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American Morning

Getting Out of Debt: Pocketbook Protector

Aired January 31, 2003 - 06:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: What do you do when you've run up thousands of dollars in debt on your credit cards and you just can't seem to get a hold of them?
Clark Howard, our Pocketbook Protector and author of "Get Clark Smart," has some advice to save you money and some gray hair.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARK HOWARD, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: Anna in Miami has a question that I've been hearing all too often since the economy went in the toilet. Anna, all your credit cards are maxed out, you've got two kids, you're making minimum payments on $28,000 in credit card debt. You've never been late with your payments, but nobody wants to help you consolidate them. You can't seem to work down that balance at all.

Well I want you to know the only good thing is misery loves company. There are millions of American families in the same situation. Consolidating those debts is not the answer. What you need to do is you need to sit down with a counselor who can work with you on your debts. There's a national organization called the National Foundation on Credit Counseling. I'd love for you to go visit with one of their counselors. It's almost always free to sit down with somebody, go over your debts, see how you can come up with a game plan to pay those debts down.

The Web site, NFCC.org. And I want to wish you a lot of luck in dealing with this $28,000 in credit cards.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Hate it when a consumer expert wishes you a lot of luck. Hey, a lot of luck.

Clark Howard visits us often and he offers us great help. You can go ahead and e-mail us your questions and we'll save them for his next appearance. The address, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. In the meantime, you can get his money saving tips on the Web. That address is ClarkHoward.com.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired January 31, 2003 - 06:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: What do you do when you've run up thousands of dollars in debt on your credit cards and you just can't seem to get a hold of them?
Clark Howard, our Pocketbook Protector and author of "Get Clark Smart," has some advice to save you money and some gray hair.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARK HOWARD, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: Anna in Miami has a question that I've been hearing all too often since the economy went in the toilet. Anna, all your credit cards are maxed out, you've got two kids, you're making minimum payments on $28,000 in credit card debt. You've never been late with your payments, but nobody wants to help you consolidate them. You can't seem to work down that balance at all.

Well I want you to know the only good thing is misery loves company. There are millions of American families in the same situation. Consolidating those debts is not the answer. What you need to do is you need to sit down with a counselor who can work with you on your debts. There's a national organization called the National Foundation on Credit Counseling. I'd love for you to go visit with one of their counselors. It's almost always free to sit down with somebody, go over your debts, see how you can come up with a game plan to pay those debts down.

The Web site, NFCC.org. And I want to wish you a lot of luck in dealing with this $28,000 in credit cards.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Hate it when a consumer expert wishes you a lot of luck. Hey, a lot of luck.

Clark Howard visits us often and he offers us great help. You can go ahead and e-mail us your questions and we'll save them for his next appearance. The address, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. In the meantime, you can get his money saving tips on the Web. That address is ClarkHoward.com.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com