Fresh off another round of arguments over our debt and financing, what to my wondering eyes should appear on our TV but the smiling face of Kevin Trudeau hawking his Debt Cures program. Like an idiot, I bought it - and I let the woman on his order line talk me into the 'Debt Cures Deluxe Package' of additional material on 10 CDs as well. The cost of all this was $29.95 for the book, $99.00 for the CDs (a value of something like $400, so she said) and $21.90 for shipping and handling.

Contrary to what I was told on the phone, everything arrived in a week as opposed to 3 or 4 weeks. I have a long commute to work, so I figured I'd listen to the additional materials as I drove and read the book at home. First problem - the CDs come in a chintzy paper sleeve that rips as soon as you try to put a CD back into it. I know - all of the CDs fell out when I opened it. When I put the first CD in the player, guess what? The CDs are of him reading the book!

All right, I figure, I'll hear him out. It was a comprehensive waste of time. Probably 80% of the content is him ranting and raving about how credit card debt is entirely the fault of the credit card companies - after his salesperson talked me into wasting $150 on this rot. Most of the rest applies only to people who are being harassed about debt that has already been written off, and the little bit that did apply to us was readily available elsewhere with a little effort. To top it off, the CD of 'bonus material' was nothing but him summarizing the other nine CDs.

Here's a quick, easy and simple 'debt cure' - don't go into debt buying garbage like this.

Someone needs to take this guy off the air or at the minum, charge him with some sort of internet and/or Federal crime for pandering.