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Bills.com is a free online consumer portal where people can find help with money problems, resources to help manage their money, and articles to learn more about personal finance. You can learn about the different ways to bring down debt and stop the further sinking down and the helplessness and despair you feel. Their different sources of information are handy and helpful. Bring about peace of mind and do something about your financial situation, visit this site today.

End the Vicious Cycle of Debt: Bills.com Provides Steps to Achieve Financial Freedom

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 25, 2007 – American consumers who are bold enough to take a mid-summer pulse of their personal finances may find more debt than ever before. American families owed a total of $895 billion on credit cards at the end of May (Source: Federal Reserve) -- and Bills.com co-founder and co-CEO Brad Stroh reports that Americans must take steps now to end the vicious cycle of debt.
"Debt has become a growing problem, and many Americans need to find a solution. With uncertainty about the future of housing prices, the high cost of oil, and record hikes in health care and higher education costs, many people are on the precipice of financial disaster. Americans are playing with fire by maintaining an average credit card debt load of nearly $10,000 per household (Source: CardData.com)," Stroh said. "At the same time, the stock market is at record levels, but most Americans cannot benefit from this potential prosperity because they are crippled with debt. For those with debt, the time to tackle it is now."
Money Smarts Slump
With an estimated eight billion credit card offers going to mailboxes to lure Americans into debt last year ((Source: CardWeb.com), consumers are managing their money less responsibly than ever before:
• U.S. consumers racked up an estimated $51 billion worth of fast food on their personal credit and debit cards in 2006, compared to $33.2 billion in 2005. (Source: CardData.com)
• Just 18 percent of credit card debt is paid off each month. (Source: CardData.com)
• Since the early 1980s, personal saving as a share of disposable personal income has dropped from a range of 8 to 10 percent to a negative 1.3 percent over the past year. (Source: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research)
• The U.S. personal savings rate has been negative for eight consecutive quarters, reaching a 73-year low. This means Americans are dipping into their savings to make ends meet, rather than accumulating savings. (Source: U.S. Department of Commerce)
• At the same time, personal spending in the United States jumped in December 2006 by the highest amount in five months. (Source: U.S. Department of Commerce)
"The great news is that no matter how serious the situation – no matter how much an individual owes or why – it is possible to achieve freedom from debt," said Stroh. "Eliminating debt can be very challenging, but it changes people's lives forever. By ending the vicious cycle of debt, people truly become free and in control of their lives."
Managing the Big Four
For most consumers, ongoing debt falls into one or more of four categories: mortgage, credit card, tax, and student loan. While mortgage debt and student loan debt can be considered “healthy” debt -- securing an investment (home) or helping to build a better future (student loans) -- keeping the debts in control and paid in an on-time, systematic manner can make the difference between financial freedom and financial disaster. Stroh's company, Bills.com (http://www.bills.com), is a free online consumer portal that provides personal finance education and resources to help individuals manage their finances. To control debt, Stroh suggests individuals take these actions:
1. Manage the mortgage. Consumers are in the strongest financial position when they pay secured debt, such as the home mortgage, first. Secured debt is a loan for a tangible object such as a home or car. If individuals do not pay these bills, they risk losing the object through foreclosure or repossession, with a major impact on their finances and on their lives. Also, consumers with costly home loans might be paying far more than is necessary. With rates still low, refinancing an expensive -- or dangerously increasing -- mortgage can be a smart move. Visit https://www.bills.com/homeloan/mortgage_refinance/?rbc=2564 to learn about options.
2. Curb the credit cards. Half of credit card holders pay only their minimum monthly payments (Source: Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index survey), which means that a purchase of a few hundred dollars can easily end up costing a few thousand dollars with interest. To slash repayment time – and total costs – make more than the minimum payment. Stroh advises making the highest payment on the credit card or loan with the highest interest rate. When that debt is repaid, add the higher payment to the next-highest-rate debt until that loan is paid off. "At first, the process can feel slow, but eventually you will see exciting progress," Stroh said. For more on cutting debts by 50 percent, and a debt savings quote, see https://www.bills.com/debthelp/debt/?rbc=2564.
3. Study up on student loans. Two-thirds of college graduates have student loan debts. They have an average $19,237 in loans (Source: FinAid). Defaulting on student loans can cripple a credit history for years to come. The right repayment plan -- including options such as consolidation -- can make loans manageable. Learn all about it at https://www.bills.com/studentloan/loan/?rbc=2564.
4. Tame the taxes. The IRS had almost 6.5 million delinquent accounts in 2006, and the number climbs every year. Worse, every late tax payment constantly accrues interest and penalties. For those with serious tax debt -- usually more than $10,000 -- experts can help work with the IRS to find a payable solution. See options at https://www.bills.com/debthelp/tax_debt/?rbc=2564.

