I recently wrote an article on adopting some practical approaches to help reduce harassing collection calls. My first article on this subject highlighted the use of a call privacy manager from your phone company and a telezapper type of device. In my experience both of these methods can be a highly effective means for dealing with these types of annoying calls. I have also done some further research and tested the free method described below with good results.
What a telezapper essentially does is emit a special information tone ("SIT") when you or your answering machine picks up. The SIT tricks the predictive dialer into thinking your number is not in service and it will usually delete your number from its records. Provided the predictive dialer being used by the collection agency or telemarketers is set to remove telephone numbers from its records when it hears a SIT, you will enjoy many more quiet dinners with your family, and fewer harassing phone calls.
Google "special information tone" and you will find several websites that have SIT information and let you play the tone to hear it.
TIP: You can download this tone for free from many of these websites and record it onto your answering machine prior to your voice mail greeting. If you do this it is a good idea to leave a couple of seconds of dead air between the SIT and your greeting.
This technique is free and can be nearly as effective at stopping collection calls and telemarketer using predictive dialers. The only downside is that that real callers trying to reach you will have to tolerate the SIT before they hear your greeting.
Richard Cooper is Founder & CEO at Total Debt Freedom Inc. Canada's most respected debt settlement company. Total Debt Freedom offers debt settlement plans that can save you 50-70% of what you owe and get you debt free in 1 - 3 years. http://www.totaldebtfreedom.ca
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Borrowing Your Way Out of Debt - The Shocking Truth Exposed
The phrase that most people associate with getting out of debt is "debt consolidation". Consolidating debt requires getting a new loan to pay out existing debts. This situation is ideal if you have great credit and can get an interest rate lower then what you are paying right now.
Now there are two types of consolidation loans. Unsecured loans are not secured against an asset and typically have higher interest rates and secured loans (mortgages) are collateral loans and have lower interest rates.
Often the best and easiest way to get a lower interest rate is to get a second mortgage and pay off the debts with the proceeds of that financing. Consolidating your high interest credit card debts into a lower interest second mortgage is smart.
Borrowing unsecured money in the form of a consolidation loan is a very expensive way to pay off debt, you can expect to pay much more then what you borrowed doing things this way. This is a dumb way to get rid of debt but extremely profitable for the lender.
Those with bad credit often make the colossal mistake of getting an unsecured loan at an even higher interest rate unsecured loan then what they are paying now. Unsecured consolidation loans can range from 28-35% interest. Run; don't walk away from these debt consolidation offers. This is not the best solution to debt. You cannot borrow your way out of debt with these types of loans and it is almost always a path to much deeper troubles.
If you are not a homeowner and have bruised credit then getting a consolidation loan with a lower interest rate is probably not an option. Your bank will tell you if they can help or not. Bankruptcy is an option but should only be used as a last resort.
If you do not have any security like a home to put up then your best bet is a debt settlement plan. Provided you owe $10,000 or more in unsecured debt and have steady income. You can get out of debt in 12-36 months; even with the fees you pay, your total cost is usually about half of what you originally owed. Debt settlement plans are highly effective at eliminating debt and should always be considered before bankruptcy if your bank turns you down. What debt settlement does is reduce your debt by about 50-70% before you pay it.
Homeowners with sufficient equity but bad credit can actually get out of debt in about one month. The same principle of debt settlement applies as above, the only difference is the money to settle is available right away and you can get out of debt much sooner.
Debt settlement and mortgage financing is a marriage made in heaven for those in financial hardship, but not all homeowners will qualify.
Talk to a reputable debt settlement company like Total Debt Freedom Inc. and get a free consultation to see if it will work for you.
Richard Cooper is Founder & CEO at Total Debt Freedom Inc. Canada's most respected debt settlement company. Total Debt Freedom offers debt settlement plans that can save you 50-70% of what you owe and get you debt free in 1 - 3 years. http://www.totaldebtfreedom.ca
Now there are two types of consolidation loans. Unsecured loans are not secured against an asset and typically have higher interest rates and secured loans (mortgages) are collateral loans and have lower interest rates.
Often the best and easiest way to get a lower interest rate is to get a second mortgage and pay off the debts with the proceeds of that financing. Consolidating your high interest credit card debts into a lower interest second mortgage is smart.
Borrowing unsecured money in the form of a consolidation loan is a very expensive way to pay off debt, you can expect to pay much more then what you borrowed doing things this way. This is a dumb way to get rid of debt but extremely profitable for the lender.
Those with bad credit often make the colossal mistake of getting an unsecured loan at an even higher interest rate unsecured loan then what they are paying now. Unsecured consolidation loans can range from 28-35% interest. Run; don't walk away from these debt consolidation offers. This is not the best solution to debt. You cannot borrow your way out of debt with these types of loans and it is almost always a path to much deeper troubles.
If you are not a homeowner and have bruised credit then getting a consolidation loan with a lower interest rate is probably not an option. Your bank will tell you if they can help or not. Bankruptcy is an option but should only be used as a last resort.
If you do not have any security like a home to put up then your best bet is a debt settlement plan. Provided you owe $10,000 or more in unsecured debt and have steady income. You can get out of debt in 12-36 months; even with the fees you pay, your total cost is usually about half of what you originally owed. Debt settlement plans are highly effective at eliminating debt and should always be considered before bankruptcy if your bank turns you down. What debt settlement does is reduce your debt by about 50-70% before you pay it.
