Borrow Smart Holiday Loan

I just saw this ad on my Credit Union’s website. Borrow Smart Holiday Loan. Does anyone else see the fallacy in this title? Are they insinuating that it is smart to borrow money to pay for Christmas? Since I’m always curious about this stuff, I clicked on the “Click Here For Details” and this is what it said:

'Feel like the holidays arrived earlier than normal? Would extra cash help make the winter season a little merrier? With our unsecured Borrow Smart Holiday Loan, a brighter holiday can be yours! And with loan rates as low as 7.99%* APR, we will help you have a bright and merry holiday season!'

Doesn’t Christmas come the same time every year? And “extra cash,” don’t they mean... a new debt? Will going further into debt make your holiday brighter and merrier? WOW!!!! Are you kidding me!!!!

The reality is, many of us don’t save for Christmas. Instead of saving for the upcoming Christmas, many of us wait until December, and some of us have to get a loan to buy Christmas presents, or we just put the presents on our credit card.

So if you get a loan for your Christmas, that means that when January comes, instead of saving for next Christmas, you’ll start the year paying off the Christmas that just passed. What if you could save for, instead of pay back, what you spend for Christmas? How would it feel to give gifts that you actually paid for? How would it feel to watch your family enjoy their gifts instead of worrying about how you will eventually pay for those gifts?

What if I could show you how to break your dependence on credit immediately and forever? How soon do you want to get started?

Credit Card Debt Relief / Credit Counseling

I keep hearing these commercials that talk about “changes in legislation that allow you to settle your debt for half of what you owe.” There is no change or program that allows you to do this. If you default on your loan, then the credit card company will settle with you.

They'll settle after they add fees and interest and turn you over to a collection agency, who will add their fees. Then the company who will “help” you settle will add their fee. By the time you get to where you can settle for half, your bill is almost double what it was to start with. And then, the credit card company will give you a 1099 for the amount they didn’t collect from you, which means you have to pay income tax on that money. Oh, and by the way, your credit is extremely damaged at this point.

I showed a couple who was considering this, how they could pay their cards off and stay out of credit card debt forever! All of this, with no dings to their credit, and doing it faster than the debt consolidation company could get it paid off.

Only Buy Term Life Insurance…. Really?

So, you’ve probably heard that you should only buy term life insurance. If you haven’t heard that, for the most part, that is true. You should buy term life insurance to protect the income that provides for your family. If something were to happen to you and you have a family, you want that family to be able to continue on in the same lifestyle. You typically only need this coverage for up to 30 years – because after 30 years, your kids should be grown (and no longer financially dependent on you) and you should, at that point, be self insured.

So, if you have term insurance, do you also have a plan to be self insured by the time your coverage expires? What if you get to the end of your term and then still need coverage and no longer qualify for life insurance?

Does it make sense to have a small whole life insurance policy that will cover you forever? Maybe so. The truth is, no matter when you die, it will still cost your family money to bury you. Where will they get the money to bury you?

Whole life products are not what you want for all of your life insurance, because you don’t need the same amount of coverage for your entire life. You need term life insurance for the majority of your coverage to protect your family from financial disaster, in the event of your death.



865.789.6229
lsweet02@comcast.net
If you need help creating a plan that allows you to exclude the need for life insurance, I can help. If you need help assessing your current life insurance needs, I can help.

Christmas is Coming

Here is your reminder... Christmas is coming. There are 63 days left until Christmas. That is 9 weeks. Christmas is not an emergency... it comes the same time every year.

So, let me ask you... why do we end up with huge credit card bills every January? Do we forget that it is coming every year? No, we just don't plan for it, again, and then we do what we are accustomed to doing... just put it on the credit card and worry about paying for it later. How about NOT doing that this year!

If you start now, and save just $50 / week, you'll have $450 for Christmas. If you do it the other way, and just spend the $450 on your credit card and then pay it back with interest at the minimum payment... it would take you until September 2012 to pay for it, and cost you $137.87 in interest. You would end up paying $587.87 for your $450 worth of Christmas presents... yikes!

How do you pay for Christmas? Are you dependent on your credit cards to provide Christmas?

