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In This
Issue
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Cool Quote |
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Q and A with the authors of "Complete
Idiot's Guide to Peer to Peer Lending," Curtis Arnold and Beverly Blair Harzog |
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STATISTIC: Late Pay at New High |
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Someone to Pay My Credit Card Bills? |
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"DebtSmart.com is a great site." |
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Why Having a Budget Is the First Step to
Getting Out of Debt |
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Defense Of Credit Card Lawsuits |
Cool Quote
"It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of
poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt."
--Joel Osteen
More cool quotes from past issues
1. What do you feel is the reason behind the Social
Lending phenomenon? (For example, ability to receive cash faster than if
applying for a bank loan, etc.)
Peer to peer lending's has really taking off in the past
12 months or so due to several factors. The credit crunch has really restricted
the availability of traditional bank loans and other forms of traditional
credit, such as credit cards. As a result, consumers are increasingly turning to
other sources for credit and peer to peer lending has emerged as a viable source
of credit.
Cutting the banks out of the picture and putting a more
human element (borrowers can post pics and tell their story) back into the
lending process has been a breath of fresh air for both borrowers and lenders.
On a related note, lenders and borrowers can target affinity groups that they
are interested in, such as alumni groups. This feature has proven to be popular
and is pretty unique.
Also, the fact that many consumers are able to get lower
rates and many lenders are able to get rates of return that they can in money
market accounts or CDs has propelled interest in P2P lending.
Finish reading the article
Consumer outrage about credit cards is at an all-time
high. So are delinquencies, which hit 5.56 percent in the fourth quarter of
2008. That's a 60 percent jump since 2005.
More credit card and debt statistics
It doesn't take a genius to notice that our
financial circumstances have changed in the last few years. But, it does take
some thought to recognize which strategies are still sound and which ones need
to be changed. Today we're going to talk about one that may need to be changed
depending on your circumstances.
For years credit card holders have had the option
of buying 'credit card insurance' on their accounts. There are a number of
different forms. Some pay your account if you die. Others pay if you're
disabled. The one that we're going to consider pays if you lose your job.
Before we begin, let's take a moment to discuss
why we buy insurance. In it's purest sense, we buy insurance to pay for losses
that we cannot afford to absorb ourselves. Often these losses are sudden,
unexpected or out of our control. Think car accidents or a home fire or
burglary.
Typically, it's foolish to buy insurance for
things that we can afford to cover. You wouldn't buy insurance to pay for your
next tank of gas. Presumably you can afford it and the paperwork plus the
insurance company profit would just add to the cost.
Finish reading the article
I'm following it since some time ago, when I discovered
the 0% credit card offers and the possitive implications of accepting them,
which was against the general knowledge that having credit card debt is bad.
I searched the web in order to find what's the catch, what
was I missing. That's when I found your site, that corroborated my conclusions,
and provided more tips. I even bought your books.
Great site, keep going!
Hugo
Learn how to "Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card 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 don't change your mindset, if you aren't
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 don't 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 didn't 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 xpenses you can
readily see in your budget what areas you can reduce expenses to get money to
pay for those unexpected expenses.
Finish reading the article
Whether or not you are believe the news media about a
declining US economy, one thing is for sure, debt collectors are actively filing
suits to collect debts. One large collection firm based out of Atlanta has
indicated that they file an average of 279 collection lawsuits per day. A
lawsuit is often the final effort in the creditor's attempt to collect a debt.
If the harassing and often illegal collection calls were not enough, once a
person is sued the reality of the situation is realized. However, for the
defendant, not all hope is lost.
Finish reading this article
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