Debt consolidation with free Government grants? Can you get one?

We have written before about the pervasive and persuasive late night television commercials touting Government grants. According the the companies running the commercial, the Federal Government gives away billions of dollars a year and all you have to do to receive one of these grants is to buy the book or course they are offering that tells you how to apply for the aid. There are, they say, all kinds of grants: debt consolidation grants, home loan grants, college education and small business grants, and so on. In fact, some of these companies promise that you can apply for the money and use it for any purpose you wish!

 So, you send them their $49.95 and wait for the book to come in the mail.

If you are lucky, you’ll get that, and nothing more. The book you are likely to receive will probably be quite thick, and will include detailed and very complicated instructions regarding the application for Government grant money.

Does the Federal Government give away money? Well, sort of. There are things that the Government wishes were done, and if you can find a way to do these things, you can get money to do it. If you can come up with a clever way to get rid of millions of used auto tires, there may be some grant money available to you. If you would like to start a chain of daycare centers in blighted urban areas, there may be funds at your disposal.

What about debt consolidation grants? No, sorry.  The Government expects something of value in exchange for the money. The money isn’t a gift, per se, it’s a way to get something accomplished that is useful to the public at large. Paying off your gambling debts, your shopping bills or your student loans is not what Uncle Sam has in mind when he decides to hand out grant money.

Even if you do have a noble cause which might qualify you for grant money, there is more to the process than just holding out your hand for the money. You will have to fill out detailed, complicated forms that explain who you are and what you intend to do with the funds. Once you receive the funds, you will have to demonstrate that you have used them as intended. There is no free lunch.

Of course, all of this assumes that you got your information that you paid for when you sent you money to that late night television advertiser. There is a popular scam going around where companies promise people that they have easy access to Government grant money. Once such company, called Advantage America, was contacting people in a Midwestern state, telling them that they were eligible and had been awarded some $8000 in grant money that they could use in any way they pleased. All that was necessary to do to receive the money was to wire $50 to the company as a processing charge. The money went to somewhere in the Caribbean, and no one has seen it or the company since.

Is the idea of free money from Uncle Sam too good to be true? We are afraid so.

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