Credit Card Counseling is required by most Americans today as the collective Credit Card debt of American citizens has exceeded $360 billion. The Credit Card Counseling services are offered by companies which specialize in assisting the consumers to get out of debt. Creditors use innovative ideas to earn money and debtors fall prey to their intentions. Most consumers get into Credit Card debt due to their habit of purchasing goods on Credit Card.

Credit Card Counseling Companies – Debt Management

As mentioned, it is a habit which eventually starts to create problems for the consumer. A consumer promises to him/herself that they will repay for the purchased goods. However, they often fail to do so and ultimately the debt compiles and greatly increases. Consumers must keep in mind all the disadvantages of Credit Cards and debt before using it. Each year Credit Card company owners make a lot of money due to the carelessness of consumers.

Benefits of Credit Card Counseling

Credit Card Counseling is required by people is a society where the emphasis is paid on “Plastic money”. Consumer Credit Card counseling companies reveal how financial operations go about and how consumers are lured into paying more for something economic.

All the charge card purchases have the interest rate on them which is a major problem to cope up with.

What Do Credit Card Counseling Companies Do?

Consumer Credit Card Counselors will show both sides of the picture to consumers. They will tell the consumer how Credit Card is useful. A consumer does not need to carry cash instead they may just take a Credit Card with them to pay for any purchases. Also, Credit Cards provide a quick monthly summary of all purchases. On the other hand, Credit Cards charge high-interest rate by consumers and sink the consumer in debt.

False Claims by Credit Card Companies

People who require professional assistance in respect of Credit Card, chances are that they are highly indebted. Advertisements and false claims by Credit Card companies fool the consumer in believing that there is a debt level which is “acceptable”. This claim is false but the damage done can be assessed by comparing College Student`s Credit Card balance which is US$3000 in recent surveys and was US$2000 two years back.

Advice by Credit Card Counseling Companies

Consumers must take into consideration their spending habits and ways before using a Credit Card. If all calculations are done, the consumer will find out that Credit Cards charge much more then what the consumer wants to pay. Consumer Credit Card Counseling companies advise consumers to pay monthly installments on time. They also suggest the consumer limit his/her monthly expenses and live life according to a budget.

Debt Regret is regarded as one of the most successful debt reduction companies. Debt Regret is a Texas-based organization, dedicated and bringing a change in consumer`s lives. It is quite natural that consumers get attracted to the luxuries offered by various brands.

To get these luxuries, consumers take a loan which becomes impossible to pay under dubious circumstances. Debt Regret aims to help consumers by reducing their total loan amount.

Debt Regret – Texas Based Debt Management Company

It is every individual`s right to live a financially independent life. Debt cannot be managed all alone if it exceeds a certain limit. However, Debt Regret has always motivated her clients to opt for a change. Debt Regret operates in many fields of expertise which includes debt consolidation and debt reduction. Consumers may choose any service they wish to and work on repaying debt. Consumers are also made aware of all the important things to consider.

Different Client Needs – Debt Regret Customer care

Using a debt consolidation or settlement service may affect a person`s credit report. Consumers are advised to work on their credit reports for improvement. Improvement in a credit report is bought by making timely repayments for the debt they have reduced with Debt Regret.

Every consumer has different requirements which are always kept in mind by the company. Debt Regret has experts working in the firm to help the clients overcome debt problems.

Debt Regret – Debt Awareness and Bankruptcy Alternatives

Debt Regret is one organization that also spreads awareness about debt and it`s management in clients. The staff of Debt Regret is always present to assist potential clients. Clients with all sorts of financial problems are most welcomed at the company premises. The staff is very capable of resolving credit and debt problems with clients. The company provides bankruptcy alternatives which are better than filing for bankruptcy.

Debt Reduction Program Offered by Debt Regret

Debt Regret provides assurance of positive results to clients regardless of the potential drawbacks involved in using a debt reduction service. Debt Reduction generally reduces the debt amount my as much as fifty to eighty percent. The leftover debt amount is then repaid in installments by the consumer.

