Debt Cures 2 Book by Kevin Trudeau debt strategies

One thing I love are the money making and money rescue infomercials that are floating around on TV these days. I've already examined Jeff Paul's Shortcuts to Internet millions ad which parades women in bikins around a high-priced estate, while two beautiful model-quality hosts talk to guys who "got rich" off Jeff Paul's easy-to-use internet product. Now let's look at the the Debt Cures 2 book by Kevin Trudeau, which is selling currently for prices of about $35 new and $27.55 used on Amazon.com. It makes you wonder if this updated Debt Cures title from Kevin Trudeau really contains all the magic answers to people's current credit problems. The skeptics come out in large numbers when Trudeau is concerned because of his shaky past. He's served time for fraud, and been involved in numerous lawsuits and other court actions against him and his ventures. While this is not unusual for entrepreneurs or business ventures to have their share of troubles, Trudeau treads on thin ice as the materials he presents usually involve health or money cures. Additionally, while he's served his time, it's still a glaring fact that he was involved in "credit card fraud". This is not a smear campaign though. It's very possible Trudeau offers some help for everyday citizens swimming in debt.

"Debt Cures II - What They Really Don't Want You to Know About" by Kevin Trudeau sells for $19.95 plus $11.95 shipping and handling via the book website. The official website for the product promises specific ways to reduce or eliminate your debt, lower the payments on loans and slash your overall credit card debt. Included in the deal for that $30 (which is equal to some credit card payments) are a "Free Money" Book, "Secrets To Easy Money" CD and a"Lower Your Payments" Guide. I'll have to admit that "Secrets to Easy Money" would be something I might fork over $30 for, because that's my main interest here. Easy money helps pay off credit card debt, so possibly that deal is worth our $30. It's an investment, which may be risky, but may ultimately help you gain more money to gain more financial freedom.

I've found personally that the best debt cures are persistence, determination and patience. The snowball effect is one of my favorites debt strategies for paying down credit card debt. It's just one strategy, where you simply target your smallest debt first, working as quickly as possible to pay that one off. Once you have, you gain a mental edge on your debts and momentum towards the next debt. You shift that former debt's monthly payment (the one you payed off) into your next smallest debt, and so forth until you're able to pay them all off, one by one. When you hit the final debt which would have been your biggest, you're able to devote several payments towards it to hit it harder. You're basically building a snowball of a bigger payment to attack those debts. For fun you can even imagine that the credit card companies are seeing the debt go down quicker than expected, and they're pounding their fists on the table enraged. I've used this tactic recently and in the past, and it has worked nicely each time. It doesn't guarantee a cure to your debt immediately, but it also doesn't require tactics like bankruptcy or consolidation. I once heard on a Suze Orman show that most of what the consolidation and credit counseling agencies do for a fee, you can really do on your own, to in effect save more money.

If you've read Debt Cures or Debt Cures II book by Kevin Trudeau, I'd love to hear your comments on the books below. Are they worth the money, or is it better to save that $30 and apply it towards your debts?

Check Your Free Credit Report!

I recently received a letter from BNY Mellon Shareowner Services, a company I've used for Dividend Reinvestment Plans or DRIPS's as they're called in the Wall Street world. The letter alerted me to the fact that some backup data tapes had been lost during a transfer to an off-site storage facility. These tapes contained some of my personal data such as name, address and Social Security #. While Mellon claimed they did not believe my data would be accessed or misused (not sure how they determined this), they extended the offer to all those impacted to receive 3 free months of a credit-monitoring service. This would safeguard people from potential identity theft, by allowing them to monitor the credit reporting agency's data on them, just in case you started seeing strange credit card charges for thousands of dollars from a strip joint that you didn't make...ok, bad example but you catch my drift...

