What Is a Balance Transfer and How Does It Work?

The credit card industry is incredibly competitive, and card issuers will go to great lengths to acquire new customers. One of the tools they use to do that is a balance transfer, a transaction where existing credit card debt is moved to a new card. How do credit card balance transfers work? If your credit card issuer offers balance transfers …

Read More »

Should You Pay Off Your Car Loan Early?

Paying off your car loan before the end of the loan term is enticing if you want to lower your monthly debt payments faster. But making that decision really depends on a few different factors like your current interest rate, monthly payment and if you can afford paying the final lump sum. For most people, it might be worth it. …

Read More »

Payday loans vs. installment loans

Payday loans are designed for people with bad credit or little credit history. These loans come with sky-high interest rates and payday lenders can be predatory. Taking out high interest loans to cover everyday expenses often launches borrowers into a cycle of deeper debt. Despite this, IBISWorld, an industry research firm, predicts that the payday loan industry will grow 5.1% …

Read More »

How to Lower Your Student Loan Payments

Student loan payments can drain your monthly budget and make it more difficult to reach other financial goals, like saving money for retirement or buying a home. Thankfully, there are ways to lower your student loan payments, whether you have federal loans, private loans or a mix of both. Here are five strategies for reducing student loan payments: Change Your …

Read More »

Is Now a Good Time to Refinance Your Mortgage?

Mortgage rates increased at one of the fastest paces on record in 2022, nearly doubling within a 12-month period. At the same time, most homeowners currently have a mortgage rate below 4%, which makes a mortgage refinance an impractical choice. Experts say a refinance makes sense if you can lower your current interest rate by at least 0.75 percentage points. …

Read More »

Business loan prepayment penalties: What are they?

Since interest is how lenders make money, they’ll often assess fees, known as prepayment penalties, to borrowers who pay off their business loans ahead of schedule. Although prepayment penalties don’t come with all loans, it’s important to know they exist. Not only can they influence your decision to pay off your loan early, but may also impact the overall cost of …

Read More »

How To Get A Default Removed From Your Credit File

Each year, millions of people miss payments on credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, payday loans, and other kinds of credit. If these missed payments aren’t caught up with quickly, they can result in a ‘default’ – which is recorded on your credit file. In this guide, we’ll take a straight-talking look at defaults, including: What a default is How a …

Read More »

Can I Borrow Money With a 500 Credit Score?

Securing a loan with a 500 credit score may be challenging, but that doesn’t mean every lending door is closed. Though more difficult, borrowing money is possible even with a low credit score. Before you make a move, know your loan options for a 500 credit score, how your credit score will affect interest rates and fees, and alternatives to personal loans …

Read More »

What Is a Secured Loan?

A secured loan is a form of debt that requires collateral. This type of loan is common for large purchases, like homes and cars. It also provides an option for those with bad credit to access financing as long as they can provide valuable collateral. Here’s what you need to know about a secured loan, its benefits and drawbacks and …

Read More »

7 Strategies to Get Out of Student Loan Debt

Earning a college degree is seen as a key component of the American dream, but that achievement often comes at a steep cost. The average student loan debt among recent college graduates who borrowed is around $30,000. For borrowers who attended graduate or professional school, that amount may run into six figures. Burdensome amounts of college debt can hold you …

Read More »

5 Pros and Cons of Online Personal Loan Lenders

Before you get a personal loan from an online lender, make sure you know about the pros and cons. Getting a personal loan used to be a more complicated process. Applicants had to look up lenders, visit their offices in person with the required documents, and fill out a paper application. Nowadays, it has gotten much simpler thanks to online …

Read More »

Debt-to-Income (DTI) Ratio: What’s Good and How To Calculate It

What Is the Debt-to-Income (DTI) Ratio? The debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is the percentage of your gross monthly income that goes to paying your monthly debt payments and is used by lenders to determine your borrowing risk. KEY TAKEAWAYS The debt-to-income (DTI) ratio measures the amount of income a person or organization generates in order to service a debt. A DTI …

Read More »

How to Take a 401(k) Loan

If you have a 401(k) plan through your employer and are in need of funds, you may be able to take a 401(k) loan. Borrowing from your 401(k) could provide a path to financial assistance without having to contact other lenders. However, there are also complex 401(k) loan rules and potential drawbacks to consider. To take out a 401(k) loan, you’ll want …

Read More »

How to Dispute a Credit Report Error

Consumers who checked their credit reports last year apparently found plenty that looked wrong. Complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about credit reporting nearly doubled in 2022 from 2021, according to a report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an advocacy organization. Issues with your credit report can hurt your credit score, which affects your ability to qualify for …

Read More »

What Happens If You Default on a Loan?

You may take out a loan, fully intending to pay it back, but then the unexpected happens: You default, failing to repay your debt. Even responsible borrowers can default on loans. Job loss, lost wages and other blows can lead to loan defaults, as can unexpected events, such as the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis caused financial hardship, and many homeowners …

Read More »