There are certain guidelines that collection agencies must follow when attempting to get payments. The FDCPA applies to a wide variety of debts, including medical bills, car loans, and credit cards. Many states have additional laws that serve to protect consumers, and their laws may cover debts that aren’t covered by the FDCPA. It is important to have a basic understanding of this law. It will keep you from being the victim of collection agencies that use illegal methods of extracting payment from you.


Under this law, collection agencies are not allowed to contact the relatives or employers of a debtor. The only person who may be contacted other than yourself is someone who has co-signed the loan with you. They are also not allowed to threaten to ruin your credit or report you to an attorney in order to intimidate you into making payments. They may only warn of you these actions when they are in the process of getting ready to do it. Making false warnings to scare you into making payments is not allowed.

Collection agencies are not allowed to make phone calls at times that are deemed unreasonable. Any phone calls made before 8 AM or after 9 PM are not allowed. You must approve any calls that are made outside this time span first. Debt collectors are also not allowed to call you while you’re at your place of employment. The use of profanity or racist terms is also not allowed. Letters cannot be sent to you that resemble those sent by courts, and if they decide to sue you they are not allowed to take you to a court that is far from your home.

It is important to understand this law if you find yourself in a situation where you have a large amount of debt and are having trouble making payments. While you should always try to repay back what you owe, collection agencies are limited in how they are able to contact you about those payments. Many agencies may violate this law, and if you are not familiar with it you will not be able to take any actions to defend yourself. If a collection agency violates the FDCPA, it may be possible for you to take them to court. If it is found that they have made numerous violations against debtors, a class action lawsuit may be filed.

If a collection agency violates this law when contacting you, you can report the incident to the state Attorney General’s office. If the agency is in a different state, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission for assistance. You can also dispute the debt you owe by sending a letter to the agency within 30 days of the first notice informing them that you do not owe them anything. The agency will be forced to stop contacting you, but may decide to take further action that may require you to go to court.

The FDCPA is an important law that can protect in the event you are being contacted by collection agencies. While it is important for you to pay off any debts you have, agencies should not use unethical methods for getting you to make payments. This is a violation of the FDCPA, and they could be held liable.

Those of you not familiar with the latest on avoid bankruptcy now have at least a basic understanding. But there’s more to come.


If you have bad credit and a lot of debt like most of the people in the country, it may seem that there is no hope for you. Don’t worry because there may be a light at the end of your tunnel. You might want to consider debt consolidation services to help you with your credit repair efforts. Many times this process eliminates stressful payments and helps get consumers out of debt at the same time.

Credit Repair can be an answer to a prayer for many people; particularly those who are hoping to buy their first home or a new car. Finding the right company to trust with this process may be a difficult challenge, but with the help of a professional debt counselor and a little bit of research, you should be able to find a company to represent you well. You can do this by going online and researching as many companies as you can. Get reviews and rate quotes if you can.

The next step that you have to take is to gather up all of your debt information. You can start by asking yourself some of these questions: How many credit cards do you have? How much are your minimum payments each month? Questions like these will be important information for you to share with the representative who will handle your transactions. After you find a trustworthy company and begin sharing your information, you will be quoted a monthly fee. The rest is up to the consolidation company.

You will be able to enjoy lower payments however, (you will no longer make the payments to your creditors, but to the consolidation company) and less time in debt. Debt repair could be your answer to get out of debt without resorting to bankruptcy, which is just as beneficial. There are many debt consolidation companies in the world these days. This is mostly because so many people need to be out of debt. Most credit repair companies see this trend as an opportunity to conduct business in a thriving market. It is your responsibility as a consumer to find a company that will best represent you and your needs. Sometimes, with so many choices, this can be nearly impossible.

When choosing a company to help you repair your debt, you have to begin with research. Ask about the company history and reviews. You can find these online very easily. You should also check the company’s status with the Better Business Bureau. Also, ask friends or relatives who have consolidated debt which companies they chose and why. Make sure you also ask them about the company’s policies.

Make sure you ask questions before signing on the dotted line. Getting out of debt will not be easy, but it shouldn’t ruin your credit or cost you a fortune, either. Basically, you can begin getting out of debt by being wise with your money, getting a copy of your credit report, and finding a credit repair company.

I hope that reading the above information was both enjoyable and educational for you. Your learning process should be ongoing–the more you understand about any subject, the more you will be able to share with others.

