Personal Finances

Information and practical advice to cope with unemployment, manage your personal finances, get help with credit counseling, and avoiding employment scams

Coping with unemployment

Wisconsin Job Center Publications have these online brochures:

• Adjusting to Unemployment
• Family Finances: Getting By on Less

From the University of Wisconsin Extension:

• Managing Your Personal Finances in Tough Times
• Family Financial Management Tool Box. Included are activities on financial topics, fact sheets and worksheets on financial matters.

From Bankrate.com:

• How to Survive a Lost Job

From MSN Money:

• A Survival Guide for the Unemployed
• Laid off? You works just starting

From the Working for America Institute:

• Surviving Layoff

Attorneys.com has articles on various legal topics, including bankruuptcy.

Managing finances

Budgeting, using credit, saving, investing, and getting ahead financially.

• Financial Tips from the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.
• MoneySKILL, a personal finance course, is a highly interactive, reality-based Internet curriculum. Its purpose is to educate students to make informed financial decisions. The course consists of 34 "How To" modules on income, money management, spending and credit, and saving and investing.
• Investing in Your Future, A Basic Investing Home Study Course. This 11-unit home study course was developed for beginning investors with small dollar amounts to invest at any one time. Sponsored by Rutgers University Cooperative Extension.
• Financial Planning Tool Kit, provides no-cost advise on the whole range of financial planning topics including calculators and planning tools.

Credit Counseling

Find a Licensed Consumer Credit Counselor in Wisconsin (Adjustment Service Company). View a list from the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

Wisconsin Debt Collection Practices. Anyone attempting to collect a debt arising from a consumer transaction in Wisconsin, whether a merchant doing its own debt collecting or a third-party debt collector, must follow Wisconsin’s debt collection law.

Credit Repair from NOLO.com provides advice on getting out of credit problems. NOLO.com provides online, do-it-yourself legal solutions for consumers and small businesses.

Avoiding Consumer Scams

These resources help you be an informed consumer and avoid being a victim of consumer fraud, deceptive advertising, and just plain BAD DEALS. Remember the old saying: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

• From the Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions:
• Rent to Own
• Payday Loans
• Refund Anticipation Loans (RAL)



• From the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP)
• Consumer Fact Sheets. Find helpful advice on hundreds of topics - from advertising to telecommunications - written in easy-to-understand language by \ experts who research and answer consumer questions every day.



• Consumer.gov, consumer information from the Federal government.
• Federal Trade Commission. Publications with advice on avoiding scams and rip-offs, and consumer topics.