letter word. When it gets out of control — whether from medical bills, shopping sprees, or unexpected emergencies — it becomes an albatross that affects your emotional and physical health. Although it might feel overwhelming, you can tackle any debt the same way: one step at a time. Here’s how to pay off debt — and how to pay off credit card debt, in particular — even when it seems impossible.
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The Subprime Mortgage is Back on the Market, and Has a Brand New Name
A little more than a decade ago the economy collapsed, and at the center of that collapse was the subprime mortgage. These loans, often made to borrowers with bad credit, no job, and no income turned into a systemic risk that eventually sent the world into its worst economic crisis since The Great Depression. Fast-forward to 2018, and according to a report from CNBC, the subprime mortgage is back--this time with a new name: nonprime. Of course, that's just a change in brand. Like subprime mortgages, nonprime mortgages are offered to customers with credit scores as low as 500.
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Just 96 of 30,000 people who applied for public service loan forgiveness actually got it
Earlier this month, CNBC tracked down one of the first people to qualify for student debt cancellation under the public service loan forgiveness program, which allows certain not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans scrubbed after 10 years of on-time payments. "I feel pretty lucky," Kevin Maier, a tenured professor at the University of Alaska Southeast, had said. He really should.
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The US government is set to spend more on its debt than on the military within a decade
The US federal government could soon spend more on interest for its debt then on the military, The New York Times reported. Interest payments are expected to make up 13% of the federal budget a decade from now, up from 6.6% in 2017. Tax cuts, spending increases and rising interest rates will make it more difficult to respond to future recessions or spend on other needs, the Times said.
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Eliminating All Student Debt Isn’t Progressive
Democrats won’t be able to do much policymaking over the next two years, because of President Trump and the Republican Senate. But they can still use their House majority to do more than investigate Trump. Democrats can hold hearings and pass bills that make clear their party’s vision for 2020 and beyond. They can figure out which ideas have the potential both to improve people’s lives and to win over voters.
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The Education Department Is Canceling $150 Million Of Student Loan Debt
The U.S. Department of Education is sending emails to about 15,000 people around the country telling them: You've got money. These are former students — and some parents of students — who took out loans for colleges that shut down between Nov. 1, 2013, and Dec. 4, 2018. About half attended campuses run by Corinthian Colleges. They will get their money back or have their debt forgiven — an amount estimated at $150 million, all told — under a provision called Automatic Closed School Discharge.
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Debt? What debt? At $22 trillion, here's the argument the national debt doesn't matter
So much ink has been spilled for so long on the national debt, it might be nice if that $22 trillion plus on the red side of the US balance sheet just didn't really matter. That's exactly the thinking behind a new school of economic theory that the government should be spending more, not less.
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Americans see themselves in debt forever, even as they continue to borrow
Although shoppers kept credit card machines busy this holiday season, growing evidence indicates that Americans are starting to feel uneasy about the pile of debt to which we continue to add. A new survey from CreditCards.com finds that more than two in five Americans currently carrying debt don’t know when they’ll pay off those balances — and one in four say they expect their debts to outlive them. “It’s definitely a depressing statistic,” said Ted Rossman, industry analyst for the site. “When we did a similar study back in 2013, only 9 percent never expected to get out of debt, and now it’s 25 percent.”
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Student loans are driving a "rural brain drain" as students flock to big cities
College students from rural areas are moving to big cities for higher wages to help pay off their student loans, according to new research from the Federal Reserve. Why it matters: A "rural brain drain" has been pulling college-educated people out of rural America and into urban areas, deepening an educational and political divide that is increasingly coming to define the country.
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Consumer debt hits $4 trillion — a record high
Americans are diving deeper and deeper into the red. As of this month, outstanding consumer debt exceeded $4 trillion for the first time, according to the Federal Reserve. Relatively strong holiday spending, particularly in November, and increasing credit card debt added more than $41 billion in outstanding balances at the end of 2018, according to LendingTree, a loan comparison website, which analyzed the data from the Fed.
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Stalkers and Debt Collectors Impersonate Cops to Trick Big Telecom Into Giving Them Cell Phone Location Data
But some people don’t even pay for this data at all. Instead, bounty hunters and people with histories of domestic violence have managed to trick telecommunications companies into providing real-time location data by simply impersonating US officials over the phone and email, according to court records and multiple sources familiar with the technique.
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Italy's 'perma-recession' could trigger a €2 trillion financial crisis that threatens the eurozone itself
Economists in Milan and London are debating whether Italy is carrying so much debt that it might collapse into a Greek-style financial crisis. Their fear is that because Italy is so much bigger than Greece — and because Italy is one of the Big Three economies underpinning the eurozone — that the scale of such a crisis might be more difficult to contain this time around.
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Free Debt Snowball Worksheet (Spreadsheet + Printable)
Today we have some free worksheets (printable PDFs + Google Docs spreadsheets) that can be useful with helping you to get out of debt. There is a debt payoff worksheet and a debt snowball worksheet, so you can use whichever one suits your needs. More Free Resources: Spending Log No Spend Challenge Printable Bill Pay Checklist Why Use a Debt Payoff Worksheet? If you're determined to pay off debt and improve your personal or family finances, there are a few different ways that using a debt payoff worksheet can help. Stay Organized. A worksheet or spreadsheet can help you to
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Debt Snowball vs. Debt Avalanche: Which is Better?
Deciding to pay off debt is a huge step, but it can quickly get overwhelming trying to figure out the right debt pay off plan. Depending on which financial expert you listen to, they recommend different things for different reasons. It can get confusing on what advice to follow and why. I am going to break down the differences and pros and cons of the debt snowball versus the debt avalanche debt pay off methods. They are both effective in paying off debt but there are advantages and disadvantages to both plans. In this post you will learn: What the
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Broken Promises: Teachers Sue U.S. Over Student Loans That Weren't Forgiven
Debbie Baker thought she qualified for a federal program that helps teachers such as her, as well as nurses, police officers, librarians and others. The Department of Education program forgives their federal student loans if they make their payments for 10 years and work in public service. For 10 years, Baker, who was a public school teacher in Tulsa, Okla., checked in with loan servicing companies and was told she was on track.
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Congress Promised Student Borrowers A Break. Education Dept. Rejected 99% Of Them
When a loan forgiveness program for public servants wasn't working, Congress created a temporary fix. Documents obtained by NPR show that the program didn't fix much.
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Federal Loan Servicing Pros and Cons - The Frugal Fellow
FedLoan is a student loan servicer which specifically handles federal loan servicing in the US. Many people have had major issues with FedLoan.
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Iowa Student Loan Pros and Cons - The Frugal Fellow
Iowa Student Loan is a non-profit private student loan lender. Loans with Iowa Student Loan are serviced by Aspire Servicing Center.
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Many millennials are worse off than their parents -- a first in American history
On paper, it looks like Scott Larsen is doing better than his father was at the same age. At 29, Larsen has a college degree and earns more money, but he doesn't feel he's moving up in the world. When his father, Craig, was 29, he was already married, owned a home in Payson, Utah, and had two of his five children. Now 64, Craig Larsen worked as a mechanical engineer, earning about $20,000 a year at the time, or about $50,500 in today's dollars, even though he hadn't finished college. His wife, Kathy, was a stay-at-home mom.
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'I have a chance now to have a life': Navy vet who won watershed student loan ruling tells his story
For nearly 15 years, U.S. Navy veteran Kevin Rosenberg owed six figures in student loans. But on January 7, 2020, a New York judge ruled that the $221,385.49 in student loan debt owed by Rosenberg as of November 2019 was dischargeable under chapter 7 bankruptcy.
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