Paddling into deeper waters

The Darwins may have taken exceptional measures to tackle their debt, but this shame associated with bankruptcy drives plenty of people every year to lesser lengths to avoid it. Sadly, many of these people finish up in expensive debt management plans or individual voluntary arrangements - both alternatives to bankruptcy - that are not always suitable for them. They then end up in a worse scenario, with bigger debts and worries than they started with.

Independent debt advice organisation the Bankruptcy Advisory Service - which does not simply advocate bankruptcy as a solution - says one of its major gripes is the lack of advice about the options available to people in debt. Unclear about what they should do, people either bury their head in the sand or turn to companies that sell debt solutions for help.



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Debt solutions

Jeremy Warner: WaMu may offer template for B&B solution - The Independent
Thank goodness for Jamie Dimon, the chairman of JP Morgan Chase. He seems to be one of the few bankers still capable of instilling confidence. More importantly, his bank is one of the few in the US to have escaped largely unscathed from the present

Our View: This year's ballot measures - East Valley Tribune
The Tribune Editorial Board doesn’t endorse any candidate for office. But we do share our views with readers about ballot measures as part of our role as a community watchdog and political observer. The following is a summary of where we stand on

JPMorgan Has Its Hands Full With WaMu - Street.Com
You can find more stories like this in our On the Brink series. The market loved JPMorgan Chase's ( JPM Quote - Cramer on JPM - Stock Picks ) acquisition of Washington Mutual ( WM Quote - Cramer on WM - Stock Picks ) , sending shares of what is now

Chase's WaMu buyout gives it the most branches in D-FW - Dallas Morning News
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s purchase of Washington Mutual Inc. will give it the most bank branches in North Texas – even if some of them are apt to be closed. Chase bought WaMu's assets after the Seattle-based thrift became the largest bank to fail

Advent of 1-stop banking - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
The implosion of two of the nation’s leading investment banks has thrust commercial banks into the spotlight. With their acquisition of investment banks and retail brokerages over the years, commercial banks have assumed a model more common in

How BI could have provided early warning to financial market meltdown - Computerworld
Share September 24, 2008 (InfoWorld) In the coming weeks the feds and the surviving financial services institutions will have the daunting task of unraveling all the securitized loans and other instruments that are hiding the toxic investments. But

NATION BRIEFLY

He spoke at a credit-counseling agency in Arkansas that helps people saddled with debt.

Senate leaders hope soon to get back to the bill after their weeklong break; it has been snagged over an unrelated dispute about tax breaks and renewable energy.

GM, Toyota, Ford all post big U.S. June sales drops

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. soundly beat Toyota Motor Corp. in June to retain its traditional U.S. sales lead, but GM sales still dropped 18.2 percent during a dismal month for large automakers.

Toyota's U.S. sales fell 21.4 percent, while Ford Motor Co. said it sales tumbled nearly 28 percent. Chrysler LLC took a huge hit for the month with sales down 35.9 percent.

GM's shares bounced more than 2 percent higher in late trading Tuesday after sinking to their lowest level in more than a half century during Monday's session.




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EDITORIAL: A start

7--The consolidation of earned income tax collection could be the nose of the camel under the tent when it comes to streamlining government in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Ed Rendell last week signed into law a bill that consolidates the number of collectors for earned income tax payments from 560 to 69. Their jurisdictions would generally follow county lines. (Pennsylvania has 67 counties.)

The Associated Press reported the measure is designed to create standard reporting rules and result in a more efficient system.

State officials estimate local taxing bodies will recoup more than $230 million in uncollected revenues as a result.

The measure is the result of a 2004 report by the Department of Community and Economic Development that said the tax collection system was fragmented and inefficient.



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Government Offers Help To Debt-Crisis Families Facing Repossession.

They give free, confidential advice and are available through the Credit and Debt Hotline on 1800 808 488.

``You can also find them through some neighbourhood centres, community legal centres, church groups and charitable organisations.''

Community financial counsellors provide free help for people with debt difficulties. They operate throughout New South Wales and provide confidential advice on financial matters.

Trained counsellors can provide options for changing and improving people's financial situation. They can explain what government assistance is available and negotiate, advocate or mediate, on behalf of people in trouble, with credit providers and government agencies.

