June 12th, 2008

I am debt free, how did I do it?

Posted in Credit, Debt, Finance by debtmansteve

Hello my name is Steve Bis and I am assisting those that are in debt with their credit cards for a considerable amount of time and realize the negative effects it has on their lives. When you have credit card debt and know that this matter is out of control, you need to make a choice on what to do and make it fast. You don’t want to procrastinate until it is too late. As the majority of you bye now already know is that the creditors are not very easy to deal with when you call them with problems with your statement. It’s very fascinating the way it works because when you first get the card they are the politest people while you are on the phone. Then if you contact them to argue against a late or over limit charge and attempt to have it reversed enough trying to keep up with 8% or even the 7.9 % interest that they are charging on your accounts. How are you suppose to come up with the elevated payments now? It was cumbersome enough to manage before the interest was raised. This is the reason U.S. consumers are searching for other options such as credit card debt settlement vs. credit counseling, or bankruptcy. If you do not know much about these options then I will offer you a little information on them.

Consumer Bankruptcy

Before 2005 bankruptcy was to be used for people who were experiencing serious financial hardships. Sadly it was misused by thousands of consumers who were trying to avoid paying their unsecured debts. They did not want to be held accountable for their actions. The credit card industry was sick and tired of this so they petitioned to have the bankruptcy legislation updated. It is now referred to as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection act of 2005. This would make it more difficult for most consumers to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should only be exercised as your very last choice after you have explored every alternative option. Also you should understand the negative aftereffects that very well might come back later on down the road. You would have to locate a lawyer, go to court and that would run you a substantial amount of your hard earned income. There is also the negative effect of it being on your FICO report for a long time. When you filling out any significant application or document you will always have to say yes when inquired about your previous bankruptcy, so this does have a very negative long lasting effect on your credit.

Debt Consolidation Credit Counseling

Everyway you look, either it is advertised on the radio or television, you will hear about debt consolidation credit counseling. A credit counseling agency will attempt to get the creditors to reduce the APR on your credit accounts. You then make one monthly installment to the consumer credit counseling agency and they then pay each one of your creditors for you. The downside to this choice is even though they reduce the interest on your credit card balances you very well may still pay back as much as 140% of what you currently owe.

This is because joining this kind of plan you will still be paying back what you owe plus some of the interest for around possibly five years or more. Almost 75% of the debtors that are in these programs don’t complete the program for missing as much as one payment. Another problem to credit counseling is that if you have a cash flow problem and are short on your monthly payment they will boot you out of the program instantly. They will also increase your interest back up and the creditor could keep you off for around one year and sometimes even longer. This could put you right back to where you started from, if not in a tougher situation.

Debt Negotiation (also known as debt settlement)

This is the debt relief method where you can save the largest amount of money. A good standing debt settlement company will save you at least 40% of what you owe. The 40% should cover all of their fees. Just like consumer credit counseling, you will hear a lot of radio and television ads all the time. These organizations are opening up all over the United States. Some of these companies try to make it seem like they have a magical bullet and are going to make all your debt disappear overnight.

There are even many companies that try to use religion to attain the trust of consumers. Whatever company you are going to use it is your responsibility to do research on them. You can always start with the BBB (Better Business bureau). You may be able to discover a lot about a company from them. If you find out that a company has only been in operating for a short time and has a lot of complaints towards them, then you know to avoid them. One more thing to keep an eye out for is how long has the company been around. Some organizations only survive a couple of years before they get shut down or get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Then some of them only stick around to make as much money as they can and close down just to open up across the streetafternoon.

Steve Bis is a debt analyst with the US Consumer Advocate, which practices debt relief.

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June 10th, 2008

Finding the Best Bankruptcy Credit Card

Posted in Bankruptcy, Credit, Debt, General, Helpful Info by quad0028

If you were looking through all the clutter online, you might have a hard time finding the best bankruptcy credit card. Credit cards with low interest rates are hard to find, especially if you have bad credit. It is actually really hard to get approved for a bankruptcy credit card if you’ve filed for chapter 7, chapter 11 or chapter 13 bankruptcy. There is however one credit card company that guarantees approval, if you have bad credit or even if you’ve filed for bankruptcy!

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May 13th, 2008

Is debt really hurting your life?

Posted in Credit, Debt, Finance by debtmansteve

It is very regrettable that most American families are stuck to some degree in debt. As of 2006 the typical American family carried over ten thousand in credit card debt alone. The chief trouble with this lies in the reality that most individuals will only make the monthly minimum payments. The marriage between minimums and soaring interest is where debtors run into a never ending pit of debt. This unforgiving financial position is called by many as being trapped on the credit treadmill. When trapped in this situation a consumer can expect to be there for thirty years or more and sacrifice tens of thousands in interest along the way. I would like to briefly go over in the rest of this article on what some benefits are to being free from the shackles of debt.

