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Facingyour debts can be de- pressing for sev- eral reasons. First, all the stuff that caused the debt is not so wonderful and new as it used to be. And the inter- est rates ... Yikes! But the worst, the all-time most horrible thing about fac- ing debt is the realiza- tion that given the pres- ent rate of repayment, that monster is going to hang around and in- vade your life like a huge family of free-load- ing relatives, for a very long time. That's the bad news. The good news is that you don't have to spend the rest of your life aim- lessly chipping away at that mountain of credit card debt. You can fast track your debt repay- ment and get out in re- cord time. It takes a plan, a good strategy and determina- tion. Here is a plan for wip- ing out your unsecured debts in record time: 1. Stop adding any new purchases to those credit accounts until they are at $0. If you don't start with this first step, the plan will not work. 2. Add up the current minimum monthly pay- ments. Let's say for il- lustration purposes that you have three credit card accounts and this month the three mini- mum amounts you must pay total $367. Deter- mine that you will pay this same amount ($367 in this example) every month, even if your cred- itors reduce your mini- mum required payments as your balances de- crease. 3. List your debts in order according to the number of months left to pay them off. For ex- ample, a debt to a de- partment store of $80 with minimum monthly payments of $40 has about two months left. That one goes at the top of your list, with the others in order be- low. 4. As one debt is paid, apply its monthly pay- ment to the next. Us- ing our example above, that first department store debt will be paid in two months. What then? Should you take that $40 pay- ment and go blow it on that great blouse you've been ogling? No way! You're go- ing to send the $40 to Debt No. 2, along with its regular mini- mum monthly payment. Increasing Debt No. 2's payment by an additional $40 each month is going to get it completely paid off much more quickly, to say nothing of shock- ing the creditor right out of his mind. Then, when Debt No. 2 is paid, ap- ply the $40 plus the old payment from Debt No. 2 to the next debt. And on and on until every single debt is at a $0 balance. Every month you pay the same total amount ($367 in the exam- ple above) toward your debts. Of course, your number will be different, as $367 is only my ex- ample. Want an automated way to do this? See my Rapid Debt-Repay- ment Calculator Demo at DebtProofLiving.com. This a calculator that members of my Debt Proof-Living Family use to simply input the in- formation on their credit card and other unse- cured debts, hit "Submit" and the calculator cre- ates their entire payback schedule. It's amazing. Use the Calculator and you'll know the exact date you will be free of those debts. The average time is 24 to 36 months. Paying off your credit card debt is going to give you a new outlook on life. Just imagine what you'll be able to do when you no longer have to make those big monstrous pay- ments toward that high- interest debt! I know you can do it, and can't wait to hear that you have. MaryHuntisthe founder of www.Debt- ProofLiving.com, a per- sonal finance member website. You can email her at mary@everyday- cheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2099, Cypress, CA 90630. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE A plan to repay your credit card debt Mary Hunt MINERAL The recent storms and transition to icy winter conditions have closed the Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway to vehicle traffic for the season as of Monday. The park highway is open to the Manzanita Lake area at the north entrance and to the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Vis- itor Center, one mile inside the southwest entrance to the park. "A winter visit to Lassen will transport you to a snow covered landscape just waiting to be explored," stated Acting Park Superin- tendent Steve Gibbons. "We invite you to the park to snowshoe, ski, go sledding or enjoy a cup of hot choc- olate by the fireplace in the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center." Lassen Volcanic Na- tional Park is open through- out the winter and offers a wide array of winter activ- ities. Ranger-led snowshoe walks are offered on Satur- days and Sundays starting Jan. 3. Meet at the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Cen- ter at 1:30 p.m. for a 1.5 to 2 hour walk through Lassen Volcanic's spectacular win- ter scenery. Come discover winter at Lassen through outdoor fun and film at the third annual Lassen Film Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 17-19, 2015. This free event celebrates Lassen Volcanic National Park and outdoor recreation through film. Entrance to the park is free on Monday Jan. 19 in commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Visitors to the park should be prepared for a range of weather condi- tions. Check the most re- cent weather forecast, dress in layers, carry food and water. Stow a shovel, extra blankets and tire chains in your vehicle in case unex- pected winter road condi- tions delay your travel. The Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. For more information on the film fes- tival, snowshoe walks, cur- rent weather conditions, or general information, please contact the park at 530 595- 4480 or lavo_information@ nps.gov. Winter arrives at Lassen Volcanic National Park By Emily Patterson — BBB The holiday season is here, and so are the scams. Watch out for fraudulent websites offering "Letters from Santa." Some of these sites prom- ise a custom letter from the man at the North Pole but don't deliver. Howthescamworks: You get an email selling a "Handwritten letter from Santa to Your Child." It en- courages you to make your child's holiday by purchas- ing "Santa's special pack- age" for $19.99. You click on the link, and it takes you to a web- site. The site promises the special package contains an "official" nice-list certifica- tion and customized letter from Santa. There's even a free shipping special that ends, not coincidentally, in just few hours. You decide to purchase and enter your credit card information. Don't do it. In the best case, you are simply out the $19.99. In the worst case scenario, you just shared your credit card informa- tion with scammers, who can now use it for identity theft. In another version of this scam, the site promises a free letter from Santa. It doesn't request any credit card information, but it does require plenty of per- sonal information, such as your full name, address and phone number. Theses sites can then turn around and sell your personal informa- tion to spammers. How to spot a scam website: Follow these tips for spot- ting an online scam: Ignore calls for immedi- ate action. Many scams try to get you to act before you think by creating a sense of urgency — including the scam above. Don't fall for it. Hover over links in emails to check their source. Scammers will make links look like some- thing else. Place your mouse over hyper-linked text and the true destination will ap- pear. Make sure the website has real contact informa- tion. If something goes wrong with your order, you need to be able to con- tact the business. When in doubt confirm that the ad- dress and phone number are real. Do your research. Check out the business on BBB.org and do a quick web search. Make sure you pay through a secure connec- tion. When entering credit card information online, be sure that the URL starts with "HTTPS" and has a lock icon in the browser bar. Watch for poor grammar and spelling. Scam emails and websites often are rid- dled with typos. This is of- ten a giveaway that you aren't dealing with a real business. For more informa- tion, visit www.bbb.org/ blog/2014/12/watch-our- for-scam-letter-to-santa- service/#sthash.3WeEKer3. dpuf. SCAM ALERT Watch out for scam letter from Santa service COURTESYPHOTO Lassen Volcanic National Park offers a wide array of winter activities. TO DO PLEASERECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thankyou! In the worst case scenario, you just shared your credit card information with scammers, who can now use it for identity theft. 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