The LA Times reported that McCourt was turned down three times, once each by Citibank, a Chinese investment firm and by a Southern California infomercial king, when trying to get addition financing. The information comes from a deposition by Dodgers Chief Financial Officer Peter Wilhelm. “They did not feel that the Dodger organization had the capacity to take on more debt,” Wilhelm told the LA Times.

McCourt paid $430 for the team in 2004, according to reports, and revenue has doubled from $156 million 2003 to $286 million in 2009. Although his pledge was to pay Dodgers players among the best in the league, new documents show he’s tried cutting payroll. However, the LA Times says that the Dodgers opened the latest season with a $95 million payroll, ranking 11th among 30 major league teams. “Every dollar he makes is going to pay his debts,” Raman Sain, a principal at Holthouse Carlin and Van Trigt, the largest accounting firm based in Southern California, told the LA Times.

According to a McCourt spokesman, the Dodgers will continue to be a top-performing team despite any financial issues. “The Dodgers have consistently demonstrated a commitment to fielding a team worthy of fan support, and the four division championships in the last six years are indicative of that,” the statement from spokesman Steve Sugarman read, according to the LA Times. “There’s a commitment to winning, and that continues.”

Will Money Problems Hurt The LA Dodgers? is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

According to the film’s synopsis, Gekko now finds himself on the outside of a world he once dominated. Gekko forms a relationship with his estranged daughter’s fiance, Jacob. Jacob believes Gekko is a changed man and can be trusted, but soon learns that money has a tight hold over Gekko’s life. The film will officially hit theaters on September 24. Here’s a look at the trailer for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

Wall Street Sequel Depicts Dark Side Of Greed is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

Officials received tips that about two dozen cars that were supposed to be destroyed were actually shipped overseas. According to the report, most of the dealerships were reimbursed for their incentives, however nearly $4 million had been returned by dealers to federal officials. Nearly 20,000 dealerships participated and 678,400 new cars were sold as a result of the program. “While the primary focus of NHTSA’s initial activities was necessarily on the front end program transactions, NHTSA has transitioned its focus to ensuring that vehicles are disposed of in compliance with program requirements,” the report says according to the OC Register. “NHTSA is conducting outreach and program compliance activities intended to ensure that CARS trade-in vehicles are disposed of in a manner in full compliance with program requirements….”

According to USA Today ten dealers received violations. The first two cited were Prothro Chevrolet of Manning, South Carolina and Gary Wood Chrysler of Aurora, Missouri. Both were forced to pay $21,000 in fines. “I feel like they prosecuted me because they could,” Wood told USA Today. Wood sold 14 cars through the program, according to NHTSA records, but says he was reported by a fired salesman for keeping a used pickup for more than three months after it was to be destroyed. “If you get run over by the train for standing on the tracks, is it the train’s fault? Not necessarily.”

Cash For Clunkers’ Disposal Facilities Investigated is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

Madigan says her office has seen an increase in consumer complaints about fake collectors. Those being called say they have taken out online payday loans in the past, but paid it of long ago. Phone calls from the fake collectors seem to be coming from outside the US and the scammers are already armed with personal data about the victim including name, Social Security Number and employer. Officials say often the scam artists will say they’re calling on behalf of a law enforcement agency. The con men will threaten legal action if immediate payments aren’t made.

The Attorney General’s office says some of the names being used by the bogus debt collectors include Morgan & Associates, Federal Bureau of Investigators, DNR Recovery, DNI Recovery, Legal Accounts Association, Department of Law and Enforcement, CashNet USA, America Legal Services, Quick Cash, and ACS. Some of these names are fake and other’s are legitimate, but are being used without permission.

So if you get a call from a threatening debt collector keep these tips from the Attorney General in mind:

• You cannot go to jail for failing to pay a debt;
• If you are threatened in any way by the debt collector, hang up and file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office;
• Do not give out any personal information over the telephone, including bank account numbers or credit card numbers;
• When in doubt, ask the debt collector to provide you with documentation that substantiates the debt they are trying to collect;
• Contact the original creditor and ask whether the debt has been paid. If it has not, confirm that the debt was sold to a third party collector before making a payment.

You can report suspicious behavior by calling the Illinois Attorney General’s Consumer Fraud Hotline at the following numbers:

Chicago 1-800-386-5438
Springfield 1-800-243-0618
Carbondale 1-800-243-0607

Watch Out For Calls From Phony Payday Loan Collectors is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

The woman behind @MrsMoneySaver is Dana Adams, a wife, mom, Christian,  and blogger based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her slogan “Do More. With Less.” sums up her mission. Through her blog at MrsMoneySaver.com and her Twitter account, Dana spreads the best sales and deals available at the stores you likely shop in. She approaches this with the spirit of a servant, hoping to help others  use their resources wisely.

These days, just about everyone needs help saving money. So whether you’re trying to spend less on coffee or tennis shoes, @MrsMoneySaver will likely be posting a deal that you can use. You can expect multiple updates daily if you follow @MrsMoneySaver. However, don’t expect much interaction. For @MrsMoneySaver, Twitter is a tool to get her information out, and not really a tool for connecting with others. But we still think she makes a great follow for anyone looking to save some money.

