The National Consumer Law Center has released an update to its book, “Surviving Debt,” which aims to serve as a financial guide for consumers and includes chapters on responding to debt collectors and dealing with collection lawsuits.
The book costs $20 and is available by clicking here.
Other chapters in the book are:
- Six essential rules for surviving debt
- What you need to know about your credit report
- Taking out new loans to pay for old debts
- Reverse mortgages
- Choices to avoid at all costs
- Reducing your expenses
- Options for increasing your income
- Keeping track of income, expenses, and debt
- Medical debt
- Credit card debt
- Student loans
- Car loans, leases, and repossessions
- Utility terminations
- What every homeowner should know about mortgage payments
- When you are having trouble paying mortgage payments
- Defending your home from foreclosure
- Property taxes and tax sales
- Evictions and getting out of a lease
- Debts involving an abusive partner
- Civil court judgment debt
- Debts related to criminal and government fines and fees
- Federal income tax debt
- Deciding whether and when to file bankruptcy
- How the bankruptcy process works
Say what you want about consumer advocates and their tactics, but at the end of the day, they want the same thing that collectors want — consumers not to owe any debt. There are many chapters in this book that might be helpful to collectors during their talk-offs with consumers, who might need ideas about how to make the changes necessary to their lives so they can continue to manage their existing financial burdens and resolve old debts, too. I’ve heard plenty of stories over the years from people who worked with consumers to build a budget, to help them cut expenses, and find creative solutions to complex financial problems.