Contact Information for Clients – Debt Regret
7460 Warren Parkway Suite 220
Frisco, Texas 75034
Phone: 1-888-902-3328
Fax: 1-214-461-0483
E-mail: concerns@debtregret.com

It is a gigantic task to manage your account in the modern era. The increasing debts and demanding creditor’s calls, take a toll on the life of the clients and the delay in the payments affect your credit history, which ultimately bars you from getting any other loan. One needs the guidance and expert advice of the reputable firms to get his loans settled and DebtConsolidation.org is one such firm that is helping its clients all over the USA.

The company offers a wide range of services and has demonstrated excellent customer relations and service record.

DebtConsolidation.org

As the name indicates, DebtConsolidation.org is a company that operates via the internet, and hence its speedy action is guaranteed. The company offers a wide range of services and packages to choose from and the clients can select the plan as per their needs. The company has an excellent set of attorneys and negotiators at their disposal, who assist their clients in becoming loan free.

Services By DebtConsolidation.org

The DebtConsolidation.org is renowned for its expert and speedy services. The company operates in the following pattern:-

Submission Of Application

The clients get in touch with the company via the internet and submit their application for debt settlement or debt negotiations which are received by the company.

The clients can also make use of the toll-free number provided by the company to get in touch with the company executives.

Review Of Information

On receipt of the application, the company reviews all the details in the application. Then the company contacts the client to ask whether he or she is still interested in debt settlement consultation or not. The application is processed further only after the consent of the client.

Provision Of Counseling

Once the client has given the go-ahead signal, the company gets in consultation with its experts and chalks out the plan for the client. The client is informed about all the details of the plan and is given credit counseling as per his case.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality remains the hallmark of the operation of DebtConsolidation.org. All the client’s details and financial data are processed with the utmost care and all details are considered strictly confidential.

Company Contact Information
The company can be contacted via their website www.debtconsolidation.org. The other method is via toll free number below.

Phone Number: 1-800-288-2455

It has become a great challenge to manage one’s debts in the modern era. A large number of companies offer a huge variety of debts. It becomes difficult for the client to keep a record of payments to all the companies. In addition, the difficulties to pay back loans in time results in increasing the debt. In order to assist the clients in the swift adjustment of loans, the Debt Shield has become a fore-runner.

The Debt Shield

Debt Shield company is striving to help their clients get rid of the loans and be able to make the repayments in an easy manner. It is based in Columbia, Maryland. The company looks after the needs of its clients all across the USA. The company aims at assisting the people in managing their loans with minimum hassle.

Loan Management By The Debt Shield
The Debt Shield deals with a large variety of loans. A few of the debts managed by the Debt Shield are:-

1. Credit Card Loans
2. Medical Debts
3. Personal loans

The company assists the clients in loan adjustments and also helps them make the minimum payments as and when required.

Qualifying For Loan Programme

It is very easy to qualify for the loan management programme of the Debt Shield. They have kept the limit at 10000 dollars.

Any person having the loan in excess of this amount can be eligible for debt management.

Guaranteed Management

The biggest advantage of choosing the Debt Shield as your credit settlement company lies in the guarantee claimed by the company. The company assures its clients to reduce the monthly payments to half. This means that the clients shall save on account of the monthly payments. They shall have the freedom to support their home in a better way. The money saved on monthly installments can be put to better use by the clients.

Standing Of The Debt Shield

The Debt Shield is a highly reputed organization. It has a good standing in the credit market and is a member of The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC). The clients can, therefore, select it without any worries and be assured to get their loans settled in time.

Contact Debt Shield
The postal addres of the company is given below:

9212 Berger Road, Suite 100
Columbia, MD 21046-2312

The company can also be cotacted by their help line. The number is given below:

Phone: 1-888-397-7546

A large black bear broke into a home near Cimarron Tuesday night and scratched an elderly, bedridden woman. A bear believed to have been the attacker was found and killed by wildlife officers the next morning.

It was the second time in less than two weeks the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish handled a report of a bear entering a home in the area.

