Get Out of Debt 101 Blog

Watch out. They may just want your money. We heard the story so many times, that you need to hear about it too.

Many companies promise people (who are usually in a desperate situation) that they can settle their debts for pennies on the dollar. Now, while there certainly are honest, reputables companies that will deliver on their promise, there are also those who only want your money. Do your research ahead of time, ask around, check out the company you would like to work with, to make sure they are honest.

Read this story about this teacher who got himself into a big problem with a dishonest debt settlement company .

From The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2010

U.S. consumers are starting to look like a frugal, debt-fearing lot as they pay down billions of dollars in credit-card obligations. But an alarming trend is emerging: A small but growing number of people are skipping mortgage payments in favor of paying their credit-card bills.

In an unprecedented shift, for some consumers having a credit card in good standing appears to have taken priority over having a roof over one’s head, experts said.

“This is not a carefree or nonchalant decision,” said Ezra Becker, director of consulting and strategy at TransUnion, the credit-tracking firm. “But it really is a clear …

In case you have not seen it, I’d like to offer you a link to a program that KPBS put together some time ago. It is a MUST watch! It’s called The Secret History of the Credit Card and it aired a few years ago, but luckily for those of us who missed it, we can watch it online, for free! If you want to become debt free you need to know how the credit card industry works.

You can watch The Secret History of the Credit Card here. I know you will be happy you did!

See you tomorrow, and remember to check out the Get Out Of Debt 101 Master Manual and start applying it as soon as possible. See you tomorrow!

That’s probably the million dollar question, right?

Are you making it a priority? “It’s very hard to be disciplined enough to avoid spending money on things you want simply because you have bills to pay” told me a visitor to this site once. And I know she was right, it’s not easy. But you still have to make it a priority: you have to do whatever it takes to become debt-free as soon as possible.

Making only the minimum payment is like committing financial suicide: it will take you forever! And the amount of money you will pay in interest alone is staggering.

Give this a try: Go to the Federal Reserve’s site and try their online debt repayment calculator to see for yourself.

For example, paying the minimum payment on a $20,000 debt at 18% will give you this: It will take you 58 years to pay it off, and you would have paid almost $58,000 in interest alone! You cannot afford that.

Go to our home page and take a look at our Get Out Of Debt 101 Master Manual. For about the price of two pizzas you can start your journey to a debt-free life today! Commit yourself to becoming debt free today. You have NOTHING to lose, but you have a whole new, stress-free life to win.

See you tomorrow!

You may have seen the ads on TV for your free credit report. But many people are confusing the program introduced under Federal law with another one that offers a paid-service along with your “free” credit report.

Don’t confuse the official site AnnualCreditReport.com with FreeCreditReport.com.
When you sign up with FreeCreditReport.com you are also signing up for a credit monitoring service for $15 per month. It is really not a bad idea to invest the money since its for your protection, but just make sure that’s what you want to do.

On their site they have the disclaimer, which is hard to miss: “When you order your free report here, you will begin your free trial membership in Triple AdvantageSM Credit Monitoring. If you don’t cancel your membership within the 7-day trial period**, you will be billed $14.95 for each month that you continue your membership.
ConsumerInfo.com, Inc. and Freecreditreport.com are not affiliated with the annual free credit report program.”

If all you want is just your free credit report, then go to AnnualCreditReport.com; if you also would like the credit monitoring service, then FreeCreditReport.com may be for you. I personally have not used their service so I cannot say whether they are good or bad.

And when you are ready to start the process to become debt-free, check out our Get Out Of Debt 101 Master Manual. Study it, put it into practice and enjoy a debt-free life!

Get Out Of Debt 101 Master Manual

One of the things that helped me the most in my life is to control what I’m focusing on at any given time. It is so easy to get carried away by the news, things happening around us, etc that if we don’t learn to control our focus, we will end up depressed! We have enough reasons to feel bad (economy, people being laid off, credit crisis, etc) so we need to be careful with what we put in our minds. The good news is, that this is something that is entirely under our control.

You can always control what you focus on: you can choose to read the bad news on the paper or to read a positive book. You can choose to talk about how bad the situation is or about how good it will be in the near future. You can choose to talk about the supermarket tabloid story you read. It’s up to you. Feeding your mind with negative stuff will only give you more negative stuff. And feeding your mind with positive stuff, will only give you more positive stuff. Which one do you prefer?