The potential to save cash will be to a great degree easier when not on the credit treadmill. For someone looking to consider themselves financially free saving is critical. And being forced to make unreasonable payments each thirty days to debts that will never get paid off does not help your effort to save money. So the first important advantage of becoming debt free is the ability to save additional money.

The next benefit of being free from paying on debt obligations is linked to saving, and that is investing for the future. When you need to put out a large portion of your monthly income towards paying off debts, than investing is merely a dream. When you invest your money you will make a return, on the other hand paying down debt you are almost always guaranteed to be losing money. So as you can see having monthly credit card debt payments is make investing never happen.

Last but ofcourse not least one major benefit to not having debt expenses is having extra cash each month. What would your life be like if you pocketed the cash you spent on debt repayments each month? What would you do take extra vacations or just simply have additional spending cash.

As you can notice there are many financially healthy benefits to living a debt free way of life. For U.S. citizens looking to become debt free there are debt relief methods that can be explored. One very well-liked process for debt reduction is debt settlement. Debt negotiation companies can assist a debtor in saving almost half of their current balance. An additional alternative to swimming out of the debt swamp is consumer credit counseling. Whatever system of debt relief you take be sure to do something if you find yourself up to your neck in unsecured debts. Visualize what life would be like if you could do the things I talked about above, saving more money, investing money, or simply having additional discretionary income.

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May 5th, 2008

Field Repair Pro’s Need a Wireless Credit Cards Option

Posted in Credit, Financial, Small Business by rbaker

We have a great appliance repair guy. He tries hard to get to us the same day we have a problem, and when he does get to the house he’s always been able to figure out what the problem is and fix it quickly. But I can’t help but notice when I write a check for the service that it gets tucked into a wallet thick with checks from customers. Which means at the end of the day he has to sit down and fill out a deposit slip and hope none of the checks bounce. I’m sure his life would be so much easier if he had a wireless credit cards capability. It might even shorten his work day.

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April 30th, 2008

E-Shopper Vote for Merchant Accounts on Your Site

Posted in Business, Credit, Small Business by rbaker

The decision over whether or not to add merchant accounts is usually made by the online business owner, but it might be a good idea if they let their customers vote. Because those people would say regardless of the size of the business they want to find they have the option of paying with their credit card. They really don’t care if you are a multi-national retailer or a mom-and-pop working from their basement — they want to know that when they reach the virtual checkout lane that credit card processing will be available.

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April 30th, 2008

Even Small E-Stores Need Merchant Services

Posted in Business, Credit by rbaker

A lot of small business owners on the Internet assume they are too small to need merchant services. They created their small business, not to become a big business, but to provide an additional revenue stream. Or maybe they had a hobby that they discovered they could bring in some extra cash from. In any event they are small and intend to stay small. As such they don’t think that they need credit card online processing services. But think about the customer shopping your small business. They don’t know you’re trying to stay small — they just want to use their credit card when they buy from you. Are you so small you don’t care about disappointing them?

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April 2nd, 2008

What is better settlement or consolidation.

Posted in Credit, Debt, Finance by debtmansteve

First lets identify what debt settlement is. Debt settlement is a process of going past due on credit card debts to then later on negotiate a settlement to pay back the original debt balance owed at a much lesser amount. This method can save a debtor around 50% of the debt they must repay. Plus they can look forward to becoming completely free of unsecured debts within two to three years. Now the debt settlement process can be done two ways, either retain a debt settlement company or a debt reduction law office to enroll you into a debt settlement program. This brief article will delve into the differences between the two.

The bottom line in differences between the two comes down to the fact that you get more legal protections with a law firm vs a company. A lawfirm can assist through a lawsuit and can by law stop harrasive collection activity.

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March 18th, 2008

Pros and Cons of Chapter 13

Posted in Bankruptcy, Credit, Debt, Finance by debtmansteve

We here in U.S are on the verge of experiencing a credit epidemic. The quantity of credit card debt has hit an all time high and we are close what may be a recession. Thus leaving many people with fewer dollars in there pockets and more debts that they have to pay on. In this article I will go over the pros and cons of the diverse available methods of credit card debt relief.

Credit Counseling

Pros- One monthly payment, lower APR, fixed payment structure.

Cons- Long term repayment, stringent program rules, most do not complete program, obtaining a mortgage on the program is almost impossible, usually payments are close to what minimums were before joining, one missed payment can result in being kicked off program.

Bankruptcy:

Pros- Upon qualifying for Chapter 7 full amount of debt is discharged, the collectors cannot call and harass.

