Don't Do Debt.com

Credit card cos increasing already pricey penalty fees

Credit card companies are substantially increasing penalty fees, in some cases as high as $49. An article released by Cardweb.com details the increases in late payments, balance transfer fees and fees for payment by phone by some credit card companies. Click here for the story.

With these substantial penalty fee increases, it's more important than ever to to avoid these costly and often unnecessary fees.

More updates on the way...

WDAV Interview on debt, etc- download available soon

Today I'm at the INTV studios (www.INTV.com), which also doubles as an encoding lab. I'm so excited because we are currenlty encoding the 11.8.03 WDAV interview and it'll soon be available through the website (www.DontDoDebt.com) and hopefully here on this webBLOG as well.

My excitement stems from the content produced in this interview. Award-winning host Rachel Jeffreys asked questions that reached deep into the heart of the problems of credit cards and debt in society. Now in addition to the content you can find on the Don't Do Debt website and on this webBLOG, you can hear the interview and find out why exactly we are going to great lengths to educate consumers about credit cards, debt and financial literacy.

Ameridebt: Friend or foe of consumers in crisis?

Recent reports announce that the FTC is suing Ameridebt for fraud: hiding fees and not educating consumers about how to get out of debt. I scoured resources for the full story and here's what I learned: The company bills itself as the friend of consumers in crisis and allegedly falsely calls itself a non-profit organization. Ameridebt charges upfront fees for debt-management plans, even though they do not advertise these initial costs. They collect money from consumers but the consumers' money goes straight to the bottom-line profit of this "not-for-profit" company.

A consumer's money is apparently NOT used to repay creditors. This is NOT GOOD. A consumer can spend thousands with Ameridebt only to find out in spite of that money spent, they are back at square one with their debt and a credit report in worse shape than before.

Keys to credit counseling:

WDAV & Debt

The end of the week came to a conclusion with a visit to WDAV.org studios in Davidson, NC and a chance to sit down with national award winning host Rachel Jeffreys. The conversation spanned a handful of thought-provoking topics such as: How can someone earning six-figures, on top of the world, end up in debt, close to bankruptcy? Why don't parents take a proactive approach to their child's financial education? Are credit cards the leading cause of bankruptcy? Of course, you can hear our conversation on "In Person" on WDAV.org, slated to air Saturday, 8 November 03 at 6:30pm. In the meantime, stay here for in-depth thoughts on some of these issues that address what's causing a crisis in our country: credit cards, debt, bankrupty, instant gratification and our society.