As the Federal Reserve raises its interest rates, the impact to the rest of the economy is yet to be determined. However, one area that will have a profound impact is the national debt at $30.5 trillion. The cost of borrowing money will become much more expensive. It is not just the increasing cost of personal borrowing that is impacted, but also the future impact on other programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Nicolas Vega, a business reporter at CNBC, misled thousands of consumers by his recent article that credit utilization ratio makes up 30% of your FICO® credit scores. His statements are incorrect, inaccurate, and misleading. There are several other debt-related factors that have an impact on FICO credit scores.

Millions of consumers have missed payments on loans and their credit rating has taken a deep dive. The feeling is all-too-often overwhelming. Where do you start to try and rehabilitate a poor credit rating?

The last few weeks have seen some of the highest interest rates for mortgages seen in almost 15 years. Rates jumped from the low 5.00% on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage to about 6.50% before settling back closer to 6.00%. With rates jumping so much, where does the housing market go from here? There are already some signs.

Consumers are under pressure like never seen in almost 40 years. I am seeing it more and more, and it is very concerning for millions. To combat high levels of inflations, many consumers have resorted to credit card and other consumer debt trying to navigate through these record inflation rates. Every person has an opinion. What can you do more? Here are some ideas that I have helped out many others over the last 30 years.

Everyone knows a friend or two that have invested into cryptocurrency. For the last couple on years, many investors have made some money. That has all changed recently when such investments have lost lots of value. Many young investors, dreaming of early retirement, face the recent prospects of losing all their savings from recent declines in cryptocurrencies. Finances can be very brutal.

Everyone is impacted from higher gas, food and other commodity prices. How is each consumer responding to this pressure on their finances? A number just came out that will have longer term implications for many into the future.

Federal rent assistance for millions of Americans comes to an end starting May 1, 2022. For many, the challenges of affordability and of having to start making payments that have increased exponentially since the start of the pandemic, are way beyond reach. So, what is going to happen?

The three major credit bureaus, Experian®, Equifax®, and TransUnion® have marketed different credit monitoring tools to help you track the credit information in your credit report – as long as you pay something. But, why don’t the credit bureaus do it? It is their information. I’ll explain.

Over the last 15 years, the credit score has become a vital part of every consumer’s financial life. Good or bad, politicians have recently got more involved to have their impact on consumer’s credit scores. As one observer correctly pointed it out, those with higher credit ratings are losing out while those with lower credit scores are benefitting. Let's take a look.