We have helpful finance management advice on debt, loans and credit cards

If youre in the slumps of credit card debt, there is a way to totally eliminate it legally. You can discharge your debts so fast, so painless, so legal without creating damages to your credit report.

There are a million bankruptcies year after year the cause is credit card debts gone awry. Credit card owners dont realize that banks approve their credit cards and also establish their credit limit. The bank puts the applicants information – name and signature – to be the downpayment for the cards funding. Therefore, it is the customers own money.

Financial institutions such as banks and credit card companies claim that they are lending money but technically you, as a client, pays for your share because of the investment.

Here are a couple of secrets well let you in so that you can save yourself just in case you find yourself in a credit card debt dilemma.

1. Banks do not go to trouble with IRS and lawsuits, at least not as much as an individual. In fact, they can easily hire the legal assistance they need to sue a client who stopped paying their credit cards. But well give you an advantage with regard to this matter.

For example, you are in a program where you have to pay for an estimated four to six months. Instead of this, you can pay off the debt with your own assets that are under a federal constructive trust. Technically, this makes you the legal beneficiary.

All you have to is to make a transaction in order to put a lien on your account, therefore changing your status legally to First Creditor. It was originally Debtor. That position can actually deduct the national debt because you are eradicating your credit card debt. The bank gets assets which you had already transferred by wire between accounts. This is legal because you have already fulfilled your contractual obligations and your credit would not be damaged.

In face, you can also keep your card and continue using it. Then continue discharging it. Besides, they are your own assets. You paid for them in the first place.

This is only one of two approaches in eliminating credit card debt. This process is successfully used against the IRS. It is non-adversarial.

The second approach is this. Learn how your bank works. After you discovered the truth to where your money goes, you may be caught off-guard and maybe even a bit upset. But you can make the most out of this discovery.

Most banks usually offer a program that provides more than debt elimination. These are tools that will take back your liberty and control as your own person. In fact, some feel that their dignity is even taken away. When you are bankrupt, it requires you to admit to yourself and to others that you messed up your budget.

The debt elimination program allows you to get back your freedom and your power. Some have lenders pay for the programs by using their own credit cards in order to pay for the fees. It will come to the point that you do not owe anything for the program.

Credit card debt elimination processes require commitment, clarity and organization in order to take back your sovereignty as a client who started up his own account with his own money in the first place.

If You Have Big Credit Card Debt Are You A Complusive Debtor?

In recent years there has been a growing incidence of consumers carrying hight credit card debt. Many are finding this debt burden difficult to handle, but would rather not examine whether they may be compulsive when it comes to using credit cards. Denial can run deep. Those with heavy debt are reluctant to admit that they may be compulsive and out of control when it comes to managing their money. Facing it is simply too painful.

Probably most people who are finding that substantial credit card debt is proving difficult to manage will not care to dig very deeply into this topic. Such is the nature of denial. We’d prefer simply to ignore any examination of signs that we may be compulsive and out of control around money. It’s too painful to contemplate.

Indeed, most who have dysfunctional and compulsive tendencies when it comes to money will not begin to look closely at their debting behavior until it reaches crisis proportions. Only then, as panic begins to take over, will a degree of willingness to examine one’s relationship to money, personal finances and debt begin to creep in.

Often, the first impulse when a personal financial crisis erupts is to blame others and assume the role of a victim. Obviously, this offers no solution, and probably will compound the dilemma. Next, some willingness to seek debt help may occur, and the debtor then looks at the possibilities of borrowing from family or friends, thus dragging others into the problem who don’t deserve it.

If that fails to work, alternatives such as debt consolidation, refinancing a mortgage and even bankruptcy are considered. These measures can reduce debt and provide some relief, but always fail to address an underlying problem of compulsive debting.

If you find yourself in this situation, there are a number of clear signs that you may be a compulsive debtor. Here are a few questions you might ask yourself:

1. Is it difficult for you to pass up buying something on credit because it’s a really good deal?

2. Does having the ability to whip out a credit card for purchases give you an ego boost, a feeling of being accepted, like being grown up or a member of a privileged club?

3. Are you using one credit card to pay off another?

4. Do you bounce checks from time to time?

5. Are you having problems meeting just ordinary personal expenses, and do you get a feeling of accomplishment when these obligations are satisfied?

6. Do you live in drama and chaos when it comes to money, continually having a crisis to deal with?

7. Are you vague about your personal finances, not being clear about how much you owe, your monthly expenses, interest rates and the like?

There are a number of other indicators, but, if you answered several of these questions affirmatively, then you may be a compulsive debtor. Debt relief will evade you until you get a grip on the belief systems and behavior underlying your money problems. Credit counseling is probably in order, and you might benefit from a spiritual program such as Debtors Anonymous.

Observers in the lending industry have estimated that there may be at least 50 million Americans who are not able to qualify for credit. These consumers are usually young, often members of the minority groups and unbankedand they are faced with the long-standing dilemma of credit: how can I build my credit record if no one will give me any credit at all?

