Harry Gross

Harry Gross writes about personal finance for the Daily News.

Harry Gross: Big trouble on credit cards

Posted 07/10/2009

Dear Harry: My 24 year-old son has gotten himself into financial trouble. He now owes about $23,000 in credit-card debt.

Harry Gross: Is reverse mortgage the way to go?

Posted 07/09/2009

Dear Harry: I have been retired for the last six years. I get SS of $1,300 a month and I draw $1,500 from my IRA as the required minimum distribution. I am finding it more and more difficult to live on that money, so I have been eating into my savings to

Harry Gross: Falling behind on car payments - 07/08/2009: Dear Harry: I bought a new car last December. At the time, my son said he would help me with the payments even though the car and the loan have only my name listed. Unfortunately, he lost his job in February, and the help stopped almost immediately.
Harry Gross: 'Personal' parking spaces - 07/07/2009: Dear Harry: I am a Philadelphia resident with a handicap license plate. This is not a "fake" plate. I have a serious physical disability and a specially equipped car.
Harry Gross: No statute of limitations on this debt from the courts - 07/06/2009: Dear Harry: I recently received a letter from the accounting department of the Court of Common Pleas stating that I owe them $759 going back to 1990-98. I don't deny that I owe this money, but can they come after me after all these years? Will credit-reporting companies be notified so it hurts my score? I think the city is in such desperate straits that it is trying to get money any way it can, even if the debt-collection period has expired.
Harry Gross: She claims she was his dad's wife - 07/03/2009: Dear Harry: My father died last year. He was 80 years old, and he was supposedly married to a woman who was 31 years his junior. I tried to find some evidence of the marriage, but I could not. In his obituary, it never stated that they were married . . .
Harry Gross: Charities too generous with their mailing lists? - 07/02/2009: Dear Harry: I just read an article that stated that most charitable organizations share their mailing lists with other charities on some type of reciprocal arrangement. Perhaps this explains why I get several mailings from the same organization, sometimes
Harry Gross: Too much insurance is preferable - 07/01/2009: Dear Harry: Last year we bought a newly constructed home in the suburbs. Our homeowner's insurance policy just came due, and I decided to check it out. The policy is for $225,000, which is the price we paid for the house. However, the price includes the l
Harry Gross: While living at home, waiting for promised career, get a job - 06/30/2009: Dear Harry: I graduated from college this past May. I had a job lined up with a stockbroker here in Philadelphia, but was recently told not to report for work until Oct. 1. In the meantime, I have gone back home to live. Neither my parents nor I like the
Harry Gross: Forgery casts a dim light on home - 06/29/2009: Dear Harry: My mother is in the "long-term-care" section of a retirement community. I just returned from a vacation and found that someone had forged her signature on a check for $2,120 made to some unknown person who cashed it in a local bank.
Harry Gross: Need an adviser? Check 'em out 1st - 06/26/2009: Dear Harry: I have always done my investing based on the recommendations in Money magazine and the Wall Street Journal. I have managed to do OK over the last 10 years, but I had a wicked scare with the big drop in the last year and a half. Friends have re
Harry Gross: No proof? That's not a problem for some agencies that issue driver's licenses - 06/25/2009: Dear Harry: My driver's license was up for renewal last week, so I went to one of the places where they take your picture and issue a new license. There was one man there who wanted a duplicate license, stating that he had lost his. The clerk asked him for nothing to prove that he was who he said he was, and she gave him a new one.