5 Ways To Get A Grip On Lowering Your Debt

The story of how you got into debt is complicated. I know, from dealing with my clients at the Law Firms I've worked at. It's very rare that a person gets max out in debt easily. Dealing with your can seem too complex to deal with. That was until today!

The following 5 things will help you get a grip on lowering your debt.

If you're a parent you can relate to a child that is scared. Sometimes fear is real and sometimes it isn't. For example when I was about five years old we had a Hoover Vacuum with an fearsome cyclops eye. That thing looked like it would eat me alive..lol... I just believed that it would:) Fear complicates our thought processes. That leads us to our first way to get a grip on your debt.

1. Be honest with yourself. I understand that human nature is to have pride about where you are in life. But what is kept in the dark will usually find it's way to the the court system. If you have debt, be honest with yourself about it.

2. Get a sense of your debt. What are your Interest Rates for your accounts? What credit is secured and what is unsecured? What is your credit score? These are all questions that will help you get a sense of how good or bad your debt situation is.

3. "Worry it to death". Find out the worst that can happen and then work to avoid it. Don't let your imagination run wild and give you stress and sleepless nights? Learn your rights with regards to your debt. I have helped our clients out of debt by holding their hand down the road of worry. By the time we get to the end of the road, they are more at ease.

4. Sort out your debt. After you get a sense of how much debt you have, what kind of debt it is and the Interest Rate, sort out them out into categories. For example, separate high interest accounts from low interest accounts.

5. Respond. After you've been honest with yourself, got a sense of your debt, worried it to death, and sorted it all out, you'll need to respond asap.

How are you going to deal with your debt. Do you need help? Do you need to let your spouse know? Do you need to fight back because you've been over-charged or taken advantage of?

Following these steps will instantly help you to get a grip on lowering your debt. Try it.

Spread the word? Send us your comments, or questions below. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

Debt Settlement Disasters

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm J. Carlton Ford. I'm a former Legal Assistant in a Bankruptcy Prevention Law Firm. While there, I was exceptional at two things:

1. stopping Collection Agencies from harassing my clients and.

2. Eliminating clients Unsecured Debt for a fraction of what they owed.

If this sounds like hype that's because I haven't told you the downside. The Law Firms fees were way too expensive for clients. The law firm charged clients 15% of their total Debt - plus monthly attorneys fees of hundreds of dollars.

Do you think it makes sense to go into debt - to get out of debt? I don't.

So as an experiment, I started teaching my clients at Law Firm, the Debt Settlement "Industry Jargon", the process of Debt Elimination and I gave my clients copies of the forms to eliminate their debt for themselves.

This experiment had disastrous results. FOR THE LAW FIRM :)! My clients started settling their debt for themselves, because I educated them on the steps to do it.

The partners at the Law Firm where not-pleased that I was educating my clients about debt settlement and elimination. In fact, a senior partner told me to stop educating clients. He said, "your job is to keep the collection agencies in check, and settle clients debt for them. Your job is NOT teaching clients to do it for themselves!"

I disagreed! So I set out on a mission to teach people debt elimination. I built a team of superior consumer advocates, excellent Credit Card Negotiators, and even a couple of honest collection agents.

We are Debt Warriors! Our mission: is to train you how to become superior debt negotiator to resolve your debt for yourself. If this sounds like hype learn the truth by clicking around this blog. I'm sure you find it useful to you.

In the meantime thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to bookmark this blog?


Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

5 Ways To Out-Smart Unsecured Debt

In my experience eliminating debt for clients, I've come across five major things explode debt like a grenade going off.

The tragedy is that people could easily avoid making these five mistakes that explode into debt. Today, we'll share the five ways to out-smart your "Unsecured Debt".

Unsecured Debt is any debt that is not connected to personal property.
Unsecured Debt is mostly credit card debt.

Secured Debt has physical property that guarantees the debt. This property is known as "collateral".

Unsecured debt usually has higher fees than secured debt. In addition, with unsecured debt, there are debt triggers hidden in the contracts. These triggers are:

1. Annual Percentage Rates: Annual Percentage Rates are the amount of interest that a consumer has to pay back for a loan. There are "fixed rates" and "variable rates".

