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Tips & Examples
You can obtain free copies of your credit reports from:
www.annualcreditreport.com
To find credit cards with the lowest rates, go to:
http://www.creditcardsearchengine.com
Debtors Anonymous is a national organization that offers a 12-step program for recovery from compulsive debts. There are no dues or fees to join and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt. The organization offers over 500 in-person meetings throughout the United States and in 13 other countries. For more information or to find the location of meetings in your area, go to http://www.debtorsanonymous.org/
Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a nonprofit organization working to promote an ethical marketplace. The BBB tries to seek a mutually satisfactory outcome in disputes between business and customers and it reports on a firm’s marketplace practices including information about any complaints processed or government action. The BBB is neutral and doesn’t take sides in any dispute. There are more than 130 Bureau offices in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Every Bureau in the U.S. and Canada posts its reports on the Web. To locate a report go to http://search.bbb.org. To file an online complaint with the BBB, go to: http://complaints.bbb.org/Welcome.asp.
Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is an advocacy, research, education, and service organization with some 300 nonprofit organizations as members and a combined membership exceeding 50 million people. The CFA monitors developments that affect consumer credit, credit counseling and bankruptcy. Among its free brochures are “66 Ways to Save Money: and “Your Credit Score.” To visit the CFA site, go to: http://www.consumerfed.org.
Consumer Protection Agency is a branch of the Federal Trade Commission that handles consumer credit issues. The agency is divided into state agencies that enforce consumer protection laws and provide consumer protection information. Depending on the state, they regulate credit bureaus, accept complaints about credit bureaus, and provide free information about consumer rights when dealing with collection bureaus: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm.
Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) is a law that prohibits false claims by credit counseling agencies and makes it illegal for them to charge a consumer until they have performed their services. It also requires the agencies to tell the consumer about consumer legal rights and to provide the consumer with a written contract spelling out exactly what services will be performed and the total cost. Contracts must also explain that the consumer has three days to cancel at no charge. To read the CROA in full, to: http://www.ftc.gov/ro/chro/croa1.htm
National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) is a consumer advocacy group providing research assistance to consumer attorneys, writing manuals on law, and working with lawmakers to adopt laws and regulations which benefit and protect consumers. The NCLC publishes and sells the NCLC Guide to Surviving Debt which contains “everything non-lawyers should know about their rights as consumer borrowers.” For more information or to purchase the guidebook, go to http://www.nclc.org.
National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) is a nonprofit network with 120 member agencies and more than 1,000 offices around the country. For more than 50 years the NFCC has provided financial counseling and education to consumers. http://www.nfcc.org/.
Some useful books include the following:
- The Get Out of Debt Kit, by Deborah McNaughton
- The Budget Kit: The Common Cents Money Management Workbook, by Judy Lawrence
- The Unofficial Guide to Beating Debt, by Greg Pahl
- The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing, by Kenneth and Virginia Morris
- Credit Repair Kit for Dummies, by Stephen R. Bucci
- How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously, by Jerrold Mundis
