Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Author Harvey Z. Warren took his "do it yourself" message to the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. With the Federal Trade Commission changing the rules on how debt settlement services are provided to consumers, Warren suggests that you owe it to yourself to try to work with your creditors on your own. "Yes, you can work – successfully – with banks and collection agencies", suggests Warren. "Surviving credit card hell without bankruptcy is not impossible if your know what your are doing."

The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, International, the trade association for the vast majority of collection agencies worldwide, agrees and has posted tips from Drop Debt on their consumer help site, Ask Doctor Debt. "If a person in debt trouble can save the fees and costs associated with 'debt help agencies' of any kind that just leaves more for the creditor. Many times that extra 20% repayment is enough to get the collector from 'no way' to 'ok"."

Warren, who wrote the book in that very library, suggests that your local library should be your first stop on the road out of credit card trouble. "You are an amateur debtor and you will be talking to professional collectors. Amateurs rarely have a fighting chance against a professional on any field. You have no chance in playing against professional bill collectors. Learning the language of debt and how the collection process works is the first step to leveling the playing field – even if you ultimately hire a service to help you". The Los Angeles Public Library is offering free financial literacy lectures as part of FINRA grant presenting important information through their The Language of Money series.

As the debt settlement industry goes through a shake-up in response to the new FTC rulings, Warren is aggressively advocating financial literacy education as the best way to insure that you don't make a big mistake. "Five hours of reading can save you ten years of credit damage if you make bad choices and end up in bankruptcy court. The most important tip: take action. Your lack of action is a bigger problem than your lack of money."

Harvey Z. Warren, author of Drop Debt: Surviving Credit Card Hell without Bankruptcy, is actively fostering a powerful national coalition of consumer advocates, lawyers, banking and collection leadership to establish guidelines for non-adversarial debt relief through non-profit credit counseling. A graduate of Ithaca College with a Master of Science degree from Syracuse University, Warren has worked with tens of thousands of debt-crushed consumers and appears frequently on radio and television commenting on the consumer debt crisis in America.

www.askdoctordebt.com--Consumer Resources/Facts/Tips for Working with a Debt Collector

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