Debt & Credit

Making the Tough Financial Decision, Part 3 — Paying Off $63,000 Credit Card Debt & Lessons Learned

In Parts I & II of this series, I explained how a seasoned financial consultant like myself managed to get into credit card debt, and how I made the difficult decision to sell our dream home to resolve that growing financial crisis. In this final part, I’ll finish the story and then discuss some of the lessons learned along the way. When you’re in the rapids and headed for...

Making the Tough Financial Decision, Part 2 — Our Dream Home Goes on the Market

I have an important rule for making financial decisions: Set your emotions aside and let the numbers do the talking. It’s a rule I emphasize over and over with my coaching clients. Emotions and financial math do not mix. They are mutually exclusive domains. You need to bundle up all your feelings, anxiety, attachments, desires and fears, and mentally stuff them into a suitcase outside the door of your...

Making the Tough Financial Decision — Our Dream Home Goes On the Market

How A Seasoned Debt Coach Took His Own Advice and Paid Off $63,000 Credit Card Debt by Charles J. Phelan This is the story of how a financial coach with a deep reservoir of hands-on experience still managed to get himself into $63,000 of credit card debt, and then solved the problem by making the same kind of tough decision he would recommend to a client. In this first...

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act Extended Retroactively for 2014 — Great News for Consumers Who Had Primary Home Mortgage Debt Canceled Last Year!

In 2007, Congress pass the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act (MFDRA) and initially set it to expire at the end of 2012. This temporary change to the IRS tax code permitted an exclusion for cancelation of debt income associated with forgiven mortgage debt. The Act was later extended for the 2013 tax year, but then expired again on December 31, 2013. The MFDRA has been hugely beneficial for consumers...

Settle Your Debts in 2015!

It’s the very last day of the year and 2015 is just around the corner. If you have put off cleaning up old collection accounts, or you’re facing a financial hardship and can’t continue making payments on your credit card debts, then you need to know that debt settlement will still be a viable solution in 2015. In fact, next year may be a very good year for settling...

ZipDebt Client Comment Forum (2007-2019)

This post is intended to provide a forum for ZipDebt clients to post comments about their experience with the program. Recently, I spoke to a person interested in my program, and they told me that they didn’t bother to read any of the testimonials on my site because “everybody fakes testimonials.” Well, that’s probably true of many (if not most) debt-related websites. Not so with ZipDebt. ALL of my...

Insolvency Calculator for IRS Form 982 Now Available! Only $29!

zipdebt.com proudly announces the launch of our new INSOLVENCY CALCULATOR, designed to help taxpayers and professional tax preparers determine taxable income associated with 1099-C “cancelation of debt income.” At the super-low price of $29, this Excel based calculator will help you save HOURS of time in completing “the tax form from hell” (Form 982). You can buy it right now, download immediately, and get to work on your Form...

Debt Settlement Solutions: Slow Torture vs. Fast Relief!

Consumers researching debt settlement solutions need to be aware that there are two very different approaches to the strategy: the Long-Term Method or Fast-Track Debt Settlement™ (pioneered by ZipDebt). We might also call these “Slow Torture” or “Fast Relief.” The Long-Term Method is where you start the project with nothing to work with – no nest egg, no stocks or savings, no IRA, no family assistance, no assets to...

Why FREE Debt Settlement Advice Can Often Be the Most Expensive

Virtually every single debt relief company offers a “free consultation” where you can call a toll-free number and speak with a counselor about your situation. Depending on whether you’re seeking debt settlement advice or information about credit counseling, there may be different titles for this position, such as “debt counselor,” “certified debt consultant,” or “senior debt advisor.” Buyer beware! After 16+ years in the industry, I can tell you...

ZipDebt Clients Enjoy Great Results! Success Tracking Update, 2006 through 2012

In July 2010, I published “Debt Settlement Done Right,” which included ZipDebt’s success tracking statistics for the period 2006-2009. As far as I know, I was one of the first in this industry to publish actual data on my results. Today, it’s still quite rare to see a debt settlement firm publish transparent information about actual performance results vs. the claims made in their marketing materials and sales pitches....