You have to focus on what you want, not what you do not want. Whenever you want something, focus on having it already and how it feels by having it now. If you focus on NOT having it, you’ll immediately feel bad because you don’t have it yet. If you focus on how big your debt is, you will feel terrible. Bad feelings feed back even worse feelings. I’m not saying you should ignore your problems, just don’t dwell on them. You can change that today. Always, ALWAYS, focus on what you do want ONLY.

Do something about your debt today. You can feel depressed or stressed out by it or you can take action now: you can check out our Get Out Of Debt 101 Master Manual and start applying it in your life today, and focus on how good you will feel once you are debt-free. Imagine if you didn’t have all those extra payments, how much better would your life be?

You can start your new life today, right now. Remember, only focus on what you DO want, and avoid focusing on what you do not want. Start reading positive books today. Start making new friends today. Start exercising today. Focus on how good you will feel once you are debt free, once you get that promotion, once you accomplish your goals. How would you feel? How would you breathe? How would you stand/walk/move? Try it, it’s very powerful! Always think of your goals as already accomplished. Do it for a few days and drop me a line and let me know how it goes. Your life will change when you start doing it. Good luck, and see you tomorrow!

PS Make sure you tell your friend about this blog. Forward them this address so they can benefit also.

I was reading in the paper today about how many credit card companies are settling with some borrowers with an amount far lower than what they actually owed. In some cases, they are settling for 50% of the debt! Which means that a $10,000 all of a sudden becomes a $5,000 debt! Now before you get very excited, there is more to it. The reason they do this is to avoid a bigger problem down the road.

See, once a credit card account is past due for over 180 days, it is sold to a collection agency for close to nothing (maybe 10 cents on the dollar). So if they are dealing with a person who has not send any payments for a few months, they may consider settling the debt for a lower amount (say, 65%, or even 50% -maybe even lower-) instead of selling it for 10% in just a couple more months. They might as well get a little more money now instead of very little down the road.

This is not for everybody of course. But if you are strapped for cash, don’t care for your credit and honestly cannot make the payments, try to negotiate with them. Try not to settle for anything less than 50% (you may have to talk to them a few times until you reach the right person). Keep in mind that the credit card company will not negotiate with you if your account is in good standing. Also, be careful if you owe a lot of money and you have real estate property. You can read the article
here .

For a complete system to get out of debt you may want to consider checking out the Get Out of Debt 101 Master Manual

They may not be as secure as you think they are. When was the last time the cashier asked you for your ID? I always write on the back of the card (instead of my signature) “Ask for ID” in bold, black letters. I’m really not sure how much it really helps, but at least they ask for my id.

The problem is that they almost never check to make sure the signature matches the one on the card. You can check the famous credit card prank which by the way, is hilarious. And he makes a point, most people do not check the signature.

See you tomorrow, and remember to stay out of debt.

From MSNBC.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31156371/)

NEW YORK – Credit card holders who in ordinary years might have used their tax refunds to pay down their balances apparently spent the money elsewhere as the recession deepened in the first quarter.

That’s one of the conclusions that may be drawn from data showing the delinquency rate for bank-issued credit cards rose 11 percent in the first three months of the year, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

The delinquency rate jumped to 1.32 percent this year, from 1.19 percent in the first three months of 2008, TransUnion said. The statistic measures the percentage of card holders who are three months or more past due on their payments for cards bearing MasterCard and Visa logos, along with American Express and Discover cards.

The average total debt on bank cards also rose, jumping to $5,776 from $5,548 last year.

Do you have a plan to get out of debt? If you don’t, you need to put one together as soon as possible, and start working on it so you can enjoy the debt free life you deserve.

Start trimming your expenses as much as possible and make getting out of debt your priority #1. It is not easy, but you are not alone. We highly suggest you read our Get Out of Debt 101 Master Manual or go to the library and read books or do some research on the Internet, but do something! You can also check out our sister site How to Overcome Debt, full of tips on how to get out of debt and a great mortgage elimination program.

Do something TODAY to start moving in the direction of your dreams.

See you tomorrow!