Debt Elimination Success Seminar
 |
|
 |
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
If you find this information helpful I ask you to contribute to help me help more people. You can contribute through PayPal by clicking on this button Or you can mail in your contribution.
Consumer Credit Counseling Services |
Host: Tom Allen
Co-Host: Sheri Zampelli
Guest: April Lewis-Parks from Consolidated Credit Counseling Services
Segment 1
Tom: I’m Tom Allen my co-host today is Sherri Zampelli from CreditCardAddiction.com and author of “From Sabotage to Success.” Our guest is April Lewis-Parks director of educational service for Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. April’s an expert at helping people get out of debt by taking control of their finances. April how do I know I have a debt problem and what’s the first thing I should do to turn things around?
April: Hi Tom.
Tom: Hi April.
April: Well thanks so much for having me on the show. A couple of signs that people are having a debt problem are obviously if their credit cards are maxed out and used to the limit. If 10 to 15% of their take home pay is being spent on credit card debt. And a big sign is that if they’re taking cash advances from one credit card to pay off another credit card. That’s a definite sign that they’re in trouble.
Tom: Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Sheri: Those interest rates on that cash advance are killer.
April: Absolutely. They can be outrageous and then there’s often a fee to take it out as well as an interest rate that’s assigned to that amount of money every month. And if you’re taking a cash advance to pay off another bill that’s a definite sign that there’s financial trouble.
Tom: And there’s no grace period usually on cash advances.
April: Usually not. And a lot of people who’ve gotten teaser rates and they’re being charged a low interest rate 0% perhaps on an cash advance that doesn’t apply and it might be 16%, 19%, 20% on the cash advance. And a lot of consumers aren’t aware that that cash advance is that they’re taking is being charged at such a high interest rate.
Sheri: I remember the first time I used it I didn’t know. I was shocked and then they choose how fast they take that, like when you pay, they don’t just automatically pay off that 25% interest rate…
April: No
Sheri: they just decide when they’re going to pay, you know, they take like a couple of dollars out of your payment to pay off the cash advance and then rest to pay off what’s at a lower interest.
Tom: Doesn’t the bulk of it go to the lower interest rate things that you charged?
Sheri: Exactly.
April: Often times it goes totally towards the 0% or the 3% or the teaser balance or low balance and the high balance your charged interest on but none of the money that you pay on a monthly basis goes toward that debt so that way they can charge you more interest.
Tom: So what should I do to start to turn things around?
April: Well you know it’s a very individual situation and every body needs to access their own debt-to-income ratio and how much money is going out every month.
Tom: Debt-to-income ratio this is kind of sounding like fancy financial talk. What do I need to do first?
April: Debt-to–income ratio just means tally up what you income is every month. Sit down and figure up what you’re paying towards your mortgage or rent, what your automobile expenses are, you know a loan, your insurance and your gas, and what your utilities and your fixed expenses are, what you pay for groceries and just everyday living household items. If you’re paying more than 15% of your monthly take-home pay towards credit debt then its time to reevaluate your situation.
Tom: More than 15% okay.
April: So your debt-to-income ratio…another good way to figure it out is to say okay, I owe x amount of dollars in unsecured debt which is usually credit card debt.
Tom: Credit cards.
April: Or it could be medical bills as well anything that’s not secured with collateral. And look at that number and then look at the number that you make look at what you take home annually and if what you owe is a significant portion of what you earn then its time to really sit down and think about okay I’m living beyond my means or why do I have this large outstanding debt?
Tom: So now we have the light bulb come on and we know that there’s a problem. Where do we turn from there? I know there are a variety of paths that one can take to get out of debt.
April: Right, well if somebody’s struggling with debt and every month they’re putting too much money towards debt and they think that it’s just too much for them to handle or the interest rates are so outrageously high that they will never ever pay down the balance using minimum payments. The first suggestion I have is to contact a credit counselor and get a free consultation. Speak with someone and go through, they’ll have you go through your budget and what your making and what your spending and what your debts are..
Tom: How much was that free counseling session?
April: It’s free.
Tom: It was free, okay; I just wanted to make sure that that was free.
April: No consumer should ever go somewhere where they’re going to charge you just for a consultation.
