Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures Book Reviews – Chapter Seven
In chapter 7 of Debt Cures, Kevin Trudeau rallies the troops to fight back against credit card companies. The lenders are fighting dirty, so Trudeau urges consumers to fight back. Lenders are like the bullies you had to face on your elementary school playground. Debt Cures describes how to win the fight. Again Trudeau asserts that Americans are in debt not because of their spending habits, but because lenders are looking for ways to get you into debt and keep you in debt.
To fight back Trudeau says you must take a good look at your current financial situation. If you were sick, then you would want your doctor to give a thorough examination before diagnosing the illness and before issuing orders for your recovery. The same with your financial health take a good look at how you got into the situation, but more importantly know your current finances to help you fight back. Trudeau wants to show you how to get out of bad debt and then use good debt to build wealth. No longer do you need to be bullied around, it is time to win.
The best place to start to determine your financial health is with your credit report and your credit score. The credit card companies and other lenders will always use these to determine the amount of credit they’ll give you and your interest rate. The higher the score, the better for you. Don’t go into bankruptcy when there are ways to get you out of debt without the sting of bankruptcy.
There are three lending companies in the
While you would think that only a few people would get to look at your credit report, you might be surprised at who can view it. In addition to your bank or credit card company, your current employer or a prospective employer can review your credit report, as can your insurance company or your landlord. To no surprise, the government also has access to your credit report. The good news is you are also entitled to see your credit report. In the coming chapters of Debt Cures, Trudeau will go into detail on not only how to get your credit report, but also how to read the report, and how to improve your score. This will help you create wealth for yourself and to win the fight against high debt and the lenders.
Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures Book Reviews – Chapter Six – Cut Your Rate
In Chapter six of Debt Cures, Kevin Trudeau writes that credit card companies entice you to use their credit cards then hit you with high interest rates, penalties and fees when you can’t pay the full balance on time. With Americans averaging $8,000 in credit card debt, it is easy to see how the credit card companies are making exorbitant profits. In chapters four and five of Debt Cures, Trudeau told you how to negotiate and eliminate your debt. If those cures don’t work, in chapter six, Trudeau shows you how you can reduce your interest rate.
If your credit card company can raise your interest rates with little or no warning, then you have the right to ask them to bring them back down. Say you owe $2,000 to a credit card company; you could be paying up to 24% interest on the money. Trying to pay the interest while paying down the balance and meeting any new charges is nearly impossible. Trudeau suggests that you call up the credit card company and ask for a reduction in the rate. Be armed and ready when you make the call, check today’s mail and see if you have a credit card offer from a competitor. When you get the operator ask the operator what your current rate is. If they respond 19.6%, then respond with why should I keep my account open with you, when credit card A is offering 0 percent for six months followed by a 10% interest rate. Use the leverage from one company to drive down the rate. If the operator won’t help, ask for their supervisor. The most important thing to remember is to be persistent. There are hundreds of operators; some will be helpful others will not. If the first person is not helpful call back the next day or later that day until you get someone who will be. Remember, depending on the size of your debt, a small drop in the interest rate can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars over the life of a debt. And just like he did in previous chapters, Kevin Trudeau helps you in chapter six with the details on exactly what to say.
There are a couple of other pitfalls that Trudeau warns you about in chapter six. First, he warns you to stay away from bankruptcy. Bankruptcy lawyers will tell you it helps (but it most likely helps only their checking accounts) but bankruptcy will hurt your credit score and credit report and make it difficult to create wealth in the future. Beware of credit repair agencies as they could hurt your future credit score as well. Also, it’s always better to cut your rate than to consolidate your debt. Say you owe several companies, if you can lower the interest rates on each of the debts, you will probably save more money in the long than you would by consolidating. Trudeau also offers information on finding a reputable credit counseling agency if that is the route you need to go.
Many people live in fear of their debt, but Trudeau maintains that you can break free of that fear. Eliminate, negotiate and cut the rate are the first three Debt Cures that Kevin Trudeau introduces. It’s all part of fighting back.
Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures Book Reviews – Chapters Four and Five
Kevin Trudeau talked about the ways that credit card companies and banks are ripping off American consumers in Chapters One thru Three of his book Debt Cures. In Chapters Four and Five, he begins to lay out the cures to your debt problems. And his debt cures may be easier to use than you might be thinking. If you follow his steps, Trudeau promises debt reduction of 50%, 75% or even 100%.
