Published Tuesday, January 31, 2012 @ 7:27 pm

It would make sense that recent signs of recovering economy would be great news for jobless Americans. But as a report on public polling explains, even though the overall economic picture may be brightening, many job seekers are still very much in the midst of a stark economic haze.

According to a report from The Huffington Post’s Janell Ross, “Economic data suggests the long-stagnant economy may finally be gaining momentum, but Americans aren’t seeing a turnaround yet, according to a pair of newly released polls.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, January 25, 2012 @ 7:36 am

“This matter is serious and will cause problems at the job.”

Believe it or not this is exactly what collection representatives from California-based debt collection company, Rincon Debt Management, were asked to tell unassuming Americans each time they attempted to collect on back debts.

But based on a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission, often the debtor they were trying to pressure didn’t owe any money at all.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, January 24, 2012 @ 7:34 pm

In the “new economy,” full of novel financial realities, we often hear a lot about how cash-strapped kids are often coming home to live with and borrow from their better-positioned parents. And now a new report tells us why.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, “worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.”

Based on analysis by the Pew Research Center, the AP says “The typical U.S.…

Read more

Published Sunday, January 22, 2012 @ 9:08 am

The best holiday gift may have been a private sector hiring surge in December 2011, as employers gifted the American job market with 325,000 new workers. At the same time as a the rise in public sector jobs, claims for unemployment benefits fell, raising high hopes that recent labor market woes are over and a new year may mark a new era in employment optimism.…

Read more

Published Saturday, January 21, 2012 @ 7:09 pm

Amid encouraging job figures that the private sector is surging, it’s important to take a second look at the sad state of the so-called “American Dream.”

In a new article, the New York Times does just that, finding that “Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe.…

Read more

Published Thursday, January 12, 2012 @ 6:30 am

The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas had many people wondering where America’s lingering financial issues went as millions of shoppers returned to our nation’s stores, malls and gallerias en masse to take advantage of extreme sales (and savings) and, in doing so, generated the most successful Black Friday for retailers ever.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, December 6, 2011 @ 3:32 pm

In a classic case of what goes up, must come down, the world’s forth largest airline is now seeking the safe havens of bankruptcy so that it might once again be “something special in the air.”

According to Reuters, American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week “to cut labor costs in the face of high fuel prices and dampened travel demand, capping a prolonged descent for what was once the largest U.S.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, November 29, 2011 @ 3:14 pm

Historically speaking, the day after Thanksgiving often leaves many people asking, “what Recession?” as millions of American shoppers cut coupons, stand in long lines, and bombard our nation’s stores for extreme sales on what has now come to be know as “Black Friday.” In fact, last year we saw even bigger crowds at many stores including Best Buy, Sears, Macy’s and Toys R Us, which offered earlier openings than in past years or even round-the-clock hours meant to draw in average American shoppers.…

Read more

Published Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 10:11 pm

We’ve already heard a lot here about “The 99ers,” the long-term unemployed who have not only became a new byproduct of an unprecedented string of Congressional extensions to unemployment benefits, but who have also long-since exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available to them in many states in the wake of the recent economic downturn.…

Read more

Published Saturday, November 5, 2011 @ 7:53 am

Solid sales figures in prior pre-holiday shopping seasons combined with large crowds during the biggest shopping day of the year (AKA November’s “Black Friday”) had previously emboldened many eager employers to hire more seasonal staff leading up to an even busier holiday season. For example, the result of strong consumer demand in 2010—only one year out from the official end of the economic recession—was that hundreds of thousands of Americans were being hired for temporary jobs at retailers across the country—employment many hoped would eventually translate into full-time work.…

Read more

Published Sunday, October 23, 2011 @ 8:16 am

With news this month that almost 40 percent of Americans belive unemployment is the biggest issue facing the country—a figure that leapt from 29 percent between August and September 2011—it’s clear that folks are beginning to believe that joblessness more than “the economy” as a whole is the nation’s most important problem as well as a primary concern for them as part of a larger pool of citizens just struggling to get by in post-recessionary America.…

Read more

Published Sunday, October 23, 2011 @ 7:14 am

We talk a lot here about the trials and travails of underemployment, a perpetual condition of post-recessionary America, in which many, if not most, workers face stagnant wages and/or part-time jobs that fail to keep up with the rising cost of living in the new economy.

