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: Howard Dvorkin from Consolidated Credit Counseling Services
Segment 3
Tom: I’m Tom Allen, and I hate debt. I invite you to make the decision today to join with me in living a debt free and prosperous life. If you are deeply in debt, you can get help. But no matter what help you get, you are still responsible for your success. That’s why being sure that you get ongoing support is so important. Howard Dvorkin from Consolidated Credit Counseling Services knows how to get you through the process of becoming debt-free, and he’s here to help you. Howard, we all need help, but ultimately, we have to take the actions that lead to our own personal success. How does Consolidated Credit Counseling Services help us reach our financial goal?
Howard: We help people who desire an education on how to help themselves.
Tom: There you go.
Howard: I guess that’s the easiest way I can say. Essentially, people don’t need to go into a credit counseling debt management plan. They can very readily help themselves. Sometimes it is more beneficial to enter one of these plans, but the first step of getting help is to know where the heck you are. Unfortunately, a lot of us don’t know where we are from a financial standpoint. What I mean by that is, you’ve got to go to the kitchen table and lay out all your bills. You bring a calculator, a pencil, and a piece of paper. If you don’t have a kitchen table, go out, use your charge card, and go get one. (laughs) Just joking!
Tom: (laughs) We know.
Howard: I’m just kidding. I have to throw out a little bit of humor!
Tom: Little credit card joke there.
Howard: Sorry, but anyway, essentially go through and add up who you owe on a piece of paper. If you need help, go on to our website at ConsolidatedCredit.org, which has a very neat system which can do the same thing as your piece of paper, but whatever’s easier. Essentially, go through and write who you owe, how much you owe, what your monthly payment is, and how much your interest rate is.
Tom: That can be scary right there.
Howard: That is scary, and quite frankly, most people will be shocked. I will say greater than 40% of us don’t have a clue how much we owe within $1000. Which is a scary, scary thing. Most people have six to eight credit cards and weren’t paying attention in high school to math class and that kind of got away from them.
Tom: Let’s see, 18% plus over-the-limit fees and late payments…
Howard: It adds up to a lot.
Tom: No kidding!
Howard: It adds up to a lot. But the first thing is to do that. Know where you are. Then figure out your options. You may have credit cards that have very little interest rates, and if so, maybe you could transfer your balances to that credit card, maybe not. Maybe you need to search out there for another credit card that offers more and better terms for you, but understand those terms before you enter a contractual agreement with these folks. What sounds good may not always turn out to be good. So you must, must, must go out and education yourself on…
Tom: On the fine print.
Howard: On the fine print, yes. Unfortunately, most of us don’t read that stuff, including yours truly. The next thing is, if you don’t have the ability to transfer credit cards, maybe you’ve been late a little bit on your credit cards and nobody deems you as a worthy creditholder, maybe we go through and just pick out the largest balance—but more importantly, look at the largest interest rate—and focus on that and go through and start to make larger than minimum payments. You and I both know that minimum payments are only going to keep you on the treadmill to credit and are not going to get you anywhere. The only person that’s going to benefit from it is the guy that’s loaning you the money, that’s why he’s telling you to make the minimum payment. But essentially go through and, I would recommend make three times the minimum payment, and that will be your first step. Once that card’s liquidated, and it may take some time, then go to the next card and liquidate that.
Tom: And you’ll have one less minimum payment to make.
Howard: Absolutely. But you keep putting more and more payments towards the largest interest rate.
Tom: So you take what would have been going to the first card and apply it to the second card.
Howard: Absolutely. But people think that they should liquidate the cards with the smallest balance, and from an absolute financial standpoint, that does not make sense. You need to liquidate the credit cards and loans that are charging you the highest interest rates. At that time, keep doing that procedure and you will get out of debt. It will take you a while, certainly. Try to look and see if there are alternatives to go through and liquidate these debts. Maybe you can roll all the loans into one single loan. Maybe at the bank or your credit union, whatever the case may be. But again, be cognizant of the deal you enter into, because sometimes deals change. And be cognizant that the credit card that’s offering you s 0% or 5% may change, and change quite dramatically. Be cognizant, if you get yourself in trouble, and this is the scary thing, and I know you know this, Tom. When people enter these great deals and trip up, and everybody makes a mistake, and the credit card lenders get a payment late, it is going to put them into a penalty situation where they are paying maybe 24% interest.
Tom: Yes, kind of what they’re looking for.
Howard: And it’s very scary. The credit card industry in general is a very treacherous place to tread through if you really don’t know what you’re doing.
Tom: Now I know that Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, for folks that do enroll in your debt management program, has some ongoing support including newsletters and other kinds of support. What kinds of things do you do for folks in the program?
Howard: Frankly, we offer our education at no cost to anyone who wants it. People who enter our credit counseling program have a direct line into folks that really care and that will help them every step of the way. There are seminars that Consolidated offers on different financial topics: retirement, liquidation of debt, buying a house, insurance—those are some of the programs. And once a month, at our main facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we offer those seminars, and at various times through the month we go around organizations and do seminars. But also we have a tremendous offering of educational programs in downloadable format through pdf files on our website. We also have something called the Credit Compass, which is a gameshow type entertainment, but it really drives the point home and educates people about credit.
Tom: The Credit Compass?
Howard: Yes.
Tom: And that’s on the website?
Howard: That’s on the website.
Tom: And that’s at ConsolidatedCredit.org.
Howard: Yes sir. We are also able to go through and allow people to go through an interactive site that we just designed, which I’m real proud of, and you can go through and basically it’s courses set up in same manner as the Credit Compass, to go through and teach people about credit, but maybe in a less entertaining way but more effective way. So you can’t get lost in there. But people can call our offices, and if they are clients—even if they’re not—they’re going to get to talk to financial planners, people who are certified, who know what’s going on, who can give you advice. It’s interesting to listen to some of the calls, as we all do at the office, and go through and hear what kind of questions are coming out. And it may not necessarily be financially related, it may be personal issues that are going on. So I always say, half my job is psychology. The other half I haven’t figured out what it is yet.
Tom: (laughs) Well, money affects us so deeply in so many aspects of our life. It really does affect every aspect of our life.
Howard: Well you’ve got to realize that financial pressure is the number one cause of divorce in this country, which is a terrible thing. You know what? I can tell you that I personally have saved at least 2 or 3 dozen marriages over the course of the last decade and a half.
Tom: Should we call you Dr. Howard? (laughs)
Howard: I don’t know, I didn’t save my first one myself. (laughs) I think I’ll still work on Dr. Howard… But then again, if I remember correctly, I think Dr. Phil was divorced once.
Tom: Could be. Sometimes bad experiences are our best teacher.
Howard: Absolutely. You learn a lot. Certainly financial pressures add to the stress and it’s a shame. And if I can save a few families along the way and enjoy what I do, I love it. I have the greatest job on earth. I get to sit there and help people, and know I help people, and at the end of the day, I get to walk out the door.
Tom: In our next segment, we’re going to talk about how that help really affects people, how getting out of debt can actually change your life. For more information, stay tuned. Howard Dvorkin from Consolidated Credit Counseling Services will be right back. And, of course, for more information on getting out and staying out of debt, visit IHateDebt.com. I’m Tom Allen, and I hate debt.
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