Earn While You Shop: Find the Right Reward Program for You

September 13, 2010

Earn While You Shop: Find the Right Reward Program for You Point-based reward programs are proliferating. You can earn enough miles to fly to Paris just by using your credit card or you can accumulate points that can be spent like cash merely by shopping at your favorite stores. But with so many options available, [...]

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Now OK To Walk Away From Your Mortgage?

February 5, 2010

Dave echos a sentiment I’ve begun to hear more and more often. Apparently, it’s getting more and more OK to walk away from ones mortgage: This isn’t about having your credit score ruined or not being able to get another mortgage for a few more years. It also isn’t about a moral choice anymore, as [...]

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Credit Score of 500? Here, Have Some Money…

September 8, 2009

FHA loans — you know, those loans that, when push comes to shove, we as citizens get to insure — have risen to almost a quarter of all home loans from 3% just a few years ago. Why? Because apparently they don’t care who they loan to: FHA also has tightened lending standards, requiring a [...]

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American Express Changes Terms, and I Don’t Care

August 12, 2009

A letter showed up today letting me know that AMEX has decided it is about time to change terms on my Blue account. Namely, a pretty hefty jump up in my interest rate. Plus a ridiculous rate on cash advances — does anyone actually do them anymore, and if so, how clueless are they? Tack [...]

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Refinancing for Greater Than Present Value? Seriously?

July 6, 2009

photo credit: frankie_3011 When did we develop the memory abilities of a goldfish? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this type of stupidity what got us into a pretty serious mess in the first place? I’m beginning to think it’s time to start saving in some other currencies, because Americans apparently remain too short-sighted [...]

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Fully Funded Emergency Savings, And More

July 2, 2009

photo credit: me and the sysop As I mentioned back when we killed off our non-mortgage debt, our next basic step was funding a real emergency savings account. As I’ve seen suggested just about everywhere, somewhere in that mythical 3- to 6- to 12-month worth of emergency cash was the goal. The first thing I [...]

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