Relieve the Anxiety and Stress

Anxiety & Stress

Anxiety can be tough. It often comes on fast and can sometimes be
unbearable. Anxiety will limit your effectiveness at work. Over a  period of time it will gradually wear you down. You can become physically weaker and begin to tire more easily. At the same time, you will find it harder to concentrate. Stress is a normal reaction to a challenge or threat. We all want to avoid long-term stress. Lack of action promotes stress.

Your debt/credit report is only a snapshot in time (today) you CAN recover and improve your credit and REDUCE your debt.

Just because you have never been late on a payment does not mean you have good credit. Due to your outstanding debt your credit is probably already compromised. This is because even if you have a perfect payment record a high debt-to-income ratio will reduce your true credit buying power.

 

Has it become DIFFICULT to pay monthly minimums and you don’t see how you will get out of debt in the next decade? What choice is best for your family? You have options…don’t feel discouraged…CALL US!

We offer a COMPLETE and TOTALLYPERSONALIZED plan.

We will assist you in planning, budgeting and executing your financial plan by providing you information and tools. When you complete the program and are debt free—we will refund a portion of our professional fees.  

Credit Card Industry Profits-Some of their Methods:


Banks make BILLIONS off unfair fees » Read the Article

Credit Card practices under scrutiny » Read the Article

The credit card industry is the MOST PROFITABLE one in the United States with annual profits in the $30 billion range. 

Fees -- Began to climb from a modest $5 to $10 to today's $29 to $39 fee for paying late or going over your credit limit.  It is predicted that these fees will climb to $49 to $59 in the near future.  This is not surprising, as these fees are the NUMBER ONE source of revenue for credit card banks (approximately $15 billion last year).
Late and over-the-limit fees are not the only methods companies use to rake in trillions each year.  There are also the credit insurance programs, universal default policies, marketing campaigns and other.

Posting Your Payment On The Day It's Received -- Federal law requires credit card companies to post your payment on the date it is received.  If they fail to do so, they cannot assess you late charges or added finance charges.  Still, a common tactic most card issuers use is to post only those payments received by 9:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. on a given date.  Payments received at 9:01AM/3:01PM are posted the next day despite the fact that all the major card issuers have payment processing centers that operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week.  Result…a late fee.

Monthly Minimums -- to increase profits by requiring a minimum monthly payment of only 2% which encourages cardholders to continuously carry a balance and credit card companies rake in more interest income. The banks love minimum paying customers, for obvious reasons.

Late Payments -- Federal law requires that credit card issuers mail you your statement at least two weeks before the due date.  You know that your credit card payment is due on the 25th of the month, or do you?  Your issuer might suddenly change it to the 20th of each month.  If it's received late, they will slap you with a $39.00 late fee. If it's late two times they can legally increase your interest rate dramatically, to as much as 29+%.  At various times, several credit card issuers have even resorted to not mailing out statements at all to encourage customers to pay late under the theory that "it is a courtesy that we mail statements out, not a requirement.”

FalseMarketing Campaigns -- Most consumers don't realize that the zero percent or low interest rate credit cards they see advertised on the Internet, in magazines and on the television are reserved only for those with excellent FICO credit scores that are 750 or higher.  Since most Americans have FICO credit scores below 750, odds are you won't qualify for a premium credit card.   The credit card companies are being very deceptive in this advertising because they know that most of the people who apply for the credit card are not going to qualify for the low interest rate.  They know that the low interest rate will bring them  more customers, most of whom will accept the credit card -- even when the interest rate for most people is much higher than advertised. Credit card banks use specific marketing tactics to increase their profits. 
For those that qualify for the zero percent introductory interest rate offer, the credit card industry knows that many people will accumulate quite a bit of debt on that card while the rate is at zero percent.  Then, when the introductory period ends and the interest rate kicks in, the credit card bank can earn significantly more profit than if it had never offered the zero percent rate on the card in the first place. Why? Now there is a big Balance WITH interest.

Interest Rates That Never Decrease -- Most credit cards come with a variable interest rate, meaning the interest rate is tied to an economic indicator, most often the prime lending rate.  When the prime lending rate decreases, the interest rate on the credit card should decrease too, right?  Well, most of the time it doesn't.  Credit card interest rates keep going up and up and up. So do your payments.

Marketing Credit Cards To College Students -- If you are one of the people who can't seem to get a credit card or can't get one with a decent credit limit, consider enrolling in college.   A scary percentage of college students leave college owing one or two credit card companies a great deal of money, with no means to pay it back. But they encourage these students to run up debt with zero percent introductory offers and minimum monthly payments so low it will take 100 years to pay the card off if you just paid the minimum.  All this because they're willing to bet that the parents are going to pay the cards off if Junior can't, just to keep him out of trouble.

Ignoring Your Billing Dispute -- Every day hundreds of people open their credit card statements and find some sort of error or omission.  Perhaps there is a charge they didn't make or they were credited for making only a $10.00 payment instead of the actual $100.00 they sent.  And these people phone the credit card company and are assured that the error will be fixed.  But then the next month arrives and the latest statement does not show the correction.  A second phone call is made and the person is once again assured that the error will be corrected, but the third statement arrives and it still isn't corrected. A third phone call is made and the person is told that she has forfeited her right to have the error corrected because she did not comply with the Fair Credit Billing Act and notify them in writing of the mistake within 60 days, as this law requires. 

Card Cancellation Fee -- This is a relatively new tactic used by only a few credit card companies, but expects it to be used by many credit card issuers in the future.  Imagine canceling your card because you have been slapped with a bogus $39 late or over-the-limit fee, only to find out you will also be charged another $59 for closing your account!  One instance of this happening made national news:   

Penalizing You For Carrying A Big Balance -- If you carry a high balance on your credit card month-to-month, don't be surprised if you one day notice a small paragraph on your monthly statement that informs you your interest rate is going to increase from 7% to 28% next month.  It doesn't matter to them that you have always paid your bills on time and are never late.  You can be a customer of theirs for 20 years and never be late or miss a single payment, but one day they will decide that you are no longer a good risk customer and raise your rate to 28+%.

Credit Insurance -- This is used almost universally by the big credit card companies because it is such a big cash cow.  Every single consumer group and financial counselor has nothing good to say about this type of insurance and all recommend that you don't sign up for it. Credit card companies usually are forced to pay large judgments for this type of practice when they don’t deliver on the service. 

Universal Default – This is another tactic to increase profits by inserting a "universal default" clause in the credit card agreement. This clause gives the credit card issuer the right to raise your interest rate to an extremely high rate -- 28% or 30+% -- if you miss a payment to them, to another creditor or your FICO credit score drops for any reason.  For example, if you took out a home equity loan, your additional debt might lower your FICO score enough so that your credit card bank decides you are now a high risk customer, even if you have never missed a payment to them or any other creditor in the last 20 years. They can and do raise your interest rates.
Crazy but true. It doesn't matter if the late payment notation is an error or evidence that the person is struggling with debt, they will raise your rate.  It doesn't make any sense to do this, particularly to someone who is struggling with debt, because it often drives them into default or bankruptcy.  Unfortunately, It happens ALL the time!!!

You are struggling with debt of some kind or you wouldn’tbe reading this information at this moment. There are no perfect options, you must find the best one for YOU and your FAMILY.

Take The Next Step : CALL US TODAY
866-446-8616


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