Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Debt

Debt. It can be used wisely to help free up money to build wealth, but most of us struggle with debt. Take a look at articles that help you deal with debt and eliminate your bad debt.

How Will Your Student Loans Affect Your Credit Score?

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You’d be hard-pressed to make it through college these days without student loans.

With the cost of a post-secondary education rising each year, most people can’t afford to attend university without the help of student loans.  Even a 529 plan and a partial-tuition scholarship might not be enough to avoid student loans.

While there are many advantages to student loans, and you can get special treatment with your student loans, it’s important to understand how a student loan can affect your credit.

Since your credit score is an important part of your financial life, it’s a good idea to consider the impact of your student loans.

Student Loans And Your Credit Score

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Diplomatically Say No to Friends and Family That Want to Borrow Money – 6 Tips

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One of the hardest things you will ever have to do in life is to look a friend or family member in the eye and say no.

It’s hard enough to do this when you’ve been asked to watch someone else’s kids, or attend some event.  It’s even more difficult to tell a loved one no when he or she is asking for money.

However, you might not want to lend money to family and friends since relationships can be ruined.  As awkward as it is to say no in these situations, the awkwardness can be even more intense when you have a loan (particularly an unpaid loan) between you.

If you don’t want to get involved with lending money to friends and family, here are 6 tips to help you say no:

say_no_lending_money

1. Make it Your Policy

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Fixed Or Adjustable Rate Mortgage – Does An ARM Ever Make Sense?

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Adjustable rate mortgages or ARMs are a different kind of mortgage than the standard 15 year or 30 year loans available at your local credit union.

ARMs have a lot of negative stigmas attached to them, but are there situations where using an adjustable rate mortgage is a wise financial move?

Pros and Cons to Having an Adjustable Rate Mortgage

Before you jump onto the adjustable rate mortgage train, consider the following:

What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage?

Most of the mortgages now available post-financial crisis are less risky investments for the lenders.

Gone are the days of getting a mortgage without income documentation.  The most common loans are 30-year fixed loans and 15-year fixed loans.  Fixed rate loans give stability to the payment for the borrower.  Your mortgage is $800 today, $800 tomorrow, and $800 10 years from now.  The stability in the payment makes it a lot easier to plan for your financial needs for years to come.
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How Can I Pay Off My Student Loan Faster? 3 Programs to Help

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There’s no doubt that American college students are in deep–deep in student loan debt, that is. 

The average college graduate who has student loan debt walks away with roughly $25,500 in debt.  To pay those loans off in 10 years, the graduate will have to pay nearly $300 a month and will pay almost $10,000 in interest over the life of the loan.

New college graduates in this tough job market often must settle for low paying jobs to gain experience before they can move up to a better paying position.  Factor in rent, food, a car, health insurance, and a professional wardrobe, and tacking on a steep student loan payment can be difficult.

While there is no easy way to get out of student loan debt quickly, there are a number of programs that are available to help graduates pay off their debt faster.  These programs won’t erase student loan debt, but they can give graduates a little extra help paying off their loans.

3 Programs to Help You Pay Off Student Loans Faster

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Balance Transfer Credit Cards – When Does It Make Sense to Use Them?

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Dave Ramsey and other popular financial pundits are fond of saying things like “You can’t borrow your way out of debt!”

The advice is to those that would like to open up a new credit card for a balance transfer, or get a new home equity loan or home equity line of credit in order to pay off their current debts.

And generally speaking, borrowing money to pay off borrowed money is a losing game.

Their advice is for those that can’t handle the financial responsibility of paying off the debt and spending less than they earn at the same time.

If you continually spend more than you earn, no amount of balance transfers or new lines of credit will save you.

Since many people calling into the financial shows can’t handle that responsibility (they are up to their eyeballs in debt currently, right?) the advice points against this strategy.

However, that doesn’t mean transferring a balance from one credit card to a new one is always a bad idea.

If you are smart about how you handle the balance transfer it can actually save you thousands of dollars in interest and result in you being debt-free a lot earlier than you would have been otherwise.

How Does a Balance Transfer Credit Card Work?

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