debt repayment PAY DAY LOANS - WHAT IS THE COST? Several sources, including a consumer report by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and the CFA (Consumer Federation of America) state that usual the usual APR is between 350 - 650% with some as high as 780%. A loan of $100 ranges in cost between $15 - $30. If the loan is not repaid by the pay date then it can be renewed with another fee due at each renewal. A loan of $100 can cost $60 in fees after 3 renewals. Friends Who Owe You Money Can Quickly Become Former Friends It’s pretty much common sense, or at least it’s been said a thousand times before, don’t lend money to friends and family. What is often missed in that warning is that you should also not sell things to friends and family. Here are a couple of scenarios. Your friends are over for a Christmas tree decorating party. Two of the guys know that you sell pre-owned designer men’s suits on eBay. They ask you if you have any new stock because they could use a new sports coat. “Sure look in the hall closet, see if you like anything.” After five minutes both men return, one wearing a Hugo Boss suit coat and the other is sporting a Zegna blazer. It’s the holiday season, you’re all friends, and even though you know you could get at least $80 each on eBay for them, you only paid $4.99, so you tell them you’ll sell them for $10 each. What the heck, it’s gift giving season anyway. Then they announce their checkbook is in the car, so they’ll pay you Tuesday when they see you next. Fast forward three months to March and they still haven’t paid you. Or perhaps you know a friend is looking with his teenage son to buy a car for Junior. You have another friend who is a self-employed mechanic and is always picking up older cars and fixing them up. You mention to friend #2 that friend #1 wants to buy a car for his son. Mechanic friend was going to sell the car for $900, but since it’s a friend of yours, he tells you to tell them they can have it for $600. You disclose all that’s right with it as well as all that will soon need repair. Friend and son drive the car, say they want it and will come over with money on Tuesday. They arrive on Tuesday with only $300 and tell friend #2 that they will have the balance paid off in 30 days and hoped he’d understand. Four months later and lots of pulling teeth, friend #1 dribbles in an occasional $10 here and $20 here toward their $300 debt. Yet they’ve had the car for months. So what went wrong in the above cases? The friends (now former friends) never asked to borrow money (to give you the opportunity to not lend them cash, as you’ve been warned). The seller-friends were blind-sided with the sudden convenience of no money after the transaction had already taken place. Because it was a friend, "c'mon what's little leeway among friends, anyway?" the sellers felt cornered and awkward to rescind the offer after they had already agreed to it. The only real solution is to never, as in never ever, sell anything to family and friends unless you have cash in hand, at that moment. And don’t feel obligated to give them a deal of a lifetime. If you could get a fair price for the item elsewhere, offer it to your friend at that price too. If you don’t, you could be losing out on a whole lot more than income. Friendships and families are often severed because of transactions gone bad. Don’t let it happen to you. Federal Debt Consolidation Loans For Students Student Loan Consolidation For American college students, the U.S. Government came up with a plan that can help a student manage their student loan debt. The plan they came up with is called a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan. It does not matter if you are a recent graduate student, well into your career already, still at school, or in your grace period for repayment of a student loan. For any of those student categories, a Federal debt consolidation loan may be applied for. Students successful in their application for a federal debt consolidation loan may reduce the amount they need to repay each month, or increase the time that they have to pay off their current debt. How Does a Federal Debt Consolidation Loan Help a Student Pay Off Their Debt? For a student who has student loans under several different programs, bringing them all together under one direct Federal Debt Consolidation Loan can make your debts easier to manage. By combining all of your loans into one, you're only responsible for making one payment to one lender - the U.S. Government. To help make the option of debt consolidation more attractive, there are four flexible payment plans available, including two that which take income and/or income expectations into account. The Federal Debt Consolidation Loan is Available to Help you Manage your Student Debt. Student loan debt is not something that you want dragging at your feet like a ball and chain. It provides a good opportunity for students to learn to manage their finances. Even if you are still at school, it is a good time to learn to manage your debt. That will hold you in good stead as a consumer long into the future. For example, if you choose to consolidate all your student debts into one before you leave school, you can lock in an interest rate that as much as .6% lower than if you attempt to refinance later, after you have left and are no longer a student. For more how a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan can help lower your repayments, and manage your student debt, you can visit the Department of Education's web site. Once there, you can make use of their online debt calculator at https://loanconsolidation.ed.gov to estimate your projected monthly payment under the various plans. Can a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan help you manage your debt? There could be reasons why debt consolidation is not the best solution for any particular student. If a student is close to the end of their repayment term, for example, it may not be worth the work to consolidate. Prolonging the life of your loan is likely to increase the amount you pay overall. If you can afford the higher