One thing to remember about credit card companies is that after time, they will write off an old debt for the tax advantage. Once that happens, you may not owe them anything. What’s more, if you are getting calls from a collection agency they may be a “scavenger debt collector.” These are the lowest forms of debt collectors. They purchase uncollectable debt from credit card companies for pennies on the dollar, then use any means necessary to extort the money from you, at potentially high profits. But what the scavengers don’t want you to know is that “paying a debt that is too old is NOT required of you.” There is a statute of limitations on every debt, a sort of expiration date for debt. If the date has passed, you no longer legally owe the money and are not required to pay. The statute of limitations varies from state to state, generally from three to six years. For your convenience, Trudeau has included a chart showing the statute of limitations for each of the 50 states.
You can be armed for your next collection call. When the call comes, just tell the person on the other end of the phone that the debt is no longer collectable and that it has expired. You can sit tight and zip your lip. Trudeau warns that you should never admit that the debt is owed (that could start a new time period). Simply state that the debt is not collectable and hang up. End of discussion. You do not need to live in fear of collectors if you know your rights.
Since not every debt that you have will be old, you may have to learn the next cure; how to negotiate. When a credit card company or collection agency calls regarding a current debt, you have the right to negotiate how you will pay the debt, and you can even negotiate the amount down. Trudeau recommends creating your own financial statements to show creditors. A balance sheet shows your assets versus your liabilities; while an income statement will show your income and expenses. Don’t worry about the difficulty of the statements, Trudeau provides samples for you to review. He also recommends taking them to an accountant to verify. Then, armed with the financial statements, you can show your creditors whether or not you can pay the full debt. Since most companies would rather accept some payment on a debt versus none, you are now in a position to greatly reduce your debt.
Remember, that while it may sound difficult to construct the statements, Trudeau has samples in the book, and takes the time to review in detail how to prepare them. By sitting tight on old debts, and negotiating on your newer debt you can greatly reduce your debt and in many cases eliminate them completely.
Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures Book Reviews – Chapter Three
In chapter three, titled “Hanky Panky”, Kevin Trudeau starts out saying that Debt Cures will show you the way to true financial independence and financial wealth and to no longer enslaved to debt.
According to Trudeau, Americans are too trusting. We do not know that the federal government is getting in the way of our financial independence. Further, the Feds are aware of the games that are played by the credit card companies and the banking industry. Why doesn’t the federal government do something to help stop us from going further into debt? Because we don’t contribute to their re-election campaigns and the banks do. Combined debt by Americans is at a record $6.7 trillion dollars, and Trudeau makes the statement that the average working person spends 90% of their disposable income in paying down debts (again, I wish he would attribute that statistic). Debt is an epidemic but the federal government is looking the other way. Americans are faced with such stress from debt that many fear getting out of bed, yet Trudeau states the federal government is partners with the lenders.
There are four problem areas that Trudeau sees with this union. First is bankruptcy; personal bankruptcy is at an all time high with one in fifty Americans having filed bankruptcy. With debt so high, the government recently took actions to make it more difficult to file for bankruptcy. This protects the banks and credit card companies but not consumers. I wish Trudeau would say what the government should do for consumers, but I’m sure that’s coming later. Next, Trudeau asserts that it’s not the borrowers who are out of control, it’s the lenders. We wouldn’t be in so much debt if it wasn’t so easy to borrow, and the reason lenders make it easy to borrow is so they collect on the fees and penalties they are allowed to issue because it’s legal by the government. And if the banks want to do something different, they get their cronies in Congress to change the law. Third is the subprime mortgage crisis. This was brought on according to Trudeau by the government and the banks, with the government encouraging the banks to make risky loans so the government can take credit for creating new home ownership while the banks then get to foreclose and gobble up valuable property. Finally there is a student loan scandal. $85 billion dollars worth of scandal. Trudeau points out that several financial aid officers at colleges and universities are collecting big bucks as kick backs from student loan companies. When the scandal is exposed, the government sits on its hands “lacking the legal authority” to do anything.
Trudeau wants us to know that “the inner workings or the entire consumer lending industry is one of the greatest travesties that this country has ever seen.” There’s a breach of trust between the government and us consumers. Not that we know this background information for the Debt Cures, Kevin Trudeau can show us how to fight back.
Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures Book Reviews – Chapter Two
In Chapter 2 of Debt Cures, the Credit Shakedown, Kevin Trudeau continues his assault on the credit and lending industry. Trudeau starts out with some revealing statistics about America’s credit card use. He points out that Americans’ use of credit cards is greater than the rest of the world combined and that the credit card industry draws the highest profit of any industry in the U.S. Unfortunately, Trudeau doesn’t say where he gets these statistics from. He also states that credit card banks were top contributors to President Bush’s 2000 election campaign (leaving me to wonder who funded then Vice President Al Gore’s campaign).
