With the looming fiscal cliff, many of the nation’s lawmakers are debating exactly what federal programs and tax breaks to cut in an effort to reduce the national deficit. But some top officials across the country are now fighting for one such allowance. Last week, the attorneys general for 40 states plus Guam wrote a… Read More

“Marcia” from Texas contacted me because she was considering entering a debt settlement program (with a company I’d never heard of) to negotiate payment on the substantial debt she owed. But the representative warned her that since one of her larger credit card balances was with the same company that held her mortgage, she should leave it out of the program. Otherwise, the creditor could add her unpaid credit card debt to her mortgage loan. “Is that true?” she wondered.