Sep 02

Debt Relief – Some Basic Strategies To Getting Out Of

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Debt Relief – Some Basic Strategies To Getting Out Of Debt

What is Bad Debt

Bad debt is paying interest on something that has no lasting value, pure and simple. For example, using a credit card to purchase a television and planning to pay it off in four or five months would be bad debt.

In the same way, purchasing a house with a thirty year loan is also bad debt. If you look at a loan chart you will see that it takes years (over fifteen) before you are paying more on the principle than on the interest. So unless you stay in the home for a very long time you will owe almost as much on the loan when you sell the house as when you bought it.

Its for that reason that it is actually smarter to rent until you have a large amount of the homes price saved up, and then get a ten or fifteen year loan. Renting a home or apartment for $600 or $800 a month (rental amounts vary according the area, of course) will allow you to save money a lot faster than having a $1,000 a month mortgage plus all the other expenses that come with owning a house (higher utilities, yard expense, repair bills, property tax, etc.).

What if You Have Bad Credit?

If you have bad credit and want to get a credit card, its a good idea to limit the number of inquiries to your credit report to help keep your score from dipping even further. To do that you need to research the credit cards and decide which cards youll have the best chance of obtaining before you fill out any applications.

Typically, cards for bad credit will carry much higher interest rates than the prime credit cards available on the market – but there are benefits associated with having a credit card despite the higher interest rates. But be careful of how much you put on the card each month and pay the card off when the bill comes.

Debt Reduction

Debt reduction credit card consolidation is offered by money lending firms who bail out the people neck-deep in debts. What makes debt consolidation appealing is that various companies offer a combination of several debt reduction and credit repairing plans which aim to completely obliterate a persons existing debt.

Secured Debt Consolidation Loans

Debt consolidation loans may be classified into secured and unsecured loans. Secured loans are loans such as home equity loans. Secured loans are easier to get than other forms of borrowing because the loan is secured by tangible property.

Home equity loans are collateral loans, in which the loan is secured by a home’s equity. Although secured debt consolidation loans offer many benefits like large loan amount, longer repayment period and above all the low rate of interest, it still has one big disadvantage attached to it. That disadvantage is the collateral that could be taken from you if you fail to repay the loan. For instance, several missed payments could result in foreclosure of your home.

Unsecured Debt Consolidation Loans

There is no fear of the collateral being lost through non-repayment of the unsecured debt consolidation loan. Unsecured credit card debt consolidation requires a borrower to furnish proof of his sound income and financial standing, if any. The interest rates are usually higher than for a secured debt consolidation loan.

What to do if You Find Yourself Deep in Bad Debt

First, stop spending and reduce your monthly bills as much as possible. Do not buy any more items that are not absolutely necessary. Instead of purchasing $150 shoes for yourself or your child, purchase $15 shoes.

Second, start paying off the smallest debt first. Then, as you pay off each credit card or loan, use that money that had been going for that debt to start paying off the next smallest debt.

For example, if you have an $8,000 credit card debt and a $2,000 credit card debt, pay off the $2,000 debt first. Then use the money that had been going toward the $2,000 debt to pay off the $8,000 debt.

Of course, while you are putting every extra cent you have toward that lowest debt, you are paying the minimum amount due on the other debts. If your income is so low that you cannot afford to pay the minimum amounts on the debts, you definitely need some professional help from a trustworthy debt counselor.

Depending on the amount of debt it might take a number of years to pay every outstanding debt. But paying off the smallest debt first and then going to the next biggest works better than trying to pay off the largest debt first, or trying to pay them all off at the same time. So get started. The sooner you start the sooner you get out of debt.

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Aug 28

Getting Out Of Credit Card Debt

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If you’ve got huge payments and high interest rates on your credit card, you may feel like you’ll never get your head above water.

You can get out of credit card debt, if you are determined enough. Though it’s difficult to get out of debt, it isn’t impossible. All you need in order to get out of credit card debt is planning and determination. Both are equally important.

