Dealing with Debt Collectors

Dealing with Debt Collectors

6 Tips When Dealing with Debt Collectors

In today’s world, many individuals are having trouble paying their bills and are dealing with stress and anxiety. Many others are just simply overwhelmed with the entire situation and don’t know where to turn. If you’re in this stressful situation, don’t despair. Just because your unpaid debt has been turned over to debt collectors, you still have some measure of control.

Who are these debt collectors?

A debt collector is usually some third-party organization who is paid to View full post…

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10 Safe Tips to Get Out of Debt

10 Safe Tips to Get Out of Debt

10 Tips to Get Out of Debt and Keep You Out 

Whether you want to get out of debt or want to avoid it, what matters is you’re inspired to be better. But how do you start? Well, I’m here to help you with that! Today I bring you 10 tips that will help you get out of debt and keep it that way. If you make life habits out of these tips, you will never have to deal with the headache and stress of debt ever again.

  1. Check Your Statements Regularly

If you want to get out of debt, you need to start paying attention to detail. You won’t notice things such as a recurring fee on your credit card bill for that gym you don’t go to anymore if you don’t check your statement regularly. If you monitor your personal finances like a hawk, you won’t ignore View full post…

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How to Get Rid of Debt Now

How to Get Rid of Debt Now

Do You Know How to Get Rid of Debt? – 10 Helpful Tips

Do you know anyone who is living a debt free life? Do you want to live without the stress of meeting loan obligations every month? Read on and see how to get rid of debt once and for all.

Debt-free individuals usually share the following ten similar characteristics that enables them to live below their means. There’s nothing here that is so highly technical that prevents anyone else from copying.

  1. Start paying attention to details – As an example, if you don’t review your monthly credit card statement closely, there may be charges on there that shouldn’t be. Debt free individuals monitor their personal finances very carefully.

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5 Benefits of Debt Free Living

5 Benefits of Debt Free Living

Debt Free Living – 5  Benefits Await You

Are your debts causing stress and you want a normal life? Do you struggle every month just trying to make the minimum payments on your credit cards? Do you really want to achieve debt free living?

It’s so easy in today’s life style to get caught up in the “charge it” philosophy. You see your friends and acquaintances driving that new car or buying a very large house with new furniture. You think to yourself, if they can do it, so can I. What you don’t see is your friend’s , large mortgage, car loan, and several maxed out credit cards used to furnish that new house.

The average American is used to living with debt. Credit cards are used to buy things we don’t need, car loans for seven years because we like a luxury vehicle. Larger homes than we need are bought because we can get a mortgage for 30 years to lower the payment. We won’t get into the sensitive area of student loans in this article.

Debt free living is not just a simple choice. It’s a brand new life style that you decide to undertake, and it is by no means an easy route. Many try it and fail for a variety of reasons. Primarily, it is their lack of financial discipline.

If you’ve had enough stress and anxiety due to juggling payments on credit cards with balances that never reduce, maybe it’s time for a change.
Instead of the debt route, choose the debt free living road. There are many benefits that we can list for living debt free. For our purposes here, we’ll list the five major ones:

Stop paying interest and fees.
Current averages say that the rate of interest on a credit card is around 15% and the average balance carried is about $5,500.00. To make matters worse, credit card interest is not tax deductible. Keep in mind that those are only averages. Many that I have seen in my practice have credit card balances of $25,000.00 and higher. The decision to go with debt free living isn’t easy, but it can be done. I know it’s a difficult decision to make a life style change and I speak from personal experience.

My wife and I made that change many years ago, and by eliminating all debt, we’ve been debt free for over 20 years. We use one credit card for certain purchases to get points that can be used as cash. That card is paid in full every month. We’ve been able to pay cash for a new car (not a luxury vehicle), and we have no mortgage or a home equity line. Once you attain debt free living, all of that interest, including your mortgage payment, can go into savings which takes us to our second point.

Set up an emergency fund
Recent statistics issued by the Federal Reserve show that about 25% of American households don’t have any savings. In addition, the average amount in retirement funds is about $35,000.00. These figures are deplorable at best.Every household needs to have an emergency fund that should cover your total living expenses for at least 6 months. When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, and mired in debt, it’s next to impossible to spare any money for it. If there’s one thing for certain, an emergency will happen.

Establish a retirement fund
This is one area that everyone needs to start and the earlier the better. Even if you can only spare a few dollars each month, that will mount up over the years. If you’re debt free, you’ll be able to fund this account more and have a nice nest egg when you finally retire. As we mentioned earlier, it’s a difficult road, but with a good budget and controlled spending, it can be done.

You’ll have the freedom to make life style changes
Living with heavy debt and struggling to make the monthly payments limits you tremendously. However, If you’re already on the road to debt free living, you aren’t bound with those chains. Perhaps you’re in a job that you no longer like, you now have the freedom to make a change. Or you may want to move to a different area of the country. This leads to our fifth point.

