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	<title>Business &#38; MoneyCategory: Borrowing &#124; Business &#38; Money &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Business &#38; MoneyCategory: Borrowing &#124; Business &#38; Money &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>A Financial Cloud Over Wedding Season: How to Pop the (Money) Question</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/06/06/a-financial-cloud-over-wedding-season-how-to-pop-the-money-question/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/06/06/a-financial-cloud-over-wedding-season-how-to-pop-the-money-question/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:44:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budgeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Credit Cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=81356</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s not too late to call off the nuptials. Here we are a week into wedding season and a good many soon-to-be newlyweds have yet to inquire into their dearest’s financial situation. There is nothing sexy about budgets and debt. In fact, couples find such subjects so off-putting that most simply skip the discussion. Two-thirds of Americans engaged to be married say talking about money with their fiancé is painful, according to a new poll from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. (MORE: Communication Breakdown: If You Think You’re Talking About Money, Your Kids Don’t Hear It) Such soon-to-be-wed couples are in good company. More than a quarter of married couples say disagreements over finances are most likely to lead to arguments—ahead of children, work, chores and friends, reports the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The NFCC found that, among those contemplating marriage and money: 45% regard the money talk as necessary but awkward. 11% believe they’d learn something surprising if they spoke honestly about finances. 7% say a personal finance discussion would lead to a fight. 5% believe talking about money would lead to calling off the wedding. On the happier side, 32% say discussing finances would be productive and easy. We’re making some progress towards full disclosure before slipping on the ring. Many young people today vet prospective matches through credit scores and inquiries into student loans. The New York Times interviewed more than 50 daters under 40 from around the country and found that many regarded a good credit score as a prerequisite for a good date. As the Times reported: ‘“Credit scores are like the dating equivalent of a sexually transmitted disease test,’ said Manisha Thakor, the founder and chief executive of MoneyZen Wealth Management, a financial advisory firm. ‘It’s a shorthand way to get a sense of someone’s financial past the same way an S.T.D. test gives some information about a person’s sexual past.’” When discussing personal finances with a fiancé, four key subject areas are family history, including how your mate’s parents handled money;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=81356&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Financial Planning</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/financial-planning/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weak Financial Literacy Scores Threaten a Global Education Movement</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/05/17/weak-financial-literacy-scores-threaten-a-global-education-movement/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/05/17/weak-financial-literacy-scores-threaten-a-global-education-movement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 19:28:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budgeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=80072</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The global movement to teach kids about money in school has produced little hard evidence that the effort is paying off. That doesn’t mean it’s all been a waste of time, or that we’ll never get the results we want. But it certainly gives doubters ammunition. In a series of financial literacy tests dating to 1997, the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has found that young people’s understanding of personal finance has remained consistently sub-par. Given the energy put into financial education over the past decade, this is disheartening news. Meanwhile, the FINRA 2009 National Financial Capability study found that only 30% of the population can do a simple 2% calculation and has even a basic understanding of inflation and risk diversification. The 2012 wave of that study will be released soon and reportedly shows no improvement. (MORE: 4 Easy Steps to Raising Money-Smart Kids) Weak financial literacy scores have galvanized dozens of nations, thousands of nonprofits, and countless educators and policymakers in the attempt to raise the financial I.Q. of people around the world. But test scores that show no improvement are now galvanizing the opposition, which believes no amount of instruction will lead to broad improvement in the way individuals manage their money. This lack of evidence presents a huge challenge to the financial education movement if it is ever to amount to more than a bunch of disjointed initiatives funded in large part by highly conflicted banks and other financial institutions. Unfortunately, proving long-term behavior change in a fairly new area of study can be difficult. In my view, the effort is worthwhile. It simply makes no sense that people cannot learn to be better money managers. We have to keep trying and keep looking for a method that works. Young people are starting to understand that personal financial management is a skill they’ll need for a lifetime. We should give it to them. In recent testimony before a Senate subcommittee on Children and Families, Annamaria Lusardi, director of the Global Center for Financial Literacy at<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=80072&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/05/17/weak-financial-literacy-scores-threaten-a-global-education-movement/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Financial Education</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/financial-education/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>4 Dirty Secrets of So-Called Installment Loans</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/05/16/4-dirty-secrets-of-so-called-installment-loans/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/05/16/4-dirty-secrets-of-so-called-installment-loans/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=80021</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s been a lot of chatter about the risk of payday loans lately, prompted by a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that called them “a long-term, expensive debt burden.” But there’s another, fast-growing category of small, short-term loans pitched mostly to low-income Americans &#8212; and the unbanked in particular &#8212; that can be just as dangerous. ProPublica and Marketplace teamed up for an in-depth look at installment loans, and uncovered a dark side to what an industry spokesman termed &#8220;the safest form of consumer credit out there.