The average American is $8,000 in debt these days and Trudeau says it’s not trips to Rodeo Drive that is driving up debt; rather it is visits to the grocery store, gas stations and the doctor’s office. Trudeau is shifting blame for America’s debt from consumers to the lenders, asserting that Americans would pay their credit card bills on time consistently if not for life’s crises. A job loss, a divorce, or a medical illness. These are the causes that drive America further into debt according to Trudeau, not a lack of fiscal responsibility by consumers. And the greedy credit card companies wait for Americans to have a personal crisis and, instead of greeting them with compassion and help, instead greet them with late fees, penalties and higher interest rates.
The drive to pump up American’s debt and, consequently to increase the profits of the credit card companies, has lead to increased the opportunities for Americans to use their plastic. McDonalds now allows you to charge your Big Mac and fries. Trudeau alleges that this is not for your convenience, nor is it for the transaction fees they charge McDonalds. No, you can now use your credit card at the drive thru so that you will be late on your next payment, max out your card and be stuck paying fees and profits to the card companies. One would think that the federal government would step in, but Trudeau maintains that the government is in partnership with the card companies. He does not, however, show us a link between the credit companies and the government other than political contributions. Trudeau concedes the fees are legal, but states that they are unfair because they frequently change without notice and that when notice is provided, it takes a lawyer and a magnifying glass to read the fine print. Miss a payment and watch your interest rates go up, terms changing in midstream costing you thousands of dollars over the life of the credit card and nothing but pure profit for the bankers. Trudeau wonders if you know your credit score, because if you don’t the lenders certainly do. And if they notice a change in your credit rating, up goes your interest rate, keeping you further trapped in debt. Pay a late fee to Company A, and see Company B jack up your rate.
Fortunately, Kevin seems to know the credit card industry very well. By helping his readers to better understand the objectives and incentives of the industry, he is hoping that they too will be able to overcome the system. I assume that this information will be valuable in future chapters we Trudeau begins to explain the Debt Cures approach and how it can solve our credit problems. The book remains interesting in style and in content and I look forward to seeing how I can get out of the credit card mess.
Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures Book Reviews – Chapter One
I’ve been reading Kevin Trudeau’s new book Debt Cures for a few days now. My first observation is that Trudeau is very much trying to empower his readers to take charge of their own financial lives. I agree with his beliefs that the average American doesn’t understand the way that the banking and credit card industries work in our country. The purpose of the Debt Cures book is to educate readers to understand the credit card system and its rules and use this information to take action and free themselves from the burden of debt. The book is written in a very simple manner that allows any reader to pick it up, read it and understand it very easily. My objective in my reviews of the book is to tell you what the book is about. Unfortunately, though, I can’t share with you all the stories and techniques that are explained in the book.
Trudeau opens the first chapter of Debt Cures by building up his own credentials as an author and consumer advocate. He talks about the fact that the government, as well as corporate
The book goes on to promise that it will share the secrets of how to eliminate debt and get the creditors off your back. But it goes one step farther. Debt Cures claims that it will teach you how to build true wealth in your life by using good debt. I know that many of you are now asking, “What is good debt?” We’ll answer that question in future chapters. The last claim of the first chapter is that the book will teach you how to find free money that you will never have to pay back (I assume that this is through various government loan programs).
My initial impression up on reading the first chapter of Debt Cures is that Kevin Trudeau is playing on his readers’ emotions and suffering and that he himself is trying to profit from that suffering. However, I also believe that Kevin Trudeau is a very smart man. I am confident that although his intentions are not as sincere as he claims, he will provide most of his readers with valuable information that will save them money. If Debt Cures helps you to eliminate even one credit card fee (which I’m sure it can), it will probably already pay for the price of the book.
Kevin Trudeau – News Update November 21, 2007
Kevin Trudeau’s legal troubles continued this week. According to several sources, a U.S. District Court judge found Kevin Trudeau in contempt of court for violating a 2004 permanent injunction barring him from marketing products or programs via infomercials. The 2004 ruling was based on Trudeau’s allegedly false claims that his secrets and his products could cure many illnesses such as cancer. He explained these techniques in his book, Natural Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About.
