As a student of the history of debt, having lived through debt problems myself, and having founded and run a credit counseling organization, I have a unique view from inside and outside the debt world. If there were mistakes and beliefs to be had, I’ve had them. If there are perceptions about debt, they’ve floated through my mind; if there are moral decisions to be weighed regarding debt, I’ve also wandered across all of those boundaries.
But Here is What I’ve Learned About How to Get Out of Debt
The bottom line about debt is it is just debt. Nothing more. It is neither an object that can be stigmatized nor engage in some form of judgment or morality. It just is what it is. And what it is, is a financial obligation that becomes problematic or unsustainable. It becomes an unmeetable installment in the exchange of money according to a contract or agreement.
All that other stuff, the stigma, morality, guilt, shame, and things that make us feel poorly are creations inside our heads and not a function of debt itself (see Is Bankruptcy Sinful and Bad or Right and Moral?). Debt does not feel like a thing. It does not judge you. It bears you no ill will.
Debt is created when an entity gives something of value in exchange for the pledge to repay that value in the future, often with some additional compensation calculated by interest. And what is interest? Well, that’s the number used in the formula that a creditor creates to estimate how much extra money they will need to add to the amount lent to make a profit and cover their estimated losses from engaging in this lending business.
Notice there is nothing moral attached to the act of lending. No moral component is tangled in the decision to lend or in pricing for a profit and coverage of a projected loss.
When a lender and borrower enter into a transaction to borrow and repay, they both are taking a risk. The lender hopes to recover the asset lent, and the borrower wishes to repay that which has been borrowed. Both parties, however, are guessing what the future holds for them. The bank cannot estimate if the borrower will be laid off or have their house destroyed by a volcano. The lender has no idea if the borrower will be in a fatal car accident or choke to death on a baked potato. Therefore, the lender is taking a calculated risk and covering that risk with interest charged by engaging in the transaction.
Consumers are constantly confused by this, and in their hour of problem debt, they often assign feelings to the fact they can’t repay as agreed because life has dealt them a bad hand. As a result, people feel they have let down their creditors, and they will think less of them; they struggle with feelings of failure and are made to feel immoral because they can’t repay.
The reality is that while those feelings are all present in one delusion or another, they are not reality. But if you feel them, they are excellent tools to manipulate you into repaying for the benefit of the creditor, not you.
The creditor wants you to repay, not to save your soul, but to collect as much as possible back to maximize their profit. The entire end game of the typical financial transaction is just that, to make a profit, not damn you to hell.
The fact that creditors, debt collectors, and many debt relief companies know that you can’t see is that debtors can be easily emotionally manipulated for the other party’s benefit. Don’t let that happen to you. Wake up and see reality, please. (To better deal with debt collection calls, you should read “Hooray, You Are in Collections! The Debt Collector is Calling. The Debt Collector is Calling” after you finish reading this article.)
But you know what the creditor already knows? Not everyone will be able to repay, and they factor that into the interest rate they charge. So they have already made allowances for debtors running into hard times and unable to meet their financial desire to repay their creditors fully.
I am by no means suggesting that you casually walk away from manageable debt. I am saying that in times of unmanageable debt, you’ve already been accounted for if you must walk away.
And let’s not forget, the creditor wanted you to go into debt in the first place. This is not a one-sided transaction. It takes both a lender and a borrower to play. Creditors want you to get into debt so they can make a profit off of you or sell their goods. And it has been this way since borrowing began.
GO INTO DEBT NOW!“Keep out of debt!” How often we have heard this slogan?
I say — Go into debt! And I mean it.DEBT — The right kind of debt is to man what ballast is
to the ship. It helps us keep our balance. It enables us realize
our responsibilities and aids in keeping “our nose to the grind-
stone.” A blessing in disguise.GET INTO DEBT! AND DO IT NOW!
Debt is a tester of character. A prover of merit. Debt is
the kind of ballast which when carried a while, makes others
realize our REAL WORTH. Soon comes a time when we hear
voiced their estimates of us, compelled to acknowledge that;
“She has grit,” or “He has sand.”Former Bank Advertisement,
The Washington Times, August 2, 1919.