In particular, retail workers struggle for hours amid a weak economic recovery, clamoring for extra work in this lower-skilled and paying field.…

Read more

Published Saturday, October 22, 2011 @ 8:49 am

Since the real estate reckoning of 2007 launched what would become a global economic meltdown, average Americans just like you have been taking advantage of the sure-fire safe havens of personal bankruptcy. But part of successfully joining the more than 1.5 million people who will file in 2011, is planning for life following the fruition of that bankruptcy.…

Read more

Published Friday, October 7, 2011 @ 5:58 am

It’s not too terribly surprising that pawn shops have done very well in the wake of the economic downturn.  With more and more average Americans stuck at the lower end of the income spectrum due to the new economy’s trademark unemployment and underemployment, a great many average Americans were forced to rely regularly on consumer credit to pay for their everyday bills, goods and services.…

Read more

Published Thursday, October 6, 2011 @ 4:56 pm

As we officially fling ourselves into a new financial outlook for fall, it’s worth remembering that the nation just exited the economic equivalent of “the summer of our discontent,” during which financial concerns seemed to prompt unprecedented dissatisfaction with the federal government. In fact, a mid-August poll from the Pew Research Center showed that public satisfaction with the federal government dropped to 11%–the lowest percentage since 1997.…

Read more

Published Thursday, October 6, 2011 @ 6:55 am

After suffering through years of an economic downturn driven by a mortgage crisis, rising consumer debts, and mounting health care costs, of late many average Americans are increasingly hungry for the country to rebound financially. Unfortunately, at the same time, a confluence of events is prompting a resurgence of literal hunger in the U.S.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, October 5, 2011 @ 3:53 pm

You might think when city officials need to cut personnel costs, they start by letting public employees go.  But according to a new article from The Huffington Post, “firing people isn’t the first thing they look to do: it’s the third.” Ranking the reduction methods, HuffPost evaluates the eight top ways that city officials are dealing with budgetary woes—according to the National League of Cities—including:

(8) Reduce Pension Benefits
A full 18% of cities facing increasingly thin budgets cut back on pension benefits to shore up spending costs in 2011.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, October 4, 2011 @ 1:50 pm

The nation’s income dropped in August 2011, for the first time in nearly two years, according to a government report released last week. The drop was precipitated by a weak labor market and falling consumer confidence.

According to Reuters, “Weak incomes as employment growth ground to a halt and earnings fell hurt spending in August.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, October 4, 2011 @ 7:45 am

If it seems like it’s been a while since we’ve talked about the rising cost of health care, that’s because up until this year, these mounting medical costs had leveled.

But in the new America, it seems you can’t keep a high cost down.

In reality, the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance surged during 2011, cutting short a timely trend toward only “moderate growth.” According to a report released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, annual premiums for family coverage climbed 9 percent and surpassed $15,000 for the first time.…

Read more

Published Monday, September 26, 2011 @ 1:27 pm

Poverty is now a common (and growing) problem for America’s single moms as jobs, and social safety nets fade as quickly as the economy tanked, according to a new article from The Huffington Post.

“In 2010, the first full calendar year after the Great Recession, nearly 41 percent of the nation’s single mothers with children under age 18, like Williams, lived on incomes below the federal poverty line.…

Read more

Published Monday, September 26, 2011 @ 7:24 am

Need signs that credit card companies are getting more aggressive with their credit card tactics and tricks? Well, there’s 346 million reasons from one particular credit card purveyor, Citigroup.

Based on a new report from The Wall Street Journal, in the third quarter alone, the bank mailed more than 346 million credit card offers to unwitting customers.…

Read more

Published Sunday, September 25, 2011 @ 3:20 pm

Last week, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America said it would cut about=a35,000 jobs and reduce annual expenses by $5 billion, as it struggles with costs from its 2008 takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp and a nearly 50 percent drop in share price this year.

The layoffs could have huge ripple effects for the North Carolina economy.…

Read more

Published Monday, September 19, 2011 @ 8:51 am

The big news recently seems to be rising unemployment, with jobs coming back into focus as yet another election season begins to heat up. But a recent jump in another bad economic bellwether—home foreclosures—is a new cause for concern in these uncertain economic times.

According to a latest reports, the number of mortgage-default notices filed by banks climbed 33 percent between July and August — the biggest single-month increase in four years, according to the data provider RealtyTrac.…

Read more

Published Sunday, September 4, 2011 @ 5:05 pm

If you’re unemployed you have a ton to worry about.

Past due bills, mounting debts, going without health insurance, possible repossession of your car or foreclosure of your home, are just some of the not-so-pleasant thoughts plaguing the millions of average Americans facing extended joblessness.

Unfortunately, now there’s one more concern to add to the job market meltdown mix: a new report by the National Employment Law Project has found that employers are continuing to discriminate against unemployed people in their online job ads despite increased scrutiny surrounding the nation’s hiring practices.…

Read more

Published Saturday, September 3, 2011 @ 4:51 pm

As things heat up in the waning days of summer, the job growth cooled down in August, with the U.S. economy picking up [read my lips:] no new jobs in August as the unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.1 percent. These figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday now stand as the most clear and present symbol yet of a stalled economic recovery that has the words “double-dip recession” written all over it.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, August 30, 2011 @ 6:43 pm

Historically low interest rates haven’t really reaped the kind of benefits they normally would in a post-recessionary period. In reality, economic growth has stagnated, the real estate market remains in the gutter, and consumer confidence has yet to recover to pre-recessionary levels.

