Please note, this article does not intend to provide legal or professional advice of any kind. Your situation may be uniquely different than what is written about here, please be sure to consult with your attorney or other appropriate professional for advice on your personal situation.

The first thing to consider is that you should have a shift in your mindset. A bill collector, if contacting you by phone, is simply a telemarketer trying to sell you on the idea that you owe his company money.

Most of the time, you arguably do not owe them money. This may be especially true regarding credit card debt. However, they will do their best to intimidate or bully you into thinking you do owe them money and that you ‘have’ to pay them.

If they had a legal leg to stand on, they would most likely persue you in your local court system instead of calling you on the telephone.

What is often going on, especially in regard to credit card debt, is that the alleged ‘debt’ is nothing more than a charge off from a legitimate credit card company that was sold to the collection agency for pennies on the dollar. When the credit card company wrote the lost debt off, they took a tax credit from the federal government. At that point, it is arguable that they lost the right to collect anything on that debt.

However, the ‘bill collector’ will try to collect the full amount from you or ‘settle’ for half or a quarter. In reality, they would be making a huge profit on the pennies that they spent for your information!

Keep that in mind when they call you.

Here is a wonderful way to handle these people. They will most likely not make it past your 5th question without trying to interrupt you. Once they realize that you are not easy prey, they will actually try to get off the phone with YOU.

They work on commission and if they know they cannot collect from you, they will quickly move on to the next person on their list. No potential money, means they will not want to talk to you!

Here is what you can do. And this works equally well with most other telemarketers too!

You can tell them that when speaking on the phone to someone you do not personaly know that you require a series of questions to be answered before you will speak with them.

Here are some samples – and you should take your time and write down every answer making them spell things out most of the time just for fun!

Example:

What is your name? Spell it for me.

What company do you work for? Spell it for me.

What is the address of your company? Spell it for me.

What is your telephone number? Spell it for me.

What is your cube or office number? Repeat that for me.

(remember, if they interupt you, remind them that answering all of your questions is a requirement you have when talking to someone you don’t personally know – Failure to answer ALL of your questions will result in termination of the call) [ This puts YOU in the driver's seat] They have no option but to comply or hang up.

What is your boss’ full name? Spell it.

What is your boss’ telephone number? Repeat it for me.

What is your personal telephone number (not your work number)? Repeat it for me.

What is your home address? Repeat it for me.

What is your Social security number? Repeat it for me.

What are the names of your children? Spell them for me.

Where do they go to school at? Spell that for me.

When are they home alone? Repeat that for me.

(No telemarketer / bill collector in their right mind will honestly answer these questions) However, if they do not – remind them that this is a requirement before you will talk to them!

By this time, they will most likely hang up on you.

However, if they do not and you run out of questions. Here is the final way to deal with them.

Since I don’t know you and my time is very valuable, I charge a fee just to talk to me. The rate is $50 per hour (or whatever amount you want) with one hour paid in advance. Do you have a paypal account?

Have them send you a paypal payment and that you will wait to confirm you have received the payment before CALLING THEM BACK on their personal cell number of course!

If they are dumb enough to pay you, you should consider calling them back, it is a great way to make some cash. LOL. .

You get the idea, it is unlikely that these bill collectors / telemarketers will make it through the first 5 questions before trying to interupt you or just plain hanging up on you!

Problem solved! Remember, bill collectors that call you are just telemarketers trying to sell you the idea that you owe them money!

Please note, this article does not intend to provide legal or professional advice of any kind. Your situation may be uniquely different than what is written about here, please be sure to consult with your attorney or other appropriate professional for advice on your personal situation.

I was reading an AP report that talked about the possibility that a Trader working for CitiGroup erroneously entered a futures trade of 16 Billion instead of 16 Million – a ‘small’ difference. And this may have led to an automated sell of.

The Nasdaq at one point may have also listed erroneous stock prices on Proctor and Gamble (PG) and possibly other stocks as well (unconfirmed at this point – but speculation abounds. NASDAQ did also ‘cancel’ trades made during a certain period of time. Now THAT is a bit telling, isn’t it?

Assuming this whole thing was a false sell off – I feel sorry for the people who got hurt by this!

You have to admit, if the market falls by 1,000 points and then rebounds immediate by 650 points – ‘Something’ does not seem right!

Comment below if you agree or disagree or have something to add! Just say something to let me know you are ALIVE!

Click here for the Google Cash Detective Free Trial – You don’t even need to provide any payment information.

Amazingly enough, Chris Carpenter has opened access to his Google Cash Detective via a free trial.

This is the same software that people have paid close to $2000 to access.

The free trial does not even require any credit card information. You simply try it and if you don’t like it you don’t pay. You won’t be billed because you didn’t provide any payment information.

This is a great way to try out Chris’ system and to see if it will work for you.

Then, you will know if it is worth investing in or not. No one will tell, you will know for yourself and make your own decision based on results that you received during the trial period.

This makes signing up for free access a no brainer. But hurry, Chris has said that he will only grant access to this free trial until June 23rd 2009.

So hurry up to get a free trial on the same software and system that people have paid almost $2000 to access.