Homeowners with sufficient equity but bad credit can actually get out of debt in about one month. The same principle of debt settlement applies as above, the only difference is the money to settle is available right away and you can get out of debt much sooner.
Debt settlement and mortgage financing is a marriage made in heaven for those in financial hardship, but not all homeowners will qualify.
Talk to a reputable debt settlement company like Total Debt Freedom Inc. and get a free consultation to see if it will work for you.
Richard Cooper is Founder & CEO at Total Debt Freedom Inc. Canada's most respected debt settlement company. Total Debt Freedom offers debt settlement plans that can save you 50-70% of what you owe and get you debt free in 1 - 3 years. http://www.totaldebtfreedom.ca
How to Stop Collection Calls
Harassing collection calls when you owe debt can be a nightmare. People tell me all the time how relentlessly the phone can ring when they owe money. There is a way to minimize this and actually stop it in most cases.
Adopting these techniques is also effective in stopping the horrible telemarketers that call you every evening offering windows, doors, lawn care and the like.
The first thing you must understand is most collection agencies, telemarketers and banks have adopted predictive dialing systems for making outbound calls. They are highly effective because each agent doesn't have to manually dial a number each time they call out. Instead they will hire 300 collectors for every 1,000 lines that are dialed out. The computer actually dials more numbers then agents available to take the calls. This minimizes time spent dialing numbers and getting disconnected numbers or no answers.
The way it works is when the computerized dialer recognizes a human voice on the receiving end of the call, it immediately connects the call to the first available bill collector. Sometimes there is a delay in the connection because the collectors are busy wrapping up another call, which is why you can sometimes end up saying "hello" several times before you talk to a human.
Your first step you should take is ordering a call privacy feature from your phone company. This feature essentially prompts the inbound caller with a message like "the person you are trying to reach does not accept calls from unknown or private numbers, please state your name before we attempt to connect you". The computer isn't able to state a name so the call drops and the call is not connected. Your phone doesn't even ring.
This feature is offered by almost every phone company and goes by names like: call privacy, anonymous caller ID or anonymous caller rejection. I have looked at several phone providers' websites and the price seems to range from $2/m to $5/m.
The other preventative step you should take is a telezapper. I have tested this myself and they work well. This is a device you attach to your phone. Essentially when you or your answering machine pick up it detects a predictive dialer calling and it plays a tone that tricks the dialer into believing your telephone number is disconnected. The predictive dialer removes the number from its calling list to limit wasting its calling resources at a later date. It is a very effective tool for $39.99 on the telezapper website; I got mine off eBay for $15.
Since the majority of the debt collection calls you will receive are made by a predictive dialer, you will stop collectors and even telemarketers in their tracks. I am not advocating hiding from your payment obligations to your creditors, but adopting these tips will let you fight back and at least give you an opportunity to minimize the collection harassment while you work out a debt elimination strategy.
If you need help getting out of debt, take 15 minutes and get a free consultation from our debt settlement specialists by calling (866) 833-1992 or fill out the form on our website at http://www.totaldebtfreedom.ca to learn more about debt settlement.
Adopting these techniques is also effective in stopping the horrible telemarketers that call you every evening offering windows, doors, lawn care and the like.
The first thing you must understand is most collection agencies, telemarketers and banks have adopted predictive dialing systems for making outbound calls. They are highly effective because each agent doesn't have to manually dial a number each time they call out. Instead they will hire 300 collectors for every 1,000 lines that are dialed out. The computer actually dials more numbers then agents available to take the calls. This minimizes time spent dialing numbers and getting disconnected numbers or no answers.
The way it works is when the computerized dialer recognizes a human voice on the receiving end of the call, it immediately connects the call to the first available bill collector. Sometimes there is a delay in the connection because the collectors are busy wrapping up another call, which is why you can sometimes end up saying "hello" several times before you talk to a human.
Your first step you should take is ordering a call privacy feature from your phone company. This feature essentially prompts the inbound caller with a message like "the person you are trying to reach does not accept calls from unknown or private numbers, please state your name before we attempt to connect you". The computer isn't able to state a name so the call drops and the call is not connected. Your phone doesn't even ring.
This feature is offered by almost every phone company and goes by names like: call privacy, anonymous caller ID or anonymous caller rejection. I have looked at several phone providers' websites and the price seems to range from $2/m to $5/m.
The other preventative step you should take is a telezapper. I have tested this myself and they work well. This is a device you attach to your phone. Essentially when you or your answering machine pick up it detects a predictive dialer calling and it plays a tone that tricks the dialer into believing your telephone number is disconnected. The predictive dialer removes the number from its calling list to limit wasting its calling resources at a later date. It is a very effective tool for $39.99 on the telezapper website; I got mine off eBay for $15.
Since the majority of the debt collection calls you will receive are made by a predictive dialer, you will stop collectors and even telemarketers in their tracks. I am not advocating hiding from your payment obligations to your creditors, but adopting these tips will let you fight back and at least give you an opportunity to minimize the collection harassment while you work out a debt elimination strategy.
If you need help getting out of debt, take 15 minutes and get a free consultation from our debt settlement specialists by calling (866) 833-1992 or fill out the form on our website at http://www.totaldebtfreedom.ca to learn more about debt settlement.
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