But bargain-basement interest is also having unintended effects, including what the Associated Press called “killing savers”—like retirees and others who depend on interest income.…

Read more

Published Friday, August 12, 2011 @ 9:11 am

As active duty service members come home from wars winding down abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan, they are welcomed to friends, family and staggering unemployment. Now, tens of thousands of veterans are flooding the job market at a time when millions of civilians can’t even head back to work.

According to a new report from Reuters, unemployment among recent veterans grew to 13.3 percent in June, more than 4 percentage points higher than the national average.…

Read more

Published Friday, August 12, 2011 @ 6:11 am

Amid the lingering housing crisis, full of fraudulent foreclosures, falling home prices, missed mortgage modifications, and underwater homes drowning in delinquencies, many disenfranchised Americans have turned to renting to keep a roof over their heads, and their heads above financial water.

But new numbers from the Census Bureau and Morgan Stanley reveal that home ownership rates have fallen even more dramatically than previously thought, with average Americans avoiding the real estate reckoning through a variety of rental safety nets.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, August 9, 2011 @ 8:56 am

Are you buying forecasts that we’re in a slow-but-steady economic recovery?

Well some believe the economic recovery never actually happened.

Just ask Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. On the heels of the recent debt ceiling crisis, 600-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average and the drop in interest rates to near-record lows, Krugman warns that the United States economy was never truly ‘on the road to recovery.’

As Krugman writes in this week’s New York Times, “It’s not just that the threat of a double-dip recession has become very real.…

Read more

Published Monday, August 8, 2011 @ 6:11 pm

In this new “rough and tumble” economic era, 117,000 sounds like a lot.

$117,000 dollars. 117,000 shares of stock. 117,000 jobs?

Well, in all but one of those cases, you’d be right. In July, the American economy beat expectations by adding 117,000 new jobs to the current market and dropping the unemployment rate from 9.2 to 9.1%.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, August 2, 2011 @ 10:54 am

No one needs to tell you times are tough and money is tight.

And all too often in this “new economy” (full of new financial realities), average Americans just like you—already suffering under the intense strain of rising mortgage costs, consistent credit card debt, mounting medical bills, employment woes, and other blights on your bank accounts—are also in the market for more ways to trim shrinking household budgets.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, August 2, 2011 @ 10:49 am

In the two years since the end of America’s recent Great Recession, there have been plenty of ups and downs in economic forecasts, fiscal prognostications, and financial facts and figures. Polls have also been a big part of taking the country’s financial pulse, as average Americans are often asked, “how are you feeling now, post-recession?”

Some experts will tell you that as recently as last fall—with news that businesses were back to hiring, some saying the housing market was no longer in a tailspin, and the economy looking less bleak than before—men and women throughout the country were beginning to feel better about their personal financial prospects.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, July 26, 2011 @ 1:11 pm

Just when the financial experts said it was safe to call the economy “in recovery,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says many Americans will face hard times for a long time to come.

Geithner reemphasized in an episode of “Meet the Press” that we remain in the midst of a very tough economy in which, for a lot of people, “it’s going to feel very hard, harder than anything they’ve experienced in their lifetime now, for a long time to come.” He also revealed that he believed  President Barack Obama has rescued the United States from a second Great Depression and will continue the hard work of trying to strengthen the economy.  Unfortunately, Geithner also predicted that it would be some time before many people actually feel like the country is recovering.…

Read more

Published Monday, July 4, 2011 @ 3:11 pm

Despite the continuing economic malaise, American spending habits appear to be alive and well, overleveraging already beleaguered budgets hit hard by the housing crisis, high unemployment and rising unsecured debt loads. In fact, despite lessons learned from the recent recession, Americans continue to spend about 15% of their household incomes on luxury items defined by “wants” instead of “needs.”

So where (and on what) are we wasting our money this time?…

Read more

Published Saturday, July 2, 2011 @ 11:34 am

Recent gains for marriage equality in states like Iowa and New Hampshire have been met by a lot of legal questions for those who are actually considering marriage with their gay and lesbian partner. Confusing differences in relationship recognition amongst state and federal laws can create true legal challenges for same-sex couples throughout the country.…

Read more

Published Saturday, July 2, 2011 @ 9:32 am

While a majority of economists and other financial experts firmly believe we are experiencing a modest economic recovery, a new poll reveals that a large, vocal minority of Americans feel that the economy will never fully recover from the effects of the recent “Great Recession.”