The court this week found that Trudeau violated the ruling based on the fact that his book and related infomercial, The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About, misrepresented the ease of his diet techniques. According to the Natural Products Insider, U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettelman ruled Trudeau “…has misrepresented the contents of his book by stating in his infomercials that his diet protocol was ‘easy’ and that it allowed dieters to ‘eat whatever they want,’ and he has misled thousands of consumers.
The court did not yet determine what punishment Trudeau would receive. Let’s hope that his new book and infomercial, Debt Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About, won’t run into the same problems.
The History of Kevin Trudeau – Part 1
The name Kevin Trudeau means different thing to different people. To some, he is a best selling author and to others he is a pocket billiards promoter. Some view him as a champion of alternative medicines while still others see him as a convicted felon. There is no question that Kevin Trudeau’s life has been filled with controversy. But it has also been filled with numerous careers and events that have shaped a fascinating individual. (Note: I have not confirmed the information below to be accurate. I am simply summarizing the history that I have found in other locations on the internet.)
Kevin Trudeau was born on February 6th, 1963 and grew up in Lynn, MA as the adopted son of Robert and Mary Trudeau. He graduate from St. Mary’s High School in 1981 where he was voted the “Most Likely To Succeed”.
In 1990, Trudeau plead guilty to larceny charges after posing as a doctor in order to deposit over $80,000 in false checks. He also used credit card information stolen from several of his Mega Memory customers to make fraudulent charges of over $122,000. After serving two years in jail for these activities, Trudeau joined Nutrition for Life, a multi-level marketing firm, with a friend from prison. He was very successful in this new endeavor but was soon sued by the Illinois State Attorney General for operating an illegal pyramid scheme. He settled with Illinois, Michigan and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a total of $185,000. In August 2007, he also paid $2.6 million to settle a legal suit from Nutrition for Life’s shareholders.
In 1998, Kevin Trudeau was fined $500,000 by the FTC relating to six infomercials in which they alleged that he made false or misleading claims. These infomercials included “Hair Farming”, “Mega Memory System,” “Addiction Breaking System,” “Action Reading,” “Eden’s Secret,” and “Mega Reading.” One of his most popular products, the “Mega Memory System”, claimed to have improved upon methods used by the blind and the mentally challenged to develop Advanced Mega Memory and Mega Memory audio tapes.
An additional project that Trudeau pursued was to found the International Pool Tour (IPT). His large investments in pool attempted to help establish billiards as a legitimate sport.
In my next posting, I will continue examining Kevin Trudeau’s business projects and well as his many legal troubles.
Special One Time Offer from Kevin Trudeau!
I recently visited Kevin Trudeau’s website to buy his new book Debt Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About. As I mentioned in another post, I feel that his website, www.debtcures.com, is a failure from an online marketing point of view. However, today I want to tell you a little bit about how the ordering process goes on the site.
Once I entered all my personal information into the form on the homepage, I was directed to another page where I expected to give my credit card info and then complete the order. Well, Mr. Trudeau wasn’t prepared to let me get away with only ordering one copy of his book. Before I was able to complete my order, I had to go through five screens of “One Time Offers” to buy Kevin’s other products.
On the first of these pages, is was offered free additional copies of the Debt Cures book. In order to receive additional copies, I only needed to pay the shipping fee of $11.95 each. Why does it cost $11.95 to ship an additional book? Amazon.com is able to offer me free shipping on all book orders over $25. Obviously, Trudeau is charging more than the actual shipping price here and is pocketing the rest.
Once I confirm that I did not want another copy of Debt Cures, I was directed to another Special Offer page. This time, they invited me to buy a year subscription to Kevin Trudeau’s “Debt Cures Newsletters” for only $119.40. But that’s not all! If agreed to order the newsletter, I would receive a free MP3 player with the Debt Cures audio book already loaded. Now this does not sound like such a great deal to me. If the whole book costs $29.95, how much more information can he be giving me for an additional $119.40? And why didn’t he just include that information in the book in the first place? I’m sure that many people have been enticed into buying this newsletter simply because they were also wondering what else could Trudeau tell them. And I’m sure that others were convinced to subscribe to the “Debt Cures Newsletter” because they wanted the free MP3 player.
Let’s now take a step back and realize what a brilliant offer Kevin Trudaeu is making here. Let’s say that writing a newsletter costs in a few hundred dollars per month and that printing each newsletter and mailing it costs another fifty cents each. That means that for each person that orders the Debt Cures Newsletter, Kevin Trudeau is earning about$113!!! And that “free” MP3 player? You can bet he didn’t pay more than an additional $10 for each of them in China. It’s offers like this that make people consider Kevin Trudeau a master salesperson. He stands to make a fortune from each person who subscribes to this newsletter.