Determination doesn’t come without proper motivation, so you need to ask yourself these questions: “How will getting out of credit card debt benefit me”, “What difference will it make”, and “Is it really worth it to try to get out of debt.” Use the answers to these questions to build up your determination.

The fact that all the nagging mail and phone calls from the collection agencies will end should strengthen your determination and provide you with a reason to get out of debt. Think about the stress-free life you’ll have after you get out of debt. List the reasons you want to get out from under your credit card debt and ponder the benefits. Collectively, these will help bolster your determination and prevent lapses.

The second thing that you need to get out of credit card debt is plenty of planning. The planning starts with making a list of the credit cards that you currently posses and noting the debt and the APR for each of them. The sum total of all this information is how much you owe. You also need to check whether you have been defaulting on payments on any of these credit cards (and hence incurring late fees). You will need to avoid doing that. Put it in the plan you have prepared for getting out of debt.

The next step is to check your current financial position. Make an assessment of what you expect your future financial position to be. Then you need to do research to check what balance transfer offers are available. See if one of these can prove beneficial to you. Use this information to calculate how much time you will require to get out of debt and how you will distribute the debt payment across your various credit cards. Try to pay off the debt that is largest first and make sure that you don’t make any late payments.

You can get out of debt. It is not impossible. If you have any more questions about getting out of debt, contact a consumer credit counselor.

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Aug 26

Getting Out Of Debt

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It is a pleasant experience to own a house that you had dreamed for long. What if you feel burdened of the loan? How does it become a burden on you? The main reason for not being able to pay off the mortgage on time is the lack of financial planning or the choice of the wrong mortgage.

While choosing the mortgage type, you need to consider a lot of decisive factors. Apart from your monthly income and expenses, you need to do a thorough study on the type of mortgages available and their viability with your budget.

To get out of the debt, you need to be more careful in handling your budget, especially when you have a mortgage to be paid off. If you find yourself struggling to meet the expenses, sit and think for a while. May be this is the time for you to think about refinancing the mortgage, or a time to cut down the unnecessary expenses. The reasons for your inability to meet the debts may be the rising financial demands or the rising monthly payments owing to the higher interest rates.

There are only two options to get out of debt. Reduce your expenses or find out alternate source of income. There is a limit for everyone to reduce the expenses; even then, the small savings earned by cutting the expenses will be of great significance at the time of crisis.

Another way to cut costs is to consolidate the debt. You may go for a personal loan from a bank or a refinance option for your mortgage. This will avoid you being trapped by different debts such as the credit card payments, monthly payments, auto loans, etc. Refinancing the mortgage will entitle you for more money as mortgage loan. The eligible amount is often calculated as the difference between the market value of the property and the outstanding amount in the mortgage loan. If you are able to get the refinance option with a lower interest rate, it will add an extra advantage of paying a smaller monthly payment. Though the term of the mortgage will be longer, this would be beneficial compared to the liabilities that you may accrue owing to different types of debts.

Regular payments on the credit cards are another way to get out of debt. You may utilize the credit facility on many occasions, and if you try to make the minimum monthly payments without fail, it would benefit you in the future for applying for a loan and also getting out of the uncontrolled expenses.

Another source is to seek help is the public funds. If you have any valid reason for being in debt, for example, unemployment, education of your children, etc., you may get the public assistance. Other sources of emergency support may be your Medicaid, social security, food stamps, etc. You may even approach the community groups with whom you are involved.

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Jul 25

How To Keep Your ‘get Out Of Debt’ Resolutions This

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How To Keep Your ‘get Out Of Debt’ Resolutions This Year

Getting out of debt is one of the top New Years resolutions made every year. Unfortunately, like many New Years resolutions, most people generally forget about or give up on their resolution to get out of debt before the first month is even up. Here are some tips to help you keep your ‘get out of debt’ resolution this year:

1. Stop borrowing. The first thing you should do to get out of debt is to stop borrowing. You can’t get out of debt if you’re continuing to add to your burden each month. So cut up those credit cards, or freeze them, or put them in a safe place where you can’t get to them easily, and start using cash for all of your purchases. This simple step will keep you from over spending and will make you stop and think “do I really need this?” before each purchase. You will be surprised at how powerful this one strategy is!

