Are you aware that law firms also offer debt relief services? If you are skeptical about hiring debt settlement companies, then law firms can be a suitable alternative. One such law firm is Oak View Law Group (OVLG). It offers legal services to consumers across the U.S. Let’s take a look at some important facts about OVLG.

OVLG-affiliations and accreditations

This law firm is registered with California State bar Association. It is also a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB). OVLG has a B- rating with the BBB, which
is satisfactory (as stated on the BBB website). It is also a member of the American association of credit counselors (AACC).

Debt relief solutions

1. Bankruptcy- OVLG offers attorney services for chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy
cases.

2. Budgeting and bill pay.

3. Interest rate negotiation.

4. Debt consolidation services.

5. Principal as well as interest rate negotiation.

Other services by OVLG include company formation, wills and trust, defamation protection etc.

Fee structure and Transparency

Consumers can visit the fee structure page of www.ovlg.com to get an idea about the fees charged. OVLG claims that the fees mentioned on their website are all inclusive and
there are no hidden fees. This is impressive if you consider that few debt relief companies are open about the fees they charge.

Ovlg.com also has a disclosure page, which has crucial information about their services. OVLG claims that they are following FTC telemarketing guidelines through this disclosure.

Customer feedback

Truslink.org, a BBB sponsored community, is one of the most reliable places to check customer feedback. OVLG has a four star rating at Trustlink based on consumer voting.
At Trustlink, most reviews of OVLG are fairly positive. Also, OVLG has 350 (approx.) video testimonials, which inspires confidence.

Client education and convenience

Ovlg.com has a huge number of informative and relevant articles. This law firm also offers counseling before enrollment to increase consumer awareness. However,
you cannot use the calculator on their website without signing up. This can be pretty annoying. Moreover, there is no budgeting tool even for their clients.

You can get in touch with OVLG at 800 530 6854 (toll free). Remember that it is important for you to clear all doubts before choosing a company.

Consumer debt is weighing heavily on the Americans. According to a recent estimate by the Federal Reserve, consumer debt stands at $2.4 trillion in the U.S. Actually, reckless spending and indiscreet use of credit cards are pushing millions of Americans into debt.

Many debt-stricken consumers consider debt consolidation as a possible solution to their financial troubles. Does debt consolidation really work? Let’s discuss.

What is debt consolidation?

Do you have several credit card debts? If yes, then approach a financial institution and apply for a consolidation loan. Next, clear all your debts with this loan. Quite clearly, you are borrowing to pay off your debts. How does this help you?

What are the advantages of debt consolidation?

Are you tired of paying too many bills every month? Stop worrying. Consolidate your debt and make a single payment every month. Credit cards have extremely high interest rates. Moreover, when you miss your payments, interest and penalties are charged. This makes the situation pretty bad. If you opt for secure debt consolidation, the interest rate will be substantially lower. Even unsecured consolidation loans have lower interest rate than credit cards.

Debt consolidation involves affordable monthly payments. This can be a great advantage for the debtors if you consider that it is high monthly payments which pushed them into debt.

Does debt consolidation hurt your credit score?

You should understand that your credit rating takes a hit only if you enroll in a debt reduction program. For instance, filing bankruptcy would hurt your credit because it wipes out your debt. In case of debt consolidation, the creditors get all their money back. Therefore, your credit score does not suffer seriously.

Nonetheless, there can be some minor negative remarks on your credit report because you are defaulting on the original payment plan. You can easily repair this damage by paying your bills regularly.

Are you eligible for debt consolidation?

It is not very easy to qualify for a consolidation loan. The banks are not comfortable lending to people who have missed too many payments. Often, debtors have to opt for secured loans to consolidate debt.

Debt consolidation can certainly get you out of debt. However, you should know that debt consolidation works best if your debts are well under control. Moreover, debt consolidation cannot eliminate secured debts like mortgage. So make your plans accordingly.

Sorry, that’s what you are if you are in debt because of the misuse of credit cards-an idiot. Notice the word I use ‘misuse’. Credit cards are similar to guns, in that they themselves aren’t dangerous, but rather the person using them is what makes them dangerous.

Let’s go back a second to something I hinted at, the misuse of credit cards. Here’s a few examples, of what might be construed as misuse of a credit card:

1. Making a car payment, Trevor and Alexandra make a good point about reminding their readers what Dave Ramsey says about car payments-don’t have them. I only bring this up because I know people that DO make their car payments with a credit card, that’s a double whammy.