&#8221; Consumer advocates say installment loans can be a better option than payday loans because they don’t have a final balloon payment that can push the borrower even deeper into debt. Lenders also report to credit bureaus, so on-time payments can help someone with a checkered credit history to improve their standing. But they’re not necessarily safe products, says Lauren Saunders, managing attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Some installment loans have exorbitant rates, deceptive add-on fees and products, loan flipping, and other tricks that can be just as dangerous, and sometimes more so, as the loan amounts are typically higher.” Like payday loans, installment loans don’t start off sounding like they involve a whole lot of money. On its website, installment lender World Acceptance Corp., says, “World’s average gross loan made in fiscal 2012 was $1,180, and the average contractual maturity was approximately twelve months.” One woman interviewed by ProPublica took out a loan for $207 to get her car repaired, agreeing to make seven $50 monthly installments to repay it &#8212; for a total of $350. At a time when credit card interest rates average in the mid teens, that’s a huge markup. But that’s really just the start of what makes these loans risky, especially for the financially vulnerable people who make up the core customer base for these products. They’re not “one time” fixes. These loans are pitched as a simple, one-time solution to a cash crunch. In reality, they can be renewed just as payday<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=80021&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Borrowing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/borrowing-saving-spending/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>4 Easy Steps to Raising Money-Smart Kids</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/05/03/4-easy-steps-to-raising-money-smart-kids/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/05/03/4-easy-steps-to-raising-money-smart-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2013 09:45:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budgeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Credit Cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=79091</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Human beings may be destined to do everything the hard way. Consider teaching kids about money. Parents can do this quite simply, following a few guidelines. Yet few make any real effort, and we ask schoolteachers to fill the gap. Parents are hands-down the most influential force in any child’s life, and studies show that this extends to money management. Yet the money talk still doesn’t happen in about half of all households. Meanwhile, we have a global movement to bring financial education into the classroom. This effort has been clumsy at times though sorely needed. Too many kids go to college or get their first job without a basic understanding of budgets, debt, and saving. We ask the schools to address this need before the kids turn into bankrupt adults whose financial assistance boomerangs back on society. (MORE: Communication Breakdown: If You Think You’re Talking About Money, Your Kids Don’t Hear It) If only more parents took control, the lessons learned at school would resonate with what they hear at home and sink in to a greater extent. Jonathan Clements is one of the few parents I know that has made a big effort at raising financially literate children. A former personal finance columnist at the Wall Street Journal, Clements is now the director of financial education at Citi Personal Wealth Management. He started family money lessons at age 5 with his children, who are now twentysomethings with, he tells me, enviable money management skills. Clements believes there are four simple guidelines to raising money-smart kids: Make them feel like the money they spend is theirs One way to do this is pay an allowance, explain what the money is for and never give in when they ask for more. “The first rule of parenting,” Clements jokes, “is to never negotiate with terrorists.” With young children, play the soda game. When you eat out offer $1 if they drink water instead of a soft drink. It’s shocking how often they take the $1. Pay allowance to a bank account<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=79091&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Financial Education</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/financial-education/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/86015372.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Piggy Bank Drawn on Blackboard</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d69b05e696e822e7e41ae630be72226a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Forget Lowballing: Bidding Wars Return in Hot Housing Markets</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/30/forget-lowballing-bidding-wars-return-in-hot-housing-markets/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/30/forget-lowballing-bidding-wars-return-in-hot-housing-markets/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:18:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[California Real Estate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychology of Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate & Homes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate Markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asking price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bidding wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Connecticut]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Denver]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hartford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home listings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[real estate agents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Francisco]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Underpriced Homes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=78883</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Are buyers being manipulated into overbidding for the relatively few attractive homes on the market? Earlier this year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced that the number of homes for sale in the U.S. had reached a low not seen since 1999. More homes have hit the market since then, but Lawrence Yun, NAR&#8217;s chief economist, said in March that in many areas around the nation, the inventory of homes for sale is unlikely to keep up with the number of interested buyers. &#8220;Buyer traffic is 40% above a year ago, so there is plenty of demand but insufficient inventory to improve sales more strongly. We&#8217;ve transitioned into a seller&#8217;s market in much of the country,&#8221; said Yun. &#8220;We expect a seasonal rise of inventory this spring, but it may be insufficient to avoid more frequent incidences of multiple bidding and faster-than-normal price growth.&#8221; (MORE: Code Police! 6 Things That May Be Surprisingly Banned in Your Front Yard) Bidding wars have been commonplace in Connecticut this spring, especially for mid-range properties ($300K to $600K), reports the Hartford Courant. Buyers are reportedly frustrated by &#8220;the slow trickle of new listings,&#8221; and &#8220;they are ready to pounce,&#8221; according to a local realtor, when an attractive property in their price range comes onto the market. Bidding wars have also been popping up in cities such as Denver, where half of new homes on the market have been selling in under 30 days. CNN Money recently noted that nine in 10 homes in hot markets in northern and southern California have attracted bidding wars, as have at least two-thirds of properties in Boston, New York City, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. &#8220;The only question is not whether a new listing will get multiple bids but how many it will get,&#8221; one agent in the Sacramento area explained. But is the increase in multiple bids a sign of a hot housing market &#8212; or one in which underpricing has become the standard? A bidding war is a sign that the home is probably underpriced—and the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=78883&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Real Estate Markets</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/personal-finance-2/real-estate-homes/real-estate-markets/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/970_biz_housing_0430.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Suburban homes in Massachusetts</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
