Debt Advice and Secured Loans

Introduction

Although Secured Loans have their place in the mainstream market and in certain circumstances can be useful for high value, long term, quick turnaround loans for people with good credit ratings they are typically used by people who have struggled to extend their credit using conventional means. This article discusses the organisations that an Individual can turn to if they experience bad debt problems. It is also advisable that people with adverse credit talk to at least one of these organisations prior to taking out a secured loan.

The Citizens Advice Bureau

At the time of writing the Citizens Advice Bureau, funded by charity, has around 21,000 volunteers offering advice on the telephone, on the Internet at [http://www.adviceguide.org.uk] or at its 3,400 Surgeries spread across the UK. The Citizens Advice Bureau is no stranger to dealing with people looking at Secured Loans and last September produced a comprehensive report detailing what it saw wrong with the selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) for Secured Loans. At the same time it lobbied the FSA, OFT and one of the Treasury committees to get a better deal with consumers for insurance. As recently as May 2006 it also produced a report entitled ‘Deeper In Debt' which discussed the problems their clients faced when coping with debt.

One of the major advantages CAB has over other Debt counselling advisers is their accessibility. You can literally just pick up the phone for a quick chat or just pop into one of their local advice centres. The CAB also has a very detailed website that contains a Frequently Asked Questions section, advise on how to cope with Debt, where to get the best deals on credit, how to give yourself a financial health check and where to go for further advice. The CAB is also renowned for its fact sheets and with regards to Secured Loans produces them for advice about County Court Judgements, Mortgage arrears, negotiating with creditors and provides a jargon buster. It also has a series of sample letters that can be used to help getting debts suspended or used to negotiate a re-payment plan.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service

Whereas the CAB deals in general advice the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) specifically deals with coping with bad debt - so is ideally placed to offer advice on Secured Loans. Although it is physically less accessible than the CAB, as it only has eight operational centres, it does provide a free phone number - 0800 138 1111 - where you can get specific and immediate advice. For those who don't like talking to someone in person they can also be contacted via email the address of which can be found at [http://www.cccs.co.uk/contact/contact.htm]

Perhaps it is the sign of the times that the CCCS founded at one centre in Leeds in 1993 grew to four centres in 1996 and now have eight dedicated centres and two satellite sites, one in Northern Ireland and one a partnership with Direct Debt Line in East Sussex.

The CCCS is a registered charity and is fully funded by the Credit Industry. As is the case with the Citizens Advice Bureau it has a website that provides full details on how to cope with mounting debt problems. Unlike the CAB it is specifically targeted at people with financial difficulties.

The National Debt Line

The National Debt Line was set up in 1987 to provide purely telephone self-help guidance for people with credit and debt problems. All their advice is free, confidential and entirely independent and they can be contacted on 0808 808 4000. The National Debt Line is funded by the charity Money Advice Trust that is in turn funded primarily by the large players in the credit and finance sector. Most of these are also some of the larger players in the Secured Loans market like Barclays, GE Capital Bank, Lloyds and Paragon.

National Debt Line will also provide on request a selection of Self-Help packs and fact sheets most of which are relevant to someone looking for a Secured Loan. As the service is telephone based their website is limited to information about the Agency only.

Conclusion

If anyone is struggling against debt and needs credit advice prior to taking out a secured loan it is advisable to contact one of these organisations. The Citizens Advice Bureau because of its easy accessibility may be the best place to start, but for specific advice on taking out loans and whether there is another way of doing things it may be advisable to go to one of the specialist agencies like The National Debt Line or The Consumer Credit Counselling Service. Surprisingly both organisations are not that well known but both offer comprehensive advice on bad debt and, quite poetically, they are both funded either indirectly or directly by the organisations providing secured loans.

By Adrian Hudson [http://www.we-introduce-you.co.uk/]

Adrian founded Sprint Soft Ltd in 1997. Sprint Soft provides financial consultancy primarily to the I.T sector. Adrian blogs about his day-to-day life, finance and the emotive world of secured loans at [http://www.we-introduce-you.co.uk/theintroducer]

States Offering Millions in Interest Free Loans to Film Producers & Their Investors?

Anyone following the news these days is well aware that US investors are taking a beating. While some analysts talk of "picking up bargains in an oversold market" most investors seem to be looking quietly for a way to get their money out of the hands of banks and investment houses and into businesses they have some real control over. Money invested in a company's stock today can turn into executive parachutes tomorrow. What started as problem in mortgage-backed securities is swiftly turning into a serious deflationary spiral. States, like investors, are well aware that businesses are facing very hard times. Store closures, plant closures, layoffs, falling wages all translate in falling tax revenues and very angry voters. Which is why states are now working overtime to bring jobs and outside investment directly to their constituents.

Almost all fifty states offer incentives to film producers because film is a relatively clean industry that creates high paying, technically skilled jobs. Its the kind of industry than can come into a state quickly, and it can stay for a very long time. Because it is mostly a service-based business, film generates good tax revenues. Film also beats opening a coal mine or building automobile plant when it comes to dealing with activist citizens who do not want to live next to either.

As an example, New Mexico's film loan investment program has turned the state into a Mecca for producers and their investors. New Mexico offers an interest free loan of up to $15,000,000 for up to three years in return for a share in a film's profits. Investors who invest in a New Mexico production may receive a portion of gross profits just for providing collateral for the loan. Someone with $5 million in property can elect to use it as collateral for a film and in return receive money before, during and after production. The investor gets to keep his property and the revenues it generates and still receives a return. That's a pretty attractive deal for property owners who now have a rather non-liquid asset on their hands.

What happens if the film goes south? The collateral provider has to finish paying off the loan which will have been partially paid for by any revenues the film has generated. And if the film hasn't generated any revenues? Well, that's why its good to have a state as your investment partner.

New Mexico and Michigan vett films extensively prior to making the loans, and their contracts make "Hollywood-style" accounting impossible. So a project they choose to fund has a very, very good chance of covering its production costs and generating a profit. The shortfall, if there is a shortfall, is very, very unlikely to be the kind of absolute "crash and burn" one sometimes sees in film investment. The state, like investors, expects to get a return on its investment, so it works very hard to insure a film they fund is produced by competent professional filmmakers with a track record of success.

Loans are not the only upside to film as an investment. New Mexico and Michigan offer substantial rebates on production undertaken in their states. In New Mexico you get up to 25% of the money spent on production back in the form of a rebate when the production is complete. In Michigan its 40%.

Film loans are the first of what will be many state-based "incentives" designed to bring investors into collaboration with business owners and governments to make rational, trackable, accountable investments. New Mexico and Michigan have two very aggressive film incentive programs, while states like Hawaii have technology incubators which work along similarly profitable lines.

Some experts, like George Soros, have compared the financial crisis the nation is facing to the market in 1928. The difference is that today's investor can invest in projects nationwide, and states are willing and able to facilitate that process. As bad as this market is, and as unattractive as it is about to become, investors will still be able to find financially profitable projects in the months and years to come.

Nancy Fulton is a writer, publisher and filmmaker. You can find more about her work by visiting http://www.nobetterfriendmovie.com and [http://www.bluestatefilms.com]