| A nation in debt
The financial chickens are coming home to roost. Two sets of figures released yesterday should act as warning signals to Scots planning to head off for their customary weekend retail-therapy session. With personal debt in Scotland already standing at an average of nearly £9000 per person (excluding mortgage debt), more and more people are sliding into insolvency, according to government figures. While second-quarter personal bankruptcies in England and Wales appear to have levelled off, the figure for sequestrations (the Scottish equivalent) was up by more than 23% on the corresponding period of 2006. That translates as a record 38 Scots going bust every single day, the equivalent of nearly 14,000 a year, compared with fewer than 5000 in 1998. At the same time, statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show a 30% rise in repossessions in the six months to June.
Suthers backs state's colleges in wrangle
The Colorado attorney general's office on Thursday called probes into agreements between student-loan consolidation companies and state universities nothing more than a "fishing expedition" by the New York attorney general. "If the New York attorney general has some evidence that something illegal has occurred, he certainly hasn't shared that with our office," said Nate Strauch, spokesman for Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. "We have no reason to believe that any wrongdoing has occurred." Officials with Colorado State University and the alumni foundations at CSU and the University of Colorado at Boulder say they have not violated the law. This week, New York officials announced an agreement with the student loan company Nelnet, which had relationships with the CSU and CU-Boulder alumni associations.
Student loan options are baffling to family
Karen Wons of Maryland finds herself in a quandary that is confronting many parents right now. She is struggling with how best to advise her daughter -- a recent college graduate -- on paying down her $25,000 in student loans. Wons did what any wise parent would do. She asked for help. Wons's daughter works as a project manager at a medical software company. She has an annual salary of more than $50,000. Her employer provides a 401(k). She has about $13,000 in cash from recently redeemed Series EE savings bonds. She has no credit card debt. She has no payments on a reliable car with low mileage. She's sharing an apartment and other living expenses with an older sister in Madison, Wis. Her portion of the rent is a little more than $500 a month. Wons is unsure about the course her daughter should take: Should the daughter consolidate her college loans during her six-month grace period? (She has federally backed Stafford and Perkins loans.) Should she use the entire $13,000 to pay down the loans or keep making monthly payments to take advantage of the interest deduction? Should she invest all of the $13,000? While paying on the loans, should she contribute to her 401(k)? Let's take the consolidation question first.
Rein in spending and avoid credit-card debt
Question: I have credit-card debt at high interest rates on several cards, as well as student loans. Going into my last year in college and being wary of the future, carrying this debt scares me. I have been wondering if I should consider a debt-consolidation loan. What do you think? Answer: I am not a fan of consolidation loans. What attracts most people to consolidation loans is the potentially lower monthly payments. However, the main drawback of such loans is that they usually raise a person's average interest rate on his debt. .
New grads confronted by dizzying loan options
Karen Wons of Maryland finds herself in a quandary that is confronting many parents right now. She is struggling with how best to advise her daughter -- a recent college graduate -- on paying down $25,000 in student loans. Wons did what any wise parent would do. .
Report: University of Nevada, Reno alumni group paid by loan firm
RENO, Nev. (AP) - The alumni association at the University of Nevada, Reno received money from a student loan consolidation company in exchange for names of alumni and exclusive rights to UNR's logo in promotional material, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Over the past four years, UNR's alumni association received $88,400 from Nelnet Inc., the nation's second-largest student loan consolidation company, according to the New York Attorney General's Office, which has been investigating ties between student loan lenders, universities and administrators. On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an expansion of the probe to include whether top college athletic departments steered athletes and other students to loan companies in exchange for kickbacks. No Nevada schools were among 39 nationwide served with subpoenas and requests for documents in that aspect.
|
