How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » money troubles

Emily Wants to Know “I’m Pregnant And Got My Hours Cut. What Do I Do?”

Steve Rhode — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:09:01 +0000

Emily wrote in to me at GetOutOfDebt.org to ask for help. Here is what she said.

“I’m having some money problems. I’m having to struggle on making a payment on time and cause I’m pregant my hours got cut back at McDonald’s. Just trying to pay people back and stay on top with my debt with rent.

How can i get help with paying my bills?”

Emily,

My gosh this is a difficult and stressful time in your life. In a perfect world it would be great to be able to be pregnant and enjoy that process rather than having to deal with the stress and pressure of money troubles, job issues and making it through life.

I always try to give advice in an honest and compassionate way. I just wish there was a way for me to reach through the computer and give you a giant hug. Sounds like you could use one right now.

Now for some honesty. The idea that the government or someone will help you to pay your bills is an urban myth that has been floating around forever. There is no other way to say this other than it does not happen, It does not exist. It is a lie, a falsehood, an untruth.

Now that being said, there are in fact some ways that someone, the government will help YOU and not your bills. But indirectly it can be helpful to paying bills.

Local and state governments do offer assistance programs to assist with rent, food, etc. These social service programs are available through loads of red tape, dealing with frustrating and often rude government employees and it takes time and patience to work you way through the process.

I would advise you to contact your local social service office and ask for help to find out what you are eligible for. The reaction I hear most often to this is people who say they don’t want to be on benefits. That’s a pride issue, not a reality issue.

If you’ve paid taxes and helped to fund the system, you should take advantage of it when you most need it. Pride is one thing but even salt does not help it to taste better when you are hungry.

We can’t forget the obvious contributors here as well. The three most important people in your life right now to help you through this will be your family, the baby’s father and the bankruptcy attorney.

If the baby’s father is fully participating and helping you both emotionally and financially, he deserves a hug. If he is not, then he needs to know that he has a responsibility to provide and help you to care for the child.

There is a legal process to help make them pay for child support. And by the way, child support is to be used to pay for the child, not your support. Talk to you local child support office to find out what to do to get the support your child is eligible for the baby’s father if he isn’t around or does not want to care for you or the child.

Family can be the saving grace at times like this, they can help us to make it through difficult times but asking them to pay your bills for you would be unreasonable. They are not their bills, they are your bills. If you can’t afford to pay your bills then you need to go and talk to a bankruptcy attorney. It would be reasonable to ask your family to help you pay for the bankruptcy lawyer. It is a one-time expense that will make a big difference. I’m all for those kinds of investments.

The law of the universe is that to overcome money troubles you either need to earn more or pay less. If McDonald’s isn’t able to offer you more hours then you could go look for a better paying job or go bankrupt to eliminate your debt.

Based on what you told me, and my years of experience I know you are living on the edge and just making it. A visit to the bankruptcy lawyer is the the most logical solution.

Once you put these financial pressures behind you then you can focus on having a less stressed and a more healthful pregnancy. That’s important. Stress during pregnancy does not help the growing life within. Start being a good mom now and take responsibility for dealing with the bills now.

Let me know how the trip to the bankruptcy attorney goes.

Big Hug!

@GetOutOfDebtGuy

Crazy Things to Do When You Can’t Pay The Bills

Steve Rhode — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:11:59 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

Living through money troubles, collection calls, delinquent notices and the fear of not being able to pay bills is not only scary but it makes us do some really stupid things.

I thought I’d give you a free copy of my book Eliminate Your Debt Like a Pro. It is in a PDF format so just click on that link to download it. The book is a free gift to you from me. I hope you enjoy it. It is packed with a lot of good advice, debt elimination techniques and things you should consider.

But I wanted to share with you a couple of get out of debt tips I was thinking about today.

As always, while some of my advice may sound a bit odd at times, there is always a reason why I say what I do.

Don’t Open Your Bills

If you have just realized that you are in deep trouble or you are in the middle of a debt panic attack, take a bill holiday. Just grab a shoebox and all the mail that comes in that looks like bills, toss it in the shoebox for one week.

Use the week to take a stress vacation and help to get your thoughts back to a place where you are mentally prepared to face your situation. You might even find it helpful to ask a close friend to sit down with you when you open the bills at the end of your bill vacation.

