Hard times are make children less healthy because families are forced to buy unhealthy food rather than no food. A Missouri or Illinois Chapter 7 bankruptcy may be one solution to the problem. Continue reading

Cold weather has swept St. Louis—and with it, comes the Missouri Cold Weather Rule, put forth by Attorney General Chris Koster. The rule requires that utility companies leave your utilities connected for the 24 hours following a forecasted temperature of below 32 degrees. So, if you are late on your utility bill, you won’t be “left out in the cold.” (Well, at least not immediately.) The utility companies are… Continue reading

According to a report from RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings continue across Christian County, Missouri, but are not as prominent as they were in 2008.

For the first half of 2009, there were 79 foreclosure filings in the county, which is a decrease of 28 percent from the 100 the county had during the same period in 2008.

That accounted for one filing out of every 375 households… Continue reading

Clients often seem more panicked when a collector threatens to ruin their credit. My 15 years of experience has taught me that it is mostly creditors that bother with reporting you to the credit bureau. By the time you are threatened about ruining your credit by a collector, you have probably already been reported. Therefore, it is important to not let this threat make you change your list of priorities… Continue reading

We discussed high and low, but what about those debts in the middle of your list of priorities? Most debts fall into the high or low priority categories but there are a few that squeeze into the middle. Government student loans (not private student loans, those remain low priority) should be paid after you’ve taken care of your high priority debts.

The government, as mentioned in our… Continue reading

The next debts in line to be paid are the ones tied to the government. If you are paying child support, that must come next. The consequences for not paying child support can be severe and may even lead to jail time. Income tax debts are also serious. Being in debt to the government, as opposed to a regular creditor, puts