To keep your rates low, your first step should be to know what your interest rate are. More importantly, you should know how much above the "base rate" you are paying in interest.

Most people know their interest rates. But most people don't know how much above the base rate they are paying in interest. Find out how much above the base rate you are paying in interest payments.

2. Is Your Interest Rate Prime or Libor? The Prime Interest Rate is the rate set by Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Most people consider the prime rate to be the Standard Interest Rate. But there's also an Interest Rate known as the Libor Rate. LIBOR stands for "London Interbank Offered Rate". The Libor Rate is used to determine interest for card like Capital One Bank and others. Find out if your rate is Prime or Libor?

3. Keep A Careful Eye On Your Payment Due Date. Most of my clients are exceptional at paying their credit cards on time. The problem is that many unsecured loans have moving payment dates. In fact, some credit card companies are notorious for shortening the payment days in the grace period.

Some credit card companies will schedule your payment to be due during a long holiday weekend or sometimes just on the weekend. Payment due dates are often changed by the lender to force the client to pay late fees.

Creditors Want You To Become "Revolver". A Revolver is a person who fails to pay their bills on time. Being a Revolver is like holding a gun to your financial security. For this reason it's best to get a fixed payment date secured immediately.

4. Promotions Can Cause Default. Honestly there are a lot of companies that offer some great promotional A.P.R.s for enrollment into new "Loan Programs". But remember that these are Loan Programs and they are meant to be paid back - big time.

They call Loan Programs "Promotions" to make them sound sexier to you. Watch out because default could be looking sexy all dressed-up in red.

This tip goes back to the Fixed vs. Variable Rates on unsecured debt. Try to get into a low fixed rate of you're not already in one.

5. Be Better Than The Minimum Payment. Most people pay the minimum payment of 2% of their loan payment every month. But if you make an additional, regular payment of $5, you'll get out of debt a minimum of 3 times faster.


What do you think? Speak out! Drop your comments below. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

Debt Warriors Deploy Squidoo Lens|2007 Poll: Results

Squidoo is a great place to find a wealth of information on virtually any subject.

Squidoo hosts user profiles and other really cool stuff (it's like the myspace of blogs). We've moved some of our cool stuff to Squidoo.com. Check our last 25 Blog Postings, take part in our poll and much more. If you have a Squidoo Page, send us a friend request.

2007 Debt Warrior Poll Results:

We asked how many times you've received a call from a Debt Collector;
1x per wk?
2x or more per wk?
or never?

The results were nearly tied between 2 or more times per week (49%) and never (51%). Thanks to all who participated in this fun, but "non-scientific poll".


What do you think? Speak out! Send us your comments, or questions. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

Operation Blast Bogus Info

This is Operation Blast Bogus Info.

Our MISSION: filter out the harmful impurities of the Debt Settlement and Debt Negotiation Industries.

Our OBJECTIVES: Save visitors time, stress and thousands of dollars by blasting away bogus debt claims.

Let's be real. If you have debt then you are in a war for your money. You are in a War On Debt.

A reality of any war is propaganda. If you're in debt, you don't have time to filter through what is true and what isn't true. You really don't have time to battle fear. You don't have time to be be scared out of your hard earned dollars either. Especially not by bogus debt settlement claims from people pretending to be on your side.

So, as we find bogus claims, having anything to do with debt, we are going to do our best to blast them out of realm of plausibility.

Case in point, Precept Financial put out a press release with the clear intent of scaring people into using their Precepts' Debt Settlement services. The headline read,

"The Pitfalls of Negotiating One's Own Debt Settlement". Sounds soooo scary...

So let's tear up this propaganda - oops, I mean this press release, point by point (no-worries, there are only 3 points to refute :).

1) Precect Financial Claims, that, Lack of Leverage of an Individual Against a Barrage of Creditor Companies: This press release goes on to state, "A debt settlement company’s status as a company and its relationships with creditors add strength to the company’s position in negotiating settlements on behalf of their clients."

1a) Debt Warriors Rebuttal: They sure did make the act of creditors ganging up on you sound fancy didn't they? Creditors and collection agencies want their money. They will hound you for payment. But you can force them to Cease all communication with you as well.

