Unclaimed Property Blog

You pay your monthly minimums but the debt just doesn’t seem to decrease. Here are some effective ways to reduce the debt.

The first thing you should do is pay more than the minimum. Paying the minimum which is usually 2% to 3% of the outstanding balance, maintains a balance rather than decreasing it. Banks bank on you making minimum payments since the longer you take to repay the charges, the more interest they make. Also with less cash you have the more likely to add to the credit card.

Are you aware that you have rights when it comes to debt collection agencies? The following data will help you to understand what can be done when the debtor calls keep coming.

The first and most used method of dealing with those pesky debt collectors is to use caller ID and/or screen the calls.

Are you aware that there are different types of collections? One is either a creditor or a third party debt collector. A creditor is an employee of your bank or credit card company while a third party debt collector is someone who is being paid to collect a debt for the original creditor.

It pays to know your rights and keep a record of all your communications when you butt heads with debt collectors. Here are some ways to hold your own.

When you bargain with a debt collector, you’re dealing with a tough, professional negotiator. One advantage you could have knowing your rights.

When collecting a debt from you, a debt collector must play by the rules. It behooves you to also know the rules. Check out consumer brochures on fair debt collection from the Federal Trade Commission. Many states have their own debt collection laws; for more information, contact the attorney general’s office in your state.

If you are not sure about your debt status, keep reading, you will gain some useful data to determine if you are in debt.

Do you know there are warning signs of too much debt? Do you know them?

Today more and more Americans are drowning in debt. Some are not even aware that financial disaster is just a signature or swipe away.

Sometimes the things you do not know can hurt you. What is your bankruptcy IQ? Read on for some information that may help increase your understanding of bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy isn’t something you like to think about, but you may find yourself considering it at some point in your life. How do know if it’s the right thing for you?

Let’s start with information on what it is. Bankruptcy is a federal court process that helps individuals and businesses repay their debts under the protection of the bankruptcy court (Chapter 13 Bankruptcy) or wipe their debts out altogether (Chapter 7 Bankruptcy). When you file for bankruptcy, an automatic stay goes into effect which prohibits your creditors from taking action to collect the debt without the approval of the court.

Now-a-days it seems like the mail box is just more bad news. The credit card bills are coming in faster than the money. This is the case for more Americans than ever before. This is now backed up by a new survey.

The survey finds that low- and middle-income families are acquiring credit card debt to pay for essentials at the same time that business practices in the credit card industry are making this debt more costly and harder to manage.

Credit card companies are increasing the minimum monthly amount due in an effort to speed the repayment of the debt. However, what do you do about this higher monthly outflow enforced upon you?

Some credit cards have a minimum monthly payment that will take almost 30 years to wipe out the debt. This is the basic reason behind the increase on minimum monthly payments that creditors are implementing.

Simply put, when there isn’t enough coverage from the health insurance for medical bills people are turning to bankruptcy to solve the financial situation they are faced with.

Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.

The study estimates that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans annually.

Another interesting fact, most of those bankrupted by illness had health insurance. More than 3/4 were insured at the start of the bankrupting illness. However, 38 % had lost coverage at least temporarily by the time they filed for bankruptcy.

Consumers have often wondered what they did to earn high interest rates on their credit card. Below you can find out another reason for the increased rate and an explanation of “universal default”.

A growing number of credit card issuers are imposing high-risk interest rates on customers who miss any monthly payment — such as a utility bill, mortgage payment, bank loan or credit card bill.

Called “universal default,� the clause is used by about 45% of credit card issuers. The clause, generally spelled out in the fine print of the credit card agreement, says that if you are late on payments to anyone, the interest rate on your credit card could skyrocket while your credit score is damaged.

Regulatory guidelines on credit card minimum payments were made three years ago. Read on to find out how this will affect your credit card bill.

Most of the top 10 credit card issuers have raised their minimum payments the last quarter of 2005. The result is that your payments have increased even if you have not added to the card.

The higher minimum credit card payments are the result of guidelines issued in January 2003 by the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Card issuers were to adopt higher minimums by the end of 2005, sooner if feasible.