Loading What is particularly egregious is that energy companies are making such demands on their customers who are in financial difficulty, even though new rules will outlaw some of this conduct in six weeks time in Victoria. Come January 1, under reforms introduced by the Essential Services Commission, an energy retailer will be required to…
A few months ago Reserve Bank Governor Phillip Lowe provided four common sense points we should all keep in mind regarding borrowing to finance a home. (The Governors speech can be found here). I thought they made sense and so summarised them in a tweet to which someone replied that every checkout operator knows…
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was hit with another lawsuit Tuesday claiming she failed to cancel student debt owed by people whose for-profit colleges have been shut down. The new lawsuit comes a month after a federal judge ruled that the regulation should immediately go into effect, after more than a year of what he…
A decision to cease federal funding to two key groups operating Australias national debt helpline could have put the entire service in jeopardy, consumer advocates say. But questions to the social services minister, Paul Fletcher, appear to have prompted an intervention his second such intervention in recent days that has given advocates confidence the looming…
While high household debt remains a risk to economic stability, consumer spending is also a source of stability, according to a major bank economist. The Commonwealth Bank of Australias chief economist, Michael Blythe, has said that while high levels of household debt, especially at a time of subdued income growth, is a risk to economic…
Executive Summary A small percentage of U.S. companies including PwC, Fidelity, and Aetna have stepped up to help their employees cope with the education loans weighing them down by offering them cash to help them reduce their debts. One downside of their approach is simply giving their workers cash raises their income taxes, diminishing the…
The numberof African countries whose public debt is above 50 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased from 10 in 2013 to 22 in 2016 According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), debt levels for some African countries are unsustainable, meaning that the scheduled debt service exceeds the capacity of the member to…
Nearly a third of workers say theyre distracted on the job by financial headachesand, for 44 million Americans, one burden is near the top of the debt heap. Consumers are facing over 1.5 trillion dollars in student loan debt. Thats a trillion with a T. Now, more employers are realizing they need to jump in…
McClatchy announced last week an initiative that aims to help erase the medical debt of veterans, servicemembers and their families in partnership with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt. To kick off the campaign, the McClatchy Foundation has approved a donation that will enable RIP Medical Debt to abolish $1 million in medical debt for military…
File Photo Cape Town – Contrary to popular belief, the majority of indebted black professionals get into debt to support family members and not to feed a flashy lifestyle. This is according to research conducted by Lifecheq, a personal finance advisory organisation based in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The research, conducted on a sample of…