One of the answers offered by credit card companies is a variety of prepaid credit cards, designed for use by specific segments in the market. The prepaid credit cards are meant for that significant portion of the population that cannot meet the qualification criteria for regular credit cards, or who qualified before but have since lost their credit due to repeated defaults and other reasons.

Advantages of Prepaid Credit Cards For those who do not have enough credit history or have had it blemished, prepaid credit cards are an effective way to build or slowly rebuild credit. That may not happen immediately, but it is something to work on over time. The banks that issue prepaid credit cards are also prepared to extend normal credit the moment you are able to show that you have become a worthy credit risk.

For the moment, you may have to make do with prepaid credit cards. You can use prepaid credit cards as you would any other regular credit card to purchase airline tickets, reserve hotel rooms, or order items online.

Prepaid Credit Card for Students

There is a special prepaid Visa credit card for students, which offers a lot of convenience not only for the students but also for their parents. These reloadable prepaid credit cards offer parents several options on how to reload. Parents can add money to reloadable prepaid credit cards by depositing money, by arranging an automatic transfer of funds from their account (a deposit account or their own credit card account), or by online transfer. Using the prepaid Visa credit card is no different from giving the regular allowance to their child, only they do so by electronic means and there is no more cash that changes hands.

The big advantage of the prepaid Visa credit card is that the student is limited to spend only as much money as there is in the card. The parent is thus able to control to some extent the spending behavior of their child. They can use the prepaid credit card anywhere that the credit card brand is accepted.

Prepaid Credit Cards as Gift Certificates

Some prepaid credit cards function like gift certificates. You buy the prepaid credit card for a certain amount, and your recipient can purchase items with it at any of the brick-and-mortar stores or online merchants, and also for mail order items, that accept the particular credit card brand. Your recipient can use the prepaid credit card only up to the amount of money that you loaded on it. This particular version of prepaid credit cards is non-reloadable.

Like any gift certificate, recipients of prepaid credit cards can buy whatever it is they want at any time they want. Unlike a gift certificate that, when it gets lost is lost forever to the recipient, prepaid credit cards may be replaced if it gets lost or is stolen.

Prepaid Credit Cards for Travel There is a prepaid credit card designed for travel. These reloadable prepaid credit cards can be purchased in lieu of travelers checks or cash. In a way, it combines the best features of a credit card and a travelers check because of its convenience and security features. Should you lose the prepaid credit card while you are on travel, you can easily obtain an emergency replacement, both for the prepaid credit card and some cash.

Prepaid credit cards for travel are accepted all over the world, and also allow you to obtain currency from ATM machines. When you need to reload and you are already traveling you can arrange for the reload by phone or online. Apart from the fact that it is a prepaid credit card, you can use it exactly like a regular credit card. That also means you enjoy other benefits just like a regular card reimbursements for lost luggage of up to $1,000 per cardholder if your luggage is lost; zero liability if your prepaid credit card is used fraudulently after you lose it or have it stolen from you; purchase security up to $500 per claim for any items you buy with prepaid credit cards, which subsequently gets stolen or damaged for certain reasons.

Generally, you can purchase prepaid credit cards of all the major credit card brands at their participating retailers. You dont have to worry about not having acceptable credit because prepaid credit cards are made available without need of a credit report or a bank account. The only qualifications you need to have are that you have reached 18 years of age and that you must be able to present a valid identification issued by government.

Disadvantages of Prepaid Credit Cards

There are a few things about prepaid credit cards that may not be as convenient as the regular credit cards. For one thing, you load only so much money onto it. You will need to keep track of the balance on the prepaid credit card because not all of the merchant terminals where you use the card may be able to help you determine it. However, there are procedures that tell you how to determine your balance, and you will these detailed on the back of the prepaid credit card and in the instructions accompanying it.

The process of reloading your prepaid credit card may be a little inconvenient to some. If youre using cash, you would have to visit the participating outlet where you bought your reloadable prepaid credit cards. The more convenient way will be reloading online.

There are also the charges. Prepaid credit cards impose an application fee, the amount of which varies with the issuer, and there is also a service charge that you have to pay monthly. You also have to pay for transaction fees, charges when you transfer funds to top up the balance, when you replace your prepaid credit card, and many other fees. To be sure about the fees, you should read closely the fine print on the prepaid credit card account.

Prospects of Prepaid Credit Cards

Prepaid credit cards do not provide credit; it is your money that youre using. You are asked to pay other charges, so it is not for free. You are paying for the convenience and security of carrying plastic instead of large amounts of cash. People with bad credit will be able to act as if they had a regular credit card and enjoy the convenience of one.

Issuers of prepaid credit cards realize that it is a good way to monitor the credit behavior of the cardholder. A prepaid credit card would be a source of information that indicates to the credit bureaus and issuing lenders about how you as the individual cardholder use the card to pay your bills such as utilities. If these consumer data could be formatted in such a way as to provide the basis for a statistical model on probable future behavior in spending, then this could become the foundation for building a credit history.

You would benefit, because by using prepaid credit cards you are rebuilding your credit. The prepaid credit card issuers would benefit, too, because they would be making previously unproven customers bankable. More people could then qualify for regular credit, and that would mean tremendous incremental revenue for the lenders.