
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.

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.