Debt Chemotherapy

If you didn’t hear, credit card delinquencies are back up to their highest levels according to cardweb.com, just under the record of 2004. In the 1st quarter of 2008, 4.59% of all card holders are missing payments, just under the prior high of 4.65%. While it’s only a point, that point is a huge spike in the chart.

The bursting of the mortgage bubble has caused so many people to max out their cards to pay the bills, there is no room left to charge and the bills come due. If you have to eat, the cards have to wait.

I’ve been through this twice in my life and it was not fun; the creditors really didn’t care and said to borrow the money. Easier said then done.

Then we read that the S&P is at its lowest level since 2005. Interesting that it talks about the same time frame as the beginning of the post.

And the House Democraps are planning to give a way more funny money. to stimulate our enemic economy. They just don’t understand that the more of this stuff they print, the less it’s worth. Hell, I didn’t even get my check; the IRS took it because I have some back taxes. I wonder how many millions were not distributed, so right there, the total amount is $1,200 less because I never got it.

Offering the rebates boosts Democratic efforts to showcase their economic credentials in an election. Still, it won’t be clear until after a monthlong August recess whether enough Republicans will join with Democrats to actually clear stimulus legislation, said >Charles Gabriel, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners.

`Smart Politics’

“It’s smart politics, mostly politics,” Gabriel said in an interview. “We won’t know until after the August recess whether it gains traction.”     

All this just to get them re-elected. I read recently the approval rating of Congress was in the single digits. Just like the empty suit called Obama, they rely on the shiny veneer, hoping we won’t look under it because there aint nothin there…

The people trying to run this country appear to have lost their minds, and are just printing tons & tons of paper backed by the taxing power of Uncle Sugar. However, at some point we will enter Weimar Germany times, early 1920’s, when a $1 US Note was worth over 1,000,000 Marks. A cook was given a tip of a dollar and a trust was started to invest all the marks.

Now Congress wants to bail out all the amateur investors who are loosing their ass because they watched “Flip that house” one too many times.  That’s not right; i didn’t buy a house because I could not afford it. I knew the houses were overpriced and after raising private equity for 10 years, I knew something was not kosher.

Comments?

Christopher Winkler
DebtChemotherapy.com 

Consumer debt continues to climb, in May, 2008, it increased almost $8 Billion dollars to a record $2.57 Trillion dollars according to the Federal Reserve. That’s $2,570,000,000,000.00. That’s a lot of money!

That’s 3.64% growth, slightly less than April’s 3.65% increase. Most of it was revolving credit; credit cards, was $5.6 Billion, the rest was big ticket loans like cars.

This does not include mortgages, which is another mess altogether.

The consumer credit card debt bubble continues to grow and eventually it will explode. Using your home as a spigot to spit out cash to pay off credit cards is over. Now all people can do is max out their credit cards. Soon, there will be nothing left to charge & you will have to do something.

I have been helping people get rid of their credit card debt for 3 years now. If you are falling behind on the payments or tired of paying outrageous interest rates, you have to do something. If the creditors won’t help you, we can.

We can get the creditors to take 50% or less, and work out a payment plan that will pay off the debt in about 2-4 years & lower your payments. If you need help, call me to see if debt settlement might be the right option for you.

Christopher Winkler
DebtChemotherapy.com

For the last 3 years I have been helping people who are being abused by the credit card companies, or they are in a hardship and they enroll in our debt settlement program as an alternative to bankruptcy.

People ask me all the time if it is wise to take out a mortgage to pay off the credit cards. I give them my opinion, which is be careful if you do, it might not be your best choice to pay off the credit cards with a mortgage; here’s why.

Several times a month someone calls and asks if I can be of help with their debt. They took out a mortgage to pay off the credit cards and now they can’t make the mortgage payments. I have to tell them no, we can’t help you; you should not have done that because you took unsecured debt, money given to you with just your signature, and rolled it into your home, which is secured debt.

There is a big difference between secured debt & unsecured debt.

Secured debt is your home, car, or other physical things that you finance. Unsecured debt are credit cards, personal or signature loans or lines of credit. If you miss a few secured loan payments, they just take the home or car.

With a credit card, they can’t take back the movie and popcorn you charged 2 weeks ago.

So if you lost your job or missed some payments, you could loose your home! If you didn’t roll the debt, they can’t do a lot except try and get a judgment or lien against any property or wage garnishment.

However, we have secret techniques we use to get a summons to appear dismissed using their own tactics.

And if you don’t cut up the cards, you will MAX them out again in a year or 2 if you don’t change your spending habits (spending more then you earn), and you will have the mortgage and the credit card payments. Those are the people who call me when it’s too late.

