DEBT MANAGEMENT » Get out of Debt

The following is a guest post from MD of Studenomics. Make sure you check the blog out if you want down-to-Earth tips for finding the best online banking and killing your student debt.

You’ve been seeing someone for a few years and now it’s time to tie the knot. You’re already engaged and ready to start planning that colossal wedding. There’s only one little hurtle– one of you is in massive amounts of student loan debt!

As many of us struggle with the current economic conditions and life’s curve balls– unemployment, foreclosure, medical bills or divorce– missing a credit card payment can put us in a tailspin, as increased interest and added fees make it impossible to catch up on the balance.

Enter the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, put into effect February 22, 2010. Not exactly a knight in shining armor, but coming to the rescue of already distressed consumers.

We all know that debt takes it toll on your financial situation and does so rather dramatically. When debt mounts higher, your money is no longer your own. You are paying more and more in interest charges, getting nothing in return. You have less freedom to do the things you want to do and you may even find your financial situation on the verge of complete collapse.

By Stacey Bumpus

Anyone who has never received public assistance may wonder why someone would want to sacrifice “good living” to live on welfare. However, some who have received contributions from the government for many years could argue what they have is good living.

With the recent Cox/Arquette split making headlines worldwide, divorce is a topic that getting a lot of attention. Celebrity breakups especially, continue to hold our fascination without a clear reason why. Maybe they make us feel better about our own romantic worries, or perhaps we just enjoy seeing stars brought down to our level. Whatever the case, celebrity divorces are notoriously expensive.

If the numbers associated with some of the most recent divorces aren’t enough to prompt you to sign a pre- or post-nup, maybe this list of uber expensive divorce settlements, in which the spouses of millionaires walk away with more than $100 million, will make you a little more protective of your life savings. After all, divorce happens. As these couples prove, it pays to be prepared.

Borrowing money can be a useful tool to help you finance a major purchase such as an education, a home or a vehicle. But left unchecked, debt can become a huge burden that haunts you for the rest of your financial life. Now is the time to address any issues getting in the way of your financial goals. These tips can help you avoid some common pitfalls of getting out of debt.

#1 Not Paying On Time

Are you looking for a job and your unemployment benefits are about to run out? If so, this can be a very scary time, but don’t worry. There are a few actions that you can take to eliminate some of that stress and prepare for the future.

The average household has more than $8,000 in credit card debt. Scary? Maybe you don’t think so, but to put it into perspective, an $8,000 balance at a rate of 18 percent interest (today’s average) will take more than 25 years to repay and cost more than $24,000 if you only make the minimum payment!

Is $8,000 too much? It depends; one good indicator is to look at your debt-to-income ratio. A debt-to-income ratio is a number, often expressed as a percentage, showing how much of your monthly income goes towards debt payments. These debt payments may include “necessary” debt such as your mortgage and student loans, and “unnecessary” debt such as credit cards and personal loans.

Taking out a student loan these days is not much different than creating a social network profile; virtually anyone can do it and any subsequent repercussions from the action could take months or even years to surface. The only problem is some students don’t realize just how much of an impact taking out a student loan can present on their financial lives down the line, especially if they don’t earn enough to pay it off after graduating.

Some students take out the maximum amount available only to make a fraction of that loan amount per year in income. This is why it’s good to have an idea of your earning potential before ever applying for a student loan. This way, you won’t end up with student loans you can’t afford to pay off later.

Suffering through a foreclosure is overwhelming for anyone, but when you’re a celebrity dealing with this stressful situation in the spotlight, it becomes that much more difficult. You’d think the added pressure would encourage celebrities to make sure all of their business was on the up and up, but it seems many still struggle just like every day homeowners.

In fact, some of the biggest foreclosures seen have been at the hands of the biggest names in the business. To prove it, let’s take a look at 10 of the biggest celebrity foreclosures we’ve seen in recent times.