If you go to any bookstore, I'll bet you my last dollar that there is an entire shelf of books that teach you how to become a millionaire in 10 easy steps.
It all sounds good and is fun to read, but most of it is just nonsense that doesn't have much to do with the real world. It's hard to live in the real world. There are a lot of ways to become a slave in the debt society. And what do you do when you find out you owe ten, twenty, or even fifty thousand dollars? Well, I'd rather panic, but that's just me. Harrine Freeman, on the other hand, has a much better idea.
I've read a few books on this topic, but this is the first one that gives a solution that makes sense and is doable. Harrine Freeman talks about a "grand scheme," but the goals she sets are small and easy to reach. Choose the smallest debt you have, say $200, and pay it off. That's easy, and it gets rid of the debt. You can get out of debt by saving small amounts of money over time.
It's a good idea to pay off one debt at a time. Pay the bare minimum on the rest and focus on getting rid of the biggest pain in the backside. Harrine Freeman speaks normal English and makes a lot of sense when she does. I guess you could say that "Walk before you run" sums up her ideas. The author says that this book is based on her own college days, when she had "too much fun." She had a lot of debt, but it wasn't from school loans. It was from credit cards that she had used for fun instead of when she needed them.
I used to work in banking, so I was glad to see that Harrine agreed that spending money on credit repair companies that you probably don't have is a waste of time. You can do everything these "Mr. Fixit" solutions can do even better. Even better, you can do it for the price of a stamp, which is a lot less than what they will charge you. How to Get Out of Debt has examples of letters you can use as you try to get out of debt.
I give the Author a lot of credit for taking the time to translate the almost incomprehensible language used in the financial world into words that us regular people can understand. She doesn't spend pages explaining the math behind how credit card interest is calculated. Instead, she just says, "Paying the minimum balance means you'll pay three times what you bought it for." Have fun with that $20 bottle of wine, because it will end up costing you $60.
There are also a huge number of useful names, addresses, and phone numbers in the book. This handy guide has all the names and phone numbers for everything from credit bureaus to government agencies.
Harrine Freeman is a member of the American Association of Daily Money Managers, the National Association of Women Writers, SPAWN, Toastmasters, the Women Network, IEEE, Women In Technology, and the American Association of University Women. She has helped people fix their credit when they had problems like bankruptcies, judgments, delinquent debts, repossessed cars, and much more. Doctors, lawyers, actors, school teachers, and even students are among her clients. She has been a guest speaker at churches, schools, Fortune 100 companies, libraries, and local and national radio shows. She is a resident of Washington, D.C.
