Related Services - The following directories of companies and services offer a wide variety of financial programs to assist you with handling your debts. Consolidate your bills with a debt consolidation loan or use a debt management or credit counseling service for help with your credit card bills and other payments.

• Credit Card Debt Consolidation - Learn more on how consolidating your credit card debts can work for you and potential pitfalls that you need to avoid. Also, review a list services that offer to help people lower their bills into fewer payments or even one payment.
• Consumer Debt Management - Do you feel that your credit card bills are stacking up with nowhere for you to turn? Your problem is not unique. Signing up with debt management firm may be the right solution to your debt problems. Review different firms offering these services to determine if this is the correct option for you.
• Personal Loan Rate - Need a smaller loan? Personal loans are most often unsecured. That means you do not have to secure them with personal assets in order to do a debt consolidation. This type of financing is typically based upon your credit history and your ability to make your payments.

Start Smart: Money Management for Teens

Are You Ready to Start Investing? Understand the Risks and the Rewards

Company stocks and bonds can be attractive but, unlike bank savings accounts, can lose money

Investments can be attractive alternatives to bank savings accounts as a way to earn money. They come in different varieties, and they may be sold by banks as well as by brokerage firms and other financial institutions. You can make money on investments—often more than you can earn on bank deposit accounts—by selling them for more than you paid for them or by earning dividends or interest.

But investments also involve more risks than bank deposits, including the possibility that you could lose some or all of your money if the investment doesn't perform well.

Some of the more popular types of investments to consider (with a parent or guardian if you are under 18) include:

• Stocks, which are shares in the ownership of a company. If the company does well, you might be able to sell your stock for more than you paid for it. But if the company does poorly and you want to sell your stock, you might lose money.
• Bonds, which represent a promise by a company or another organization to pay a specific interest rate for money you leave with it for a certain time period.
• Mutual funds, which are professionally-managed collections of money from many different investors. Each mutual fund buys a variety of stocks, bonds or other investments. Some mutual fund accounts can be opened for an initial investment of $250 or less.

You might find it interesting to invest in companies whose products or services you use and like. But it's especially important to remember that investments involve risks and are not insured by the FDIC—not even the investments sold at FDIC-insured banks.

"When you're willing to take some risks for your money to grow—and you believe it won't hurt you if some or all of your money is lost—then you're ready to move from saving to investing," said James Williams, an FDIC Consumer Affairs Specialist. "But before any young person wants to invest money it's important for them to consult with their parents, do some research and consider getting professional advice."

For more information about the basics of investing, including the potential risk and rewards, start at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site "Beginners' Guide to Investing" at www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/begininvest.htm.

FDIC Consumer News is published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FDIC Consumer News is produced quarterly by the FDIC Office of Public Affairs in cooperation with other Divisions and Offices. It is intended to present information in a nontechnical way and is not intended to be a legal interpretation of FDIC or other government regulations and policies. Mention of a product, service or company does not constitute an endorsement.

Find current and past issues of FDIC Consumer News at http://www.fdic.gov/consumernews. Refer to this same index to locate the issues that are specially formatted for being reprinted in any quantity.

To receive an e-mail notice about each new issue of FDIC Consumer News posted on the FDIC Web site, with links to stories, follow instructions posted at www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Last updated on 8/16/2006

Make better decisions when shopping for banking, debt consolidation and related financial services. Educate yourself!

The Debt Consolidation Loan Directory has a growing library of free informative and educational financial resources for consumers shopping for many types of financial services related to the management of your finances, such as the consolidation of credit card debt, fraud alerts and life insurance. There is no better way to make decisions regarding the management of your personal finances than to read and understand how they work. Please feel free to visit our consumer information library to learn more.

• Do You Know the Warning Signs of Too Much Debt? - Take control of your spending as soon as you recognize any of the warning signs cited by this article provided by CitiFinancial.
• What Do Banks Do? - A bank is a private, for-profit business that offers a variety of financial services to the public.
• Learning about Bank CDs (Certificates of Deposit) - Learn about the different types of bank CDs and how to choose the type that is right for you.
• Pros and Cons of Internet Banking - Review some of the positive and negative aspects of Internet online banking.

DebtConsolidationLoan.com is a service of Infinamic, Inc. All debt consolidation loans and financial services information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. Infinamic, Inc. is not responsible for the content and services, that may be provided to you, by following the links from this web site. Use this service at your own discretion.