This article will highlight three simple but effective strategies to help you reduce your household debt and hopefully put you in better shape to start using the extra money saved from interest payments to make more money for your household via investment.


Firstly, you can consider using a debit card and stop using your credit card. What is the difference you may ask? A debit card is good only for the amount of money that you have in your bank account and will prevent you from splurging on the big ticket item that you saw in the shop front the other day. It also will help you cultivate the habit of spending the money that you currently have and not exceed your means.

Another variation on this idea is to pay for purchases with cash as this will mentally prevent you from spending on credit and losing your rational ability to manage your finances. We all know that sometimes a credit card generates in us this urge to spend and especially when we are under stress, we end up spending more than we should. Using cash or a debit card would help to counter such influences.

Secondly, make it a habit to pay all your credit card bills on time at the end of the month. We all have the habit of procrastination and so the best policy is to pay all your credit card and other bills in full at the end of the month. Did you know that the credit card companies and the banks make lots of money from consumers who do not pay their credit card bills on time based from the interest payable?

Thirdly, we should take some time monthly to examine our credit card bills and then take a highlighter to consider wasteful expenditure and then take efforts to cut down such expenditure. Some usually suspects include a cell phone plan that could be renegotiated so as to save money monthly. Some membership fees can also be canceled if you are not going to your gym or country club as frequently as you wanted to.

In conclusion, we all love to make more money, but if your monthly credit card bills and interest payments start eating into the amount of money that you make, you will not be able to enjoy the increased income that you are earning. Spend some time considering the above mentioned three simple things that you can do each month and you might start seeing more cash in your bank account that you can use for other things.

There are loans, which are also available against your paycheck, and these are called payday loans. However payday loans can carry an interest charge, which is as high as 25%. On a compounding basis it’s essential that they be repaid back in time. Otherwise you may have to back more than the loan amount.


There are many non – profit organizations that provide loans for those in need at lower interest rates. You can structure a loan repayment structure whereby the debt can be easily paid of. Therefore they will find out how much debt you have at the moment. What are your streams of revenues and the monthly living expenses that you may have. After this they will structure a plan where you can pay the monthly interest payments easily. Thus it makes sense to make use of these non-profit organizations in times of need.

These organizations are present in all counties. One can easily approach them through the Internet, phones and fax. You can also get information about them at your local city or county council. In many cases banks themselves will tell you to approach them, when they think that they can’t help you to get out of debt. It’s important that you check out the credentials of the company before you approach them for debt help. In fact there are companies, which may steal your identity (this is called identity theft) and can land you in further debt trap. So steer clear of these fly by night companies.

Hence ask around for references and only after you have made a thorough check, approach them for debt help.

The main aim of debt consolidation is to basically reduce the total amount of loan repayment through interest rate reduction.


Many debt consolidation companies, programs and services have argued the benefits and advantages of debt consolidation when one is in cycle of debts. But the question is:

Is debt consolidation really useful in helping people get out of their debt problems?
While I agree that debt consolidation can help debtors solve their debt problems, many debtors really have much difficulty to get out of their debt problems even after they consolidate their debts.

Why is that so??
Think about it – Most of these debt consolidators are in debt problems because they spend on credit and are used to spending more than they can afford to. As such, they eventually run into debts in the long run since they are always spending more than they earn every month.

After debt consolidation – these debt consolidators will have their credit card balance clear and a single monthly loan payment (with extended repayment period).

With a lighter loan repayment amount, most of these people will begin to relax and usually over spend on their monthly budget again in the near future.

By doing so, they will eventually run into debts again. Thus, it is not surprising to see many people who have had consolidate their debts before to run into debt problems again.

How does one get out of debts?
Debt consolidation is a tool to help debtors get out of debt problems. Unfortunately, many have used it to increase their debt problems as mention above.

The only surefire way to get out of debts is really to adjust your spending habit and commit to a discipline lifestyle. If you ask me, the get out of debt formula is really simple:

It’s either to earn more money or spent less money.

Debt consolidation services are designed to help get you back on your feet quickly. Although the specifics vary depending on the nature and extent of your financial troubles as well as the debt settlement or credit counseling company you sign up with, most debt consolidation services operate to get you out of debt fast.


