As the U.S. tries to fix its long-term macroeconomic problems, an increasing number of consumers are apparently busy worsening their own microeconomic problems. John Sternal, a spokesman for LeaseTrader.com, recently told DailyFinance that, “What we’re basically seeing now is, instead of one out of every five people leasing, we believe …
loans
The Real Problem in the Latest Housing Stats
The National Association of Realtors released its July report on housing on Thursday. Considering it’s back-to-school time, let’s take a quiz: The most interesting statistic in the report is …
This Is an Emergency Fund Emergency: 64% of Americans Don’t Have $1,000 in Savings
If you suddenly needed $1,000 to cover an unexpected expense, how would you come up with the money? In a new survey, only 36% of Americans said they’d simply turn to their trusty savings accounts. The rest would be forced to hit …
Sallie Mae’s Misleading and Dangerous Press Release
Our old friend Sallie Mae is up to her old tricks again: trying to sell students on extremely dangerous variable rate private student loans with this press release, which touts “changes in the law and improvements in the economy that translate into student loans at among the best interest rates in the last five-year period.”
I Borrow, Therefore I Am!
A recent study led by Ohio State University Professor Rachel Dwyer yields a shocking, appalling, and mostly just terrifying conclusion: Many young people feel empowered by their student loan debt — and even by their credit card debt.
Foreclosure Lite, Or Losing the Home You Bought With Nothing Down
If you’ve read anything about business in the last couple of months, and I’ll work under the assumption that almost all the readers of this blog have to avoid repeating all the sordid details, you know about the subprime mess. The basic story line goes like this:
Irresponsible and unscrupulous bankers offered borrowers loans at high …
