"BACK TO THE BLACK" UPDATE

Belated posting about another radio interview, following the launch of the free edition of “Back To The Black”.

This was with Heart FM in Bristol, (formerly GWR FM Bristol) who sent their reporter Chas Rowe to interview me at home. The station had told me that clips / soundbites from the interview would be broadcast during their news bulletins last Monday, i.e. 18 January, aka “Blue Monday”. This is a day which has apparently been “scientifically proven” to be the most depressing day of the year. Heart FM said that the launch of my book was a good news story they’d like to run on that day, which was encouraging to hear.

Apart from the questions I’d expected, was one about payday loans: would I advise anyone cash-strapped at the end of January to take out one of these loans? This is a tricky matter: anyone considering any such loan must have exhausted all other possibilities. These loans, for sums up to £1000, are known to carry very high interest rates but they are marketed as instantly available, which of course is very attractive when things are tight.

If the sum is repaid very quickly then paying that interest may be better than having to default on the mortgage or a credit card bill; the problem arises however if the sum isn’t paid quickly. I said that if anyone was in a situation where they saw no alternative solution by month-end, then they could take the loan provided they immediately set in place a debt management plan, e.g. with the help of Citizens Advice, or CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Services), or some other local independent debt advisory service, and then repaid that loan as a first priority.

For the record, an online resource lists the top 5 payday loan providers ranked by “rough estimate of lender’s approval rates”. The APRs of these lenders varies from 994% to 2339%.

For extra info see a posting on the MoneySavingExpert website:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/loans/2010/01/loan-sharks-leaving-victims-in-debt-all-year

Finally, credit unions are an alternative and much cheaper source of short-term finance that people in this situation could look at. Here in Bristol (UK), for example, they can be found at http://www.bristolcreditunion.org/ and offer loans from £100 to £7500. Their website says: “By law credit unions cannot charge any more than 2% per month on the reducing balance of a loan. This represents a maximum interest rate of 26.8% APR (Annual Percentage Rate), and that is the most you will ever pay on your loan.”

BACK TO THE BLACK: RADIO INTERVIEW

Today I was a guest on the drivetime show at Bristol’s community radio station BCfm, (link here for website), being interviewed live by Station Manager Phil Gibbons about “Back To The Black”. Although I had been a presenter on the station for much of last year, it was a new and pleasant experience being a guest. For a start, I didn’t have to pay for my coffee this time. Seriously though, who doesn’t like being asked questions about a topic in which they are interested?

My interview was interspersed with two others: with Neil Innes and Michael Palin, no less! This was because the station was running a live outside broadcast from Bristol’s Colston Hall, where both were about to perform in the city’s Festival of Slapstick. Phil said I could now dine out on the fact that I’d appeared on a chat show with these two luminaries; and that they “kept cutting across my airtime!”

Phil asked a very good question about one of the tips from my book. I’d mentioned some of the basic stuff about communicating with creditors, making an offer, etc, and he pointed out that those tips could be obtained in other books, websites, etc. “People know that’s the thing to do” he said, “so why don’t they do it?” My answer was that people like to read stories rather than to be told what to do, so the fact that my book’s advice is interspersed with the story of my own debt problem and how I worked my way out of it, will hopefully make people more likely to act on the tips given.

Phil wrapped up the interview by wishing me well with the book: “Hope it makes you rich – no, sorry, that’s not the point. I guess your point is to stop other people becoming poor”. To which I readily agreed.

In fact the Free Edition of “Back To The Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way” is available as a free download, in .pdf format, at www.scribd.com/michael_macmahon

BACK TO THE BLACK 2

In my last post I said I had decided to write a book about my debt experience and what I had learned from it; and that I had decided to self-publish, first as an e-book.

I’ll be blogging about the topic too. One of the obvious advantages of this form of publishing is its immediacy and flexibility and the way one can link to other sources of information. Thus I’ll certainly aim to signpost people who want advice on debt problems, to helpful websites and blogs. Here are two absolute “musts”.

1. Martin Lewis’s massive site is always worth looking at, especially his “Debt-free wannabe” section: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76

2. The Motley Fool website is another well-known resource for financial advice of all kinds and they have a “Dealing with Debt” stream among their discussion boards: http://boards.fool.co.uk/Messages.asp?bid=50079