Leslie "BUSTS" BOA in The MOUTH!

this was copied right off the dano's debtbuster's website (www.danosdebtbusters.com):


Leslie helped a client who was being sued by BOA. Her client had hired an attorney who had charged her $500.00 in an effort to negotiate a settlement. The attorney got the case re-set for 90 days!


The attorney representing BOA declined to settle with the attorney and as the new case date drew near she couldn't get a response from her attorney. Out of fear of appearing in court by herself she spoke with a bankruptcy attorney who advised her to file bankruptcy on less than $10,000 in dischargable debt.


Fortunately this client approached Leslie. We quickly met with her, reassured her that we could help her sort this out. Begged her not to file bankruptcy and educated her as to how the civil court process worked. We helped her set up her budget and went with her to see the judge!
Amazingly the attorneys representing BOA were suing so many people that day that they had a folding table sitting in the lobby outside of the court room. Our new client walked over to the table offered a $75.00 a month agreed judgement on a $6600.00 debt, the attorney accepted it and we were out of the court house 10 minutes before our scheduled court time.


(Remember that the court is there for your protection always appear in court even if the opposing attorney tells you that they won't accept a pre-trial agreement. Typically the court has provisions in the law that will allow you to make a payment arrangement...If you are not sure what to do contact us!)

No Closing Costs?

Have you ever heard a mortgage company advertise “no closing costs?” I have. And it makes me angry. It makes me angry because it is a lie. There is no such thing as “no closing costs.” A loan can be structured so that the closing costs are figured into the loan, or your equity can cover the cost when you refinance, or the seller can pay them, but they are on EVERY loan. Most fees have to be on every loan. These are not optional fees that most companies just charge you for the heck of it, therefore allowing special companies to not charge them. They are fees that are associated with every loan.

Some administrative fees can differ from company to company, but the company still has to charge a fee, so they can be paid. Surely we don’t expect someone to work for us for free. Don’t be fooled, people don’t work for free. Even if a company doesn’t “show” any fees, they are getting them “on the back,” which just means they have charged you a higher interest rate and are receiving extra money for doing it.

Do lenders have title companies that work for them for free? Do they have appraisers that do their jobs for free? Do the nice people at the local courthouse do their recording and only charge some people for it? Of course they don’t. “No closing costs” is a scam, and you should be leery of doing business with anyone who doesn’t tell you the facts, straight up and up front.

We should always be on alert when someone claims they can do something that no other person / company in their field can do. Sometimes they can, but most of the time, they are just misleading or manipulating you.

Have you been sucked into this or any other misleading offer?

"BIG MISTAKE"

She says she wishes she had never signed a contract with her gym. She signed, and then was laid off, then fell and broke her finger, causing her to have surgery on her hand. They would not let her out of her contract.. well they reworked it to lower her payments, but didn’t tell her that they extended her contract an extra year to do so. She hasn’t been to the gym in a year and a half and still owes them over $2,000.

You’ve got to be careful signing a contract. Why? Because you can’t predict the future. You sign a contract, but the contract doesn’t have a “if my circumstances change” clause in it. No matter what your circumstances are (other than death or judgment), you are still obligated to fulfill your part of the contract, and the company is under no obligation to let you out of it.

Obviously my friend couldn’t use the gym; she couldn’t use her hand. She also was laid off, and couldn’t afford it anymore either. It makes sense to us that she shouldn’t have to pay for something she can’t use or afford… except she signed a contract agreeing to do so. We have to remember that even though we sign a contract with a “nice” employee, a contract is a contract, and it is a legal agreement. It is very unlikely that you will ever, not be held fully accountable to fulfill your obligation to that company.

Gym memberships are sold with 3yr agreements because they know most people wouldn’t keep their membership otherwise. They don’t accept settlements and most keep attorneys on hand because they end up suing so many of their customers. If a gym believed that their services were of value to their customers, they wouldn’t have contracts, because their customers would recognize the value of their service and keep going.

What is your “big mistake?”

Paying too much for life insurance?

A friend of mine did the resonsible thing, and bought life insurance, when she had a child. She did what most of us do, and went to a trusted friend, who then sold her overpriced insurance.

I was able to look at her coverage, and show her how she was paying too much for her life insurance. I was able to write her a policy for the same amount of coverage (plus a child rider) for half the price of what she was currently paying, and she didn't even have to take a medical exam this time. I then showed her how to use the extra money she had each month to pay off some of her debt.