2. Take an inventory. This is a painful step, but you absolutely have to know where you stand before you can make a plan to get out of debt. Write down who you owe, how much you owe them, and the minimum monthly payment required to meet that obligation.

3. Track your spending. In order to pay off your debt you have to know were you are spending your money. You should keep track of your spending, either in a software program such as Quicken or MS Money, or using spreadsheets, or even pen & paper. Whatever method works best for you, it is very important that you know were you are spending your money so you know how much cash you have available to put towards your debts each month.

4. Set short term goals and milestones. Getting out of debt can be a monstrous task, especially if you’re deep in debt. Many people give up simply because the goal itself seems so large that it’s unachievable. To get around this, I encourage you to set smaller goals to help you achieve the greater goal. For example, if you have several credit cards, and the total debt is $5,000, instead of focusing on your goal to pay off the $5,000 total, focus on paying the smallest balance card off first, or focus on coming up with an extra $50 per month to put towards your debts. The point is to set goals that can be achieved in a short time period so that you see results right away and are encouraged to continue towards the larger goal.

5. Reward yourself periodically. Just as important as setting goals that you can achieve, you should reward yourself for goals and milestones reached. Another reason why people give up on their goals is because they feel like they have to give up too much to achieve that goal (i.e., skipping that latte, cutting back on spending, etc.). To keep you motivated, you should reward yourself every time you achieve a goal or you see that you are making progress toward reaching a goal. If you don’t ever celebrate your successes, you may end up resenting your goals, and giving up on them.

Finally, the best way to make sure you keep your ‘get out of debt’ resolutions, is to know why you want to get out of debt. Is it to reduce stress? Is it to spend more time with your family? How will you feel when you are out of debt? Putting some feeling behind your goals and reminding yourself why you want to get out of debt will help you stay on track and achieve your goals.

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Jul 15

Make A Plan And Get Out Of Debt Now

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The problems that you are having with your finances may feel like they are holding you down. You may have found that credit card bills, house mortgages, car payments, and caring for your family are driving you into deeper debt than you would have ever expected. If you are having problem with debt, you can make several moves to get out of debt. By knowing what is available to you and re-organizing your finances, you can become debt free.

The first thing that you will need to do is analyze the situation that you are in. Figuring out how much debt you have will be the first step. From here, you can determine how much you are making as a steady income. The debt should balance out with your income on monthly payments. If it doesnt, it may be driving you into deeper debt. This could happen by not being able to make monthly payments or having high interest rates, as well as other problems.

If you have found that your debt is not being controlled, you can find ways to get out of debt today. Once you have calculated your expenses, you can begin to find the right means to re-balance how much you are paying. Consulting with someone about how to do this is a good first step in getting out of debt. You can talk to them about possible changes to make with your credit and how much is owed. You can also speak with them about how to budget and finance your debt.

Those who consult with you about your debt will be able to offer a variety of information and changes that you can make. Depending on your needs, you can find the right type of plan. One of the well known plans that can be used to help you get out of debt today is debt consolidation. This offers you the financial ability to take your credit cards and other personal payments that have driven you into debt and make it one payment. From here, you will have the ability to change the way payments are made.

Debt consolidation will be an easy way to get out of debt today. You will only have to make one monthly payment, instead of paying several bills. You will also have the ability to have only one interest rate with this consolidation, which will allow for lower overall payments. Debt consolidation will make sure that you can balance your finances in relation to debt and income that you are making. This will help to get you out of debt quickly and painlessly.

If your debt is getting in the way of your personal life and causing extra stress, then you can examine ways to get out of debt today. By analyzing your situation, and talking to a credit counselor about debt consolidation, you will be able to change your financial situation and begin to relax about the finances. Getting out of debt is an important move to help you to enjoy your life.

