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When it comes to student loans, dealing with the lender can be more difficult than repaying the loan. That’s one of the top complaints by consumers in a report of the student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).For federal student loans, more than twice as many consumers (71 percent) reported difficulties dealing with their lender or service than the 28 percent who complained to the CFPB that they were struggling to repay their loan. Two percent of complaints were about a problem with a credit report or credit score.

Accessing Protections

Federal law provides protections for federal student loans. Many are designed to help borrowers avoid delinquency and default during economic distress, such as a job loss.Servicing loan breakdowns “can delay, deter or deny access to federal benefits and protections, rendering them illusory for many student loan borrowers,” the report states.Nearly all federal student loan borrowers should be eligible to make payments based on their income through an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan. The plan can help struggling borrowers avoid default.Yet borrowers complained to the CFPB about servicing roadblocks in IDRs, such as obstacles when trying to enroll in an IDR plan. These include unexpected delays, lost paperwork, poor customer service and inconsistent application processing. They can lead to higher loan costs, reduced benefits and extended repayment terms.

Forbearance Instead of IDR

Others said that when telling their servicer that their standard monthly payment is unaffordable, they’re directed to options like forbearance or extended payment, which can be more expensive over the long-term than an IDR plan.Borrowers in IDR plans are required each year to recertify their income and family size so they can qualify for an affordable monthly payment-a process that should take weeks but is longer, according to the CFPB. Federal law allows borrowers during that recertification time to continue paying their current monthly plan until their new IDR payment is recalculated.However, borrowers complained that they either had to continue making the unaffordable monthly payment, or their loans were incorrectly placed into forbearance during this process, which prevented them from accessing loan forgiveness programs. Forbearance allows loan payments to be temporarily suspended, and a long delay in the IDR recertification can prevent borrowers from making progress toward loan forgiveness.

Consumer Action

While the CFPB takes legal action against some student loan providers, there are steps consumers can take to deal with student loan problems.When contacting a student loan servicer, do it in writing so that there’s a paper trail that may help solve problems later. Borrowers can also sign up for automatic payments, which can get them a slight interest rate reduction on their loans and will make sure their payment is made on time each month. They can also look into student loan options such as refinancing, consolidating loans, IDRs and student loan forgiveness.To submit a complaint to the CFPB, go to consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call 855-411-2372.Or submit by mail to:Consumer Financial Protection BureauP.O. Box 2900Clinton, Iowa, 52733

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Not Preparing for Emergencies

An emergency fund is important for anyone. A signing bonus-whether you’re a pro athlete or a non-athlete receiving a one-time bonus for meeting goals at work-can help give a big boost to an emergency fund. Aim to have one year’s salary in savings for emergencies, such as losing your job.

Saving and Investing Early

Having large paycheck for 10 years or so can lead to forgetting about saving and investing for the long-term. If you’re a high earner, regularly getting significant checks can make you think the good times will last forever and that you don’t need to save for retirement.Living paycheck-to-paycheck can also be difficult and push you into putting off saving or investing for retirement. Try not to let that stop you from contributing to a 401(k) retirement plan at work, especially if your employer matches your contribution. It’s turning away free money.

Too Many Hangers-On

Chances are you don’t pay for your friends and family every time the bill shows up, but you may be paying people in small ways that can add up. Do you loan money out without ever expecting to be repaid? Do you charge a few rounds of drinks after work, only to forget it until your credit card statement arrives? Your generosity could be costing you, especially if you can’t afford it. Cut back such spending and put that money in a savings account instead.Any financial mistakes could be devastating if you don’t get them under control.

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The fine print at the end of a credit card offer letter can tell a consumer a lot more about how good-or bad-the offer is than the main area of the marketing letter, where flashy photos and less text are more likely to catch the eye.But the small-font text in the last pages of a credit card offer are less likely to be read than the bigger, main points early on. At least that’s what credit card companies are hoping for.The type of credit card offer you get in the mail tells a lot about what the company thinks of you and how it can best gain your business, according to a research project by the MIT Sloan School of Management.The researchers studied more than 1 million credit card mailing campaigns and found two types of mailers targeted at different consumers:

• Photos of enticing holiday destinations and reward miles, with the best credit terms, and aimed at highly educated and financially sophisticated people.

• Low teaser rates for an introductory APR (annual percentage rate), more rewards, visual distractions and fine print at the end of the offer letter, all aimed at less educated and less sophisticated customers.