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		<title>More Young Couples Commit — To Homeownership Before Marriage</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/17/more-young-couples-commit-to-homeownership-before-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/17/more-young-couples-commit-to-homeownership-before-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:45:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decision Making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate & Homes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate Markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Coldwell Banker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[commitment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marriage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[millennials]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[youth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=77843</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[First comes love, then comes … mortgage? A new study indicates that young couples in committed relationships have been far more likely than older generations to purchase homes before getting married. A recently released CDC study quantified a trend that most of us are well aware of: Couples are increasingly likely to live together before marriage. From 2006 to 2010, nearly half (48%) of American women ages 15 to 44 said that they had ever cohabitated—i.e., lived with a romantic partner without being married. In 1995, by contrast, just 34% said that they&#8217;d lived with a partner before marriage. Now, the results of a soon-to-be-released survey from Coldwell Banker indicate that today&#8217;s young couples are also more likely to buy homes together before marriage. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of polled married couples ages 18 to 34 said that they purchased a home before they were married. Among married couples ages 45 and up, just 14% said that they bought a house together before tying the knot. Couples in the Northeast stand out as particularly likely to buy real estate before getting hitched: Just 60% in the survey waited until marriage to purchase a home, compared to 72% in the tradition-minded South, where people tend to marry younger (and therefore, poorer). In a phone interview, Dr. Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist and Coldwell Banker&#8217;s official &#8220;lifestyle correspondent,&#8221; said that buying a home together has become &#8220;the new engagement ring&#8221; for some young couples. They&#8217;re committing to purchasing real estate as a couple regardless of whether they&#8217;ve set a wedding date. Some even forego lavish weddings and honeymoons in order to cover the down payment and a chunk of the mortgage. &#8220;Millennials have a very pragmatic state of mind,&#8221; said Ludwig. &#8220;They know that they have an opportunity here, with low mortgage rates and low housing prices. And they think, &#8216;We&#8217;re moving toward marriage anyway, so let&#8217;s buy.&#8217; It makes sense.&#8221; (MORE: Financial Independence? Today&#8217;s Young People Don&#8217;t Expect It Anytime Soon) This doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean that more millennials—married or not—are buying homes nowadays.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=77843&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Decision Making</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/decision-making-planning/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/83899391.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Young couple with moving boxes in new house</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
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	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Savings Booster: Making it Simpler to Repay Your 401(k) Loan</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/01/savings-booster-making-it-simpler-to-repay-your-401k-loan/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/01/savings-booster-making-it-simpler-to-repay-your-401k-loan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[401(k) Savings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=75538</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Maybe it was the tortured acronym that sank the SEAL Act two years ago. So lawmakers are back with another try. The letters and measures remain the same. But this version of SEAL stands for words that are at least slightly more comprehensible. And by the way it’s a smart proposal that would help protect retirement security for millions of Americans, which is what makes this name game worth writing about. Gone is the Savings Enhancement by Alleviating Leakage in 401(k) Savings Act sponsored by former Democratic U.S. Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Republican U.S. Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming. Say hello to the Shrinking Emergency Account Losses Act, sponsored by Enzi and Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. (MORE: How to Draw Down Your Nest Egg: 3 Alternatives to the 4% Rule) This new SEAL Act was recently reintroduced in Congress. Let’s hope lawmakers find it more understandable because its measures would address one of the huge failings of the 401(k) retirement savings system: the billions of dollars that leak out of retirement accounts each year through hardship withdrawals and loans that never get repaid. The persistent problem of savers pulling money from their 401(k) plan has grown even worse since the financial crisis. One in four workers with a 401(k) or other defined contribution plan tap their account for current expenses. This “leakage” reaches $70 billion a year, equal to nearly a quarter of all contributions, one study shows. The SEAL Act would ensure that at least some of this lost savings gets restored. Under the proposed law, anyone leaving their employer while a 401(k) loan is outstanding would have until they file their taxes for that year to repay the loan. Currently, these loans must be repaid in 60 days or they are treated as a distribution subject to income taxes and early withdrawal penalties. The SEAL Act also would allow workers to keep making contributions—and collecting the company match—immediately after taking a 401(k) loan. Currently, contributions must be suspended for six months after a<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=75538&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>401(k) Savings</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/personal-finance-2/401k-savings-personal-finance/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d69b05e696e822e7e41ae630be72226a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Do We Really Need Another Credit Score? Maybe.</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/14/do-we-really-need-another-credit-score-maybe/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/14/do-we-really-need-another-credit-score-maybe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit score]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit scores]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equifax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Experian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TransUnion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VantageScore]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=74534</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Are you suffering from a case of credit score fatigue? If so, you&#8217;re not alone: We hear about credit scores nonstop. We&#8217;re supposed to check them regularly. We can order them free online. We can pay someone to monitor them for us. It&#8217;s practically a full-time job keeping up with the whole production. And now there&#8217;s another score out there we&#8217;re supposed to care about? The thing is, it might be worth paying attention. The big three credit bureaus &#8212; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion &#8212; have just rolled out a new version of their VantageScore (launched as a competitor to FICO, the best-known scoring company) that they say gives banks a better idea of how previously &#8220;unscorable&#8221; people — between 27 and 30 million Americans — will behave as borrowers. This is important because under the conventional scoring system, many young people; recent immigrants; those who have declared bankruptcy; and the millions of &#8220;unbanked&#8221; Americans either don’t have any credit history at all or only show credit activity that took place years before, which counts against them under existing scoring models. Without a recent credit history, these people are generally unable to get credit cards, a mortgage, or an auto or business loan. If they are able to borrow money at all, it&#8217;s at a very high interest rate. Insurance companies, landlords, and employers are increasingly checking credit scores, too. (MORE: 7 Steps to a Higher Credit Limit) What&#8217;s particularly frustrating for many of these people is the absurdity of their situation: You can&#8217;t establish a credit history without access to credit, but you can&#8217;t get access to credit without a credit history. The new scoring formula begins to address this issue pulling information from new data sources: For people who don’t have credit cards, car payments or mortgages, information about rent, utility, and cell phone payments can help fill in the gap. “It’s highly predictive data,” says Barrett Burns, president and CEO of VantageScore Solutions, of these new data sources. Since rent often makes up more than half of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=74534&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Borrowing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/borrowing-saving-spending/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>Viewpoint: Stop Calling Student Loans a &#8220;Bubble&#8221;!