Last summer, Equifax launched a new product aimed at helping people reduce their debt. This product is called Equifax Debt Wise, and it’s proving to be quite popular. To be sure, it’s a unique and interesting way to keep track of how much you owe while calculating how long it will take to pay it off. For people deeply in debt, this is a real boon. However, the service isn’t free. It comes with a price tag of $14.95 a month. This may not sound like much, but in this economy, it could be a big chunk of someone’s monthly budget. So, before you sign up, you need to make sure it’s worth it for you. Here are the facts you need to know before jumping on board with Debt Wise.

1.  It can help some people, but not everyone. People with no debt, one large debt, or only common debt like a mortgage and school loans will not benefit from the program.

2.  You’ll get four copies of your credit report when you sign up with Equifax Debt Wise. This is an excellent value, and makes the price of one month’s membership worth it for almost everyone, since you’d pay about $160 if you bought 4 reports individually. Plus, it’s always a good idea to see your credit report at least annually, so you can see if there are any mistakes there and to see where you currently stand with your creditors.

3.  You get a FICO score when you sign up. Again, this brings excellent value to the service, since you often have to pay separately to get that score. The FICO score is that magic score that lenders use to determine your creditworthiness for things like mortgages, loans, and credit cards, so it’s a good idea to know what yours is…..and work on raising it. Debt Wise can help you do this.

4.  The service provides $25,000 in free identity theft protection. That’s great if you’re worried about identity theft, and invaluable if you actually become a victim of it.

5.  The Equifax Debt Wise system tracks your progress as you pay down your debt, as long as you’re not tracking credit cards you’re currently using. It tracks payments on static debt and old debt. Still, it’s nice to be able to see on the computer screen just how close you are to reaching your goal of being debt free. It’s motivational.

So, for most people, Equifax Debt Wise can provide a very good value, at least for a month or two. You may decide you don’t need the service anymore after that, as you learn to track your debt on your own. For the perks you get when signing up, though, it’s well worth the price for a month or more. It’s a service that can really be useful to many people, at least for a little while. For that reason alone, it’s worth giving it a try.

This is the seventh installment in our credit & debt series. Be sure to check back for updates…

Every consumer in America has the right to get a free credit report once a year. However, not very many people know this, and the ones that do are often confused about how the process works. As a result, a lot of unscrupulous scam companies have popped up aiming to take advantage of unwary customers. Here’s the truth about the scams out there, how you can avoid becoming a victim of one, and how you really CAN get your credit report for free.

There are plenty of websites out there offering a free credit report. But are these reports truly free? In most cases, the answer is no. If you read the small print on these sites, most of them ask you to sign up for a 30 day free trial of a credit monitoring service in exchange for the free report. You’ll have to give them your credit card number to access the report, and once the 30 days are up, you’ll start being billed for the monitoring service automatically. It’s often very hard to cancel, as these companies don’t make their contact information well-known. Plus, the vast majority of those who sign up for these services forget about them, and are surprised when their credit card statement comes the next month and there’s a charge for $39.95 on it.

The easiest way to avoid the free credit report scams is to avoid signing up with the services that offer them. Nearly all of them are scams, with the exception of the ONE legitimate site for getting free reports. This site is www.AnnualCreditReport.com, and it’s the official site for obtaining your government-guaranteed free annual report. You can use this site once a year to get your credit report from all 3 credit bureaus–Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.

To get the reports, you’ll have to provide some personal identifying information, such as your Social Security number. But don’t worry. The site’s security protocols are strong, so there’s no danger of anyone stealing your identity. You can get the reports directly online, as well, so there’s no waiting period to see them. The only drawback to the site is that the reports don’t come with credit scores. To get those, you’ll have to pay a small fee at the individual websites of the credit reporting agencies.

So, if you want a free credit report, be encouraged by the knowledge that they really do exist! You may only be able to get yours for free once a year, but that’s all most people need to keep an eye on things and make sure all is right in their credit file. By watching your credit, you’ll be able to spot potential problems as soon as they appear and take measures to correct them, which is essential to maintaining your good credit name. 

This is the sixth installment in our credit & debt series. Be sure to check back for updates…

Eliminating debt and becoming debt free isn’t has hard as you might think.  Debt is common, and people get into it for all kinds of reasons.  Just paying everyday expenses like food, water, and electricity can lead to debt, as the prices of these things are going up!  In fact, the price of EVERYTHING is going up, while paychecks are going down.  It can take all the money you have just to pay for your basic needs, never mind savings or doing anything fun. 

If an emergency comes up, or if your kids need braces (or yearbooks or prom dresses, etc.), it could be a major financial disaster for you!  You might turn to your credit cards and get yourself even further into debt.  But how do you get out of it?