If you are thinking about taking out a 2nd or 3rd mortgage to pay off credit cards, think again.

If you need help with credit card debt, give me a call between 8-5 pacific.

Christopher Winkler
DebtChemotherapy.com

In a couple leading economic indicators, we report on fireworks & Las Vegas.

Leading Economic Indicator #1: Fireworks

I’ll start with fireworks. Four years ago, I spend a couple hundred bucks on fireworks and drove up to LA to celebrate at my friend JD’s house, who is relaunching the Museum of Death on Hollywood Blvd. Anyway, There were over 20 people there, and I remember driving on some of the hill side streets and it was like the Tet Offensive.

The smell of gun powder and the flashing lights, man, if I was a war vet, I would have had a flashback. Luckily I was only a mechanic in Germany, so my Army stories don’t involve combat. Also, for about a month, the run up to the 4th was a constant barrage of bottle rockets & firecrackers for all of the month of June.

Anyway, about 2 years ago, I spent about $200 on fireworks again and and went over to my wife Mindy’s Uncle’s house. She is from Viet Nam and her Uncle lives a few miles away, so we blew off all the fireworks and it was fun.

Last year, I didn’t buy any fireworks and the lead up to the 4th was light in our neighborhood. Few fireworks in the weeks before, unlike the constant bombardment of bottle rockets in the past.

This year, only a couple pops before the 4th and no fireworks for us. How about you, did you buy any fireworks? How many did you hear running up to the 4th?

Leading economic indicator #2: Las Vegas

The Independent has a good article on the state of Las Vegas

Down and out in Las Vegas

The good-time capital of the US has hit a losing streak. Guy Adams reports on an epidemic of bankruptcies, foreclosures and mass lay-offs

Since the day Las Vegas was created in the shimmering Nevada desert, visitors have been drawn by one simple promise: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. The motto adorns the city’s road signs, and has inspired everything from its souvenir T-shirts to the local tourist board’s seductive advertising campaigns.

These days, that motto is imbued with a worrying sense of irony. Because America’s most outrageous city is facing a growing multitude of problems, and they all boil down to a single, unavoidable point: right now, far too little happens in Vegas, because not enough people are actually staying there.

I don’t know about you, I really don’t like to go to Vegas anymore. The traffic stinks, the rooms are expensive, the crows are everywhere, well maybe not now, and you loose all your money. What fun is that?

People just don’t have the money to go throw away. When you lost your job and need to pay the bills, the last thing you are thinking about is the bright lights of Vegas.

If you are having problems paying your unsecured debts, then maybe you might want to consider a Debt Settlement program. Debt Settlement is an accepted method of working with credit card or unsecured debt if you are in a hard ship. We can get the credit card companies to accept usually less than 1/2, and lower your monthly payments so you can get some relief.

I have been helping people learn if Debt Settlement is the right option for them for almost 3 years. To find out more information, give me a call between 8-5 Pacific.

Christopher Winkler
DebtChemotherapy.com

We read that Universities are starting to ban the presence of Credit Card companies preying on innocent young adults. There are no shortages of tricky ways that credit card companies get them to sign up for their cards, including free lunches. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Now they are at the mercy of the creditors and they can blast up the interest rates to 30% for no reason at all.

What’s more shocking is that ABC news reports that 43% of undergraduates have at least 4 credit cards and owe over $2,000! Some people have committed suicide over credit card debt, which is really sad, because it’s just funny money.

If you are young, they don’t teach you anything about managing your finances in school, so here are a few tips to help:

1. Build your credit score by getting one card and using it occasionally, and keep the balance low.
2. Don’t let your parents pay for your credit cards. It does not teach you responsibility, and leads to irresponsibility in the future. It’s your debt, if you don’t want to pay it, don’t charge it; use cash. This is not free money.
3. Pay your monthly bill before the due date to prevent fees and increased interest rates. It’s important to give it time to get there if you mail it. The best way is to pay online so the payment is that day or next.
4. Set up checking and credit cards at a school credit union, because the interest rates are usually lower and they don’t raise them as high as the credit card companies. Then set up an automatic payment of say 5-10% of the balance, this way you won’t forget.
5. Be frugal; don’t buy what you don’t need & pay cash when you can.

Keep an eye on your finance charges & if they start going up, call them to complain and keep trying until they lower the interest, though don’t close the account, as it will lower your credit score because you lower your available credit and raised your debt to income ration. We will explain this in detail in a future post.

