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 I Paid Off $25,000 of Debt in 14 Months

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First of all, if you are in college right now, please do everything in your power to keep your student loans to a minimum! I really wish that I didn’t have to experience the story below.  Never having that debt would have been much more delightful, for me anyway.

My wife and I had recently gotten married and moved into an amazing rental complex in South Florida.  There was a work-out facility, some tennis courts, and a gorgeous pool.  It was heavenly, that is, until the bills started coming in the mail.

Somehow it had slipped our minds that once we graduated from college, we had to start paying back our student loans.  Between my wife and I, we had $18,000 in student loans plus a vehicle that we owed $7,000 on.  Yep, that was a total of $25,000 in debts!
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When Should You Borrow Using P2P Lending?

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Peer to peer (P2P) lending has been gaining in popularity — especially since the recession began. Part of the reason for this is due to the difficulty associated with getting loans from banks.  Another issue is that traditional banks, in some cases, charge higher interest rates.  If you are looking for a way to get a loan, in some circumstances it might make sense to turn to P2P lending.

Consolidate Debt

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Bankruptcy – What it is, When it’s Used, and How it Works – Adapted from Debt Free for Life

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I had the pleasure of receiving a publisher’s copy if David Bach’s latest book Debt Free for Life – The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedom. Rather than give a general overview of the book, I’m going to talk about chapter 14 – How Bankruptcy Works, When to Use it, How Long it Will Take to you to Recover.

Bankruptcy is pretty much a last ditch effort to help save your financial situation (and perhaps your overall health and life).  The hope is that no one will ever need to know about bankruptcy but the truth is over a million and a half people in 2010 will file for personal bankruptcy.
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How To Prosper With Peer to Peer Lending – A review of Prosper.com

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Prosper.com is a personal loan and investing site with over one million members and over two hundred fifteen million dollars in personal loans funded since 2006. Using a unique person to person lending model, prosper.com connects borrowers and lenders and allows them to establish a mutually beneficial financial relationship.   Prosper offers borrowers rates as low as 5.9% and lender returns as high as 10.1% (this varies, of course based on your borrowing and lending situation).

What is Person to Person or Peer Lending?

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Is It a Good Idea for the Credit Market to Ease?

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For the last couple of years, we’ve heard about the tight credit market. It’s been more difficult to qualify for credit.  Even credit card issuers reduced the amount of money they were providing.  However, mailboxes are starting to see an influx of credit card offers, and things are getting a little bit easier (although we are still far from the heady days of easy money seen in the years leading up to the financial crisis).  It might be a little easier to get approved for a loan or credit card now than it was last year, but that mean it’s a good thing?

Do We Really Want More Credit Available?

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