A New York Times/CBS News poll found that 39 percent of people responding believe “the current economic downturn is part of a long-term permanent decline and the economy will never fully recover.” The survey is one of many revealing overall distress with the current state of the American economic picture.…

Read more

Published Sunday, June 26, 2011 @ 10:08 am

In these tough economic times, some households have had to put basic needs above plans for higher education, turning to personal savings and college funds to fight off foreclosure, meet mounting medical costs, and in some cases, even keep the lights on and food in the fridge. In the wake of the recent Recession, many commentators have begun to question the cost-benefit of analysis of spending for higher education versus the realities of the jobs (and salaries) earned as a result.…

Read more

Published Friday, June 24, 2011 @ 10:08 am

If you’re like so many Americans experiencing tough economic times, you may feel completely overwhelmed by your current financial situation and unsure as to what options actually exist to alleviate it. Maybe you’ve been unable to modify your mortgage, hit with the costs of an unexpected medical situation, dealing with high interest credit cards or are navigating through the pitfalls of unemployment or underemployment with little understanding of how to pull yourself out of the subsequent a financial hole.…

Read more

Published Saturday, June 18, 2011 @ 8:21 am

It’s no secret that a big reason for our country’s lingering financial malaise is the real estate market’s seemingly unending mortgage crisis—forcing many Americans out of house and home while also contributing to a bleak economic environment for home purchases, investment and spending.

But along with the knowledge that the mortgage servicing industry foreclosed on more than one million homes last year and is on track to do better in 2011, comes more bad news for the beleaguered economy: high unemployment is now further dragging down the housing market and subsequent prospects for our country’s economic recovery.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, June 15, 2011 @ 4:33 pm

As temperatures heat up all across the country this season, so too are concerns about inflation, with rock bottom housing prices, and a weak labor market, adding fuel to the summertime fire. The result? Tanking consumer confidence in May, at least according to a private sector report released this week, and fears of something more economically-sinister a’ brewin.’

Based on a Reuters reading of the new economic data, “The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 60.8 from a revised 66.0 in April.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, June 14, 2011 @ 1:28 pm

Two years after experts found the recession to have ended, real estate prices continue to fall in major cities all across the country according to a new report—in some cases to their lowest level since the housing bubble burst in 2006—signifying a true recovery has yet to materialize in the beleaguered housing market.…

Read more

Published Sunday, June 12, 2011 @ 3:57 pm

While many financial experts are reporting that the economy is getting healthier by the day, more data is emerging that average Americans are still avoiding seeking healthcare amid fears that bearing more medical costs would break already beleaguered household budgets.

According to a new report from Reuters, this means poor health utilization from many following the extended economic downturn, and more profits for health insurers who are forced to pay less out for services, even as the insured are asked to pay more into the industry.…

Read more

Published Sunday, June 12, 2011 @ 1:57 pm

Are You Prepared for an American Recession Turned Great Depression?

Just as many Americans had begun to believe the worst of the economic downturn had passed, some experts are saying that the nation’s reemerging job woes are signs of something more sinister afoot: a potential Great Depression.

So what could cause America’s Recession to turn into a Great Depression?…

Read more

Published Friday, June 3, 2011 @ 2:52 pm

Just released unemployment numbers in North Carolina are showing some promising signs of post-recessionary economic improvement. Unemployment officially dropped in 93 of 100 North Carolina counties from last month’s figures.The state’s adjusted unemployment rate is at 10.1%, with 36 counties at that level and the number of workers who found jobs in February up by16,500.…

Read more

Published Sunday, May 29, 2011 @ 2:38 pm

When markets crashed, home prices fell, and unemployment rates rose, many desperate debtors were left destitute, depressed and feeling without hope in the height of our recent Great Recession. And as you might imagine, and as researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed last week, some of these desperate Americans even took their own lives—in greater number—during the tough economic times of the 2000s.…

Read more

Published Sunday, May 29, 2011 @ 8:24 am

We talk a lot about the impact of the recent economic downturn on seniors: how hard is to retire, or even remain employed, as debt rises and dreams of post-career, golden years spent without worry fade as quickly as home prices.

But what about the millions of Americans who have yet to embark on careers, now facing a rude awakening that the jobs that used to pad their wallets and prepare them for college and the workforce, are now disappearing or filled by fellow workers twice their age?…

Read more

Published Friday, May 27, 2011 @ 3:45 pm

If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans working for state and local governments or other agencies, you may be one of the many wondering why so many so-called “financial experts” are saying the economic recovery is all around us. For you, it likely feels like the same old lingering economic malaise—especially as news emerges that your job may be on the chopping block in 2011, with even more cuts slated for 2012.…

Read more

Published Friday, May 27, 2011 @ 12:45 pm

After years of being mired in an economic malaise driven by the foreclosure mess, rising consumer debts, and mounting medical costs, you’d think it would finally be about time for a good old financial reprieve for American families.

Unfortunately, new figures reveal the real financial challenges—even post-recession—that are currently jeopardizing a U.S.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, May 25, 2011 @ 5:50 am

Arts and cultural organizations are not immune to the economic impacts of the recent Great Recession. Falling attendance and rising costs of real estate, overhead and administration marked the decline of many museums, galleries and theatrical venues in recent years.