One of the biggest concepts in becoming wealthy or "getting ahead" is not only knowing where your money is coming from, but also knowing where it's going to. That means the tedious task of figuring out all your monthly bills/expenses and other "money-takers", so you know exactly what sort of spending you're doing. Another thing we all neglect to do thinking we're all good, is checking out or credit report on a regular basis. Some avoid them out of shear terror, while others just assume everything is going alright. Your credit is a big deal though especially with the recent mortgage foreclosure and bank scrutiny against loans. Financial pundit Suze Orman says you'll need an even better credit score than before to even be considered for a new home loan. And as you can see from my brief tale above, identity theft is definitely a big thing to watch for these days. There's all sorts of Paypal, eBay, banking and credit card scams and phishing going on online. Also when data's lost or your social security number is taken, that can spell potential trouble. We've all seen the commercials about the guy who has to work in a seaside fish restaurant because his identity was stolen. He recommends in his catchy tune that you get your free credit report. According to the letter I receieved from BNY Mellon, you can check your report free of charge once every 12 months.

To get yourself a free copy of your credit report simply visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Check it out, see the good, the bad and possibly the ugly. It will take about 7 years to fix some of the worst mistakes such as late payments made to credit cards, but you can get a good idea of how you rank credit-wise and insure that nothing malicious is going on behind your back.

Free Copy of Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan!

Last week Oprah Winfrey had a week full of shows to help everyone get in gear for 2009. Included were important topics ranging from your health to spirituality to our favorite topic here, MONEY. Appearing on the show about personal finances was none other than financial guru and author, Suze Orman. As a gift to all Oprah viewers (and even non-viewers), Oprah & Suze currently have a free download of Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan for free until midnight this coming January 15th (Thursday).

The book is chock full of great financial advice especially now that we're facing some tough economic times. While Suze Orman does tend to stay on the conservative side with her money advice, I noticed some gems of advice regarding credit card debt, saving and investing while browsing the free PDF download of her book. Suze tells the younger population specifically that if they won't need their investment money for 10+ years, that they should be 80-100% invested in stocks. Suze believes that younger people can buy many stocks on the cheap right now (after doing homework) and profit greatly several years forward. After all the stock market won't be down forever, just as it wasn't down forever in the Great Depression. I couldn't agree more. If you're not investing during these times, you're doing yourself a disservice and will be kicking yourself 5, 10 or 20 years from now.

Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan is a 227 page PDF download offered for free right now via Oprah.com. It's ten chapters deep, featuring specific Q&A style paragraphs covering the essentials such as getting out of debt, saving, investing, paying for college and more. Suze's book offers solid advice to help people get on the right track for a healthier financial picture in 2009 and beyond.

Download Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan (PDF) here.

The Credit Crunch Continues

You may have noticed this quite a bit lately, where various “helpful” companies are really preying upon the emotions of the credit card user and those in debt trouble. One commercial shown repeatedly on television seems to be the "freecreditreport.com" jingle. You know the one where a dude strums his guitar and sings a happy tune about how he was burned by not checking out his credit report. He sings how he had his identity stolen and credit destroyed, but if he had just checked his credit report he'd be fine. He even has to settle for a crappy, smaller car and take a job as a pirate at a restaurant, making him look like he's gone into the witness relocation program due to identity theft.

And that commercial isn't the only one being launched at people. There's also ads running all over about saving you from the IRS or "we will save you from all your debt". Consolidate now! Of course these helpful programs will also come at a fee, monthly yearly or percentage rate wise. The question really becomes who is to blame, the consumer or the lender? Credit card companies make it extremely easy for consumers to rack up debt, but the it is the consumer who makes that decision.

Even a UK site which discusses Secured Loans, says their nation's credit card market is starting to tighten the reigns on its lending criteria, reducing amounts loaned from 10,000 pounds to 5,000 pounds. Credit card companies are also starting to turn more of the risky applicants down. This has also been a repeated emphasis of 2008 presidential candidates, to save people from the debt, foreclosures and general financial mess going on in the US.

The credit card companies might be called the worst offenders here. While they don't necessarily run up all that debt, they definitely profit from it in a huge way with hidden fees, inflated interest rates and penalties. Consumers are at their mercy as they fight to survive. But when it's all said and done, the wisest decision may be to just become rich and pay for everything you want in cash, instead of letting vicious lenders gain the upperhand on you.