monthly payments to pay off the debt sooner, you can ultimately save money by doing so. If, however, you are sure that a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan will be to your benefit, you still need to be eligible for the program. The eligibility guidelines can be found at loanconsolidation.ed.gove/borrower/beligible.html In addition, the list of loans that are eligible for consolidation can be viewed at: loanconsolidation.ed.gov.borrower/bloans.html Which Federal Student Loan Consolidation Plan is the most suitable for you? Here are the 4 debt consolidation loan consolidation plans that are available to choose from: Standard: The standard repayment plan is fixed-rate, and runs for a maximum of 10 years. The minimum monthly payment is $50. Extended Repayment Plan: this is a fixed rate plan, with payments extending over the course of 12-30 years. Payments are a minimum of $50, and the life of the loan is dependent on the total amount of the debt. Graduated Repayment Plan: Under the graduated plan, payments start low and increase, generally every two years. The length of the repayment period can vary from 12 right up to 30 years. Income Contingent Repayment Plan: The monthly payment is based on a borrower's annual adjusted gross income, family size and the total amount of direct loans. If your student loan debt is out of control, or could be better managed, it is worth paying a visit to: https://loanconsolidation.ed.gov to see how the federal government can help you with your student debt consolidation loan for students. Eliminate Debt Legally, Lawfully and Ethically You are trying hard to eliminate your loans but keep falling back on your old ways. This constantly leads you back to square one situation and debts seem like they are ever increasing. This is the time to go for debt elimination. The good news is that you are not alone, if you are thinking about debt elimination. The bad news is you still haven’t really started this journey. That means you are still in debt. It is always difficult to know which way to start from. Average household debt in UK is £44857 including mortgage and £7,694 excluding mortgage.UK has seen a rapid increase in household debts which means that more than half of the people have trouble meeting their monthly payments, and being driven further and further into debt. With an average family having 14 credit cards, and various other debts – debt elimination seems only logical. However, debt elimination doesn’t always seem easy. Before going for Debt elimination, you have to understand your debt situation. Understanding debt elimination is equally necessary. Then only you would be able to decide which one would eliminate both the creditors and debts from your life. You have an interesting compilation to choose from. Debt elimination includes – debt consolidation loans, debt management, debt consolidation, debt negotiation, debt settlement, debt counselling etc. Debt consolidation loans are a very popular way to debt elimination. Overdue bills payment, each month, is devastating for financial freedom. Debt consolidation loans can certainly reduce your monthly payments and your interest rates. Debt elimination with debt consolidation reduces your debt by consolidating all your credit card debts, auto loans, education loans, unsecured loans into a single loan. You can save a lot while moving towards debt elimination. A very important process in debt elimination is debt management. Debt management looks for a financial plan that suits your financial circumstance. A debt elimination plan would consolidate all your unsecured debts into single, affordable monthly payment. This payment is carefully calculated by a trained debt consultant, who with the debtor’s assistance reviews their financial position and quote a payment which ensures financial control. This amount is calculated keeping in mind the monthly expenses of the debtor. This debt elimination sees to it that the debtor doesn’t miss any of his commitment like mortgage, rent, car finance, utility bills etc. Debt elimination with debt counselling can provide you with debt advice for financial planning. This sort of debt elimination would prevent you from getting into future debt. Debt counselling services can talk to your creditors about reducing interest rate, eliminating late fees and extending loan term. For debt elimination, search a debt counselling agency that is the member of National Foundation for Credit Counselling (NFCC) or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA). Debt elimination through debt negotiation is one of the fastest ways to remove credit card debts and personal loans while avoiding bankruptcy. By negotiating debt, debt can be reduced by 40%-60%. Debt elimination via negotiation is like the last resort. The lender has little enthusiasm to work out reconciliation for a payless on the full amount. Hence, debt negotiation is a tricky situation and should be handled by a reliable debt negotiator. Yet, at times debt elimination through negotiation is the only logical solution. Under normal circumstances debt counselling should be the first step. Debts are not meant to be a permanent affair. It is one affair you will regret unquestionably. Debt elimination is the beginning of the road called debt free. You cannot separate one from the other. They are related and go hand in hand with each other. If you have struggled a good deal with loans and that too with unsuccessful results then debt elimination is meant for you. The destination called debt free begins with debt elimination. After having herself gone through the ordeal of loan borrowing, Natasha Anderson understands the need for good quality loan advice. Her articles endeavor to provide you the wise counsel in the most elementary way for the benefit of the readers. She hopes that this will help them to locate the loan that beseems their expectations. She works for the UK debt consolidation web site uk debt consolidations. Stop Debt Collectors By Omar M. Omar Can you stop debt collectors ? . . .You better know you can You can stop debt collectors under the law provided