QUICK DEBT SETTLEMENT FACTS

* Debt settlement can reduce your debts

up to 65%

* The minimum debt required to settle

your debt is usually $7,500.

* The average debt settlement customer can pay their

debt off within 6-36 months.

* It is a better alternative to bankrutpcy because

bankruptcy can stay on your credit report for 10 years

and is a public record.

* Debt Settlement reduces your debt, while debt

consolidation merely tranfers your debt.

To learn more about debt settlement, click here.

Tax Season is Upon Us: Why Wait to Wipe Out Your Debt?

When you get your big refund from the government, you may be tempted to buy yourself something nice; after all, you worked hard for your money this past year, right? Well, what is a better gift to give yourself than a chance to be debt free? If you have a large amount of debt, roughly 7,500 or more, this may be the only time of the year when you aren't panicking because you don't know how you are going to pay all of your bills or when you are wondering where all of your paycheck went. This is probably because half of your credit card payments are going towards interest and are not paying your cards off. Why not turn to a debt solution that can literally cut your debt in half and help you to get out of debt within as little as 6-36 months?
This will help you for the future, so you can make the big purchases and feel good about them.

Click here to learn more

Credit Card Debt: Why Secured Loans are Bad News

When you are drowning in credit card debt, you may think that consolidating your debt into a secured loan will help you to improve your financial situation. After all, you get a much lower interest rate, you only have to pay one monthly payment, and you can avoid bankruptcy. It’s a great solution, right? WRONG. And you might end up losing more than you think.

First of all, with debt consolidation, you are generally putting up some type of collateral for the loan, which is why it is secured. This collateral must be some type of large asset depending on how much credit card debt you have. For example, most individuals choose to use their homes as collateral. This is a bad move. If you are struggling with your finances now, how do you know you will not end up in this position again? If you are late on your payments or are unable to continue to make them, the company will simply repossess your house. They will not have to bother with suing you, hounding you, or negotiating with you because they own a portion of your house and can take it and resell it for the money. Putting yourself in this position would be risky. Are you really willing to risk your greatest asset to pay off your credit cards?

Click here to read the rest of this article.

The Truth about Credit Card Debt: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt

The average American has approximately $8,000 in credit card debt, a net worth of $6,000 for renters and a net worth of $150,000 for home owners. What does this tell us? That having a home (and a mortgage) is almost essential for building wealth.

This means that you need to get rid of your bad debt ASAP, start building for the future by saving money, and acquire assets to increase your net worth. Okay. That seems like a lot. So let’s take this step by step.

1) Figure out what your bad debts are: They include credit card debts, medical debts, or loans for possessions that don’t appreciate or retain their value, such as cars, televisions, etc.

2) Calculate how much you owe in bad debt: Look at how much you owe, your interest rates, and how long it will take you to pay off the amount you owe with the payments you are making now. It could take you a very long time to pay off credit card debts, especially because these companies can charge you more than 20% interest on interest. And if you are only making the minimum payments you are almost surely only paying the interest on the card and not making a debt on the money you owe! If you owe too much in debt and are unable to make payments on your cards you may want to look at other options to pay them off.

3) Make larger payments on your credit cards; try to pay off twice the amount each month if you can. Or better, if you have an excess of savings, use that money towards your debt because you are actually losing more money than you are saving. However, keep an emergency fund (that covers six months of expenses) handy because you don’t want to go deeper in debt if something happens.

Focus on one card at a time a pay them off. If you can, transfer your balances to news cards that offer a 0% introductory rate. If you pay them off before the offer ends you will have saved yourself a considerable amount of money.

4) Once you have paid your cards off, try to put all the money you were paying for your credit card debt towards your savings. Try to find a money market account with a large percentage of interest, so you can maximize your savings.


5) Keep your eye on the goal. If your goal is to buy a house, make sure you have approximately 20% of the purchase price to put down, so that you will end up paying less in the future.

If you owe more than $7,500 in debt, learn how you can reduce your debt by up to 65%!

Holiday Credit Card Debt

It’s easy to get swept up in the spirit of buying and the frenzy of mall shopping during the holiday season. Even if you are simply going to pick up one or two items, have a set agenda, and a budget, you can still be swayed by the amazing offers and discounts designed to encourage you to spend more than you had intended. Also, don’t forget the sales after Christmas. The holidays have a strange effect on all of us; we abandon all of the reasonable decisions of the past year and surrender to our hedonistic impulses—spending more than we can afford, eating more than we should, and abandoning many of our responsibilities.

