Credit Card Debt – A different View
By Karolina Linares
There is a major crisis with people falling into large credit card debt. Rather than going through the numbers, the statistics and ratios, to help you get a realistic view of your debt situation, this will give you a different perspective.
On any article site, e-zine, printed newspaper or magazine, there are literary millions of write-ups about the condition of our national debt problem. We see TV reports and talk shows about this ever-growing problem. There are millions of tips about everything from debt consolidation, refinancing, and personal debt relief to the all important CREDIT SCORE…Read More
Simple 9 Step Debt Reduction Plan
By Thomas Erikson
Debt reduction doesn’t have to be an overwhelming experience. Who wants to deal with a cure that’s more painful than the ailment? Mounting debt is stressful enough – then you have to face the task of figuring out just where to start if you want to get rid of it. Then there are all the different angles of attack you can take and that just adds to the frustration.
So here’s a simplified approach that will get you started in the right direction for debt reduction. After all, sometimes the simplest approach is the most effective. This 9 step plan can help you get out of debt and stay out…Read More
Do It Yourself Credit Card Debt Reduction
By Peter Webber
Have you succumbed to the lure of credit cards and found yourself in a bit of a pickle because of it?
Pull up a chair and have a seat – Welcome to the ever growing club of consumer debt. Your biggest challenge now is to dig yourself out of this situation and avoid having to pay anyone to help you do it…Read More
Debt Secrets Credit Counseling Comapnies Don’t Want You To Know
By NARCLI
Most people don’t know it, but a bad or shady debt reduction company can actually land you in a worse spot financially than you were in the beginning. In fact, in many cases filing bankruptcy is preferable to working with a credit counseling company. Given the amount of confusing information out there, it is critical that you arm yourself with the truth about these businesses.
When you first start out, you go over all your debts with a counselor. They contact each of your creditors to lower your interest rates, which lower your payments. Together, you develop a strict budget. They hold you to this budget by asking for one lump payment from you each month, which they then use to pay your bills on your behalf…Read More
Personal Responsibility For Your Debt
By Karolina Linares
Recently, I read a report called “The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Debt In America”. This report is all about Americans using and building up credit debt due to life emergencies and trying to keep up with standard cost of living expenses such as rent, utilities, medical care, tuition for children and even food. Furthermore it makes it seems as if people who have gotten into debt, especially low to mid income citizens, are victims and have very little control over why they have gotten into debt.
It is very well researched and has a lot of eye opening truths and facts in it that I must agree with, mainly because I’ve been there and done that as far as being in credit card debt myself…Read More
Taming The Debt Monster
By Noel Brinkerhoff
There are two kinds of scare processes. One kind isn’t really scary at all, like the one described in the film Monsters, Inc., which playfully told us how all those imaginary monsters got into our closets when we were children. The other scare process – the real scare process – is worse than anything Saw II or The Hills Have Eyes has to throw at you. No, the real scare process has to do with that hideous monster lurking in your life at all times.
Debt.
Although it may not have big pointy teeth, personal debt can scare the crap out of anyone if it gets too big for your own good. Seemingly everywhere you turn – from the comfort of your sofa, the warmth of your kitchen, the peace of your backyard – your debts can rear up in your thoughts and destroy a good time like Godzilla going to town on Tokyo…Read More
Debt Reduction Scams
By Charles J. Phelan
Consumers seeking debt assistance are faced with a bewildering assortment of debt companies, services, programs, books, ebooks, and websites. How to tell the scams from the legitimate options? The purpose of this article is to help consumers easily spot and steer clear of one particular scam that is growing through network or multi-level marketing schemes. It goes under different names, such as debt elimination, debt termination, or debt reduction. Such names can certainly apply to legitimate programs as well, and the scammers purposely name their bogus programs with the intention of deceiving consumers and stealing them away from legitimate companies. For the purpose of this article, I’ll refer to it as the debt elimination scam, but be aware that it may be called something different.
So how can you tell this scam from legitimate debt elimination techniques? It’s pretty easy, actually. The scam is based on the bogus “no money lent” argument, where the claim is made that credit card banks cannot loan money legally. Through strange leaps of logic, the scammers claim that credit card banks are actually operating illegally, and so you never really borrowed any money when you used your credit cards! Therefore, you don’t really need to pay anything back. You just have to follow their system and the debts will go away because the banks don’t want this knowledge disclosed to the public…Read More
Leaky Wallet Syndrome
By Francis Kier
Financial stewardship of a business empire or $100 bill require a particular psychology if they are going to survive over time in the same hands. The lack of this same psychology is why most lottery winners cannot hold onto the giant sums of money they receive; and I call this psychological mind-set the “Leaky Wallet Syndrome”.
The difficulty with holding onto money is that it only takes a single weakness to lose it entirely. By weakness I mean that something has caught your eye that is so desirable that you will buy it spite of the fact that you cannot afford it. Whatever this purchase or payment may be, it psychologically reaches your personal threshold where having something right now is more important than having something tomorrow. There is a trigger that sets aside your normal, balanced decision-making with instant gratification. In my opinion, it is similar to dieting in that you have to eat food, but there are consequences if you continually eat even a little too much. Likewise you need to spend money, but there is a predictable consequence if you continually spend even just a little too much…Read More
Debtor’s Disease
By Cheryl Johnson
Debtor’s disease is a silent killer. Killer of respect, marriages, self control, and families. There isn’t a part of your life that it won’t touch and destroy with it’s deadly power. Some of you won’t even know you have it for many, many years. It’s a sneaky affliction; creeping into your life and slowly but surely taking control of every part of your existence.
Seems a bit of a dramatic description, doesn’t it? But, the sad part is, it’s all true. Even though we often hate to admit it, debt will control our lives totally. Even when we first realize it, we won’t do anything about it. We will deny it, continue to feed it, and give it all it needs to thrive within our lives. Oh, you’ll have help, no doubt about that. There are many ways we fuel the fever. Falling into the credit card trap is just the beginning. Self justification is your worst enemy. Why, the human mind is masterful at justifying just about any action, or purchase, given the right circumstances…Read More
