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 Volume 5 #2
Your Debt DocumentaryCan You Lower Your Property Tax?Spare Change • Living Longer on LessInspiring Thoughts • FDR Client Reminders
1-800-655-6303
 Welcome to the Freedom Debt Relie monthly newsletter! As part o ourongoing goal to enhance our services, we will be sending you a monthly newsletter lled with interesting articles and helpul nancial tips andadvice. We hope you enjoy this issue, and that you nd the enclosedinormation helpul as you continue on the road to nancial reedom.
D
id you ever imagine what it wouldbe like i cameras lmed you asyou overcome your debt problems?Envision creating your own documentary thatmay help others in the same situation. Below aresome episodes that may be included in 6-week documentary series.
Week 1:
Don’t let creditors get thebest of you.
 
I cameras were lming you on adaily basis, they may see you lose your temper with a collector. Although persistent collectorsmay give you a reason to get upset, yelling andscreaming may only create more stress or you.Some creditors want to “press your buttons” soyou will become annoyed and pay your bill. I your caller identication shows that it may be acollector, we recommend that you do not answerthe phone to avoid starting a dialogue withthem. Collectors do have to abide by the laws o the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).Contact your debt negotiation company i youeel a collector was out o line.
Week 2:
 
Never give up.
You may experience toughchallenges as youstrive to overcomeyour debt problems. A documentary o yourday-to-day lie may show how you handlean unexpected expenseor how you manage adwindling bank account when payday is still a week away. Viewersmay see your stress andrustration, but also how you can conquer thesedilemmas. For example,use the ood in yourcabinets beore buying anew order o groceries.ry calling your utility company and ask or amore convenient due date. Settling your debtsis usually not an easy goal to accomplish. But,it is possible. Although you may eel like givingup, try to stay ocused on your ultimate goal o becoming debt-ree.
Week 3
:
 
 Avoid temptation.
 
People thatare tackling debt problems may be aced withconstant temptation. Your documentary canshow viewers that you are able to avoid theallure o a great sale or a buying the next latestgadget. Merchants make it especially difcultto avoid temptation in the current state o theeconomy. Many stores are eager or consumersto spend money, so you may see enticing salesat many retailers. Unless you have a plannedpurchase, try to ignore stores that are havinga “sale o a century.” Grocery stores also havemany marketing ploys that can make you sway rom your list. Be careul o convenient onlineshopping sites. It is easy to add more items toyour shopping cart with a ew mouse clicks.
Week 4:
Fix your financial house.
Many popular television shows ocus onrenovating, cleaning,and organizing homes.Demonstrate toyour viewers in yourdocumentary how theseideas relate to yournances. Keep your billsorganized with nancialsotware or a ling system.rack expenses and review your budget to see i youcan eliminate nancial“clutter.” For example, doyou use your debit card alot or dining out or orsmall purchases? Are youable to reduce your cableor cell phone bill?
Week 5:
Earn money by using your talents.
 
I you are employed, the majority o your documentary may be lmed at your job.One way to earn extra income to und yourreserve account is to work overtime or a second job i it ts into your schedule. Certain skillssuch as programming, writing, or data entry may help you earn money doing reelance work orshort-term assignments.
Week 6:
 
Show your results.
 
On yourlast episode, you can show your ans how muchyour situation may have improved. Althoughdebt problems are usually not solved in six weeks, viewers can see how many good money-management skills you have acquired. One way to continue your progress is to ocus oneducating yoursel about personal nance. ellyour viewers to visit educational money sitessuch as www.bankrate.com, www.dolans.com,or one o the web sites listed below. You can alsond many helpul tips in this monthly newsletterand borrow books about personal nance at yourlocal library.
Helpful WEb Link 
 
Your Debt Documentary: 
Be a MoneyManagement Star
ü
www.Livingonadime.com:
Temotto o this web site is “Making theMost o What You Have.” You cannd many money-saving tips on basichousehold expenses.
ü
 www.Smartmoneytips.com:
In addition to helpul articles aboutpersonal nance, you can also take a“Financial Fitness Quiz” and access abudget calculator.
ü
 www.choosetosave.org:
Tissite is sponsored by the EmployeeBenet Research Institute and includesapproximately 100 online calculatorsand a variety o money-saving tips.
H H H H H H
 
