Funny sounding and actually quite appropriate for this time of the season. With Halloween right around the corner, the leaves turning red, orange and yellow. The sight of

monsters, goblins, creepy and eerie things that you only find in horror films. Isn’t that what this month’s tone happens to be all about?

The days are growing shorter, the nights are growing colder and nothing except those holiday jitters to face from now until after the New Year. Gosh it just seems like time has started rapidly increasing to the point that it seems there are not enough hours in the day. Those little “it can wait” thoughts about calling a creditor, arranging some payments on a past due bill.

You know what I mean all of those little things we say we will do later, such as saving up for our children’s college tuition. What about saving up for our own retirement. How about eliminating some debt to remove a burden of stress off of our shoulders.

I can remember when that feeling of debt and past due bills were eliminated from my life. I can also remember when having a credit card was such a temptation to spend while being a curse to have because I was desperate to eat and the credit card was my only source of purchase.

The core of the dilemma here is that we as humans and more so as a society have become dependent on an instant gratification type of mentality with the audacity to buy everything on credit so you have to pay exorbitant interest rates that wind up consuming every dollar you have towards getting out of debt and creating a bright future for you and your family.

So again I ask is it your fear of change, becoming debt free or some other positive shift forward in your life that is holding you back from your achievement of financial freedom. If you don’t think you are standing in your own way of success by hiding from the real truth of the matter; then you need to step aside and take a good hard look at your life from the outside looking in.

Life is full of uncanny surprises and challenges no doubt. When you learn from your mistakes you can move forward at leaps and bounds you never dreamed possible. It all starts with just a little discipline and patience. You know exactly what I am talking about… “The Pillars of Wealth” just a few shifts and you’re off and running at the races and headed straight to the wealth you have always deserved.

• Stand together and unite for wealth, strength and unity We all have our pre conceived notions as well as our reservations towards introducing new people into our lives. Having worked with hundreds of people and charting courses of financial needs and desires, I've come to the conclusion that for the people who are willing to take a chance and......
• What to do after you become wealthy SO you've made it, that "pie in the sky, pipe dream" your friends always said would never amount to anything. You know when you went out to talk with your associates, close friends and family for input or advice. All of your hard knocks, bloody knuckles, sweat and tears combined......
• You can purchase an investment with a credit card 5 things to watch as you invest this way We have all heard the term leverage used when it comes to real estate and investing. Leverage the equity, leverage some one else for their skills and talents or their credit and financial stability. Have you ever heard the term leverage the credit card for making real estate purchases? I......
• Who's your competition when it comes to land banking for profits According tot the title of this article you do have some competition in this unique niche of real estate investing. Land banking is usually used for the purpose of acquiring land in the path of growth of a major metropolitan city and holding that property for the long term to......
• Organizing your daily financial routine Wealth it all starts with a concept, the challenge is making the mind choose from the heart. I know this may seem funny at first but you will soon realize that your actually doing it. You see when you make choices they always come from the heart first, then the......

• Emergency Debt Relief Credit Debt Counseling Have your found yourself in a spot where you experience a stack of bills and no money to pay them? If so, you may want to consider emergency debt relief credit debt counseling. Now you'll find that in spite of the bad rep that several credit counseling companies have......
• Improve Your Financial Life With Five Daily Actions The year is drawing to a close, and soon people will be scrambling to declare resolutions for the New Year.  I am no exception.  In years past I have identified two or three things I would like to improve on, but usually burn out by March. The goals probably sound......
• Paying Off Debt From Inheritance The other day I was listening to a local radio show about personal finances.  The host took a call from an emotional listener (I'll call her Kelly) who had recently lost her mother to cancer. Kelly's mother left behind a $100,000 life insurance policy, along with a number of other......
• It's the Carnival Roundup! We at American Consumer News have been hitting the carnival circuit - we've been mentioned all over the 'net and to show our appreciation to the hard work the carnival hosts put in to get each edition published, here's a round-up of carnivals.  They're just full of entertaining and informative......
• Top 3 Tips for Saving Money on Term Life Insurance Coverage If you are looking for an affordable means of protecting the future of your family, term life insurance coverage is the way to go. This type of life insurance provides an individual with basic coverage for a specific amount of time. The payments are fixed, which means that they do......

Have you considered using a debt settlement company for your over leveraged credit lines? What’s the best method, service provider and option for you as a consumer? These are questions that many people should be asking before they answer an ad for a company who “specializes in debt consolidation.”

Many companies that perform debt settlement and consolidation have a couple of pitfalls. First off many of them negotiate with your creditors and set up a payment plan, then the funds that they collect every month are accrued and collected for their fees first, then after a period of time up to six months your capital is being applied to their costs and not your debt.

