This is a guest post from Sam J. of Cincinnati, Ohio who took it upon himself right after having his first child to get rid of his mounting debt. What you will read may surprise you, then again it may not. The importance of the story is to have Sam explain how he cut 45% of his debt in about 12 months and got out of the red for the first time in years.
Sam Says:
When I first got home from the hospital after my child was born I didn’t sleep for a couple of days and and it wasn’t just because of the baby. After those few days I decided that I needed to get rid of my debt. My credit card bills were almost at $30,000.
The thing that really struck me though was when I got the hospital bill in the mail, even though I had health insurance from my job I still had to pay a portion of the labor and it was a c-section so it was all the more expensive. I simply could not afford it.
I began to research the quickest ways that I could get rid of my debt and turn my bank account from a negative number to a positive one. I talked to a buddy of mine who had gone through the same thing a few years back and he suggested a couple of things.
1. Get a Credit Report- This is Absolutely Crucial
The reason you want to get a credit report is to make sure nobody is using your identification. When I got mine, I was shocked to see that someone in Jacksonville, FL (A place I had never been to) was using my social security. Luckily I didn’t have to pay for anything that he bought with my ID. That saved me almost $2000 dollars right there. Click Here For a Free Credit Report
2. The Second Thing -You Need to Get a Free Debt Assessment
With debt consolidation you get all your debts and lump them into one payment. That’s convenient, but if you owed $25,000, guess what, you still owe $25,000. With debt settlement you actually reduce the amount of total money owed. In my case I owed about $30,000 in credit card debt, after settling with the credit card companies, I owed just under $16,000. That was like having almost half of your debt just forgiven. Click Here For A Free Debt Assessment
My wife and I couldn’t be happier. At least now I have a fighting chance at a debt free life. But the greatest thing was that there was no out of pocket cost to me. So how do these companies make there money? They buy and sell your debt. I know it sounds strange and I never knew this industry existed, but it is literally a multi-billion dollar industry.
The free credit report is mandated by the federal government.
Had I tried on my own to pay off my $30,000 credit card debt it would have taken me almost 28 years making minimum payments. Now with the settlement and a new payment plan, I should be home free in about 2 years.
On a last note, times are tough, the real estate market has collapsed. Don’t let yourself drown in debt, the days of easy bankruptcies are over, take charge now and you won’t regret it. Imagine losing your job and having all this debt?
We want to thank Sam for his story, to check out the resources that Sam had mentioned. So just to recap: Here are the 3 Rules that Sam Came Up With:
Step 1:
Cut up all your credit cards, now.
Step 2:
Click Here For A Free Credit Report
Step 3:
Click Here For A Free Debt Assessment