Weekly Round Up – August 16, 2013

 A Few Good Reads

Here are a few of my favorite reads from the past week.

 1. Which Debt Should I Pay Off First? 

You’ve just come into a little bit of money and you have decided that you want to pay off one or more    of your debts.

The problem is this…you’re not sure which one to pay off first.

Conventional wisdom tells you that you should choose the debt with the highest interest rate because it’s the most expensive to service. Open this article

2. Top Debt Collection Agency Fined $3.2 Million for Harassing Tactics: 

Here’s a nice reversal: The world’s biggest debt collector now owes a hefty bill of its own, after agreeing to pay more than $3 million to settle various charges of bad debt collection practices.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint charging that Expert Global Solutions and its subsidiaries had engaged in various violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the FTC Act. Those practices included repeated, harassing phone calls; repeated calls to people insisting that they weren’t the intended target of the collection effort; and leaving voice mails that could violate the the consumer’s confidentiality by revealing that they owe a debt. Open this article

3. The curse of student loan debt: owe while you’re young, live when you’re old 

Once upon a time, we invested in our young people so that they could enter the world without debt. Now, we turn them into deadbeat debtors before they’re old enough to legally buy a drink, left far behind their financial betters.

The truth this week came courtesy of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Wall Street Journal, whose data parsing revealed that about one in five college graduates who borrowed for tuition via the federal direct loans program are not paying the money back. Open this article

4. Wednesday: Q2 Household Debt and Credit Report, PPI, MBA Purchase Index 

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.31 percent, up from 4.28 percent at this same time last week.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 4.2 and 4.27 percent early last week before rising to the current rate this morning. Open this article

5. Dental debt management tool debuts: 

Current and incoming dental students will have access to a newly customized online debt management tool through school financial aid offices, the Association of American Medical Colleges and American Dental Education Association announced Aug. 5 as many students were returning to school.

The Dental Loan Organizer and Calculator, designed to help dental school borrowers, will be available to residents and graduates as well. Open this article

Carnivals

This That and The MBA was included in several carnivals over the last weeks:

1. http://momanddadmoney.com/2013/08/finance-carn-for-young-adults.html

2. http://www.consumerfu.com/64th-edition-lifestyle-carnival

3. http://www.debtroundup.com/yakezie-carnival-my-ac-is-still-broken-edition/

4. http://www.tortoisebanker.com/2013/08/the-tortoise-banker-carnival-5th-edition.html

5. http://www.mypersonalfinancejourney.com/2013/08/carnival-personal-finance-425-tour-de-france-bikes.html

6. http://www.aspiringblogger.com/aspiring-blogger-personal-finance-carnival-12-august-9-2013/

7. http://reachfinancialindependence.com/financial-independence-23/

Thank you for the mentions last week. I really appreciate it. Have a great weekend!

-Christopher-