The 82-year-old woman involved in Tuesday’s incident suffered only minor injuries — a scratch to the nose and a couple scratches to the forehead — in the incident that occurred at her home a little more than two miles north of Cimarron, according to Game and Fish.

The injuries were “pretty minimal for what happened,” said Clint Henson, a Game and Fish officer with the department’s Raton-based northeast region office. Henson said the woman, who asked authorities to not identify her, did not have the ability to provide many details of what happened Tuesday night, but confirmed a bear had been in her bedroom, where the light was on at the time. Henson said officials believe the bear may have climbed onto the bed and then scratched the woman and left when she tried to push it off.

Henson said officers found the home’s screen door — which was latched Tuesday night with only a small hook-and-eye mechanism — ripped away from its frame. The main door was open at the time the bear is believed to have come in. He said claw marks on the screen door indicated a bear pulled it away from the top of the door. He said it would have taken a bear of significant size to reach the top of the door and pull it as indicated by the claw marks.

Using hounds to try to track the culprit bear, members of the tracking team found a large male bear — fitting what officials believed to be the description of the bear they were looking for — around mid-morning Wednesday, about a quarter mile to a half mile from the woman’s house and killed it. Henson said a shot was fired at it when it was spotted and the bear then climbed up a tree, where it was when a fatal shot was fired into it.

“This was a huge bear” of likely more than 400 pounds, Henson said, adding that bears such as this one — believed to have gone into a home — are usually killed to eliminate further danger to people.

“That crosses the line,” Henson said, “when they feel comfortable enough to come into a house.”

The bear was taken to a veterinarian diagnostic center in Albuquerque to be tested for rabies and where wildlife officials hoped DNA testing could possibly be used to match the bear to DNA found at the site of Tuesday’s incident.

According to Game and Fish, the injured woman’s housekeeper/caretaker was in the house Tuesday at the time the bear is believed to have entered, but was in another room and did not see or hear the bear. There was also a dog in the house that didn’t alert to the bear.

Later, at about 10 p.m., the housekeeper/caretaker closed the doors to the house — apparently not noticing how significantly the screen door had been damaged, Henson said — and checked on the woman, finding the scratches and putting simple bandages on them. Game and Fish officials were not called until the seriousness of the event was realized early Wednesday morning, according to Henson.

The scent-sniffing hounds were provided by Springer’s Hap Blacksten and the dogs began circling the woman’s house, eventually picking up a scent that led them to the bear.

Normally, food smells entice bears into camps or homes, according to Game and Fish, but there was no food in the woman’s bedroom at the time of the incident.

Ten days earlier, a family in their northeast Raton home awoke to a black bear in their kitchen. The bear ate a birthday cake that was on a table and was getting a drink at the sink when Drey Solano went to investigate sounds in the kitchen and found the bear.

Solano told Game and Fish officers he went to get his pistol and told his kids to go in his bedroom with their mother Jill. When he returned to the kitchen, Solano said, the bear went out the door, but then came back twice during the night only to find the doors locked. Earlier, the bear found access to the house because the family had left some doors and windows open for cool air.

Game and Fish set up a trap at the home following the incident. The bear was caught and killed Wednesday, Henson said.

Solano told officials he was unsure if he would get into trouble if he had shot the bear. Game and Fish regulations say that people can kill a bear without a license if it has killed domestic livestock or presents an immediate threat to human life or property. Any person taking such action must report the incident to Game and Fish within 24 hours.

For information about bears and other New Mexico wildlife, contact the state Department of Game and Fish at (888) 248-6866 or at its northeast region office at 445-2311. Information from the department is also available at www.wildlife.state.nm.us.

As the world moves away from traditional landline phone service (especially the business world) and more people and businesses embrace VoIP and SIP technology, those making the switch will be presented with new opportunities, but also new risks.

A recent NY Times article highlighted some horror stories businesses need to keep in mind as they transition their phone networks to the Internet. Landlines are dying and VoIP/SIP is the way of the future, so just you shouldn’t discontinue Internet service from your business because it’s susceptible to cyber attack, you shouldn’t shy away from VoIP because it’s susceptible to the same security risks.

