Related Financial Services - The following Debt Consolidation Loan Directory sections allow you to comparison shop other finance products, such as debt consolidation loans and credit counseling firms.

• Debt Management Help - Having trouble keeping up with your monthly credit payments? Compare debt management companies in this online list that can try amd help you get a grip on your personal financial situation.
• Debt Settlement Companies - High credit card balances making your monthly payments impossible to meet? The negotiation of your outstanding bills with your creditors may be a good debt solution for you. Educate yourself on your options and compare available programs.
• Debt Consolidation Services - Learn about the debt consolidation process and review detailed listings for lenders and services offering to help consolidate your debts.

Fires, Floods and Other Misfortunes: Are You Prepared Financially?

Disasters can impair your ability to conduct day-to-day money matters. This guide can help you plan appropriately.

What Else to Consider

Sign up for direct deposit. Having your paycheck and other payments transmitted directly into your account will give you better access to those funds by check or ATM because you won't have to deliver the deposit to the bank or rely on mail service, which could be delayed. Note: There could be delays in the processing of direct deposits in a disaster situation but the problem is usually fixed within a reasonable time frame.

Arrange for automatic bill payments from your bank account. This service enables you to make scheduled payments — such as for your phone bill, insurance premiums and loan payments — and avoid late charges or service interruptions. "Automatic bill payment greatly reduces your need to write or mail checks," said Jackson. "You don't have to worry about essential bills being paid, and in an emergency that can be a real bonus."

Consider signing up for Internet banking services. This also makes it possible to conduct your banking business without writing checks.

Review your insurance coverage. Make sure you have enough insurance to cover the cost to replace or repair your home, car and other valuable property.

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 2/02/2006

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 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.