Lifestyle and Budget

Caution is good, but you don't have to wait for a zero-balance statement to use a credit card again. Paying on time avoids interest charges.

Just because you make a lot of money doesn't mean you're managing it well. If your debt load is higher than your salary, here's what you have to do.

Paying off credit cards via a home refinance could change your credit utilization and help your credit score, if you don't go charging again.

When you agree to pay a creditor a reduced, but fixed amount each month to satisfy an old debt and then default, you risk having to pay the full balance.

I have about $12,000 in credit card debt. I am about to lose my job, and I have no idea how I will continue to pay my creditors. Meanwhile, my husband has an extreme amount of debt in his own name. How do I get out of this mess? Should I file for bankruptcy? I have no other answer for my bills coming in, and I am extremely stressed.

It's tough to find that a card you never signed up for is dragging down your credit and chances for employment, but if you were just an authorized user, you'll get off easy.

Can they put a warrant out for my arrest? Also, I'm young and single, paying all my bills by myself, but don't always have the full minimum payment available. What happens if I just send in what I can? Can the creditor still take me to court? Can I be arrested? Will they put a warrant out for my arrest? I am so scared.

The Affordable Care Act may give more people access to health insurance, but experts don’t expect it to help solve a major problem in this country: medical bankruptcies. And it's not the uninsured that are getting buried under the debt. 

The number of consumer defaulting on their credit card payments is expected to remain near historical lows for the foreseeable future.

They sound similar, but they're not. Here's what you need to know.

This is the year you are going to become debt free. Here's how.

When your FICO credit score is just 70 points shy of a perfect score, is it really worth the effort to push it all the way to the top?

Settling your own debts instead of hiring someone else can save you money and put you in the power seat, but it's not for the fainthearted.

The metal content in the Chase Sapphire Preferred card makes it hard to destroy with scissors or a shredder. So how can you safely dispose of it when it's time?

A heavy debt load is always a burden, no matter your age. But paying off debt gets harder when you're on a fixed income.

Living paycheck to paycheck can make it hard to pay off debt and clear up charge-offs on credit reports--but it can happen.

Some financial "experts" claim that carrying a small balance on your credit cards is good for your credit score. It's time to kiss that myth goodbye.

The lien on your home came from your ex. Now that you're divorced, shouldn't it go away?

So the guy at the airport lounge was saying how a debt elimination firm cost just $49 to cut all debt. It's real, right? 

Unemployed, but getting Social Security? Credit may not be the answer if you want to stay out of debt.