Maybe taking pictures of celebrities and hanging out at celebrity venues doesn't make you one of the rich and famous after all. Annie Leibovitz, the famed photographer, is in serious debt, at least according to the New York Post. The paper reports that she owes $715,000 for things like equipment rentals, renovations, unpaid taxes and an aborted book project. She racked up these debts despite a reported $2 million annual deal with Vanity Fair, where she takes fabulous and controversial pictures.

As we are learning almost daily from celebrity foreclosure and bankruptcy stories, Leibowitz is hardly unique among the glitterati for getting into money trouble. The latest news from the Ed McMahon front, by the way, is that the deal to save his house is off.

The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development has recently released a report titled, "The Anxious American Worker" which addresses the state of American employees. This report not only looks into the satisfaction that workers have with their jobs and with health care, but also who the workers blame and who they believe should fix the current problems facing employees.
The director of the Heldrich Center describes the findings of the report as a decade of un-addressed concerns, and a call for help from American workers.

Perhaps the most shocking portion of the report dealt with debt and retirement. The report found that almost a third of American workers had more credit card debt than funds in their retirement accounts!

A tragic case in Taunton, Mass., where a 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself after faxing a letter to her mortgage company, demonstrates a common issue in many marriages; secrets about money. According to police, Carlene Balderrama fax read, in part, "By the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."

"I had no clue," said spouse John Balderrama. He further explained that his wife had handled all the couple's finances and he no idea that she hadn't paid the mortgage in 42 months. But, in fact, there were clues. According to court records, Mr. Balderrama had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times from 2004 to 2006. Obviously there were long-standing financial issues that this couple were not facing together.

This is not unusual. Spouses more often lie to each other about money than any other issue. From hiding purchases and bills to opening single accounts, spouses often minimize their own spending. And in many households, only one spouse is actively involved in handling the family finances.

Yesterday I wrote about colleges teaming up with textbook publishers to screw students out of just a little bit more of their hard-earned money.

Not wanting to miss out on the orgy of exploitation, credit card companies are also collaborating with colleges on misleading credit card offers loaded with undisclosed conflicts of interest. Basically, credit card companies are paying colleges in exchange for student information, and working out licensing deals that put colleges in a position to prosper by trapping their undergrads into a cycle of debt. Find out more about this sordid tale in this BusinessWeek story.

Here's how students can avoid this trap: if you receive a credit card offer in the mail, throw it in the trash. College students should never have more than one credit card -- there's just no reason to and, given that they're new at this, there's no reason for them to complicate their lives juggling multiple accounts. Log-on to creditcards.com's special card finder for college students, pick one with no annual fee, and pay off your balance every month.

If you know any college students, forward this post to them and save them some agony.

A GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media for CreditCards.com poll found that people would be rather talk about anything with complete strangers before they discuss credit card debt. Religious views, politics, age, weight and health problems are more popular topics.

Obviously it's difficult to find solutions to a problem when you can't even talk about it. But it may be even more damaging. The rise of consumer credit has made it nearly impossible to tell a person's financial situation without looking at their tax returns. Remember the LendingTree commercial with the guy who has a dream home and a nice car but is in debt up to his eyeballs? That's a very common situation. That guy you envy probably leases his car, is upside down on his house, and pays for his haute couture with a wallet full of credit cards.

But you have no way of knowing that, and so you end up feeling a need to keep up with the Joneses, even though the Joneses are broke. There's nothing you can do about people's unwillingness to talk about their debt, although you certainly should consider opening up about your issues with a few trusted friends. You might find out they have similar problems. But keep in mind that most people are probably in far worse financial shape than you'd think from meeting them. We live in an age of conspicuous consumption.

As lenders realize that they spent the last few years throwing cash at anyone with a pulse and an IQ over 20, they're cutting back credit limits for a lot of people, even those who have never been delinquent.