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Jul 01

Options For Getting Out Of Debt

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Do you depend on your credit cards to meet your monthly expenses? Do you only ever pay the minimum monthly amount on your credit card bills? Are you unsure of how much debt you are carrying? If you have answered yes to these questions there is a very good possibility that you are carrying too much debt.

If you do believe you are carrying too much debt you can get help from one of any number of large agencies that offer consumer debt consolidation advice free of charge. One other option for consolidating your debt is your local bank. When you consolidate your debts you roll them into one payment which is lower than the combined payments of all your credit cards and loans.

When you contact a representative from an agency to help you consolidate and reduce your debt, they will ask you for certain information, such as what debts you have, how much your outstanding balance is and how much your monthly payments are for each. When giving this information do not forget to include any back taxes, outstanding medical bills, overdraft charges and any other unsecured debt.

After you have gathered up all this information you will be asked about your income and living expenses. From this information the representative will help you to develop a monthly budget for your necessary living expenses. This will then let both of you know how much cash is left over that you can put towards paying off your debts.

When you know how much money you have to pay your creditors each month, the debt consolidation representative will contact your creditors on your behalf to set up reduced payments that are mutually agreeable. In addition to getting your payment terms reduced you can often get late fees and over limit fees waived and even get your interest rate reduced or eliminated all together.

After all that has been established you will begin by sending in each month a set amount to the debt consolidation agency. They will in turn send the agreed amount to each of your creditors. This way you will only be making one affordable payment each month and all your creditors will be satisfied.

Setting up a debt consolidation loan or debt consolidation plan is good for both the creditor and you. For the creditor it is good because they are receiving regular monthly payments from you that they can depend on. For you it is good because you get the peace of mind knowing that all your bills are covered and you will no longer be contacted daily by bill collectors.

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Jun 18

Self-help: Get Out Of Debt

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In this day and age, it only takes a few financial missteps and many consumers can find themselves in trouble. The one factor that exacerbates this is debt, or, to be more precise, overwhelming debt.

For some consumers, getting out of debt simply means tightening the household budget and being more stringent on new purchases. For others, the challenge of getting out of debt can be more daunting. In either case, the best self-help plan for relieving debt is planning and discipline.

The first step to relieving debt is to find out where you are. Make an income list and an expense list. On the income statement, list all of your income. On the expense statement, list all of your current bills. Once this is complete, subtract the expenses from the income and you will have your disposable income. For some consumers, this may be a negative number, which means you are paying out more than you are bringing in.

In order to maintain a clean credit report and keep a high credit score it is imperative that you pay all of your bills on time. This is simple common sense, but what if you do not have enough money to pay all of your bills on time? What can you do?

When expenses outrun income you have two viable options. One is to increase your income; the other is to decrease the amount of cash needed to pay those bills.

There are many ways an individual or family can find fast cash by simply cutting back on what is spent per week on household items and living expenses. For example, rather than buying lunch during the work week, pack a lunch. Rather than going to the theater, rent a movie and watch it at home. You may find that getting a part time job for a while is a good way to increase your income. The key is to monitor your savings and protect those savings so that you have this cash available at the end of the month.

In order to decrease the amount of cash needed to pay your bills you may want to consider a consolidation loan on your credit cards. A consolidation loan allows you to bundle up several outstanding loans (all of which require an individual payment) and make one single payment, usually at a slightly lower interest rate. The total of the one payment under a consolidation loan is often substantially lower than the total of the multiple payments you were making before.

If you have any disposable income available for use after paying your bills, you may want to find the loan that has the lowest outstanding balance and begin making double payments on that one particular account. Once this account is paid, you can use the money that you would have been using to pay this account to help make additional payments on the next lowest balance account.

With some planning and discipline, you can begin to pay down your debt obligations and begin to see some real progress in your financial status. The important issues during your self-help in debt reduction are patience and diligence.