The debt relief provider will review the details of your financial picture and explain if, how, and where they can save you money. If you like what you hear and if you agree to pay the fees they charge for their debt consolidation services, the company will go to work on your case.

If you choose a debt settlement company, you may get negotiated settlements on your credit card debts at significant savings to your current balances. Debt settlement lets you lower your monthly payment (sometimes cutting payments in half), get debt free fast, save up to half of what you owe, and avoid bankruptcy. Sound too good to be true? Well, there is a trade-off in a debt settlement program: your credit rating will take a hit, since you will be reported as delinquent during the life of the program (average time is three years).

On the other hand, credit counseling doesn’t impact your credit score. But beware, credit counseling will be listed on your credit report, and many lenders do not like to see that you had to seek third party help for your debts. The big benefit of credit counseling is reduced interest rates on your debts… which lowers your monthly payments.

Another benefit you’ll get from any debt consolidation service is the ability to make a single payment each month to pay down all your bills, rather than having to juggle ten or more payments on your own. This will be much more convenient for you, and you’ll always be right on top of your payment, rather than worrying about whether you sent out all the bills on time.

Many companies that offer debt consolidation services can also help you get a loan to pay off your balances. The loans can either be secured or unsecured. A secured loan typically uses real estate as collateral, so you can only get this kind if you own a home or other property. If you’re a renter, you would have to get an unsecured, or personal, loan. Since you wouldn’t be putting up any collateral for this loan, however, you can expect to pay higher interest rates than on a secured loan.

As you can see, debt consolidation services provide you with a lot of options to choose from. A good debt consultant can walk through all of your alternatives, and help you select the solution that meets your financial goals. By taking advantage of professional debt consolidation services, you’ll be able to regain control of your personal finances and end your money troubles for good.

There is a thriving industry full of companies that do nothing but help consumers get a handle on their debt problems.


These credit counseling firms run the gamut from non-profit community based organizations to national chains to huge mega companies with a branch in every major city. Finding the right company to entrust with your debt reduction can be difficult and challenging.

Before turning to an outside company for help, however, there are steps consumers can take on their own to reduce their debt load. Of course the easiest strategy is to put extra money toward retiring your debt. Every extra dollar you put toward your credit card balance is one more dollar on which you will not owe interest or penalties.

Of course, finding that extra money can be a challenge. Most people are lucky to have a few dollars left over between paydays,and many consumers find themselves out of money before they are out of month. This is where a good budget program can come in handy. Budgeting is not a skill that is taught in school, and it is often not taught at home either. Learning how to make a budget and stick to it can be the most important aspect of your financial life.

Try this little exercise and see if you can’t shake loose some extra money each month. Write down every expense you incur for at least a week. That’s every expense – every cup of coffee, every meal, every trip to the grocery store, every trip to the mall, every tank of gas. Be scrupulous about recording every penny you spend and what you spend it on. At the end of the week, add it all up and give it close scrutiny. Ask yourself if every item was a necessity. Are there places you can cut backon your daily living expenses? Even a dollar or two a day can add up quickly – try cutting back for a couple months and putting that extra money toward your debt.

Of course, this strategy may be only part of the solution for serious debts. If you owe more than you can afford to pay, try negotiating directly with your creditors. Consumers are often pleasantly surprised at how flexible their credit card companies, banks and other lenders are when renegotiating the terms of their debt. For instance, your credit card company may be willing to give you a lower interest rate, waive certain fees, or even accept a lesser amount than what you owe.

Of course, the bank is not just doing this to be nice to you. It is in the best interest of your creditors that you be in a position to repay what you owe. After all, if you are forced into bankruptcy, the bank will most likely be unable to recover what they are owed. And as you know, bankruptcy is no panacea for the consumer either. That black mark will follow you for at least seven years, and it is no longer so easy to use bankruptcy to shield yourself from debt.

It can be difficult to reduce debt, but by carefully following a budget and negotiating with your creditors, you can get a handle on your debt and your spending. You will need to learn how to handle debt on your own. There is no course on their important skill, but the skills you teach yourself can help ensure your financial future and keep you debt free.

If you find difficult to manage yourself you can always look into a debt consolidation company.Debt management can assist you in paying off that debt. When using credit counseling you will make ONE LOW monthly payment to the debt consolidation company and in turn they well disperse the money to your creditors.