by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If you use credit cards, owe money on a personal loan, or are paying on a home mortgage, you are a "debtor." If you fall behind in repaying your creditors, or an error is made on your accounts, you may be contacted by a "debt collector." You should know that in either situation, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that debt collectors treat you fairly and prohibits certain methods of debt collection. Of course, the law does not erase any legitimate debt you owe. What debts are covered? Personal, family, and household debts are covered under the Act. This includes money owed for the purchase of an automobile, for medical care, or for charge accounts. Who is a debt collector? A debt collector is any person who regularly collects debts owed to others. This includes attorneys who collect debts on a regular basis. How may a debt collector contact you? A collector may contact you in person, by mail, telephone, telegram, or fax. However, a debt collector may not contact you at inconvenient times or places, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree. A debt collector also may not contact you at work if the collector knows that your employer disapproves of such contacts. Can you stop a debt collector from contacting you? You can stop a debt collector from contacting you by writing a letter to the collector telling them to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action. Please note, however, that sending such a letter to a collector does not make the debt go away if you actually owe it. You could still be sued by the debt collector or your original creditor. May a debt collector contact anyone else about your debt? If you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact the attorney, rather than you. If you do not have an attorney, a collector may contact other people, but only to find out where you live, what your phone number is, and where you work. Collectors usually are prohibited from contacting such third parties more than once. In most cases, the collector may not tell anyone other than you and your attorney that you owe money. What must the debt collector tell you about the debt? Within five days after you are first contacted, the collector must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money you owe; the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money; and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money. May a debt collector continue to contact you if you believe you do not owe money? A collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you receive the written notice, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed. What types of debt collection practices are prohibited? Harassment. Debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse you or any third parties they contact. For example, debt collectors may not, use threats of violence or harm, publish a list of consumers who refuse to pay their debts (except to a credit bureau), use obscene or profane language or repeatedly use the telephone to annoy someone. False statements. Debt collectors may not use any false or misleading statements when collecting a debt. For example, debt collectors may not: * falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives; * falsely imply that you have committed a crime; * falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau; * misrepresent the amount of your debt; * indicate that papers being sent to you are legal forms when they are not; or * indicate that papers being sent to you are not legal forms when they are. Debt collectors also may not state that: * you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt;* they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unless the collection agency or creditor intends to do so, and it is legal to do so; or actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you, when such action legally may not be taken, or when they do not intend to take such action. Debt collectors may not: * give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau; * send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not; or * use a false name. Unfair practices. Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, collectors may not: * collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge; * deposit a post-dated check prematurely; * use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams; * take or threaten to take your property unless this can be done legally; or * contact you by postcard. What control do you have over payment of debts? If you owe more than one debt, any payment you make must be applied to the debt you indicate. A debt collector may not apply a payment to any debt you believe you do not owe. What can you do if you believe a debt collector violated the law? You have the right to sue a collector in a state or federal court within one year from the date the law was violated. If you win, you may recover money for the damages you suffered plus an additional amount up to $1,000. Court costs and attorney's fees also can be recovered. A group of people also may sue a debt collector and recover money for damages up to $500,000, or one percent of the collector's net worth, whichever is less. Where can you report a debt collector for an alleged violation? Report any problems you have with a debt collector to your state Attorney General's office and the Federal Trade Commission. Many states have their own debt collection laws, and your Attorney General's office can help you determine your rights. About The Author © Copyright. http://www.deleteuglycredit.com Omar M. Omar is the owner of http://www.deleteuglycredit.com. The website is dedicated to provide credit consumers with information about their credit right and how to dispute inaccurate information on their credit report. Omar M. Omar is also the author Of "The Credit Repair Bible" book. You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, in your Newsletter, on your website, or in your E-Book, as long as the author's Resource Box is included with the article. omar@deleteuglycredit.com