This same scenario appeared to be problem for the Philadelphia Orchestra, long considered one of the best in the country.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, May 24, 2011 @ 5:49 pm

While many are led to believe that filing for bankruptcy can kill your credit score, it turns out missing a single mortgage payment—a common symptom of recent economic malaise—may be just as deadly to your credit’s near future.

According to a recent article from The New York Times, “Missed mortgage payments, serious loan delinquencies, loan modifications, short sales, foreclosures and bankruptcies all drag down credit scores.…

Read more

Published Friday, May 20, 2011 @ 6:41 am

Yes, the American employment picture is getting better. The latest numbers show that the U.S. added nearly 250,000 jobs in April 2011, making it the 14^th consecutive month of job market gains. But economists aren’t as optimistic, pointing to a lack of job diversity and higher income positions as signs things are far from back to “business as usual.”

According to a new article from The Huffington Post, “ In April, the U.S.…

Read more

Published Monday, May 16, 2011 @ 1:44 pm

While the country’s overall unemployment rate sits at 8.8 percent, the rate among white Americans is at 7.9 percent. Yet, for a host of reasons ranging from disparate levels of education to outright discrimination, national joblessness is nearly double for African Americans—even during a tepid, but true, economic recovery.

As The Huffington Post points out, joblessness has remained so critically elevated in the decade leading up to the Great Recession, that African Americans like Charlotte, North Carolina’s own Wanda Nolan witnessed a bright future quickly dimmed by an unrelenting  economic downturn:

“From an entry-level job as a fill-in bank teller, she forged a career as a commercial banking assistant, earning enough to become a homeowner.…

Read more

Published Monday, May 16, 2011 @ 10:43 am

Sure hiring is up in many sectors, unemployment rates are dropping and the economy appears to be on the mend, but for many older Americans over the age of 55, who are currently out of work, prospects are poor for ever returning to the workforce as quickly as before the Recession.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, May 3, 2011 @ 9:29 am

As we’ve been reporting, thousands of North Carolinians were on course to lose their unemployment benefits as North Carolina lawmakers failed to revise the calculations used to determine when these payouts from the Extended Benefits program could be distributed. These same benefits were then placed in limbo when the Governor vetoed a bill in which Republican legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly attached budget cuts to the state’s eligibility for these federal benefits.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, May 3, 2011 @ 4:23 am

Just as Baby Boomers shaped the counter culture of the 1960s, this storied generation of robust lifestyles, risk-taking rebellions, and Rock-n-Roll significance is ready to yet again make its mark on America—this time, in their mid 60s. Today, Boomers now represent one-third of the total population of North America, with their highly populated presence standing as a testament to the hard lessons learned from the new economy: poor financial planning converging with uncertain economic circumstances at a vulnerable age in a working life, can have a apocalyptic impact on our nation’s more plentiful citizenry.…

Read more

Published Thursday, April 21, 2011 @ 5:44 pm

As we reported just last week, 37,000 North Carolinians were on course to lose their unemployment benefits as North Carolina lawmakers failed to revise the calculations used to determine when these payouts from the Extended Benefits program could be distributed.

This week, however, the legislative actions were more purposeful as Republican legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly attached budget cuts to a bill maintaining the state’s eligibility for these federal benefits.…

Read more

Published Thursday, April 21, 2011 @ 4:37 pm

Apparently the lingering economic malaise has its limits: according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 216,000 new jobs last month. This good news appears to support recent claims that the labor market recovery, as Bloomberg put it, is finally “gaining traction”.

But according to a new report from The Huffington Post, those who have been lucky enough to find work, any work, are also often finding their former standard of living to be completely out of reach.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, April 12, 2011 @ 7:34 am

Just this month it was announced that about 37,000 North Carolinians would suddenly lose their unemployment benefits. This news emerged as at least eight other states avoided a similar fate by changing the calculations used to determine when these benefits could be distributed.

But according to Bloomberg Businessweek, the same revisions weren’t considered in the Tar Heel State.…

Read more

Published Monday, April 4, 2011 @ 5:37 pm

In 2010, the President Obama reworked his $75 billion foreclosure prevention plan. The second incarnation of the Home Affordable Modification Program (or HAMP) added new incentives to help those hardest hit by the housing crisis, targeting homeowners who were unemployed or underwater in their mortgages (i.e., folks owing more on their loans than their homes were worth).…

Read more

Published Wednesday, March 30, 2011 @ 7:12 am

It may seem strange, the whole prospect of turning a timely tax return into a bankruptcy, but in a nation currently dealing with a healthy debt load, the whole idea that half of Americans get some form or return, comes at a good time for those looking to pay down those debts, or, better yet, find a longer-term solution for their cash-strapped situation.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, March 29, 2011 @ 11:09 am

In tough financial times, sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. But as another global conflict unfolds in the Middle East, and with the United States very much involved, it’s important to understand another war’s potential impact on the national economy, local layoffs and your individual financial future.…

Read more

Published Saturday, March 26, 2011 @ 11:00 am

For jobless Americans—forced from their careers during an era of economic uncertainty (and in an environment of staggering unemployment rates)—the lingering financial malaise has proven to be more than just a little bit hazardous to their health.

