The economy had always built itself on a free market concept where businesses and companies were allowed to do whatever it was they wanted. The regulation of the economy was something that was seen as a bad thing and we relied on consumers to make the right choices and help companies make money, hand over fist. Consumption had been climbing steadily through the years and the more people made at their jobs, the more they seemed to want to consume in both goods and services and would even resort to cash advances to make sure that payments were made.. Wall Street was thriving on the lack of regulation and many saw the free market as a way to make more money than they ever imagined and many brokers and financial institutions made billions based on the theories that involved the self-adjustments seen in the markets in the past.

Continue Reading Economic Wellness Must be Learned »

Lately, consumers have been feeling the negative impact of the housing market crash and have been forced to use payday loans and cash advances to stay afloat. As the inventory of vacant homes increases, the value of homes in those neighborhoods continues to go down. Eventually, the prices will stabilize, but we will see losses in home sales as well as overall financial stability. Because lenders allowed people to borrow money for homes they just could not afford, the rest on the adjustable rate mortgages caused homeowners to go into eventual foreclosure. This led to the overall crisis where people were defaulting on loans after losing their jobs or not being able to sell their homes when their payments became unaffordable. Stricter regulation on consumer borrowing may have helped to avoid these problems and now that we are slowly emerging from the crisis, these types of protections are being sought by many groups to help consumers with debt and poor financial decisions.
One major point of the new Congress discussions is the inclusion of free credit scores to go along with the free credit reports that are provided by the credit agencies. This would allow consumers to see not only their good and bad entries, but their overall score, which is used for loans of all types. The FDIC recently raised the limits of the insurance it provides for deposits from $100,000 to $250,000, Congress would like to make that permanent to protect citizens from any significant problems with the money supply. The current temporary increase will end in 2014.

Continue Reading Congress to Implement New Regulations for Consumers »

It’s easy to slip into the habit of spending every last dime before the next paycheck roles around, yet that’s one of the biggest reasons people don’t create wealth. In order to create wealth, one doesn’t just have to budget and spend wisely, one also has to save and invest. Otherwise, what you end up with is just treading water and never really getting ahead financially. That’s why you have to learn how to pay yourself first. Take that extra money, no matter how little, and learn to either save or invest it to start generating wealth.

Continue Reading Shaking the Paycheck-To-Paycheck Mindset »

Employers can afford to be choosy today with so many people out of work. However, in an effort to hire only the best, many employers are starting to restrict their hiring practices based on unconventional practices, like checking your credit history. In the past, banks would do this for the reason that any employee who had a bad credit history constituted a risk for fraud or embezzlement, but other establishments weren’t as interested in that as they were in criminal checks. Now, more and more employers, even those looking to hire for part time jobs, are requiring background checks that include a criminal and drug check, as well as a peek at your credit history.

Continue Reading When Your Credit Score Affects Your Job Opportunities »

Recession gardens are all the rage this year, and why not? Growing a vegetable garden is one of the best ways to hedge against higher food prices or a lower income, just as when our elders had to grow victory gardens to learn how to survive a depression. One thing to keep in mind when first starting out is that you want to start small and keep track of your gardening budget and expenses. By tracking them each year, you can see where you made more money or lost money, and eventually refine your garden methods to help you preserve wealth, not spend it. You want to make the most of every dollar so that the tomatoes that you grow don’t end up costing way more than if you had simply stopped off at the grocery store.

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People who have started their New Year’s resolutions are either dieting, trying to quit smoking, or going on the wagon. Either way, a new healthier you can also mean a wealthier you. Some positives about the economic situation are that many people are realizing that their unhealthy habits can cost them big bucks. Drinking, overeating, and smoking aren’t just bad for you personally, they’re bad for your wallet. In terms of value, just dropping a few bad habits can put $30 to $50 in your pocket a week.

Continue Reading A New Year, A New You, A Wealthier You »

There are times when we find a need for money in a hurry to pay past due bills or financial obligations, but have not necessarily saved enough to do so on such short notice. These occasions hopefully only come once in a great while. We can turn to friends or family for quick loans that we can repay in the upcoming weeks, but sometimes our family and friends are strapped for cash just like us and we must find alternate arrangements for the money we need.  Banks will also lend us the money, but it may take longer than desired to get the information to the bank and receive our funds. These are the perfect circumstances in which a payday loan can help us. You can get quick cash for bills or financial obligations that are pressing and urgent and need to be taken care of right away.
Continue Reading Strict Regulations for Payday Loans in Canada »

The mortgage crisis has affected many people and their ability to pay their mortgages over time as the economy has been rapidly declining. Many were tricked into believing they could afford homes or were naive enough to think that they could easily sell their homes when they could no longer afford their payments. Inflated prices and adjustable mortgages led to many foreclosures and many had to sell their homes at a loss after job losses and defaults on payday loans or credit cards. Those who were foreclosed on had previously lost their jobs due to a shrinking economy, but many will eventually be able to move into a rental and slowly build their savings up to buy a new, more affordable home as home prices go down. Others aren’t so lucky and ended up homeless or living with relatives, unemployable or just not willing to take a step down pay-wise to get by. There are a million stories of hardship and misery due to the mortgage crisis, but there are also stories of home loss that really have little to do with the mortgage crisis, but with other unrelated hardships.

Continue Reading Utility Bills Can Lead to a Foreclosure »

Financial reforms were originally debated to regulate banks and financial lenders once it became clear that the applications for securing a mortgage for subprime lenders had been mismanaged. In addition, once money got tight for banks, they turned to pick the pockets of the consumers by adding ATM fees, increasing interest rates on credit cards, and reducing equity lines of credit. In the past, financial institutions made most their money on attracting people to save with them. These days bank fees and interest have produced a windfall for the very people who had to be bailed out due to poor financial management of the banks. The government has decided it’s time now to protect the consumer by producing legislation to make financial lenders behave better, but payday lenders and cash checkers are already heavily regulated. They believe they should be excluded from current legislation otherwise the new laws may be enough to put them out of business.

Continue Reading More Regulations? Payday Lenders Say Enough! »