Blogs

After serving the Shoals area for close to 15 ½ years, Best Buy has announced it will close its Florence, Alabama store located at 398 Cox Creek Parkway on February 25, 2017.

As we finish the first month of the new year, tax season is starting to pick up.  By now many people have gotten their W-2’s or other tax forms from 2016 and they’re ready to file for their 2016 income tax returns.  If you’re in bankruptcy, or considering filing for bankruptcy, how will that affect your refund?

Last year, economists at the New York Federal Reserve released an analysis showing that older Americans were significantly more in debt than in previous years.  While this might not be that surprising given the aging population in the United States, a source of the debt might be less obvious: student loan debt.

The fallout continues from Wells Fargo’s settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over the bank’s fake account scandal. Last September, federal regulators announced that Wells Fargo employees created upwards of 2 million bank and credit card accounts without customer approval.

Last fall, Wells Fargo admitted it had created over 2 million phony accounts as a result of an incentives program that rewarded employees who increased their sales numbers. Some employees who tried to report these wrong activities were retaliated against and fired.

I previously wrote a series of blogs addressing issues with student loan debt.  As previously mentioned, student loan debt has now surpassed a trillion dollars in this country.  Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a lawsuit against one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, Navient.  In t

In my June 8, 2016 blog, I talked a bit about the connection between Social Security (SSA) disability benefits and gun control, essentially that if a person is drawing SSA disability benefits for a mental health issue, among other things, it will pop up on the background check and those individuals may be legally prohibit

Seventy-five percent of consumers said debt collectors ignored their requests to stop calling, according to a survey released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which detailed “troubling” practices in the multi billion-dollar industry.

The cost of health care remains a major concern for nearly all Americans, and there is still no shortage of health care related news coverage. Since this post was originally published in 2017, the health care debate has changed. The Affordable Care Act a/k/a “Obamacare” remains in place, the Health Insurance Marketplace remains active, and many current questions focus on coverage, premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, and the future of premium tax credits. Regardless of what happens in Washington, D.C., medical bills and other health care costs continue to be a major expense for many Americans. At times, these costs can be overwhelming.

Recent news reports indicate there are eight men in the world who hold the same amount of money as half of the world.  The organization Oxfam reports that in the U.S. 1% of the population controls 42% of the wealth.  Some notable names included in this group are: