Managing Debt Archives – Page 3 of 5

4 Reasons to Keep Making Student Loan Payments…and What to Do If You Can’t

12/22/2017
Making Ends Meet, Managing Debt, Protect Your Financial Future, Single Mom CPA

Pay student loan debt or utility bill? Too many single moms are stuck in the position where they have to decide whether to keep up with student loan payments or pay their household expenses…and something has to give. For many single moms, it just seems easier to stop making student loan payments…but that can lead to serious financial consequences unless you do it the right way. What can go wrong? Here’s what happens when you stop making student loan payments. Day 1: You’re delinquent. Day 270 (9 months): You’re in default. Default is worse than delinquent…but both can have significant…

How to transfer credit card balances the right way

12/19/2017
Making Ends Meet, Managing Debt, Single Mom CPA, Strengthen Your Credit Score

Are you struggling to pay down high-rate credit card debt? So many single moms get stuck in a credit card debt cycle that can be so hard to break…but you can get out of it. And paying off your highest-rate credit card debts as quickly as possible can get you to debt-free sooner. To make sure you stay out of debt, you will have to make some changes to your spending, your income, or both. There are a few different strategies for digging yourself out of debt. But to make that a little easier, consider a balance transfer for your stickiest…

How to Ditch Your Debt for Good

12/19/2017
Making Ends Meet, Managing Debt, Single Mom CPA, Strengthen Your Credit Score

Are you a single mom drowning in debt? If debt is blocking your path to personal wealth, you’re not alone. Most single moms – most Americans, actually – have more debt than they can easily handle. This is one time looking at the big picture won’t help. In fact, doing that can overwhelm you…like it overwhelmed me. In my early single mom days, I was living paycheck to paycheck in a rented house I could barely afford (long story short – I needed a place to live immediately, and it was the only place available even close to my price…

How to Keep Spending from Crashing Your Credit Score

12/14/2017
Managing Debt, Protect Your Financial Future, Single Mom CPA, Strengthen Your Credit Score

A few days ago, a single mom friend of mine came to me with a problem: Her credit score kept going down even though she was paying her bills on time. I took a closer look at her situation and diagnosed the problem quickly: Her credit utilization – meaning the amount of her credit that she was using – was very high. [Here’s a great article about the ins and outs of credit utilization: https://www.wellwallet.com/credit-utilization/.] And since so many single moms rely on credit cards to cover expenses every month, it’s a really common problem. When you use all of…

How to Avoid Mortgage-Refinance Money Traps

12/10/2017
Building a Nest, Managing Debt, Protect Your Financial Future, Single Mom CPA

Refinancing your mortgage can lower your interest rate and shrink your monthly payments…but it’s not always good for your overall financial health. Those smaller payments can end up costing you thousands of dollars! So before you decide to take that plunge and refinance, make sure the move fits with your overall financial plans, and won’t end eating into your nest egg instead of adding to it. 7 money traps to avoid when refinancing Mortgage refinancing can be confusing – there’s a lot to consider, and a lot of numbers get thrown around. What’s more, lenders may try to steer you…