Here's where it gets really bad: one component of your FICO score is the amount of credit you currently have drawn down divided by the amount you have available. Lowering your limits decreases the denominator and can quickly send your credit score plunging -- even though you didn't miss a payment, open a new account, buy a Ferrari, or do anything else to draw the ire of the credit gods.

So millions of people have seen their credit card stories go something like this: use credit card, make regular payments to build strong FICO score, see your credit limit slashed because of broader macroeconomic conditions, be required to pay a higher interest rate because of changes in your credit score caused by something the bank, not you, did. Oh, and you'll also have to pay a higher interest rate if you borrow money from someone else to buy a house, which cost you thousands of dollars over the years.

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that that's exactly how it's supposed to work out: lend someone money, reduce the limit, and then lend them more money at a higher interest rate. It's brilliant!

I would be nice to see the Fair Isaac take some action to prevent these credit limit cuts from increasing the cost of credit for people who have behaved responsibly. Somehow I doubt that will happen.

I'm all for the government cracking down on collecting child support payments, and taking the money directly out of IRS payment seems like a winning plan. But the $2 billion that the government has collected so far isn't all from deadbeat dads. I, for instance, am part of the 39% of those who had money withheld for an unpaid federal debt. And I still don't know why.

I apparently owed the federal government $89.49 and they took it from my rebate check. I got a letter in the mail from the Department of the Treasury that told me, "As authorized by Federal law, we applied all or part of your Federal payment to a debt you owe." Then it gave an address and phone number for a Birmingham, Ala. processing center.

I called, of course, and all they could tell me is that the Transportation Security Administration had taken my money. They said they could give me their main number. They might as well have offered to give me the number for the White House to ask President Bush what was up with my payment. I didn't figure you could just call a mammoth government agency and get any kind of response.

Nobody needs a house to fall on them (any more) to know that taking out a subprime mortgage is a lousy idea.

But car title loans -- there doesn't seem to be a lot of attention paid to these yet.

And so I just thought I'd mention that car title loans -- which are illegal in some states like Florida -- are a rotten idea. Sure, this is my opinion, but if you know nothing about them, read on, and see what you think.

Fair Isaac didn't start working on the idea of a quantitative credit scoring system until 1958, and didn't introduce its credit bureau scores until 1981.

That's right: banks used to lend people money without FICO scores. Instead they relied on stuff like employment history and, gasp, character. To get a loan, you used to have to meet with an officer or even a committee face to face, and they'd assess your reliability

As the foreclosure crisis has shown, relying solely on the quantitative can lead to disaster. The old-fashioned bankers might have been on to something. The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that credit card issuers are now expanding their underwriting standards to include a focus on the applicant's line of work and where they live. If you work in construction in Nevada right now, you might have a tough time getting a loan.

This newfound prudence can be tough for some business owners who are seeing their lines of credit slashed for no reason other than that they're in a certain industry -- even if they happen to be faring quite well. But for most individual borrowers, I would say that a slash in your credit availability should be a warning sign that you're skating too close to the financial edge. The bank's metrics that tag you ask risky may be dead on, whether you realize it or not.

More about credit scoring:

Credit scoring myths

Help your credit score by adding your statement

When Ashley Overhouse's parents found out that the cost of her first year at the University of California-Santa Cruz would be almost 8% higher than they'd thought, she says they had an understandable reaction: "They freaked."

Ashley's parents aren't alone. As tuitions and fees continue to rise both in California and nationwide, there is increasing pressure on college-bound members of the class of 2008 and their families to fill the gap between what they can get in federal and state financial aid and what a higher education will actually cost them.

To finance her freshman year of college this fall, Ashley has secured a $5,000 Cal Grant, two scholarships and two loans from UCSC. Even with all this in place, she's still looking at ways to cover costs. "My scholarships are for $400 and $1,000," Ashley says. "That'll pay for my books."

If you've noticed that your mailbox isn't quite as full as it used to be, it's because credit card companies are mailing out fewer credit card offers to let naive consumers know that they've been PRE-APPROVED!!!! ... to pay 23% interest.