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Jun 01

Why Having A Budget Is The First Step To Getting

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Why Having A Budget Is The First Step To Getting Out Of Debt

Many people constantly complain about being in debt, but when you ask: do you have a budget, do you know how much you owe, or when you suggest they cut back on expenses they look at you as if you are speaking a foreign language, or they just plain out refuse. I am always amazed at this; how can you ever get out of debt if you dont change your mindset and if you arent willing to work hard and make sacrifices? There is no quick fix or cure-all to get out of debt. It takes a long time to get in debt and you will not get out of debt overnight.

Many people do not know how to create a budget for themselves and many dont even know where to start. Luckily, I was taught at an early age how to create a budget for myself. I knew how much money I spent and how much I had left. This skill helped me when I became an adult and got into debt. How did that happen, you say? Well, although I knew how to budget my money I didnt have a clue about how credit cards worked. I thought it was free money but that is another article.

Anyway, the first step to getting out of debt is creating a budget for yourself. The basic premise for creating a budget is to know what you have coming in and what you have going out, in other words, how much money you bring home and how many expenses you have (creditors, loans, utilities, cell phone, day care, dry cleaners, etc.). Make the budget flexible so you have room for unexpected expenses such as house repairs or car repairs. If you don’t have an emergency fund or savings to cover these expenses you can readily see in your budget what areas you can reduce expenses to get money to pay for those unexpected expenses.

Having a budget makes you responsible and accountable for your finances. Most people don’t think about how much money they spend per week or per month but when you see all of your expenses written down on paper it provides an awareness of your spending habits.

Once you create your budget you can easily see if you have too many expenses or if your money is not being managed properly. The easiest task to accomplish is determining if you have too many expenses, you simply cut down on your expenses and you will have additional money. To pay down some of your debts, reduce some expenses such as:

* bring your lunch to work

* cancel your pager cable or cell phone service or get the cheapest plan available

* carpool, catch the subway or bus to work

* use coupons when buying groceries or shop at wholesale stores like Costco or Sams Club

* sell unused items at a yard sale or donate to charity.

If you are mismanaging your money or spending your money on wants instead of needs that is a little harder to overcome because this takes willpower and discipline. It takes 23 days to develop a habit so you have to practice good spending habits everyday. Each week it will get easier and easier. It also helps to develop financial goals for yourself, such as you want to get out of debt within a specific time period, you want to buy a house, take a vacation, whatever your goals are write them down and give yourself a target date.

Dont get alarmed if you miss your target date for a financial goal because your main focus is changing your spending habits. Remind yourself that you are working toward achieving your goals. It may take some time, but I know you can do it. Being debt-free is worth the hard work and discipline required. Financial freedom is so sweet. Just think how nice it would be to wake up each morning: not worrying about having to pay a creditor, not worrying about creditors calling your house asking for a payment, being able to see yourself in a house or buying investment property or taking a vacation every year.

So many things are possible when you are debt-free and live on a budget. I make a decent salary and only have one bill – my mortgage – and I still put myself on a budget every payday. Sometimes people ask me why I worry about money and I say I always like to be prepared because you never know what may happen.

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May 29

Getting Out Of Debt,

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Getting Out of Debt, The Smart Credit-Card Plan, the perfect paydown strategy

Behavioral economist Meir Statman, recently said getting out of debt is the financial equivalent of trying to quit smoking.” Just like any bad habit, good intentions alone will not be enough. To ensure success, we need to break our underlying patterns of behavior. How is it we live in the richest most powerful country in the world, but the average American is more than $11,000 in debt. Our European friends who live by a mainly debit card system have an average savings of $13,000. On a recent visit to Germany, I was shocked to find that less than 35% of all the shops and restaurants accepted credit cards. What would we need to do to reverse this trend and get into a (plus) situation.

Plastic Surgery
If we are serious about paying off our balances. We don’t have to literally cut up our credit cards, just stop using them routinely. We should go green for our everyday spending. Try carrying around a set amount of cash to use each week. We make better purchasing decisions when we actually have to hand over the green stuff plus there’s a preset spending limit. When we run out of money, we stop spending it’s that simple. When the only way to purchase is plastic, buying online for instance, then use your debit card. Your debit card can also be used as an emergency substitute for cash should you run out.

