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    Get Another Debt to Be Debt Free?

    Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

    These Debt Consolidation or Debt Continuation Companies don’t tell you what you should absolutely know to be debt free.

    78% of people who consolidate their debts will fall again in debts after a short period of time, and will end up in the office of a debt consolidation service.

    Why? Simply because you think that you will really be debt free after three or five years, but it is not the case. Let me explain… Those company, after giving you a very nice pitch (anyway, you did not have choice: bankruptcy, home equity – you can loose your home – , debt settlement company another kind of wolf -), promise you that you will pay a lower interest rate.

    But what is the catch? Yes there is a catch. The catch is that you will stay longer in debt if you want lower interest rates.

    It is not the only reason why I call them Debt Continuation Services. Another reason is: While people are trying to consolidate their debts, they still need to live, and they drag out the credit card for their everyday life. Yes, bills are not stopping while you are trying to get out of debt, it is going on. And those services know that you will come back, this is the reason why they want to help you.

    They know that debt consolidation companies are gaining in popularity, and because thousands of customers turn to these services, they continue to grow.

    How do they catch so much customers?

    Let’s review some examples of pitches promising to be debt free:

    * We will help you to eliminate your debts, don’t worry

    * Consolidate your bills into one monthly payment without borrowing

    * Stop credit harassment, foreclosures, repossessions, tax levies and garnishment

    * Keep your property

    * Wipe out your debts! Consolidate your bills! How? By using the protection and assistance provided by federal law. For once, let the law work for you

    Until here, it sounds good… Let’s continue,

    * For that, you just need to pay us a one time bill, or a small fee.

    Oh great you say! I found these people and they want to help me, and I will be debt free in less than three years. I must give it a try.

    What? They just need to get you more in trouble, by having more debts, paying interest rates, work for them (making them richer than they already are).

    And upon that, you need to investigate before choosing any debt consolidation service, because there is a lot of scams out there.

    Five Steps To Success In Beating Debt

    Sunday, August 8th, 2010

    Beating debt is as much to do with what’s going on in your head as it is to do with what’s going on in your wallet. If you have a debt problem you can solve it if you admit this. Here are five steps you can take to begin beating your debt:

    1.Take control
    There comes a point where you have to admit that your debt is defeating you. You can’t keep up with repayments; the interest charges are mounting up and, maybe even worse, you’re using one loan to pay off another.

    You have to take control of your finances: if you don’t your creditors will. If you are in denial about this you need to face the truth. If you can face the truth and take control, you’re on the first step to beating debt.

    2.Live within your means
    Take a look at your credit card and charge-card statements. What did you spend that money on?

    Go round your house and take a good hard look at the goods that you bought with those credit cards. Are they worth it? Did you want them that much? What difference have they truly made to your life?

    What do you feel like when you look that stuff and say to yourself, ‘I haven’t paid for that (xxx) yet’?

    3.Reduce your stress
    Debt can become a nightmare and stress can send you into a spiral of despair. It doesn’t have to be like that. There’s a way out but it’s not an easy way out. You have to take control of yourself and your spending, and resolve to get your life back. When (and only when) you’ve got that mental resolve, then consider consolidating your debt.

    4.Eliminate your debt
    Consolidating your debt is a one-chance option of repaying your debt. The debt doesn’t disappear, but all the various loans and debts get lumped together into one bigger loan to be paid off over a longer period and at a lower interest rate. This frees up some of your income and will instantly reduce your stress.

    And, crucially, you shouldn’t continue to rack up credit card debts. You will only eliminate your debt if you live within your means.

    Try an experiment. Leave your credit cards at home for a week and live on cash. Pay for everything with money – yes, everything. This will help you get a handle on your need to budget. When you see the money slipping through your fingers it will bring home the reality that your supply of money is limited.

    At the end of the week, ask yourself how you feel. If it was difficult but you succeeded in prioritizing your spending, congratulations – you’re in control! If it was hard, or impossible, then try again. You need to be tough with yourself to be in control of your money.

    5.Getting your life back
    Happiness is not being able to buy useless luxuries: it’s about being free. Cut up all but one of your credit cards, and pay back that credit card every month, without fail. You’ll enjoy the things that money can buy only if you spend money that you have – not money that you borrow. Resist the temptation to indulge yourself with money that you don’t own.

    Money has the power to enslave you as well as making you free. When your debt is out of control, you’re enslaved. You can become free only if you take control.

    Can You Get Out From Debt?

    Sunday, July 4th, 2010

    The first principle towards settling your debt and moving towards a debt-free existence is in prioritizing your debt. What you must hold on for now to and what you must clear immediately is the first step towards debt management. A good debt management and prioritization of you loans settlement will get you out of debt. This article will give you some information guide on your debt management.

    Which loans to prioritize?

    Logically, the one with the highest rate of interest is the one that should be cleared quickly.

    Two types of loans that should be cleared as soon as possible are personal loans and credit card loans.