Once you can take that little break you can often face the situation with a new outlook or a new resolve and while the numbers may not be what you’d like to see, you can face the reality of what’s in the mail just a bit stronger than before.

Once you open the bills, you know I’m always here for you if you need to ask for advice or to lean on me. Don’t be afraid or shy to write to me for help.

Smile, Smile, Smile

Being in debt sucks. There is no other way to look at it. Even though I lived through my debt struggles and emerged out the other side and then used what I learned to help others, the pain of being in debt, suffering in silence and the shame I felt, sucked.

But what I learned was that just because my life was in the toilet was no reason I had to take it out on others. In fact, being in deep and dark debt made me appreciate the simplest things in my life. I learned to be grateful for someone holding the door or just going out of their way to be nice.

A tremendous amount of the pain we feel when we are suffering in debt is internal emotional pain we create in ourselves. But it is real, it is debilitating and it is life changing. However, there are children around us, a loving spouse, friendly co-workers or maybe kind clients or customers that deserve a smile from us, a kind word or maybe a kind deed. All of those things are free and things we can share with the world as we recover.

The more good we do for others, the better we feel about ourselves.

Take Yourself to the Movies

If you are feeling overloaded at work, at home, from the bills and debts; give yourself some time alone. When the walls feel like they are closing in we all need to just take a mind break from the world, even for a couple of hours. That’s OK.

So you go and spend $10 on a movie. Your financial situation is not going to be radically different because you spent $10 on yourself. It won’t sink you but going and watching a movie will take your mind off your troubles for a couple of hours and give you some alone time to just escape from the pressure and stress you may be feeling. It’s okay to treat yourself in moderation and time to time when you are living through hell.

Be Kind to the Debt Collector

The debt collector is just trying to do their job, collect the debt you owe. Once you realize that the debt collector is just an hourly employee sitting in front of the computer dialer and being whipped to collect you can relax a bit when they call.

Use your smile when you are on the phone and try to make a friend of the collector. That does not mean that you should promise to make any payment you can’t afford to pay, just be nice.

When collectors were calling me I got to know some of them fairly well. And once I started my life helping people with debt problems I had many clients that were debt collectors.

I remember once I went to visit a national debt collection center and I noticed there were guards at the door. After visiting the center and looking at all the unhappy employees on the phones, I walked out wondering if the guard was to keep people out or the collectors in.

If a debt collector is being rude and mean, you don’t have to take that but you also don’t have to stoop to that level. Just be nice, explain that if they are going to behave rude and mean that you’ll have to disconnect and if they continue, say bye with a smile on your face and hang up.

Forgive Yourself

Being in debt is the worst guilt trip you can be on. People feel shame, and pain like I did and feel like failures and losers. I felt that way.

Most money problems occur as the result of things that are beyond our control. Maybe the economy goes bad and your business fails, you lose your job, the factory closes, you got sick, your spouse left you, etc.

You need to be able to forgive yourself and instead of facing backwards trying to repair the past, you need to turn around, look forward and set your sights on repairing the future. The best way you can do that is to take a good honest look at what happened to you, almost like a financial autopsy, and learn from what you see.

When you are deep in debt you can be a loser or you can forgive yourself and move forward. I sure wish someone had shared that tip with me when I spent three years in a monochrome funk after my bankruptcy.

So here is my gift to you right now. If you are in debt and feeling like the world is closing in, just know that I love and care about you and if I was there with you I’d give you a big hug.

Steve

What to Do if Your Creditors And Bill Collectors Make You Really Angry

Steve Rhode — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:47:10 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

I’ve heard more people issue swear words and threats against creditors and debt collectors than you can imagine.

Having the pressure increase when you are in debt makes good people say and do silly and regrettable things. Many feel those normal emotions but feeling like you are going to explode or wanting to kill the debt collector or yourself is not going to help solve your money troubles.

A good debt collector will listen to your situation and work with you to find a solution. Listen to the interview with the debt collector below. If you don’t see a link to play the interview, visit the original post here: What to Do if Your Creditors And Bill Collectors Make You Really Angry

Feeling angry, murderous and suicidal are all understandable emotional extremes but those feeling of rage and anger are not going to makes your problems go away. The better and healthier solution is to ask yourself why the situation creates such aggression and rage in you. Most likely it is because you don’t want to be in the situation of having money problems or having to deal with them.

