I flunked out of Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover, and in desperation signed up for Money Mastery, which was over $7,000. The key to knowing they’re going to rip you off is the fact that they want to know if you have at least $5K available on one credit card. I dis-enrolled the next day (of course, it was a one-time offer, had to take advantage of it the day I originally spoke with them) and it took more than 2 months to get a full refund.

Since I was still desperate, I paid $39 for John Cummuta’s plan, and it read almost word for word as The Total Money Makeover. Then one of his henchmen called and asked if he could give me the “advanced lessons”. After 30 minutes of in-depth asking about my situation, he offered a “for approved clients only” plan for $6,000. Barf.

So now, I’m back to the envelope system and the debt snowball. The only part of Total Money Makeover I’m not following is working 2 jobs, because I need to be available to friends and family who have health concerns.

Good luck to everyone who is working towards freedom from debt, and on to financial freedom.

In 1994, I came out with a program called “Credit Card Math”, which is a free financial tool that explains the truth about why credit cards take so long to pay off. When I wrote this, I was only thinking about the consumer.

What I didn’t relize was this… “Credit Card Math” was also a “Ready Made Business Plan” for my competitors.

Anyway, Credit Card Math is free, my other software costs $40. For more information visit http://www/zilchworks.com

I was also in debt for well over $15k at one time. 7 years of living on cash is a good thing. Problem now is that I have credit again and I am going though some of the same things. I did catch myself though so we, me and my wife, are making cut backs and paying higher payments. We are hoping to get rid of some of the debt this year, and by the end of next year have it all paid off but the car. This will put us in a better position to buy a home we really want.

I think what you have described is what you would find in the self-help section of the library.

Self-help is a good thing but these daytime commercials from these companies that call themselves “debt relief” agencies and “settlement” agencies are a huge scam. They basically tell people have a way to stop these evil corporations from getting back the money that was loaned to them- not like credit card companies don’t do everything shy of begging for fraudulent charges or high defaults.

With the help of CCCS, http://www.nfcc.org/ we are on our way to being debt free. This is a non-profit organization and they were abe to negotiate with our creditors for reduced or elimination of interest and to agree to lower payments in some cases. We tried to do this ourselves with little success. We are on our fourth year of a five year program. With their help we didn’t go bankrupt and our credit score actually improved.

You have to do your homework, there are many “scams” out there, but those listed with the National Foundation of Consumer Counseling can be very helpful.

Actually there is a legal and 100% guaranteed method of becoming completely free of your debts. The secret method is — drum roll please — you pay them off.

OK OK. That wasn’t what you meant.

Just curious, what do these Debt Elimination Programs cost? How do they compare to what Dave Ramsey charges?

Somehow I don’t see the logic in paying for this type of material when you’re heavily in debt. Whether to a “debt elimination” program or even to Dave Ramsey. But the concept of spending less than you earn is foreign to too many people.