Upstart loans are great for college students and recent graduates with no credit score I’ve been writing about personal loans and credit for a few years now and have been using since my early 20s. One of the things I’ve noticed about loans and credit over the years is that there are really no options for students or recent graduates. This portion of the population has no credit history and … [Read more...]
Should You Help Pay Your Partner’s Student Loans?
Two must-ask questions before you help pay off your partner’s student loans The amount Americans owe on student loans has ballooned to over $1.4 trillion, more than 10% of total household debt owed. Chances are, even if you don’t owe money on student loans someone close to you does. So what do you do if you’ve managed to avoid racking up thousands in debt or have paid off your student loans … [Read more...]
Students and Credit Cards: How to Master Credit
Understand how to use credit responsibly before you get your first credit card. Credit card language can be scary, especially for students getting their first credit cards. Principal? Fixed Rate of Interest? Default rate? What? Yet these mysterious terms can be mastered and the average young person can become a king or queen of credit! Or at the very least, new-to-credit consumers and … [Read more...]
Applying for Student Loans and Avoiding the Debt Trap
Applying for student loans doesn’t have to put you in debt for the rest of your life. Everyone’s talking about the student loan bubble, how it could be the next financial crisis and how it is saddling a whole generation of students with soul-crushing debt. It’s enough to make applying for student loans a serious downer. Getting a post-secondary education can be one of the best investments … [Read more...]
How I Beat a Financial Emergency to Get Fast Cash [Advice from a Reader]
One reader shares his story of a financial emergency and how he got emergency cash fast to avoid the debt trap Half of U.S. households report they wouldn’t have the emergency cash to cover a $2,000 financial crisis. This fact pushes millions of Americans into poverty every year, even striking those that have kept to a budget and been financially responsible for years. With the economy barely … [Read more...]