My point in telling you all of this is to emphasize the importance of taking phone security just as seriously as you do your computer systems.

So how can you protect your phone system? The NY Times story offers a couple of suggestions worth expanding on:

• The first thing to keep in mind is making sure each user sets up a strong voicemail password. Voicemail passwords are typically the gateway to all the phone’s features, including call forwarding. It’s important your organization really educate and enforce this policy.
• Similarly, call forwarding features, need to be be turned off or restricted to those accounts that actually need the feature, and strong access controls need to be implemented as well. Since many cases of network hacking make their money off of forwarding calls to international destinations, it’s imperative that feature be limited to only the select few employees (if any) that need it .
• Secure SIP credentials are also a must. Don’t use the same password for every device, portal or feature associated with your phone network.
• Beyond what you can do in the office, your carrier should have strong fraud monitoring provisions in place to keep an eye on your network. If not, then find a carrier that does.

If you want to truly get the most out of technology — any technology — the easiest first step is mitigating risks. Don’t forget about your phone system when looking at cyber security plans and measures. Apply these strategies to your phone system and you’ll make it a lot harder for cyber criminals to target your business.

A few weeks ago during winter break, we decided to take our boys on little adventure trip…..our destination….SEATTLE.

Over the years we drove by and through Seattle many….many times. We visited surrounding areas of Seattle but never made it our way to downtown and waterfront.

I instantly fell in love with downtown Seattle….I loved the view from our hotel….I enjoyed all the shopping and a variety of great restaurants…

During our 3 day visit we tried to do and experience as much of Seattle as we could….even the rain couldn’t stop us.

One of the most fun….interesting….memorable experiences was PIKE PLACE MARKET….

I’ve been to many markets across the world….some more memorable than others, but the foodie in me will never ever forget Pike Place Market.

….farmers with the freshest produce and fresh flowers (in December)…..unusual produce….bakers….fishmongers….performers….little unique store….spices….400 kinds of teas….cobblestone streets…alleys….view of the ocean and Elliott Bay…..people….smells….music….

You name….it was there. Whole nine acres of it.

We spend hours and hours walking through the market….discovering new things….trying new foods….reminiscing over familiar things….

PIKE PLACE FISH stall with their famous “flying fish”……the best French Macaroons and chocolate eclairs at LE PANIER bakery….

….watching cheese-making at BEECHER’S HANDMADE CHEESE and trying fresh cheese curd (divine) and World’s Best MAC & CHEESE….pigging out on handmade fresh Russian Piroshky at PIROSHKY-PIROSHKY

…..sampling many….many delicious and some very different tea flavors at VITAL TEA…..trying not to buy every single exotic spice at MARKETSPICE….stopping my 15-year-old from “needing” every old book at BLMF Used Books…..watching my 9 years old demonstrate new magic tricks he picked up at MARKET MAGIC.

We all enjoyed our time at PIKE PLACE MARKET….and we can’t wait to go back there again….in a very near future…

….hopefully with little less rain and cold…..maybe this time we will plan our trip during summer months.

If you find yourself in or around Seattle…..YOU MUST stop at Pike Place Market….even for a short time…..I heard many times about this place, but only now I actually know what a truly unique place Pike Market Place really is.

Have you ever visited Pike Place Market or is there a market you truly love? Maybe one day I will visit your market.

Listerine for toenail fungus versus more common treatments like Zetaclear is something that is searched for on Google more than 1000 times per month and far more times than that on the web overall.

The reason that consumers are so interested in this information is that more than 35 million people in the United States have some form of fingernail or toenail fungus is Listerine is widely shared on the web as one of the home remedies that might work.

Did The Inventors Use Listerine for Toenail Fungus?

Listerine has been a part of the American culture since the 19th century and was originally developed as an antiseptic for hospitals and surgery rooms. Believe it or not, it was later marketed as a floor cleaner.

In the early 1920s, Listerine started to really take off after its marketing firm convinced the public that they had something called halitosis and that Listerine could help to cure it. It basically became a multi-million dollar company from that little marketing campaign.