G
lobal Insight, a company thatanalyzes and orecasts economictrends, states that U.S. home pricesell at a ast pace during the end o 2008,according to a study entitled, “Home Pricesin America.” Because o the rapidly decliningprices o homes, the housing market is now undervalued. Tis data may not be a positive step or theeconomy, but consumers thatlive in areas that have beenaected by the housing crisismay be able to reduce theirproperty taxes. Below are somesteps to take i you want toquestion the value o your home.
Do your homework.
 Appealing your home’s valuemay require you to spend timedoing some research. It may be worth the eort becausethe National axpayers Unionestimates that as many as 60%o all homes are over-assessedand not in line with theiractual value. Despite this act, only one in 50homeowners tries to appeal assessments. You canbegin your research by obtaining a copy o yourassessment records rom your local assessor’sofce. Te American Homeowner’s Association(AHA) reminds homeowners that Te Freedomo Inormation Act entitles homeowners to haveaccess to all documents regarding their property. You may be asked to show proo o ownershipto view the records. ry visiting the web siteor your local community. Some counties andmunicipalities oer online databases o property records.
 Veriy your home’s description.
Onceyou obtain a copy o your property assessment,ensure that all o the inormation is correct. According to AHA, many property tax assessment errorsare clerical. Appraisers areusually on strict deadlines toassess many homes in a shortamount o time and they alsodo not go inside o your home.So, simple mistakes can happen.For example, make sure yourassessment lists the correctnumber o bedrooms, squareootage, and age o the home.Misrepresentation o theseactors can aect the value o your home.
File an appeal.
I yourassessment does not containany errors, you can still disputethe value o your home. Inquire at the assessor’sofce about how to appeal a property taxassessment. Te process may vary among localcommunities. In most cases, you will have todo more research, which may involve gatheringdata on comparable properties in your area. According to Consumer Aairs.com, it may help you to seek the advice o a real estate agentor attorney to obtain the evidence that youneed.
 View your account online.
Did youknow that you can view your FDR programoverview online by visiting www.drclient.com? I you have not yet created a usernameand password, just ollow the instructionson the screen. All clients also have access toFDR’s ree educational and nancial literacy tools at www.reedomdebtrelie.com/clients.php. Both the username and password orthis inormation is “FDR”.
Contact Ino:
Have you movedrecently or changed your phone number?Please contact customer service to ensure wehave all o your updated inormation.
ax Debt?
 
I you owe money to theIRS and would like inormation on how to reduce your tax debts, please contactour sister company, Freedom ax Relie at1-800-455-6AX. Our tax attorneys andtax specialists are eager to immediately starthelping you resolve your tax troubles. Inaddition, existing FDR clients are eligible ora $100 reerral bonus i they reer someoneto Freedom ax Relie.***
Customer Service Phone No:1-800-655-6303FAX No: 650-393-6800Hours o Operation:
Mon-Turs:
6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. PST
Fri:
6:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PST
Sat:
7:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. PST
 
E-mail:support@reedomdebtrelie.com
Client Reminders
We wantyourideas!
 What do you want tosee in the newsletter? We welcome yourinput. E-mail yourideas to ino@pi.org.
Can you lower your property tax?
Google Docs
(http://docs.google.com): If you have a free Google e-mail account, youcan also use Google Docs. This tool may beable to handle your basic word processingand spreadsheet tasks. It is accessible on theWeb and it may save you from purchasingexpensive software.
MIT OpenCourseWare
(http://ocw.mit.edu): OCW is MIT’s ambitious program toshare course materials, which including syllabi,lecture notes, assignments and exams fromabout 1800 of the Institute’s classes. All of these materials are absolutely free. You cannot earn a degree or college credit, but it is agreat opportunity to expand your mind aboutsubjects that interest you.
Podcasts
(www.itunes.com): Podcasts couldbe described as the modern-day version of educational radio shows. You can download theItunes program for free at www.itunes.com andsubscribe to an unlimited number of podcastson a variety of topics. You do not need to ownan Ipod or purchase anything from Itunes inorder to subscribe to the podcasts.
 