So You Feel Like a Total Loser
Collectors are calling and asking you to make promises to repay. But, unfortunately, those calls are stressing you out and making you feel bad. The stress causes you to lose sleep, affecting your life, work, and relationships. Life feels like it is spinning out of control, and it is for you.
Your creditors’ lives are not spinning out of control. They are not stressed about your loan. They don’t feel bad for taking a risk on you to make them a profit. Instead, they feel clever and proud.
The only person judging you is yourself and maybe some other people you may personally know who don’t know about the reality of debt.
You are not a loser. You are a debtor. Those are two very different things. Because you are a debtor, you are not also, by default, a loser. People confuse the two all the time.
Cut yourself some slack. You are probably panicking about debt because there has been some change in your life circumstances. For example, your income has been reduced, your expenses have been increased, or you’ve suffered an injury or medical problem.
In fact you may be clouded by debt induced PTSD. Click here to learn more.
The debt is the byproduct of some underlying issue that has created this unmanageable financial obligation. So if you want to jump on something, start focusing on the issue that caused the imbalance and the debt.
If you can cut expenses, do it. If you can increase income, do it as well. But the last thing you should do is label yourself as a loser. You are not.
You deserve dignity as you dig your way out of debt. Read Debt with Dignity.
The Emotional Stages of Debt
People dealing with debt often go through the same emotional stages as those dealing with death and dying do.
Generally, people move through those stages in that order. But they may slide back and forth along the way. Now that I’ve pointed this out to you, I bet you’ll recognize it in others.
You must be aware this is a normal process, so you understand you are neither broken nor alone. You can read about the Seven Stages of Debt here.
Debt is Dark and Depressing
If you are suffocating under debt right now, you probably feel dark and depressed. It is a natural feeling, but depression is a mask to the life being experienced by others at the same time.
As you read this and maybe feel hopeless. Your creditors are not. Employees at the banks are laughing and having a good time. They have jobs with contests and rewards, and the bank is managed by highly experienced and compensated teams who claim to know what they are doing.
Your hopelessness may even make you feel suicide is a way out. That is just not a rational solution, and the debt leads you down dangerous emotional back alleys. The way you are feeling right now is not you; it’s the debt talking.
Don’t let the debt ruin or even take your life. Just realize “You Ain’t Your F*cking Debt.”
If you are feeling dark and depressed, seek help. But, first, make an appointment to talk to your doctor about how you feel. Many suitable treatments for depression can restore you to a better balance in short order. And once you get treatment for the depression, it will help you see your situation with clarity.
The Ultimate Sin Debt Tempts Us With
If there is any ultimate sin of debt, it is the one root of robbing your future to repay the past. It is cashing out retirement money or borrowing from it to repay debt carried forward from yesterday. And the reason people do this has NOTHING to do with logic and everything to do with hyperbolic discounting.
Hyperbolic discounting is the human tendency to prefer smaller payoffs now over larger payoffs later, which leads one to largely disregard the future when it requires sacrifices in the present. Being mortal creatures with limited lifespans and resources, the human survival instinct has evolved to appreciate that one cannot enjoy a conserved resource tomorrow if one doesn’t survive today. This hard-wired tendency may be the bias behind our temporal short-sightedness, causing many people to make decisions that lead to short-term happiness and long-term disaster. – Source
Under the theory of hyperbolic discounting, a person is more likely to apply an uneven value to something at hand than to something in the future. For example, if you loved chocolate and said, would you rather have a half box of chocolate now or wait a week and get a whole box, most people would want the half box of chocolate now because they want it now. If I said you could have a half box of chocolate in a year or a whole box of chocolate in a year and a week, most would go for the entire box and wait a week more for it.
If you’d like to learn more about hyperbolic discounting, watch my interview with Dan Ariely.
People are more willing to make the irrational decision of cashing out their retirement money and screwing their future, even though the 401(k) is protected from creditors, because they interpret that money to be the way to make their stressful feeling about their debt go away quickly and restore themselves to some balance of moral equilibrium.
But what is happening when they take that cash is they are leaving themselves more exposed in their later years when they will not be earning. They are robbing their future by draining the 401(k) to nullify their feelings of today.
