What happens when you lose your job and run out of money? You stop paying your mortgage or rent, credit card bills and car payments.
Yesterday’s news that credit delinquencies hit a new high wasn’t surprising. The American Bankers Association (ABA) released a report showing that delinquencies on consumer credit rose to 3.23 percent, a record number. The report blames the more than 6 million jobs that have been lost, including 2 million jobs in the first three months of 2009.
New tools are being introduced to help consumers pay down their debt even faster. Equifax, one of the three main credit reporting bureaus, launches Debt Wise this week. Debt Wise uses your Social Security number to pull all of your debts into one list. You then add information about the interest rate you’re paying and the term of the loan. Debt Wise aggrates the information and creates a “fast pay plan” that will tell you which bills to pay first in order to save yourself months or years of payments.
My team and I have been playing with Debt Wise over the past week, and the product is good, if a little pricey (more on that in a moment). One member of my team, has a load of school loans and found that if she follows Debt Wise’s advice, she’ll pay off her loan sooner, and save herself thousands of dollars in interest - which is great except she doesn’t earn enough to make the size payments Debt Wise suggests.
Yesterday’s news that credit delinquencies hit a new high wasn’t surprising. The American Bankers Association (ABA) released a report showing that delinquencies on consumer credit rose to 3.23 percent, a record number. The report blames the more than 6 million jobs that have been lost, including 2 million jobs in the first three months of 2009.
New tools are being introduced to help consumers pay down their debt even faster. Equifax, one of the three main credit reporting bureaus, launches Debt Wise this week. Debt Wise uses your Social Security number to pull all of your debts into one list. You then add information about the interest rate you’re paying and the term of the loan. Debt Wise aggrates the information and creates a “fast pay plan” that will tell you which bills to pay first in order to save yourself months or years of payments.
My team and I have been playing with Debt Wise over the past week, and the product is good, if a little pricey (more on that in a moment). One member of my team, has a load of school loans and found that if she follows Debt Wise’s advice, she’ll pay off her loan sooner, and save herself thousands of dollars in interest - which is great except she doesn’t earn enough to make the size payments Debt Wise suggests.
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- IlyceGlink
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