Financial counsellors can also assist with information on debt recovery, bankruptcy and other para-legal matters, as well as ensure appropriate referral to other sources of assistance, for example Legal Aid, personal counselling and government services.



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Last of the big spenders?

'Debt', the dreaded word. Debt does not have to be a negative word though, as there are two kinds of debt, one being bad and the other good.

The bad debt applies to unnecessary wants, which usually end up draining your cash flow. Good debt on the other hand allows you to build assets, thus giving you a return on your debt!

Questions you should be asking

Do your expenses ever exceed your income? Are you in overdraft? Is your credit cards maxed to the limit? Do you pay your accounts timeously? Or do you wait for the dreaded phone call? Do you save the proportionate amount of your income, as you should?

Do any or all of the above apply to you? If they do, the first step to solving you debt problem is to be totally honest and calculate how much debt you are actually in.



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Free debt consolidation

US works on bank debt plan, UK targets shorts - ABS-CBN
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - Governments on both sides of the Atlantic took radical steps to restore confidence in battered financial markets on Thursday, as the United States proposed a taxpayer-funded mopping up of toxic mortgage-related debt and Britain

Bailout cost: higher than you think - CNN Money
FORTUNE (New York) -- Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke have saved us, for now, from a market meltdown - but at the cost of allowing the folks who caused the current crisis to keep ducking reality. In the long run, guess who gets to bear that cost? The

Credit crunch squeezes Florida economy - St. Petersburg Times
To avoid defaulting on her nearly $1,500 monthly house payment, Maria Folk sold a family boat, unhooked her cable, even canceled her household phone line. But when the New Port Richey resident has called her mortgage lender pleading for a reduction

Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal - MediaChannel.org
Danny Schechter is a media activist, critic, independent filmmaker, TV producer as well as an author of 10 books and lecturer on media issues. Some call him “The News Dissector,” and that’s the name of his popular blog on media issues. He’s

Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript - Seekingalpha.com
Good day, everyone. Welcome to the Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. second quarter 2008 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time I’d like to turn the call over to Mike Bower, Vice President of Finance and Investor

Technology sector’s recent run of success is stumbling - Times Online
Phoenix IT makes much of its money from disaster recovery – providing emergency back-up services to companies to ensure that they can keep trading despite disruptions to their business. But when that disruption is as severe as insolvency, there is

Week Ahead: Another Market Roller Coaster? - CNBC
The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have pulled out their financial jumper cables, but it's the details that will determine whether their massive bailout plan will recharge the markets and economy. In the week ahead, the markets will focus on how

Only way to pay bills is to starve

They used the Citizens' Advice Bureau's latest annual meeting to warn the situation is going to get even worse. Rachael Walker, a money advice co-ordinator at the bureau, said: "Many of our clients are now coming to us with gas or electricity bills that they are not able to pay back along with their ongoing usage. "And... we have seen some cases where clients are cutting back on their food just so they can have their gas or electricity." She put the numbers involved in going without food as 'a growing minority'. She described their mood as depressed and distressed. "We are expecting the current situation to worsen," warned Miss Walker. This is one sign of how the dramatically-changed financial situation of the past 12 months is taking its toll on the CAB's clients. Cases of debt seen by its volunteers and advisors have soared by 25 per cent in the year to the end of March.



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Debt crisis spreads to credit cards

The thrift's $175 million second-quarter loss from its card unit stemmed from higher delinquencies and an inability to sell some card debt to investors because of illiquid markets. It was Washington Mutual's first card loss since it entered the business in 2005 when it bought Providian Financial Corp. .



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New help for families with cashflow problems

They will be able to get specialist advice on issues such as problems with debt, mortgages and utility bills.

Launching Money Guidance treasury secretary Yvette Cooper said: "We need to make it much easier for people to get access to information, help and advice."

The website and telephone helpline will be overseen by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

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Obama proposes bankruptcy changes

He also promised to enact a 120-day moratorium "on adverse credit actions from collectors, such as foreclosure" to free families from concerns about debt collectors while trying to recover. His campaign said he would also amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which bars discrimination in lending, to include protection for disaster victims, so that lenders do not unfairly restrict credit to such families.