Next: Click here to get the free trial to the exclusive Google Cash Detective

The NEWS last night discussed how consumers were tightening down their spending – starting to only buy what was needed to survive – such as food.

This causes greater problems for the economy. As people spend less, more companies will lose money and lay more people off, which means even less money to go around.

The circulation of money is what keeps the economy moving. As you can surmise, the more afraid people become, the less money circulates. People want to hang on to what they have.

This is the reason why analysts talk about the ‘consumer confidence index’ so much.

So what is to be done? The government has to find a way to make people, particularly consumers, less afraid.

At the same time, the banks are also afraid, making it harder for businesses to get necessary loans to survive and grow. Business needs to grow and if it cannot get the capital it needs to grow, it will be forced to lay people off, etc.

As you can see this is a big problem. Our new president will need to tackle this problem head on. If he fails, the world economy will continue to suffer. It is difficult to predict the outcome – at this point.

For the rich, they have pleny of money to ride out the tough economic times, they will not suffer so much. But the common man and woman, will not have vast reserved to fall back on. When their jobs and savings run out, what will they do?

The time is now and taking action is key? But what action should you take? As always, information is needed! As they say, knowledge is power. How will you and I get through these times?

Click Here to learn more about surviving and even thriving during a recession

Posted by: David Snape
Author: What You Should Know about Gum Disease
ISBN: 978-0-9814855-0-8

PS: Learn about busting the personal stress that comes with tough times with this powerful meditation program

The adjustable rate mortgage sure sounded good a few years back; you got 100% financing at a very low interest rate; fixed for 3 years before it resets or adjusts according to the market. You probably had a plan to sell the home soon or refinance before the rates went up. You didn’t count on the values declining to the point where you owe more than the home is worth, making refinancing difficult to impossible. Your rate continues to adjust, the payment increases significantly, you cannot afford the payments and you are in danger of losing your home.

Following are stages of foreclosure and your options:

Miss one payment: Payments that are 30 days late are reported to credit bureaus to be reflected on your credit report and factored into your credit score.

Miss three payments: Typically, lenders file a notice of default at this time; some are very aggressive and some wait up to a year to file. Some hold off if you have contacted them and made satisfactory payment arrangements. Of course, more late payments are reflected on your credit report.

The notice of default is public record; soon you are receiving mail and phone calls from companies promising to save your home or reduce your payments. You are also an easy target for scam artists who promise to take over your mortgage while you pay them rent; they collect your rent, they don’t pay the mortgage and the foreclosure process continues as your credit suffers more damage.

90 days after the notice of default: Lenders typically give borrowers 90 days from the notice of default to make up their payments, late fees, legal fees and any other charges that have accrued. If the arrearage is not paid up, a notice of sale is sent out and the foreclosure sale takes place within the next 30 to 60 days. At this point, your credit report is quite bruised and your lender may or may not be willing to work with you.

Options: It is important to contact your lender and speak to someone in the loss mitigation department as soon as possible; the earlier in the process you are the more options you will have. Resolving issues early will help avoid serious damage to your credit report. You will be more likely to work something out with the lender before the foreclosure sale, also known as sheriff’s sale.

Look into Refinance Options: If you have equity in your home and your lender hasn’t yet filed a notice of default, you may be able to refinance with a more affordable mortgage. An experienced mortgage broker will be able to help you determine your best option. Do not get into another adjustable rate mortgage or interest only mortgage, leaving you vulnerable to repeating the process.

Workout or Modification: If you enter into a workout agreement with your lender it is important to be focused on a plan that works with your budget. You must be able to make the payments as agreed; if you fail to make the payments, the lender will accelerate the foreclosure process.

Short Sale: If you owe more than your home is worth, it is sometimes in the lender’s best interest to accept a short payoff on the mortgage balance. This saves having a non-performing property on the books that continues to lose value in today’s declining market. A short sale will have less damaging effect on your credit report as you are doing something to meet your obligation to the lender.

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure: You can offer to sign your home over to your lender in exchange for being released from the mortgage obligation. This keeps you from having to pay off the mortgage and the lender avoids further legal costs to complete a foreclosure. The lender does not have to accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure; typically, he will require that you try to sell the home first.

Credit Counseling Services: Legitimate credit counseling services typically have housing counselors who can analyze your situation and help you evaluate your options.

Let Foreclosure Run its Course: You should save this for your last option after all other methods to avoid foreclosure have been exhausted. In some states and some cases, the lender can go after you for any deficit between what the house eventually sells for and what he is owed.

Foreclosure, though devastating and overwhelming, is not the end of the world. You can get through this difficult time, reorganize and rebuild your life and your credit score. You will be able to get another mortgage and with knowledge and experience gained from this situation, you will be less likely to go through this a second time.

This article was written by David Smith of U-Move-On, a company who helps people find the best solution to their foreclosure problem. U-Move-On assists in evaluating the individual situation and explains all one’s options. They provide the resources and services for help with the entire foreclosure process, credit restoration, finding another nice home, moving expenses, legal help and more. There is no complicated contract to sign and you do not quit claim interest in your home.

Contact:

David Smith, Founder

400 Ann Arbor Rd #185

Plymouth, MI 48170

734-756-6050

Email: umoinfo@umoveon.com

Website: http://www.umoveon.com