I criticized co-branded credit cards on a previous post for failing to negotiate better terms for their members/customers. My complaint is that the sponsoring organizations don't seem to care how badly these cards reflect on their brand. If you read the comments on that post, you'll see that some ag...

A chiropractor I know has over $110,000 in student loan debt incurred to get his professional degree. I’ll call him Bill for purposes of this blog. Bill is hardworking and smart, but after a few years in the chiropractic field, it was pretty obvious to him that he wasn’t going to make the kind o...

Love may be priceless, but saying "I love you" on Valentine's Day isn't cheap, according to the Edelman Valentine's Day Index™, published annually by financial planner and author Ric Edelmen. He says that Cupid would spend $2,662 this year to score points with their special someone. Gran...

Today I get to answer two recent reader questions about collection accounts and getting a loan to finance a medical operation. Question: I have a debt posted to my credit record for 183.00 in 10/01/2004 by a company called NCO. Problem is I cannot find an address or phone number for this outfit to f...

I remember calling Capital One last year and finding it absolutely impossible to get a live person on the line to answer my question about my credit card account. No matter which option I chose, I was stuck in voice mail hell. I finally gave up and used their online customer support to reach them. B...