How knowledgeable is the consumer when it comes to their finances?

Posted by C Brown
Consumer loans, credit cards, and credit score are on a lot of peoples' minds today. Do you know how much you really owe creditors? Do you know how to monitor your credit reports? Can you keep track of your personal finances and do you know how to read and understand everything that your creditors are giving you? A lot of people would answer no to these questions. Too many people don't have enough knowledge about their personal finances. Many consumers are defaulting on loans or taking out second mortgages to keep their houses. Many people are talking to debt consolidators to help them get a handle on debt. This seems like a great idea because creditors stop calling and bills stop coming every day, but in all actuality, you are still paying creditors less than their minimum payment, which means they are still reporting that you are paying your loans back late which really hurts your credit score. Loans were meant to help people, but now all loans and credit cards have done for people is get them into financial trouble that they can't get out of. More homes are being foreclosed on. More people are losing their job because of the economic crisis, which makes it ten times harder for people to pay back loans and harder for banks to loan people more money. Now is also the best time for Cyber crooks and identity thefts. There has been more complaints in 2008 during the economic crisis of bank account fraud. There has been thousands of emails and now even text messages sent out to mainly corporate executives or people who are financially stable in order to steal personal information whether it is to take $10 or $40 out of their account. Since these emails are personally addressed to these financially stable people, they open them and it sets a virus in their computer giving the thief the opportunity to retrieve vital information about financial markets even before the information is released to the public. Consumers need to read and be knowledgeable of what is happening in our economy, and how our economy directly affects the consumer.

http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-does-consumer-debt-counseling-services-affect-my-credit-score-675369.html


http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/21/business/21cndbank.php#top


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123318475748226305.html