It is unclear when Listerine for toenail fungus first surfaced but it is not uncommon for people in the old days to try various products to solve untested problems. Since Listerine was used as an antiseptic, it probably seemed logical that it might help relieve other problems as well.

Thymol Might Be a Toenail Fungus Treatment
thymol crystalsIf you look on the back of a Listerine bottle, you will discover that one of the active ingredients is called Thymol. Thymol was used by the Ancient Egyptians and the Blackfeet Indians as a means to kill bacteria and fungi. The Indians used it for wounds and also made a tea of it to treat mouth problems.

It is this ingredient that makes the argument that Listerine might just work in killing toenail fungus. However, naysayers of this home remedy argue that if it worked, the manufacturer would develop a product to kill nail fungus. In addition, most toenail fungus is located under the nail and it is very difficult for water-based solutions to penetrate the nail’s surface.

If you decide to try Listerine for your toenail fungus and it works, we would love to hear from you. In the meantime, we have listed some other solutions for your nail fungus that are used by many people around the world. The first two products come with full guarantees.

Best Toenail Fungus Treatment on the Market

The best toenail fungus treatment is somewhat relative because what is considered the best for one person may not be for the next. This concept applies to most things in life so we need to consider other things such as ease of use, price, guarantees, and other factors before being able to pick the best treatment.

With that said, there are a few toenail fungus treatments that are commonly seen and referred around the web. For the purposes of this article, we are going to call these the best based merely on the popularity of recommendations. We have not included any of the prescription solutions like Lamisil and others because they are considered dangerous by some and should only be recommended by your doctor.

1. Antifungal Oil Based Products

Nature provides us with many things that will help to solve most of our problems and the same thing applies to fingernail fungus and toenail fungus. Various natural oils, like tea tree, have powerful antifungal properties and are often combined together to make effective fungus killing treatments. Two of the most popular in this group would be Zetaclear and Fungisil. Zetaclear is a little cheaper, but otherwise, the products are similar in their abilities.

2. Home Toenail Fungus Remedies

There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of so-called home remedies for nail fungus floating around the web. You can read about everything from chlorine bleach to Vicks Vaporub. It is hard to determine if any of these actually work but the two that we will mention are Listerine and Apple Cider Vinegar. Listerine was used for many years as an antiseptic in medical facilities. It is believed that the active ingredient thymol is what may help get rid of toenail fungus. Thymol has antifungal properties and was used by the Indians and other groups for treating wounds and ailments.

3. Laser Toenail Fungus Treatments

Laser toenail fungus treatments are fairly new but they are grabbing a lot of attention right now. The current market leader is the Pinpointe laser which claims to have trained Podiatrists in dozens of states around the country. Laser treatments have been very popular because they are supposedly up to 88% effective, can be done in 45 minutes, and are painless. What is not painless is the $1000 to $1200 price tag to have this procedure done.

Brad, the “dad”

My daughter The Elf is a tough li’l girl. At fourteen-going-on-forty, she has, over the last year, become the exact opposite of the emotional, sullen stereotype (except for the language. What a mouth that girl has…). But I think her hard-won maturity is working against her at the moment, and I feel absolutely unable to help.

She starts high school in a few days. And I can tell: she’s absolutely terrified. She’s not sleeping. She’s not eating. And this is a girl who loves to eat and sleep. Without end and with much enthusiasm. She did emerge at around four in the morning to very quietly confess to me (as I recall) that she was very nervous about Opening Day, and nothing I said seemed to help at all.

It doesn’t matter that she’s going to the same school her older sister successfully completed. It doesn’t matter that she’s been on the campus half a dozen times already, or that she’s going to be carpooling with her two best friends. It’s new, it’s unknown, and it’s killing her.

I know — at least I hope — that two days after she gets there, she’ll be fine. But I want to be able to help her now, to do something other than mouth the standard (and, it seems to me, rather dismissive) clichés: “Oh, it’s just nerves,” “Oh, it’s not that bad,” and of course my classic all-purpose, “You know, on my first day of school…”

So “Mom”? “Daughter”? Any advice? I don’t want to dote, but I don’t want to abandon her either. How can I help her through this, ’cause somehow just being stoic isn’t cutting it.

