As soon as I was 18, I couldn’t wait to do two things: buy a lottery ticket and get my own credit card. I lost my first $10 and gave up on the former, but I didn’t even have to try to get the latter. I got a phone call merely a few weeks after my birthday with a survey from a credit card company — they wanted to issue me my own card. Ten minutes on the phone and one week later, I had that little piece of plastic magic in my hand — and a whole new mess of troubles.

Some people will tell you that consolidation companies are just sharks waiting to take advantage of your financial situation and charge you to pay off your own debt. While I’m sure some companies are likely out to price gouge their customers, choosing a good consolidation company (or negotiating a debt repay plan on your own) can be a huge boon to your financial life — it helped me pay off $15,000 in student loans and credit card debt within two years. There is one caveat, however; you absolutely must not miss a monthly payment.

This is the followup to our interview with Thrive CEO and Founder, Avi Karnani and Lead Scientist, Matt Wallaert. In our first installment, which you can read here, we talked to them about their work in financial literacy, competition with popular money management site, Mint and how they differ from other financial service companies. In this installment, we’ll find out more on behavioral budgeting and how it works, and how Thrive is working to make banking a better service industry.

Being broke is no fun — especially if the circumstances were totally under your control. We’ve all been there at some point in our lives. Spending too much money on a new outfit to wear out and consequently blowing the grocery budget for the month, or eating and drinking out five days a week and having to forgo cell phone access for three weeks. In those subsequent days of eating Ramen and downing tap water, there’s ample time to reflect on poorly made financial decisions.

We suspect that’s what some celebrities are rehashing now, thanks to good old fashioned financial negligence. And since everyone loves a good Riches to Rags story, we’re going to use these celebrities as an example of how NOT to spend your cash.

We recently sat down with Thrive (a free online personal finance manager) co-founder, Avi Karnani and Lead Scientist, Matt Wallaert to talk about Thrive’s offering to the rapidly evolving world of personal finance. Since we covered a lot of ground, we’re going to publish this interview in two parts: the first of which is below.

Credit Karma has launched a new, web-based tool that turns your credit score into an easy to read report card that grades your credit health. Best of all? It’s free. Credit Karma CEO, Ken Lin, was excited to talk about the new reporting tool that provides insight for consumers who don’t understand their credit score, but actively want to improve it. Taking into account the five major influencers on a consumer’s credit score (credit card utilization, length of credit, on time payment history, etc. ), it grades each metric and gives an overall grade.

In the age of the credit crunch, credit scores are the passport to your financial future. The new year has brought many things, and with it, a new scoring model. We spoke to Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma (a website that lets you check your credit score for free — anytime, anywhere) about the change in the FICO credit scoring model to get a better idea of what the changes are and how they will affect you.

Getting your debt under control isn’t something that comes easily or quickly. It’s a long, arduous process, not unlike a diet, that requires constant attention and focus. For many, it’s the same process that starts and stops each year, a declining goal once the initial excitement has worn off. But if there’s ever been a year to shore up your finances, 2009 is it. So to make sure there’s no backsliding, we’ve mixed some time honored morals into the process to help you stay abreast of your financial objectives this year. Keep reading for four fundamental values and how they should tie directly into your debt management goals.

I’ve been reading more and more stories lately on how the high interest loans are putting an extraordinary burden on recent graduates paying off what they thought were federally controlled student loans. These loans were extended via private companies, but carried variable interest rates that, like a lot of mortgages, fluctuate with current interest rates. The ending result? Sky rocketing interest rates on loans for tens of thousands of dollars and none of the benefits you get with federal student loans like deferment and locked-in rates.

I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I will today because, frankly, I deserve it. Today I became a card-carrying member of the Debt-Free club. This beautiful day follows an intense two years of handing over half of my salary towards debt repay, and I am tickled pink to have finally gotten to the point where I don’t have to throw away my paycheck on crap that I purchased eight years ago.