So instead of just having life insurance, she now has life insurance for her, coverage for her little girl, and money left over!

Qualifying = Affordable?

If you qualify for a loan, does that mean you can afford it?

Since I write mortgages, I put myself to the test. Based on our current debts & income, the industry says we can afford a payment of roughly 3x what our current payment is. 3 times! Even in this recession, that is what the mortgage industry says we can afford. If we took this payment obligation, we could probably squeeze it out each month, but would have no money to save, no money to give, and no margin in our lives. We would be one small emergency away from financial disaster.

If I have no wiggle room in my budget, I have to say, that would add unneeded stress to my life. The added stress would wear me down as a mother, wife, and friend. Maybe that's why we feel so much pressure in our lives. We want to have the latest and the greatest, which causes us to live at the edge of our ability to pay and then we wonder why we have no victory in our finances. We borrow for houses, cars, toys, vacations, and everything else, and then wonder why we live in bondage. It's because we are in bondage - we are slaves to our things, enslaved by our payments, slaves to the lenders.

Maybe this is how we get into the messes we get into. We are led to believe that we can afford things, by lenders agreeing to lend us the money. We buy things because a financial institution (that we trust) agrees to lend us the money, therefore telling us that we can afford them.

Don't we also buy to gain approval of our spouse, friends, children, and even strangers. Why do we spend money that we don't have on things we can't afford, to impress people, some of whom we don’t even know or like? Why do we think having things makes us better or more likeable? Isn’t that really why I want most of this stuff… so you will think I’m “doing good,” and then if I have your approval, I can be proud of myself?


Just because you will be lent the money, does NOT mean you can afford it. Let's use wisdom when making decisions. In light of my past experiences, my current situation, and my future hopes and dreams, is this a wise decision for me? (and you can thank Andy Stanley (I think) for that last line)

Being Sued By The Health Club

One of our debt busters in Dickson, TN helped a client who was being sued by a local fitness center for a gym membership she could no longer afford.

The debt buster sat down with the client and showed her how to contact the attorney and attempt to negotiate before gong to court. The attoryney refused to accept payments so they went to court.

Once they appeared in court, the judge allowed them to go outside and negotiate payment arrangements. The client offered $50 a month on a $1,000 debt and the attorney refused.

We explained to our client how to file a motion for installment payments (a slow pay motion) and a week later the court looked at our client's budget and forced the fitness center to accept the $50 a month payment.

Remember: No matter what the plantiff attorney tells you, the court is there to protect you from creditors. If you or someone you know has a question or needs help, contact me for a free consultation.

health insurance affordability

I commented on my cousin's facebook this morning and here's what that thread and it's comments has lead me to say:

I have a lot of thoughts (and questions) about healthcare, and I don't have the answers either. I know there are exceptions to what i have to say, so when you read this, know that I am speaking generally, and not including every person or every situation...

When I hear people say that they can't afford healthcare, I think they choose not to afford it, by affording other luxuries in their lives. Health insurance is not a right, it is a privilege (as is the luxury in our lives). When we add up our "bill" for luxury in our lives, what does it equal? Car payments, mani/pedi, shopping, entertainment, eating out - would that be $300-$1,000 a month for most people? I think that would be a fair guess. that said... could you find coverage for that much? More than likely.

We pay over $350 monthly, through an employer, and don't have great coverage. Health insurance isn't cheap through an employer either. It's cheaper than buying it independently, but let's not be confused and think that it's not a significant cost. - It's just a little different because we never "see" the money.

I also think the medical providers should do better at helping people and giving discounts and that insurance companies drive up the price of medical care by the requirements they create. I also don't think there is one answer to any of this. I do, however, think a lot of it is a personal responsibility. I think that we (self included) get used to a lifestyle and then feel entitled to that lifestyle, even when our situation changes. (ex: income changes, job changes, location changes, having kids, paying tuition, living on your own again or the first time)

That thought leads me to believe that the healthcare "crisis" is not such a crisis. I know that there are those out there who are denied coverage because of their health. I know people have lost their job, and therefore their health insurance. I wish that this wasn't reality for some, and I don't have the solution to those problems either. However, I am certain that a lot more people can afford things they claim they can't - I just look at their lifestyle.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and since I know that healthcare is a heated topic, please be respectful in your comments. This was not posted as a platform for attack, but as something to think about ...