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @MrsMoneySaver is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

Recent research conducted by the US Department of Education found that one in ten borrowers who earned their four-year degree in 2008 had racked up $40,000 or more in student loans. That’s a three percent increase compared to 1996 graduates. The average senior graduated with $18,650 in loans in 2004. In 2008 that number reached $23,200. And those who went on to earn graduate degrees finished school in 2008 with an average debt of $80,000 or more.

The problem can be even worse for Black students, according to a report by Afro.com. Graduation rates are lower according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The six-year college graduation rate for Black students is 42 percent, while White students graduate 60 percent of the time. And not only are Black students finishing school less often, they’re racking up more debt, too. A recent report found that Black students held an average of $30,500 after earning a bachelor’s degree.

Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C., says the average Black family can’t support the cost of college tuition. “Probably half of the things students come to see me about have to do with money,” Malveaux told the AFRO. “Obviously, there has to be some outside resources for students to matriculate.”

Experts say estimating post-graduation debt payments while students are still in college will help them be prepared for what is coming. “The worst thing is for a student to come into the (student loan exit) interview and say, ‘I didn’t know I owe that much,’ ” said St. Bonaventure financial aid director Elisabeth Rankin, according to Buffalo Business First.

College Graduates Face Massive Debt is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

Nearly 100,000 property owners received default notices in July, which was a 28 percent drop compared to July of 2009, according to recent numbers. Default notices reached their peak in April of 2009 when 142,064 were sent out. Another positive statistic shows that foreclosure auctions were down 14 percent from the peak, which hit in March of this year when 158,105 properties were auctioned off.

RealtyTrac says July’s bank repossession totals were the second highest in more than five years and just one percent below the May 2010 peak. The states being hit the hardest by foreclosures right now are Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Here are some statistics from those states:

• Nevada has held the record for having the highest foreclosure rate for 43 months in a row.
• In Nevada, nearly 14,000 property owners received a foreclosure filing in July which was a seven percent increase compared to the month before, but a 30 percent drop from July 2009.
• California, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and Arizona account for more than half of the nation’s foreclosures.
• All of those states except Arizona will get a share of $3 billion in Federal dollars helping unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosure.
• California will receive $476 million in Federal foreclosure help which is the largest share.
• Florida will receive $239 million to help with foreclosures, Illinois is expected to receive $166 million, Michigan will get $129 million and Nevada is supposed to receive $34 million through the assistance program.

Foreclosure Rates Still Increasing is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

• Californians carry and average of $77,500 in consumer debt. That’s down by more than $10,000 from 2008.
• Ohio residents have the least amount of debt, carrying an average of $40,000 per person.
• More than one out of ten Californians are at least 90 days late on their bills.
• Nevada and Florida residents have the highest 90-day delinquency rates in the country.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Americans seem to be making attempts at clearing up their financial situations. Consumer debt has dropped 6.5 percent from it’s 2008 peak and in the last quarter 272 million credit card accounts were shut down by consumers. “The national measures obscure substantive differences at the state level and the additional data released today show clear differences of distress among the select states for which we show data,” Wilbert van der Klaauw, a vice president at the bank, told the LA Times in a statement. But bankruptcies and foreclosures are still increasing. Bankruptcies jumped by 34 percent in the second quarter, according to the report. However, consumers seem to still be purchasing cars as evident by a 25 percent increase in car loans for the second quarter of 2010.

California Tops List Of Consumer Debt is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

Other newspapers reported that Ferguson’s large staff could be to blame. Reports claim that Ferguson hasn’t been able to pay her employees. One former assistant told the Daily Mail, “Every night she demands a whole side of beef, a leg of lamb and a chicken, which are laid out on the dining room table like a medieval banquette. But often there is just her and her girls Bea and Eugenie and most of it is wasted… The waste, and the cost, is mind-blowing but she just doesn’t seem to care,” the source told the newspaper, according to Debt Management Today.

According to the Daily Mail newspaper, a source says, “She has been taken advantage of. Lawyers have abused her by stacking up astronomical fees for just a few hours.” Other sources say Buckingham Palace advisers are recommending that she file for bankruptcy. “Five million pounds is a lot to pay back, she needs a way of getting rid of the debt, and options such as bankruptcy or an individual voluntary arrangement would be best.” debt adviser Jenni Slader told Debt Management Today. “She’s very high profile, and if she decided to go down the bankruptcy route it could cause some upset, as she wouldn’t pay back anything. She can’t ignore that it will affect her adversely. It would also be restrictive for her as she wouldn’t be able to make money by cashing in on her celebrity status or name, and that’s how she makes most of her money.”

Sarah Ferguson’s Debt Problems Mount is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation

American college students are paying far more for their college education than in years past. The average cost of a bachelor degree in 2008 was $23,186. It’s also important to note that student loans come with almost none of the protections that credit card debt includes such as bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitations, and truth in lending laws.

And much like the mortgage crisis, thousands of college students were given college loans without any investigation into their earning potential once they earned their degrees. So after college they’re faced with a difficult job market, low paying jobs, and huge monthly loan payments. The lesson to be learned is to truly investigate whether or not that private school or out-of-state college is really worth the hefty tuition. Because for most students it’s a price they’ll be paying for a very long time.

Student Loans Surpass Credit Card Debt is a post from: Thistle Debt Consolidation