My original intent in the post below was to write about my visit to a credit card debt reduction site in the U.K. and, specifically, about a post I read on that site’s forum.

The author is a 29-year old man who ran up debt going to school. His life is further complicated by being in relationship with a Canadian woman who is returning to Canada.

He wrote to ask for advice on how he could handle his debts from Canada if he followed her and emigrated. The U.K. credit counselor basically told him he should find a debt counselor in Canada.

But the guy was grappling with whether he should follow his partner to Canada or not.  

An idea occurred to me then that I felt spoke to his needs. I felt compelled to post it. [Read more →]

Tim Ramsey (whose blog is My Debt Relief Plan) left a comment on my last post; so I went to check out his site on credit card debt reduction.

There I found a link to a non-profit debt counseling service in the UK. Curious as a cat, I explored its links, read through a dozen FAQ’s and then checked out the user forum.

And that’s where I got hooked.

One snippet after another just grabbed me. Little stories that are probably no longer than one hundred or two hundred words unceremoniously tell tales of reversed fortunes. Their authors are civil and understate their problems, but they come across to me like deer in headlights.

They are stunned, most of them, to find themselves in such a situation of danger.

Coping with mounting credit card debt and giving just a hint of the worry and anxiety that’s plaguing them, these nice people are trying to figure out how to get out of something we each have been encouraged to do for years: get into debt. [Read more →]

Someone I know  – who I call “Agent 0016″ to protect his identity – works inside the credit card industry.

He started telling me some of what goes on in the industry and how it works. The more he told me, the angrier I got. And then I said: ”If only people knew what you know! They could save a lot of money, couldn’t they?”

“Oh, yes,” he said.

That’s when a lightbulb went on in my head.

“How about we try to tell them?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, then added:

“I couldn’t say any of this stuff in public. I’d lose my job.”

“What if we published it all under my name?” I asked. [Read more →]