Charles Essmeier

Structured Settlement - Guaranteed Income for those with Disabilities

Up until twenty years ago, anyone who won a lawsuit as a result of a claim involving worker's compensation, wrongful death or accident had to accept a lump sum payment as their compensation. The payment would be intended to be invested, with the benefici... Read >

Gas Costs Need Not Break Your Bank

After spending most of the summer above $3 per gallon throughout most of the United States, gasoline prices appear to be dropping a bit. That may or may not be temporary; the price of crude oil is affected by many factors, and all of them are volatile. ... Read >

Gasoline Saving Devices Don't Work

Owning and operating a motor vehicle is an expensive process. Besides coming up with the money to actually buy the car or truck, owners need to pay for maintenance, auto insurance and most of all, gasoline. With the price of gasoline reaching ever-highe... Read >

Lemon Laws and Car Dealers Who Won't Pay Up

Buying a car or truck is an expensive proposition. With new cars often costing more than $20,000 and car loans averaging nearly six years in duration, it only stands to reason that consumers expect those vehicles to work reliably when they buy them. Som... Read >

Car Title Loans - Risk and High Interest Rates

In today's society, borrowing money seems to be inevitable. No one pays cash for their car or their home any more; no one can afford to do so. As a society, we borrow. We take out loans from banks, credit unions and credit cards. If we don't have good... Read >

Debt Settlement Pitfalls May Outweigh the Advantages

Americans have too much debt. Of that, there is no doubt. The nation, as a whole, owes something on the order of three trillion dollars. This is debt that accrues interest at rates that average nearly 20% per year, and that interest provides no real be... Read >

Structured Settlements Offer Advantages over Lump-Sum Payments

A structured settlement, which offers injury victims cash payments through a long-term annuity as compensation for their damages and medical expenses, offer a number of possible advantages over payment in a lump sum. While the lump sum payment is the tra... Read >

Foreclosed Property Investments Can Quickly Become Nightmares

The huge surge in both real estate demand and housing prices has led to a frenzy of home buying over the last few years. This has resulted in the unlikely combination of record prices and record number of Americans who own homes. Unfortunately, interest... Read >

Auto Repair Scams Can Cost You a Fortune

A lot of people like owning and driving cars, but no one likes to repair them or pay to have them repaired. But cars are like anything else; if you use them, they eventually need attention. Today's vehicles are far more complicated than the cars of a ge... Read >

Used Car Buyers Get Relief from California Bill of Rights

Buying a used car from either an individual or a professional car dealer can be a bit of a scary experience. Used car buyers have the protection of auto lemon laws in all fifty states. If the car turns out to be habitually defective, buyers have recours... Read >

Buy a Car By Using Your Home for Financing

New cars and trucks have become quite expensive over the years. Inflation only tells part of the story; a lot of the increase in price is due to technology. Air bags, antilock brakes, and computer systems that control everything have added to the price,... Read >

Night of the Living Debt - How Re-Aged Bills Can Hurt You

No one likes to deal with debt. Borrowers don't like to pay it and creditors and collectors don't like to collect it. But debt is what makes our society work, as few people are able to pay cash. It's not a problem most of the time, as the vast majority... Read >

Drive a lot? Consider buying roadside assistance

It can be frustrating to have your car break down on the highway. Few people will stop to offer help to disabled drivers. You may not have a cell phone with you, so you'll have to walk to find help. And even if you do have a phone with you, how likely ... Read >

Lemon Laws May Not Cover Recreational Vehicles

Although the price of gasoline continues to climb upwards, Americans still love driving recreational vehicles. They are big and bulky, and get poor gas mileage, but the convenience of driving a vehicle that also contains some of the comforts of home is a... Read >

Predatory Lending Through Loan Steering

With the real estate industry still in high gear from the last five years of skyrocketing prices and low interest rates, predatory lending is at an all time high. The term has no hard definition, but it generally refers to those lenders who go out of the... Read >