The question is: what can I do to solve my little crisis and go on with life in my happy bliss like before I reversed into that silly post. If you are scraping through every month then there are long term changes that you need to implement when the dust settles, but for now it seems your only option is to take out a loan, there are quick temporary solutions in the form of pay day loans.


These are monthly loans that you can get quickly to fix your car or washing machine, but you have to pay back from your next pay check. This is a good solution, but can never be taken as a long term solution. If you take out a payday loan that you can’t afford to pay back with your next pay check then your problems will start to spiral out of control, as the interest piles up every month, and you constantly find yourself with a debt you can’t afford to pay.

The other possibility is a bank loan. The downside of a bank loan is that it can take a while to be processed. This can leave you without transportation, or without clothes for longer than you can afford.

So what do you do? My advice involves a few stages:

1. Get a pay day loan as a temporary solution.
2. Apply for a bank loan.
3. Pay back the payday loan as soon as the bank loan comes through.
4. Manage your monthly in-comings and outgoings, so that you’re never left with such a crisis in the future.
5. Pay back the bank loan in manageable monthly installments.

1 – Get that payday loan, but make sure you know that it’s a short term thing; and don’t borrow more than you need. The temptation to borrow a little more than you need and treat yourself can lead to problems in the future.

2 – Apply for a bank loan from a reputable bank. Again, don’t borrow more than you need.

3 – As soon as the bank loan comes through pay off the payday loan to get that problem off your back.

4 – Now you’ve seen how bad things can get so easily start to sort your life out. Try to earn some extra money: if there’s extra work, do it. If there’s a possible promotion, go for it. And never give up on trying to get that job that would sort you out for life. If none of these things are possible then you need to start spending less. This will mean budgeting your food, and cutting down on any treats you may like to bestow upon yourself.

5 – Never forget about your loan – always think about making sure how you’re going to pay back each month’s installment!

I you haven’t had this little crisis, but you see how it could happen to you, then act now before your rainy day brings thunderstorms for you.

It goes under different names, such as debt elimination, debt termination, or debt reduction. Such names can certainly apply to legitimate programs as well, and the scammers purposely name their bogus programs with the intention of deceiving consumers and stealing them away from legitimate companies. For the purpose of this article, I’ll refer to it as the debt elimination scam, but be aware that it may be called something different.


So how can you tell this scam from legitimate debt elimination techniques? It’s pretty easy, actually. The scam is based on the bogus “no money lent” argument, where the claim is made that credit card banks cannot loan money legally. Through strange leaps of logic, the scammers claim that credit card banks are actually operating illegally, and so you never really borrowed any money when you used your credit cards! Therefore, you don’t really need to pay anything back. You just have to follow their system and the debts will go away because the banks don’t want this knowledge disclosed to the public!

I realize this may sound ridiculous at first glance, but the con artists are very convincing, and there are dozens of websites promoting this dangerous scam. They refer to publications by the Federal Reserve Board, the Uniform Commercial Code, the Truth in Lending Act, and other public laws to bolster their claims and give an aura of legitimacy to their “program.” I’ve talked with numerous consumers who have been conned out of $2,500, $5,000, even up to $15,000 because they believed the hype that these snake-oil salesmen were peddling. If you’re $30,000, $50,000, or $100,000 deep in credit card debt, it can be very tempting to believe in a magic pill. What if you could pay someone 15% of the debt and make the rest of the debt disappear?

As tempting as the promoters make it sound, the debt elimination techniques they are using simply do not work. About the only thing they accomplish is getting you sued by your creditors. As you might expect, creditors hate this scam, and they come down hard on people trying to use this bogus “no money lent” system. You don’t need to take my word for this. Check out the complaints on ripoffreport.com about Liberty Resources, a debt elimination scam that was shut down in Ohio. Or do some research on New Leaf Associates out of Florida, a scam that was shut down by the Florida Attorney General after consumers were ripped off for millions of dollars. I’ve personally talked to people who were caught up in both of these scams, as well as others who were involved in scams that have not yet been shut down.

I also sometimes receive calls or emails from people promoting this system. Because I am easy to reach and I’m a well-known debt expert, they seem compelled to convince me of the worth and merit of their system. Often, the people contacting me are ignorant of the nature of the scam. That’s because this program is frequently sold through MLM or network marketing systems, and a lot of the people involved simply don’t know any better. I respond by making a simple request, and any “true believers” in this system who happen to read this article can take this as a challenge. All I ask is for a single verifiable court case where a judge agreed with the “no money lent” argument and ruled in favor of the debtor. It’s really that simple. After asking this question for several years, I’m still waiting. No such case exists, despite false claims to the contrary. The response is usually that the company must protect the clients’ privacy, but they have “hundreds of success stories” and have dismissed “millions of dollars” of debt.

