DEBT RELIEF
SECRETS |
PREPARE TO BE SHOCKED!
How You’ve Been Trapped by Your Creditors
And
How to Get Out of It...
DOUGLAS STEVENS
Copyright © 2020 by Douglas Stevens
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of phonographic recording; mor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use-other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews-without prior written permission of the publisher.
The author of this book does not dispense business advice, only offers information of a general nature to help you in your quest for success with your debts. This book is not designed to be a definitive guide or to take the place of advice from a qualified professional, and there is no guarantee that the methods suggested in this book will be successful, owing to the risk that is involved in debt of any kind. Thus, neither the publisher nor the author assume any liability for any losses or lawsuits that may be sustained by the use of the methods described in this book, and any such liability is hereby expressly disclaimed. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
First edition, June 2020
This book is dedicated to those who are tired of being in debt and realize that they are working for their creditors. You want to regain control of your financial life. It is you that drove me to write this book. In schools across the country, there is no education available that teaches you how to get out of debt or how to avoid getting in debt in the first place. This book is for those that need to get out of debt, but have lost their way.
It is my goal that you achieve financial freedom so that you can enjoy your life without the burden of debt.
INTRODUCTION
I’ve been in the Debt Negotiation business for 20 years. That’s a lot of time to learn a lot of things about people who are in debt; their trauma, difficulties and their fears.
As you will learn, I had my own dramatic experience with debt and I know, first hand, that it’s not something that anyone should have to experience.
In this book, I am giving you my observations from those 20 years. I’m not an attorney, nor have I ever worked in a collection company, bank or credit card company. I’m not even a CPA. In fact, I’m a business owner and I’ve had personal debt, business debt and tax debt.
I’ve had it all.
At the same time, I’ve had a debt settlement company for 20 years and I’ve pulled thousands of people out of difficult debt situations.
You have my experience in this book as well as the experiences from my negotiators who have worked with hundreds of creditors, negotiating 100s of millions of dollars.
Take this information as a sample of the things that have happened to me and my staff.
My wish for you is that you are out of debt and out of the subsequent stress that accompanies that arena as quickly as possible.
Good luck to you and I hope I can help you take control of your debt so that you can accomplish your debt related goal.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction……………………………………………………………………...2
When Things Looked Great Suddenly The House of (Credit) Cards Crashed…………………………………………………………………………..3
SECRET #1 Isn’t Debt Just Debt?.......................................................10
SECRET #2 The Parts of Your Debt…………………………………….15
SECRET #3 Your Original Creditor vs The Collection Company….....26
SECRET #4 The Most Common Missing Ingredient That Makes Debt
Become a Problem………………………………………...32
SECRET #5 How Can I Get Out of This Mess?..................................34
SECRET #6 What’s Going to Happen to My Credit?..........................44
SECRET #7 They’re Calling Me All the Time!.....................................49
SECRET #8 Will the Creditors Take Everything I Own?.....................51
SECRET #9 Are They Going to Put Me In Jail?.................................54
SECRET #10 Are You Sure This Will Work?
And Other Questions……………………………………....57
Your Invitation!..............................................................60
SECRET #1 |
Isn’t Debt Just Debt?
You’re in it.
It’s debt.
You want to get out of it and stay out.
That might be a good move, but all debt isn’t the same. There are differences so let’s take a look at them.
You might say, there’s good debt and there’s bad debt.
The good debt is really using a bank’s money to buy real estate or to get a business loan or something that helps you to make money.
For example, with a house, you can get the bank to cover 80% of the money you need for the house while you come up with 20% or even less. Real estate has mostly been a win for people, as long as the criminals stay out of the way.
You could say, that type of debt is good, for the most part.
Bad debt is using credit cards to buy T Shirts or things that lose their value, but satisfy an urge.
Even investing money on a whim or at the advice of a friend, can be bad debt if the return is not there.
Most people have bad debt and some are in trouble because of it.
We’re going to go into that later in this book.
Suffice to say, we need to get you out of your bad debt and the consequences that it has given you, which are mostly not good.
SECURE VS. UNSECURED DEBT
Most credit card debt is unsecured.
But, there’s other debt that’s secure and that would be houses, cars and large purchases like property; all of which can be taken back if payments aren’t made.
Then, there’s the grey area.
For example, you buy furniture on a store card, will that furniture store take back the furniture if you don’t make the payment?
Maybe.
There are used furniture stores.
But, chances of them taking back furniture after you’ve had it for sometime, is not too likely. A few marks on the furniture and they will probably not be able to resell it and get back their money.
Cars are a different story. They can take those back and resell them to get the money they’re owed.
Lines of credit are mostly unsecured. But, lines of credit against your house is counted as a secured debt, secured against the house.
TAKING OUT A HOME EQUITY LOAN TO PAY OFF UNSECURED DEBT
If you have unsecured debt and want to take out a home equity loan in order to pay off the unsecured debt, is that a good idea?
If you have unsecured debt, and take a loan out from a secured property like your house, should you run into financial trouble, your secured property becomes the source for your creditors to collect your debt if you continue to run into financial problems.
The point here is that if you have unsecured debt that you are having trouble paying, don’t put it onto secured property as you can lose your property if you have difficulties with your income.
And remember, the company that refinances your house loan to pay off your unsecured debt makes money in the form of fees and closing costs, so it behooves the refinancing company to have you work with them.
The moral of the story is, think twice about putting unsecured debt onto a secured property. It might be best to handle the debts separately - the secured debt vs. unsecured debt.
Most things purchased with a credit card from a major bank, as opposed to a credit card from the company you bought the stuff from, will be counted as unsecured debt.
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So, as you can see, all debt is not like all other debt. There are types of debt and it’s best to evaluate each different type separately from the other so you can make the right decisions on how to handle the debt.
It’s best not to mingle unsecured debt with secured debt. If you put your unsecured debt onto a secured piece of property and you have trouble making the payments on that property, the property could be repossessed by the bank or mortgage company.
It’s well known by the creditors that they are last on the list to get paid if a person runs into an income problem.
Keep it that way.
Pay your house, your car. If you can’t pay your unsecured creditors, well, there are different solutions to that problem that won’t encumber your house or your property.
That said, there are ways that a creditor can put a lien on your property if you haven’t paid them, but you may not have to pay on the lien. That lien could just sit there, unpaid, until you sell the house or live your days out in it.
In other words, liens on property do not affect your monthly payments to your secured creditors no matter what they may try and get you to believe.
Remember, if you have knowledge about something, the fear factor is much, much less if there’s any fear at all.
Let’s get some more knowledge, shall we, especially one of the biggest fears for a person over their head in debt.