All Debt Articles

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, My son, I am ashamed to admit, did not pay back his student loan in a timely fashion, so now 15 percent is being taken from each paycheck and he is having a difficult time meeting the rest of his obligations. The lender will not negotiate. Is there a way around this for him before he goes under? He wants to pay it back, just not so much at a time. -- Pam A: Dear Read more...

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, I have a collection agency harassing me over a 10-year-old debt that is no longer on my credit report. The collector purchased this very old debt from the original creditor. The original creditor wrote off the debt many years ago and has not contacted me for several years now. I informed the collector that this is a 10-year-old debt from the original creditor and I will NOT Read more...

Q: Dear Dr. Don, I wrote out a check and thought I had more money in my account than I did. The check went through, but my bank stopped it since I did not have the full amount. I found out that day and went down to the bank and made a deposit. I was told by the bank that this business would try again in a couple of days. It has been a week and they have not tried it again. Should I call them? Read more...

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, I'm currently paying a debt that was owed to my school, but it went to a collections agency. I agreed to make the payments to pay off the debt. The problem comes when I try to negotiate to lower the monthly payment. I'm paying roughly $398 a month. Whenever I ask to lower the payment, they tell me if I lower the payment it will go into collections. I don't get that. If I'm Read more...

If a debt collector who makes threats, verbally harasses you or otherwise breaks the law, you do have rights.   Read more...

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, A debt collector called me last week about a debt from 2002! I know this is not my debt. It's for a phone bill from a different state! They had my Social Security number and everything. This is a debt that showed up on my credit report a few years back and I notified the credit bureau that it wasn't mine. They supposedly reviewed it and the matter was to have been resolved, Read more...

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, I have an account that has been charged off to a collector. Of course, the size of the monthly payments they are offering is way above what I can pay. If I send them as much as I can every month, can they still pursue legal actions against me, or will they just deal with it and accept the money? -- Brandon A: Dear Brandon, Slow down, Brandon. I think you are missing a Read more...

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, I am 23 and about $20,000 in credit card debt. I have a pretty good job and work all the overtime possible. Most of my debt is from my ex-girlfriend, which I know is still my fault in a sense. I also have a charge off from a friend I co-signed for ... I think I'm too nice to people. So my question is, should I file for bankruptcy and take the money I have been using to pay Read more...

Q: Dear Bankruptcy Adviser, I had a heart condition that landed me in the hospital in September 2008, which caused me to lose the part-time job I had. And with medical costs, I got behind in credit card payments and now I don't have any way to catch up. The only thing I have in income is Social Security. My question is: If I filed for bankruptcy in 2004, can I file again? There is no way for me Read more...

Less than one in 50 mortgage modifications includes debt forgiveness, which is considered the surest way to prevent foreclosure. For every troubled homeowner whose mortgage principal is reduced in a modification, 39 others end up with more housing debt as lenders tack on missed payments, late charges and even attorney fees to the loan balance. Lenders are reluctant to reduce principal on Read more...

Q: Dear Dr. Don, My husband thinks that taking out a home equity loan for car is a wiser thing to do than getting a car loan. I beg to differ! Roughly five years ago, I bought a brand new Altima from my credit union at 4.9 percent interest. It was a five-year loan that I managed to pay off in four years. I know a home loan is tax-deductible, but in the long run is it better than simply taking Read more...

Q: Dear Driving for Dollars, I'm behind in my car payments and have been making half of the payment each month. What can I do to avoid getting repossessed? -- Steve A: Dear Steve, A vehicle repossession will seriously affect your credit and make it difficult for you to get any type of loan in the future, so call your lender and talk to someone right away. Any lender is more interested in Read more...

Q: Dear Debt Adviser, My husband and I are in a financial crisis. My husband is a building contractor. The last three years have been devastating. Until recently, he has been sitting on two homes and a lot. In December, he sold two homes but sold them for a loss of over $100,000. Having signed a secure note for the building loans, we now owe the bank approximately $100,000. With no work to speak Read more...

A growing number of readers' e-mails to Bankrate are asking the same question lately: Should I opt out of this rate hike? Credit cardholders given the chance to avoid an imminent rate increase face a number of options, each with pros and cons. No federal law or regulation requires issuers to offer cardholders a chance to reject a rate re-pricing, or opt out, according to Chi Chi Wu, a staff Read more...

When we overindulged in real estate earlier this decade, we took generous helpings of seconds. Now the problem for many with too much debt on their plate is how to deal with the mortgage on a second home. Just two years ago, 12 percent of all residential sales were vacation homes and 21 percent of transactions were for investment properties, according to the National Association of Read more...

In 2005, the Corbett family had about $500 in savings and $12,000 in consumer debt. About half of the money they owed was a result of credit card obligations. "We were spending every dollar that came in, and then some," says Jason Corbett, a 34-year-old nonprofit manager who lives in Soperton, Ga., with his schoolteacher wife, Molly, and their three children. Determined to be Read more...

Q: Dear Bankruptcy Adviser, If we file for bankruptcy, will it also affect our business? We want to file bankruptcy for our personal credit card mess and doctor bills. Can one choose what goes in a bankruptcy? Do we have any say? This is a scary time for us. -- Carol A: Dear Carol, You can file for personal bankruptcy and keep your business active. This is very common, but there are a few Read more...

Q: Dear Bankruptcy Adviser, Life happens. I am separated from my wife but continue to pay for her car (it's in my name, too) and support for my son. Our house got foreclosed on Jan. 2. I haven't paid a credit card bill in over four months. I probably have around $40,000 in credit card debt. I make good money. I have told credit card companies I couldn't pay and got a "too bad" kind of Read more...

Interest rates haven't been this low for decades, tempting some consumers to take on additional debt to ease existing credit woes. The goal is to consolidate various higher-interest balances into one, easier-to-handle and less-costly package. But be careful of what looks to be a quick fix. "You're getting symptomatic relief, not a credit cure," says Chris Viale, general manager Read more...