</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/07/viewpoint-stop-calling-student-loans-a-bubble/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/07/viewpoint-stop-calling-student-loans-a-bubble/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:45:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christopher Matthews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Financing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=73921</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ever since the financial crisis, Americans have begun to see bubbles everywhere they turn. The damage wrought by the real estate bubble has been so extensive that the nation is rightfully terrified that another asset bubble is inflating beneath our noses, preparing to wreck the American economy at the drop of a hat. Bubble-phobia has now become issue number one for those who reject Ben Bernanke&#8217;s aggressive regiment of monetary stimulus, as they think it may be inflating bubbles in everything from real estate to Treasury bonds. But for frothophobes, the most dangerous bubble going today is in higher education. Don’t believe me? A quick Google search will reveal hundreds of stories foretelling of a crisis when the student loan bubble finally bursts. But let&#8217;s get a grip. When you take a closer look at higher education, you realize that while we do indeed have some problems to address, a bubble situation it is not. Here&#8217;s why: 1. The primary issuer of student loans is the federal government.  The classic definition of a bubble is when the market value of a specific asset becomes unmoored from its true &#8220;fundamental&#8221; value, encouraging further price appreciation until the process becomes unsustainable and precipitates a crash. This is exactly what happened in the real estate market in the 2000s, as both lenders and borrowers were convinced that real estate prices would rise perpetually. (MORE: 10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of College Financial Aid) The thing is, the student loan industry can&#8217;t crash, pop, fizzle, or otherwise suddenly deflate because the Department of Education backs at least 85% of all student loans. Of the remaining loans that are privately issued, 90% have cosigners. On top of that it&#8217;s nearly impossible for student loan debt &#8212; whether owed to the government or to private lenders &#8212; to be discharged during bankruptcy. The upshot is that rising delinquency and default rates on student loans, while troubling in many respects, are simply not a serious danger to bank balance sheets and therefore are not going to cause a banking crisis<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=73921&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Educational Financing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/educational-financing/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1288976471.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1288976471.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1288976471.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">College Graduates</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/8f9a71742e964af96ca58c01a0577a0d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">christopherrmatthews</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>Payday Loans Are Bad Enough Without Banks Getting Into the Act</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/04/payday-loans-are-bad-enough-without-banks-getting-into-the-act/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/04/payday-loans-are-bad-enough-without-banks-getting-into-the-act/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:39:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[big banks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cfpb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chase]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checking account]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JPMorgan Chase]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overdraft fees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overdrafts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[payday lending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[payday loans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=73245</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Consumers who use online payday lenders may be taken advantage of twice: first, by the lenders&#8217; triple-digit interest rates that flout state caps, then with fees tacked on by the borrowers&#8217; own banks. A new report published last week by the Pew Charitable Trusts states that while consumers often turn to payday lenders in order to avoid writing bad checks or getting hit with overdraft fees, in many cases customers wind up paying overdraft and payday loan fees. &#8220;Although payday loans are often presented as an alternative to overdrafts, most payday borrowers end up paying fees for both,&#8221; the report states. The payday lenders make out, the banks make out — and the losers are their customers. The fees can add up especially quickly and snowball when banks refuse to block payday lenders from accessing borrowers&#8217; accounts &#8212; which can then trigger overdraft fees from the bank. According to the New York Times, a growing number of payday lenders set up shop in states with looser lending regulations, or even overseas in places like Malta and the Bahamas, to get around state usury laws. A New York City advocacy group for low-income and minority residents filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase Bank last fall for what it says are illegal and exploitative tactics that have cost the two named plaintiffs thousands of dollars in penalty fees it contends they shouldn&#8217;t have had to pay. The Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP), which brought the suit against Chase on plaintiffs&#8217; behalf, says banks shouldn&#8217;t be willing to let online payday lenders take money out of customer accounts in states where such loans are illegal. (MORE: Uh-Oh: Banks and Credit Unions Peddling Payday Loans) A representative of the American Bankers Association told the New York Times that banks are &#8220;not in a position to monitor customer accounts to see where their payments are going.