Nowadays, with the increase in consumer debt the consumer credit services have also gained huge importance. A credit counseling company provides advice on money, that how you can make best use of your money and general budgeting tips.

Such companies can discuss the matter with your creditors so that they will extend the time period of your loans or eliminate late fees. Credit counseling companies can also suggest plans for debt repayment or schemes for debt olidation.

After checking your finances or debt loads, a credit counseling company makes plan for repayment to pay-off your debts. People take loans from different companies, which create a lot of problems. You cannot consolidate your loan with the help of a credit counseling service but stop creditors to knocking at your door.

You also have to pay a program deposit or startup fee to a consumer credit counselor. You also make sure that the fee charged is in consonance with the rules set by the State. The credit-counseling agency will collect the monthly amount for making payment to your creditors along with their monthly fees. The consumer services agency will be responsible for disbursing your monthly payments to your creditors.

Such services are also available online. You can also find different credit counseling services through Internet and apply by clicking on it.

According to the latest report on consumer debt put out by the Federal Reserve, the US consumer debt is over $2.5 trillion. Each year the amount of credit card debt in America climbs higher and higher. Why is American credit card debt spiraling out of control? Well, there are several reasons for the yearly increase in the US consumer debt.

One reason Americans are going deeper into debt is because salaries have not increased enough to meet rising inflation. The 2007 Trends in Earnings Variability Over the Past 20 Years report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that approximately “one-in-five saw their earnings fall 25 percent between 2002 and 2003, and about one-in-seven saw their earnings fall by” a decline of more than 40 percent. This significant decrease in earnings for Americans means while the price of gas, food, groceries, clothes, utilities and other basic necessities goes up, the average salary just isn’t keeping up.

Another reason the US consumer debt is rising is because credit card companies spend billions each year on gaining new customers and increasing rate limits for current customers. The average credit card debt for Americans is over $9,000 and even with the current credit crunch, the continuous stream of credit card offers continues to flow.

However, credit card offers don’t mean the recipients have to sign up. Credit card debt in America wouldn’t be growing at the rapid pace it is if consumers were more realistic with their budgets. The attitude of our society has become “I want it now, though I can’t afford it, so I’ll charge it.” If consumers exercised more discipline in their spending, the credit card debt in America would reverse its current course.

Regardless of the reason you may be in credit card debt, you need a solid debt reduction option. Credit card debt consolidation and debt consolidation loans are similar methods of debt relief that can benefit consumers with good credit. Debt settlement and bankruptcy are viable debt reduction options for consumers with bad credit.

US Public Debt in 2008

The US Public Debt (from the federal government) has been increasing for decades. The gross federal debt has increased greatly from $909 billion in 1980 to an estimated $9,575 B in 2008. (The federal debt was about $9,509 billion in July 2008.) In these 28 years the increase has been about $8,666 billion or about 10.53 times for an increase of around 953%. (Source: U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Historical Tables, annual.) In 2008, we find ourselves facing a federal deficit of from $560 billion to $900 B. (The official figure will be closer to $560 B for political and business reasons.) How much more will you owe if we only spend another $600 B than we collect in US federal taxes in 2008? If you divide $600 billion by 100 million workers then you get $6,000 per worker. If you divide a federal deficit of $600 billion by 160 million workers then you get $3,750 for each worker. The population of the US in mid-2008 was roughly 300 million citizens. Dividing $600 billion by 300 million equals $2,000 for each US citizen, including children under the age of 10 and people over 90.

Some of the increases in our US public debt (US national, federal debt) between 2003 and 2012 will be due to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, if the battles continue through 2012. What will be the costs? While hard numbers are hard to find and estimates are often off by 50% or more, the costs of these wars in 2007 was roughly $200 billion. This $200 billion for 10 years would equal $2,000 billion or $2 trillion. Since there were few years since 1965 that we paid off any national debt, we will probably not be able to pay off this $2,000 billion during the next 10 to 15 years. The interest on $2,000 billion at 6% for one year is $120 billion. Now you can begin to see the scope of the problem. The costs, including interest, from these wars could easily amount to at least $3 trillion from 2003 through 2022. The $3 trillion or $3,000 billion divided by 300 million equals $10,000 for each US citizen. Expensive wars for over 2 or 3 years tend to bring very large amounts of new debt to the US government and US citizens.

The US trade deficits are another huge source of increases in the US public debt. The following table is data from the US Census Bureau Web site (www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical on July 15, 2008):

Annual Trade Balances

Year US Trade Percent

Balance of previous

in $ billions year

1994 -98.5

1995 -96.4 98

1996 -104.1 108

1997 -108.3 104

1998 -166.1 153

1999 -265.1 160

2000 -379.8 143

2001 -365.1 96

2002 -423.7 116

2003 -496.9 117

2004 -607.7 122

2005 -711.6 117

2006 -753.3 106

2007 -700.3 93

2008

Jan. -57.9

Feb. -60.6

Mar. -56.5

Apr. -60.5

May -59.8

Figures are seasonally adjusted.

Average per month for 2008 is -59

First 5 months annualized for 2008 $ -709 billion

You may notice that the foreign trade balance has increased from a deficit of -98.5 billion in 1994 to -379.8 B in 2000 to a projected trade deficit of around $-709 B in 2008. The total increase from 1994 to 2008 is likely to be around 620%! It is amazing that in about 14 years the US trade deficit will be greater than 7 times the amount in 1994. If inflation increased by 5% during 14 years then the factor would be only about 2 times.

