
Student loans are increasingly necessary
for many students to pay for college, but these massive debts are causing some graduates to flee the country. It may seem dramatic, but
leaving the country sometimes seems like the only option for grads that have defaulted on their student loans and can't find another way to escape the debt collectors.
CNN Money profiled a student loan fugitive named Chris who got a foreign address to escape his $160,000 student debt from getting a master's degree in music.

Many young couples are betting that it's an ideal time to buy their first homes because there's better value on the real estate market, but barriers from banks' stricter requirements have caused them to turn to another lending source. These want-to-be homeowners, many who never asked for financial assistance in their adult lives,
are turning to family members for help with down payments and related buying expenses like closing costs and co-op fees. Arguing that the properties will likely appreciate, some of these relatives are obliging with hope of participating in the eventual gain.

TeamSugar member
RosaDilia just financed a new ride and put 20 percent down to secure her loan, and her
comment about it not being easy (despite having a good credit score) coincided with a
New York Times piece about the issue.
Since July, the average down payment has gone up by about $1,000 for non-luxury vehicles, from $4,946 in the first seven months of the year to $5,915 by the end of September. With credit scarce, many car buyers are foregoing a down payment altogether and simply paying cash for their vehicles.

For what seems like ages financial gurus have been lamenting that consumers rely too much on credit cards, and finally people have begun to listen — all it took was a failing economy! The Federal Reserve announced on Tuesday that
consumer borrowing fell in August for the first time since 1998 and that was before the crisis worsened in September. Consumer borrowing is defined as loans not secured by real estate, and auto loans and credit cards were the two areas that led to a decline in consumer credit.

Dear Savvy,
I've been meaning to take a $5,000 personal loan. However, as you may know, my bank WaMu was bought by JP Morgan Chase. I'm not sure what kind of effects this would have on me or my bank.

Two ex-MBNA / Bank of America employees
told CNN all about the shady business of credit sales. They were pressured to prey on customers and push dangerous credit mechanisms like cash advances on people who couldn't afford them. Particularly disturbing is the way they would give access to down payment cash to people trying to buy homes.

Sorting through the news lately has been an emotional, stressful experience that has everyone worked up. While it's important to understand how things came to be and the who's who of what's happening now, it's just as worthwhile (and maybe more so) to know how the Wall Street mess affects you and me. Here are some points to consider when trying to make sense of the various moving pieces.

Making punctual payments on your debts has a huge impact in maintaining (or achieving) a high credit score, and tardy payments can leave a negative dent in your credit. Have you ever been late in making a payment?
Source

Just as there are several companies and agencies capable of generating your credit report, there are many sources that offer credit scoring services. The September issue of
Consumer Reports describes how The Consumer Reports Money Lab spent $130 to determine how the scores may vary, and the results proved the point that scores from different sources can seem like they belong to different people! See the details of their experiment and what it all means to you when you .

Because 70 percent of you are
dealing with student loans, a
Motley Fool article called "Die, Student Loan, Die!" caught my eye. The article has some good tips on how to assess whether you should focus on putting more money toward savings or more toward student loans.