Archive for the 'Debt' Category

30,000 dollars. Pay off loans or put it away?

So, I have about 25,000 I’m about to receive a bit from a settlement. With additional savings I have, I will actually have about $30,000 total.This is basically all my money, period- other than that I live hand to mouth. I also owe about 10,000 in student loans. I’d really like to get rid of […]

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30,000 dollars. Pay off loans or put it away?

So, I have about 25,000 I’m about to receive a bit from a settlement. With additional savings I have, I will actually have about $30,000 total.This is basically all my money, period- other than that I live hand to mouth. I also owe about 10,000 in student loans. I’d really like to get rid of […]

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Is this credit counseling scam worth it?

DebtFilter: I’ve been paying a credit counseling company (law firm, actually) $60 a month for the past three years to make my minimum payments to the credit card companies I owe. They lowered my annual interest rate to an average of 10% and threaten that if I cancel their service, my interest rates will reset. […]

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What do I do about my school debt lawsuit?

I just got served papers showing that I am being sued for university tuition. What next? I’m scared. I moved away from home to attend university, but I was kicked out after a year for failing grades and back tuition. I owed approximately $10,000. After a few months of being away from the school […]

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Should I negotiate my debt?

Should I pay my full debt to a collection agency, or bargain the debt down? I owe about $500 to a collection agency and I know they bought that debt for much less than that, and would be willing to bargain.
My main interest is in repairing my credit rating. If I bargain for less than […]

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Does that make sense?

Debtfilter: Employer provides signing bonus structured as forgivable loan (forgiven if employee stays with firm long enough). Employee leaves soon after, and employer seeks to collect on loan. Employee is now a broke grad student, so employer offers to defer collection of loan until grad school is complete. Question: If length of […]

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How do I stop obsessing over my finances?

The closer I get to finishing this debt off, the more it seems to bother me. Help? About four or five years ago I took on a rather sizeable debt that I’ve nearly paid off a couple of times, only to repeatedly find myself back in a similar situation (though thankfully on a smaller scale). […]

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How do I stop obsessing over my finances?

The closer I get to finishing this debt off, the more it seems to bother me. Help? About four or five years ago I took on a rather sizeable debt that I’ve nearly paid off a couple of times, only to repeatedly find myself back in a similar situation (though thankfully on a smaller scale). […]

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Not my name, and not my debt

I need help writing a strong letter to a collections company trying to collect a debt that isn’t mine. Yesterday I received a letter from ALW Sourcing, LLC that claimed I owe $6700+ dollars. Thing is, it was addressed to “Genesta La M_____”. My mother has told me that “La M_____” has shown up in […]

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Short sale? Walk away? Run?

My wife and I need to get out of our house ASAP for reasons both financial and mental-health-related. I’ve been told we may need to look into a short sale, but researching the process is making my head explode.
What, if any, are our options? (more inside, obviously) We bought this house 4 years ago, on […]

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Cutting the umbilical cord

This moving out thing, uh…how do I do this (financially)? I often complain about my parents to my friends, random people, and even on here.
The most common comment/question I get is “Hey, why don’t you just move out???”
If it were only that simple…
This is something I would love love LOVE to do, but […]

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Can I blame my money problems on Jim Kramer?

Have you ever used a debt consolidation/management company? What was your experience with them like? Can you recommend one? After doing a search on AskMeFi, I can’t really find any recommendations - only people saying not to ever use one.
I don’t necessarily want to discuss my debt or how to get out of […]

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I want my two dollars!

What would happen if the United States defaulted on all of its debt, or simply said ‘Screw off, I ain’t payin!’. I know nothing about global finance, economics and power, but would like to understand what would happen if the U.S. could or would not repay its debt. If I default on a […]

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I want my two dollars!

What would happen if the United States defaulted on all of its debt, or simply said ‘Screw off, I ain’t payin!’. I know nothing about global finance, economics and power, but would like to understand what would happen if the U.S. could or would not repay its debt. If I default on a […]

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What responsibility does the Bush administration bear for the current financial crisis?

What responsibility does the Bush administration bear for the current financial crisis? When I visit my father, we usually argue about politics.
He’s a big Fox News fan, and I think it’s drivel. He tends to parrot what he sees there, and I often find myself explaining how things really work to him.
Since Obama was elected, […]

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Can your passport be confiscated for unpaid debt?

I think I remember reading a while ago (not sure where I read this or if it was a reliable source) that a US citizen settled out of the US can be detained or have their passport confiscated for large unpaid debts if they come back into the US, even for a short visit. I […]

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Should people in debt go to certain states to get married?

What’s the deal with married people being responsible for each other’s debts, even ones they incurred before they got married? In most states, are married people really considered to be like one person when it comes to financial matters? I mean after all, you’re not “one person” until you get married, so how […]

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Do inflation cancel my loan interest?

Will my student loan interest rate and the rate of inflation cancel one another out? Thanks to law school, I currently have about 60k in student loans. About 43k of that is locked in at 2.625% The remaining amount is locked in at 4.5%.
The long-term average inflation rate is 3.42% and, by the […]

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To apply or not to apply

Should we apply for this store credit card or just pay the cash that we have? My husband and I are both 22 year old working adults with minimal debt. We just purchased our first home at the end of January. We both have credit scores above 750. We just recently got approved for and […]

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How do I prove I paid this?

What is the statute of limitations for tuition debt in Illinois? I recently received a threatening call from a debt collector regarding an amount due to a university from 10 years ago.During these 10 years, I have not heard anything about this debt, no phone calls, no letters, nothing. I am 99% positive that […]

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How do I prove I paid this?

What is the statute of limitations for tuition debt in Illinois? I recently received a threatening call from a debt collector regarding an amount due to a university from 10 years ago.During these 10 years, I have not heard anything about this debt, no phone calls, no letters, nothing. I am 99% positive that […]

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Can I make it as a lab tech?

Is it realistic for me to expect that I can pay off my student loans with a lab tech job? I’ll have my BS in biology soon, and I’m looking at lab tech jobs. These seem like they’re just about the only thing I’ll be specifically qualified for other than being a product rep, which […]

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Legal troubles over a decade-old debt to bank

[I am asking this for a friend.] Legal troubles over a decade-old debt to a bank. I am being sued by a law firm representing a collection agency. I would like to find a way to resolve this situation that does not involve hiring a lawyer, since I cannot afford one. […]

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Just walk away?

What if I just stopped paying my credit cards? I have about 12k in credit card debt. I currently have a mortgage and a car. I’m not behind on anything. My payments are made in full, plus some, every month. At this rate, I break even every month, but I have little cash on hand […]

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Drowning in debt

How do I know if I should be considering bankruptcy? My spouse and I have somewhere around $15,000 in credit card debt, and we each have student loans. Between rent, bills (utilities and such), card payments, student loans, gas, groceries, etc. we are getting by paycheck to paycheck. Most bills are paid somewhat […]

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