Lashing out or tearing the creditor a new one isn’t energy well spent towards finding a resolution. Keeping a clam head and trying to establish open communications works a lot better.

Now even if you have a prevailing calm and better attitude when the phone rings and it is a collector being nasty on the phone. Imagine what it is like from their side of the phone. All day long a computer is auto-dialing outbound calls for them and connecting them to people that are mean, rude and nasty back. The bill collector is hovered over by management to get so many ‘promises to pay’ each hour and not to spend a lot of time with people on the phone who are not promising to pay or the collector will be penalized. Want to see more about what is expected of a debt collector, watch this recruitment video.

When a debt collector or creditor is calling you for payment, they don’t know you, they are not making a personal judgement about you, you are just another name and number placed in front of them to call. You are nothing more than the widget the bill collector has to deal with at that moment.

They may pretend to make it personal because the collector knows that fear and shame can motivate people but that’s a ploy or trick, not reality.

If you feel your blood pressure rising, your jaw clenching and anger bubbling up, try this approach, kill them with kindness. Working hard to make a friend of the bill collector calling has advantages.

You Are More Likely To Get Any Leniency Available – If you can make the bill collector your friend you have a better shot of having them go to bat for you when they can on their side. A bill collector is not going to plead the case of a screaming and raging lunatic. But remember, that just because you want to pay does not mean that special reductions can be met. Ultimately, the most agreeable arrangement with the creditor will be for you to pay your bill as you contractually agreed to.
It Reduces Your Stress – If you can befriend the bill collector then when they call it is less fearful and threatening. This will help you from hiding or cowering in fear. If the phone gets to be too much to manage, then it is okay to escape and hide from the collector for a bit. You can do this easily if you use the two phone suggestion in my article, How to Hide From Debt Collection, the Debt Collector, and Creditors.

It is absolutely normal to feel regret and loss when your finances are in the toilet. But being angry and nasty at your creditors is not going to fix the reality of being behind on your bills, that’s the reason they are calling you.

So if at all possible, be gracious, kind and make a friend of the debt collector and creditors when they call. Not only can it lead to a better outcome, but it makes your life less stressful and more enjoyable as well.

Rather than kill the bill collector, just remember to kill them with kindness, respect and courtesy. And all of that being said, you never have to accept rude and abusive behavior from a bill collector. If they do treat you inappropriately, calmly tell them that you do not need to be spoken to like that, ask for a supervisor, or tell them you are going to hang-up if they can’t be nicer to you.

A Pledge And Promise I Work Hard Every Day to Keep: To Be Here For You When You Need Me

Steve Rhode — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:03:12 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

Since my financial failure and bankruptcy I have never taken for granted the difficult and painful process of living through and surviving money troubles. I’ve walked in your shoes. I know what it feels like. I’ve felt the pain and shed the tears. I’ve been afraid and I’ve been depressed.

And even though a lot of time has passed since my dark and stormy days of 1990, when I failed, I still think of those times and get up every day and wake my body for a new opportunity just to help you through your dark days.

Helping you, that I do for free. I do it because it is the right thing to do and I do it because I have been blessed with the skills and abilities to be able to help you when you need help most. My crushing failure as a provider for my wife and family and as a broken father for my young daughter in 1990 was not a death sentence for me because it gave me the experience to help you.

I can’t promise you a magic wand or to make your problems instantly go away, but what I can promise you is a deep and personal concern for you and the suffering you are going through. I promise to tell you the honest truth and provide guidance, advice and hugs to help you through your own dark days.

All I ask from you, is to trust me to ask me for help, to ask for advice, and to ask me to be there for you. I will not charge you a penny, there is no fee for my help and I do all of this for you, my brothers and sisters in debt, because I love you and I care about you, from the very bottom of my heart.

When my dying days arrive I want to look back and know that I made a difference in the lives of some because I cared about what needed to be done, for the right reasons and for the right people. If you are struggling with debt, you are afraid, you are uncertain about what to do, you need an ear to talk softly in and you need a strong hug to make it through tomorrow. I will be here for you.

/s/ Steve
Steve Rhode

Debt Counselors of America – What I Learned

Steve Rhode — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:48:48 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

In 1994 I decided I would start a non-profit charity to help find good solutions for bad debt problems, all I really knew was that I wanted to help people.