As it turns out, nine million laid-off Americans lost all health insurance in last two years.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, March 15, 2011 @ 9:03 am

With its many Armed Forces outposts, bases and camps, North Carolina is among a select group of states that are home to a storied U.S. military tradition as well as large military and veteran populations. As such, citizens of North Carolina and other states are often familiar not only with the duties and honorable service of these military men and women, but are also aware of the many laws passed to give veterans preferred status as a token for their former and continuing sacrifice.…

Read more

Published Monday, March 14, 2011 @ 5:53 am

In this uncertain economic landscape, good news is often met with great skepticism, especially for those who were hardest hit during the past five years of what’s now called our “Great Recession.” Yet despite some signs of national growth, this skepticism may now continue to be a part of at least the first half of 2011, as a major indicator of the strength of the America’s economic machine reveals that we’re still very much in the throes of our own Great Economic Malaise.…

Read more

Published Friday, March 11, 2011 @ 12:51 pm

If you’re like many average Americans, you were dealt a hefty budgetary blow during the recent Recession. And, as a result, you may have responded by trying to spend less, save more and reduce debts where you could—including cuts in your consumer credit card use.

If so, you’re not alone.

According to a recent report from Credit.com, since the inception of the economic crisis, more and more men and women are resisting the urge to spend, climbing aboard the equivalent of the “Good Ship Spendthrift” in order to create a sea of savings on a new course to a better financial future.…

Read more

Published Friday, March 4, 2011 @ 12:42 pm

It’s no fun getting older: you suffer aches, pains, and maybe even the slow decline in vision, hearing and memory. But one thing that’s important to remember is that while these infirmities are natural to the process, what can be even more painful is growing poorer as you mature—a reality that’s becoming even more real for a growing portion of older Americans.…

Read more

Published Friday, March 4, 2011 @ 10:40 am

While millions of struggling Americans are considering all kinds of smart moves to make ends meet—taking on extra work, cutting corners in their household budgets, or even considering the benefits of bankruptcy—others may be considering literal moves from state to state as some prove to outweigh others in what they can offer on the job front.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, March 1, 2011 @ 12:58 pm

We talk a lot about the real estate reckoning and its effects on companies, individuals, municipalities, and sometimes states. But these days the mortgage crisis is even handing the family pet a raw deal, as families are forced into foreclosure and out of their homes, and the animals they owned are left behind in animal shelters, or worse yet, in the empty houses to languish alone.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 28, 2011 @ 8:29 am

One of the most widespread effects of the current housing market malaise is the “curse” of negative equity. This now ubiquitous occurrence of the real estate reckoning is a product of an underwater universe wherein a good number of houses all across the country are valued as less than what homeowners originally paid for them.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 28, 2011 @ 7:29 am

Despite mixed signals from many experts on whether we’re actually in an economic recovery, American spending is on the rise according to two new reports from the Federal Reserve and national debt relief firm, CareOne Services.

While these reports are a good sign for the national financial picture, it bodes badly for a nation of consumers who were already overleveraged by the housing crisis, high unemployment and rising unsecured debt loads.  Even though average Americans were encouraged to pay down debt and build up savings in the years following the recent Recession, according to a recent analysis of consumer debt by CareOne Services Inc., residents in all states of the union have maintained an average of more than $10,000 in debt.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 21, 2011 @ 7:39 am

New data shows that 2010 was marked by more personal bankruptcies than any other year since stricter federal bankruptcy laws were enacted in 2005. Roughly 1.53 million consumer bankruptcy petitions were filed in 2010, up 9 percent from 1.41 million in 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, citing data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 7, 2011 @ 10:19 pm

When asked in a recent interview by Anna Robertson of Yahoo! News what he had to say to America’s 14.5 million unemployed, the Vice President Joe Biden responded, “hang in there.” Pointing to a slow and gradual national recovery, Biden said that while the unemployment rate is only “dropping minimally,” the economy is slowly improving, leaving Americans to wait it out.…

Read more

Published Friday, February 4, 2011 @ 2:59 pm

Commonly we hear of bankruptcy coming to the aid of those drowning in credit card debt, underneath tons of medical bills, or otherwise underwater in their mortgages and facing foreclosure. But in these tough economic times, a sudden and unexpected loss of work can be just as damning to already beleaguered family budgets, sending many households searching for immediate ways to increase money coming in and reducing debts going out.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, February 2, 2011 @ 11:57 am

With some reports in recent decades finding that (1) gambling losses account for some 10 percent of total bankruptcy filings, (2) more than 20 percent of compulsive gamblers are forced to seek the safe havens of bankruptcy, and (3) more than 90 percent of these same compulsive gamblers use credit cards in order to gamble, the idea of wagering money on little more than chance seems far from child’s play.  In truth, it can wreck budgets, marriages, and even lives.…