&#8221; Last month, four senators introduced a bill in Congress that would require payday lenders to comply with the laws where borrowers live rather than where the lender is located. &#8220;Over twenty<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=73245&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Borrowing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/borrowing-saving-spending/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Loan Out Your Car at the Airport for Free Parking, Free Car Wash &amp; Bonus Gas Money</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/25/loan-out-your-car-at-the-airport-for-free-parking-free-car-wash-bonus-gas-money/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/25/loan-out-your-car-at-the-airport-for-free-parking-free-car-wash-bonus-gas-money/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Small Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Start-Ups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tourism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[car rentals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[car sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FlightCar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getaround]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peer to peer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RelayRides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rentals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sharing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=72570</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Parking at the airport can easily run $20 per day. That&#8217;s in the &#8220;cheap&#8221; long-term lot, requiring a long shuttle ride to the terminal. Valet service can cost way more. But what if you could get airport parking valet service totally for free—with a car wash and free gas to boot? That&#8217;s the gist of the offer from a startup called FlightCar, which began offering its service at San Francisco International Airport in early February. What&#8217;s the catch? In exchange for free parking, a free car wash, and a gas card worth up to $10 for each day the car is left behind, owners agree to allow FlightCar to rent out their vehicles to customers &#8212; i.e., strangers. The business model basically brings peer-to-peer car rental services such as Getaround and RelayRides to the airport. And if you think about it, the airport is the perfect place for a rental handoff. Sign up with FlightCar, and a valet meets you at the airport. That saves drivers the trouble of having to park in the long-term lot and hop on the shuttle to the gate. When a car owner is on a trip, he&#8217;s obviously not using the vehicle, so it&#8217;s OK that he won&#8217;t have wheels for the agreed-upon time. What&#8217;s more, a vehicle becomes a money-loser, to the tune of $10, $15, perhaps even $35 per day, when it&#8217;s sitting idle parked at the airport. (MORE: Pay Less For Sporting Event Tickets &#8212; After You&#8217;ve Already Bought Them) Those daily fees disappear, however, when the owner agrees to work with FlightCar. Complimentary car washes are thrown into the deal—before and after the car is loaned out—and owners receive gas cards worth $10 for each day the vehicle is rented. FlightCar says it pre-screens all customers and insures vehicles up to $1 million. Wired notes that the company eases the minds of car owners in a few other ways as well: FlightCar also foots the bill if anything less dramatic goes wrong during the rental, including refilling your tank if<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=72570&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Start-Ups</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/small-business/start-ups-small-business/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Can&#8217;t People with Student Loans Refinance at Better Rates?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/20/why-cant-people-with-student-loans-refinance-at-better-rates/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/20/why-cant-people-with-student-loans-refinance-at-better-rates/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Financing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=72305</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the few silver linings of the Great Recession has been a sharp drop in interest rates that has lowered the cost of borrowing for millions of consumers. The historic decline in rates, however, has done almost nothing for folks with a student loan. Those with college debt have largely missed the refinance boom. Why? Congress—not the free market—sets the interest rate on the vast majority of student debt, and because these loans are not secured by collateral private lenders are loath to undercut the federal government’s terms. Borrowers with decent credit have gotten relief in virtually every other sphere. By one estimate, low rates are saving the typical household $3,100 a year. Americans now spend 5.8% of after-tax income on consumer interest, the smallest share in 34 years and a sharp drop from 9.1% before the recession. Mortgage interest payments alone are down 30%. Corporations and government have benefited from the refi boom as well. Companies with a stellar credit rating sold more than a $1 trillion of bonds last year, a record, and most of the proceeds were used to replace higher cost debt. Meanwhile, the federal government’s debt service has remained about the same since the onset of the recession—but only because debt outstanding has doubled. (MORE: Schools Suing Graduates for Defaulting on Loans) Lower rates have not rescued all borrowers. Many who have poor credit or little or no home equity haven’t been invited to the refi party. And low rates have been anything but a boon to savers, who must settle for paltry rates of return on secure fixed-income investments. But does it make sense to shut student borrowers out of the refi bonanza? Student loan debt is at $1 trillion—of that, the federal government backs $864 billion. Most of this debt is at an interest rate higher than 6%, according to a new report from the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress. That’s almost twice the rate of an average 30-year mortgage &#8212; and, more to the point, it is three times<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=72305&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Educational Financing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/educational-financing/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/75627505-1-e13462814577911.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/75627505-1-e13462814577911.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/75627505-1-e13462814577911.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Mortarboard and College Diploma</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d69b05e696e822e7e41ae630be72226a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Three Strategies for Saving Money on College That May Not Work as Promised</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/three-strategies-for-saving-money-on-college-that-may-not-work-as-promised/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/three-strategies-for-saving-money-on-college-that-may-not-work-as-promised/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:38:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Financing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Appalachian State]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College Students]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial aid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[private college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public university]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[state college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Student loan debt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=70710</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, you can save money and avoid student loan debt by employing some of the classic strategies suggested by personal finance gurus. But you may not save as much as you think—and you could even wind up spending more. Here&#8217;s a look at three oft-circulated strategies for limiting college costs—and why each of them is a bit simplistic, flawed, and perhaps even misleading: Attend Community College, Then Switch to a Four-Year School Community college costs maybe a few grand per year, a fraction of what the typical four-year public university runs. Private schools are even more expensive, as we all know. So it&#8217;s no wonder that many personal finance experts suggest that students stock up on cheap community college credits for a couple of years. The idea is to then transfer to a four-year college and finish up. Both your degree and your resume will state where you completed your college education, not where you began it. (MORE: How a $54K-Per-Year School Is Deemed a &#8216;Best Value College&#8217;) This appears to be a win-win. You can save money and still graduate from an institution with a reputation that&#8217;s superior to a community college, right? Well, the strategy is not without its downsides. A Money magazine story recommending