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
Co-Host: Sheri Zampelli
Guest: April Lewis-Parks from Consolidated Credit Counseling Services
Segment 2
Tom: I’m Tom Allen my co-host today is Sheri Zampelli from CreditCardAddiction.com and author of “From Sabotage to Success.” Our guest April Lewis-Parks director of educational service for Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. April’s an expert at helping people get out and stay out of debt by taking control of their finances. April, when you’re in debt you still have to spend money for housing, transportation, food, everything else that you need to have and pay for and you still need to pay those bills, it can all seem overwhelming, what do I do to start getting control of my spending?
April: Well, one of the first things that everyone needs to do to take control of their spending is to look at their personal situation and if they find that debt is an overwhelming problem they should seek professional advice, at least get them on the right road and get a plan that’ll be satisfactory to their needs. At Consolidated Credit Counseling what we do is take credit card debt that consumers have they’re being charged very high interest rates and negotiate with the creditors on behalf of the consumer and usually we get them down to half or zero of what the APR is.
Tom: You reduce their interest rates by half?
April: Oh yes, oh yes. Many people have 24% interest rates, 22% interest rates some credit card issuers are now charging people a 30% interest rate which is absolutely obscene. And if you have several cards and they’re at these outrageous interest rates the payments that they’re making every month are just covering their interest maybe a dollar or two dollars goes to paying down their principal. In my eyes it’s almost like robbery. It’s modern day robbery, that people are being charges outrageous interest rates. So if people find them selves in this situation and they call 1-800-728-3632 they can speak to a counselor and assess their situation. And the interest rates are generally between zero percent to nine percent.
Tom: Much better than 30%.
April: Oh far yes much, much better. And then they’ll be given one payment to send to our company and then we disperse payments to the credit card companies. And we’re the fifth largest credit consolidation company in the United States so have accounts with every major creditor and we send them outrageously high checks every month.
Tom: Do you?
April: Yes we do. Checks go out for millions of dollars every month to creditors to help people pay off their debts. It’s unfortunate but in this day and age we always suggest and we have people try to call the credit card companies on their own and ask for a reduced interest rate but generally the credit card company won’t work with the individual.
Tom: They used to.
April: They used to. And it used to be much easier for people to call and say, “You know, I’ve been paying on time and I’m having a difficult situation could you lower my interest rate?”
Tom: Or I got a notice from your competitor and they’re offering me a better rate.
April: Absolutely.
Tom: It’s not so easy any more. Is it?
April: It’s not. And the people who are really overextended and who are getting late fees and late charges aren’t being extended credit offers from competitors anymore. So they find them selves in a rock and a hard place. Once you fall behind and you miss one payment or two payments the late fees that they charge any where between twenty-five to thirty dollars. And then that late fee accrues interest.
Tom: Yes
April: And then if it’s a high interest rate it starts a domino effect. And it’s very difficult for someone to get caught up especially in this economy. There are a lot of people who have been laid-off, there are a lot of people who are underemployed people who have had their overtime cut back and their just not making the money that they were making two years ago. And it’s especially difficult for those individuals. With our program what we do is we set them with one payment per month that fits in with their budget. And they go through a budget analysis with a counselor and they determine, okay you can spend x amount to pay off this debt we’ll give you these reduce interest rates and your debt will be paid off between three to five years paying this amount at this interest rate to your creditors.
Tom: Three to five years?
April: Yes.
Tom: Much better than the 35 to 40 years if you keep making those minimum monthly payments.
April: Absolutely. We have a calculator on our web site, debtfree.org, where a consumer can put in how much they owe on a credit card and what their interest rate is. It will calculate the minimum payment using 2% which is the industry average. And it will show them how many years it will take to pay off the debt and how much interest they’ll be charged.
Sheri: Wow! That’s a powerful tool, that’s real powerful. I’ve used that myself it’s very powerful, shocking too!
April: When people see that it will take them thirty years to pay off a $5.000 debt and…
Sheri: How much you pay in interest.
April: ...and you pay $4,000 in interest.
Sheri: Exactly.
Tom: So that $100 meal you bought everybody turns into a $1,000 meal by the time that you’ve paid everything off.
April: Absolutely.
Sheri: That’s scary.
April: Absolutely. Credit cards were designed when they were first incepted to be something for convenience. And to say I don’t have this money right now I’ll put it on this card and then I’ll pay it off and it was really a tool for convenience and it’s turned into something else. Americans and not only Americans I’m sure all over the world they depend on credit to float their lifestyle and this is a trend that needs to be stopped because it’s really holding people in a prison.
Tom: April once you’re in the program you still need to pay your other bills you still need to spend money on other expenses. I know you’re a believer in “smart spending.”
April: Absolutely
Tom: How does that work?
April: Well, we have a pie chart guide that breaks down how much money people should spend on different categories. For instance housing expenses should be bout 25% of take-home pay, transportation expenses should be about 15% of take-home pay, utilities are 6%. So we have a guide that people can go to and just figure out what is their percentage that their spending on x, y, and z. And kind of see where they fall. Because there are a lot of saving to be had on everyday items such as food, clothing, utilities, telephone service, wireless and cell phone, there’s a lot of options. The Internet actually has made it much easier for the average person to find the best deal. People need to be mindful of it and not just be consumers.
