Commentary What is inflation doing to the culture? For a clue, have a look at trends in household economics. Start with credit card debt, which is now rising 14 percent per year in the United States, after having fallen dramatically during 2020 lockdowns. People wisely used stimulus payments to pay off some debt. That is…

Credit scores are complicated and because rating agencies consider many factors, the process of improving them can look different for everyone. When Willard Carpenter, 68, wanted a loan to open a new business, he realized that his credit score was not high enough to get approved. After checking his credit history, he found several issues…

Every day, it seems, my virtual mailbag fills up with mail from my dear readers. Many messages include questions about everything you can imagine and some that are beyond imagination! Today, I’ve chosen to answer a small sampling of them. Dear Mary: I ruined my credit starting about 10 years ago, in the usual foolish…

By Rivan V. Stinson From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance It’s a cliché, but it’s also true: Every cloud really does have a silver lining. That was hammered home for me after I was recently rear-ended in a car accident. I wasn’t hurt, but it was a frightening experience, and the amount of paperwork required in its aftermath…

U.S. consumers added a total of $67.1 billion in credit card debt during the second quarter of a financial year in 2022 amid soaring inflation, according to a new WalletHub study. The quarterly credit card debt study is based on an analysis of the latest data on consumers’ finances from TransUnion as well as the Federal Reserve and…

When times are tough, credit card debt may be inevitable if you’re learning to manage credit or are forced to make risky financial decisions due to hardships. For Lydia Senn and her husband, who are Alabama residents, this was their reality during the Great Recession in 2008 after she lost her job and he took…

The next Federal Reserve rate hike is projected to add up to $6.4 billion in extra credit card interest, according to a new study. WalletHub, a personal finance website, estimates that U.S. consumers could see between $4.87 billion and $6.4 billion in additional credit card interest. This does not count the other increases so far…

Shopping is my thing. I love the thrill of the hunt, that feeling of discovery and the joy of a bargain. I find it satisfying in ways I cannot fully describe. I want to experience the feeling as often as possible. Shopper’s high is no joke. It’s real; it’s palpable; and it’s addictive. Shopping got…

How much debt is lurking behind our credit reports? One WalletHub study found that the average household owes $8,600 to credit card providers—which is unsurprising, given that Americans have collectively racked up more than $1 trillion in IOUs (I own you, or debts). In other words, founders are more likely than not to be floating in fiscal…

It might be the skyrocketing cost of fuel and food, or perhaps you’ve lost your job or you’ve already been living paycheck-to-paycheck with no cushy emergency fund to fall back on. For whatever reason, suddenly this month you can’t pay all of your bills. You’re scared, angry, worried and overwhelmed. What are you supposed to…