Debt Elimination Success Seminar
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Section 1
A Look at Debt
History of Debt
Credit Card History
Current State of Debt
How You Got Into Debt
Good Debt Bad Debt
Business vs. Personal Debt
Section 2 Dealing With Your Money
The Two Step Plan
Doing The Two-Step
Step One
Step Two
The Paths Out of Debt
1- Create a Debt Payment Plan
2- Neogtiate Better Rates & Terms
a.Consolidation Loans
b.Consumer Credit Counseling Services
3- Negotiate Lump-Sum Settlements
4- Bankruptcy
5- The Easy Way
6- Win $1,000,000
Living Debt-Free
Manage Your Money
Make More Money
Save Money
SameMoney-MoreFun
Stay Debt-Free
You as a Business
Section 3 Dealing With Your Creditors
Alerts/Scams
The Credit Industry
Credit Industry
The Fine Print
The Secondary Debt Market
The Debt Collection Process
Original Creditor
The Charge-Off
Collection Agency
Legal Problems
Dirty Creditor Tricks
Dealing with Debt Collectors
Dealing with Debt Collectors
Statute of Limitations
Cease and Desist Letter
Section 4
The Credit Report
The Credit Report
Credit Score
Credit Repair
Section 5
Dealing With Yourself
The Critical Factor
The Art of Prosperity
The End of Failure
Prosperity Coaching
Section 6
Kids and Money
Kids and Money
How to Pay for College
Section 7
Debt Information
Bookstore
Debt Facts
Radio Show
Resources
About Us
Privacy Policy
Site Map
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Consumer Credit Counseling Services |
Host: Tom Allen
Guest: Cuba Craig from American Financial Solutions
Segment 2
Tom: I’m Tom Allen. I’m here with Cuba Craig the President and CEO of American Financial Solutions a CareOne Credit Counseling service provider based in Seattle Washington. American Financial Solutions counsels people on how debt management helps over extended bill payers develop a strategy to get their debts paid off as quickly as possible. Cuba, I’m here as you are, to help provide information to help get people out of debt. I know most people that are in the debt relief industry want to help too. But there have been some cases of some folks who sought help from a debt relief company and wound up with a big problem. What are some of the warning sings to look for in dealing with a credit counseling agency?
Cuba: Tom you’re absolutely right. And it’s something that those of us at CareOne and other credible agencies worry about all the time. What a person needs to do when they go to a credit counseling agency is ask really specific questions. The first question they should ask is, are you a non-profit? The second is do you charge a fee? And if someone says well we charge an up-front set-up fee but we need to do that because it helps us with the work that we have to do and so on. If they say then you just say thank you and hang up the phone. Because you do not need to pay an up-front fee we’re non-profit and if you’re a credible agency you should not under any circumstances require people to pay a fee for this service. The other thing is that people should... an agency should be accredited by one the national accreditation firms that either the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the Association of Independent Credit Counseling Agencies. Those are the two big associations so and if somebody belongs to one of those they have to meet the standards of a really good agency.
Tom: American Financial Solutions provides help through CareOne Credit Counseling Service. What exactly what is CareOne Credit Counseling?
Cuba: Well, CareOne Credit Counseling Agency is more a service mark it’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal or something. What it does it lets the consumer know that if they are going to a CareOne agency for a debt management plan then they are going to get the service that they deserve. They’re going to get counselors who are accredited by a national accreditation agency. They’re going to be treated like the way that ought to be treated. They’re not going to be charged an up-front fee. So those are the standards under which CareOne agencies operate and you can’t be a CareOne Credit Counseling agency unless you meet those standards.
Tom: And then you get the stamp of approval.
Cuba: That’s right. A person should never even consider having someone deal with their credit unless the meet those standards. Because those are pretty basic standards
Tom: Absolutely. We ran out of time on the last segment when you were about to give your phone number so I want to give you plenty of opportunity how do we get in touch with American Financial Solutions?
Cuba: Well at American Financial Solutions you can just go on to our website at debtfixers.org or you can call us, our direct 800 line is 800-570-3341. But I want to give you the CareOne agency number also because those all of those companies will give you the same service that we do. And some of them are on the east coast and if you’re calling in the middle of the night or whatever you can always go on the Internet and you can call us and leave us a message but if you call 800-498-3204 then you’ll be connected with to CareOne Agency.