Tom: So one step would be to even if you are in a debt management program would be then to take a look at the other money you’re spending and figure out ways, Sheri was talking about this earlier, figuring out ways, make it a challenge for yourself to spend less money while still getting the same amount of goods and services.
April: Absolutely. I think that is a wonderful challenge.
Sheri: Is that one of the things that your service helps people with, as far as finding those alternatives?
April: Well, yes. And primarily, all of the information after they go through a counseling session and the counselor suggests different ways they can cut back just by looking at their expenses and analyzing where their money is going. Our web site has a lot of resources on it to save money and it leads people to money savings places for coupons and how to know how to buy a new car. What is it when you’re leasing a car and what are the financial ramifications or actually leasing a car? How to get a good deal when buying used car. So practical everyday things that people need to know that they can save money its there for them and the counselors go over that with them and tell them where to go on the site. But the biggest thing is that people have to want to do it.
Tom: Is there a coupon to use a credit counseling services? Just how much does it cost to use a credit counseling service?
April: Our credit counseling service, because all of them are different, there are a few different ways that’s its set up in the industry. But at Consolidated Credit there’s a fee to join which varies between $35 and $39.
Tom: Between $35 and $39, 36, 37, 38?
April: Yes
Tom: Okay.
April: Yes, but I shall say, for a college student its $15 because they have a totally different set of circumstances they’re working with.
Tom: No real income.
April: Exactly. And yet they get extended $5,000, $10,000 from credit cards.
Tom: It doesn’t stop the credit card companies from giving them a credit card.
Sheri: Are you kidding they plant themselves in front of the bookstore at the college and hand out free gifts if you sign up for the credit card.
April: Not only the book store they’re all over the place the campus.
Sheri: All over the campus.
April: Giving out free movie passes…
Sheri: Oh yeah.
April: …tickets to shows, sign up get a card.
Sheri: The credit card offers are in all of the bags with your text books.
April: Right
Sheri: When I bought text books in college, every time I bought text books there was a credit card application in my bag with my books.
Tom: So there’s being in essence sponsored by the school.
Sheri: Absolutely.
April: And they are. They are the universities and the colleges make a nice profit off of the children they get to enroll and that’s a whole separate issue.
Sheri: Yeah it is.
Tom: April, one of my biggest concerns is that when someone signs up with a debt help company they don’t follow through. They wind up dropping out of the program and in many cases they may wind up in being in worse situation than they were when they started. What can a credit counseling company do to make sure that someone that joins their program stays in the program?
April: One of the essential parts of a credit counseling program is communication and keeping in touch with the individual. For instance with our program the consumer, the person, they still receive their credit card statement at their home every month so they can look at them and see the balance is going down. If they see something that is curious to them or something that they don’t think is quite right they need to pick up the phone and call us and say there’s something here that just doesn’t make sense to me. There needs to be continuing educational feedback to the consumers they need newsletters that go out that encourage them to stay on track and to liquidate their debt and to give them helpful tips and advice to urge them on to going through with their commitment to being debt free.
Tom: And who takes care of the newsletter there at Consolidated?
April: Well, I write the newsletter.
Tom: Well you do, we’re talking to the right person then.
April: It’s called “The Advisor.” We do it every quarter. And I always try to put in tips and advice that are seasonal and that are topical and timely to what‘s going on in the climate of the society as well as good encouragement. I find that our best encouragement is found from our other clients. I get letters all the time...
Tom: Success stories.
April: …Yes, that people as so happy and thankful. Just to know that they’re going to be out of debt and there’s a service out there to help them and will put them on the right road. I think that other consumer stories and then real advice that they can use in their every day life that goes out to them continually. And also that they know that they can pick up the telephone and they can talk to their representative at a credit counseling agency, and say “Hey, gee what was going on with this or I can’t make my payment I’m afraid because this happened to me. Can you help me out?” There needs to be a support system underneath the contract and the paper
Tom: How many days a week are your counselors available?
April: They’re available six days, Monday through Saturday. During the week the can be reached from 8am-10pm EST. and on Saturday they can be reached from 9:30am-1:30pm.
Tom: And that phone number again April.
April: The phone number is 1-800-728-3632 and the counselors are waiting to help anyone that needs assistance.
Sheri: I was noticing that in your bio that you’re considered the consumer affairs advocate.
April: Yes.
Sheri: I like that word advocate, how do you advocate for your clients?
April: Well, I consider being an advocate, especially in the community; we’re based in Ft Lauderdale Florida even though we’re a national company. I try to sponsor a lot of grassroots efforts. We work with Alliance for the Homeless to try to get them some money and financial help even though you would think they don’t have any money. And then also children, children need money advice even though they don’t have any money just so when they do get college age and they get older so they’ll understand what is to earn an income and missed opportunities and what a dollar means and how to live life. Money isn’t just about consumerism and money it’s a philosophy for living.
Tom: April Lewis-Parks thanks for sharing you philosophy with us today. Again Consolidated Credit Services, that number one more time.
April: 1-800-728-3632.
Tom: Thank you very much April. 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 to take control of your finance life to get out and stay out of debt. More coming up on the I Hate Debt radio show on wsRadio.com the worldwide leader in Internet talk.
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Consumer Credit Counseling Services
Listen to the I Hate Debt Radio show interview withApril Lewis-Parks from Consolidated Credit Counsleing Services Segment 1
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