When you sign a contract with a Debt Settlement Company you give them Power of Attorney. This means that the Debt Settlement Company can send a written demand to the creditor (more often the collection agent) to speak and act on your behalf.

The Debt Settlement company will then have the right to demand that collection agency or creditor, halt - or "cease," all communication with you immediately. But the truth is, you can send a Cease Communication Letter for yourself, and stop all Debt Collector harassment immediately. So that point is smoked! But wait here's more...

Creditors only care about one thing - getting paid. I built relationships with Creditors and Debt Collection Agencies. In my professional experience dealing with Original Creditors as well as Debt Collectors taught me that they only care about receiving payment. Period.

In fact, you could call your Creditor, or Debt Collector and curse them out in 3 different languages, and they still would accept a reasonable settlement offer from you. The relationship has no bearing on your settlement what so ever. No WARM FUZZIES needed. There are other factors, but those factors help you get an even LOWER settlement and improve your credit score.

2) Needing to Get to the Right People: Precept Financial claims, "The chances of being transferred to the appropriate persons inside the creditor organization in a smooth and timely manner are low for the individual, and extremely frustrating. A debt settlement company already has the contacts and goes straight through."

2a) Our Response: That statement is completely misleading. Getting through to the right person can always be a challenge whenever you're trying to get something done. Heck, even ordering pizza can be 'extremely frustrating'.

The verbal claims and shenanigans really kick into high gear when Precept Financial says, "The debt settlement company already has the contacts and goes straight through". That statement is worse than molded baloney! You can get through immediately...trust me on this one :)

3) Industry Jargon: Precept Financial stated...lol, "Yesteryear, the use of terminology was not an issue. Today, a debt settlement company has the advantage of being able to expedite the process by effectively using industry jargon, which comes only through experience".

3a) Debt Warriors Rebuttal: Who uses the word "Yesteryear" in a sentence anymore...?

"Industry Jargon" is something that you'll need to know. But only if you don't want to get screwed in the long run. You can 'expedite' or rush the process with a Debt Settlement Company yourself.

But the real pitfall is that to get screwed in the long term if you rush in and don't do the due diligence and research about your accounts.

Lack of Industry jargon is not a pitfall. It's an opportunity to grow your financial knowledge base.

Three Quick Questions?

1. Why would any Debt Help Business NOT want to educate their clients on Debt Settlement "Industry Jargon"?
   
2. Wouldn't knowing this "Industry Jargon" satisfy clients and add value to the product or service offered?
   
3. Wouldn't educated clients make better financial decisions when settling debt, making it a win-win for all parties involved ?

99% of all Debt Help businesses want to keep you in debt longer so that they can get you to pay them guaranteed payments for many years. For this reason they have to keep you uninformed and undereducated about Debt Settlement.

Debt Warriors we promise to teach you the "industry jargon" to negotiate and eliminate your debt 3 to 5 five times faster than any other debt elimination product anywhere.

The only pitfall you should be concerned about is going into debt to get out of debt.

What do you think? Speak out! Send us your comments, or questions. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

3 Questions From Dr. Martin Luther King

All this week, The Debt Warriors take a look at the economic vision of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I was listening to Dr. Kings Tapes from his early days as a co-pastor the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. I remember hearing 3 questions that changed my life forever. These 3 questions will help you guide out of debt.

1. Is It True?
2. Is It Fair?
3. Is it Necessary?

I'm sure you can find many situations where these 3 questions will be helpful - especially dealing with debt.

For example, if a debt collection terrorist is making claims about an account, or if you are being abused by your credit card interest rates. Ask these 3 questions and you'll find yourself much better off in life.

What do you think? Speak out! Send us your comments, or questions. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

What Would MLK Say About Predatory Lending

I have a friend named Gil. Gil is a Consumer Attorney and advocate for civil rights. One day back in 1995, Gill and I were transferring some old MLK tapes from a reel-to-reel recorder to compact disc. Listening to those tapes of Dr. Kings Speeches, I learned some moral values that have stuck with me to this day.

Today, I'll share some of those thoughts as the pertain Predatory Lending Practices.

MLK said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Most people who are in debt sit in silent shame about it. As a country, we've taken on the notion that being tricked by a lender makes us appear stupid. Many of us think that we have to just deal with the consequences of a shady deal or the abuse of a creditor. The truth is that we don't have to sit in silence.

