Well in lots of terms isn't this a catastrophe about to happen? Not always I guess but as I drove to the office this morning I heard a commercial for those in financial trouble (which we're told is a lot of people nowadays) to use the services of a debt consolidating company. Would I do it? Not unless I was dragged kicking and screaming and put in a dark hole. Why not? Because I believe I can negotiate my own situation should I need to. But not everyone is me.
In one of my companies (small business landscaper) I arrived on the scene too late. Mark (not is real name) had been in financial trouble from the year before trying to keep his dream company alive. What he did was apply for and use lots of credit cards. On top of that he had office rent and two daughters in private high school. He was a stubborn sort and as I like to say, "knew enough to be dangerous". That he was. He allowed a credit consolidation company talk him into peace of mind. Well he might have gotten the peace of mind but I didn't when I was doing his books. What I found what that he was paying a large amount of cash to a credit consolidation company. Some of it went to pay all his creditors the company had supposedly negotiated with and a fair amount went to the consolidation company to pay for the division of monthly cash Mark sent them to make all the payments needed. Not only did I see the amount of cash the consolidation company was taking from the one payment Mark made per month but in reconciling all his credit accounts every month I found late payments because the payments from the consolidation company weren't made on time costing Mark more money. I saw a very small reduction in interest rate and an immediate close of the cards, not a restructuring. Credit Card companies encourage you to either get a consolidation company if you have too much debt or buy the infamous credit protection plan. (More on that another time.) What they don't tell you is whether or not they will cancel your card the minute you employ a credit consolidation company for them to talk to. Most of them automatically close your account with little hope of reopening it again. What you have to be careful doing is checking the amount the consolidation company asks you to pay them and what is left over to reduce your debt on a monthly basis.
You can actually do what they do yourself. Call your creditors and plead your case with sincerity and truthfulness. Many times you will find a customer service agent who will be more than willing to help you. Once in a while they will go that extra mile with you if you are pleasant, cordial and at least acknowledge that they do the best they can.
Would I use a debt consolidation company? Nope not on your life. I don't believe the investment is close to being worth the outcome.
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Monday, September 24, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Why Consumer Warfare?
I've so wanted to be able to put something "out there" to help the average consumer help him/herself as life whirls around all the opportunities and occasions that come about in one's life. All the simple things it takes to maintain a calm in our lives while trying to stay up with the mainstay and cope with an ever changing world of consumerism can also become complex. At times it seems to be the consumer against the "free enterprise" system but I have now come to realize that it doesn't have to be that way. I think of it as waging consumer warfare against the complacency and just plain lack of knowing where to ask the right questions to make our own situations better.
Ta da da! Here I am, thanks to the freedom of the Internet. OK OK I am NOT Alan Greenspan, a member of the Brookings Institute, a Wharton School of Business grad, just a consumer who's made some dumb choices and some good choices. I'm sharing both in an effort that someone might avoid a catastrophe in their lives. Like Iran and Vietnam before that.....consumer warfare might be a no-win situation but in-roads may be made and the intention is good. And I'm just not apathetic enough to sit on my dream. So if I've made a difference in just one good decision a consumer has made for him/herself, I've reached my personal goal. I really don't believe I can stop at one helpful situation though. Hence the website Consumerwarfare.com. It's my vehicle to explore options for good choices made by informed consumers with information for those who want to know more. It's up to everyone to make their own decisions. I provide the information as neatly organized as possible.
Make no mistake, I will NOT debate Iran/Iraq/Vietnam/WWI OR II or anything other than consumer choices and information to make those choices good for one's own consumer situation. I do not blame George W. and the GOP for everything from The Great Housing Fiasco nor responsibility for the little Hollywood brats exhibiting their outrageous needs for attention. Choices people...they are ours to make! I really don't think we have to look too far to see that all our choices have consequences good or bad so its time to "man-up" or in other cases "woman-up" and take our own responsibility for how we all get into these messes in the first place. Your author here is high on that list! We can gripe/post/flame throw/blaspheme but the choices have ALWAYS been ours no matter what the situation so let's just see if we can make better consumer choices. In fact, we can convey and get results by what we don't do. If we don't shop at a certain store we don't have to make the bad purchases. If enough decision makers (consumers) make the obvious choices, the stores will change. And in the cases where stores won't change, we have the option of finding another alternative for ourselves. Think hard. There is an answer to everything.
