The average American consumer presently is over 150 percent of annual income in short-term debt. This includes credit cards and car loans and things get much worse when a major catastrophic hurricane devastates or destroys the town that the living.

Generally they lose their jobs because the business they worked at no longer needs them as all the customers have gone or the business has been leveled. Without a job there is no way to pay their bills then they end up filing for bankruptcy. There are some ways out of this as FEMA and the small business administration can help with loans for people who live in these devastated areas.

But it takes awhile, it takes time to get to check and sometimes that is too late. It is most important to reassure your creditors and credit card companies if this event happens to you so that you can let them know you are working to get an SBA loans and you can consolidate some of your debt and perhaps pay off some of those expensive interest-bearing credit card bills.

Debt consolidation is something that is very important to those who live in these areas and it is important they take advantage of what is available and this requires filling out the proper government forms and making sure they get to the right place.

Additionally it is often hard to pick up your check because they cannot be mailed to you because the United States Post Office might be flooded or the roads are out or the mail carriers have not returned from their mandatory evacuations. Sometimes this can take weeks. Plan ahead and consider this in 2006.

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