Zero Debt

Three of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of Zero Debt pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.

1. Khalfani-Cox's own turnaround anchors the book: she paid off roughly $100,000 in credit card debt in three years, proving the plan is lived, not theoretical.
2. The FICO score is driven mostly by two factors, your payment history (about 35%) and how much of your available credit you use (about 30%), so paying on time and lowering your utilization ratio moves the needle fastest.
3. Under the FACT Act you're entitled to a free credit report from each of the three bureaus every year via AnnualCreditReport.com; pulling all three and disputing errors in writing is the first concrete step.

The other 4 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 8 chapters

The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.

1. The $100,000 Wake-Up Call
2. Do You Really Have a Debt Problem?
3. Decoding Your FICO Score
4. Pull and Fix Your Credit Report
5. Negotiating With Your Creditors
6. Build a Realistic Spending Plan
7. Choosing Your Payoff Strategy
8. When to Use Counseling, Settlement, or Bankruptcy