2. Buying booze or tobacco, honestly if you don’t have money out of pocket to pay for this stuff, you should not be drinking or smoking in the first place.

3. Getting a cash advance with a credit card, a huge mistake of epic proportions if you are already in debt.

Getting out of debt has a lot to do with getting organized, but it also has a lot to do with having common sense. Sorry, but somebody had to say it, most people in debt are in debt because they are stupid. Very few people who have had a life emergency wind up in perpetual deb, usually these one-timers as I call them rapidly get out of the credit card quick sand.

The good news is that if you are smart with your credit card, you can actually make money with it. Just look at the plum card, which has a 2% cash back if paid within 10 days.

The other day I was listening to Dave Ramsey, when someone called in and asked if they should get a hybrid in order to save money on gas. Dave essentially said no. The math really doesn’t add up. Why you ask. Well, this blogger explains it very well.

Essentially, most hybrid cars get on average about 10 miles more to the gallon. For a typical 100 mile work week, you are looking at saving about $10 a week. How long will it take me to recoup the purchase of the hybrid at this rate? About 30 years , since hybrids are notoriously overpriced vehicles.

If you want to save an extra $10 a week , my suggestion would be to cut back on something, for example $10 is about the price of 2 Starbucks premium coffees, a 12pk of beer, or about 3 packs of cigarettes.

If you are always wanting to buy new stuff because you think new is better, you’ll wind up with out of control debt.

I was searching for something that Dave said the other day, when I happen across this post. The lady, whom we’ll call Tina, because that’s what it says in her profile, made a good point. She was relating her own debt story and how her credit cards were maxed out, simply because her and her husband thought that having everything new was better.

Luckily she wisened up, but think about it, how many people do you know live in debt because they need to have the latest everything. America’s debt problem is mainly because of this, actually it’s probably 100% because of this.

So, in reading Tina’s post guess what happened when they decided to do Dave Ramsey’s baby steps and start living off the cash they had on hand and not the cash they didn’t have?…they became happy!

Not only are you suffering now, but as the year comes to an end, another grim reality sets in, taxes. In recent years the IRS has made strides to appear more friendly and helpful. Still, the cold hard truth of the matter is that they will come after your money.Just look what this blogger has to say.

Don’t think that just because you aren’t rich or have a business you can escape Uncle Sam. The truth is that the people who hold this countiry together in every aspect even financially are the middle class, and that is most of us.

Remember, 5 ways to save money and how to save money in a recession.

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We have a guest post from Jacob Callahan of who fought foreclosure and won. After getting swindled into signing a huge mortgage contract from a less than scrupulous mortgage broker, he wound up having more house than he can afford. He is going to tell us how he figured out a way to save his home from foreclosure and have affordable monthly payments.

Jacob says:

Hi, my name is Jacob Callahan, at the height of the real estate bubble, I bought a home for $425,000. At the time, I was making less than $50,000 a year but my wife also worked and together we managed a decent income. When we first saw that house, we fell in love with it. We were a little hesitant because the price was over our budget, but our real estate agent assured us he knew some people that would help us get the loan we needed to buy our dream home.

The first year in our home was wonderful, we enjoyed ourselves and had lots of plans for the future, a new pool, a patio, etc… After about 15 months, I lost my job. We were paying on time for a while but as my jobless months became longer, the late payments got bigger.

I eventually found employment but at a lower pay scale than I was at before. I had been trying to work with the mortgage company (which I can’t name), but they didn’t want to hear it. By now, I was continually one to three months behind on my payment, I owed over $2400 in late fees and they were not willing to work with me. I had asked them to put the late fees at the end of the loan so I could start fresh. I had asked them if they can refinance me. But I got no help from them at all. The only thing they knew how to do was send foreclosure threats in the mail and threatening phone calls at dinner time

I had enough! I told my wife, “We’re gonna keep this house and we’re gonna get a payment we can afford”

That night I went up to my den and sat at my computer. I did research until the early morning hours and I found what I thought was a good plan.