Read more

Published Monday, January 31, 2011 @ 9:28 am

Maybe you feel you’ve avoided financial calamity during the major years of the American economic meltdown: You’ve managed to avoid foreclosure and credit card debt, stave off a major medical injury or illness, without cutting into savings or retirement plans. You’ve possibly even avoided being fired or laid off from your job.…

Read more

Published Friday, January 14, 2011 @ 11:52 am

Following the worst financial downturn since the Depression of the 1930s, men and women of the middle-class have found themselves profoundly affected by an economic meltdown that’s quickly pushed many into poverty. Widening unemployment paired with shrinking government safety nets means one unexpected and unfortunate incident—a sudden layoff, debilitating injury or illness, a missed mortgage payment—can mean a person’s life is instantly transformed from “happy-go-lucky” to the brink of homelessness or worse.…

Read more

Published Monday, November 15, 2010 @ 10:13 am

While some experts are calling the latter portions of 2010 a new era of economic recovery, bankruptcy filings remain in true recession-era form.  In fact, according to the 2010 Fiscal Year statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the number of bankruptcies filed between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010 increased from 1,402,816 to 1,596,355, marking an increase of 13.8%.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, October 5, 2010 @ 12:16 pm

Serious debt happens to most people before they realize it. Even though it’s always there, only when the income stops do the debt obligations get really noticed. And in a recession like the one that has plagued our country for the last three years, loss of income is a common thing.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, October 5, 2010 @ 12:14 pm

While many of us were reading the Sunday paper, sitting in our various places of worship or otherwise relaxing and enjoying the weekend, Austan Goolsbee, Obama’s chief economic adviser, was telling Christiane Amanpour of ABC’s “This Week” that unemployment in the United States is “going to stay high.”

“This recession is the deepest in our lifetimes, the deepest since 1929,” said Goolsbee, who was just appointed chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, October 5, 2010 @ 12:12 pm

Following the last several years of the worst economic downturn in recent history, economists, commentators and financial experts have recently been heartened about prospects for economic growth and recovery as industries increasingly report better profits and the potential for new jobs with these increased revenues. Yet, even as the economy begins to emerge from its recent doldrums, many Americans remain buried in bills, job applications, and home and consumer debts.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, October 5, 2010 @ 12:06 pm

If you’re reading this, odds are you might be suffering through a pretty tough financial time. What may make you feel a bit better about your current economic situation is the firm knowledge that you’re not alone in this global economic meltdown. Specifically, millions of average Americans just like you are facing a shared financial burden as we all struggle to stay afloat in the wake of this country’s recent Great Recession—full of folks facing insurmountable health care costs, foreclosure, job insecurity and losses, and, in some cases, complete and total insolvency.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 10:07 am

In an era of meteoric unemployment rates, looming layoffs and job uncertainty, income can be a tough thing to talk about these days.

But for those men and women seeking the priceless protections of a bankruptcy—many for the same unfortunate economic reasons listed above—talking about income is at the very core of a successful bankruptcy filing.…

Read more

Published Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 11:54 am

So, like a very large number of Americans today, you think bankruptcy is your best route out of the financial doldrums.  After all the credit counselors, self-help books and Craigslist charlatans, it’s likely that you’ve grown tired of the debt cycle. We understand. That is what brings a lot of clients to our offices.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, August 10, 2010 @ 9:53 am

In the wake of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, millions of people are finding themselves bankruptcy bound. And with so many people forced to find relief in the protections a bankruptcy filing can provide, gone are the days of societal stigmatization and shame.

Yet, many debtors enduring tough financial times are still stuck in an old mindset that bankruptcy is a measure of last result.…

Read more

Published Monday, August 9, 2010 @ 2:00 pm

This unrelenting economic downturn has been tough on all Americans—whether they be single, dating, engaged, married or widowed. But, as anyone who has ever been married already knows: money (or lack thereof) can be the main cause of many couple’s marital strife. As a result, in this especially difficult economic climate—full of job insecurity, foreclosures, and slow economic gains—many have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, and, along with them, the people who love and wanted to marry them.…

Read more

Published Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 8:42 pm

It seems that in today’s difficult economic weather, just about everyone is a risk for a lender.

Earlier this month, FICO, Inc. (the company that develops credit risk metrics) reported that America’s collective credit score is at an all-time low. Close to 43.4 million consumers have a credit score at or below 599, which is the risk benchmark for the majority of lenders.…

Read more

Published Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 8:38 am

Given the popularity of channels like HGTV and all of those televised extreme home makeovers , it’s more than apparent that America is a nation full of  “do-it-yourselfers:” people drawn to the idea of going it alone in order to get it done right—their way, the first time.