While it is not a rational decision, it is one that people make daily. They assign a more excellent value to end their emotional feelings about the debt they are experiencing today by cashing out the future with no emotional attachment for them.
Saving for Retirement Needs to be Your Top Worry, Not Repaying Your Debt. Don’t believe me? Then retire poor and see what it’s like.Take a look at What Repaying Your Debt Will Cost You in Retirement – Calculator.
The refrain I often hear at this point is, “But Steve, it is the right thing to do, and I want to do the right thing to repay my debt.” Is it the right thing to do? Or is it the right thing to do to protect your retirement money for the future when you need it most and can earn it least? Let’s turn this question around and ask you if your bank was in the same position, would they do the same thing and sacrifice their future to cut you a break now?
This is why big companies and corporations are rewarded on the stock market when they file for protection through the courts when they can’t make ends meet. Wall Street views this legal protection as the responsible action for the business to take to return to profitability.
The Napa Valley Register reports the Napa Valley Symphony Association has recently filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. The quote by the board president certainly sounds similar to that felt by many people facing equally dark times.
“It’s not something we did lightly,” said Michael Enfield, president of the association’s board. “But sometimes, when you’re on a path that doesn’t lead anywhere, it’s time to break a new path, even if it also breaks your heart to do it.”
The story of the journey to bankruptcy for the symphony also reads like a traditional family in which one member is facing challenging times.
The Napa Valley Symphony Endowment is a separate legal entity but has helped the symphony make ends meet.
“In the last three years, we’ve given them $400,000. They would come to us and say, ‘If you could just help us out.’ We’d say ‘OK, but this is the last time,'” Hadleigh said.
“In January, they came to us and said, ‘We haven’t paid the musicians since October.’ We felt that as a community, we’d all enjoyed the music and made sure they were paid. But we also said, ‘This isn’t working.’
But faced with a legal opportunity to reorganize your debt that would protect 100% of your retirement money, people elect not to consider that solution, even when it is the most logical, reasonable, and rational approach. The approach the responsible business takes.
For most consumers in financial trouble, who cannot repay their debt in mutual agreement with their creditors, the most logical approach to debt elimination is to investigate a fresh legal start, otherwise known as bankruptcy. Under this financial second chance program set in law, your creditors must stop collection activity, they can’t sue you, your debts are wiped away, and your retirement money remains yours for when you need it most in your later years.
Some other solutions exist to relieve yourself of problem debt, but those are minor solutions appropriate in very narrow situations. Those solutions include credit counseling, debt consolidation loans, and debt settlement.
And then there is the wide assortment of minor schemes and confabs to eliminate your debt. Those would include the collection of trickery and deception that hucksters play to mostly separate people from their money in their time of trouble by promising consumers magical solutions to make their debt go away.
Debt Relief Mistakes Are As Old and Debt
As a student of debt relief history, I know that since the 1880s, there has been wave after wave of promises by others to eliminate their debt through some intervention, only to leave people without satisfaction and worse off.
Nearly every decade has seen a wave of debt relief approaches saturated with opportunists who appear to only act in their best interest and earn a dollar on the back of the consumer in trouble by making false promises of eliminating their debt.
People falling for magic solutions is not new; it’s not even something from the good old days. It’s a constant that has always happened and will always happen. And it happens because of the emotional misdirection created by the people in troubling debt.
People will always apply their emotional state to the magic promises and conclude that something too good to be true is true.
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No matter how fantastic an offer to relieve you of your debt sounds, the reality, and the unvarnished truth are only two solutions that will relinquish the debt quickly.
The first is to agree with your creditor to allow you to repay a mutually agreed amount. This approach is commonly known today as debt settlement. Used correctly, it can be an appropriate solution, but most consumers are not well suited for this solution.
The second solution, and the only one that gives power to the consumer and forces a creditor to accept the repayment plan or wipe away the debt entirely, under law, is bankruptcy.
Two other solutions will allow you to repay your debt over time if you can afford to. One approach is credit counseling, where your monthly payment will remain about where it is now, but your interest rates may be reduced. But it would be best to consider a credit counseling program’s real cost before enrolling. Read this.
The second is a debt consolidation loan, where your monthly payment and interest may be reduced.
