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Debt Consolidation – Can You Negotiate with Your Credit Card Company?
The average American household has nearly $10,000 in credit card debt, and many people are only able to make the minimum payment of 2% of the balance. Even 2% is $200, and by paying the minimum payment, you could be paying on the balance for decades...
Debt-to-Income Ratio - It's Just as Important as Your Credit Score When You're Shopping for a New Home
Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is a simple way of calculating
how much of your monthly income goes toward debt payments.
Lenders use the DTI to determine how much money they can safely
loan you toward a home purchase or mortgage...
Hawala, or The Bank That Never Was
I. OVERVIEW
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the USA, attention was drawn to the age-old, secretive, and globe-spanning banking system developed in Asia and known as "Hawala" (to change, in Arabic). It is based on a...
Take A Structured Settlement Or One-Time Lump Sum Payment?
If you are involved with a legal decision, financial claim or insurance arrangement, the financing process to settle and resolve the claim can often take two forms. Either a one-time lump sum payment, or a long-term periodic series of deferred...
To Factor or Not to Factor?
The purchasing of accounts receivable (invoices) is generally known as factoring. Businesses can sell their invoices to companies known as factors. Although not all businesses are familiar with factoring, historians claim that factoring dates back...
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Utah, the Nation’s Bankruptcy Capital
Congress recently passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, designed to minimize frivolous bankruptcy filings and to require debtors to repay some of their debt. Once it takes effect in October, 2005, the law will make it harder for those with problem debt to have their debt wiped away by the courts. Most will have to agree to a five-year repayment plan. In passing this new law, members of Congress suggested that our bankruptcy courts are filled with cases involving not ordinary citizens, but with reckless gamblers, shoppers, and drug abusers. Is that really the case?
One would think, given the accusations, that the highest bankruptcy rate in the Untied States would be in place where such vices were common, such as California, New York or even Nevada. If problem gambling is thought to be the cause of so much bankruptcy, then one might assume that Las Vegas would be the bankruptcy capital of the world. How odd it is, then, to discover that Utah, one of only two states that prohibits gambling completely, has the highest per capita incidence of bankruptcy filings in the United States. Utah? How can that be?
Utah has a number of aspects that, taken on their own, don’t suggest that bankruptcy would be a problem. Added together, however, these things create a recipe for disaster:Utah has the nation’s highest birthrate. Seventy percent of the citizens of Utah are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and members are encouraged to have large families. It costs more to feed, clothe and house a large family than a small
one.
Utah has more families with only one wager earner. Large families mean more stay-at-home moms, so a lot of families must get by on a single paycheck.
Utah’s wages are lower than average. Many high tech companies have relocated to Utah in recent years, but the “high tech” jobs they provide are often telephone customer service jobs, which typically pay $8-10 per hour.
Members of the LDS Church are expected to tithe 10% of their income to the Church.
While Utah’s home prices are not among the highest nationally, they are fairly high when compared to the average wage within the state.
The combination of large families, fewer workers per family, church donations and low wages have contributed to an economic environment that makes it very hard for many Utahns to stay afloat financially. This is in direct contrast with the arguments put forth by Congress when the new bankruptcy law was proposed, which suggested that most people filing for bankruptcy are simply irresponsible. For many hard-working people in Utah, the new law will make it harder than ever to make ends meet.
About the Author
©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to debt consolidation and credit counseling, and StructuredSettlementHelp.com, a site devoted to information regarding structured settlements.
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