You’ll be more successful reaching your financial goals if you give yourself a target range rather than a single number you want to achieve. It sounds weird, but a new study shows that we’re more motivated when we have a little wiggle room in our goal.
credit card debt
Today’s Young Adults Will Never Pay Off Their Credit Card Debts
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 — and that many of them will take this debt to their graves.
10 Ways to Fight Back Your $1,000 Payroll Tax Hike
With the payroll tax deduction expiring, consider these financial remedies to make the pain on your wallet a little more bearable.
7 Steps to a Higher Credit Limit
As the holiday marketing machine cranks into gear, more of us will start contemplating the upcoming season’s spending — and our credit limits. Credit card issuers have relaxed their lending policies, says CardRatings.com …
Is Credit-Card Debt Collection the New Robo-Signing Scandal?
The big-bank robo-signing scandal lifted the proverbial rock on the unsavory things financial institutions were doing to force people out of their homes, whether they had the legal grounds to do so or not. Apparently, similar …
5 Weird Reasons You Might Get Rejected for a Credit Card
The Verdict Is In: Tackle Smaller Debts First
Financial experts have long debated the best strategy for paying down debt. Some advise paying off debt in the order of APR, taking on the loan with the highest interest rate first. With this approach, you reduce the amount spent …
5 Smart Strategies to Eliminate Your Credit Card Debt
Minimum payment due, reads the box on your credit-card statement. What an enticing idea: Pay a small amount and you’re off the hook for the whole bill—for a while, anyway. Alas, as the more than 45% of Americans who carry a …
Do Credit-Card-Comparison Sites Work as Promised?
Tech tools that let you comparison-shop are awesome: You go to a single destination, plug in a little info, and some app or bot combs the universe looking to match your needs with the best deal. That’s the idea, anyway. …
Is the CFPB Anti-Housewife? Unintended Consequences Strike Again
Credit card reform legislation has done lots of great things for consumers, like eliminating universal default and preventing card companies from jacking up interest rates just for the heck of it. But a provision intended to make sure issuers don’t let people run up more debt than they can pay off has the unintended consequence of …
More Americans Rely on Credit Cards for Basics Like Food and Gas
Americans are increasingly dependent on credit cards just to put food on the table and keep the lights on, a new study shows. Although we’re doing a better job overall paying our bills on time these days, many people are relying …
We’re Finally Paying Our Bills On Time: Can We Stick With It?
Congratulations, America — it looks like you’re starting to get the hang of this “payment due date” concept. The number of retail credit card accounts in late-stage delinquency is at a six-year low, according to Fitch Ratings, …
