My husband came across a bizarre Yahoo! Finance article entitled From Billionaire To Broke about a woman who received a divorce settlement of about a billion dollars but who managed to squander it all away and she ended up in the hole to boot! Even though she was able to earn about $1.6 million dollars in interest every week, she still managed to end up owing $66 million dollars to the bank in the end.
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According to a July 2008 report in The Times of London, an estimated 165,000 to 200,000 people in the UK are indebted to loan sharks. Since the financial crises began a few months later, this number is likely to have risen. The government considers loan sharks to be a high-level crime because of their links to organized crime and the violence that often accompanies such transactions.
This is one of the reasons why the Office of Fair Trade recognizes cash advance loans as a preferred, alternative means of consumer finance. While credit cards and other traditional bank loans might (but not always) offer better loan terms, a cash advance is a means for working people to cover off on financial obligations in a responsible way.
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When it comes to using credit, it is really important to always be thinking ahead. Remember, when you need credit you won’t likely be able to get it, so when you are working full time and things seem to be going your way financially, this is the ideal time to be applying for credit.
Take Joe for example. He is a 30 -year -old full time truck driver. He is earning $60,000 per year and life is good. He never bothers to apply for a credit card or a credit line because he is able to comfortably live off of his income. Then, tragedy strikes and he gets laid off from work. He soon depletes all of his excess cash flow and suddenly finds himself strapped for cash.
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Many folks work really hard in order to pay off their debt, including credit card debt, car loans, student loans, and their mortgage. This is an excellent idea, although, sometimes once our debt has been paid off, we get careless with our money. We suddenly have all this extra money at our disposal and it can be tempting to splurge.
Instead of blowing money that you no longer need to use to pay off debt, consider saving that money instead. For example, if you were making $350 payments towards your car loan and then you finally paid it off, why not allocate the $350 towards contributing to your retirement savings and other investment accounts to save for your short and long term goals?
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Sometimes it may be hard to know if you are in over your head, but if you can relate to some or all of the statements below, it is likely that you have taken on too much debt.
1. You have no savings at all.
2. You only make the minimum payments on your credit cards.
3. Your bank account is always overdrawn and you often have nonsufficient fund (NSF) fees charged to your account.
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Many folks find themselves overspending during the holiday season and then they feel overwhelmed at their financial situation in the New Year. It is easy to get carried away when you keep on finding another great gift for your kids or for your spouse, but you need to know when to stop.
Since the past is now behind us, if you are in a position right now where you have overspent, do not panic. Instead, create a practical plan and put it into action ASAP in order to pay off that holiday debt.
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Did you know that 6 out of 10 Canadians live from paycheck to paycheck? What’s worse is that almost 60% of Canadians would be in serious financial trouble if their pay were delayed by one week.
These are disturbing statistics, so what are we going to do about it? It is obvious that more and more of us are taking on more debt than we can manage. Is it due to greed or trying to keep up with the Joneses? What compels us to sink into so much debt?
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