As a result, it’s not surprising that in this self-supported culture there are so many services available online and offline that, for a fee, offer any DIY inclined consumer the opportunity to file their own bankruptcy.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, July 14, 2010 @ 5:12 pm

For many people, divorce can cause a huge financial strain in already tough economic times. In others cases, it’s the crushing weight of debt that leads to the dissolution of a marriage.  Whatever the ultimate cause, and effects, when considering bankruptcy amid a divorce it’s important to know a few basics.…

Read more

Published Monday, June 21, 2010 @ 2:30 pm

While those that analyze esoteric financial trends and market conditions seem to think that the recession is easing, a large portion of the country aren’t so quick to agree. With foreclosures still prevalent and personal bankruptcies at a level close to that of 2005’s pre-code change flood, there are plenty of reasons for Americans to still be on edge about their finances.…

Read more

Published Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 12:59 pm

There was very important bill passed this week in Washington.

No, not that one.

Attached to the monumental health care bill was a significant alteration to the way student loans are handled by the government.

We have covered this topic several times here on the blog (use the search tool), which is critical to those considering bankruptcy because as of now, outside of very special and rarely granted conditions, student loans are not allowed to be discharged.…

Read more

Published Saturday, March 20, 2010 @ 11:58 am

If you are like most Americans who are out of work today—and there’s a lot you—the seemingly perpetual job search may eventually take a toll on your psyche. There is just so much out of your control.

As soon as that resume leaves your e-mail, it could be weeks before you receive an acknowledgment- if you even get one.…

Read more

Published Tuesday, March 2, 2010 @ 10:09 am

Developed to slow the rate of Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings, the Means Test helps determine whether or not someone qualifies to file Chapter 7, and in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, to what extent you might be able to pay back some of your creditors. It’s become a very frustrating part of the bankruptcy process because it implies, “Hey, you just don’t want to pay your bills.”  Not only that, it also subjects filers to additional frustration, confusion and widens the gap between citizens and the law in place to protect them.…

Read more

Published Sunday, February 28, 2010 @ 9:26 pm

Bankruptcy is one of the most important decisions you may ever have to make. It’s not a decision to take lightly, and our office understands that you and your family have a lot of questions. While many of the same laws apply to many cases, rarely is your financial situation the same as another person’s.…

Read more

Published Friday, February 26, 2010 @ 4:19 pm

Everyone—from the halls of Congress to the many channels of media—is paying a ton of attention to those Americans who have lost their homes in the seemingly endless mortgage meltdown. Virtually ignored have been the millions who continue to pay their mortgage every month, even when they really can’t afford to.…

Read more

Published Friday, February 26, 2010 @ 7:15 am

For most bankruptcy bound individuals, a discharge of all individual debts is considered the Holy Grail of any bankruptcy filing, yielding a permanent injunction that prevents creditors from collecting on debts. However, any good discussion of debt dischargeability also tackles the primary exceptions to look out for when considering any bankruptcy filing.…

Read more

Published Sunday, February 7, 2010 @ 7:43 am

Facing foreclosure.

Escalating medical costs.

High interest credit crunch.

Rising unemployment.

And that’s just January 2010.

While times are admittedly tough for everyone—with the poor getting poorer and even the recently rich and famous falling on hard times—a truly unique phenomenon of the recent global recession and continual economic downturn is how catastrophic it’s been for our country’s middle class, driving many in the majority further and “further from the American Dream” and, in some cases, “directly into poverty.”

As The Huffington Post reported this week in Laura Bassett’s insightful article “Middle Class No More, Families Struggle to Fight off Homelessness,” those in power are not blind to the desperate bind of average Americans: “President Obama, in his remarks to Senate Democrats on [February 3], pointed out that the middle class was hurting even before the recession.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 1, 2010 @ 4:46 pm

You may have read on the blog, or elsewhere, that many are calling our current economy a “middle class recession.” This is because the numbers are way up on bankruptcies filed by those who make more than $60,000 per year, up 6.9 percent from 2008. Bankruptcies on the whole are up 36.5 percent from this time last year.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 1, 2010 @ 2:14 pm

One thing you may already know about most court proceedings, is that parties usually have the option to represent themselves without the aid of an attorney. This is called appearing ‘Pro Se’, which, in Latin means “for oneself”. In a bankruptcy proceeding, when money is tight, the thought of saving money by cutting out attorneys and their fees can be pretty tempting.…

Read more

Published Monday, February 1, 2010 @ 10:48 am

The decision to file for bankruptcy is never an easy one, especially where married couples are involved. Spouses must settle issues of dishonesty, mistrust, and frustration–and that’s even before any of the complex steps of collecting necessary documents and filing papers.

But the story for insolvent couples does have a caveat: joint bankruptcy protection.…

Read more

Published Sunday, January 31, 2010 @ 7:38 am

There is so much we do not know about the things that put us into debt. From credit card fine print to car lease agreements and as the last few years have demonstrated, even the most basic facts about our home loans.

To anyone with the ability to fog a glass, it is more than evident that our collective ignorance on these matters is precisely what causes our country to carry so much personal debt.…

Read more