If you are already in credit card debt, you may feel the need to put more money back on your cards, disregard the progress you have made in your payments, or realize that more money is going to your debt than you can afford for this year. To combat this, you will need to take an immediate stance against the pressures of the holiday season because the whims and impulsive decisions you make by purchasing items on your credit cards can have long term effects. Just think: if you put $1000 in purchases on your credit cards and pay only the minimum amount each month, it could take you several years to pay off your credit card debts. You can end up paying a couple hundred dollars in interest charges and late fees! Credit card debt can hinder you throughout your entire life; you could end up paying money each month towards old purchases, keeping you from saving for the future.

So, if you have already have amassed a large amount of debt on your credit cards over the holiday season; you should look to paying most of it off in January and February. Here are some tips to banish your credit card debt for good in 2007:

Make it your New Year’s Resolution: Commit yourself to getting out of debt by making it the one goal or achievement you want for the year. If you want it enough, you can make it happen.

Stay Focused: Keep your eye on the prize of getting out of debt, and don’t let unforeseen purchases set you back. Remind yourself daily how much better your life will be when you pay off your credit cards. Think of how much extra cash you will have each month!

Keep Away from the Mall: Shopping is usually the biggest pitfall when trying to get out of debt, so my advice is to avoid the mall at all costs. When we avoid the stores, we tend to not dwell on the things we want; however, going shopping will only intensify your buying urges. Ditto for internet shopping sites.

Transfer your Balances to Cards with Lower Interest Rates: This will help you to pay less on the balance, and you will be able to pay off your credit card debt much sooner. (Just check the details because sometimes there are charges for transferring.)

Plan ahead for Next Year: The best thing to do is to start setting aside cash throughout the year for the holidays. Putting aside $50 dollars a month beginning is January will give you $600 for next December. Whatever you save, make sure that you shop within this budget. Plan a list of how much you want to spend on each person. And remember, gifts are great, but your financial freedom is more important.

Debt Resources and Debt Advice

Debt can slowly sneak up on you and cause more damage than you could ever imagine. Perhaps you open up one or two credit cards, put a couple of purchases on them, and before you know it, you have a couple hundred dollars in credit card debt but are only paying $25 on the balance each month. As a result, every time you are short of cash you decide to put your purchases on the credit card. Now you are seriously contemplating debt because you owe thousands to your creditors.

If you are feeling as though you have lost control of your finances and feel too overwhelmed to deal with them, you should start seeking out debt advice. The free eBook Debt Free at Last: A Superior Solution to Bankruptcy and Credit Counseling by Victor Chevalier is an informative resource that can help you to understand your credit card debt. It also gives you the tools to make a change in your life and spending habits, while explaining the different methods of dealing with debt. Mr. Chevalier explains the pros and cons regarding bankruptcy, credit counseling, and debt negotiation.

This book is now available in Spanish and Chinese! For the Chinese version, visit: http://chinese.usfmgroup.com/shared_images/debtbook_Chinese.pdf

For the Spanish Version visit: http://eliminaciondedeudas.com/shared_images/LibreDeDeuda.pdf

Is the End of the Housing Boom Creating More Credit Card Debt For You?

I read an article the other day about a young man who had bought eight houses or so during the housing boom. This was a time when everyone was in a frenzy to buy up properties with little to no money down and interest only mortgages. Well, to make a long story short, instead of making a quick and tidy profit on the homes, he now has a majority of them facing foreclosure and is $140,000 in credit card debt. He has now figured out what many have been forecasting for the last year or so—the housing boom is over, and many of us are now in serious debt because of it. Click Here to learn more about the housing slump

Many of us bought properties during the boom thinking we would pay interest only rates or adjustable rate mortgages because we could always turn around and sell them for more than we paid. Interest rates were low, and now that they are rising it is becoming increasingly difficult to pay the bills, plus a mortgage that has just doubled or tripled. So, now we see the conundrum, should we pay our credit card bills or our mortgage? Well, of course choosing the mortgage reassures that you will have a roof over your head, but that also leaves you with a lot of really nasty collection calls from creditors because of unpaid credit card debt, the threat of law suits hovering above your head, thoroughly ruined credit, and a general sense of unease.

Plus, with many forecasters predicting the imminent downturn of the economy as a result of the housing bust, the financial security of many could be at serious risk. So, what about the amount of credit card debt? Since the price of housing is depreciating, it is much more difficult (as well as extremely risky) to obtain more equity from homes to cover these debts. Filing bankruptcy could put your home at risk (you may be forced to sell it if you don’t meet certain requirements). Credit consolidation would only roll your debt into your mortgage or car payment, and the payments would still be very high.

On the other hand, the method of debt negotiation can drastically reduce your unsecured debts without jeopardizing your home or increasing your monthly payments. In fact, you could end up with 65 or 70 percent less debt, allowing you to pay your credit cards off quickly and giving you the ability to afford your higher mortgage payments. Click Here to learn more about ridding yourself of credit card debt.