ARA Review by Kirsten Schuder of Debt Cleanse

[Kirsten Schuder]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Debt Cleanse.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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In The Debt Cleanse, the author, Jorge P. Newberry owed millions of dollars to creditors. He explains in his book how he got out of debt. The author lost millions on a wrecked property, and this is when his finances fell apart.

The strategies he employs in his book seems a bit irresponsible and unethical, although I do admire him for surviving his ordeal. He's right in one sense: creditors are not our friends. They are charging as high as 28% interest for credit cards, so I can see his point.

However, he instructs the reader to simply cut up those cards and not pay on the debt as a first strategy, and this is after transferring ownership of everything he had to his wife.

Right away, this may not be a strategy that most people are able to follow. It's great it worked for him, but there are many people who will simply lose everything they have if they entrust all of their possessions to someone else. Not everyone is in this position.

The other strategy I did not agree with was simply not paying on the debt. This can encourage people to simply run up large credit cards and then decide not to pay on them. Again, while the author didn't seem to have much of a choice, this is something that may not sit well with other people, depending on their situation. For example, there are some states that will still throw people in jail for having unpaid debt. In addition, you just never know what is going to happen in court, and in addition, you may need to pay for a lawyer if a company decides to bring you to court. The company suing you could get all their facts straight, and you can't always rely that they will submit inaccurate paperwork, which is how the author stated he avoided paying on a million-dollar debt on appeal. So, following the advice blindly may not be your friend. Legality can vary state by state, so it's better to take a more cautious approach.

I found the book well-written, and I did not find any significant editing errors. However, because of my concerns with the premise of the solutions for getting out of debt, even though there is a great deal of useful information offered, I award this book 4 out of 5 stars.

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