Nonsense! The only way this system could possibly work is if a judge ruled on it in court. And since court cases are public record by definition, privacy cannot be an issue here. The “client” gave up any right to privacy when he or she tried to convince a judge that the 50 grand they owed on their credit cards was really just “funny money.” And yet the con artists cannot provide a single solitary case in support of their outrageous claims. (Note to scammers: Don’t waste my time emailing me with your threats or your legal mumbo-jumbo. I’ve heard it all before. Just send me the civil docket number for a single case where your “client” won in court using this system, and identify the court venue so I can look up the case myself online. Simple enough, right? I won’t hold my breath though.) In fact, the “no money lent” argument has been shot down in court on multiple occasions. When confronted with this embarrassing fact, the scammers simply reply that the courts are part of a “conspiracy” to keep this information from the public!

The absence of any verifiable documentation is the red flag that tells you this scheme simply doesn’t work. But let me take this a step farther. Let’s set aside for a moment the whole question of the legal basis for the “no money lent” argument. Let’s take a huge silly leap for a moment and say that the system is valid from a legal perspective. Well, it’s STILL not going to work for the average consumer! Why? Two reasons. First, it requires a fight in court, and the average consumer wants to go to court over debt-related matters about as much as they want to have multiple root-canals without anesthetic.

Second, nothing gets resolved this way. I’ve worked with thousands of people struggling with serious debt problems. I talk to people in this situation every day. I can’t think of a single instance where the person’s priority was anything other than to GET THE MATTER RESOLVED PERMANENTLY. The techniques used by the debt elimination scammers do not achieve any resolution at all. Even if the debtor successfully gets a creditor to back off from its collection effort, all that will happen is the creditor will sell the account to a debt purchasing company, who will then try to collect all over again. So the whole process will have to be repeated, over and over again as the debt gets sold multiple times down the line. There is no resolution here. Just a bag of useless tricks. Boil it all down and here is what the debt elimination scammers are telling you: Walk away from your debts, don’t pay, and duck and cover. That’s it. It’s a lot of hot air and bogus nonsense, and it only exists because debt-weary consumers are desperate for solutions.

If you have become the victim of a debt elimination scam, I urge you to take action. Demand a refund in writing. Complain to the Better Business Bureau where the company is located (assuming you can even find them), complain to your state Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission. And then get on the phone with your creditors and explain that you were misled and that you would like to work things out in good faith. It may be necessary for you to formally retract any documentation that the scammers sent to your creditors.

The first step towards the solution begins with the proper knowledge of a given topic and for problems relating to debts the first step towards their solutions would be to get totally acquainted with the subject and that in this case means taking debt counseling.


Debt counseling is a method where by the experts on the topics of debts and other related subjects provide insights to the people who can use them to their benefits. This is a great help as this technique helps eliminate the debt related issues from the start and what does the saying say “good start means half the battle”.

Here is a preview of what might people get when they seek debt counseling.

Debt counseling basically involves techniques which people should follow so that their debts do not get out of hand. A few well known techniques of debt counseling are:

Debt consolidation – it is a technique whereby people who are in debts from more than one creditor take another loan to settle their debts and in turn try to reduce or eliminate their debts. This process may involve a few steps. Steps such as:

• Making budgets – this process would involve the borrower to make budgets to keep the expenses in check.

• Follow budgets – the budgets are useful only when they are followed properly and to the point where they give out results, not just follow them at the start and then desert them.

• Spending carefully – the process would require the borrowers to spend carefully and keep their expenses down so that there is no problem in paying of debts.

Apart from these, there are other methods of debt counseling that a person can follow to reduce their debts.

People who are looking for debt counseling can get more updated information from any of these debt counseling services.

• Citizen’s advice bureau (CAB)
• National debtline
• Insolvency helpline

These debt counseling services can provide more insightful information depending upon the individuals profile and his credit ratings. Or else, the borrower can go online and interact with the experts on his case. This will surely help him in his fight against debts.