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Debt – a four lettered word that not only takes its toll on your financial life but also has the capacity to hamper your emotional and physical well being. Researchers at Ohio State University found that people who were carrying massive debts showed higher levels of physical problems than those with lower levels of debt. Given below are some of the negative Read the rest of this entry »

• Putting Day to Day Expenses on Credit

If you are borrowing money for your everyday expenses like paying for groceries or utility bills then you need to take a stock of your money situation. If you can’t afford basic necessities like food, gasoline, electricity and rent, you are probably over your head. You must address the problem as soon as possible or else you will have a harder and harder time digging out of debt.

• You can only afford to make the minimum payments on your card

You are in serious trouble if you are only paying off the minimum amounts due on your accounts, or maybe even less than the minimums. Making the minimum on cards will undoubtedly keep the collectors from calling but will take a really long time to wipe off the debt. When you are paying the minimum to cards, you are actually paying off the interest rate, but no actual principal. Read the rest of this entry »

Just after marriage as we first set out for our struggle I found myself in a soup. My husband was buried in deep debt. His debts comprised of unpaid student loan, credit card debts, car loan and what not. Yet he kept borrowing money to maintain his luxurious life. Being frugal by nature, I wondered “How could he be so indifferent to such a situation?” Probably it was the hip hop city culture that influenced his extravagant life style. He maintained such a laborious life style that in a way he seemed to be Mr. Spendthrift.

Thereby we started looking out for different ways to get out of these debts. Mrs. Davis my next door neighbor, now came as a guardian angel for us. Analyzing our condition she suggested “Why don’t you go for Credit Counseling?”. The very next morning we went to a credit counselor as suggested by her. There we came to know that to reduce our debt burden we would first require to determine our current finances. That was only possible he said by calculating our “DEBT TO INCOME RATIO”.

Immediately we calculated our Debt to Income Ratio by dividing our “Total Monthly Debt Payment” by “Gross Monthly Income.” Practically my total monthly debt payment comprised of house rent, credit card bills, other revolving credit balances, car payments, etc. However we did not include grocery, telephone, and utility bills or any debt that will be paid off in the next few months .Our gross monthly income included our total salary before any deductions made or tax imposed on it.

Soon, both I and Mr. Spendthrift came to an understanding. He promised to lessen his expenses and I assured to make savings out of it. We believed, this way we could reduce our debt burden. Somehow our plan did not work. Despite consistent effort he was not able to cut down on his expenses. So to come out of the situation he now assured to increase his income. Then on, though he did not lessen his expense, he did not increase it either. On my part I kept fighting to recover the crisis situation. I took up a job and started to earn so that I could save more.

Finally, by adding my savings and his excess income we managed to clear up all our debts. Today, at the end of five years of our marriage we are enjoying a healthy debt free life. Careful and regular monitoring of our debt to income ratio helped us to a great extent in every turn.

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Hi!!!!!! I’m planet FDCPA, better known as The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I’m like a magic bullet that saves you from the annoying debt collectors. If you are one of those people who are behind on their bills and are trying hard to clear the mess ….but are intimidated by the bill collectors, then I’m your friend.

Debt collection industry has been historically obnoxious. They use ways of intimidation and harassment to coerce people into paying debts which they either don’t owe or can’t afford to pay. Amidst such circumstances, I the planet FDCPA, protect your rights. So, if you don’t want to get bullied by the debt collectors then you have to know me. Are you ready??? Settle in and sneak a peep!!

One of the common practices of debt collectors is to call you at all times of the day. But do you know, a collector can only contact you between 8 A.M. and 9 P.M., and not during the time that they know is inconvenient to you. If you do not want any kind of communication with them, then you can send them a cease and desist letter asking them to “stop contacting me”. After receiving the letter the collector can only contact you once to let you know about their future actions.

The collectors can call your friends, family, relatives and even employers for your contact information. But the condition is they can not indicate to anyone that you owe money to them. The collection agency cannot send you collection notices by postcard or letters with the word COLLECTION on the envelope.

A collector has to act in accordance to these guidelines to collect money. If he does, then it will be called sheer violation and I’m not at all OKAY with it. Do not forget my friends FTC and BBB!!! They will catch you….that’s my promise.