When
it comes to saving money, there are some deals that are
no-brainers
Featured
Credit Cards Can Save You Money Now!
Household
Math™: What is APR?
Stop Debt Collectors Cold
Beautiful
offer made by CapitalOne to my wife
DebtSmart Help Center
Cash
Advance Suicide
DebtSmart® Resources
Cool Quote
Albert
Einstein said, “in the middle of adversity lies opportunity.” It has also
been stated “you can tell the size of the goal by the number of obstacles you
have overcome.”
I do hope that this issue of the DebtSmart Email Newsletter finds you and your
family in good physical, and of course, financial, health!
If you live in near PA, and receive NBC10 News, then be sure to watch tonight
at 11PM. A story about me is supposed to air as a Consumer Alert story. I talk
about many of the topics in my latest book, Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card
Debt.
I'm really trying to get to everyone's questions, but there are only so many
that I can get to. In this issue I'll address three questions.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
Scott
0% forever transfer deal--is it for real?
by Scott Bilker
Scott:
I've been a faithful reader of your newsletter for about 6 months now and
you have a lot of great information packed into it. My question is this. I
received an offer from Discover for a no fee, balance transfer with 0% APR for
life of the unpaid balance, as long as I make a purchase each month after July
2005. I'm tempted to take up this offer to get some of my other cards that are
at a higher rate moved to this. I've talked to them previously and they said the
purchase could be as small as a pack of gum. Is there a catch here, (other than
I see you need to never be late with a payment)? If you've written about this
before could you tell me where I can see this info.
When
it comes to saving money, there are some deals that are no-brainers
Review by Jeffrey Strain, SavingAdvice.com
Take
Scott Bilker's book Talk Your Way Out of Credit
Card Debt: Phone Calls To Banks That Saved More Than $43,000 In Interest Charges
and Fees! for example. Not only does he show you how to talk to bank card
representatives to lower interest rates, get fees waived and deal with credit
card disputes & billing errors, he guarantees you will save over $200 in the
process of using his advice or he'll give you a full refund of your money (and
keep two other credit card management books for free to boot). It's not often
that we are guaranteed a risk-free 1000% return on our money.
Bilker
made hundreds of calls to credit card companies for himself, his family and his
friends to try and get better credit card deals and to find out what calling
strategies work and don't work when contacting credit card companies. The
results presented in the book are 52 full transcripts of calls to credit card
companies he actually made and an analysis of each.
Bilker
realizes that although it may appear simple to call a credit card company and
ask for a better deal, it's extremely helpful to have a well thought out plan
before and to know exactly what to say when a pressure situation arises. This
includes having your "deal breaker" handy - the action you'll take if
the credit card company fails to make a reasonable compromise on your request.
He also emphasizes the art of bargaining power by showing how to keep all your
credit options open.
The
book will be most beneficial for those who carry a credit card balance and would
most likely have a harder time when negotiating with credit card companies.
There's solid advice in dealing with the run-around that representatives are
bound to give and making sure you reach to a supervisor who will have more power
to help you. While it would be great to have Bilker there negotiating with your
credit card company for you, the book is the next best thing to having him make
the calls himself.
Featured Credit Cards Can Save You Money Now!
by Scott Bilker
Your
best defense against any one bank is to have credit options. To be able to
transfer your balance to a lower rate. That's your only real power against high
fees. That's how to be DebtSmart®! Make the banks fight for your business! Be
sure to add this web page to your favorites list so you can keep applying for
new credit when you need it. What credit card is right for you? Select from the
list below and apply online right now!
Actually, it's the abbreviation for Annual Percentage Rate. The APR is quite
simply the periodic rate multiplied by the number of periods in a year. For
example, if the monthly rate of interest is 2 percent, then the APR is 24
percent because 2 (the periodic rate) multiplied by 12 (the number of periods,
or months, in a year) equals 24 percent. Okay, so now that you understand the
APR, here is the question: What is the daily rate (one day is the period) if the
APR is 14.6 percent?