the community college money-saving strategy noted one such issue: Transferring can be a social challenge, since your child will be a newcomer among classmates who have already made friends. Also, the most elite schools take very few transfers: Princeton accepted none and Dartmouth only 4% of applicants last year, although the University of Pennsylvania did take 20%. That&#8217;s not the strategy&#8217;s only flaw. CBS News recently cited a study, from the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, that indicates students who start at community college and finish up their degrees at four-year public universities tend to borrow about the same amount as students who attend state colleges for all four years: &#8220;Many students have traditionally been guided to follow the transfer route, with the assumption it will help them save on certain college costs,&#8221;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=70710&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/three-strategies-for-saving-money-on-college-that-may-not-work-as-promised/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Educational Financing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/educational-financing/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>So What Are the Real Chances There&#8217;s a Mistake in Your Credit Report?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/12/so-what-are-the-real-chances-theres-a-mistake-in-your-credit-report/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/12/so-what-are-the-real-chances-theres-a-mistake-in-your-credit-report/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consumer Data Industry Association]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit report]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit score]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit scores]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FICO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PIRG]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raise Credit Score]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. PIRG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=70339</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A comprehensive study of consumer credit reports by the Federal Trade Commission found that the accuracy of consumers’ credit files is better than some surveys had indicated, but worse than the industry has claimed.  According to the FTC, 26% of people thought they had mistakes on their credit reports that would impact their credit scores. In reality, per the FTC&#8217;s new study, 13% actually did. This is considerably lower than the 25% rate of credit report mistakes the watchdog group U.S. PIRG found in a 2004 study. That same study found that a whopping 79% of consumers&#8217; credit reports contained “either serious errors or other mistakes of some kind.” Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG consumer program director, says the FTC’s larger sample size and the wider scope of the research — it looked at 1,001 people and 2,968 reports — contribute to the lower mistake rate. “This is very important stuff,” he says. “I think it’s a good study.” Mierzwinski says the fact that more people think they have serious errors on their reports than actually do is because credit reports are hard for the average layperson to read. That’s the good news. Sort of. Here&#8217;s the undeniably bad news: &#8220;For 5.2% of the consumers, the resulting increase in score was such that their credit risk tier decreased and thus the consumer may be more likely to be offered a lower auto loan interest rate,&#8221; the FTC study states. In other words, if people had only known better, they could have been paying less each month for their cars. (MORE: Why Are Credit Report Errors So Hard to Fix?) The credit scores of a small portion of consumers were changed by up to 100 points after an error was corrected, the FTC says. Depending on what your credit score is initially, 100 points could mean the difference between getting and not getting a mortgage or a credit card. A 100-point swing would certainly make a difference in what kind of rate a borrower would get on those products and other loans. It could<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=70339&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Borrowing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/borrowing-saving-spending/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/159628389.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/159628389.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/159628389.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Money</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Schools Suing Graduates for Defaulting on Loans</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/08/schools-suing-graduates-for-defaulting-on-loans/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/08/schools-suing-graduates-for-defaulting-on-loans/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Victor Luckerson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Financing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FinAid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Washington University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perkins loans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stafford loans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Student loan debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[student loans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[University of Pennsylvania]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UPenn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yale]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=70118</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As more college graduates default on their student loans, some schools are taking drastic measures to ensure repayment. According to a Bloomberg report, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University have taken defaulters to court in recent years to try to force them to pay up. The schools are targeting recipients of Perkins loans, which are subsidized loans usually awarded to lower-income students with exceptional financial need. Unlike the larger federal Stafford-loan program, in which the Department of Education acts as the lender, Perkins loans are administered directly by participating institutions with a mixture of funds from the federal government and the schools themselves. Almost 500,000 of the loan awards are doled out annually. According to court records analyzed by Bloomberg, the University of Pennsylvania filed at least 12 lawsuits to recoup Perkins-loan money last year. Yale is suing a former student for about $6,500 in outstanding loans, while George Washington University is suing a student for $7,000 in Perkins loans and $15,000 in unpaid tuition costs. Though there’s no comprehensive data that show how often schools are taking graduates to court, defaults grew by 20% from 2006 to 2011, up to $964 million. Overall, federal-student-loan defaults have also been on the rise for several years. (MORE: The Myth of the 4-Year College Degree) Such amounts might seem like small potatoes in the grand scheme, hardly worthy of litigation. However, Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, says recent stresses put on the Perkins-loan system may be forcing more schools to take legal action. The loan fund is supposed to be self-replenishing, with debtors paying the money they owe back into the pool of loan money. In the past, the federal government offered cash infusions of about $65 million per year to ensure the program’s solvency, but that funding dried up after the 2008 fiscal year. “The colleges are getting a little bit more aggressive in pursuing these loans,” Kantrowitz says. Typically, an expensive lawsuit is a last resort for schools. Before taking such measures, they’re likely to send letters<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=70118&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Educational Financing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/educational-financing/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">vluck2012</media:title>