Almost every organization at the time was named something with credit counseling in it. I figured that I did not want to counsel people about credit, but about debt, so Debt Counselors of America seemed like a much more logical name. And that’s how Debt Counselors of America was born.

I learned a lot of things as Debt Counselors of America grew. Some of them were good lessons, some, not so good. I thought I’d share those insights here with you.

Lessons Learned by the Founder of Debt Counselors of America

It is hard to help people who don’t always really want help.
Running a non-profit company is a very difficult balance between generating money to continue the mission and doing the right thing.
All I wanted to do was help people but it takes a lot of work just to get to that point.
I learned that I really don’t enjoy being the leader and the manager. I’d rather be one or the other.
It is damn easy to wander towards the dark side. The dark side pays better.
I learned a lot about other non-profit credit counseling groups and discovered that there are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing out there.
As long as creditors control the funding, they control the credit counseling agencies.
Very few people really fight for consumers. Even state consumer affair people have their own agenda to clear complaints rather than really investigate and intervene.
Even through the very unhappy times, I still care deeply about people and just want to be of assistance.
I learned that there are very few good solutions to really help people with money troubles.
I learned to respect bankruptcy more as a good solution and not one to fear as much.
I learned from watching clients that often it is our thoughts and emotions that drive our actions rather than logic or commonsense.
I learned to develop solutions by first identifying the goal that needs to be achieved and then working backwards to plan the way to do that.
Unfortunately I discovered that some credit counseling groups are deceptive, corrupted and do not operate in the best interest of the consumer.
I can’t work harder for my clients than they want to work for themselves or I burn out.
I learned that credit counseling is more of an industry than a peaceful mission. It is competitive and not a collaborative group that always works for the best interest of the consumer.
I learned that the best reward in life is being able to be part of making a positive change in others and altering thousands of lives to be able to move on and live a better life.
I learned the power of hugs.
I realized that I would be honored to spend the rest of my life being of service to others if I could find a way to do that.
I learned that being the boss is not always fun.
I discovered that being responsible for the income and success of a company that employees people is a stressful and massive responsibility.
I learned that some regulators are stupid and don’t care.
I learned that there is no substitution for hard work and dedication.
I learned that if you are passionate about what you do, it makes life more enjoyable.
I discovered the secrets to getting out of debt and how both magically simple and intensely complex they are at the exact same time.
I learned how much I could care about my employees as individuals and how happy I was to watch them succeed, even when they moved on to other jobs.
I learned to appreciate every client as a friend and was thankful for the trust they placed in the group I created, Debt Counselors of America.

So if you have a money, credit or debt problem that you would help with, ask me for free help and I’ll be happy to assist you with answers and advice. I’ve always been and hopefully will always be here to help you and others.

Steve

Personal Finance Brain Trust – What Rights Should Debtors Have?

Steve Rhode — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:59:03 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

This weeks brain trust question was:

Question:

Bank of America is proudly telling people about their new loan modification program and how much it will help people. But this program did not materialize until Bank of America was sued by some states over predatory lending.

The real world situation is that the majority of lenders are unresponsive or just not helpful to help people deal with money troubles. Consumers would be surprised that it is actually hard to get banks to accept fair and sustainable payments to help people avoid bankruptcy.

The question for this week is what rights do you think consumers should have in a perfect world in order to be able to deal with lenders, when the debtor is having problems paying their bills, so they can avoid foreclosure, repossession and/or bankruptcy?

WC – A 27-year-old writer living in Chicago and writing about personal finance through The Writer’s Coin.

I may sound a little harsh saying this, but I really feel like people that get into products they didn’t a) understand fully or b) can’t afford, should have to suffer the consequences of their actions. Ignorance isn’t an excuse and people should’ve read up on what they were getting into before they signed on the dotted line.

On the other hand, when this many people are in a bind, it’s beneficial for both the banks and the consumers to find a middle ground. What that would be I really have no idea. As to avoiding foreclosure and bankruptcy, they should’ve thought about that before they got themselves into this mess. Americans are quick to judge and spew hate towards big corporations for their excess and greed, but everyday citizens are doing the same thing, so we too should suffer the consequences.

Patrick Bryan – Living in Northern Ireland, Patrick helps people in a very different environment and economy but yet, mush is universal and much is the same. Visit Patrick’s Northern Ireland blog on debt.