Each week I receive dozens of emails from people being hounded by debt
collectors. These collectors are horrible! They can harass, threaten, and embarrass
their victims without regard for the law. There have been many articles posted at
DebtSmart by those attacked by these evil hounds.
Yes, that's strong language and I am sure that the "good" debt
collectors (if there is such a thing) are going to send me hate mail in about 10
minutes, but the truth is that the majority of these "folks" don't
care at all about your situation. They're out to suck as much cash from you as
possible.
In the past I've advised people of the techniques needed to deal with debt
collectors however, a comprehensive information package has been created that I
can recommend that will help--for sure!
It's been written by best-selling author, Gerri
Detweiler, attorney John
Ventura, and Mary Reed, personal finance author. Not only is this aimed at Stopping
Debt Collectors Cold but they also include four other great reports: How
to Get Collection Accounts Off Your Credit Report, How to Avoid Losing Your Home
In A Foreclosure, What to Do if You Are Behind on Your Car Payments, and
Confidential Interview With A Former Debt Collector.
I highly recommend that you take a look at this information so you're
prepared to effectively deal with debt collectors!
Beautiful offer made by CapitalOne to my wife
by Scott Bilker
Dear Mr. Bilker,
First, I must congratulate you and thank you for all the help you are giving
all of us who are being taken advantage of by almost all credit cards out there.
I am having a difficult problem with my wife trying to help see how reliable
your information is--and I would like your advice on this "fantastic"
offered made to her by the CapitalOne mentioned above and make sure that they
aren't trying to "cheat her out of our hard earned money.
This is the offer, my wife may use up to 5 checks they sent, starting with a
$2,400.00 and four (4) other blank checks to consolidate higher-interest-rate
cards or loans. There is a 3% processing fee for each transfer (max. of $50.00
per transaction). They tell her to use these checks to save with the long-term
2.99% fixed APR today. She wants to use one of these checks to pay off my
Orchard Bank account that is approximately $1,400.00. Her current available
credit amount she has in her CapitalOne card is approximately $3,000.00. Do you
think this is a good idea to consolidate my Orchard Bank account? That's now
charging me 19.9% on my purchase balance and 21.9% on a $550.00 cash-out
withdrawal I made last year for my business trip?
Please help me enlighten and educate my wife regarding credit cards.
Helping you with your debt is very important to me personally! If you've been
reading my articles, you know that I always encourage self-help as a first step.
However, being buried in debt can be very overwhelming, which is why you may
want to explore other options.
One of those options is professional, ongoing help with credit counselors.
I've started to personally check out certain companies so I can recommend the
ones that are worth considering!
If you would like to speak with a representative from a...
Fantastic info, not for scatterbrains though. I have three cards currently
all intro 0% wondering if I made a cash advance of say 1000.00 then immediately
took advantage of 0% balance transfer, would I still be liable for the 24.99%
advance rate as well as the fee even though account was paid off the same day or
at least within billing cycle? Trying to avoid cash advance suicide, also are
there any fund transfer services that make the bank think it's a purchase?
The author(s), Press One Publishing, and DebtSmart.com shall have neither
liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or
damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly by the
information contained in this email newsletter and/or at the DebtSmart.com web
site. The information, methods and techniques described may not work for you and
no recommendation is made to follow the same course of action. Every effort has
been made to verify the accuracy of all content contained herein. However, there
may be mistakes; typographical, mathematical, or in content. This email
newsletter and the DebtSmart.com web site have been created for your
entertainment only. You must always seek the proper professional advice before
taking any financial or legal action. You have been warned.
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finding new ways to save
money and pay off your debt.
"The DebtSmart Email
Newsletter is packed with
cutting-edge strategies for
solving credit problems. I
highly recommend it."--Gerri
Detweiler, radio host and
author of The
Ultimate Credit Handbook