What To Do? Contact a Consumer Rights Attorney in your State and explain your side of the story.

Your creditor may be in violation of your rights. You have the right to non-violent protest through the court system. Many Federal Laws provide actions that you can take to fight back and stop creditor abuse. For a list of Consumer Attorneys in your state log onto NACA.net.

Dr. King had a lot to say about fair lending and treatment of customers. I've dedicated this entire week to the teachings of Dr. King as it relates to economic issues.

Tomorrow's Topic: "Is it True? Is it fair? Is it necessary?"

What do you think? Speak out! Send us your comments, or questions. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

Link Like: Credit Repair 4U

Kim, is the publisher of a great finance blog called Credit Repair 4U. Lately shes been doing some great posts on Foreclosures. Thanks Kim!
http://creditrepair4u.wordpress.com/.

What do you think? Speak out! Send us your comments, or questions. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

Hillary Clinton Trying To Catch Predatory Lenders?

Predatory Lenders have been around since the early days of trade. The saying; “you sure drive a hard bargain” is television speak for “you’re a loan shark”.

Over Millennium, the Predatory Lender has evolved to a leaner, meaner and more elusive species.

Today Predatory Lenders call themselves Auto Dealers, Bankers, Capital Managers, Refinance Companies Wealth Planners, Investment Portfolio Managers and any other flavor of the minute name. But they are Predatory Lenders.

Predatory Lenders Get You Coming and Going.

Before I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, I held a checking and savings account with Washington Mutual ("WaMu") I would not recommend doing business with WaMu.
See “Did WaMu Screw You Too?” to catch up on the Predatory Lending Practices of WaMU and "eAppraise It!" In New York in 2007.

Does Mortgage Debt Make You Dizzy Too?

The term Mortgage literally means “Dead Pledge”. Robert Kiyosaki broke it down for me in The “Cash Flow Quadrant”- brilliant book by the way. Anyway...

I went to WaMu’s website to look at their Home Equity Line of Credit Loan Options and got dizzy trying to do the math in my head…OMGoodness! In Florida, WaMu can charge a maximum of 18% interest for Mortgage Loans!

According to CNN.com, Median Home Prices in Orlando, FL are $312,000. So much for the myth that “land is cheaper in Florida”, that saying is now a full blown lie.

For a Mortgage Loan in Florida at 18% Interest, a consumer will likely have to pay $7,000 per month just to meet the minimum monthly payments.

The total payout for a median priced home in Orlando, would be 940,000!

WaMus’ Web Site offers a bunch of confusingly slippery loan options. The WaMu disclosure statement speaks like someone in a mental ward. It’s – brilliant! To me, WaMus’ disclosure makes perfect sense looking at it from WaMu's perspective.

I’m not a mortgage expert. But I know mortgage debt land mines when I see them.

Terms And Conditions Cause Debt Land Mines to Explode.

WaMu has terms and conditions disclosures listed in no logical order. Connecting the dots was a battle for us. But since We Are Debt Warriors, we don’t give up - we follow-up. So here’s what I found.

1. Fees, fees, fees: You'll need to bank with WaMu to qualify. This means you'll need some kind of account with WaMu before they will even consider giving you a Home Equity line of credit. As you know, with Bank Accounts come fees.

There are also 2 to 4 percent transaction fees hidden throughout WaMu's Disclosure Statement. A 2 percent transaction fee can cost $25,000 depending on what the fee is apllied to.

2. WamU reserves the right to raise your rate at will: MaMu has the right to raise your Loan Rate from 2 to 5 percent every year. WaMu listed no specific reasons why your rate may be raised. They just state they have the right to raise your rate.

3. You have to pay to change your rate: With WaMu, if you want to change from an Adjustable Rate Mortgage to a Fixed Rate Mortgage you’ll be charged fees ranging from $50 - $250 dollars.

4. The Big Balloon Payment: At the end of your loan WaMu states that if you make interest only payments you will have a Balloon Payment due before the end of the loan term.

This means paying the minimum monthly mortgage payment on your loan will give you a nice going away party complete with stress, thousands of dollars of debt, and a big balloon payment due.

