Debt Relief Blog — Page 7

More debt relief strategies, credit card debt tips, and financial advice from Adem Selita — CEO of The Debt Relief Company.

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Most Important Qualities for Good Customer Service
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By Adem Selita

Most Important Qualities for Good Customer Service

If a customer service rep cannot put themselves in the shoes of the customer then the customer is much more likely to go "unheard" and their complaints will fall on "deaf ears".

What Are Payday Loans?
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By Adem Selita

What Are Payday Loans?

Payday loans are short-term, high-cost loans typically used to cover expenses between paychecks. The concept is simple: you borrow a small amount — usually $100 to $500 — and repay it, plus fees, when your next paycheck arrives. No credit check required, cash available same day. For someone facing an immediate financial shortfall, that accessibility is the appeal.

Starting a Business in a Cooling Economy
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By Adem Selita

Starting a Business in a Cooling Economy

The most important thing any fledgling business owners should watch for is where demand for their product or service lies in reference to the current economic cycle.

Does Having a Zero Balance Credit Card Impact Your Credit Score?
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By Adem Selita

Does Having a Zero Balance Credit Card Impact Your Cred...

Yes — and in almost every case, it's a positive impact. A credit card with a zero balance is one of the most quietly powerful tools in your credit profile, and most people don't fully understand why.

How to Avoid Procrastination When You Work from Home
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By Adem Selita

How to Avoid Procrastination When You Work from Home

When working from home is that distractions and consequently procrastination are bound to happen. What's important is that you hold yourself accountable and look for ways to move past it.

What is the Envelope Budgeting Method?
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By Adem Selita

What is the Envelope Budgeting Method?

The envelope budgeting method is one of the oldest and most effective personal finance tools — and in an era of digital payments and one-click purchasing, it is more relevant than ever. The concept is simple: allocate cash into labeled envelopes for each spending category. When the envelope is empty, spending in that category stops until the next budget period.

Ways to Earn Extra Cash During the Holiday Season
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By Adem Selita

Ways to Earn Extra Cash During the Holiday Season

The holiday season puts financial pressure on nearly everyone, but for people already carrying credit card debt, the pressure is compounded. You are balancing gift expectations, seasonal expenses, and existing debt obligations — all within a culture that encourages spending above your means.

The Rules of Rollovers as Business Startups (ROBs)
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By Adem Selita

The Rules of Rollovers as Business Startups (ROBs)

An individual can use their retirement funds to invest in a new business startup and use their retirement funds in non-taxable transaction, so long as the retirement assets are used to purchase stock in the new business.

Should You Upgrade From a Secured Card to an Unsecured Card?
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By Adem Selita

Should You Upgrade From a Secured Card to an Unsecured ...

A secured credit card is one of the best tools for building or rebuilding credit after debt — but it's meant to be a stepping stone, not a permanent arrangement. The deposit you made to open the card ties up cash, the credit limits tend to be low, and the cards themselves often carry annual fees without the rewards or benefits of competitive unsecured products.

The Right Way to Hire and Work with Family
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By Adem Selita

The Right Way to Hire and Work with Family

Hiring and/or working with family depends on how similarly your goals align with each other. In some cases, it might cause problems but if you share the same views and goals, it really shouldn't be something to avoid.

How Do You Handle Debt When You Have a Disability?
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By Adem Selita

How Do You Handle Debt When You Have a Disability?

Debt management advice almost always assumes a baseline that does not apply to people living with disabilities: steady employment, increasing income over time, and the physical and cognitive capacity to execute complex financial strategies consistently. When those assumptions do not hold, the standard playbook — budget harder, earn more, pay it off faster — is not just unhelpful.

How to Build Credit While Reporting Rent Payments
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By Adem Selita

How to Build Credit While Reporting Rent Payments

Rent is typically the largest monthly expense most people have — and for decades, it did absolutely nothing for your credit score. You could pay $1,500/month like clockwork for ten years and have nothing to show for it on your credit report.

5 Qualities a Sales Leader Should Have
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By Adem Selita

5 Qualities a Sales Leader Should Have

An exemplary sales leader knows how to guide their team into the unknown and portray a semblance of confidence and aptitude, even if they are unsure of themselves and the path they are headed towards.

Americans Hiding Bank Accounts from Spouses
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By Adem Selita

Americans Hiding Bank Accounts from Spouses

The numbers vary due to the nature of reporting with this kind of thing, but the statistics show that around 20% of Americans keep some type of financial instrument hidden from their significant other. As a company that helps consumers get out of debt we can see this quite often.

What is a Credit Card Pre-Approval?
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By Adem Selita

What is a Credit Card Pre-Approval?

