Personal Finance and Investing

Dear Credit Karma,
I am considering a short sale. My house in Ft. Lauderdale is $100,000 and underwater, and I project it’ll take me about 10 years to break even. I have an adjustable rate mortgage that recasts in September, and I have a very good credit score of 764. Though it really is against my values to do this, how much will a short sale hurt me?

A short sale will affect your credit negatively as well chew up significant time and effort to file and negotiate with your lender. There are other alternatives such as loan modification or refinancing your distressed home before you consider a short sale. T

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The severe recession precipitated by the banking crisis of 2008 means the economy is likely to dominate policy debate in this election to a much greater extent than for any election since 1992, or even further back. But how will the economic crisis affect people’s views on the way the economy should move forward?

For thirty years, the mainstream economic orthodoxy was that  the way to economic success lies in deregulating product, labour and financial markets as much as possible. Gi

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Once again, British Airways (BA) cabin crew are set to strike. They’ve voted to take action at some point before the middle of March this year, causing yet more frustration for anyone planning to travel over the next few weeks. The Unite union, which represents the majority of cabin crew, will reveal details of the action later this week, at which point passengers will be able to find out if they’re affected.

But this time, BA has had a chance to plan and has said it will operate as many services as possible during the strike period.

So what do you need to know if you’re planning a trip before the end of March?

How soon could they strike?

The union cannot organise a strike until seven days after the news is issued.

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The tax season is here and this is the time of year consumers can expect to hear terms like “tax settlement specialist”. According to the advertisements this is someone who can help you settle a tax debt for pennies on the dollar. If the image of a snake oil salesman comes to mind, you would be pretty close to the truth.

Just because someone uses the word “tax” in their advertisement does not mean they are legitimate. In the minds of many consumers, no one would claim to serve as an intermediary between them and the Internal Revenue Service unless the company is honest and legitimate.

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