Have A Holly, Jolly Debt-Free Christmas

As the holidays approach and you begin shopping for your loved ones, it's important to stay on track with your budget.

Hopefully you've planned in advance for this expense.

One tool will help you only spend what you have. Try using eBillme.

EBillme is a way for consumers and small businesses to pay cash for their shopping online.
You're actually paying cash at the checkout.

Marwan Forzley, CEO of eBillme/ShopDebtFree gave us a briefing.

" You go to any of our customers that accept eBillme," said Forzley, "there's 850 sites like Sears, kmart, buy.com, etc.

" When you go to the checkout you'll see us next to credit cards. You select "eBillme". You will now get an electronic bill. You pay it from money that you have using online banking, the same way that you pay a credit card bill.

" It's the same as paying any other bill that you have. You're paying from money that you have using online banking. If you don't have online banking you can go to a nearby 7-11, or Walmart, or a CVS and pay cash in person. You walk in and say I need to pay my eBillme bill and they'll take your cash right then and there and notify the merchant it's been paid.

" Either way you're paying from money that you have so you're getting protected from getting into debt.

" We're helping people getting out of debt, we're helping them to shop online. Another advantage is there is absolutely no exchange of any financial information with the merchants so you're not giving out credit card numbers or your bank account information, your social security number; none of that. You pay by only giving your name and e-mail address. And, you pay from funds that you have.

" To be clear on the process: you only give your name and email then you log into your bank on your own and you pay eBillme exactly the same way you pay any other bill. It's the same way you pay your phone bill, your electric bill, your mortgage bill. It's the same concept, you log in, you pay eBillme. Money comes from your bank account to the merchant.

Security-wise the key is your not putting your bank account information online at the check out when your buying stuff on the internet.

You're getting your bill, you log into your bank then you're paying this bill.

" Again if you don't have online banking, you can still pay cash in person at locations that support eBillme. There are 75,000 locations that do. You present the bill, say "here's the cash for the purchase..the merchant is informed immediately and the goods are shipped to you.

" It's cash, just like going to the store when you give the person at the store cash and they give you the product. You pay cash to the merchant and the merchant ships the goods to you.

" That's the beauty of it you don't have to have a credit card if you have a credit card that's limited you can still shop from money you have.

" It's a way to get out of trouble if you have high debt or if you don't want to be exposed to debt. This is a way to control your finances, to shop online and pay from money that you have.

" If you don't have it you don't spend it.

ShopDebtFree is a site where you can look for all the merchants that have eBillme.

" Think of it as a place where you can start shopping," said Marwan.

" You'll go to ShopDebtFree.com. You'll see all our merchants that accept eBillme.

" The nice thing about starting with ShopDebtFree.com is they all carry some type of discount.

Marwan mentioned another advantage to using these two sites.

" Because you're getting a bill and there's nothing sensitive about the bill, for kids shopping online your parents can pay for it from online banking.

" Think of it as parental consent. if you're a mom you're busy. You don't have to sit next to your kid and worry about what they're doing with your credit card.

" This way your kids can shop online and get what they want and at the end of the day if you like it you can pay for it, if you don't like it, your child will have to try again.

" This is a way to put discipline into the purchase process.

" Your kids can buy online but you're the one in control, you're authorizing the transaction.

" It's parental consent, it's discipline, it's helping your kids to buy online, giving them freedom to buy what they want, at the end of the day you control the show. If you like
what they buy you pay for it, otherwise you have a talk with them.

You're getting a number of things accomplished with this. You're not giving out your identity on the internet which helps you protect ag. identity theft. You're not getting into debt which helps you stay out of debt. And it also it helps you with the product you're trying to buy.

" If you buy a laptop, or jeans, and you find it somewhere else for cheaper you're going to be covered. You can return the product and get your money back. it's a 90-day buyer protection program.

" These are typically services you get with a credit card Here you're getting them on top of a cash product.

" As long as you use eBillme you're going to be protected against any price changes, you're going to be protected if there are any issues with returns.

"These are services you typically get if you have platinum or gold card but you'll pay for it, usually with an annual fee. With eBillme you get it free."

www.eBillme.com