I feel a little silly writing this blog post, but I couldn’t help but to parallel my recent 4 day Algonquin Park adventure to what people experience when they go through our credit card debt relief program.
When you are paddling a canoe in Algonquin Park, you usually have lots of time with your thoughts as you slip into a rhythm. I think people take too much for granted; they want everything to come easy. Our society is completely geared towards instant gratification. We want it all and we want it now.
Our debt settlement program is very similar to an Algonquin canoe trip, and I’ll share why.
We did this trip with four people. Preparation took several months; we exchanged about 70 emails delegating who would get what ready for the trip.
Food, rental equipment, tents, bear spray, park fees, and all kinds of gear all took a considerable amount of time to organize. Then we spent a full day (starting at 5am) to make the 3 hour drive up there from Markham, then get all our kit in the canoes and make our way 14 km into the park to Burnt Island Lake. Once we had done a ton of portaging, and paddling (sometimes in some strong headwinds) we arrived at our destination well into the park and completely unplugged from society, we now needed to set up the tent, gather wood and prepare food for dinner before it got dark.
All of this takes a considerable amount of effort and time, and you don’t actually get rewarded until you have eaten and are relaxing by your campfire enjoying an epic sunset, which followed with the enchanting sounds of loons then a brightly star lit sky with tons of shooting stars. That’s something you can’t get in the city or even a cottage.
That is delayed gratification. That is very similar to a debt settlement program, there is tons work and discipline upfront and then it all pays off 1-3 years down the road, but when it does the payoff is awesome because you get out of debt for less then you owed on the day you started.
The funny thing is on the way home we were extremely proud of ourselves and our 4 day 14 Km adventure. We stopped at a coffee shop on Hwy 48 near Lake Simcoe and outside there was a couple in their 50’s with tons of gear packed on their bicycles, the gentlemen’s bike had a small trailer in tow with a small Swiss flag on it. Sipping my coffee I casually asked them where they were coming from, he answered: Vancouver.
Apparently with 6 months’ vacation saved up they decided a bike ride from Vancouver to Halifax would be their own form of adventure. I bet the gratification felt when they arrive in Halifax will be second to none.
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” – Theodore Roosevelt.
Here’s a few shots from my trip:
Is DIY Debt Settlement Easy?
There are literally hundreds of articles on the Internet that talk about how easy it is to settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. The truth is pretty much anything can be done yourself if you have enough know how, time and resources. To be successful at something as tough as debt settlement you really need to become an expert at it.
Settling debt is not a fast or stress free event. You need plenty of patience and because policies can vary so widely from creditor to creditor you really do need to know what you are doing.
When settling debts you are dealing with bill collectors, the two most common problems we have seen when people try to settle their own debts are:
1) Being stumped and spinning their wheels.
2) People pay what they think is a settlement, but the debt is still owed.
There was one debtor I personally donated a considerable amount of my time to from a Canadian chat forum, he had an extremely frustrating time settling his own debt; it took him over two years and during that time he sent me over 450 private messages seeking my advice.
You can get an idea from this screen capture from my inbox below the sort of frustration he faced, and in my opinion even though his name reflected a simple guy, he already knew quite a bit more then the “average joe” out there:
I have always loved to work with my hands and build things, at the end of the day I can finish my own basement but for something like that I would rather pay an expert to do it because I don’t have the time and I know because they do it every day, they will do a much better job than me.
There is a great show on HGTV called Disaster DIY that demonstrates the kind of train wreck people can make out of projects they think they can handle but in reality, can’t.
There is one final danger on the Internet that most people seem to ignore. Consumers with credit card debt visit countless discussion forums seeking advice from the comfort of their home thinking that the person replying to their question is an expert or at least knows more about DIY debt settlement then they do.
The danger can be summed up with this phrase: “you too can be an expert; all you need is a computer and a connection to the Internet”.
The easiest way to determine if you are getting good advice is to just Google the name of the individual dispensing it. If they are truly an expert, you will know it. Otherwise its just someone giving their .02 cents so take it for what its worth.
If you decide to eliminate your credit card debt by way of settlement the decision to go DIY or hire a company should be simple. If you don’t know what you are doing, hire an expert. If you are an expert and have the time then why not save paying the fees and go ahead and do-it-yourself.