Debt Elimination
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"Why consolidate your debt into a new loan or declare bankruptcy when you can legally & ethically eliminate all your debt entirely, at absolutely no cost, through the process of debt elimination?"

• There were 1.45 million consumer bankruptcies in 2001. There were 1.21 million consumer bankruptcies in 2000. 1.28 million consumer bankruptcies in 1999. 1.39 million consumer bankruptcies in 1998.

• Moody's delinquency index, which measures the portion of card accounts whose monthly payments are more than 30-days past due, stood at 4.96 percent in May, compared with 4.32 percent a year ago and 5.06 percent in April.

• In 1990, the typical U.S. household saved 7.8% of it's income; in 1999 that same family spent 0.1% more than it earned.

• According to information recently obtained, four of the ten largest credit card issuers have recently increased the interest rate they charge consumers who enter a debt management program, including Citibank, First USA/Bank One, MBNA and Household Credit Services. MBNA recently increased its interest rate by over half from 10% to 15.9%. This increase alone would cost a consumer with $10,000 in debt an additional $1,022 over three years.

• Credit card issuers in this survey that charged the highest interest rates to credit counseling consumers include Sears (21.9%), American Express Optima (21.7%), Capital One (19.8%) and First Card (17.65%). At these rates, it would be impossible for a consumer to pay off a $25,000 debt at a typical monthly payment of $350.

• Only one of the largest ten credit card issuers (Chase Manhattan) has lowered its interest rate for credit counseling clients. Credit card issuers that charge the lowest interest rate (0%) include Bank of America, First North American National Bank (FNANB), Mellon Bank, and US Bancorp.

• As of 7/31/01 the total public debt of the US was $3,266,222,376,162.12

• 55% of parents roll over credit card debt each month. When asked where they would put or advise their child to put $5,000 to save for education or some other long-term goal, 58% do not identify specific long-term investment vehicles such as mutual funds or stocks that historically offer higher rates of return. Instead, more than 1/3 of the parents cite low-yielding certificates of deposit (CDs), savings accounts, and savings bonds. 12% say they would put savings in a bank or savings and loan, but are unable to articulate a specific type of account. Finally, less than half (45 percent) of all parents say they make a budget and stick to it most of the time.

• People between the ages of 35 and 54 have credit-card balances 5% higher than the median for all Americans

• Some business indicators that suggest that the economy is headed for a recession:

• Industrial Production has declined for 10 consecutive months and is now 4.2 percent below its high in September (source: the Federal Reserve)

• Employment reached a peak in early 2001 and has dropped by 259,000 jobs according to a survey of businesses and 620,000 by a survey of households (source: the Labor Department)

• Newspaper help-wanted ads have been falling since February 2000 and are down 36 percent (source: the Conference Board, a research group)

• Airline traffic has dropped every month since February compared with the same month in 2000 and is 1.2 percent for the year. Air cargo has fallen 8.7 percent (source: the Air Transport Association)

• Business investment in equipment, machinery and software has slipped 5.1 percent since the third quarter of 2000 (source: the Commerce Department)

• Corporate profits dropped almost 12 percent between September and March (source: Commerce)

• State' sales-tax collections, adjusted for inflation, grew a meager 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2001, down from 5.4 percent a year earlier (source: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government)

• Household borrowing has risen almost 60% to $6.5 trillion in the past five years. Families across America have accumulated $505 billion in credit card debt, averaging a balance of nearly $8,000 per household.

• "Nearly half of all Americans (46%) have less than $10,000 saved for their retirement. And 39% of Americans are anxious about their ability to achieve their desired retirement lifestyle."

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