No matter where a consumer is in the process of combating debt, three key steps will pave the way to a better financial future, stressed Stroh:
1. Learn the basics of personal finance. Everybody can find a style and a system of personal financial management that suits them. The Internet (at sites like www.bills.com) is loaded with free information.
2. Make a spending plan. Bills.com offers a free guide to personal finance that details how to create a spending plan. The guide is available for free at http://www.bills.com/guide. "Each month, plan how you will spend every dollar you earn," Stroh suggested. A budget is a great way to gain the freedom of knowing you are in control."
3. Seek help. For those with serious debt that they can't pay, help is available, especially if the situation was caused by a short-term problem such as a medical emergency. According to Demos, 29 percent of low and middle-income households with credit card debt reported that medical expenses contributed to their current balances. If support is needed, seek out a trustworthy debt resolution advisor about ethical, legitimate options. For more ideas about debt consultation, visit https://www.bills.com/debthelp/debt/?rbc=2564.
Based in San Mateo, Calif., Bills.com is a free one-stop online portal where consumers can educate themselves about complex personal finance issues and comparison shop for products and services including credit cards, debt relief assistance, insurance, mortgages and other loans. The company blogs about consumer finance issues at http://www.bills.com/blog. Since 2002, Bills.com and its partner company, Freedom Financial Network, have served more than 15,000 customers nationwide while managing more than $350 million in consumer debt. The company's co-founders and CEOs, Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh, were named Northern California finalists in Ernst & Young's 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

As planned I went to the midnight showing of The Simpsons Movie. It was a little more than I thought, but $7.50 is still cheaper than the other theatres in the area showing the film. I didn't get anything from the concession stand because I didn't feel like it. Also, I ended up not going to any Burger Kings because I didn't feel like it, also there's the risk of duplicate toys.
As far as the movie itself, it's a good solid picture, but a little slow in the middle, and the gags are more spaced out. Almost like they realized it wasn't a TV show, it was a movie. But it was more enjoyable than other films that do the same thing. I hope to see it again in the theatre at least once, and get the DVD when it comes out (not sure about FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer, probably will. And Spider-Man 3? Do I have to?)
The "hey it's a movie from a TV show, so let's do something we can't do on TV" moments go to Bart and Marge, and sit through the credits for extras you'd miss if you bolted the second it faded out. 3 out of 4.

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Executive Language Training is a language school providing English and foreign business language training. Our language courses are customized to your learning style and professional goals. Whether you're looking for accent reduction, Executive English classes, or Spanish language training; Executive Language Training is the way to go. Their one-on-one or small group Business English course is designed to help participants advance their English for Business communication competency and succeed in today’s business world. Taught by a certified trainer to teach English for Business, their Business English course is customized to your needs and can be designed for one executive or a small group of executives. Content is fully tailored to address participant's everyday English for Business needs based on their job-specific language and vocabulary.

According to Superhero Hype, a Dark Knight teaser trailer will be in front of select theatres with The Simpsons Movie on Friday. Or somebody might make a copy and put it up on YouTube. If you hurry, you might beat Warner Bros' legal department to it.

