An article I wrote for Bankrate.com's Sub-Prime Lending Guide was featured on the Yahoo! Home page on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005. The article discusses how credit card companies and other lenders are using credit scores that rely on alternative data such as a consumer's history of paying rent, utility bills, pay day loans, etc. These consumers frequently don't have a FICO score or have a low score, so such alternate systems can open the doors to new borrowing possiblities. However, there is no guarantee that the terms offered by these lenders trolling the sub-prime market will be favorable to the borrower.
When it comes to privacy, there isn't any in the workplace. The founding fathers wrote the constitution before the industrial revolution, so they couldn't have envisioned the modern workplace. Here's what employers look at when you're at work.
The thought of moving isn't one that most people enjoy. Packing, sorting through years of belongings and unpacking at the other end are one of life's most stressful tasks. Well, compared with what migrants in the 1850s had to go through to reach the West Coast, moving in the 21st Century is a literal picnic.
Even the most amicable divorce present a hornet's nest of financially-related issues. Who gets which car? How do you protect your credit? And what happens to joint bank, investment and credit card accounts? This feature provides a run-down on the issues you should consider before and during divorce to protect yourself.
To stem their liability, employers are looking for more ways to check into prospective employees' backgrounds. Unfortunately, if there is inaccurate information stored in databases about you, your chances of landing that new job could be next to zero. Check into how you can spot errors that may crop up in any background check about you.
If you're selling your house yourself, you don't have to go it alone. The days of forlorn white and black signs in front yards are gone, as companies offer lots of tools to help homeowners save money on the sale of their home.
Paying for college is an incredibly expensive undertaking. One cost that many students and parents don't consider is textbooks, which students have to have. The average student spends between $850 and $1,000 a year on new and used textbooks. While you can't expect to find them at bargain basement prices, there are ways to cut costs.
Cruise companies are building new ships as vacation travel rebounds, making the choices involved in selecting a cruise vacation more confusing than ever. Among the decisions you must make before booking a cruise are where you want to travel, the size of the ship, the length of your trip and the formality of the experience.