I believe that more should be done to prevent irresponsible lending by financial institutions before the outcomes of that lending (i.e. bad debt) are tackled. The solution I see to solving the problem of foreclosure/repossession would be to take defaulting borrowers’ property into public ownership through a national home rescue scheme, which would buy the asset off the bank and then rent the property back to the borrower whilst giving them an equity stake, which would provide some security of tenure.

Here in the UK there is already a highly effective way of dealing with unsecured debt – the Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) which enables debtors to enter into a structured debt repayment plan which enforces an interest freeze on their creditors, and the debtor only pay back the proportion of their borrowings they can afford to over a 5 year period. This legislation was seen as a way of providing debtors with important rights however IVA proposals over the past couple of years have been hamstrung by the requirement to get the agreement of 75% of creditors by value, and as many as 20% of IVA proposals are currently turned down for this reason. The banks simply veto arrangements if the required dividend is not met, often without considering what an individual debtor can actually afford to repay or the potentially reduced dividend they will receive in the event of the debtor’s bankruptcy.

Proposed IVA modifications dating back as far as 2005 would allow debtors who owe below £25,000-£30,000 to enter into a simple IVA (SIVA) with no requirement for a creditor vote but the government has not as yet enacted the legislation, despite there being a huge debt problem in the UK and a real need to free up the current system. Perhaps now with the part-nationalisation of some of our biggest lending institutions the government will take a more active part in addressing the problems of debt and will work towards solutions which are equitable on all parties, and do not leave the matter largely up to market forces.

Antisay – This blog is mainly about finance and self-improvement; I am in a constant race to become a better me and this blog is all about that sort of lifestyle. Visit this site.

What a loaded question! … It’s unfair to say that the lender should take all the burden when he debtor is the one who can’t pay their bills. Since we don’t live in a black and white world, however, I think some different circumstances need to be considered in order to qualify the “rights” of the debtor.

This question boils down to asking: who should ultimately “win” when a loan situation becomes a struggle – the banks or the consumers? There is no one solution because of the aforementioned circumstances. I think that looking at the debtors’ situations before they took on the debt with this one particular lender is key. Let’s examine two examples…

I feel that if the debtor was not previously in hot water and now is unable to pay some (or all) of their bills, than the fault should lie somewhere closer to the debtor and they shouldn’t be granted too much leeway that could ultimately hurt the lender for something that wasn’t the lender’s fault. This is more of a classic lending situation: the bank loans out, the person over extends themselves, payments aren’t made.

In this situation, the rights of the consumer, in my opinion, should be (at the least) fair and reasonable interest rates on the loan and low, previously-disclosed late-fees when payments don’t come in. Even in the situation where the bank is in the right, they should not abuse their customers by charging outrageous finance charges or dropping hidden late fees out of nowhere. The consumer in this case has every right to fair and legal lending practices. I also feel it would be in the bank’s interest to extend some sort of extended payment plan to the debtor to keep them happy being a debtor, but I don’t feel the bank is under much obligation to do so.

Now, if the debtor was deeply in debt to begin with and the bank “went after” the debtor, the story is changed completely. If the person was clearly targeted as prey in predatory lending practices, than far more leeway should be granted toward the consumer. In this sort of case I feel that lengthy repayment plans, deferred (non-accrued) interest, and possibly lenient settlements are all in order. I think if the debtor is suffering undue abuse from the lender than all actions on the part of the lender should be in the interest of the debtor, not the themselves.

I honestly can’t see this issue clear-cut, and you’ll find me hard to pin down on this question… I feel that in the end, how the debtor got into the loan itself has a very clear indication of how the loan will end up. It goes back to my answer last week – those who should have never been “let” (baited) into debt in the first place can’t be faulted for having been extended the loan – that is the lender’s fault. But if the person did it all to themselves, than I say they have to undo it themselves – but in a fair environment, with reasonable finance charges and late fees – with everything out in the open.

Patrick – Patrick writes two excellent blogs, Cash Money Life and the Military Finance Network.