Note: The following post is sponsored. I mentioned a while back the trip we took out west. It was for Anime America '93 to be exact, and we took a too-quick (literally a drive-thru) side trip through San Francisco. What little we seen was enough to make it one of the places we wished we could return to. There's so much interesting stuff to see. And it would be a good site for a corporate event. If you're not from the area, you don't have to worry about having to do research to plan your event. Innovative Entertainment is the place to go for your San Francisco event planning . They offer Corporate Event Planning and Trade Show Promotion, as well as Entertainment Production and Special Event Planning.

Comicon is started and I'm not there. I'm not having to wait in insane long lines. I'm not having to be shut out of panels I want to see. I'm not dealing with huge crowds. I'm not having to overpay for crappy food. Why do I feel bad? Here's a consolation comic.
Meanwhile, the news is starting to come out. The Cloverfield/ 1-18-08 movie looks to have a title and poster.
And I haven't heard about winning tickets from Nuvo, so it looks like I'm going to the midnight show of The Simpsons Movie tonight. Not sure if I'm going to hit the Burger King for more toys before.

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Willis Consulting is the place to go to meet your executive job search needs. They were founded in 2000 to meet your staffing needs in the financial sectors. Their professional recruiters/consultants have executive and entry level jobs in corporate finance available now. They know the financial executive search process front to back - how to find, how to recruit, and how to motivate the right candidate and match them to the right firm. If you've had experience in the financial and banking sectors, or if you're just starting out and don't what direction to go, give Willis Consulting a try.

Patton Oswalt on why he ain't at San Diego. Basically, he's fighting the fight that we support here at MTC central.

This one's for you, Shawn: Watchmen cast announced. Link goes to pictures.
And although they say it's official, Ain't It Cool News is saying Zachary Quinto is neither confirming or denying he's Spock in JJ Abram's Star Trek films.
More to come from Nerd Prom Comicon International.

At a nursing home in Providence RI, a cat named Oscar that they adopted can predict a patient's death by curling up to them in their final hours. The staff utilize this by notifying family members so they can say goodbye. Although I had a cat named Oscar, in the picture he looks like the other cat we have named JoJo.

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Maybe you're looking into buying or investing in real estate in Orlando. You know the market is growing down there with Florida villas to buy, a rental vacation home, and more. Maybe you want to have your own place when you go down to vacation. Maybe you're looking for an investment to rent when you're not down there and see about having it pay off. Or maybe you've been stuck on I-4 one time too many and want to get out of the madhouse. In any case Bardell Real Estate can take care of it for you.

From Wil Wheaton's weekly column: Sci Fi Guilty Pleasures of the 90s.
Shout outs go to Brad at Podculture who does the Guilty Pleasures segment of the podcast (BTW, head over there and check out the contest to win most every Wing Commander game and the systems they were on). And my nephew Jason who thought that Escape From New York taking place before he got to watch it was hilarious.

Looks like Mr. Internet Tubes and bridge to nowhere themselves are being investigated for alleged corruption.
Senator Stevens, do you have any comment? "NO!"
(Well, that joke'll play better on The Daily Show, as they got video and all)

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Hey gang, remember that movie Gremlins where they had Polly Holliday as the bad guy (face it, she was channelling Margaret Hamilton from The Wizard of Oz, you knew it the moment she told Zach Galligan "I want your dog") and she had that chair thing that took her up and down the stairs that the gremlins got a hold of, wired it and shot her out of the house?
Okay, I doubt very much that's not what the good people at Value Stairlifts want me to introduce their stairlifts. But you know, I'm the type to acknowledge the "elephant in the room". The traditional way is to ignore it, but I think that draws more attention to it. By mentioning it right off, you know what I'm talking about and can go from there.
First, I want to assure you that Value Stairlifts in no way wants to shoot anybody out of the house with their products. In fact, they pride themselves in value and service. They know that if you're not buying the product for yourself, you're buying it for a loved one, and know the trust you're putting in them as a result. They offer all sorts of stairlifts and want to work with you to give you what you need. And they offer follow up service, so they aren't the type to disappear once the job's done.

