If you have ever watched late night television, chances are you have seen infomercials for debt cures and how to get out of debt fast. The infomercials try to sell their books by claiming that it will show you how to lower your debt or eliminate it completely in a relatively short period of time. With millions of Americans being in debt these books seem like A Course In Miracles Bookstore to your financial situation. The question that many people have is do they really work?

The amount of people in debt is rising steadily as the economy continues to worsen. Many people are losing their jobs; unemployment rates are the highest right now then they have been since the 80’s.People in this situation in a lot of cases have no money to pay their mortgage payments. Many will unfortunately lose their homes. Isn’t this the perfect time for a book to come out that promises to save us all from our personal financial crises?

The problem with a book making promises to fix all your credit problems is that fixing your credit takes time. There is no miracle cure to fix your credit score. You will need to work hard and be disciplined. You will need to refrain from making purchases that are unnecessary and make sure that you are paying off as much of your debt as you can afford.

Now that you understand that a book can’t solve your problems with a miracle cure, I can tell you that you can use the books to help you understand what needs to be done. It’s true that you can’t get rid of your debt or fix your credit score simply by reading a book. What you can do is gather information from the books to help you along the way. In the end you must do the work yourself. A good and viable plan is good for nothing if you do not implement the steps in the plan.

The main message that all debt books give is that you need to decide what method you want to follow. One method that lets you see the results quickly is the debt snowball. The way this works is that you choose the bills that have the lowest balance and pay them off first. Most books will suggest you pay off the larger bills with the higher interest rate first but if you get the smaller ones out of the way first you will have more money shortly to pay off those larger ones. If you are the type of person that is easily deterred unless you can see your progress, then the debt snowball may be the best choice. You will be able to see results right away rather then in several months.