One of the best and easiest ways to go about eliminating debt abd becoming debt free is to use the following method:

1.  Start paying the minimum payment each month on all but ONE of your debts.

2.  Choose the debt that has the smallest balance and start paying as much extra on that each month as you can, whether it’s $5, $10, $20 or more dollars.3.  You’ll pay off this debt quickly by paying extra.  Once it’s paid off, take the next smallest debt and pay the minimum amount of the payment on the previous debt, plus the extra you were adding to it.  So, for example, if you started with a Visa that had a $300 balance and a $15 minimum monthly payment and added an extra $20 a month to that, you’d be paying $35 a month on that Visa.  Once it was paid off, let’s say you begin paying on a MasterCard with a $450 balance.  The minimum payment on that is $25 a month.  Continue to pay the $25 a month, but add the $35 a month to it that you were paying on the Visa, so that you’re paying a total of $60 a month on the MasterCard.

4.  As you pay off each debt in turn, working your way up from the smallest to the largest, always add the extra payments you’re making on the previous bills to the minimum payments on the new ones.  For example, that $60 a month you ended up paying on the MasterCard will be added to the $35 a month minimum payment on your Discover card when you start paying that off, for a total of $95 a month going toward Discover.  That’s $95 a month you’ll add to the minimum monthly payment of the next bill in line, and so on. 

Using this method, you can even potentially pay off your house in about five years! This is one of the quickest and easiest ways of eliminating debt and becoming debt free out there, and it doesn’t even require a loan or credit counseling, or even a change in your lifestyle!  All it takes is organization, and you’ll be debt free for good!

This is the fifth installment in our credit & debt series. Be sure to check back for updates…

Can you get out of debt? Yes, you can, no matter how far in the hole you’ve allowed yourself to get. Times are tough, it’s true, but that doesn’t mean you have to live in debt forever. Even now, with businesses failing left and right and paychecks getting lower, you can still take measures to reduce your debt and ultimately get rid of it entirely, probably much sooner than you expected.

So, how to you get out of debt? First of all, you need to learn how to spend less and save more. However, you must also allow yourself to have fun and enjoy life, otherwise you’ll feel deprived and start spending wildly again.  Having an entertainment fund is just as important as having a savings account, so be sure you set aside money for entertainment each month.  Then, follow these simple guidelines to put more cash in your pocket:

   1. Cook at home instead of eating out.  Save dining out for one night a week or month, whichever you can afford.  When cooking at home, involve the whole family to make it more fun for all of you and to create meaningful time together.
   2. Borrow from friends or buy from thrift stores whenever you need new clothes and appliances.
   3. Sell things you never use on eBay or have a garage sale to earn extra money.
   4.  Instead of going to the bookstore, go to the library.  It’s free, and they get new releases almost as soon as the stores do.
   5. Find free events in your community, such as museums, parks, concerts, and more!
   6. Watch DVDs at home instead of going to the movies.
   7. Learn to fix small things yourself, like holes in clothes or nicks in furniture.
   8.  Learn to change the oil in your car yourself.
   9.  Rent video games instead of buying them.
   10.  Instead of staying in expensive hotels when you go on vacation, go camping in the national parks. Many of them offer free campsites, or only charge a few dollars a day.  Plus, you get to get out and see the best natural settings our country has to offer!

Also remember that paying yourself first is important.  You should always set aside a certain amount of money for savings from each check, and you need to save it BEFORE you pay any of your other bills. YOU are your most important investment, and if you don’t take care of you, no one else will.  By paying yourself first, you’re securing your own financial future, and that’s the best kind of security there is. In this way, you can get out of debt and finally have control of your finances from now on.

This is the fourth installment in our credit & debt series. Be sure to check back for updates…

If you’re struggling under the huge burden of credit card debt, it can be frustrating, especially if you see no easy way out. The interest rate on most cards are unbelievably high and if you’re only paying the minimum each month, it could be years before you’ve got it all paid off. Meanwhile, your other bills and overall financial life are suffering.  However, there IS a solution to your problems, and it’s called consumer credit debt counseling. This could be the solution you need to become debt free at last!

In consumer credit debt counseling, a qualified counselor be able to help you negotiate your current debt balances with your current creditors, and might even help you qualify for a debt consolidation loan. By rolling all your outstanding balances into one large loan, you can almost always negotiate a lower interest rate with your creditors, which saves you money. It will also reduce your overall monthly payments.

Your debt counselor could even find a way to extend your consolidation loan term, so that your payments are further reduced. These steps are a positive way to make sure you have more money in your own pocket at the end of each month, rather than having to continue to live from paycheck to paycheck just to survive. Plus, once you’ve got your debt under control, your counselor may be able to help you control your debt in the future by learning how to regulate your spending.

Believe it or not, learning to use your paycheck wisely is a habit that can be taught. The most important thing is to learn how to avoid temptation. Banks and other lenders are actively trying to increase their businesses by convincing you to borrow money. Learn to ignore them and know when and when not to spend and borrow, and you’ll do just fine. Then, your consumer credit debt counseling will have been well worth it!

This is the third installment in our credit & debt series. Be sure to check back for updates…