If you have ever opened your mailbox to find an envelope declaring "You're Pre-Approved!" for a credit card, you have encountered one of the most misunderstood terms in consumer finance. Pre-approval sounds like a guarantee of approval. It is not. Understanding what pre-approval actually means helps you make better decisions about new credit.

Are Credit Card Rewards Really Worth It?
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By Adem Selita

Are Credit Card Rewards Really Worth It?

Credit card rewards programs are one of the most sophisticated marketing constructs in consumer finance. The pitch is compelling: use your card for everyday spending, earn points or cash back, and essentially get paid to spend money you were going to spend anyway.

Mistakes to Avoid When Lending Money to Friends and Family
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By Adem Selita

Mistakes to Avoid When Lending Money to Friends and Fam...

Given the opportunity, most people would love to be able to help their friends and family. However, as any good family member or friend should, it will help to understand and set some boundaries before openly accepting an invitation to lend out money.

What to Do When Your 0% Interest Rate Offer Expires
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By Adem Selita

What to Do When Your 0% Interest Rate Offer Expires

A 0% APR introductory offer is a new credit card offer that allows consumers to make use of 0% interest charges for a time period of typically 6-21 months. Promotional offers like this are meant to entice consumers into opening a new credit card with the hopes they cannot repay the borrowed amount within the guidelines of the introductory offer.

Biggest Obstacles Gen X Faces in the Future
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By Adem Selita

Biggest Obstacles Gen X Faces in the Future

Generation X has been faced with significant cost of living and inflationary headwinds. Housing, education and healthcare costs are all near all-time highs. In order to compensate, Generation X has had to forego contributing to retirement plans as much as they may have liked.

What’s a DINK?
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By Adem Selita

What’s a DINK?

Essentially a DINK is a married couple (typically) that do not have children and earn a lot of income. Since they tend to be high earners, market participants tend to view them as having more disposable income than standard couples.

Alternatives to Emergency Savings
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By Adem Selita

Alternatives to Emergency Savings

There aren't too many alternatives to emergency savings but here's what you can do besides saving your money in a rainy day fund.

Tasks That Will Help You Grow Wealth
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By Adem Selita

Tasks That Will Help You Grow Wealth

Most wealth in America is accumulated one of two ways or sometimes both if you’re lucky. Most millionaires are made via successful business and other commercial enterprises or via investments.

Student Loans for Bad Credit Borrowers
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By Adem Selita

Student Loans for Bad Credit Borrowers

Having bad credit and needing a student loan puts you in a difficult position — but not an impossible one. The options are more limited and more expensive, and understanding those trade-offs before you borrow is critical.

Understanding Debt Resolution and How it Works
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By Adem Selita

Understanding Debt Resolution and How it Works

Debt resolution — also called debt settlement or debt negotiation — is the process of negotiating with creditors to accept less than the full balance owed on unsecured debts. It's not a loan, not a payment plan on the original terms, and not bankruptcy.

How to Avoid Consumer Scams
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By Adem Selita

How to Avoid Consumer Scams

Scammers really tend to be ahead of the curve on a lot of things. Whenever an increase in activity in a relevant industry arises, they try to take advantage of it amidst the height of its popularity.

What is Financial Discipline?
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By Adem Selita

What is Financial Discipline?

Consumers who maintain financial discipline often times claim to uphold their monthly budget more than others that don’t. Stricter adherence to a monthly budget can be a great thing but maintaining constancy in budgeting is nearly impossible since life can have a habit of throwing unexpected expenses your way.

Should You Do a Balance Transfer?
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By Adem Selita

Should You Do a Balance Transfer?

The first thing you should consider before deciding on whether or not to use a balance transfer is your “financial discipline”. This is really the most important determining factor regarding whether your use of a balance transfer will be successful or not.

Financial Mistakes
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By Adem Selita

Financial Mistakes

The financial mistakes that create serious long-term problems are rarely dramatic. People don't usually make one catastrophic decision that unravels everything. They make small, incremental mistakes — often ones that feel reasonable in the moment — that compound over months and years into situations that are genuinely hard to escape.

What You Need to Know About Derogatory Credit Marks
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By Adem Selita

What You Need to Know About Derogatory Credit Marks

A derogatory mark is any negative entry on your credit report that signals to lenders you didn't meet the original terms of a credit agreement. They range from relatively minor (a single late payment) to severe (bankruptcy), and they all have different impacts, different timelines, and different strategies for dealing with them.

Using a Credit Repair Company vs. DIY Credit Repair
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By Adem Selita

Using a Credit Repair Company vs. DIY Credit Repair

Credit repair is one of the most marketed — and most misunderstood — services in personal finance. The industry does roughly $4 billion a year in revenue, fueled by the very reasonable desire most people have to improve their credit scores.