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Fishing for answers: Key report due on status of groundfish

The result is consolidation of the industry, with boat owners who have money or financial support buying permits from those who don't, she said.

Michael Matulaitis, who owns and captains the Fairhaven dragger Rosemarie, said additional fishing restrictions could push groundfishermen — many of whom are gambling that they will make a lot of money when stocks rebuild in the future — deeper into debt.

"People are hanging on by a thread right now and any more cuts are really going to take us deep," Mr. Matulaitis said.

Making a business plan, especially for the 2009 fishing year, is especially difficult for boat owners given the uncertainty surrounding future fishing regulations, he said.

Under the groundfish rebuilding plan, regional fisheries managers must introduce new fishing restrictions by May 1, 2009.



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Collecting Money in a Bad Economy

(N.H.) author of several books on debt collection who ran a collection agency for eight years. Her first piece of advice for preventing late payments? Require customers to apply for credit. Credit applications (BusinessWeek.com, 1/8/04), which can be bought at office supply stores, record contact information for the customer, personal references and business references, like banks or employers.

Calling references can help you evaluate a customer's risk, but even if you don't check them, just using the form can deter customers who might default. "When you have someone fill out that credit application, it lets them know that you're serious about your business and you're not just handing out credit," Dunn says. If you wind up in court over an unpaid debt, the signed credit application will bolster your case.



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Debt consolidation plan

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creditors' collection practices scrutinized

"Faced with rising food and gas prices and little income growth, fewer resources have been available to manage debt."

As many people struggle to pay for necessities, they skip making debt payments. Many creditors in turn are seeking relief by taking borrowers to court. But in some cases the actions of the financial institutions in carrying out court orders are of questionable legality, according to a new report out by the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General.

The inspector general found that some financial institutions are apparently violating federal law by garnisheeing accounts that receive electronic deposits of Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, and/or Supplemental Security Income payments. These funds are supposed to be protected from creditors except under certain conditions.



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A DEBT TO FEMINISM

When I turned 5, my parents signed me up for soccer. I later added basketball and softball and, in high school, alpine ski racing.

This may not sound particularly remarkable for a kid from 1980s suburbia, and it is not. What is remarkable is the ease and unremarkableness of my pursuing all of these sports. Those sports, 20 years prior, had been so dominated by men that average female athletes like me would have had zero options to participate.

My mother never received any specialized athletic training beyond PE until she started taking Pilates classes as an adult in 2002. That didn't mean that she wasn't active -- she grew up in New Hampshire, where she hiked, camped, ice skated and played pickup softball. She took swimming lessons as a child and became a lifeguard when she was 16.



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A Surprise About Gender And Saving Money

Also, check out the Women Institute for a Secure Retirement site which is chock full of practical advice.

So start saving. You will be grateful you did when you retire.

Tips from Beth Kobliner, author of Get A Financial Life:

Meet your match. Contribute at least enough to your 401(k) to meet your employer's match. Many companies will match up to 6 percent of your contribution, offering, on average, 50 cents for every $1 you put in. That's a great deal.
Go with a Roth. Once you reach your company's matching limit, consider opening a Roth IRA. As long as you make under $101,000 as a single person or $159,000 as part of a married couple, you can put away $5,000 a year ($6,000 if you are 50 years old or older). If you make more, you might still be able to save at least some money in a Roth.




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Rising Debt Cases Reveal Erratic System

The debt-collection caseload has swollen with consumers' increased use of credit cards and has expanded further in the past 18 months on the rise in home foreclosures, unemployment and household costs. While there aren't any recent state statistics on the lawsuits, attorneys and court officials agree they're seeing the surge.

"We are blamed for clogging the courts with cases, yet at the same time we are not receiving the resources that we are paying for," said Robert Markoff, a creditors' attorney in Chicago at Baker, Miller, Markoff & Krasny who argues that the courts are collecting more filing fees, but aren't reinvesting that money in handling the cases.

Creditors' attorneys mainly want statewide court standards for dealing with the cases, making clear what is required in the way of attorney appearances, documentation and proof for reaching a default judgment, which is the most common outcome for such lawsuits.



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