Tom: Now you’re in Seattle Washington
Cuba: Yes we are but we’re licensed all over the country and we have clients in every state expect Michigan. And so no matter where people are they can call and the same for all our CareOne agencies. We’re across the country we’re licensed in states where licenses are required and we meet all of the standards that the CareOne counseling requires us to meet.
Tom: So it’s not necessary to come into the office in person this can all be done over the telephone.
Cuba: Right and that’s another thing you should look for is that you have all kinds of ways that you can call someone and also ways that you can access your account. You should be able to go on the Internet and pull up your account and see how you’re doing or you should be able to go on the Internet and enroll if you prefer that. You should be able to call on an 800 number if you have a question there should be a customer service person to help you and you should be able to walk in the door and sit down with someone if you prefer to do that. Because we’re all over the country it’s impossible for us to be in every community so we give as many ways of accessing our service as we can.
Tom: So when I have a credit card problem what are some of the tale-tale signs what situation would I be in where I should be looking at a debt management program?
Cuba: Well first of all creditors don’t like it if we sign up people who just simply want to lower interest rates. So when someone calls they need to be behind on their payments or they need to be in a situation where something really drastic has happened there’s been an illness or a death in the family, God forbid, or something like that where they know that if they don’t figure something out quickly they’re going to be behind in the next month or two. So they need t have that. They need two have at least two credit cards or they need to have a credit card and some other unsecured debt like a medical bill or something.
Tom: Okay
Cuba: And they need to be of course they have to have an income so they can make their payments but they really it needs to be a situation where they’re saying you know I have got to have some help or I’m going have to either go to collections or I going to have to declare bankruptcy but I don’t want to do that.
Tom: So once we come to American Financial Solutions you’ve explained in general terms what happens in the fact that we now make a payment to you, you pay the credit card companies and after a time we get I guess we get some interest rates that are lowered.
Cuba: We submit immediately we can finish with you half an hour on the phone and get you, you can send back a fax to us to sign the agreement that we give to you to show to that we’re going to make the payments for you and that your records are safe and all of those things that people require and should require. Then we immediately send that proposal to you creditors to all of them and say your client has decided to go on a debt management plan with America Financial Solutions. They then lower the interest rates and we know what the creditors are going to do in that regard. You know we know what the creditors are going to do in that regard you know they’re going to reduce them from 25% to 7% and this one will reduce them from 26% to 8% so we know all that. They will know immediately what relief there’re going to get and then the calls will stop we tell people look if the creditor calls you because you haven’t had your proposal finished yet just tell them that you just signed up with a debt management plan with AFS and they’ll quit calling you
Tom: So the relief really is immediate.
Cuba: It’s immediate. When they get off the phone we’ve had them actually call back call the counselor right back right back and say you know it just hit me. You can’t believe how I feel. You really took care of this for me didn’t you?
Tom: In the last minute we have here Cuba what does that really mean to someone’s life once they have their debts under control they’re getting some relief, what does that really mean to them personally?
Cuba: Tom, your program, you’re very familiar with the fact that if you’re in debt it affects your whole life. It can ruin your marriage it can ruin your health it can ruin everything and once you know that you’ve taken this in control and all of a sudden you’re in charge of your finances and there not in charge of you it changes your life no question about it.
Tom: Absolutely. And of course when you deal with American Financial Solutions, again that side benefit, you can also know that the solution to your debt problem is actually helping college students with their tuition, so you get a side benefit there.
Cuba: That’s right
Tom: One more time how do we get in touch with American Financial Solutions?
Cuba: You can call CareOne CareOnecredit.com or debt fixer.org. and we’ll get you signed right up. Be sure to have you bills in front of you ready everything in front of you so that you don’t have to wait.
Tom: And it only takes a half an hour to go through the entire process and the results benefits are immediate.
Cuba: Immediate and dramatic.
Tom: Thank you Cuba for being on I Hate Debt. This segment of I Hate Debt has been brought to you by CareOne Credit Counseling Service. The information on the I Hate Debt radio show is not designed to substitute for qualified financial or legal advice. But designed to motivate and inspire you take control of you financial life to get out of and stay out of debt. The I Hate Debt radio show is heard live on Fridays from 3:00 to 5:00pm on Fridays on wsRadio.com the worldwide leader in Internet talk.
END
Consumer Credit Counseling Services
Listen to the I Hate Debt Radio show interview withCuba Craig from American Financial Solutions Segment 2
CareOne Consumer Credit Counseling Services
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