Posted by admin on March 1st, 2011
Individuals in debt who wish to make use of the services of a debt management firm should do research before committing themselves. An unscrupulous debt management firm can harm a debtor’s interests in many ways, so make sure to keep the following 4 things in mind before hiring a debt management firm:
1. Avoid any agency that calls you by phone or sends you spam: Most debt management firms advertise in the yellow pages or on the Web, but do not over-aggressively solicit clients. Therefore, there is a good chance any company which does so is not on the level. Debt management companies that follow a cold calling policy or send unsolicited emails will usually not be able to provide any solid references. Most of these companies do not even keep a reserve fund, which serves as a guarantee for the debtor that his creditors will be paid.
2. Non-profit agencies do not necessarily offer better service: First, not all non-profit debt management firms offer their services free; some firms charge up to 15% of the debt amount. Being a non-profit organization does not make a debt management firm a better and more efficient service provider than those that charge for the services. In fact, companies charging for their service are under an obligation to free their clients of debt as efficiently as possible because they are making a profit from their work and their profitability is directly linked to their credibility and reputation in the market.
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Posted by admin on July 9th, 2010
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.
The options at this stage are usually as follow (depending on the level of credit card debt):
• Consolidate into a loan.
• Debt Management.
• Bankruptcy.
• Do Nothing.
• Just pay off the cards over as long as it takes.
• Make the minimum payments and keep spending.
• Make an effective DIY plan.
The more popular solutions – such as consolidation loans and debt management -we see being touted everywhere are the ones that put your money in other people’s pocket. I don’t know about you but for me becoming free from debt should not involve spending more money, or *borrowing your way out of debt*.
So how does a DIY system work?
To break it down into 5 steps it looks something like this:
1. Address your spending habits and why you are in this situation.
To ever win with money and have a comfortable financial future you have to control your money – not the other way round. Take complete control and set yourself some realistic yet desirable goals for the future.
2. Know your options, the ins and outs of how they work – and why they are not for you.
Along the way you will be tempted by quick fix ‘make it all better’ solutions like consolidation loans and debt management. As mentioned already there is a multibillion dollar industry making a very healthy profit from consumer debt. Your DIY plan does not involve *paying to get out of debt*.
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Posted by admin on April 24th, 2010
Step 9 – Investing
This is the last article in our series on how to get and stay out of debt. So far you have learned the impact of debt, how to analyze your debt, reduce your interest rates, free up some extra income, pay off your debt, avoid falling back into debt, and insure yourself against unforeseen circumstances. This final article will show you how to invest financially into your future.
So far, businesses have been making money off of you by lending you their money, now is your chance to turn this relationship around and make a profit off of them by lending them money. Welcome to the world of investing. There are many things people invest for, but by far the most popular is retirement.
We’ll start with the bad news, figuring out how much you are going to need for retirement. First, you’ll want to estimate how much you are going to need, or want in order to get by when you are retired. Granted, your expenses will most likely be lower because your home and other most other major expenses will hopefully be paid for by this season of life. I can’t give you a simple guide to tell you exactly how much you will need in this article, so I will leave it to you to estimate.
Now that you have this number, multiply it by fifteen, this is the amount you need to save. The reason for this is so you can live off the interest only, which will allow you to support yourself for the remainder of your life. This will also allow you leave an inheritance for your children. This will probably seem like an unachievable number, but don’t abandon hope yet; it isn’t as difficult as it first seems.
The reason this isn’t as difficult as it first seems is because of the magic of compounding interest. If you were to start investing $100 each month at the age of 20 at 10% return per year, by the time you are 65 you will have approximately $780,000. However, it’s very important to start as soon as possible. If you start at the age of 30 investing the same amount each month, you’ll only have $294,000. You’re not out of hope though, you’ll just have to invest more. If you start at the age of 30, you’ll need to invest approximately $260 a month to have the same $780,000 at the age of 65. As you get older the amount you’ll need to invest goes up significantly, but typically so does your income.
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Posted by admin on April 10th, 2010
Debt is a way of life for many Americans. We owe money on our homes, our cars, our possessions (from furniture to clothes), and our education. Many Americans are so mired in debt they aren’t even sure just how much they owe and to whom — even worse they sometimes don’t even remember just what caused their debt.
Some debt is good for you. For example, what you owe on your home can provide a nice way to balance out your income tax. A little debt is not a bad thing either as making regular payments to various creditors helps build your credit rating which makes it easier for you to obtain loans at good rates. However the truth is that most Americans have more than a little debt — and many owe far too much money and are already, or soon will be, in financial trouble as a result.
Finding yourself owing a lot of money is not the end of the road and you can stop your cycle of debt by taking four positive steps to break the cycle.
First, attack your high-cost debts. This likely includes credit cards where you may be paying high minimum payments and high interest rates. Pay off the balances on credit cards carrying the highest interest rates first. Continue making your minimum payments for lower-interest cards but concentrate on paying off the highest interest. When the high-cost cards are paid off then work to eliminate the balances on your other cards.
Second, reach out to your creditors. If you are going to be late or have difficulty paying your minimum payments then contact the credit card company. Even if you can make all your payments in a timely fashion there are two benefits you can reap from contacting the card issuer. First, you may be able to negotiate lower rates or more favorable terms. Second, they might be able to recommend alternatives that can minimize damage to your credit rating.
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