Protect your debit card rom thieves.
  As economic conditions have worsened, there’sa noticeable increase in all types o card raud.People who create countereit AM or debitcards by stealing your PIN and other accountdata can simply pull cold cash rom yourbank account. Using a technique known asskimming, they set up equipment that capturesmagnetic stripe and keypad inormation whenyou put in your PIN at AM machines, gaspumps, restaurants, and retailers. Te editors o Consumer Reports Money Adviser oer threetips on how you can protect yoursel:• Don’t type in your PIN at the pump. Gaspumps are notorious or skimming becausethey’re produced by only a couple o dierentmanuacturers. I you must use a debit card,choose the screen prompt that identies it asa credit card so you don’t have to type in yourPIN.• Stick with AMs located at banks. Usemachines at banks rather than in conveniencestores or any other isolated locations. A thie has to be able to attach and retrieve askimming device to see the data gathered,and that’s more likely to happen in non-bank settings where there’s less trafc and nosurveillance cameras.• Closely monitor your bank accounts. Federallaw limits your liability or raudulent debit-card charges to $50, but only i you report thethet or loss o your card or PIN within twobusiness days o discovering the problem.
 Avoid reund anticipation loans.
In themidst o another tax season, consumer advocatesat the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)are warning taxpayers to steer clear o reundanticipation loans (RALs). New gures revealthat RALs drained the reunds o 8.67 million American taxpayers in 2007 (the latest yearrecorded), costing them $833 million in loanees, plus over $68 million in other ees. RALsare bank loans secured by the taxpayer’s expectedreund and the loans last about 7-14 days untilthe actual IRS reund repays the loan. Accordingto the NCLC, that is a good indication o justhow needless most RALs are. Most taxpayerscould have their reund in approximately two weeks i they le electronically or have theirreund deposited directly into a bank account.
Speak out against overdrat ees.
 TeFederal Reserve Board is asking consumers whatthey think o overdrat ees. Te public has untila March 30 deadline to tell banking regulators whether a) banks should be required to letcustomers “opt in” to these overdrat programs orb) be allowed to continue automatically signingthem up. Te Center or Responsible Lending website has more inormation on overdrat eesand provides an easy way to comment to theFed: http://ga3.org/campaign/no_gotcha_ees.ocomment to the Federal Reserve Board directly,send an email to regs.comments@ederalreserve.gov. Note that the subject line MUS include“Docket No. R-1343.”
 A 
ccording to a recent study rom theSenior Economic Security Index, 1 in3 senior households has no money letover ater meeting essential expenses. Seniorsexperience nancial problems primarily dueto the cost o assisted living acilities, medicalexpenses, housing costs, and dwindlingretirement unds. I you are a senior citizen thatis in a tight money situation, or you know o one who is, keep the ollowing suggestions in mind.
Research organizations andgovernment agencies.
 
Many organizationsassist the elderly in many aspects o theirlie. Te Administration on Aging (AOA), adivision o the U.S. Department o Health andHuman Services, helps seniors maintain theirindependence by oering coordinated home andcommunity-based long-term care. Visit www.aoa.gov or more inormation. Te American Association o Retired Persons (AARP) is theleading non-prot organization or people age50 and older. Teir web site oers a wealth o inormation to help the elderly population. Visit www.aarp.org to read about pertinent issues suchas Medicare and Social Security.
ake advantage o discounts andspecial programs
.
Senior discounts are almostalways available or expenses such as hotel rooms,plane tickets, and bus are. You may also contactyour utility company i you are having troublepaying your utility bills. Your state may oerspecial low-income programs or seniors.For discounts on prescription drugs, contactthe Partnership or Prescription Assistance (PPA).Eligible participations will usually receive low cost or ree prescriptions. For more details, visit www.pparx.org or call 1-888-4PPA-NOW.
Beware o scams.
 
Te Ofce o Community Oriented Policing Services reportsthat the elderly population easily become victimso a number o schemes. Common nancialcrimes against the elderly usually involvehome repairs, investments, telemarketing, alsecharitable contributions, sweepstakes, and lottery schemes. Seniors should be very wary aboutdivulging nancial inormation over the phoneor online. I the deal sounds too good to be true,it probably is. You may le a complaint with theFederal rade Commission (FC) at www.tc.gov i you eel you or someone you know has been avictim o a scam.
ake advantage o the recent stimulus.
 
Older Americans may see some benets as parto the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act o 2009. Tis legislation will oer a $250economic recovery payment or individual olderpersons and $500 or couples. According to the web site or the Social Security Administration,recipients will not have to do anything. Funds will be delivered in the same method that they receive Social Security benets. Retirees whodo not receive Social Security may also qualiy,but may have to le a tax return. Payments areexpected to be disbursed in late May. Visit theSocial Security Administration’s web site at www.ssa.gov/payment or more inormation.Te unemployed may also receive anextension and an increase in benets as part o the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.. According to AARP, the number o unemployedaged 55 and older has risen 65% during the pasttwelve months.
Living Longeron Less
News, fnancial tips, and otherinormation regarding personalfnancial reedom
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