Once I made the decision not to subscribe to the newsletter, I was presented with the one time only offer to buy the Debt Cures Audio Book 10-CD Set for only $39.95. Again, this product only costs Trudeau a few dollars each to produce and manufacture. This leaves him with quite a profit. Of course it’s the audio book is not going to tell me anything new though. It’s only an audio recording of the book that I’m already trying to buy. Oh ya, and if I had subscribed to the newsletter, the free MP3 player would have come with this audio book already preloaded. I think I’ll pass and just complete my order.
Oh, Sorry. I can’t complete my order yet because Mr. Trudeau has another amazing product for me. For only $19.95 more Kevin will send me the Debt Cures Debt Kit: Every Letter You Could Need to Send to Credit Card Companies, Debt Collectors or Anyone Causing You Debt Nightmares. Trudeau claims that this product will “Resolve your debt problems and get creditors off your back.” Helping you to
- Get credit card companies to lower your interest rate!
- Legally force debt collectors to stop bugging you!
- Convince creditors to lower your payments!
I haven’t reviewed the actual Debt Cure Debt Kits yet, but in my opinion, this could actually be a useful resource. Many people do have problems writing effective letters and having a template to guide them can really help. I assume that this product can actual help people to reduce debt and save money. My only question is, if Kevin Trudeau has this information, why didn’t he include it in his book? Is his goal to to sell a book that will help people get out of debt or is he just trying to sell as many products as he can? Based on this check out process, is seems like the latter. No thanks, Kevin, I’ll skip the Debt Kit.
OK, one last special offer to show me. For only $19.95, I can buy the Kevin Trudeau “Fast Track to Free Money” CD-ROM which will give me “access to hundreds of official applications to send in for free government money now” as well as a listings of the best private foundations granting free money each year. While I believe that some of the information presented in this program are probably true, it is actually much harder for individuals to receive free grant money than Trudeau makes it out to be. I’ll pass and just buy the book.
Well, believe it or not, that was the last “One Time Offer” that Kevin Trudeau had for me. Once I managed to fight off all these tempting special offers, I was actually able to complete my order.
So why did I share all this information with you? I shared it so that you could be aware of the type of product that you are buying and what the seller’s objectives are. Kevin Trudeau produced the Debt Cures book in order to make money for himself. That being said though, I also believe that the average debt ridden American does not understand enough about the financial institutions in this country or how to properly manage their finances. I believe that Trudeau’s book will shed a lot of light on this topic for the uninformed reader. This can be extremely important in trying to get out of debt. So while, yes, I think Kevin Trudeau is trying to make himself richer, I do expect that Debt Cures can help many of us average Americans eliminate much of our debt and get back on the right track to financial health.
What do you think? Please share your comments about Debt Cures or any of these special products that are being offered when you order the book.
Kevin Trudeau: Master Salesman or Scam Artist?
How could it be that Kevin Trudeau has could the cures to all of America’s biggest problems? Illness, obesity, debt!!! Could it be that he is just that smart or that well rounded? Probably not.
It’s more likely that Trudeau is a brilliant salesman who is always looking for large market to sell a product. What product? It’s doesn’t really matter. I assume that he, like many smart business people, looks for a market and then develops a product.
Once Trudeau realized that Americans were struggling with weight problems, he realized that this represented a huge potential market for anyone who could convince the general public that he had an answer. With that knowledge in mind, he began his research to develop a method for weight loss that seemed new, innovative and easy enough that people wouldn’t be discouraged from trying it out. Through this method came Kevin Trudeau’s best seller, Weight Loss Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About.
Trudeau saw that millions of Americans were suffering from different illnesses that did not have easy cures. Same marketing process and soon Natural Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About was introduced to the market. When Kevin saw that American families were were beginning to be pinched by uncontrollable debt, he did his homework and soon wrote Debt Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About.
Does this method of identifying problems and then creating products to solve mean that Kevin Trudeau is scamming people. Of course not. All business is based upon the identification of profitable markets and then developing products or services to profitably filled those needs. It is only a problem when you claim a product will solve a problem that it does not actually solve.
I am not claiming that Kevin Trudeau’s books do or do not solve the problems that they claim to. I am however, trying to shed light on how I believe Trudeau found his inspiration to write these books. Despite all the accusation that I have seen and heard thrown at him, one thing does seen to remain true. Kevin Trudeau is a brilliant salesman who clearly knows how to identify a market and develop and market a product that millions of people will purchase.