A debt consolidation loan is an approach as old as credit as well.
People have always found themselves in positions of limited means and wanted to borrow their way out. So it is nothing new at all, and for some, it works and works well.
If You Are in Deep Debt and Older Than 40, You Must Act Now
Time is not on your side if you are in deep debt and older than 40. While you may want to do everything you can to work your way out of this hole over the next decade, if you don’t take action to resolve your debt situation within 12-24 months, it may have a very negative impact on your retirement. You will retire broke because you were unable to afford to save.
Every month you don’t save for retirement is a compounded month you’ve lost to avoid a financial catastrophe when you can least afford it.
I think there is a very logical argument to be made that if you are struggling with unmanageable debt today, a consumer bankruptcy now that allows you to get back to saving again makes complete sense in the face of otherwise retiring with little to no income of your own. – Source
Ready to Do Some Research?
Use our guide, 10 Must-Do Steps to Find the Best Credit Counseling or Debt Settlement Company for You to make sure you find the right help for you.
Once you do that, you can move on to the next step.
So Armed With This Knowledge, What Now?
Here is my approach to looking at possible debt solutions.
First, let’s take the retirement account out of the picture. Don’t borrow from it or cash it out. Leave it completely alone and untouched.
Next, if you can afford your regular monthly payment but want to get out of debt, look for a debt consolidation loan or talk to a credit counseling agency. You can click here for credit counseling information.
If your creditors are nipping at your heels and you can’t afford to repay them, you are being sued by them, or collection calls are burying you, then it is time for you to click here to talk to a local bankruptcy attorney.
Every debtor should talk to a bankruptcy attorney to be well informed about the one legal debt solution under the law. All preconceived notions should be taken off the table, and a bankruptcy attorney should be consulted with an open mind. You can reach out and talk to a bankruptcy attorney, not with the intention of filing but to educate yourself about what bankruptcy would mean to you in your situation.
If you are worried about how bankruptcy might impact your credit, then read my free guide on how easy it is actually to rebuild your credit after bankruptcy.
Avoiding bankruptcy has hurt more people than bankruptcy ever could. Read Do Not Avoid Bankruptcy for more information.
Lastly, if you have cash on hand now to repay about 50% of your debt, or you will shortly, then debt settlement may be a solution for you. That is, as long as you leave the retirement funds alone. You can click here for debt settlement information.
Take a look at my free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
And that’s the honest and unvarnished truth about debt. As you can see, it does not have to be a complicated problem once you take the emotions out of the picture.
If you need more structure in your path to getting out of debt, then read A 12-Step Plan to Get Out of Debt Fast!
If you are ready to hunt for a debt relief company to assist you, be sure to read my guide, The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Checking Out a Debt Relief Company Before You Sign On the Line.
Don’t forget, if you need some help figuring things out, seeing them clearly, and getting some direction on your way out of debt, ask. I’m here to help.
DDS…claims that after non-payment of 5-6 months the credit card co. will file an insurance claim on your debt, then sell the debt to collections.. and stating that the collections co. cannot collect on said debt because the card co. received insur. claim. My question is, can’t the insur. co then try to collect the debt?
That’s just wrong. There is no insurance claim to file. Whoever told you that is an idiot.
Sales people will say anything to try and get your money. What a load of crap.
Fantastic information. I filed for bankruptcy several years ago after going through many of the emotional stages you describe here. After reading this and looking back, I can attest to the fact that you are absolutely right. It’s all a game to the creditors and we, as debtors, were almost set up to fail from the start.
As of right now, I only have medical debt to pay off. I hope to pay that off within the next 24 months so that I can start retirement planning. Guilt free.
Hooray and congratulations. It looks like you are headed to a much better life.
I filed for bankruptcy four years ago i paid $524 a week until i lost my job with one year to go.My attorney told me not worry about it cause the mortage company wouldnt come after me for awhile if i couldnt pay. ihad to pay the $524 or nothing.he wanted me to pay 525 amonth to save my cars idecided not to do that and the Bankruptcy was dissmissed.i since got a job and hooked up with The Mortage Lawgroup they wanted monthly payments.after paying four thousand dollars and getting nothing in return i’m thirty one thousand dollars behind. i’ve contacted the mortage for remodfication but thers no gaurnte they will do anything.I dont know what to do.plus my house may go up for sale in january.