You can live with less stress and worry
I can tell you for sure, debt free living most certainly reduces and/or eliminates a lot of stress, both financially and personally. The peace of mind of not having to decide who and how much to pay each month is a stress reliever.

We realize that with the previous recession and current economy, many are in debt. Some have lost their job and some are trapped in jobs with stagnant wages. Even worse, many have upside-down mortgages with little chance of recovery.

There are so many others though that can make the decision to take the road to debt free living. The sooner they do, the sooner they can enjoy the five benefits above. Give it a try!

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Emergency Fund or Debt Reduction

Should I Pay Off Debt With All of My Emergency Fund?

 Set up an emergency fundYou can ask several financial planners this same question and you will get different responses. Some will advise you to get rid of all credit card debt. Some will say to setup an emergency fund first to cover such expenses as a major car repair or some large expenditure in your home.

What are you supposed to do, however, if you have an emergency fund and the balance in it is just enough to repay all of your credit card debt? Wouldn’t the credit card debt with very high interest rates be considered an emergency expenditure?

Don’t deplete the emergency fund to repay debt

The general consensus here is no, don’t use the entire balance of the emergency fund to repay your credit cards. Instead, just use some of the cash savings to repay some of the debt. Keep some of the savings available for a bona fide emergency.

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Debt Free Living | Get Rid of Debt

Debt Free Living Doesn’t Have to Be Hard – Read These 9 Tips

Debt free living can be achievedThe economy in the United States for the past several years, has shown no sign of improvement. In addition to that, American families have been in a buy now, pay later habit. If we want to experience debt free living, some drastic changes in our spending habits need to be in made.

Many of us spend more than we earn, and have no hesitation in taking out a credit card when we see some item that we want. Overall debt is on the increase and many contemplate bankruptcy to get out of their financial difficulty.

So many others live on the financial edge and barely exist from paycheck to paycheck, letting credit card debt fill in the gaps. Folks, this insanity must come to a screeching halt. If we want to stop this perpetual wallowing in debt, and enjoy a debt free living life style, then we have to do a serious assessment of our financial habits.

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Getting Out of Debt Quicker by Budgeting

Getting Out of Debt Quicker by Budgeting

Getting Out Of Debt Faster By Using These Simple Budgeting Tips

Budgeting is one of the most effective ways to prevent debt overload, but can also be used when getting out of debt. Budgeting doesn’t cost a dime, but does require commitment and a strong ability to rise above the temptation to buy unnecessary items.

In a nutshell, budgeting teaches consumers to spend less than they earn. Unfortunately, many Americans are not familiar with the term ‘household budget’ or the concept of living within their financial means. Failure to spend less than earned often results in massive credit card debt, real estate foreclosure, and personal bankruptcy. View full post…

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Debt Reduction – Try the Snowball Method

Debt Reduction – Try the Snowball Method

Snowball Method that Gives Quick Results in Debt Reduction

Thеrе are many dеbt rеduсtіоn options tо choose frоm whеn seeking оut ways to improve уоur fіnаnсіаl situation. Not аll орtіоnѕ аrе еԛuаl, hоwеvеr. Whаt works fоr оnе реrѕоn, may not help thе nеxt.

The first, and rather obvious way to lower уоur dеbt load is ѕіmрlу tо pay down уоur debts. It mау ѕееm іmроѕѕіblе, but one mеthоd hеlрѕ to mаkе іt mоrе feasible. Thіѕ mеthоd, nаmеd the ѕnоwbаll method bу finance еxреrt Dаvе Ramsey, hаѕ bееn рrоvеn tо wоrk wоndеrѕ for people.

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How To Pay Off Debt Fast

How To Pay Off Debt Fast

How to Pay Off Debt Fast While Living on a Budget

 

With student loans at an all-time high and record delinquencies, millennials want to know how to pay off debt fast. Increasing debt is becoming a major concern and more than half of a survey group said they felt overwhelmed because of high debt.

 The millennial group surveyed had twice as many complaining of high debt as the 49 to 59 age group and the obvious question is why? What do you think the reason is? Please share your comments below.

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How to Pay Off Debt Fast

How to Pay Off Debt Fast and Stay Debt Free

 Learn how to pay off debt fastThese strategies will show you how to pay off debt, and are not unique – you may have heard them before. However, if you feel like you’re drowning in debt and don’t know what to do about it, you’re not alone. The average couple in the USA is faced with $15,000.00 in credit card debt alone in a 2014 analysis and it is climbing.

Some folks say there are some easy ways to learn how to pay off debt, but we both know, it is not easy. If it were, nobody would have open credit card debt. View full post…

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