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This post is dedicated to Joe, a friend of mine who lived next door to me in college who hailed from Long Island and talked about how it was better than Indiana. If you're looking for Nassau County real estate, as well as Queens or Suffolk County New York, this is the site to go to. It's a ReMax dealer, so you know you have their quality assurance to back it up. Also, their site has tips for buying and selling, as well as the experience to help you either way. If you're selling they offer a free market evaluation of their property and you can read more about their marketing strategies. And if you're buying you can search by price range, county and town, all from their home page.

I heard the Burger King was the fast food place to get Simpsons toys that tie in to the movie. So when I went to get my comics today I stopped by for some lunch. I got a Chief Wiggum that says "Stop in the name of squeamishness!" By the time I got to Noblesville, I wasn't feeling hungry, so when I went into the BK there, I asked for one of each of the toys. They went in back and got 4, one was Chief Wiggum. But one of the ones was the limited edition Golden Homer that says "Yee Haw!" The other two are Lisa and Crusty the Clown. I got Kathy some cheesy tots and a Butterfinger pie that she liked a lot.

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Here in the dog days of Summer the last thing on your mind is winter (ugh). But how about a winter where you can vacation in the French Alps and get there via snow trains? They depart directly from Waterloo Station in London and travels on through France with a couple of stops en route to Bourg St. Maurice in the heart of the French Alps. I've always taken the zen approach in travelling, in that it isn't the destination as much as the travelling to and from there. And the scenery you'll see on the snow trains? There's no baggage allowance so you won't be charged extra for your skis and equipment, not to mention that's it's economical and eco-friendly.

Jonah Hex is the latest comic to become a movie, by the people who brought your Crank. I think it's a compromise, as they're not going the traditional route, but a movie with a supernatural bent, as the Vertigo series of a few years back. Hey, at least it's not the "Mad Hex" version.
And Jack Black will do a voice on the Simpsons this season, on October 7th, and it's the famous Comic Book Guy rival episode, that will not only have Alan Moore voicing himself, but Daniel Clowes and Art Spiegelman as well.

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As we're now in the digital age, one thing that's affected is picture frames. Or is it? With a digital photo frame you can load up your photos onto a memory card (and if you buy a 10 inch frame, Digital Framez will give you a free 256 MB memory card, so you don't have to buy one) and put it in the frame, and you're good to go. Previously the only way you could view your photo's is by printing them all off and storing in an album possibly looked at every few years, otherwise, you may bring out your PC and huddle family and friends around it while you open hundreds of files. And unless you changed the names of the picture files, they're just letters and numbers, and you have to spend even more time trying to find them than if you were looking for them the old way. But with this digital picture frame, you can display your pictures much easier.

Nuvo (the local alternative free paper) advertised in their paper they were giving away passes to The Simpsons Movie, but a look at their contest page shows nothing. But I've found a theatre doing a midnight showing Thursday night, so it looks like I'm going that route. Fortunately, the theatre in question has lower admission and isn't too far away. Kathy sounds like she isn't interested in seeing it, and Friday looks like our cashing her check and going shopping for supplies. Also, she was feeling sick last Saturday and had to call in, which she hasn't done in years. Unfortunately, they have a policy that if you call in on a weekend day, you have to work another one to make up for it. We'll find out when she gets home what she has to do and when, and I've offered my support and help to minimize the impact of that. We'll see.
Update 3:10pm: the contest page has the passes up. But Nuvo's offices are only open until 5pm, so on one hand it's free, but on the other hand you gotta wait a couple of hours to see the movie. Decisions, decisions...

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Given that mortgages are for the biggest purchase/investment of your life, it pays to do your homework. Say you want to get Arizona Mortgages. Personal Home Loan Mortgages has them, as well as if you're looking in the Phoenix area. Not only do they have the mortgages, they have statistics and other information to help you with your move.