    The interest rate on these loans is the highest. On credit cards, it amounts to around 24% per annum (at 2% per month). A personal loan should be around 18% onwards. Even if you get the personal loan at a discount, it would be around 14% per annum.

    Which loans can be serviced over time?

    In your debt management process, there are loans which you need to prioritize to pay them off first, but there are loans which you could service them over time to reduce your loan repayment burdens. These loans can be serviced over time:

    1. Loans with low or no interest rate
    2. Loans with tax benefits

    Home loans and education loan offer tax benefits and can be settled over time. Same for loans to family or friends, which are either interest-free or carry a low rate of interest.
    The loans which you can close now

    If you are in the bad debt situation, it is critical for you to close as much of loans as possible in the short period of time. Look at your asset list and see whether you have loan on these assets. For instance, you take a car loan for an asset – which is the car. In such a case, you can sell the car and close the loan.

    If you are really struggling to pay your home loan, shifting to a smaller home or more economic location is solution for it.

    Switch to Other Loans

    As you know credit card interest rate is high and you might not able to clear it in short period of time; then, look for an alternative and switch it to a financier who will charge you a lower rate of interest.

    For credit card, there is service call balance transfer. Say you are paying 2% or 2.25% per month on your card. You can go in for another credit card. They will pay back the bank and transfer your loan onto the new card. For the first six months, they will give you a lower interest rate. Say 1.5% or 1.75% per month. This lower rate of interest will help you pay back more.

    For home loan, there are home loan packages which offer a very loan interest rate in the first 3 to 5 years; some even offer 0% interest rates in first 1-2 years. Take up these benefits by refinancing your home loan.

    Summary

    Almost all people have debt in somehow or rather and debt is the worst poverty. Being in debt is bad enough and not managing it well is worse. Know your debt and manage it property and you will get out from debt one day.

    Be Debt Free To live In Harmony?

    Sunday, May 30th, 2010

    Why you should know more about Chinese Medicine?

    If you understand why Chinese medicine is superior to occidental medicine, you will be able to solve a lot of problems beside debts.

    Chinese medicine:

    Identify the source of the problem ==> Make The Patient Conscious about these problems ==> Eliminate the problem ==> Explain to the patient how to avoid this problem ==> Explain to the patient what to do to put this problem far away for him

    Occidental medicine:

    Identify the problem (not the source, only the most apparent) ==> Eliminate (or maybe not) the problem ==> Give the solution

    It’s clear now that in the second case, the patient doesn’t really know the causes of his problem, and he is more likely to fall again in the same situation.

    In the first case, everything is done for the patient to understand his problem at the root. He will be able to fight with more weapons, and win while in the second case, he doesn’t know who, and where the menace is coming from…

    You must identify the real cause of your debts if you want to be debt free. Now that I explained to you how to deal with any thread, let me explain why so much people have so much huge debts.

    The reason is that the interest rate is leading to these situations. It is inevitable, for the growth of the economy to establish interest rates, and to be able to adjust them, when it’s time to do so.

    Question: Do you remember the Chinese principle? How do you know that the society based on the interest rate is the most advantageous for people?
    Like the commerce is based on justice, interest rate is based on injustice, as we have seen earlier. It is the real cause of debts, and the cause of your problem right now. It is the source.

    How commerce is based on justice? You will understand after reading this: You own a product A, and other human being need this product for one of these 3 reasons:

    Vital Need (water, foods…)

    Solve a problem (the car train, bus, plane for long distances;air conditioned…)

    Feel Good (beauty products, health care…)

    You are exchanging these product A against money. You need that money, and your customers need your products. It is justice because everybody wins.

    It is exactly the opposite effect with interest.

    Once you understand and start implementing this Chinese principle, you will be able to find even more causes to your problems. See here the inevitable consequence of interest: Mastervisa card, Discovery, American Express. Everybody has one, or more.

    You are given the right to buy what you can’t buy. What does that mean? It means that without this loan and the interest that you will pay for it, you will normally not be able to buy your car, or your house, or… Unless you win more money, or borrow from someone!

    Our subject here is to find the ways to get out of that debt. But the most important is to let you control.

    9 Steps To Get Out Of Debt – Part 4

    Sunday, March 28th, 2010

    9 Steps To Get Out Of Debt – Part 4

    Step 4 – Reducing Your Interest

    If you have read the previous articles, so far you have learned how wide spread of a problem debt is, the true impact it can have on your life, and how to determine exactly how much debt you have and how much it will actually cost you. The next step is to attempt to reduce your interest rate. There are several ways you can accomplish this.

    Well start by looking at what are typically known as the highest-interest debt, credit cards. Believe it or not, one of the easiest ways to do this is to simply call your credit card issuer and ask them to reduce your rate. This sounds laughable at first, but quite often it actually works. Credit card issuers typically charge customers much higher interest rates for the money they loan than what they pay to borrow it from others. This leads to huge profit margins, which means they really want to keep you as a customer, especially if you regularly pay your bill on time. They know you have plenty of options available, and are likely to switch to another credit card issuer if you feel you can get a better deal, so theyre happy to make a slightly smaller profit and keep you as a customer by lowering your rate.

