The city of Houston, Texas had a problem. They had $400,000 or so left over in their budget earmarked for efforts to rebuild the area from Hurricane Ike. Generally, extra money in the budget is a good problem to have. But given the nation’s real estate market and current economic climate, some people in the city wanted to put that money to work.

Houston Mayor Bill White proposed a plan to use the money to pay down some of the debt of prospective first time home buyers. Houston already has a program to provide down payment assistance to lower income home buyers in some neighborhoods which it would like to revitalize. However, some applicants’ credit scores fell just short of the number needed to qualify for the program. The solution to its problem of too much money in both programs: give the homebuyers’ money to pay down their debt and boost their credit score.

The new White House website has President Barack Obama’s agenda.  I took a few minutes to peruse it and didn’t see bankruptcy reform or debt relief among the major issues listed.  So I did a bit of digging, and here’s what I found.
From the overview of the page on family, it says Obama will “reform [...]

When creditors last fall asked the U.S. Government to expand the time limits for the repayment of debt through their partial debt forgiveness plans, as well as extend the time for writing off debt forgiven through the plan, I wondered if the federal government would opt to clarify the options for debtors unable to pay [...]

The USA Today has an article about the dangers of paying for debt counseling through unreputable agencies that have, apparently, proliferated on the internet.
American culture has grown up with Get Rich Quick! schemes, and now that society is facing a severe debt problem, some believe that the solution is the Get Out of Debt Free! [...]

Fair Isaac, the developer of the proprietary model used for the widely accepted FICO credit score, has announced that it has reversed its 2007 FICO 08 decision to remove the effect of an authorized user on a credit card account on the credit score of the authorized user. Its press release explains that it [...]

Pennsylvania is currently considering expanding the offerings from credit card counseling services allowed in the State of Pennsylvania. Nonprofit organizations run the show currently - but some are arguing to allow profit companies to step in and help consumers try to lower and reorganize their credit card debt.
Maryland is considering a similar proposal - [...]

The Christian Science Monitor has an article today about a second chance for subprime borrowers to establish good credit through debt collection company Genesis Financial Solutions credit card that provides normal interest rates on new debt and zero interest on old credit card debt.
This is an interesting manner of debt consolidation for credit card borrowers [...]

This website has been in the planning stages for a few weeks now, but the Federal Reserve Board’s decision to issue proposals for new rules governing credit card company practices spurred me to get it set up before originally planned.  Over the next year, this website will examine the FRB proposed rules, proposals in Congress [...]