My sis has been trying to convince me of our own choices and ways of thinking: That how we view things are usually how they are going to be for us. It's up to us whether we are going to open up our minds to positive outcomes and change, or simply sit back to apathy and complacency thinking that life is what it is and never try to improve our own situations as a first step. She's morphed already and I'm slowly getting there. What I hope to provide to anyone viewing this blog is a place to read, disagree, agree, support or show example regarding the consumer's journey through what free-enterprise has given us to choose. From time to time I find something that hits me hard with the need to share. I don't always have the right idea but I will present the facts. As an old debater who learned to defend both sides of a burning question (sometimes it was bitter and sweet all at once) I will ask most of the questions and try to back them with authority better versed than I. Sometimes I will just plain blog on passion; not passion passion but passion about a consumer issue. I encourage you to do the same in your replies should you choose to do so. That will make my blogging so much more meaningful.
I will let you know that I will not tolerate bad language on this blog as I believe that EVERYONE can blog and speak without the casual and easy expletives of life. I'm no angel but there is a time and place for everything (I think). ;-) Happy blogging to me and anyone else who has something to say.
Ta da da! Here I am, thanks to the freedom of the Internet. OK OK I am NOT Alan Greenspan, a member of the Brookings Institute, a Wharton School of Business grad, just a consumer who's made some dumb choices and some good choices. I'm sharing both in an effort that someone might avoid a catastrophe in their lives. Like Iran and Vietnam before that.....consumer warfare might be a no-win situation but in-roads may be made and the intention is good. And I'm just not apathetic enough to sit on my dream. So if I've made a difference in just one good decision a consumer has made for him/herself, I've reached my personal goal. I really don't believe I can stop at one helpful situation though. Hence the website Consumerwarfare.com. It's my vehicle to explore options for good choices made by informed consumers with information for those who want to know more. It's up to everyone to make their own decisions. I provide the information as neatly organized as possible.
Make no mistake, I will NOT debate Iran/Iraq/Vietnam/WWI OR II or anything other than consumer choices and information to make those choices good for one's own consumer situation. I do not blame George W. and the GOP for everything from The Great Housing Fiasco nor responsibility for the little Hollywood brats exhibiting their outrageous needs for attention. Choices people...they are ours to make! I really don't think we have to look too far to see that all our choices have consequences good or bad so its time to "man-up" or in other cases "woman-up" and take our own responsibility for how we all get into these messes in the first place. Your author here is high on that list! We can gripe/post/flame throw/blaspheme but the choices have ALWAYS been ours no matter what the situation so let's just see if we can make better consumer choices. In fact, we can convey and get results by what we don't do. If we don't shop at a certain store we don't have to make the bad purchases. If enough decision makers (consumers) make the obvious choices, the stores will change. And in the cases where stores won't change, we have the option of finding another alternative for ourselves. Think hard. There is an answer to everything.
My sis has been trying to convince me of our own choices and ways of thinking: That how we view things are usually how they are going to be for us. It's up to us whether we are going to open up our minds to positive outcomes and change, or simply sit back to apathy and complacency thinking that life is what it is and never try to improve our own situations as a first step. She's morphed already and I'm slowly getting there. What I hope to provide to anyone viewing this blog is a place to read, disagree, agree, support or show example regarding the consumer's journey through what free-enterprise has given us to choose. From time to time I find something that hits me hard with the need to share. I don't always have the right idea but I will present the facts. As an old debater who learned to defend both sides of a burning question (sometimes it was bitter and sweet all at once) I will ask most of the questions and try to back them with authority better versed than I. Sometimes I will just plain blog on passion; not passion passion but passion about a consumer issue. I encourage you to do the same in your replies should you choose to do so. That will make my blogging so much more meaningful.
I will let you know that I will not tolerate bad language on this blog as I believe that EVERYONE can blog and speak without the casual and easy expletives of life. I'm no angel but there is a time and place for everything (I think). ;-) Happy blogging to me and anyone else who has something to say.
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