Is there any shred of truth to people promising government stimulus grants for personal debt?
by admin ~ May 16th, 2007 . Filed under: Personal Finance .
Ron S asked:
I keep seeing ads for it… my thought is no, but I wouldn’t mind wiping out my credit card debt either!
Kylie Marrapodi
I keep seeing ads for it… my thought is no, but I wouldn’t mind wiping out my credit card debt either!
Kylie Marrapodi
May 18th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
These are all scams.
No public grant can be used to pay off personal debt.
May 19th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
No, it isn’t reasonable. They will probably say something like a hospital offering to pay someone part of the cost of becoming a nurse for signing a contract is a grant but it is pay.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:45 am
There are no “grants” or any other government money available to pay for your personal debt.
All of these scammers just want to sell you their “info package” for a hefty pre-pay fee and you will get a whole lot of nothing for it.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:28 pm
no, scam…..scam…..scam.
May 26th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Dream on dreamer.
May 28th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
NO. The FTC has already issued a warning against these so-called Obama grants for personal debts, among others
FTC Warns Consumers About Economic Stimulus Scams
The government is NOT in the business of giving away free money for the sake of giving away money. There are no grants for paying bills, no grants for paying off credit cards, no grants for getting out of debt and no grants for simply fattening your wallet.
Grants are free, but it means OBLIGATION. You will be obligated to do as the grant sets out to do. Grants have objectives, and your purpose must fit the objective of the grant.
For one, you have to write the grant application and the grant application is not a simple document - you have to explain how your purpose for applying for the grant fits well with the objectives set out by the grant.
There is a stringent review process through a committee. You will compete with other applicants for the grant money, and this grant review committee will evaluate the merits of each proposal. Only those that they feel exemplifies the objective of the grant will be approved.
You can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) and Grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes.
Even if you buy books on “how to get grants” or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently.
Note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments. Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT - Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program. Individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.
Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women’s Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women’s business center that will train women entrepreneurs