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		<title>How a $54K-Per-Year School Is Deemed a &#8216;Best Value College&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/07/how-a-54k-per-year-school-is-deemed-a-best-value-college/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/07/how-a-54k-per-year-school-is-deemed-a-best-value-college/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:00:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decision Making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Financing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Value College]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College of New Jersey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College Students]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Duke University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial aid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[higher education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Carolina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[princeton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Princeton Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Princeton University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Student debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[student loans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UNC]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=69814</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The private universities listed in a new &#8220;Best Value Colleges&#8221; roundup run $54,200 annually for tuition, fees, books, and room and board. That sounds pretty expensive, and it is. Could it also represent a good value? What if students actually paid less than half the list price? In fact, that&#8217;s what the majority of students do. And that&#8217;s how these schools wind up being highlighted for providing good bang for the buck. Princeton&#8217;s latest edition of its &#8220;Best Value Colleges&#8221; features 150 schools—75 private and 75 public. As you&#8217;d expect, the average cost at the public institutions is a fraction of their private counterparts. USA Today sums up the key data on all of the &#8220;best value&#8221; colleges here, showing not only the &#8220;sticker price,&#8221; but the actual price paid by the average student: Their total annual cost of attendance, including tuition and fees, room and board and books and supplies, averaged $19,500 for freshmen attending public universities in their home state, and $54,200 for those going to private schools. When freshman grants, including state, federal and institutional aid, are factored into the cost, the final tab drops to $10,600 at public universities and $21,700 at private universities. (MORE: 10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of College Financial Aid) Those are some serious Black Friday-type markdowns, especially for the private schools—the equivalent of about 60% off. While the recent failed flat pricing experiment from JCPenney is the latest example demonstrating how consumers just plain love sales—even if they obviously manipulate shoppers—the original and actual college pricing figures can be puzzling. Because almost no one pays full price, students and their families should essentially be disregarding published tuition rates. Which raises the question: Why do these published rates exist to begin with? Well, as mentioned, the inflated &#8220;sticker price&#8221; can make the discounted, post-grant rate seem like quite the deal to students who&#8217;d consider a pricey school off the table. Also, there is a portion of students from well-off families at every college that do indeed pay full price. Even<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=69814&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Smart Spending</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/smart-spending/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<title>Misguided? Half of Adult Children Think Parents Made No Money Mistakes</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/04/misguided-half-of-adult-children-think-parents-made-no-money-mistakes/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/04/misguided-half-of-adult-children-think-parents-made-no-money-mistakes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:02:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Credit Cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paying With Plastic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=69456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every parent can remember when their 9- or 10-year-old children began to question Mom and Dad’s infallibility on issues like bedtime and vegetables. Evidently it takes a lot longer for kids to question their parents knowledge of money matters, new data show. Nearly half of adult children past age 30 say their parents made no money mistakes, according to part two of Fidelity Investments Intra-Family Generational Finance Study. That’s a stunning result given the mortgage and home foreclosure crisis and the generally under-saved and highly indebted condition threatening the retirement of millions of boomers. (MORE: Student Loan Debt Crisis: How&#8217;d We Get Here and What Happens Next?) One in three people age 60-plus say they don’t feel prepared financially to live to 85; almost one in two say the same about living to 95, according to a Northwestern Mutual Life survey. The half of adult kids that do question Mom and Dad’s financial prowess cite woeful retirement savings and inefficient use of savings options as their biggest concerns, according to the Fidelity survey, which polled households with at least $100,000 in savings. For their part, parents are quick to list the financial miscues of their adult children: 42% say the kids have too much credit card debt; 38% say the kids are not saving enough for retirement; and 36% say kids do not have a large enough emergency fund. These are issues that broadly plague the parents too, though their adult kids don’t seem to grasp that. “They are projecting a little bit,” Kathleen A. Murphy, president of Personal Investing at Fidelity, says of the parents. “They don’t want their kids to make the same mistakes that they made.” The findings point up the importance of family discussions about money. While a broad movement rightly seeks to make financial education part of every school’s curriculum, kids most trust their parents when it comes to learning about money. It doesn’t seem to matter if parents have been poor money managers. They need to be part of the process. Parents can offer<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=69456&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Financial Education</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/financial-education/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Celebrity Prepaid Cards: Will Justin Bieber Fare Better than the Kardashians?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/22/celebrity-prepaid-cards-will-justin-bieber-fare-better-than-the-kardashians/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/22/celebrity-prepaid-cards-will-justin-bieber-fare-better-than-the-kardashians/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Credit Cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paying With Plastic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=67371</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Thank goodness for celebrities. Without them we might never fully appreciate blatant self-interest, and we definitely would not have so many occasions to discuss the evils of fee-laden prepaid debit cards. The latest star with plans to fleece his adoring public is teen hit-maker Justin Bieber—with a hearty assist from an online finanical firm that goes by the unfortunate name BillMyParents. The card, announced last fall, is set to go live in the next week or so. As part of the endorsement deal, Bieber is expected to appeal to young people to learn more about personal finance. If he is successful with such an appeal they won&#8217;t use his card. Go figure. With 50 million Facebook fans and 32 million followers on Twitter, a Bieber card might seem like money in the bank—for the Biebs and the sponsoring website. But hits are difficult to