1.      Get a Free Credit Report- and prove that I had decent credit or find out if I had any issues and clear them up. Usually with a phone call to the credit reporting agency this can be cleared up. I had one account that appeared to be delinquent, but I had paid it off a few years ago and they promptly changed it to good standing. This would help me with the loan modification. Click Here to Get A Free Credit Report

2.      Get information on a Loan Modification. –I had heard about it but wasn’t sure what it was. Loan modifications allow the bank to make loan payments more affordable for borrowers. They may change interest rates, loan terms, loan balances, or other parts of the loan agreement. Click Here to Get Loan Modification Information.

When all was said and done, we brought down the mortgage payment by 30%. At least now, I can afford the monthly payment and not lose my home. The late payment fees were forgiven and I couldn’t be happier.

The best part of this is that there was no out of pocket expense to me. If I had tried to get my loan modified, it would have cost me many hours and there is no guarantee that I would have won. This is why I let the experts take care of it.

The free credit report is mandated by the federal government and helped tremendously.

Before I go, I want to tell anyone out there to be careful with scam artists, many companies claim to be in the loan modification business but all they do is take your money. The links I’ve put here have been checked out. Good luck all!

We want to thank Jacob for his story, to check out the resources that Jacob had mentioned , please visit the links below.

Step 1:
Click Here For A Free Credit Report
Step 2:
Click Here For Free Loan Modification Information

1. Finding Lower Auto insurance Rates- According to a 2004 study of more than 100,000 consumers across the country, conducted by Progressive Insurance Company, rates for comparable coverage can vary by more than $500 for six months’ worth of coverage, that’s quite a bit of money. An easy way to shop around is to get a various quotes in one place with services like 2insure4less.com, they claim they can save you as much as 40%

2. Stop Movie Going- Instead opt for a Netflix monthly plan. Obviously if you only go once in a few months, then its not worth your time to do the monthly plan. But if you are a movie buff, then you’ll do better paying $8.99 a month than you would paying about $20 per person in a regular movie theatre if you add popcorn and a soda. Click here to get a free trial of Netflix

Also, satellite TV has gotten way more competitive, giving you the consumer better pricing. It’s not uncommon for people to switch back and forth every few years. Right now, Dish network has some awesome deals, see here.

3.Keep Your Car as Long as Possible: When possible, try to keep your car as long as possible. Find the balance between the money spent on repairs versus the monthly installment on another vehicle and choose to run your old car as long as the repair costs are low one option is to get a quote on an after market warranty, it may be worth it if you have an old car but can’t afford to buy a new one. Click here to get a free auto warranty quote.

4.Stop Going to Starbucks – Make your own coffee: Everyone seems to have heard of the latte factor. Even though the author may have overestimated the savings from skipping a latte at Starbucks, don’t underestimate the ding it puts in your pocket in the long run. You don’t have to entirely ban drinking coffee, but skip it as often as possible unless you make it at home. If you really like the premium flavor, you might want to check out Gevalia, they even give a free coffee mug and coffee maker to first time purchases. Click here for more.

5. Dollars4gold – Now, the four tips above are for saving. But what if you could use some extra cash now? There is a new way that’s easy, convenient, and puts some money in your pocket in days. Dollars4gold will send you a free packet, you put in your old jewelry, you send it off (postage is even free) and in a few days you get a check in the mail. Click here to learn more.

I hope these tips help you save some money. The future seems uncertain right now and we all have to be extra careful with each penny.

Related Article: Read how one man reduced his debt by 40% following 3 simple rules.

For around $20, you can buy Kevin Trudeau’s book on getting out of debt. It’s important to take a look at a lot of different options for debt reduction, because everyone has different ideas of how it should take place and what’s the best way.

The debt cures that Trudeau offers are cures that he says the banks and other lending institutions don’t want people to know about. They are ways that you can save a lot of money very quickly and start building wealth. It won’t happen overnight, but you will see it begin to happen.

The removal of even one debt will make you feel better and improve your financial life, which is a great incentive to keep going and working to pay off even more debt.

That depends on who you ask. Some financial gurus would say that it is never okay to use any kind of credit for any reason. Others disagree. Overall, there are responsible ways to use credit and then there are ways that are not so responsible.

If you have a bunch of credit card debt and you pay only the minimum payment each month, that’s a problem. If you use your credit cards, pay them off in full each month and reap the rewards of cash back, frequent flier miles, or anything like that you’ll have a lot better chance of doing well and actually making a little bit of money off of your credit, instead of the credit companies making a lot of money off of you.