    If that doesnt work, a second option is to find a lower-rate credit card and roll your balance over to it. You may be tempted to go with a card that has a 0% introductory rate. This is probably not your best option though, unless you plan on paying off the card within six months. What you want to look for is a card with a low permanent rate. There are several sites available to where you can compare credit cards from multiple issuers such as Creditor Web, http:www.creditorweb.com.

    There are also several broader options available for credit cards and other types of debt. One of which is to look into refinancing any loans you have. Interest rates go up and down over time, and its quite possible the rate you can get now is lower than what it was at the time you originally financed the loans. Often there will be a refinancing fee involved, so use the amortization calculator from the previous article to make sure the amount you are going to save is greater than the amount you will have to pay.

    You can also get a debt consolidation loan. You need to be careful when considering this option though, because although there are several legitimate companies offering debt consolidation loans, there are also several companies trying to make a quick buck at the expense of others. I highly recommend checking out any company you consider getting a loan through with the Better Business Bureau, especially if its not a reputable bank you are familiar with. In addition, once again use the amortization calculator to make sure you are actually saving money with the loan. Just because your monthly payments are lower doesnt mean youre saving money. 300 per month for 10 years is going to cost you more than 500 a month for 5 years.

    The last option I want to suggest is for those of you who own a home. There are actually two options here, you can take out a second mortgage, or refinance your home for its current value and some additional funds, to pay off other debt. As with the one before, this can be both good and bad. It can be good because these loans typically offer the lowest interest rate because they are relatively safe loans for banks. That is also the same reason they are bad; if you do not pay them off, the bank can repossess your house. The other built-in benefit is by refinancing, you can often get a lower interest rate on your house, which can save you a bundle. As with the previous option, theres often a refinancing fee, so use the amortization calculator, http:www.destroydebt.comcalculatorsAmortizationCalculatorJs.aspx to make sure you are saving money by doing this.

    With all of these methods let me stress that you should be very careful not to fall into the same trap many others have. Too often families will take out a second mortgage or debt consolidation loan to pay off their credit cards, but instead of using this is a means to reduce their debt, they charge up all the credit cards again and end up in a worse situation than they were before. Dont let this happen to you. Once you have refinanced to eliminate any credit card debt, close those accounts. Just keep one open for emergency use only until you get to a later step in this guide where you can destroy that one, as well.

    5 Ways To Try And Reduce Your Debts And Outgoings

    Sunday, February 28th, 2010

    5 Ways To Try And Reduce Your Debts And Outgoings

    Anyone that has a high level of debt or a number of creditors to pay off each month will know how stressful and difficult financial management can be. However, for those crippling themselves with monthly outgoing as a result of high debt levels there are some steps that could help to reduce the amount that you have to pay out each month, as well as reducing overall interest paid on your debts.

    1.See where you can make cutback’s on your outgoing’s. Look at cutting back on little luxuries such as eating out at lunch each day rather than taking sandwiches to work with you. Also cut out any unnecessary expenditure, such as subscriptions and memberships that may no longer be of much use to you. It is surprising how much you can claw back through a number of small savings each month, and this can then be applied towards your smaller debts such as credit and store cards in order to clear them more quickly.

    2. Make sure that you are aware of exactly what is coming in and going out of your account each month. Trying to manage your finances and prioritize on paying off debt is impossible if you don’t keep a proper track of your income and outgoing’s. List down every little payment that goes out of your account so you know exactly how much you can afford to spend or put towards clearing your debts a little faster.

    3.Consider consolidating your debts. By consolidating smaller debts with one larger loan you can reduce the number of repayments you have to make each month, cut back on the number of creditors to whom you have to pay interest, and dramatically reduce the amount that you pay out each month. For homeowners, a secured loan could be the ideal solution, as this can be spread over a longer period and this helps to keep monthly repayments down. You should be aware though, that by taking finance over a longer period, this would mean you pay back interest for longer. However, if the interest rate is lass than what you currently pay, and lower monthly payments means that you have more disposable income to spend, it would serve to prevent it from being necessary that you need to take on extra borrowing as you will have spare money each month to either build up savings and be able to afford things which you made want to purchase, with out borrowing additional money.

    4.Try and clear your overdraft. If you have an overdraft with your bank, and you find yourself reaching the limit every month, one small transaction is all it will take to push you over the limit and of course this means hefty bank charges being added to your account. By ensuring that you keep your overdraft at a sensible level rather than teetering at the brink of exceeding the limit you can avoid these hefty charges.

    5.If you do intend to take out another loan this should be by way of consolidation rather than an addition to your existing finance, as consolidating all your existing credit may help to ease the financial strain and reduce outgoing’s, whereas another added loan will increase both. It may sound obvious but try avoid taking out a loan as an easy solution, as this will only suffice for the short term and you may soon find yourself struggling to keep up with all of your previous debts plus a new loan.