Consumer finance expert, Erica Sandberg, host of the weekly video podcast Making It in San Francisco that airs on KRON-4, spoke with Investopedia recently to share her take on the topic of debt relief in a post-pandemic world. Sandberg’s background as a budget and debt counselor at the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco…
At the end of June 2021, 43 million borrowers or about 14% of all adults in the U.S. owed approximately US$1.59 trillion in outstanding federal student loans. Although in many cases the media has focused on borrowers with extremely large balances such as the orthodontist who owes over $1 million in student loans the average…
NOWADAYS THE Bank of England, like most rich-country central banks, has two main functions: maintaining monetary stability and ensuring the soundness of the financial system. For most of its life, though, it was also responsible for managing government debt. (Thankfully, the original reason for the banks creation in 1694, to raise money for carrying on…
A stark divide has emerged between the more developed world and the less developed world in the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Wealthier nations have secured most of the global vaccine supply and have had the capacity to deliver massive economic stimulus packages. In poorer nations, vaccination rates remain dismally low, and the impact…
The City regulator has clamped down on debt firms after finding some were potentially pushing vulnerable customers towards insolvency in order to earn higher fees. The Financial Conduct Authority said some firms appeared to have manipulated peoples income and spending and encouraged them to seek individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), which can ultimately lead to bankruptcy.…
In early July, the U.S. Education Department under President Joe Biden canceled nearly $56 million in student loan debt for some 1,800 borrowers, bringing the administration’s total to about $1.5 billion erased. While a win for many borrowers, it isn’t a sign that broad-based student loan debt forgiveness will necessarily come anytime soon, experts say.…
The past year has been unprecedented for families across the United States. While the trajectory of the country from both a health and economic standpoint is improving day by day, we witnessed a pandemic claim the lives of friends and loved ones, while tens of thousands of businesses were shuttered and millions lost their jobs.…
One single mother of three was told her 15-year-old son could get a job and she could fight harder for child support to free up money to pay her loans. A grandmother working two jobs to care for her disabled grandson was encouraged to find higher-paying work, while the department pressed another borrower to take…
Loading The countrys total HELP bill ballooned to more than $66 billion in 2019-20, with about 85 per cent of this sitting with 2.2 million Australians aged under 40. The time taken to repay student debt has risen from an average of 7.3 years in 2005 to 9.3 years in 2020. Federal Education Minister Alan…
Sudans overall foreign debt is estimated at $70bn, and the 22 member nations of the Paris Club urged other lenders to provide similar debt forgiveness. Creditor countries have agreed to cancel $14.1bn of Sudans international debts, praising its economic reforms and efforts to fight poverty. In a statement Friday, the Paris Club of creditor nations…