What to Know About Debt Management Plans & Companies

By LIFELines Staff Writer

Nonprofit Debt Management Plans (DMP) have a federal legal obligation to provide counseling using certified credit counselors trained in consumer credit, money and debt management, and budgeting.

All Navy and Marine Corps official credit counselors are certified and accredited after years of training.  For this reason make sure you check with your Fleet and Family Support Center for debt management and credit counseling before going to the open market. These services are part of your benefits as a Sailor or Marine.

According to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Protection Division,

• “If you are going to use a for-profit debt management organization you will pay fees, not all of which may be disclosed,
• or you may be urged to make “voluntary” contributions that will add more to your debt load.” The best practice is simply to find a reputable, state or federally regulated Debt Management Program, preferably sponsored by the Navy or Marine Corps. Once you make arrangements to manage your debt stay with it. Failure to do so may have negative impact on your career and personal reputation.

Ways to Cut Personal Spending

By LIFELines Staff Writer and the Iowa State University Extension Service

 

Record prices at the gas pump are followed by rising grocery prices. Energy costs are followed by anything else that requires fuel for delivery. Looking for ways to cut, try these:

• Along-time military tradition; car pool when shopping. Use the commissary and exchange for quick savings. Where available, use base shuttles.

• Track spending in a notebook or ledger. You will see where to cut when you write it down, like cutting calories in your diet.

Check out “Money Mechanics - Record Keeping and simple worksheets for tracking spending. The publications are available to download.

Follow the restaurant approach. Prepare meals with what you have on hand with products that are approaching the expiration. Think about portion sizes. Fix what will get eaten. Resturants call these "specials."
To generate cash, hold a garage sale or sell stuff on e-Bay. Pickup the cash and reduce your vehicle insurance fee by selling that unused motorcycle, car, or trailer.
To control energy costs, check out these linked ideas.Turn off lights, unplug appliances when not in use, close heat/cool vents and and rooms that aren’t used.

 

Entertainment costs add up. Cut cable/satellite television premium channels, rent DVD's don't buy, downgrade Internet speed, buy pay-as-you-go cell phone plans and phones, cancel unread newspapers and magazine subscriptions – these things are not necessities.