Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for October, 2017

Payday Loans Meet Stricter Regulation

Payday lenders will now be more limited in how they can structure their short-term personal loans, based on a new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This could have serious financial impacts on the 12 million borrowers who take out payday loans annually as well on the lenders who make those loans. A payday […]

Student Loan Borrowers Struggle to Pay Down Principal

Roughly a decade after borrowing money for student loans, 2 out of 5 American borrowers have not made any progress on repaying their debt, according to new data from the Department of Education. The study tracked loans made to U.S. college students in the 2003-2004 academic year and found that repayment rates varied by what type […]

Lenders Loosen Mortgage Standards as Rates Jump

Mortgage lenders made more home loan credit available in September, according to a new report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, although interest rates jumped up to a 10-week high during the latest week. The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) rose to a reading of 181.4 in September, up 0.7 percent from August. An increase […]

A Quarter of Americans Have Carried Credit Card Debt for 5+Years

Many Americans have trouble paying off their credit card bill each month, and according to a new survey by CreditCards.com almost one out of four have been having that trouble for five years or more. The survey, conducted by phone with 2,005 adults, found that 43 percent have carried a credit card balance for more […]