Ripoffs Relating to Credit Counseling

Posted by seolinkvine on 31 July 2010

An established credit guidance agency can assist you create a repayment program along with your creditors and coach you on better money management strategies to avoid debt down the road. But some consumer credit counseling services take advantage of people who are financially vulnerable, so proceed cautiously.

The Federal Trade Commission Act forbids “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” of credit score improvement, debt consolidation or counseling agencies. Some states also provide laws that make it illegal for credit service organizations to assert to be able to improve credit scoring.

Plus, in some states, consumer credit counseling services must register with the state Attorney General’s office and obtain a surety bond to do business.

Voluntary Certification and Accreditation

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) is an independent not-for-profit organization that creates voluntary standards for credit counseling agencies. The NFCC Council on Accreditation (COA) accredits over 4,000 credit advice plans that meet NFCC standards.

To become accredited by the NFCC, a credit counseling agency must be accepted as non-profit by the IRS and have the proper local business licenses. To earn NFCC certification, a credit advice program must also use adequate constraints to protect consumers, including:

  • Auditing operating and trust accounts every year
  • Offering consumer education programs
  • Providing detailed reviews of consumers’ income and debts, and an assessment of how each consumer got into financial trouble, with a written action plan for reducing debt
  • Disbursing funds to creditors at least twice a month, or sooner in emergencies
  • Giving clients a financial statement at least once every three months

The Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) is yet another national organization with similar standards.

You have to think before signing up with a credit guidance agency that does not participate in either of these voluntary organizations.

Warning Signs

What should tip you off that you could be dealing with a less-than-reputable program?

Watch out for illegal fees, sometimes disguised as contributions. If the setup fees or monthly charges are incredibly high, they can eliminate any gain you could have made against reduced finance charges, and you’d bebetter off negotiating directly with your creditors.

Another danger signal is often outrageous claims to instantly repair your credit score. Credit rebuilding is a gradual process, and it is illegal to try to improve your history of credit by constructing a new, false identity.

It’s also wise to avoid advance fee loan scams, where you’re asked to fork over money to acquire a promised loan. Under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, no-one can legitimately ask that you pay until you actually receive a loan or credit. So be skeptical of any debt consolidation loan, get every detail in writing, and don’t give your credit card, bank-account or Social Security information over the telephone or on the web.

Educate Yourself

The obvious way to protect yourself against unscrupulous credit counselors is to:

  • Check out the program’s reputation with your state Attorney General and local Better Business Bureau, and find out how long they’ve been in business
  • Confirm with your creditors ahead of time that they will work with that particular company
  • Understand exactly what services are offered, and whether those services address all of your debts
  • Get the specifics of any monthly fees, and find out whether you’ll still be obligated to pay those fees whether or not you continue to participate in the program
  • Get all promises in writing
  • Read your written agreement carefully

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Control Your Emotions To Achieve Success In The Forex Market

Posted by fts on 31 July 2010

Emotional Forex trader will be tried to pursue bad money with good and involve themselves into even greater losses.

Forex trading is not for people with weak hearts as well as not for those who depend on their emotions. Surely, it is an emotional thing to be involved into the activity of risk and reward with your money. In fact, human nature prescribes that when you put your heart into something as crucial as your financial portfolio. But, the Forex trader just cannot afford to wear his or her heart on this sleeve.

It is not a heart matter, instead it is a head thing. You have to let your heart rule in some romantic affair, but when you are trading currencies you have to use your head. In other case you could lose everything.

Every successful Forex trader borrows or develops or both borrows and changes a system. In fact, that system is based on some facts, expected market behaviors and observed trends. Your system will surely guide you, informing you when it is needed to get into the trade and when it is needed to get out of the trade.

When you lose on a Forex trade it takes a great deal of self discipline in order to get out while the getting is good. Emotional Forex traders will be tried to pursue some bad money with good and in this way to involve themselves into greater losses. Very often greed forces the emotional Forex trader to try to compensate every lost cent.

On the other side, on the Forex market there is a need to stick with a good trade and riding it to its complete potential. In fact, fear will surely cause the emotional Forex trader to bail on a deal prematurely. You need to be guided instead by your system. You have to know how many pips you are risking and how many you stand to get. It is necessary to keep your risk and reward in balance.

Fear and greed are two very different motivators. However they both have the same result – they wreak devastation on the Forex market.

If you want to be successful Forex trader, you have to be confident Forex trader.

Below there are some steps how to avoid the traps of emotional trading and set up yourself as a successful Forex trader:

- You have to educate yourself. You have never stop learning from those who have proven themselves as successful Forex traders.

- You have to set up your own trading system. In order to do it, you have to take some time to develop the trading system that will work for you.

- It is necessary to eliminate all your emotions.

As in every other sphere of our life foreign exchange market needs some education.

Of course, you can start forex trading and be quite successful in it. However sooner or later the losses will come. It is precisely when one might think “Why didn’t I start with a good forex book?”

That does not mean that after reading even the greatest materials you will start closing trading positions with huge income, but this knowledge will save you from lots of dangers. And even if you make up your mind to get the assistance of a managed forex accounts service, still you will be able to make a much wiser decision.

And some general tips – today the web technologies give you a really unique chance to choose what you require at the best terms which are available on the market. Funny, but most of the people don’t use this opportunity. In real life it means that you should use all the tools of today to get the information that you need.

Search Google and other search engines. Visit social networks and have a look on the accounts that are relevant to your topic. Go to the niche forums and participate in the online discussion. All this will help you to build up a true vision of this market. Thus, giving you a real opportunity to make a wise and nicely balanced decision.

And also sign up to the RSS on this blog, because we will everything possible to keep updating this blog with new publications about Forex market.

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