Tom: Cause if I can’t afford to pay my bill I’m certainly going to be scared of spending more money to get advice on how to stop spending money.
April: Absolutely. And you know there are plenty of people out there who want to charge you for that advice but it’s not necessary. There are many, many reputable agencies that will take your phone call and talk to you and you can express your frustrations and what’s going on with your money life and give you solutions and at least evaluate your situation. The firm that I work for Consolidated Credit it’s free to call in and to get an evaluation of your situation.
Tom: What’s the first thing that happens when someone calls in?
April: Well, when you call and speak to a counselor they ask you all the fundamental questions about you money situation. They ask you, what are you making? What are your monthly obligations? And they’ll put it on their computer and they’ll look and it and they’ll come out with a figure. And either people are in the red every month or in the black every month and if they seem to have a high dollar amount going out to creditors and for bills owed then they’ll give you a path. They’ll either tell you. Okay, listen your situation isn’t that bad. You should cut back on a, b, c, and d because they seem high for what you make. Your expenses, on let’s say, utilities, or food or entertainment and they’ll give you advice to cut back. If someone has a lot of money going towards unsecured debts such as credit cards they may be able to set them up on a debt management plan The debt management plan basically is sort of a hardship program it’s an easy way for everybody to understand I think.
Tom: Okay.
April: They’ll talk to the creditors for the individual, negotiate a lower rate. And then they’ll give the person a figure which is one amount which they can send in that will pay off all the debts in specific amount of time. And the benefit to the consumer is that they get reduced interest rates via the hardship program.
Sheri: I have a question for you April.
April: Yeah.
Sheri: Okay, I went to something similar to what you’re talking about years and years ago I was in high school, I mean not high school, I was in college and I was making $18,000 a year and I had $20,000 in credit card debt.
April: Oh my God! Okay.
Sheri: They sent me out the door and said my situation wasn’t that bad and I seemed to be handling it. Does that seem normal to you?
April: That just is so not right.
Sheri: That doesn’t seem right to me. I was paying rent and everything I was accumulating student loans and everything when they said that to me and I walked out I thought, wow I wonder what you have to do to be bad cause it sounded horrible to me.
April: You know what we just actually ran a report and then did a survey of our clients and we found that 25% of Americans are spending more money than they make. Now if your spending more money than you make annually there’s a definite problem.
Tom: Isn’t that called being in debt?
April: Yes
Sheri: So you said 25% of people are doing that right now?
April: Yes
Sheri: Okay.
Tom: April we’ve only got a minute left in this segment and you’re coming back in our next segment but I what to make sure I understood when someone calls Consolidated Credit Counseling Services for the free analysis they may very well be told that you don’t need our services that you just need to adjust your spending habits and how you pay your bills.
April: They might be. And if it’s something that’s just inherent in their spending then the counselor will advise them to go over a budget and they’ll send them out a free budgeting kit probably along with “Credit Cards What You Should Know” which is another free kit that we send out, to just go over their budget and see what they’re doing with their money
Tom: Yes.
April: And why is it not, you know, why are they having a lot of debt and feeling out of control and yet they’re making a decent income that should be able to cover that.
Tom: And then if they do need the debt management help they can get that too. What’s the phone number for Consolidated Credit?
April: The phone number is 1-800-728-3632 and counselors can be reached Monday through Saturday during the week it’s 8am-10pm EST and on Saturdays from 9:30am-1:30pm Eastern.
Tom: All right. April Lewis-Parks thanks for being here on this segment you’ll be back in our next segment. The information of The I Hate Debt radio show is not designed to substitute for qualified financial or legal advice but designed to motive and inspire you to take control of your financial life. More with April Lewis-Parks on the I Hate Debt radio show on wsRadio.com The worldwide
Consumer Credit Counseling Services
Listen to the I Hate Debt Radio show interview withApril Lewis-Parks from Consolidated Credit Counsleing Services Segment 1
CareOne Consumer Credit Counseling Services
If you find this information helpful I ask you to contribute $1 (or more) to help me help more people. You can contribute using PayPal using this button
Or you can mail in your contribution. 
In debt? FREE Info!
Find out how
debt consolidation,
debt management,
debt negotiation can ...