Mintel Comperemedia reports that unsolicited mailings from credit card, banking, investment, and mortgage loan companies mailed out 12.7% fewer unsolicited offers in the first quarter of 2008 versus the same period last year. JPMorgan Chase alone cut its credit card mailings by 34%.

Well isn't that just great: now that the economy is struggling and food costs are rising, the credit card issuers are tightening up. Of course when the economy was booming, they were happy to lend stupid people money to buy luxury apparel. Now, many consumers are tapped out, maxed-out and overdrawn, and they're no longer good risks for credit card issuers.

In the long run, like most developments that reduce the availability of high-cost consumer credit, this is good news for most people. With credit card companies pulling away the punchbowl, they'll have to resort to more creative ways to meet their expenses like, oh, I don't know, working more and spending less.

The tightening in the student loan market continues: The New York Times reports that an increasing number of lenders are declining to offer loans for community colleges, presumably because the small denominations do not justify the costs of servicing. With more than 40% of undergrads attending community colleges, some are worried.

But here's the thing: while this might put off some students, I seriously doubt that it will deter the students who have the dedication to complete an Associate Degree. Community college just isn't that expensive, and the average student loan amount for these schools is about $3,200 per year, according to the College Board. Most people can find an extra $3,200 per year. Working an extra shift or two each week at a grocery store would do the trick. Or students could, gasp, drink a little less and sell old video games on eBay.

And here's the best part: students who are forced to work harder because they can't get loans will graduate debt-free which, as anyone struggling under the weight of tens of thousands in debt will tell you, is something to strive for.

Many students take out loans as a choice rather than a necessity. The continued tightening of the debt market for college students will force students to make better financial decisions, leaving them far better off in the long run.

In an entertaining column in the New York Times, M.P. Dunleavy describes her family's effort to "go medieval" on that last few thousand dollars worth of credit card debt accumulated prior to their marriage.

To help eliminate the last bit and break free from debt hell, the couple has temporarily suspended retirement savings. Was this a good decision? She's not really sure. The credit card debt only has an interest rate of 6% and given the tax deduction that comes from funding a traditional IRA, there's an argument to be made that she should have continued her retirement saving, even at the expense of paying off debt.

But that's all beside the point, according to Dunleavy: "There are a dozen ways to crunch the numbers, but the ultimate gain wasn't financial, it was peace of mind."

There's a good message here for financial decisions: ultimately, it's about improving your quality of life, and nothing is more important than peace of mind. If a financial move will make you feel secure and comfortable, it might be a good one: in spite of what any online calculator says.

Welcome to WalletPop's series "You've graduated. Now what?" Our bloggers have a wealth of suggestions to help you find you way through that time of amazing transformation, from student to working stiff.

I still had my diploma in one hand when my father handed me a bill totaling up all that I owed the family for my four years of higher education. He's the sarcastic type, so I thought he was joking, but he was actually serious. I was taking on some of the debt burden, but my parents had taken out loans as well and he figured they were my responsibility. My mom had to talk him down and let him give me a little time to get on my feet -- interest free -- before I started making payments.

They also ended up co-signing my first rental lease and fronting the broker's fee and first month's rent when I moved to New York for an internship that paid $5 an hour (just to give a sign of the declining times: A few years later, that internship paid nothing at all, and the company went out of business last year). So it wasn't just Sallie Mae that I owed.

The video below from BusinessWeek looks at how touchy credit card companies are getting. The slightest mistake -- for instance, sending in one payment two days late -- can lead to a huge increase in your interest rate. But more slimy, even making a minimum payment or showing a steady increase in your balance can you flag as a greater risk and result in a higher interest rate.

Congress is taking a look at these arbitrary and unpredictable rate hikes but, in the meantime, the best way to avoid being at the mercy of your creditors is to avoid being a debtor. if you find your interest rates hiking, I'd suggest taking it as a wake-up call to start paying down your debt aggressively.

I'm not defending the credit card companies: but being subject to their whims is the nature of owing them money. A pound of flesh indeed ...