The secret to a stress free life is to become and remain debt free; easier said than done, I can hear you say, but with a good financial plan, hard work and a fair amount of discipline you can achieve this freedom and benefit by being debt free for the rest of your life.

For every illness there is either a cure or a treatment; Debt is an illness that is afflicting millions of US citizens and in order to deal with this issue we must first become a doctor, in order to diagnose the problem and prescribe a course of medication and treatment that will cure the sickness; and then we need to become a nurse, to administer the prescribed treatments and ensure the right steps are taken to ensure a full and healthy recovery.

So, where do we start?

There are generally three types of people in this world; those who want to do things for themselves and those who would rather let others help them achieve the same goals, the third person is someone you cannot afford to be and that is the person who buries his or her head in the sand and then expects things to correct themselves without any interference, this person is living in a dream world but there is hope for the other two.

You are more than capable of dealing with creditors yourself but you will have to document and keep records of every conversation and agreement for years to come. Many people much prefer to use the services of debt assistance agencies who work on their behalf, many of these services are not free of charge and should only be used once you have tried every possible thing you can think of to reduce and pay off your debt.

The only difference between yourself and a debt relief agency is that they have the knowledge and information to deal with debt and financial institutions whereas you do not. The one thing you should know is that this knowledge and information does not take years to accrue and the processes concerned are very simple and can be systematically put into place.

There are methods of debt reduction and elimination that are both ethical and legal that the financial institutions do not want in the public domain as they would lose millions every year in reduced interest payments. Debt relief companies must be aware of these methods also, so why do they only apply a handful of them and not ALL of them?

Forgive me, but I think something smells fishy when a company asks you to pay for their assistance in reducing debt and then they don't apply all the methods available to them to do so: Sure, they are true to their word and do provide the consumer with a saving, but it is never as big a saving as it should be! The methods in question, when applied properly, could have you debt free in three years and that is without increasing payments!

I have a theory that there could possibly be a deal in place between the lenders and the debt assistance companies that allow a saving for the consumer, a profit for the debt company and a slight reduction in interest profits for the lender, therefore making it seem like the consumer is the winner, whereas in actual fact YOU are still the loser!

What do you think?