The state of Florida has the highest number of houses that are vacant while they are in some stage of repossession, according to a recent analysis by RealtyTrac. These vacant houses, known as "zombie" foreclosures, are troublesome to the local housing market since...
Month: March 2013
Transferring debt to credit cards can be risky
Florida borrowers who have encountered financial difficulties know that it can often be tempting to shift growing debt among different lenders. People shift debt from one credit card to the other, or from one bank to another, for many reasons, often with the intention...
Activists pay off $1 million in medical debt
Activists in an organization related to the Occupy Wall Street movement made the news this week when they successfully bought large amounts of debt from collections groups at a discounted rate and then forgave it. The group, called Strike Debt, acted the way that a...
Start-up offers creative alternative to student loans
A new start-up is offering an alternative to student loans that works more like a crowdfunding investment model and less like a traditional loan. The company is called Pave, and it matches students with investors who will pay a portion of their tuition in exchange for...
Savings outpace credit card debt for half of U.S.
A recent survey found that 55 percent of Americans have been able put more into their emergency savings accounts than they have acquired in credit card debt. The surveyors looked at emergency savings only without taking into account retirement accounts or other...
Settlement reveals wrongful foreclosures for servicemembers
We've been discussing the multibillion-dollar settlement between the country's biggest banks and financial regulators a lot on this blog. The settlement will affect Florida borrowers who qualify under certain categories, including those who were erroneously foreclosed...
Refinance assistance denied to student debtors
The country's current student loan crisis is an economic bind that affects Americans all across the country as well as right here in Florida. As the nation's collective student debt now eclipses $1 trillion, many both amongst the general public and deep inside...
Judge denies request to move bankruptcy case to Orlando
A federal bankruptcy court judge recently denied the request of one of Casey Anthony's creditors to move the case from the Tampa court where she filed for bankruptcy to a court in Orlando. As we wrote in a previous post, Ms. Anthony has a variety of legal issues...