Blog Posts by Ashley Petersen

There are special problems that may face men in divorce simply because…they are men. The comment is not intended to be sexist in any way, but in reality most people think of women when it comes to different aspects of divorce; men are often left on the outside looking in.

Planning a Divorce for Men

Yes, men get divorced, too-naturally-but they are often left in the cold when it comes to the negotiations. Learning how to plan divorce support for men is something everyone in all walks of life should learn. Too often people think only of the women even in cases where the woman's behavior contributed to the demise of the marriage. It's important to make sure everyone is treated fairly, especially when it involves the children who are the innocent victims in any divorce.

How the Military Creates Additional Problems in Divorce

While everyone thinks proudly of our men and women who are in the military and fighting for our freedom, the military and divorce are not very

Have you ever thought about what would happen if someone stole your child's identity theft? Identity theft of children is a growing problem, and it will get worse unless parents take the initiative to protect their children from this crime. It's more difficult to detect than other types of identity theft because it sometimes takes years to discover-the criminals depend on this! Don't let your child be one of the victims!

Theft of a Social Security Number

When someone gets hold of your social security number they can do just about anything financially with it. Social security number ID theft is the predecessor of all other types of identity theft because criminals need this information to commit other types of identity theft including criminal identity theft. What can a criminal do when he or she has your social security number? Some of the possibilities include the following:

• Obtain credit in your name
• Get a job with your credentials (this will give them access to your

How do you stop foreclosure? That is a question most people never think they will need to ask, but when the economy goes downhill, many things happen we didn't expect. This leaves even the average person wondering what they can do to avoid losing their home in a foreclosure sale.

Working with an Expert in Foreclosure

If you find yourself facing foreclosure it's a good idea to make plans to work with one of the mortgage foreclosure experts. It doesn't matter if you conduct research and know the different things you can do; those who are experienced in the field may be aware of options of which the average homeowner is unaware. The options usually come to the minds of most homeowners include the following:

• Loan modification
• Refinance
• Bankruptcy
• Forbearance agreement
• Short sale
• Quit claim deed
• Interest only agreement (usually a temporary solution)

For more information about options open to homeowners who are facing foreclosure visit our

What is drunk driving? That is a question that seems to have a simple answer but unfortunately some people have a difficult time understanding the meaning. This is especially true of teenagers who believe they are above the law or simply have the right to disobey it. Disobeying drunk driving laws has the potential to kill and maim even innocent bystanders-are you willing to live with that possibility the rest of your life?

Obeying Drunk Driving Laws

Whether you wish to believe it or not drunk driving rules are created to protect everyone on the road. In most states the law states you are legally drunk if your blood alcohol level is .08 or higher, but the problem is teens can actually show impairment in driving with a level as low as .05. Unfortunately there isn't a way to define two sets of laws because even some adults cannot hold their alcohol and might be impaired enough to cause problems with only one glass of beer. I remember going to a party with a friend of mine who

A question i often hear credit repair specialists ask new clients is, "how to repair bad credit?" The purpose is to assess how much knowledge the potential client has of the process because it's difficult to help a person who has absolutely no idea what is on his credit report or how to understand the information it contains.

How much knowledge do you possess about how to repair bad credit?

Before you can begin thinking about repairing your bad credit, you have to have some knowledge about your credit report and the information it contains. Without that information it will be very hard for you to either work toward repairing your credit or even working with a credit repair specialist. Some of the things you need to learn include the following:

• How to read the credit report for accuracy
• Understanding the various codes that are used to rate your payment history
• Learning how to assess any information that should be removed from the report because of age
• Gaining

What is the best way to pay off my debt? That is probably the most important question you can ask yourself if you are serious about reducing the dollar amount of your debt. The key is not in trying to do it so fast that you struggle with other finances but to develop a plan that helps you gradually and efficiently increase your financial resources.

Faster is Not Always Better

While it may seem if you pay off debt faster you will be in better financial shape, this may not necessarily be true. I made that statement to one of my co-workers who insisted I was nuts. He didn't understand why he had to take his time when he was so anxious to get out of debt. Have you ever thought about it? Yes, it sounds good, but in reality the reverse is true-at least for most people. Think of it like a diet: are you more successful when you lose weight fast or lose it slowly? The key is developing a new way of doing things, and you can't do that if you speed through the process.

How to Pay

Being online is a big problem for many people today, and opens up the potential for theft. How can you protect yourself from identity theft when you're online? The increase in problems of identity theft doesn't mean you shouldn't conduct any business online, but it does mean you need to be more careful.

Preventing Identity Theft

How can identity theft be prevented? That is the question of many people who are part of the online community. The market today is comprised predominantly of online transactions yet many people fear the possibility of someone having access to their information. The answer is not avoiding the online community but rather learning to protect your information for those who might use it for their own selfish schemes. Don't let yourself end up like my neighbor who fell for one of those schemes and put her information in a pop up window. It took her months to get everything straightened out. Some of the things you can do to protect yourself include the

Learning how to restore your credit score is an important part of rebuilding your credit. However, it is not something that comes to you automatically-you need to learn how to understand the factors that affect your credit score first.

Restoring Your Credit

After a bout of bad credit you will need to learn how to restore credit. Even if there is a good reason for your bad credit, that doesn't help the fact that you have a poor credit history and low credit score. You can certainly put an explanation into your credit file, but unless the potential creditor actually reads the file instead of going only by the credit score it will not do you much good. The key element is finding ways to restore your credit so you will be able to increase your credit score. Some of the things you need to know before you can consider restoring credit on your own include:

• How to read the credit report
• The factors that affect your credit score
• How to assess and report inaccurate