Consolidating your credit card balances may help you to manage your credit card debt. Here are some steps to take when considering balance transfers. Figure out your total credit card debt. Figure out the interest rate on each of your credit cards. Also, you need to know what is the total amount you can pay each month on your credit card debt. There is usually a balance transfer fee as well, so find out what that fee is. Having all of these pieces of information will then help you to figure out how much it will cost you to do the balance transfers and what your new monthly payment should be. Credit card companies may be able to assist you with these calculations.

Transunion, which is one of the three credit bureaus, released a report in February of 2016 about evictions. Prior evictions and rental-related collections are predictive of future evictions. People who have been evicted have 3 times as many prior evictions and rental related collections activity than non-evicted people. Eviction losses average $3,500 per unit. This includes court costs, lost revenue and other operating expenses.

There are certain key terms of student loans you should know. What is the interest rate on the loan? Interest rates of 4 to 10 % are common. What are the repayment terms? If you have a co-signer on the loan, they should know about the terms as well. The liability of the co-signer is usually the same as the signer. The most difficult question to answer is: how can you pay back the loan?

If you are faced with foreclosure, the bank or mortgage company may allow you to do a short sale.  In a short sale, you would sell the house for a lesser price than your mortgage.  For example, if you owe $100,000 on your mortgage and you sell the house for $75,000 that is a short sale.  What happens to the $25,000 difference?  The bank may issue you a 1099 for the $25,000 debt forgiveness you received.  Check with the bank to see how they handle the debt forgiveness.   Keep in mind that you will need to keep the bank informed as to almost every step involving the short sale.  And, the bank has to agree to the short sale.

When getting a credit card, there are some key pieces of information to know.  What is the annual percentage rate for the credit card?  Is the rate a fixed rate or is it variable?  If you are late on a payment, what is the penalty and late fee?  Is there a rewards program for the credit card?  How does the rewards program work?

You can obtain a free credit report once a year through annualcreditreport.com.  Try to get a credit report from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus – Experian, Transunion and Equifax.  Take some time to go through each credit report and verify the reports are accurate.

An automatic debit allows a company to withdraw a certain amount from your bank account each month to pay towards a bill.  If you are going to stop the automatic debit, check your contract with the company to see if you are still liable for payments under the contract.  If you feel you must stop the automatic debits, contact your bank to see what the procedure is to stop the automatic debits.

You may hear about your mortgage or your car loan being “upside down.”  What does this mean?  It means that your loan amount is greater than the value of the item.  For example, if your car is only worth $10,000 but your loan amount is $20,000 then you are “upside down” on the loan.  You owe more on the car than it is worth.

The full name of this is Proceedings Supplemental to execution.  This is the name for a certain type of hearing that creditors use to collect money from debtors.  The hearing will occur after a judgment has been entered against a defendant.  Take this hearing seriously.  The next steps can include garnishment of wages and taking money from bank accounts.  The defendant is ordered to appear.  If the defendant misses this hearing, they risk having a bench warrant issued for them.  A defendant can testify about their exempt income and assets at the Proceedings Supplemental hearing.

See the following Indiana law about wage garnishments: IC 24-4.5-5-105.

If a creditor gets a judgment entered against you in a court of law in Indiana, they can garnish 25% of your disposable earnings for each week. Disposable earnings is sometimes called “take-home pay.” Disposable earnings is the amount left over after legally required deductions. You can attempt to get the garnishment amount lower than 25% upon a showing of good cause. For a second calculation, you can see how much your disposable earnings for the week are over 30 times the federal minimum wage. If your second calculation is less than the 25% amount, the second calculation will be your garnishment amount.