According to the US Treasury (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway ) the US national debt on July 3, 2008 was about $9,492 billion or roughly $9.49 trillion. The national debt on July 3, 1998 was roughly $5.53 trillion. So in 10 years it has increased by about 72%. While the interest rate is unknown for the next 12 months, at 5% interest the dollar interest on the US national debt would be about $0.475 trillion or $475 billion. Dividing $475 billion by 100 million taxpayers equals $4,750 for each taxpayer. (I use the number 100 million because it is one-tenth of a billion so you can multiply an amount in billions by 10 and get the number of dollars per individual, and probably not more than 100 million individual taxpayers could afford to pay off things like interest on the national debt and trade deficits. So Dividing $475 billion by 100 million taxpayers equals $475 x 10 = $4,750 for each taxpayer.)

How does this affect you? In several ways; it would take a book to explain them. A few of the ways are the following:

In modern America, it is difficult to get through life without taking on some kind of debt. Most people cannot afford large purchases such as a house or education early in their lives, and so they take out loans to help them acquire these things earlier. Not all debt is harmful to your financial health, but it is important to make good decisions early in your life about what kind of debt to take on and what kind to avoid. Taking on too much debt with high interest rates can permanently destroy your hopes for a rich life and good retirement.

Good Debt

Loans which help you to invest in yourself or develop assets that don’t depreciate are good debt. Student loans, mortgages and loans for necessary medical procedures are all examples of debt that provides future returns in heightened income or lowered expenses. Loans for these items can usually be found with low interest rates, and when used wisely, can help secure your future wealth. Of course, you should always make sure that you will be able to afford the payments when they come due before taking out any loan.

Bad Debt

Consumer debt with high interest rates and no future return is the kind of debt that you should avoid. A good rule of thumb is that if you can eat it or wear it, you will not have any future return to show for it. Some credit card interest rates run as high as 25%, and if you only make minimum payments, you might end up paying more interest than principal over the decade it may take you to repay the card.

Try to evaluate debts as you would any other investment. Make your money work for you, and you will have a comfortable retirement to look forward to. But if you fail to carefully consider the kinds of debt you take on, your hard work will go towards paying credit card companies rather than yourself.

If you’re like the average person, let me warn you ahead of time about what I’m going to reveal in the next few paragraphs. You may be angry after you finish reading this article about how you’ve been misled in the use of credit card debt.

The American economy is designed to make you work yourself to the point of exhaustion, only to build wealth for those very same companies you work yourself to death for – not for YOU!

The most eye-opening example of this is with consumer debt. For example, if you purchase your home with a conventional mortgage, you’ll pay about THREE TIMES the amount over the life of the loan. Think about it this way. It’s like taking your monthly mortgage payment and tripling it, then sending it off to the bank.

This is how much you will eventually pay back for the privilege of using their money. So you can see how two-thirds of the total amount you’ll pay your mortgage company is primarily INTEREST payments. Interest is pure profit for the mortgage companies and a detriment to your financial well-being.

Ask yourself a serious question – does the Bank deserve to get so much of your hard earned money? Do you think that they are doing such an outstanding job that they should be compensated so well?

This simply means that when you come home from a hard day at work, you’ve just contributed to your bank or mortgage company’s bottom line – not yours. THIS IS YOUR MONEY! I’m sure you’ve work hard to earn it. You’ll most definitely have to pay taxes on it.

For instance, if you think your mortgage payments are out of control –consider credit card debt. If you have an average payment of $5,000 in debt, it will take you over 60 years to pay that debt in full if you make the minimum payments.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be retired and still making payments on credit cards I charged up in my twenties.

But you know the story, and you’ve probably heard it a million times — the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s certainly not fair and I’ll give you an easy way to get out of debt without loans or debt consolidation programs and more importantly, stay out of debt.

When you know how to invest the money you’re currently spending on mortgage payments, car loans, credit card debt and any other type of monthly installment debt, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you can become debt-free.

Make a commitment to yourself to find at least 10% of your monthly take home pay to help you get out of debt. Look for ways to cut costs. Go over your cable bill, your cell phone plans, see if it still makes sense to keep your home phone, revisit insurance policies, etc. and see where you can redirect money to help you get out of your debt situation.

Now go and gather up your credit card bills, automobile loans, and any other installment loans you have and total them up. Keep in mind there’s a difference between debt and expenses. Expenses are things like utilities, foods and taxes.

After you’ve come to grand total, look at the monthly payments for each debt. Select the monthly payment that is the smallest amount. Now, you’ll add the money you’ve “found” to help you pay down this debt to zero. Once this debt is paid in full, take the money you were paying on this debt, add it to your second debt, plus the extra money you found and continue to payoff your debt in this manner.

It won’t happen overnight, but you didn’t get into debt overnight either. Consistency is the name of this game. By faithfully following this method, it will take the average person between 5-7 years to get completely out of debt.

Did you know that the consumer debt in US more than doubled during the last 10 years and today many Americans continue to spend even though they already own thousands of dollars in credit card fees, mortgages, and etc?

Take a note of this:

About 43% of American households spend more money than they earn each year. On average, American households carry around $8,000 in credit card debt.

And on top of that, the amount of personal bankruptcies has more than doubled in the past 10 years. So, if you find yourself paying excessive amounts of money to creditors (mortgage, credit cards, lines of credit, etc.) each month, then it is time for you to think how to deal with your debt.

It is quite possible to become debt free. Where can you start?

Well, tt is quite natural to want things and people buy things they like or want without thinking much. First, you will need to start keeping track of what you are buying each and every month. Write it down and start cutting back on things you do not really need.

Second, you will need to get rid of the highest rate interest cards and afterwards use only one credit card. This way, you will be able to better control your spending. Credit cards are very expensive. You should always try to pay the credit card balance so that you would not have to pay the outrageously high interest on carrying it.

You might also want to consider a debt consolidation loan: transfer the balances from the credit cards and other high interest rate loans into a single low interest rate loan.

Finally, you should try and negotiate your debt with your creditors.