For the less-educated customers, the credit card companies expected them to skip reading the fine print, the researchers found. Those customers were offered cards with complex features and hidden charges, such as higher rates, late fees and overlimit fees after the introductory period ended.The more educated customers were offered cards that didn’t rely so much on backloaded fees but had higher upfront fees, such as annual fees and higher APRs. The cards have low late fees and over-the-limit fees and are more likely to carry airline reward miles.Offers with the worst credit terms were more likely to have the terms in small font or on the last pages of the offer letters. The letters with backloaded terms also contained more photos and less text, perhaps to distract from the details of the offer.Whatever your education status, you can get help choosing the best credit card by comparing the terms in the fine print and carefully reading the Schumer box. This is an area where the relevant terms are put in one place and are supposed to be easy to read.The marketing material may be best left in the trash, except for the fine print section that usually ends up thrown away first.

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If you’re in debt up to your eyeballs, or at least up to your waist, it can be hard to see which debts should be paid first. The creditor that screams the loudest may not be the best one to repay first.Some debts should take precedence over others because they can have worse consequences. Here are bills you should pay off first:

Back Child Support Payments

If you don’t pay child support, you could be found in contempt of court. That could land you in jail, have half your net wages garnished, and driver’s and professional licenses revoked.A lien could be placed on your property, tax refund intercepted, and your car could be booted, among other things you don’t want.

Income Taxes

Owing the federal government money can leave you with high interest and fees, in addition to the original amount owed.To resolve this, the feds may put a tax lien on your property-which will be listed on your credit reports-and they could seize your property and garnish wages. Money in retirement accounts and other bank accounts you have may be claimed, and your home or vehicle may be sold to pay the debt.

Car Title Loans

These loans use your vehicle as collateral, usually providing 30 days to repay the loan. They have high interest rates of 25 percent or more per month, equaling an annual rate of 300 percent.Miss a payment and the lender can repossess the car. If you need your car to get to work, then getting the money for the loan will be that much harder.The car may be sold at auction. You may also be required to pay the difference between what the car is sold for and how much is left on the loan.

Vehicle Payments

If you don’t have a title loan but are financing your car with an auto loan, paying late or missing a payment or two could cause the vehicle to be repossessed. You’d have to make the payments, along with late fees, to get it back.

Mortgage PaymentsMissing a mortgage payment is only behind missing a car payment because it takes longer to foreclose on a home than it does to repossess a car. A foreclosure takes an average of 19 months to process, giving you a longer span of time to work out the problem.That can be enough time to pay the missed payments and late fees, or at least find another place to live. Your credit score will be extremely low, making it hard to rent or obtain another home loan.

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Overspending is easy to do with a credit card – way too easy – and can often lead to debt.Researchers have found that even for people who don’t carry a balance each month on their credit card, they overspend when using a credit card instead of cash. Credit cards can make people more willing to spend twice as much for something than they would when using cash.A simple solution can be to keep your credit cards out of your wallet or purse so that you don’t conveniently have them at hand when you’re shopping. But there are other ways to keep credit cards out of sight, and hopefully out of mind:

Freeze them, literally

Put your credit cards in a plastic, ziplock bag, and then put that bag in another bag. Put the bag into either a bowl of water or another ziplock bag full of water, and put it all in the freezer.To get your credit cards out, you’ll have to thaw the block of ice. That may give you enough time to reconsider your purchase.

Freeze usage

If putting your credit cards in a freezer is too extreme, consider freezing the usage of them through your credit card company.Some credit cards can be turned on and off, such as through an app, allowing you to turn access to them off when you don’t want to use them for a while. This can help deter thieves, but also requires you logging into your account to turn credit card access back on. Again, the point here is to create another step before you can use your credit card, giving you time to think about what you’re about to buy.

Set a budget and carry cash

Having a weekly or monthly budget can help keep spending in control, but not so much if you use a credit card. If you want to be faithful to your budget, try for a month to only buy things with the cash you have on hand.Go to your bank and withdraw the amount of cash you have budgeted to spend that week. Once that cash is gone, you’ll have to come up with creative ways to do things. Walk instead of taking a taxi. Empty out your refrigerator to make lunch instead of eating out.If you prefer not to walk around with a load of cash in your pocket, then put the money in a checking account and use a debit card to withdraw it as needed.Hope you found these tips helpful! Contact me for more insights and info.

Published with permission from RISMedia.