I recently changed professions, and it took me about a year to start making a sustainable income, as I am paid on commission. I have about $8,000 in credit card debt. I also have a few mutual funds, the largest totaling about $12,000. I am not sure what the tax penalties etc are for pulling money out of this, but should I, or should I already have pulled money out of this mutual fund to pay off the debt?
Thanks
I’d suggest you first read How to Get Out of Debt. The Honest and Unvarnished Truth and The Truth About The Success Rates, Failure Rates and Completion Rates of Credit Counseling, Debt Settlement, and Bankruptcy. They will give you a great overview of what we need to deal with to get you moving in the right direction.
Then use the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
Once you’ve identified a company you want to work with, then follow my step-by-step guide on what you should look for and expect from a good debt relief company.
Thank you so much for writing this article. I my self got into debt by buying truck I could afford at the time. Impulsive decision I’ve been beating myself up over for a while now. Personal beliefs, after 6 years of seeing whats really going on, I’ve decided to leave the military knowing full well the job sector problems that await me in civilian life. Yet, it did not stop me from buying a new truck during my last six months. I have a wife and a kid, so I’ve spent the last six months stressing about how I am going to make these payments and yet still provide. This article has giving me hope for the future and knowledge that should I fail I can still move on and still provide. Thank you so much
hello..
is freedom debt relief company ok?
In what way?
Just FYI, I fell for one “solution” that just made matters worse for me – I went with World Law Debt (aka Golden Financial Solutions). They practice deceptive advertising. Stay Away from Them! STAY AWAY! Here’s my experience, which I hope you can learn from. First: These people misrepresent what they do. Ultimately, they will take your money! First they have you saving your money in a special account. They tell you nothing will happen till you accumulate enough money. But you begin to worry, because so much times passes before you will actually get any substantial help from them that your creditors will have PLENTY of time to sue you. Also, you cannot get these people (World Law) on the phone. They are VERY hard to reach in person. PLUS, they PAY themselves first, so the first several thousand dollars you are saving up will go directly to World Law to pay them FIRST before they render any substantial services to you. They DO NOT explain this to you at first. You have to find out. Instead, when you first start with them, they constantly tell you like a mantra “You can cancel with us at any time and get your money back.” Repeat this times ten. True, but MINUS their huge fees of thousands of dollars first, for services that haven’t even been rendered yet. Another thing: I was originally thinking I was working with Golden Financial Services. That’s who I signed up with. However, GFS turned me over immediately to World Law Debt. World Law Debt has NO rating on the Better Business Bureau. GFS has an A+ rating. Tricky liars! I chose GFS due to their excellent BBB rating, but was quickly turned over (or basically procured for) World Law Debt. Both companies should be avoided like the plague! Crooks – they will keep your money and let your credit get worse and worse. If you try to cancel they will pay themselves first and give you chump change back from your hard earned, saved up money. They are deceptive and they misrepresent what is going to happen so you get hooked and are thinking you will be helped. They are slick. AVOID AVOID AVOID! They owe me $2400. I am determined to warn others not to do any business with them.
Hey Steve! I’ve never seen anyone use the Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance classifications when it relates to dealing with debt! I have a degree in counseling and remember these stages when it came to people dealing with the loss of a loved one or some kind of trauma, but I think it was completely appropriate to use these classifications when it relates to dealing with debt! Bravo!
Wow Steve. I wish I had found this article before!
Steve, do you believe that debt consolidation could be an option in some cases first before going into bankruptcy?
As there are some advantages for debt consolidation according to article, A Description of Debt Consolidation at http://www.debtinator-gettingoutofdebt.com
The advantages of debt consolidations are :
1. Only have one monthly payment instead of numerous monthly payments (If you have some debts previously).
2. A fixed interest rate instead of a fluctuating interest rate that unstable. This will make you to not worry of the increasing next payment since all is fixed.
3. Debt consolidation impact only a little of your credit rating.
Let’s start with the basics.
You may first want to read The Truth About The Success Rates, Failure Rates and Completion Rates of Credit Counseling, Debt Settlement, and Bankruptcy.
