With over $13 trillion in consumer debt out there, rising interest rates, soaring health-care costs, expensive gasoline and slowing home values in several pockets across the country... is it time to sound the alarm bells for consumer debt?

We&39;re seeing record volumes of request for debt help, so we started to look in to the factors impacting the need for debt help, here&39;s a few:

1.  Lack of financial awareness:  Consumers aren&39;t educated.  Simple as that.  Most people don&39;t know what a FICO score is (let alone their own credit score), LTV (loan-to-value), DTI (debt-to-income ratio), and no one looks at the total cost of incurring debt.  Did you know that carrying $30k of credit card debt could cost you well over $100,000 by the time you get it paid off.  That new plasma screen better be worth it.  Fundamentally, we need to introduce financial education into the American curriculum.  Too many people make financial decisions based on the monthly payment, not the total cost.

2.  Predatory lenders:  Ever get a &39;pre-approved&39; offer letter?  Did you know that mortgage brokers get paid a kick-back called &39;yield-spread-premium&39; when they jam a consumer with a higher rate than what they are approved for?  Did you know that &39;non-profit&39; credit counseling firms get paid a kick-back called &39;fair-share&39; from your credit card companies for getting you to repay your debts?  It&39;s the model:  financial services firms make more money the worse off you, the consumer, are.

3.  Record cost of living:  No one can afford to live in my home state, California.  An affordability study just examined Californians ability to buy the median priced home... and found that less than 15% of Californians can afford a house (based on 20% down and a 30-year fixed mortgage).  Ugly?  Yep.  Plus record tuition costs if you have college-aged students, health-care costs that rise at three or four times the rate of GDP growth, and gas costs at peak levels.

4.  Rising interest rates:  With so much debt out there, and so many families mortgaging their assets to afford to live... low interest rates helped out a ton.  Now, after 18 straight quarterly Fed rate hikes... the picure isn&39;t so rosy. 

5.  Changes in regulations:  Credit card minimum payments recently doubled.  Bankruptcy reform makes it harder than ever to file for Chapter 7.  Many credit counseling firms are in hot water with the IRS.  All of this spells trouble for the indebted consumer.

What can you do?  Come up with a solid financial game-plan.  Learn.  Get out of debt.  Save.  Build a three-month nest egg and save for an inevitable rainy-day.  Bills.com has available some free budgeting and financial tools (www.bills.com/guide) -- but wherever you get it, know your options and only sign-up for financial products that meet your personal goals.