Debt & Credit Repair

Debt & Credit Repair

Could Your Credit Report Cost You a Job?

According to a survey released in 2010 by the Society for Human Resource Management, 60 percent of employers perform some type of credit report screening on applicants. Of that 60 percent, 13 percent perform credit checks on all job applicants, regardless of the position for which they're applying.

Whether you like it or not, this means there's more than a 50 percent chance your credit reports will be taken into consideration the next time you apply for a job. Is that fair?

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2011-03-21 17:00

Can the Same Debt be Reported Twice?

Consumers are often surprised when they pull their credit reports and find that one of their old debts is listed twice under different creditors' names. How can this happen?

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Sun, 2011-03-13 17:00

Don't Become a Foreclosure Statistic

There were more than 1 million foreclosures in 2010, according to , a leading online real estate marketplace and publisher of the country's largest and most comprehensive foreclosure database. In fact, banks seized a total of 1.05 million properties, topping the previous record of 918,000 in 2009.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2011-02-28 16:00

Don't Use Retirement Funds to Pay Off Debt

It can be tempting to dip into retirement money when no cash is left in the bank and there are bills to be paid, but you must resist the temptation! Retirement funds are for one and only one thing—retirement. They need to be left alone so you can take care of yourself when you're old and gray.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Wed, 2011-02-23 16:00

Foreclosure, Short Sale, Deed-in-lieu: All the Same to FICO

Lots of lawyers, real estate agents, and loan officers love to give free advice about credit scores these days. Unfortunately, many of them have no clue what they're talking about.

A common piece of misguided advice often doled out to struggling homeowners is that choosing an alternative to foreclosure, such as a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, will hurt your credit scores less. This just isn't the case.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Sun, 2011-01-23 16:00

How to Pay Off Debt: Determining Your Best Course of Action

Personal finance gurus love to argue about which debt you should pay off first. Browse the Internet for just a few minutes, and you'll find volumes of painfully long articles rehashing the same old approaches to paying down debt.

If you haven't found the time to read them all yet, there's no need to worry. Here's a summary of what they basically all say in one sentence.

Either pay off the smallest debt one account at at time, or get rid of the highest-interest debt first. Neither of these methods are new. Rather, they've just been given fancy new names.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Thu, 2011-01-20 16:00

Put Your Social Security Tax Cut to Work

If you pay social security taxes, your withholding rate just dropped from 6.2% to 4.2% beginning January 1st. This tax cut, dubbed the 2011 Payroll Tax Holiday, was actually passed by Congress late last year as a replacement to the expiring "Making Work Pay" tax credit.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Sun, 2011-01-02 16:00

How to Activate a Fraud Alert

Ever had a conversation with a shady customer service agent who demanded your FULL social security number and other personal information, which you reluctantly handed over? It can be a rather unsettling feeling when you realize that you probably just gave out way too much information to someone that might not actually be who they said they were. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help set your mind at ease.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Sun, 2010-10-24 17:00

Credit Card Debt and Community Property Laws

Married couples, especially those that have been separated for a long time, often assume that one spouse cannot be held responsible for the other spouse's credit card debt unless they are joint account holders. Unfortunately, for couples that live in a community property state, this isn't the case.

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Mon, 2010-10-04 17:00

Understanding the Statute of Limitations on Debt

A common misconception among consumers is that their credit card debt will simply go away once the Statute of Limitations (SOL) has expired. However, in reality, the debt goes nowhere and creditors still have the right to try and collect what is rightfully owed to them. So, what good does understanding the SOL do when attempting to clean up your credit reports?

Updated by Joshua Heckathorn on Sun, 2010-09-26 17:00

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