Then read How to Get Out of Debt. The Honest and Unvarnished Truth. It will give you a great overview of what we need to deal with to get you moving in the right direction.
Then use the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
After that, come back here and comment about what seems to make the most sense and let’s discuss that.
Steve
This article didn’t make any sense to me it just seems to say file bankruptcy file bankruptcy until I get to the diagram then it seems to suggest that bankruptcy is not a good option i don’t understand I need to answers like yesterday.
What the diagram tries to say is that you need to identify the appropriate solution based on your situation.
You might want to use the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
Alternatively, you can submit a question here about your specific situation.
I’ve been unemployed since 2007. I have credit card debts and being sued by 4 credit card/collection agencies right now for about 20k. I have a house with my sister. I have no car. I have court next month.
Can I take my name off the house to protect it from being taken away or is that illegal? Would bankruptcy be ideal for me, but can I save my house?
Your Blog is Fabulous. Good article rather. Very interesting.
I admire the valuable information you offered in your article. Excellent submission very good post.
Your site appeared to be pretty beneficial. I have already been looking through your website a lot within the last day or two and it has received an area at my favorites. thanks.
Business Loan
Stick around and comment more. You offer a great amount of insight that would benefit readers.
You are very welcome. Thanks for helping to reinforce the truth of what I said.
steve; i am a credit card bill collector and in my 20 years I have NEVER read anything so refreshing, honest, and true as this. Thank you!
steve; i am a credit card bill collector and in my 20 years I have NEVER read anything so refreshing, honest, and true as this. Thank you!
You are very welcome. Thanks for helping to reinforce the truth of what I said.
Stick around and comment more. You offer a great amount of insight that would benefit readers.
Go back up to the article, I pasted in the typical debt settlement link for you that will take you to the information page.
Steve, you say if you have cash on hand to pay about 50% of your debt now, you should look into debt settlement, but I don’t see a link for more info where it says “click here”. I am interested because I currently owe $35,000 on credit cards. Since the law changed last year upping the minimum payments, I have fallen into the trap of making my payment, and then falling short before the next pay check (and thus I have to use credit again and the cycle repeats each month). Outside my retirement savings, I have about $16,000 in a regular savings account. Though throwing that all at my credit cards makes me nervous, it is true that without the credit card payments I could rebuild that level of savings pretty quickly. I can’t imagine my creditors are jsut going to agree to take that, though, when I have been making my minimums every month. Can you provide more info and/or advice?
Steve, you say if you have cash on hand to pay about 50% of your debt now, you should look into debt settlement, but I don’t see a link for more info where it says “click here”. I am interested because I currently owe $35,000 on credit cards. Since the law changed last year upping the minimum payments, I have fallen into the trap of making my payment, and then falling short before the next pay check (and thus I have to use credit again and the cycle repeats each month). Outside my retirement savings, I have about $16,000 in a regular savings account. Though throwing that all at my credit cards makes me nervous, it is true that without the credit card payments I could rebuild that level of savings pretty quickly. I can’t imagine my creditors are jsut going to agree to take that, though, when I have been making my minimums every month. Can you provide more info and/or advice?
Go back up to the article, I pasted in the typical debt settlement link for you that will take you to the information page.
TC,
Well bless you for leaving this comment and best wishes on your journey. I think this other article will help as well.
Be good.
Steve
I was falling into depression, feeling like a failure and our marriage was suffering over our debt situation, until during one of my sleeplessness nights I found this article. My husband was laidoff from his fulltime teaching job a few years ago and then took any job he could get after unemployment started running low. It was at less than 1/2 his previous salary. There were so many out-of-work teachers on the substitute list he was lucky to work twice a month, so he took the low paying job to have regular income. He broke his ankle and required surgery off the job, and the recovery and therapy will be at least two months, the unemployment is $135 week. Now we have medical bills even with insurance. We exhausted our savings eight months ago and we were considering cashing-out our 401ks – we didn’t want to lose our house or vehicles. Then I read your article Steve and called a bankruptcy attorney. The free consultation provided instant emotional relief and gave me direction. We plan to file bankruptcy next month. Thank you for sharing your story and the reality about debt.
