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IN THIS ISSUE #133 |
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Publisher:
Scott Bilker |
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Editor:
Larissa S. Bilker |
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Assistant
Editor: Denise Troy |
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ISSN
1538-6740 |
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The portion of
Americans living in poverty was 12.6% in 2005,
essentially unchanged from 2004. The poverty
rate had been rising since 2000. About 37
million people in 2005 lived in poverty, defined
as annual income of $19,971 or less for a family
of four. |
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Stop Debt Collectors Cold! |
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Stop Debt Collectors Cold! Plus, for a
limited time, 4 bonus 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. |
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Read about stopping debt collectors |
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Letter from the Publisher
by Scott Bilker
Hi,
MySpace was having some problems last week, as you may have noticed.
Hopefully, they have gotten the bugs out of the system. (It's been great meeting many DebtSmart readers there!) So, please try again to be my friend on my
My MySpace page.
Oh yeah, I also started a MySpace
group for DebtSmart to talk about money and other fun topics.
Hey, check this out. I was watching TV the other day and ran across
another rip-off evangelist! I cannot believe the hutzpah this guys has in trying to steal from people using God's word! Holy robbery! I
shouldn't even give out the link, but it's just such blatant lying that
you have to
see it to believe it. He wants people to "partner" with him by
"sowing" a seed of $84 per month. Yeah, right! He's sowing his own seeds
by taking advantage of desperate people!
Next...I have modified the email
newsletter format--slightly. Pushing the recommended services to the
right menu bar. Speaking of which...The
Credit Attorneys offer a service that handles your credit reports.
Of course, you can do quite a bit of correction yourself. However, this
tedious process might not be for everyone. If you're in that group,
you'll want to check out their services to see if it will work for you.
Moving on...I got this email recently
from a longtime reader. These stories really make my day!
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Scott,
I love the DebtSmart.com site and articles!
I have been making money with my
credit cards for the past 2 years. I have $165,000 of 0% money from
credit cards currently sitting in the bank at 5.3%.
I'm probably one of the few people
routinely hoping Greenspan would raise rates!!! It has impacted by
credit score but only slightly. It had been a 770 average and now is around
720 avg.
There are remarks that say high % of
revolving credit used and one comment about opening lots of cards. But
since I don't need money, I'm not too worried.
Thanks!
Bill
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Final note...have you ever wondered "What
jobs will make you rich?" Some obvious and some not so obvious. Check
out this
ABC News story.
Talk to you later.
Best,
Scott
MBNA reduced my limit for no reason!
by Scott BilkerScott,
Thank you for your newsletter I think it
is terrific!
I wanted to share with you an incident
that occurred on Friday of this past week.
June of this year, my husband had an MBNA
credit card that had $38K credit limit, so we asked MBNA to deposit $20K
of it into our bank account and paid off high interest credit cards
with that. MBNA gave us 3.99% interest for a year on that amount.
I had $1,700 on an American Express card
that had an interest rate of 21%. I called MBNA on Friday to ask if they
would transfer the $1,700 to this account and can I get the 3.99
interest. A manager got on the line and proceeded to ask me if some
questions to verify the credit limit. He then told me that he was
reducing my credit limit based on the amount of outstanding credit my
husband had. I told him that I was not interested in the balance
transfer after all because he decided to reduce my credit limit just
like that. I told him we had this account a long time and we had never
been late, not once. I also told him that I was making payments of
$700-$900 a month on this credit card, a larger amount that what was due
$250.00. He said that didn't matter to them.
I was really surprised at this. I wasn't
sure how else to handle it. Sure enough, I called back an hour after I
spoke to the manager and credit limit was decreased to $24K from $38K. I
was floored but there was nothing I could do about that.
Margie V. Powers
Finish reading article
"It's like money falling from the sky!"
Since 2001, after my divorce, I had $5,500
in debt. I started the zero percent credit card game and nailed that
debt in six months. Then that same year, I decided to slam down my house
of $154,000. They let me pay off my house with a HELOC at 3.25% and I
rode that up until last September then I jumped into a 5.4% fixed home
equity loan. On top of that, since 2001, I have been paying down $20,000
a year using a credit card at zero percent for 12 months. I have been
running the credit card parallel to my house payments. I borrowed $20K
from the credit card company, paid down the house and paid the credit
card company back before they charged me interest. The next year I asked
them for a new rewards card and had them transfer my available credit
over to the new card.
From listening to your advice...you want
to know where I am six years later? $40,000 at 5.4%!!!!!!! Scott, YOU
ARE THE MAN!!!!
I dropped my house debt from $154,000 to
$40,000! I started out with $1,100 a month payment, and now I am paying
$345 a month. The money freed up goes on that credit card. So every
month I send in $1,666.67 to beat them at interest. So, in about 7.5
years, which is next year, I will have no house debt!!!! Now I don't
know if I should reward myself and buy a vacation (second) home in the
mountains and first mortgage that place with credit cards. But the main
thing I want to say is a BIG THANK YOU!
I just can't believe I'm almost debt
free. I know if it weren't for your website, I would have never found a
way to use the credit cards as leverage to get out of debt.
My life is easier now and we just got
married and paid all CASH for the wedding. Money that I never had
before! It's like money falling from the sky! I thank the wonderful
credit card companies but more important--YOU Scott. I hope one day I'll
meet you in person to shake your hand and personally thank you. I didn't
have a game until I jumped on this website. You made someone out here
very happy. Thanks again, Scott.
Greg Cards, Delaware
Read about special offer for all three of Scott Bilker's best-selling books
Household Math™: House Painting
by Scott
BilkerDave and Jennifer just got
married. They each have a little debt from student loans and decide to
earn extra money on the weekends by painting. If it takes Dave 15 hours
to paint a house, and it takes Jennifer 10 hours to paint the same
house, how long will it take if they both worked on it together?
Answer this problem
Just Say 'No'
by Gary
ForemanMany of us are old enough
to remember Nancy Reagan's campaign against drugs. To this day I can
still remember the slogan: just say 'no' to drugs. It clearly explained
the goal with a simple to understand message. Saying 'no' could help you
avoid pain and make your life better.
The same thing is true in the world of
personal finance. Sometimes saying no can prevent problems and improve
your lifestyle. Let's take a look at some examples how just saying no
can prevent a financial overdose.
Just say no to buying more home than you
can realistically afford. In the last thirty years, houses have grown by
roughly 50% (from 1700 sf to 2500 sf). Yet the size of our families is
about the same.
Finish Reading Article
More credit, more options!
Credit options are your weapon
against the banks! The key to success is using your credit lines
to save money--not to go crazy spending!
The Credit Repair Kit plus bonus
CD!
by Joe Sainz
What do you
think of when you hear the words "credit
repair"? I think of scam! That's because
many companies have made promises to
"fix" people's credit but then simply stole
their money. However, there are still
reputable sources for people to learn
how to straighten out their credit
reports.
Your
credit report is your financial résumé
and everyone from lenders to insurance
agents reviews it. It's vital that there
are no mistakes shown, and if there are,
that they're removed!
There are
many books on the subject but my
personal favorite is The Credit
Repair Kit. That's because Joe
Sainz offers great practical advise for
correcting errors. Plus, he includes a
Credit Booster CD-ROM with the
book!
If you're
having trouble getting the rates you
deserve because of your credit report,
then you must read this book!
Read more
about The Credit Repair Kit plus bonus
CD...
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The author(s),
Press One Publishing, and DebtSmart.com
shall have neither liability nor
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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
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herein. However, there may be mistakes;
typographical, mathematical, or in
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Copyright ©2006 Press One Publishing. All rights
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