Hi, Doc, I'm so glad you came to visit! You asked, "The deal is are we really out of debt when all is payed off, or are we just on hold of it?? That's such an important question! I've managed to free myself from all debt but my home at least twice in the past. And then ended up in the soup again! I hope the third time's a charm as the old saying goes. The key is indeed learning our lessons, and the first one is to save for the unforeseen so you don't end up in debt again to handle it. The second one is...make more money! Of course, I'm preaching to the choir with that one, because isn't that why we're all on Adland? No, let me backtrack. The second one is learn to live on your income...THEN make more money, lol. May you be richly blessed as well, my friend, and good luck on the POTW vote! (I think you've got it, he he.) Cheri

Marsha! Welcome, and thank you for reminding me of that. I do intend to talk about how to reduce your debt obligation legally in another thread, but since you've opened the subject, let's talk about it a bit here. I've been taught quite a bit about how to make sure your credit report is accurate. When I get a moment, I'll look up a resource for your free annual credit report...you did know that you're now entitled to a free one from each of the major credit reporting agencies once a year, didn't you? I'll post that resource in the next thread here. I've also been taught that a lot of 'credit repair' offers are just another way to take your money. However, FGG does offer the best I've ever seen in that there is a guarantee of satisfaction. Be sure to read the fine print to understand what that guarantee does and does not offer. These folks are professionals, and can probably do a faster and more thorough job than most of us could do on our own. And it's a reasonable cost to do it. Do understand that no one can remove a truthful negative credit issue, despite what all the advertisements say. But if there are inaccurate negative reports, they are hurting your credit rating and costing you money in ways you may not realize. Stay tuned for the rest of the story... Cheri

"I have one credit card with a 0% initial interest rate where I keep the remaining consumer debt that I can't pay off each month. I pay all I can to that one, reducing it monthly. I have moved the debt from card to card to keep the rate at zero for over 8 years. This is the last card I'll need, though. It will be paid off before the rate goes up. ". That's a good way to do it. I did the same thing when I had multiple cards and working at getting out of debt. I use a debit card for everything except for credit card investment OPM use. Yes OPM can be a slippery slope if not careful. Kay

Great topic! I daresay there might be some too afraid to read this forum! lol I was for a short while with a financial company, and had a first hand glimpse at the debt problems so many people face as a result of "easy credit". I put that (easy credit) in parentheses primarily because although credit is easy to obtain these days (I heard of a credit card being provided to a family pet) it is much harder to pay off. It seems that incomes rarely match appetites. Add to that the rising price of just about everything and we have the ingredients for financial disaster. The Credit Card companies have made spending limits way too high for a reason. They expect people to max out those limits, and in some cases allow further increases, and very soon, the unsuspecting (and unwise) debtor finds themselves in a VERY deep hole, and a LONG and expensive journey before there's any light at the end of that tunnel. The pressure our consumerist society places on people to own now and pay later is just another trap to the unwary. We've become so accustomed to "instant gratification", (just watch the ranting customer in the Starbucks coffee lineup because he's been in line for all of 3 minutes and hasn't been served and you see what I mean) that we've forgotten the lessons of our parents and grandparents who lived their lives and built this country without those "benefits". I recall as a child accepting that not everything we desired was within reach, and we learned to accept and enjoy what we had. Our christmas lists were simple and short. I see present day kids writing huge lists of their choices for Santa to deliver, and the pressure is there on guilt ridden parents who both have to work full time jobs instead of being able to spend the time with their families to fulfill those desires. Unfortunately most of our schools have not picked up on this tremendous need to educate our young on the "dangers" of credit and how the high cost of interest will limit their ability to save for the future. In fact, I think there should be some free classes provided (funded by the credit industry of course) to teach ADULTS these very same dangers, and strategies on how to save for their future. Just some thoughts.

Thanks for your input, Tim, all right on target in my opinion. Great idea to fund adult education with credit industry dollars. Kind of like tobacco industry money going for Quit Smoking campaigns. Poetic justice, eh? I don't have a lot of information on it yet, so I don't know whether what I'm about to tell you is federally mandated or is a state program, but I've heard that in the State of Utah, at least, any bankruptcy filing requires a financial literacy course before it goes to court. I believe it's the state that is soliciting proposals from vendors to provide it. Don't know who is expected to pay for it. I'll keep you posted. My company is working to get at least part of that contract. I'm doing my small part by volunteering at a local domestic violence shelter to teach the basics. So many women who have been abused in other ways have also been shut out of knowledge about family finances. Cheri PS. What the heck is going on with my signature? I keep fixing it, and it keeps getting corrupted. Anybody know? It's so embarassing! One minute I look good, and the next minute I'm trailing bathroom tissue halfway down the hall on my shoe, lol.