What I Believe

After talking with a few people, I realized that this blog doesn't tell you what I believe about finances and what my views about debt are. well, here you go... this is what I believe.

First of all, I believe that it is all God's and He lets us keep 90% of our income. If you are a Christian, you should tithe, this is a biblical command, it is not an option (Lev 27:30). Next, I believe that the borrower is slave to the lender, period. That too is biblical (Prov. 22:7). Even if you are not a Believer, you will learn that this principle is a fact. When you owe someone money, you ARE a slave to them. I believe that having money saved is the only way to break dependence on credit cards. I believe that the way consumers borrow money in our culture is generally irresponsible, and I believe the way companies treat the consumer is ridiculous and unfair.

I believe that you CAN get out of debt. I have learned some tools and techniques that can help you. I coach because people need encouragement and accountability. I (and dano's debtbusters) are on a crusade to teach Americans to get out of debt and change the way that corporations treat the consumer. I want to educate people on how these financial institutions and companies work and how they intentionally take advantage of us.

Some of the things we (dano's debtbusters) have helped people with are: bankruptcy, wage garnishments, harassing phone calls, debt negotiation, filing unemployment, repositioning assets, saving homes from foreclosure, and assisting consumers in court. Let me make sure it is understood - we don't charge you thousands of dollars, ruin your credit, and then negotiate your debt, we TEACH YOU how to do it, and coach you through it. You just don't learn anything if you let someone else do all the work for you.

My heart is in helping people, therefore, I will coach you out of debt. If you need some help, please contact me. If you are interested in joining our crusade to get the American consumers out of debt, you can join us. I will be happy to teach you to coach others, and compensate you for that. I can personally, only coach about 6 people a week, but with more coaches... the more help... the more hope and freedom we can bring.

Cash for Clunkers

so, there was incentive to trade your car in... let me ask you, could you afford a new car before the incentive? but now with the extra $4,500 you can? really?


did you know that the $4,500 you just "earned" toward a new car will count toward your taxes as income? yep, that's right. the stimulus the government gave you, will be taxed... as income.


and let's think about this "stimulus." is it a good idea to stimulate the economy by enticing consumers to go into more debt? aren't we in a "crisis" because of the carelessness that we are acquiring debt in the first place? although i'm sure there are a FEW exceptions, i find it hard to believe that americans were just $4,500 away from being able to afford a new car.


sure, it's beneficial to those who used the stimulus, but who do you think pays for this stimulus? the auto industry? no, the government does. who pays the government? we do! it's called taxes. so everyone who didn't use it to buy a new car, paid for those who did use the stimulus. why do we continue to think the government is "giving" us "free" money?

let's make sure we understand what we are doing with these stimuluses before we blindly use them, thinking we are being given a gift. when it comes to the government, let's remember that nothing is free: freedom, money, stimulus, healthcare - we always pay, not always with dollars, but we always pay.

What is Freedom Financial?

Freedom Financial is my business. I started this business to help people get out of debt. I offer financial coaching, as well as mortgages and life insurance. I love money, becuause I have made it a tool and not a burden. I love helping people get control of their money, seeing them live in freedom as well. I do this part time, as I raise my kids, because the results of your financial freedom are important to me.

I chose do this because it matters to me that people don't live in the bondage that comes from debt. I believe that in our culture, the lines have been blurred between responsibility and entitlement when it comes to money and stuff. I have learned some tools to help get you out of your mess, a lot of them the hard way... by messing it up first. I have partnered with Dano's Debt Busters, and we are on a crusade to help Americans get out of debt.

I have started this blog to share my thoughts about the financial world. I hope this site offers you encouragement and gives you a sense of empowerment in your financial life. There is so much "financial" information out there, and most of it is bad, and a lot of it is even expensive.

Why aren't we taught how to do this "real life" stuff in school? Maybe because the same people who approve our curriculum also try to stimulate the economy by encouraging us to go into more debt, which is what got us into this mess in the first place. (sorry, that's an entire different post)

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments as the blog progresses!
You can also email me for coaching, mortgages, and life insurance at lsweet02@comcast.net.