Talk Radio

www.ihatedebt.com  -- Home of the "I Hate Debt Radio Show," hosted by Tom Allen. Tom is on a mission to get the word to as many people as possible about about the evils of debt. His site is chock full of free information, articles, useful links, and book recommendations. On his weekly Internet radio broadcast, Tom interviews debt industry experts from around the country. All the live shows are archived in streaming audio for listening on your PC, and are available for download free of charge at www.ihatedebt.com.

Click the links below to listen to Charles Phelan's interview on the "I Hate Debt Radio Show."

Identity Theft

www.MyIDFix.com  -- A great site for all aspects of identify-theft. Great informative articles, and a superior service package. If you've experienced an ID theft incident, or you're worried due to a lost or stolen wallet, purse, etc., this is the only site you'll need to take care of the problem. Highly recommended!

General Information

www.bankrate.com -- This site has a ton of useful free information on many different aspects of personal finance, especially as it relates to banking products. I use this site frequently for its free access to online calculators for credit card payoff times, true cost of minimum payments, mortgage scenarios, and much more.

www.cardratings.com -- An outstanding source of information on credit cards, secured or unsecured. Numerous free articles and content designed to help the consumer understand credit card accounts and credit usage in general. If you're looking to rebuild your credit using high-quality secured credit cards, this is the site to start with.

www.cardweb.com -- This is an industry site for the credit card world. You can find out a lot of useful information here about current credit card offers, rates, what's going on in the credit card industry, etc. Very useful stuff, but a bit more on the technical side than other sites I've listed here.

Budgeting, Saving Money

www.lowermybills.com -- An outstanding site full of free articles on personal finance, information on how to save money on your bills, where to obtain loans at the best rates, financial calculators, and much more.

Online Banking

www.everbank.com -- The gold standard for online banks. I really like Everbank. They have free checking, good yields on money market accounts or CDs, and some really interesting foreign currency products for the adventurous investor.

Professional Advice

www.myprofessionaladvice.com -- Need quick advice on financial matters, tax problems, real estate closings, divorce, or legal issues? Check out this site, where you can talk to a qualified professional advisor and get your question answered for only $35, instead of paying $100s for a private service. MyProfessionalAdvice.com offers toll-free telephone lines for advice on just about everything.

Credit Scores & Credit Reports

www.myfico.com -- At MyFICO.com, you can obtain your FICO credit score for a reasonable fee, and you can order your credit report online and view it in a matter of seconds.

Free Credit Report! Free Credit Report Directory offers many useful articles about credit history, free credit report, credit score and identity theft.

Government

www.ftc.gov -- This is the site for the Federal Trade Commission. They have a number of useful consumer-oriented articles on debt and credit, and this is the agency you should complain to if you've been abused or harassed by a bill collector.

Useful Websites

SelfGrowth.com -- SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self -Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Internet. It is designed to be an organized directory, with articles and references to thousands of other Web Sites on the World Wide Web.