Leave Those Cards At Home
The best way to ensure that you enforce the cooling off period on new credit purchases is by taking the cards out of your wallet. You should store them in a place that’s not easily accessible and safe. Do not let others know where you have hidden them.

Close The Accounts No Longer Needed
Having unused credit available from lenders with whom you’ve had a long relationship will help boost your credit score. Having too many will harm your credit score. As a rule, 3 credit cards is what works best and try to never spend more than 50% of the available credit on any of the cards. This will keep your score at it’s highest. You should also consider closing all your store cards, if you need to make a purchase then use your credit card and pay it off at the end of the month.

Lowering Your Interest Rates
Start by reducing what you pay in interest. We can start by calling our current credit card companies and explaining that we intend to transfer our balance to another issuer unless our interest rate is lowered. Almost all credit card companies run promotional programs with low or 0% interest. They will be willing to put you on one of those rather than risk losing your business. All you need to do is ASK.

Tackling Those Credit Card Balances
Finally we need to develop a strategy for paying off our existing credit card balances.

Gather all your credit card statements together and make a simple table listing the entire amount you owe, and the minimum payment and interest rate for each card. This will help us determine the order in which we should pay off our cards. We need to focus on the highest interest rate cards first and pay off as much as you can each month while making only the minimum payments on our other cards. When the first card is paid off, use the same strategy on the next-highest interest rate card and so on until you’re debt-free.

Late Payments
Are the number one cardinal sin of debt management. You get hit with hefty late fees and very high penalty rates that can go to 30%, plus of course your credit score will take a big hit.

We all have a responsibility to improve our financial literacy and develop the required skills and practices for effective financial management. There is a real need to get away from the Someday things will get better in my life or the Someday I will be able to earn enough money to stop worrying about the bills. There is a lot more to life than that, but it has to be said and understood that the only person that can change your life is YOU. There is NO substitute for Action! With Action, you will overcome your fears and hesitations and accomplish everything you set out to do and more.

Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer, then write me! http://www.CarlHampton.com

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May 23

Get Out of Debt: The First Step

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The World is in debt. Almost all people and organizations are carrying debt to survive, including the Governments of all of our Nations. This is just a fact of life and this is the way that we were raised. You must acquire debt to survive; there is no other way.

This is entirely not true. In fact if we chose to save for the things that we really want, we would be able to afford a lot more than we already have.

Just think about it for a minute. Without debt, we would only have to pay our bills. Rent or Mortgage (Debt, but necessary), Utilities and Insurance. Imagine all of the money that you would have at the end of the month. No credit card payments, no car payment, no personal loans. Now you can afford some of the luxuries that you used to pay for month after month on credit and it wont cost you three times the cost of the purchase as with credit.

Okay, this sounds great in theory, but it is a little late. Boy, if only you had told me this when I was 18 (like I would really have listened). I am in debt up to eyeballs and there is no way out. This is the way that it is supposed to be. This is the only way that it can be.

Rubbish!

This is the exact reason that everyone stays in debt and why the credit card companies are making fortunes. You can get yourself out of debt and take back control of your life. Of course it will take desire, will power, and perseverance. Most importantly you have to take the first step.

The key to getting out of debt is really quite simple; organization.
You cannot help yourself get out of any situation without first realizing what exactly you are into. This indeed is the first step.

Most people go on day-to-day paying their bills as if it is just a part of life. They get the bill, pay the minimum or a little over and wait for the next one. This is a vicious cycle and it has no end. As long as you keep doing this, is as long as you will stay in debt and stay at the mercy of your creditors.

You first need to gather all of your most recent statements. Write down or input (I use Excel for this) all of your creditors. At this point I would even put in your mortgage holder to give you the whole picture. Find out your current balance for each and input that. Now input your minimum payment for each one. At this point I would not even worry about interest rates.

You now have the whole picture. Sorry, I didnt mean to scare you. Now you know what you are up against and you can make a plan. Just remember, try not to take on additional debt.

You are now ready to take control of you financial life. Say goodbye to debt, say hello to life!

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