Cons- Long term negative effect on future credit, lifelong public record, change in bankruptcy law made Chapter 7 very hard to qualify for, court ordered repayment process.

Debt Settlement :

Pros- Great savings on debt amount owed, fastest way to get out of debt, not made a public record.

Cons- Short term negative effect on credit score, dealing with collectors, possibility of lawsuit.

Of all the debt relief routes above the the most popular nowadays has become debt settlement. However what really determines which option is right for you really depend on the current financial predicament that you are in. For Americans trapped deep in debt but have money to pay a portion of it off then debt settlement would be the correct choice, to help escape bankruptcy. Those who have smaller debt amounts and have no issue making the payments they currently have plus more, than credit counseling is better. Then of course for some the only course of action is bankruptcy.

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February 29th, 2008

Here Is Some Information About Nonprofit Credit Card Debt Consolidation.

Posted in Business, Credit, Debt, Economy, Finance, Financial, General, Loans by infoyogis

If you are looking to work with a company on consolidating your debts, then it will include all kinds of debt including credit card debt. Here is a website which will focus on nonprofit credit card debt consolidation along with other types of debt which can be included within your debt consolidation plans. For more information visit, ”Debt Consolidation”

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February 28th, 2008

Bad Credit Home Improvement Loans

Posted in Credit, Loans, Real Estate, Uncategorized by j18bad

Lots of people buy their current home thinking that there is enough space for all their needs. Or perhaps it’s all they could afford at the time. However over the years, people’s lives change. They have larger families, start a home based business or take up a variety of hobbies. Before you know it, you feel cramped inside your home and need somewhere bigger. The options you have is either to put up with your current situation, move home, or make the most of what you have. If you decided to extend up to the attic or down to the basement etc you will need money to do this. A lot of people take out a home improvement loan however you may be unfortunate enough to have a bad credit rating. Luckily there are special home improvement loans for those with bad credit.

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February 7th, 2008

Seek Savvy Credit Card Merchant Services Partner

Posted in Credit, Misc by rbaker

Before any e-retailer looks at what a possible credit card merchant services provider might charge for their actual services, they may want to consider what they don’t charge for. The established companies don’t have their hand out for things like merchant account application, setup, internet credit card software, check by phone/web/fax, web shopping cart, programming and shipping/handling. Instead they stay in the black with superior service and support. If any company you’re considering charges any of those fees, consider dropping them from consideration.

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February 1st, 2008

Why you should’nt consolidate debt loans!

Posted in Bankruptcy, Credit, Debt by debtmansteve

As the economy has taken a dip it has left very many American citizens stuck deep in credit card and personal loan debts. The first thing many think about is how to consolidate debt loans in an attempt to have the interest lowered making it easy to pay back. This can work however usually you will need to put up some collateral for the loan, in most cases the equity in your home would be used. The potential consequence of this loan is that if you end up defaulting on it you can lose your home. And statistics show that many people who do obtain loans to consolidate debt end up right back in debt all over again. Except this time around you will now have a secured loan to pay plus anymore accured debt.

This situation puts many people in a place they cannot get outo of. Sending many people into bankruptcy and foreclosure.

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January 16th, 2008

More People Want to E-Shop with Plastic

Posted in Business, Credit, Small Business by rbaker

In the final two months of 2007 close to $30 billion worth of purchases was made via the Internet. How much of that landed in your pocket? Whether it’s the aging baby boomers, Generation X or Generation Y people are showing increased willingness to pull out their plastic when they shop by computer. But the stat that may be hardest to believe is that there are still e-businesses that do not offer credit card processing. They think it’s too complicated. Or too expensive. Or their business isn’t big enough. However, by doing some research they’ll quickly see that setting up card processing is as easy as opening a checking account, that profits go up and that any size business can benefit.

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December 5th, 2007

Buying Mobile Homes

Posted in Credit, Financial, Lending by jkwent

If you’re looking to buy a mobile, you better have good credit. I’ve seen a recent trend of people looking for mobile home loans with bad credit and they get nowhere.

Mobile home loans are risky for lenders. That’s why if you want one, your credit better be in very good condition. Otherwise, you might consider renting or using a rent-to-own option. Mobile home mortgage loans are not the only option.

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October 26th, 2007

Non Chex Systems Banks and Second Chance Checking

Posted in Banking, Bankruptcy, Credit, Debt, Uncategorized by quad0028

If you can’t qualify for a Chex Systems bank account, your best options is a second chance checking account. It’s easy to sign up for a personal or business account because our 2nd chance checking account doesn’t use Chex Systems. With 100% approval rate, we can help anyone. The best part about our bank is that you’ll be clutter free and able to rebuild your credit safely and securely. Your money is insured with our second chance checking account because it’s FDIC insured and doesn’t have any account minimums.

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