Yes! You Can Negotiate Your Credit Card Debt

There are many things that people fear and out of control credit card debt is not something that always comes first to someone’s mind when they think about the worst financial hardship that could happen. But, when it does happen to someone, it can feel as though it is the worst thing ever and that they are buried so far that they will never see any light. But this does not have to be true as there are many ways to go about fixing the problem including debt negotiation. What credit card debt negotiation does is take the debt you owe and either reduces the total amount that you owe or find a way to make it easier to pay it off.

Generally, when a credit account hits a collection agency, there is more room to work a debt negotiation plan. This means that if you owe a total of four thousand dollars, they may be willing to take a lump sum payment of two thousand dollars and call the debt paid off. This helps the company in that they are finally receiving money from the debtor and the debtor is helped by the reduced amount of debt. Credit card debt negotiation plans are often a win-win situation for both parties involved. And while it is true that there will be a small mark on your credit for paying less then the total due, the affect is much less then leaving the debt sit or filing bankruptcy.

What to Do

If you look at your card statement, you will see that your interest rate is listed on there in a spot that is easy to find. If your rate is over 10% then you have something you can use for negotiating credit card debt. These are arbitrary numbers set by the credit card company and you can use them when you are negotiating debt. As long as you always pay your principle you are fine. I had a friend that would call his credit card companies once a year and tell them that if they didn’t lower their interest rates he was paying the card off in full and canceling it. More often than not the rates got lowered. This also affects your monthly payment and can help you control your monthly debt.

The best and generally the cheapest way to go about tackling debt negotiation is to call each of your creditors yourself and explain your hardship. While not every single credit card company or collection agency will be able and willing to accept a deal, there is a good chance that one or even a few of those on your list that you owe will be willing to work with you. Even though you would love to see every creditor on your list cut your debt in half, the fact is, even if one or two were able to slice your debt in half, you will have been successful in your credit card debt negotiation.

If you are feeling that you are not outgoing enough or maybe you are just simply too scared or shy to contact your creditors, you may need the assistance of someone else. There are agencies that are dedicated in helping you with credit card debt negotiation and since it is their job, they may know a few tricks that you do not and this could make all the difference in getting it done. It never hurts to call in some professional help but try to stay away from those who want to charge you excessive fees for their assistance because successful credit card debt negotiation cannot be promised although the success rate for skilled negotiators is extremely high.

House Warming Presents – How to Be More Thoughtful Than Just a Typical House Warming Present

When someone new moves into the area, it is traditional to buy them house warming presents. It is a sign of friendship, and reaching out. But, you might want to stand out, and be a little more thoughtful than what your typical house warming present will say.

First off, lets identify what a typical house warming present is:

- wine
- fruit basket
- plants/flowers
- cookware
- wine glasses
- symbolic gifts
- food

Imagine being the new people on the block, with a crowd of people coming to your door with these gifts. The first thing I think when I see a plant or flower is:

“Great, more work I have to do around here. Thanks.”

And food? Really? Do they like the same kinds of foods you do? How do you know? They just moved in. Most likely, it is just going to go to waste, plus, its best to give a gift that will be kept, so it will remind them of you, in a good way.

We all want to be remembered in a good way, right? Yes, I thought as much.

You should think outside the the box just a little bit. Maybe go a little fancy, every one loves fancy, as long as it’s tasteful, right?

So there you have it, a list of things NOT to buy for house warming presents. Sure, people say that it is the thought that counts, but really, you do need to actually put more thought into it than that.

The original gifts are going to be remembered, the unique one of a kind gifts are going to be treasured. If they treasure, and remember your gift, they may just do the same thing with you. And in the end you will walk away with a new found friend. That is why you were giving them the house warming presents in the first place is it not?

When Presenters Run Out of Ideas, It’s Time to Read a Book

Sometimes when we are called on to give a presentation, we sit down to create the presentation only to find that our creative juices have somehow run dry. Oh, oh – this can be a big challenge. What always just seemed to “be there” can go missing just when we really need to draw upon it. What’s a presenter to do?

Despair not fellow presenters! This situation has happened to me and other presenters and we have a fairly simple solution that will get you out of this pickle: read a book.

Katherine Meeks is a New York City based speech consultant and language coach. She’s spent a lot of time with speechwriters and has made a not-so-amazing discovery: those of us who read a lot seem to have the best thoughts, the best style, and the most precise ways of using our vocabulary to make our presentations memorable.

I can hear you now: “Hey, I have a subscription to People magazine – I’m well read!” Umm, nope that’s just not going to cut it.

How often do you work on expanding your vocabulary? Probably not all that often. It turns out that once we are out of school, the size of our vocabulary stops growing as fast as it once did. Reading turns out to be one of the most effective ways that as adults we can continue to grow our vocabulary. Once again, a word-of-the-day desk calendar is not going to get you to where you want to be.

If you want to become a great presenter, then you have to become a great reader. In order for this to happen, you need to discover interesting books. The best way to do this is to simply ask other people that you know what they are reading. The key here is to find a way to filter the unending stream of books that are produced every year into a manageable trickle that you can have a chance of reading.

Other good ways to fette possible books for you to read include seeing movies and then reading the book. I was touched by the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” and just had to follow this up by getting and reading Chris Gardner’s book that the movie was based on. Wow – the book was much different from the movie, I was very glad that I read it. Another way to pick out the books that you might want to read is to spend some time with the book review section of your local newspaper – this can be a great way to spot stinkers.

Once you’ve created a list of books / authors that you’d like to read in order to have your presentations become inspired, the next thing that you need to do is to get your hands on some books. This is actually quite easy to do, but you’ve got to remember that you’ve got a lot of choices. Remember when you used to go to the library as a kid? Well guess what – the library is still there. When was the last time that you went?

Other sources for books include your local used book store (why pay full price?), the local Borders / Barnes & Nobel, and your on-line friend – Amazon. It really doesn’t matter where you get your books from, just make sure that you get them and that you read them! Your audiences will thank you…