Debt problem has its negative impact on individuals, businesses and the economy are growing alarmingly in almost all countries around the world. Now it is requiring urgent attention like debt management help.

Bad debt loan has become unpleasant and stressing thing, pointing to the debtor. (more…)

The effective rate is the interest rate you actually pay or receive, as opposed to the stated rate. For example, an 8% stated rate paid annually on a $1,000 investment is $80 per year. However, if interest is paid quarterly, you will receive $82.40 a year. So, the effective annual rate is 8.24% per year. Read the fine print, where effective rates are generally disclosed. (more…)

Financial counseling is performed by financial counseling professionals, often employees of a nonprofit organization organized to assist clients in financial difficulty on a one-to-one basis. Clients are helped to resolve problems that impact their financial well-being, to make decisions that have financial implications for life now and in the future, to improve their financial management, to handle difficult transitions, and to improve functioning in the consumer market and/or legal systems by handling financial or consumer collections and other dilemmas. Financial counseling utilizes information and skills to assist clients in changing behaviors in resource management, consumption, lifestyle, and communication in order to obtain and maintain increased financial security. (more…)

Financial counseling is assisting clients in the development and creative use of all their resources to achieve economic financial security or well-being by generating alternatives from which the client chooses. Ultimately the client is assisted to improve quality of life with less wasteful resources. The processes are: (more…)

There seems to be an abundance of activity on the financial literacy front. Vitt et al. (2000) identify 91 programs offered by schools, Cooperative Extension, colleges (including community colleges), the military, faith-based organizations, community groups, employers, and others. The National Endowment for Financial Education lists over 150 educational resources from a wide range of agencies, organizations, and firms in its Economic Independence Clearinghouse database; many of these materials are available in multiple languages. (more…)

As of May 2002, consumers had about $712.2 billion outstanding in revolving credit, up about 6.8% from the previous year. Some of this credit is paid off each month; however, about 60% of U.S. households revolve some portion of their credit card balances. For those that revolve, the Federal Reserve Board reported that their balances were $4,100 in 1998. Other estimates show credit card balances as high as $8,000 in 2000 (McGinn et al. 2001). One out of five families with incomes under $50,000 spend at least 40% of after-tax income on debt servicing (Kennickell, Starr-McCluer, and Surette 2000). Needless to say, money spent on credit card debt is money that cannot go toward retirement savings. (more…)

People today are more responsible for their own retirement income security. Over the past 15 to 20 years there has been a shift in responsibility for long-term well-being away from institutions (employers, the government) to individuals. For example, in 1980, 70% of pension plans were defined contribution (DC, as opposed to defined benefit plans; DC plans shift more of the responsibility for the growth of retirement funds to the consumer); by 1997, 92% of plans were defined contribution (Conte 1998). In 1988, one-fourth (25%) of workers were covered primarily by DC plans; in 1998, over three-fifths (63%) were covered by such plans (Copeland 2002). (more…)

Although bank credit cards are a relatively recent innovation, typically marked by the establishment of the “businessman’s Diner’s Club card” in 1950, U.S. society has historically depended upon the availability of consumer credit. For example, farmers depended on store credit before the harvest of their crops in rural America, whereas industrial workers were issued “script” for purchases in the company store that were later deducted from their wages. Significantly, both forms of consumer credit often produced a form of debt/labor servitude. This common experience was recounted in the famous lyrics of Tennessee Williams, “I owe my soul to the company store.” (more…)

A number of groups (the Consumer Federation of America, the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Americans for Consumer Education and Competition, the American Savings Education Council) have conducted personal financial literacy quizzes with different audiences. Most of these show that literacy levels are low. (more…)

Only 25 years ago, today’s ubiquitous use of “universal” bank credit cards might have seemed a futurist fantasy. Prior to the finance regulation of the financial services industry in 1980, banks made consumer loans as “installment” credit. Loan approval was based on an assessment of the applicants’ household income, personal assets, credit repayment history, and outstanding debt. Preferred clients had financial collateral and repaid their loans (pre approved auto loan) on a fixed time schedule. Similarly, financial companies and banks cautiously issued charge cards and revolving credit cards to low-risk clients, primarily upper- and some middle-income households, who used them for convenience or for business. (more…)