Secondly they are consumer advocates and not necessarily attorney based there for when your creditor decides to sue you for settlement trying to force your hand into financial turmoil or bankruptcy you get dropped from the debt settlement company.

Scenario case and point we had a client in our office who needed a debt settlement service so we directed them to a known source. The payment plan was negotiated and set up for three years. Soon after the program started the clients proceeded to make the required payments. After three months and $7,500 later the clients received a notice from their mortgage company.

They were being sued, after contacting the debt settlement company 3 days before the end of the refund policy they talked it over and decided to file bankruptcy. The couple called the debt settlement company back and they were informed of two issues.

1. Yes we see you have been issued a lawsuit by the mortgage company & that they would not be receiving any refund.

2. You are also being dropped from our program because we do not have an attorney on staff,

Needless to say we had some very, very upset clients for the obvious reasons of loss of thousands of dollars and now being dropped for something totally out of their control. Now they had to file a bankruptcy to save their home, which translated into more of an expense and more headaches.

Another scenario plays the same way; the debt settlement company charges a fee of $14,000 up front on $100,000 in debt. The credit card company receives no payments for several months and issues a lawsuit. The clients are out the months of payment for debt settlement, they received a total of three months and simultaneously were dropped from the debt settlement company because they did not have an attorney on staff.

When it comes to debt settlement you need just as much legal protection in this arena as you would to modify a loan or start a corporation and draw up the documentation. Time and time again people fall victim to companies who are out for their own agenda and business gain.

It’s sad yet people make decisions based on emotions and not necessarily on well thought out or planned out strategy and they wind up with either a band-aid on a sever wound that needed proper medical attention; or they wind up with a situation that is far worse than the one they started off with.

Also besides having the professional advise of an attorney you have the representation to assist you when those creditors retaliate against you. This way you can rest assured that you are protected and safe from those unexpected bumps in the road.

• Organizing your daily financial routine Wealth it all starts with a concept, the challenge is making the mind choose from the heart. I know this may seem funny at first but you will soon realize that your actually doing it. You see when you make choices they always come from the heart first, then the......
• The Jury Has Made Their Decision - The Judge Said You're Facing A Life Sentence What Are You Going Too Do? “Test results are back and the prognosis doesn't look good...” My wife's Doctor was a nervous wreck after she reviewed her file. We have all taken tests from the Doctors office and stressed over the outcome of the results; usually everything checks out okay, what do you do when......
• Stand together and unite for wealth, strength and unity We all have our pre conceived notions as well as our reservations towards introducing new people into our lives. Having worked with hundreds of people and charting courses of financial needs and desires, I've come to the conclusion that for the people who are willing to take a chance and......
• Recovering from bankruptcy isn't as difficult as you may think I hear this cry from many people worried about their financial circumstances after they have decided that bankruptcy is their only alternative when it comes to recovering from financial hardship. I'm not an attorney yet I work very closely with them in my real estate business. On many occasions bankruptcy......
• Planning your way to wealth When it comes to wealth creation planning is the most crucial element. This requires forethought as well as accountability to your financial advisers, your actions as well as your overall strategy for amassing wealth. Planning your way means you actually sit and evaluate your past, present and future financial needs.......

• How to Undo The Results of Financial Trauma Whether you’ve lost your home or your job, or your money management skills over the years have left you severely in the hole, it is never to early to start turning things around. You can bounce back from financial trauma, but it will take some effort and dedication on your......
• Debt Settlement Complaints On The Rise It comes as no surprise that consumer complaints regarding the debt settlement industry have spiked in recent years. Hundreds of new companies offering debt relief have sprouted up, seemingly overnight, to provide services to the millions of Americans who are struggling with debt. Many consumers, desperate to eliminate debt, jump......
• Is Going Into Debt Ever Worth It? Debt has become such a dirty word these days, and in many cases, there is good reason for that. Americans are saddled with unheard of amounts of debt and the problem is not just going to go away. In some cases, debt is absolutely necessary, while in others, it is......
• What is Bankruptcy? Understand the process of bankruptcy before you file the forms by yourself or with an attorney. To start the process of bankruptcy, a person with an unwieldy amount of debt files for bankruptcy in the nearest court. This process is normally done with the help of attorney, a person is......
• "Debt Crisis in America" & JCR Advertising are Evil I don't know if you've seen the Debt Crisis in America commercials on television or not, but when I saw them, I thought, "This is a whole new level of scummy advertising." If you haven't seen them, you can watch two of them here. I can't decide which one is......