The Power of CashWritten by Kelly Cullison
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week. She knows that when cash is gone, she will have to wait until her next “allowance day” before she will have more. She can visually monitor what’s left in a way she never could with credit cards or checks. She thinks harder about each purchase because she has to hand over good ‘ole U.S. currency. In our digital age, we’ve become desensitized to value of money. Money has been reduced to figures on an ATM screen, or a balance on a credit card statement. We’ve lost touch with CASH. By recognizing psychological power of currency and implementing an allowance system, Jennifer has been able to stay within her monthly budget and make tremendous progress. TAKE ACTION Try allowance approach for 1 month. Follow these steps: 1. Pick a day of week for your allowance day. Consider your spending habits. If you usually spend a lot on weekends, you may prefer an allowance day early in week so you don’t run out of cash too soon. 2. Review your monthly budget. 3. Identify all of items that are recurring, such as food, entertainment, haircuts, etc. Ignore bills, such as power, rent, and phone. 4. Add up items you identified above. This is your total allowance for month. 5. Divide by number of allowance days in month. If your allowance day will be Monday, divide by number of Mondays. This is your weekly allowance. 6. Take your weekly allowance out of bank each allowance day. Don’t go back for more until next allowance day.Let me know how it goes! Email me at editor@kc-solutions.net?subject=AllowanceChallenge * Name has been changed, of course.
Kelly Cullison helps consumers eliminate large debt balances without consolidation, credit counseling or bankruptcy. Visit www.kc-solutions.net to find out how.
| | Stop Debt Collectors Cold and get Back on Your Financial FeetWritten by John Ventura, Gerri Detweiler
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You Can STOP Debt Collectors You can write to a debt collector to tell him not to contact you anymore. After he receives your letter, FDCPA requires collector to cease all contact with you other than to let you know about a specific action he is going to take -- sue you for example. The drawback of ceasing contact however, is you eliminate option of negotiating a payment arrangement with collector or settling your debt for less.However, if you believe you really don’t owe a debt or if you truly can’t afford to pay it, telling a debt collector to stop contacting you may make sense. Time and again I’ve seen collectors try to pressure consumers into paying them immediately by threatening to seize their assets, take money from their bank accounts, or garnish their wages. However, a debt collector cannot do any of these things without getting court’s permission first. Furthermore, you will have plenty of notice from court about what a debt collector wants to do so you can hire an attorney to stop him. What To Do If A Collector Violates The Law If you believe that a debt collector has violated your rights, or you need advice about best way to deal with a collector, contact a consumer attorney (visit www.naca.net for a referral). You should also register a complaint about collector with Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. For much more information about dealing with debt collectors, visit my website at http://www.StopDebtCollectorsCold.com, or contact my Co-author, Gerri Detweiler, at gerri@ultimatecredit.com.
John Ventura is a consumer law attorney and board certified in bankruptcy law. He is also a national authority on consumer and small business financial and legal issues. He has a consumer law firm in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and is the author of 13 books, including The Bankruptcy Kit and The Credit Repair Kit, and the new ebook, Stop Debt Collectors Cold. He has been featured on CNN, National Public Radio and in numerous newspaper and magazine articles nationwide.
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