I think it is in the best interest of lenders and borrowers to work together in good faith to try and come up with a solution that works for both parties. The state of the economy is such that lenders can’t afford to foreclose on too many houses. In some cases it would be in the best interest of the banks to work to restructure the loans to extend the length of the loan, possibly at a lower fixed interest rate. Yes, that would mean writing off profits and it would affect stock prices, but that would also prevent many foreclosures, which are more expensive. This kind of thing should be done on a case by case basis, and only after the customer has worked with an approved financial or credit counselor.

On the customer’s end, they need to cut back on expenses wherever possible to meet their obligations – be it a mortgage, car loan, credit card bills, student loans, or anything else. It would not be right for banks to give customers concessions, only to have the customers continue getting deeper into debt.

There are obviously a lot of issues on both sides of the fence that need to be addressed.

Gerri Detweiler – She has been helping consumers find solutions to their credit problems for more than twenty years. Her newest book is Stop Debt Collectors: How to Protect Your Rights and Resolve Your Debts. She serves as Credit Advisor for Credit.com.

If we want to stop the downward spiral of home values in many parts of the country, the solution that we must enact as quickly as possible is bankruptcy reform: allowing judges to modify home loans for consumers in bankruptcy who have the ability to stay in their homes under different terms. Consumer advocacy groups have been calling for this change for a couple of years now, and every day it makes more and more sense.

Bankruptcy reform is not a bailout. It does not even require taxpayer money. It does require a lender to accept a lower interest rate, and perhaps a reduced amount of principal. Even then, lenders come out ahead by receiving more than they would if they allowed the home to go into foreclosure – and likely be stripped of appliances, fixtures, furnaces and more before the sale.

Those who think bankruptcy reform would be an easy out for consumers who got in over their heads should think again. Bankruptcy has become more difficult for consumers to file and complete, thanks to changes in the law several years ago. Many consumers who would take advantage of this reform would be forced to pay back debts in a five-year court-supervised Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan — hardly a walk in the park.

But they would keep their homes out of foreclosure. Their neighbors would not have to see their home values drop by 10 – 15% or more because of a foreclosed home in the neighborhood. And taxpayers would not have to pay for a risky loan purchased by our government just so the bank could free up more money to lend to someone else.

We’ve been bailing out Wall Street. Now let’s really help Main Street, and enact bankruptcy reform. We can’t afford to wait any longer.

Steve Rhode – A personal finance blogger and founder of the Myvesta Foundation, a global scoial enterprise that helps people find solutions for money troubles. You can ask Steve your debt related question through GetOutOfDebt.org and he’ll help you for free.

It is enormously frustrating for me to talk to good people all over the U.S. and UK who want to repay their debt, the best they can, but creditors refuse to accept their repayment offers. These are people that wind up going bankrupt but who never wanted to.

There is no law or process that allows the consumer to have protection under the law when making a good faith and best effort to repay what then can in a reasonable and sustainable fashion.

The IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) process in the UK is the most fair way for debtors to come to a binding agreement with their creditors to repay their debt over a fixed period of time, have the remaining balance eliminated and stop interest.

In the United States, Myvesta, tried this approach for five years and U.S. creditors fought that approach every step of the way, yet the U.S. based credit card companies like Bank of America and Capital One, participate in the IVA solution in the UK.

The only way to slow down the number of U.S. bankruptcy filings is to give consumers access to a bankruptcy alternative that would be based on their actual available funds each month and that would operate much like a Chapter 13, payment plan, but not be bankruptcy.

Credit counseling or debt management plans are not binding on the creditor, nor do they eliminate any original balance yet unpaid after a period of time.

What U.S. consumers need is some legal right to force creditors to accept reasonable repayments rather than have creditors refuse payments which only drives more consumers to bankruptcy and serves no social purpose other than to remove the stigma of bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy reform is desperately need in the U.S. so we can go back and correct the senseless legislation passed in 2005 that only further damaged consumers while benefiting the banks.

When In Debt, Think of Others, Kindness Counts

Steve Rhode — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:43:57 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

I saw this story below on CNN and for me it typifies the type of kindness and compassion that is needed to help someone you know with money troubles. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just to be a friend.

If you know of someone that is struggling with debt problems, do something random and nice for them. Surprise them, take them to lunch, or fill their gas tank for them. If you can’t afford to do that stuff, hugs are free and priceless.

You don’t have to offer pity to offer a shoulder to lean on and rather than let another person suffer in silence, let them know you care.

Steve

How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » money troubles

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