Total Debt Relief

Kevin Trudeau asked:


In Chapter 2 of Debt Cures , the Credit Shakedown, Kevin Trudeau picks up on his assault of the credit card and lending industry in the United States. Trudeau starts out with some revealing statistics like America’s credit card use is greater than the rest of the world combined and that the credit card industry draws the highest profit of any economic sector in the U.S. Among the top contributors to President Bush’s 2000 election campaign were credit card companies and banks (wonder how much funds went to then Vice President Al Gore’s campaign).

Debt for the average American these days is $8,000 and Trudeau says it’s not trips to Rodeo Drive that is driving up debt, rather its visits to buy bread and milk, gasoline and trips to the pharmacy for medicine. The blame for America’s debt shifts from consumers to the lenders, with Trudeau asserting that Americans would pay their credit card bills on time consistently if not for problems popping up. Getting laid off, a divorce, or a medical crisis is what drives America further into debt according to Trudeau, not a lack of financial restraint by consumers. And the greedy credit card companies wait for Americans to have a personal crisis and instead of greeting them with compassion and aide, instead greet them with late fees, penalties and higher interest rates.

There are more opportunities to use credit cards now than ever before. Burger King now allows you to use your plastic to charge your Whopper and shake. Trudeau alleges this is not for your convenience, nor is it for the transaction fees they charge Burger King. No, you can now use your credit card at the drive thru so that you will be late on your next payment, max out your card and be stuck paying penalties and profits to the card companies. There’s no help from Washington, however Trudeau maintains that the government is in partnership with the big lenders. Trudeau concedes the fees are legal, but they are unfair because they change frequently without notice and that when notice is provided, it takes an attorney with a magnifying glass to examine the legalese. Miss a payment and watch your interest rates go up, terms changing without notice costing you thousands of dollars over the life of the credit card and nothing but indecent earnings for the bankers.

Do you know what your credit score is and what your credit report says? Trudeau says if you don’t know your credit score, your lenders certainly do. And if they notice a change in your credit rating, up goes your interest rate, keeping you further trapped in debt. Pay a late fee to Company A, and see Company B jack up your rate.

Trudeau will use the rest of the book to help explain how you can get out of debt . The early chapters are focused only on the danger and the greed of the credit card companies and lenders. The book remains interesting in style and in content and I look forward to see how I can get out of the credit card mess. Trudeau says you can not only eliminate your debt, but you can also begin to build wealth for yourself.



Make Some extra MONEY on the Internet

John Chase asked:


For borrowers suffering the many humiliations large and small of debts increasing beyond their control, there are actually several different forms of debt relief available to average consumers. What may surprise most Americans, actually, is the extent to which bankruptcy will no longer be considered among the debt relief alternatives that seasoned financial advisors recommend to most clients. Three years ago, while the economy was still relatively robust and the media was distracted by Iraq war coverage, the congress slipped in a few seemingly minor alterations to the United States bankruptcy code that went on to weaken tremendously the protection available. Unfortunately, at this present time, with debt loads, inflation and unemployment spiraling even as property values fall across the nation, consumers are only now beginning to understand that the Chapter 7 debt elimination program they had always assumed to be a final outlet for unpayable burdens may no longer exist.

The full meaning of this legislation would take far too long to fully explain, but, suffice to say, court trustees must now strictly follow Internal Revenue Service guidelines before rendering any decision on the feasibility of Chapter 7 protection. Worse yet, even for those few borrowers whose incomes are sufficiently low for Chapter 7 to be a practical consideration, those that somehow manage to successfully declare for the debt elimination program will find that virtually all assets (including, by the viewpoint of the Internal Revenue Service, the computer you are reading this article on, the table that supports that computer, the rug underneath said table, and so on) are now subject to potential seizure for auction so as to immediately repay their creditors. Every consumer that fails to meet the new and comically harsh standards for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection will instead be passed toward the Chapter 13 debt re-structuring program. This is, indeed, a form of debt relief, but, as with anything controlled utterly by governmental regulations that ignore the day to day needs of private citizens, it is debt relief of absolutely the ugliest and most damaging sort.

After a bankruptcy notice appears on the credit report, borrowers will at least never need to worry about debt relief again. After the recording of a Chapter 13, even though essentially all bills will be paid by the filer and rather more quickly than would be pleasant, said borrowers will never again have the opportunity to be offered credit accounts for many, many years. Even used car salesmen will back away, shaking their heads. To put it plainly, Chapter 13 has all the deprivations and forced budgeting of the harshest debt settlement programs alongside the credit shattering repercussions of debt elimination bankruptcy. The program does, in the loosest possible sense, offer some relief to debtors utterly without any other hope. There will always be a final outlet. Still, Chapter 13 should not even be talked about in the same breath as debt consolidation or debt settlement. It simply has no possible advantage or benefits compared to the other debt relief alternatives. Compared to robbing a liquor store or selling one’s organs, Chapter 13 protection may come out on top as a sound lifestyle choice, but only just.



Clear Your Bankrupsy