predict. You have to wonder if Bieber’s babysitters paid attention to the failed Kardashian Kard, launched in November 2010 and quickly taken off the market amid rampant criticism of its predatory fee structure. (MORE: Young Workers With a 401(k) Finally Get Diversified) The Kardashian sisters were subsequently sued for breach of contract. They prevailed in that legal entanglement. But what star needs this kind of publicity? Financial guru Suze Orman, whose prepaid card looks good next to other star-powered offerings, has endured grief as well. Orman’s Approved Card launched a year ago amid criticism that, as a trusted money adviser, she should always steer her fans to the most economical prepaid cards on the market. Her card would not qualify. Prepaid debit cards are not inherently evil, and there is a place for those marketed directly to young people. Among the advantages: Kids can use a pre-paid card to shop online. Parents get a detailed spending report. Over drafting is not a risk. Pre-paid cards are easy to re-load and thus may be good vehicles for paying allowance, assuming no or low re-load fees. Kids become familiar with plastic in a controlled environment. With the Bieber<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=67371&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Paying With Plastic</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/paying-with-plastic/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/158288592.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/158288592.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/158288592.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Power 96.1&#039;s Jingle Ball 2012 - Show</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d69b05e696e822e7e41ae630be72226a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
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		<title>Today&#8217;s Young Adults Will Never Pay Off Their Credit Card Debts</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/17/todays-young-adults-will-never-pay-off-their-credit-card-debts/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/17/todays-young-adults-will-never-pay-off-their-credit-card-debts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Credit Cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit card debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interest rates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monthly bills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[payday loans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[renters]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=66904</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When we talk about Americans barely into adulthood who are saddled with debilitating levels of debt, the conversation is almost always about student loan debt. But there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that today’s young adults are also drowning in credit-card debt &#8212; and that many of them will take this debt to their graves.  More than three-quarters of renters between the ages of 18 and 24 spend more than they earn every month, according to a survey of 1,000 renters (of all ages) by Rent.com. This is the case even though 17% of respondents in that age bracket say they’re willing to live with roommates to save money. More than 20% overspent their income by more than $100. That’s every single month. And since they haven’t built up their credit histories yet, it’s a safe bet that these young adults are paying relatively high interest rates on the resulting credit card debt. Although more young people than older adults blame “socializing” as a barrier to saving money, most young people aren’t knocking back $20 drinks in trendy lounges. They’re struggling with much more prosaic financial demands. For 42%, rent is their top expense, while 18% say transportation costs eat up the biggest chunk of their earnings and 22% say paying for food eats up the greatest share of their monthly budget. (MORE: Why More Americans Will Fall Behind on Credit-Card Bills This Year) To a disturbingly large extent, the young and the broke are relying on credit cards to make it until their next payday. This obviously isn’t sustainable in the long run, and it’s going to put a huge drag on this demographic’s spending power even after they reach their peak earning years, because they’ll still be paying interest on that carton of OJ or box of spaghetti they bought a decade earlier. A new study out of Ohio State University found that young adults are racking up credit card debt at a more rapid rate than other age groups, and that they’re slower at paying it<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=66904&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/01/17/todays-young-adults-will-never-pay-off-their-credit-card-debts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Credit Cards</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/credit-cards-saving-spending/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
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		<title>New Mortgage Rules: Protection From Banks, or Ourselves?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/new-mortgage-rules-protection-from-banks-or-ourselves/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/new-mortgage-rules-protection-from-banks-or-ourselves/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:30:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Banking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decision Making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreclosures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate & Homes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate Markets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=66354</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The federal government’s consumer watchdog will introduce new mortgage rules today. They are designed to protect homebuyers from big bad banks. But they are also about protecting consumers from themselves, which is a slippery slope. Post-financial crisis, it’s deemed too much to expect individuals to read and understand a mortgage document. Dozens of studies suggest we are a financially illiterate society; attempts to teach people about all manner of credit and personal financial matters have largely failed. For our own good, then, the government must mandate “plain vanilla” products that a child could understand. So the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to unveil standards for something called a “qualified mortgage.” If lenders meet certain criteria for simplicity and transparency, borrowers will have limited ability to sue for damages should things not work out. Basically, banks are being required to dumb down the process and make sure their clients can afford the loan. (MORE: Fiscal Cliff Aftermath: New Options for 401(k) Savers) Presumably, the new standards will take aim at things like verified income and a borrower’s debt ratio. The housing bubble was in part a product of banks’ willingness to lend without proof of income or with little concern for overall indebtedness. One likely result: To be a qualified mortgage, a borrower’s total monthly debt service could not exceed 43% of pre-tax income, reports the Wall Street Journal. And in most cases mortgage originators will be restricted from charging excessive upfront points and fees and offering loans that require balloon payments, reports the New York Times. The upshot is that the mortgage business is being funneled down a more conservative path, which is great for folks who can’t or don’t want to do their homework. That’s a lot of people, by the way. The CFPB, acting as directed by the Dodd-Frank financial-regulator overhaul of 2010, is doing these folks a genuine service. Yet this service has costs. It may smother innovative mortgages, like those that for a period charge interest-only or allow the principal balance to increase. Yes, such<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=66354&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Financial Education</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/financial-education/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
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