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Famed billionaire investor Warren Buffett once said that if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you must do is to “stop digging.” It may sound basic, but every day, people with massive amounts of consumer debt continue to dig themselves deeper into the red by spending as if there’s no tomorrow. If you know you’ve been over-spending, you must vow to end negative spending habits. This is crucial to fixing your finances. Let me put it another way: if you’re serious about chucking your credit card debt, you have to put an end to frivolous or excessive spending – starting today!

So many of us tend to make empty promises to ourselves and others: promises that we’ll spend less and save more; promises that next year we’ll get our act together; promises that with the next promotion or the next bonus or the next money that comes in we’ll make good use of that cash – anything related to whipping our finances into shape. It especially happens at the beginning of the year. Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution concerning your finances? More to the point, if you have such a resolution going forward, chances are you’ll need all the help you can get to stay on track. The December holiday season is the time of year that many of us tend to overspend – leaving us with big credit card bills, and the equivalent of a shopper’s hangover that lasts well into the following year.

For those of you determined to better manage your money, you don’t have to live a life of deprivation in order to get into the black. The best way to turn your financial resolutions into lasting changes is to take some concrete steps that won’t cramp your style, but will definitely improve your personal finances.

Here are some ways you can do just that:  Read the rest of this post on The Zero Debt Online Course. It’s free!

Higher education costs in the U.S. are increasing. State funding to aid college students is on the decline. And a growing number of university and college students in America are taking on loans to foot their tuition bills and other expenses. Add it all up and the results are scary: In addition to racking up massive amounts of credit card debt, college students in the U.S. are now graduating with record levels of student loans as well.

Nationwide, the median student loan debt for undergraduates currently stands at close to $20,000. Those who attend graduate school wind up with an additional $32,000 in debt on average, according to Nellie Mae, the nations largest student loan provider. The upside to all this debt is that people with Bachelors or graduate and professional degrees stand to earn substantially greater incomes than those without degrees. In the meantime, though, millions of people like you still need help in managing those enormous student loans.

In this session you’ll learn:

• How student loans impact your credit
• How to bring past-due loans out of default status in 3 months or less
• The ins and outs of loan rehabilitation programs
• Whether you’re eligible for a student loan cancellation and may not even know it
• How to seek and get a deferment on repaying student loans
• When to request forbearance
• How to ease your financial burdens with a graduated repayment program
• How to get your lender to agree to an extended repayment option
• The pros and cons of paying loans based on an income contingent plan
• When to consider student loan consolidation and MORE!

Length – 60 minutes

Format MP3 Audio - Click to download for just $5.99

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Move over men of America: There’s a woman running the family finances.

A landmark study released today by Prudential Financial concludes that a record number of women in the U.S. – 95%, to be exact – are financial decision-makers.

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Ever notice how your mailbox seems to be flooded with credit card offers every week? If your residence is like the average U.S. household, you probably get dozens of credit card solicitations in the mail each year. To put an end to them, simply call 888-5-OPT-OUT or go online to www.optoutprescreen.com.

The toll-free number I’ve given you, 888-5-OPT-OUT is an automatic phone service that’s run by the four main credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experian, Equifax, and Innovis. (Many of you may be thinking: “What is Innovis?” I’ll tell you more about that company – and the credit report you’ve probably never even heard of – later, in Day 4. For now, though, let’s stay with this OPT-OUT number).

The reason this number works is because it takes you out of the credit bureaus’ databases for pre-screened mailings. This will force the credit bureaus to stop selling your name and address to banks and other institutions that send you credit card offers each month.

Research companies and public-interest groups, such as the Consumer Federation of America in Washington D.C., track the rate at which banks and other credit card issuers send out credit card offers. What they’ve discovered is that some six billion credit card solicitations are sent to people like you and me every year. Imagine that: a whopping six billion credit card offers, or roughly 60 per U.S. household! And the numbers keep rising every year. According to the Mail Monitor report from Synovate, a Chicago-based research company, 90% of credit card mail comes from the 10 largest credit card issuers. If you’re wondering why in the world banks send out so many darned solicitations, the obvious answer is because they’re hunting for new clients. But the less obvious reason is that financial institutions are also responding to changing customer demand. When interest rates rise, banks often increase their mailings because with higher interest rates, people often start looking for fixed rates products on things like credit cards and mortgages. As a result, consumers are more likely to be receptive to new offers for credit. Still, if you’re like most people, you probably tend to give credit card offers the cold shoulder – perhaps tossing them in the trash can without even opening them. That’s why the average response rate to credit card solicitations is miniscule – just 0.2% in 2006 – a record low, according to Mail Monitor and other industry trackers. For all the mail being sent out, direct mail doesn’t seem to be the most profitable way for credit card companies to do business. For starters, they have to send out more than 250 solicitations just to acquire one new customer. That means up to $200 spent to attract every new cardholder.

Read more on The Zero Debt Online Course – it’s free!

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Should you rent or buy a home  if you have $10,000 in savings and a baby on the way. Click here to see Lynnette’s interview on ABCNews Now.