Christopher Winkler
Debt Settlement Expert
DebtChemotherapy.com

You have seen the commercials about Debt Settlement, heard the radio ads, and seen it mentioned online. You are starting to get overwhelmed with your credit card debt, and those &^%$’s raised your interest on your biggest card to 29.9%!!! All of a sudden, you look at the finance charge and it is most of the minimum payment.

You will never pay this off in this life time. You are considering talking to someone about debt settlement and you have read some negative comments on forums and online about debt settlement and you just want some answers.

We believe the Credit Card companies really don’t want you to know about Debt Settlement, though they do settle for less than what you owe them. Hell, MasterCard even says on their own website, under the category called Learning Center that it’s an option for people that need help.

It’s buried deep, deep under MasterCard’s Personal Cards/Learning Center/ Debt Know-How/Solving Problems By Paying Off Your Debt/Debt Reduction Settlements.

Credit Card & Debt Reduction Settlements

Depending on your circumstances, your credit counselor may be able to negotiate a debt reduction settlement with your creditors. Under a debt reduction settlement, a creditor agrees to reduce the amount you owe in return for a guarantee that you will pay off the reduced amount at specified terms. This process also is referred to as third-party debt negotiation.

The criteria for qualifying for a debt reduction settlement are the same as for a DMP. The settlement can include credit card and other unsecured debt, but not mortgages, auto loans and other secured debt such as student loans, or legal obligations such as alimony, child support and fines.

Under a debt reduction settlement, the debt is generally resolved within one to three years, with creditors settling for between 20 and 80 percent of the original debt. After you pay the agency fees and settle the debt, you will see an average of 40 percent in savings.

However, watch out for agencies that promise to reduce your debt by 50 to 70 percent. Many of these agencies are not reputable and unlikely to deliver. Currently, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating a number of questionable counseling agencies that make such false promises to consumers (emphasis added).

There you have it, direct from the horses mouth. The credit card companies will accept between 20-80% of the balance. You just have to quit paying them for a few months so they will consider it.

Then, it’s a game to see how low they will go… It’s for consumer credit card debt, and if your businessness has no assets or is out of business, it will work also. It really wont’ work for a buiness that is still operating because they can do nasty things to you and you really don’t want to mediate that debt.

In future posts, we will talk about the not reputable companies that make false promises.

If you are starting to spin into the credit card death spiral, then give me a call during the day to see if Debt Settlement might be an option for you; our mediators are working with over 20,000 clients and manage $400,000 in debt

Till next time,

Christopher Winkler
DebtChemotherapy.com

After much delays caused by keeping busy helping people with Debt Settlement during the day, we finally relaunch Debt Chemotheray, and the Debt Settlement Blog!

I have two online stores that take my nights. I just moved one to a new cart, EyeSpyPro, a spy & surveillance superstore filled with lots of video surveillance cameras, spy & surveillance equipment, video recording devices like the PI Camstick, a mini camcorder as small as a stick of gum. If that is not enough to do in a day, I also have a self defense products store called Defend Thyself that is loaded with the C2 taser, stun guns, Mace pepper sprays, and other cool self defense products that this will tie into what I am saying in a moment.

Anyway, now it’s time to get back to Debt Chemotherapy, and no better way to kick off the relaunch of this site then to sit down and fire up the blog and let loose. I have a couple other blogs that I write on both of those sites above that you can read. I don’t like to keep a stuffy blog, I would rather just let it all hang out and if you want to share your opinions, that’s great because we will be sharing a ton of news with your regarding credit cards, the mafioso’s running the banking system, debt, and getting out of it.

During the day, you can find me helping people learn about Debt Settlement and if it is right for them. I have been doing this 3 years and after a year of what we call the calm before the storm, the flood waters blew over the levy’s and the phones have been ringing off the hook for a few weeks.

According to the Federal Reserve (good bookmark to remember) consumer credit card debt is at it’s all time highest, breaking the record that was set last month to a whopping 1.608 TRILLION DOLLARS!

Let’s see what that looks like: $1,608,000,000,000.00, divided by the US population of 301,139,947 = $5,339.71. About what I owe in credit cards; Amazing!

Anyway, the phones are ringing all day and I believe it’s due to what is going on in this country. Tens of thousands of people are now out of work, though it was work that was only temporary, because the housing bubble could never sustain itself and it’s time to move on.

We are selling more video surveillance cameras and systems due to an increase in robberies and burgularies, and self defense products are used every day due to people resorting to robbing people to pay their bills.

If you need help with your credit card debt, then visit our website for more info…

Christopher Winkler
Debt Settlement Expert
DebtChemotherapy.com