I was falling into depression, feeling like a failure and our marriage was suffering over our debt situation, until during one of my sleeplessness nights I found this article. My husband was laidoff from his fulltime teaching job a few years ago and then took any job he could get after unemployment started running low. It was at less than 1/2 his previous salary. There were so many out-of-work teachers on the substitute list he was lucky to work twice a month, so he took the low paying job to have regular income. He broke his ankle and required surgery off the job, and the recovery and therapy will be at least two months, the unemployment is $135 week. Now we have medical bills even with insurance. We exhausted our savings eight months ago and we were considering cashing-out our 401ks – we didn’t want to lose our house or vehicles. Then I read your article Steve and called a bankruptcy attorney. The free consultation provided instant emotional relief and gave me direction. We plan to file bankruptcy next month. Thank you for sharing your story and the reality about debt.
TC,
Well bless you for leaving this comment and best wishes on your journey. I think this other article will help as well.
Be good.
Steve
Tom,
I would talk with one of the AACC member companies. Just be aware, the debt relief world is full of a lot of regulations and you will need to pay attention to state regulations regarding licensing and/or bonding as you move forward.
Steve
Steve, I am a talented salesman who enjoys earning money by leading people toward good outcomes. I have been looking to get into the debt settlement industry as an independent sales consultant but am, so far, unable to find a legitimate and worthwhile company to associate with. Do you know any that do not victimize people as you outline where a persuasive sales closer can feel good about what he does?
Steve, I am a talented salesman who enjoys earning money by leading people toward good outcomes. I have been looking to get into the debt settlement industry as an independent sales consultant but am, so far, unable to find a legitimate and worthwhile company to associate with. Do you know any that do not victimize people as you outline where a persuasive sales closer can feel good about what he does?
Tom,
I would talk with one of the AACC member companies. Just be aware, the debt relief world is full of a lot of regulations and you will need to pay attention to state regulations regarding licensing and/or bonding as you move forward.
Steve
You are welcome to excerpt it and link back for the rest.
Steve
Wow, great article Steve. I would like to know if I could share this (you get credit of course) with
my readers over at http://www.ibarifinancialgroup… I believe this would be very beneficial to them and give them another source for great information on getting out of debt.
Jay
Wow, great article Steve. I would like to know if I could share this (you get credit of course) with
my readers over at http://www.ibarifinancialgroup.com I believe this would be very beneficial to them and give them another source for great information on getting out of debt.
Jay
You are welcome to excerpt it and link back for the rest.
Steve
Great Article Steve! I could not agree with you more. The creditors and the AD agencies have really worked their magic on consumers for decades, so much so that the consumers have voluntarily become the new modern day slaves.
Today most people worry more about their debt than their health or even their families. The emotions tied to debt cannot be discounted for a second, although most people should look at debt as an outside influence the truth is that most people are very much emotionally tied t the guilt.
The banks have succeeded in making it more difficult for people to file for a bankruptcy when things go array but it certainly is not impossible. Consumers should definitely speak with a caring professional to identify the best course of action, but let’s not forget that the creditors are still extremely influential in consumer’s minds therefore many will not make decisions based on logic but rather emotions.
Alex Viecco
Great Article Steve! I could not agree with you more. The creditors and the AD agencies have really worked their magic on consumers for decades, so much so that the consumers have voluntarily become the new modern day slaves.
Today most people worry more about their debt than their health or even their families. The emotions tied to debt cannot be discounted for a second, although most people should look at debt as an outside influence the truth is that most people are very much emotionally tied t the guilt.
The banks have succeeded in making it more difficult for people to file for a bankruptcy when things go array but it certainly is not impossible. Consumers should definitely speak with a caring professional to identify the best course of action, but let’s not forget that the creditors are still extremely influential in consumer’s minds therefore many will not make decisions based on logic but rather emotions.
Alex Viecco
This is an excellent article. So true that debt is just that, debt. I think we all at one time or another enlist in the debt corps. It was so amazing to me how it just seemed to sneak up on me. I hated being in debt.
This is an excellent article. So true that debt is just that, debt. I think we all at one time or another enlist in the debt corps. It was so amazing to me how it just seemed to sneak up on me. I hated being in debt.