WaMu deceives people in their commercials. I’ve been watching the guy in the WaMu shirt on television positioning WaMu as a no fee bank. But WaMu only has no “Checking Account Fees”. But you are still charged Interest. Flame me if I’m wrong.

Add all these with Predatory Lending and fraudulent appraisal schemes and the result will be the Dead Pledge of your finances.

Hillary Clinton is the only candidate so far whom has offered sound Mortgage Reform Steps. The most important is her proposed Moratorium on Foreclosures. This step will help Americans until we can get our minds around solving the Credit Crunch Crisis.

I'm an Independent Voter. This post is not endorsing Hillary Clinton, but I applaud her leadership on this issue!

What do you think? Speak out! Send us your comments, or questions. Send Link Trade and Media inquires to: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

Wishing you Financial Security!
We are Debt Warriors!

The Great Credit Card Mark-Up

If you don't know what your interest rates are, you are likely to be bleeding high interest payments every month.

This means that you are loosing your retirement savings by thousands every year. I know, because I used to do it as well.

In my professional experience dealing with clients, the ones who had no clue about interest rates were the ones who were shocked into temporary shame.

Roger, a client of mine was a good guy, he paid his bills on time. But he didn't have the financial education that he needed, and he paid too much for his lack of financial education.

Rogers' lack of knowlege was costing him $220 a month in minimum payments.

I told Roger that he was only paying 2.11% of his $10,300 of debt. Roger asked me "why would they [the credit card company] do that to me? I've paid them on-time, every month, for over 13 years!" I replied, "it's not personal Roger, it's business."

The Mark-up

You know the way that stores buy products from Wholesalers and then "tack on" their cost before they sell it to you? It's the same way with Interest Rates. Just like in a store. Some prices on products are better than others.

Credit Cards offer products that they later tack extra interest on. Sometimes these fees are excessive and other times down right abusive.

But the end is comming. The "Anti-Debt Revolution" as begun. Bookmark us for updates.

Support the War On Debt. Send us your comments and or questions.
Media inquires? email: Jford@debtwarriors.com.
Wishing you financial security. We are Debt Warriors!

Three Top Debt Collection Myths

Did you know that the Statue of Limitations (S.O.L) limits the amount of time that the Original Creditor or Debt Collector can legally get a Judgment against a Debtor in Court?


After the Debt has passed the S.O.L. for collection, it is known as a "Time-Barred Debt".

But there are three myths that need to be destroyed.

Myth #1: True or False? Once the SOL has passed, the Debt Collector cannot pursue you.

Answer: False. They can and sometimes do collect. It depends on how weak they think you are.

Melinda and I were discussing a collection notice for defaulted home security contract that she had co-signed for her adult daughters security. The daughter was laid-off and couldn't make the Mortgage let alone pay the security contract. But the debt was years old and has passed the SOL for Judgment.

Melinda was not a weak woman. She handed me the collection notice and asked me, "so why do they keep calling me?

I inspected the collection notice and pointed out to her that it wasn't the "Original Creditor" (the Security Company). A 3rd Party Debt Collector had the account. Not good news.

Melinda, said "hold on, that account is too old to be collected on. I responded "you're almost right". The debt collector can not demand that the Court order a Judgment in their favor. But they can still attempt to collect the debt".

Myth #2: True or False?: The SOL Clock Starts Ticking on your day of last payment.

Answer: False. There are two types of of "Actions" that start the SOL Clock for legal action.

1. "[First] Cause of Action States": Are U.S. States where your "First Delinquency" will start the SOL Clock. This means the SOL Clock starts ticking after you miss a payment.

2. "[Last] Breach of Action States": Are U.S. States where the Last Breach of Action will start the the SOL Clock. A Last Breach of Action is based on when the account was open and in good standing or the date of last payment before the finances hit the fan.

Myth #3: True or False? If a Debt is not time-barred there is no defense against a Summons to Court.

Answer: False: There are many rights and resources that the Federal Government provides to help you win your war on debt. The one this post is based on is:
http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/5000-1000.html



Support the War On Debt. Speak out! Send us your comments and or questions.
Media inquires? email: Jford@debtwarriors.com.

We are Debt Warriors! Wishing you financial security.