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View Article  Fred Harteis News Articles- Lend to family the right way

Fred Harteis News Articles - With banks stingier in the credit they're offering to borrowers, families are finding that it pays to cut traditional financial institutions out of the equation. While the bulk of interpersonal lending is informal and hard to track, there's clearly a lot of money moving around. At Virgin Money, an online company that facilitates such loans, volume has more than doubled in two years, to $425 million.

 

Perhaps you're considering helping an adult child buy a first home, aiding a sibling who is struggling with debt, or supporting a relative who's lost a job. Those ...   more »

View Article  Fred Harteis News Articles- Best back-to-school laptops

Fred Harteis News Articles- If your kid is heading to college this fall, you may be feeling pretty protective of your wallet. But equipping your offspring with one of the cut-rate laptops in those back-to-school fliers is a false economy.

 

"You can't expect a $500 laptop to last four years," says Yancy Phillips, director of IT user services at Indiana State University.

 

For a model that goes the distance, Phillips says, expect to spend around $1,000. Take this Laptop Shopping 101 course to find the right notebook for your collegian. Mom and Dad, you may want one for ...   more »

View Article  Fred Harteis News Articles-Consumer bankruptcies jump 34%

Fred Harteis News Articles-  Consumer bankruptcies surged in July to their highest level since October 2005 as U.S. households struggle under the burden of past debt and rising unemployment.

 

Total filings reached 126,434 in July, a 34.3% increase from the same period a year ago and an 8.7% increase over June, according to a report released Tuesday from the the American Bankruptcy Institute.

 

The number of filings was the highest monthly total since the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act went into effect in October 2005.

 

"Today's bankruptcy filing number reflects the sustained and growing ...   more »

View Article  Fred Harteis News Articles- 10 Worst Things to Say in the Workplace

Fred Harteis News Articles-  These days, your job security is unstable enough as it is. The last thing you need is to make an off-the-cuff remark that gets you fired (or shunned from the likes of your co-workers). To help keep your career on track, here are 10 things you should never say or discuss in the workplace:

 

1. "That's not my job."

When you boil things down, everyone does things that "aren't their job." If everyone complained that a certain task wasn't in the offer they signed, the labor force would be in more trouble than it ...   more »

View Article  Fred Harteis News Articles - It's time to unspoil your kids

Fred Harteis News Articles - Fourteen-year-old Dalyn Fountain has all the trappings of today's teens: her own cellphone, an iPod, a new laptop, and cable television in her bedroom. Until recently she also had a ready line of credit from the Bank of Mom & Dad - no payback necessary.

 

But with the country in a recession, Donna and her husband (Dalyn's stepfather), Dexter, 36, feel an urgency to change Dalyn's spendthrift ways - and, frankly, their own as well. "We've been extravagant with our kids and with ourselves," says Donna. "Now we're readjusting."

 

For one, they've put ...   more »