Rach, the “teen”

The best thing you can do is distract her. If she spends all day sitting around thinking about how scary its gonna be, then it’s gonna be pretty scary. But if she spends all day thinking about something else, then it’ll be pretty hard for her to worry about the first day.

So, telling her about your first day isn’t such a terrible idea. Or you could just wait it out because in a few days she’ll be feeling happy and excited and like she knows everything about high school. And that will be awesome.

Mary, the “mom”

I have to admit that I started to think about how to answer “dad’s” query before I saw Rach’s response. My suggestions were going to be dramatically different than Rach’s. I was thinking along the lines of “sit down with her and have her really try to dissect what it is that she is so nervous about and then deal with that rationally.” But, when I saw Rach’s response, I thought “well, she is a heck of a lot closer to this than I am, maybe I am way off base here.” So, I asked my own kids at the dinner table tonight.

My thirteen-year-old, who is starting eighth grade was quick to point out that she is closer in age to the Elf than anyone else voicing an opinion. She agreed with Rach – distract her. Although, I think that in my daughter’s mind distraction equated to ‘take her shopping and buy her lots of new stuff’. My son, who is a junior in high school this year suggested that the Elf’s older sister might be a better person to talk with her. Although, he did add the caveat that his suggestion would only work if they get along with each other better than his sisters do.

Whatever you decide to say or do, I think the fact that she knows that you understand that she’s nervous and that you care is comforting. And, next week when she is too busy texting her new friends to answer your questions about how it’s going, you can rest easy.

When the whole ‘net boom was growing, everyone thought we would be a paperless society in only a matter of years. The idea sounded feasible as numerous services went online offering secure options for managing accounts and delivering information. Years later we are using more paper than ever along with our massive consumption of information online.

So what happened? Why are we not sticking to electronic options exclusively instead of printing out physical copies of everything? I don’t fully know the answer, but I do know that most companies still rely on physical storage of information.

Perhaps it is the fact that hard drives fail, a painful experience most of us have had at one point or another. Digital data can be lost. Secure online accounts sound great until there is another big hacking breach publicized in the news. Email delivery of monthly statements is not always something you can rely on to avoid late payments on a credit card or loan payment. There are a number of insecurities we all harbor, and our protection is to stick to the old fashioned postal delivery of our reminders. The reality, granted in my opinion, is that we feed our lack of personal organization by sticking to getting things delivered by mail.

Nearly every financial institution offers options to go paperless with your statements and regular communication; some even offer incentives for you to do it because of the cost savings it provides them. If email delivery is an issue, consider changing your email to a good free service such as Gmail. Google can offer a high reception success on your email along with super spam filtering due to a sheer number of subscribers they monitor for problems. Plus, with Gmail, you get nearly 3GB of storage that is automatically backed up for you. You are not going to lose those important emails with solid service.

Concerned that you may not remember to pay those bills without a physical reminder? First off, consider checking your email at least once a day if you don’t already. It’s a good thing to stay in communication with people, plus with the regular habit, you can ensure you will see important missives quickly.

Second, consider paying bills right when they come in. I know, we all like to squeeze out every day of interest we can by holding our money into our account until the last possible moment. Come on, I have thought like that too, but the reality here is that we are just procrastinators that like to cover ourselves with believing we are sound financial thinkers. If you pay bills right off, you never have to remember the due date with growing anxiety of missing it. If your finances are tight this may be a difficult transition to make; but, once done, it is no different than your normal routine, just moved up in the month.

Finally, if you are really bad about remembering things – as I am – use electronic reminders. If you use a mobile phone use the built-in task list or calendar option to put in date/time reminders to do important tasks. If you are not that electronically savvy, carry a small datebook and get good and looking at it regularly to see what important things need to get done on any given day.

Really going paperless is not a matter of security, privacy or availability. Going paperless is a matter of breaking our current habits and establishing new, better ones.