About Debtors Anonymous

Welcome to Debtors Anonymous
(a 12-Step program of recovery)

Tools of Recovery

12 Signposts on the road to becoming a Compulsive Debtor
12 Tools of Debtors Anonymous
12 Steps of Debtors Anonymous
12 Traditions of Debtors Anonymous
"The Promises" of Alcoholics Anonymous
12 Promises of Debtors Anonymous

The 12 Signposts on the road to becoming a compulsive debtor

Being unclear about your financial situation: not knowing account balances, monthly expenses, loan interest rates, fees, fines, or contractual obligations.
Frequently "borrowing" items such as books, pens, or small amounts of money from friends or others, and failing to return them.
Poor savings habits: not planning for taxes, retirement or other non-recurring but predictable items, and then feeling surprised when they come due; a "live for today, don't worry about tomorrow" attitude.
Compulsive shopping: being unable to pass up a "good deal"; making impulsive purchases; leaving price tags on clothes so they can be returned; not using items you've purchased.
Difficulty in meeting basic financial or personal obligations, and/or an inordinate sense of accomplishment when such obligations are met.
A different feeling when buying things on credit than when paying cash, a feeling of being in the club, of being accepted, of being grown-up.
Living in chaos and drama around money: using one credit card to pay another; bouncing checks; always having a financial crisis to contend with.
A tendency to live on the edge: living paycheck to paycheck; taking risks with health and car insurance coverage; writing checks hoping money will appear to cover them.
Unwarranted inhibition and embarrassment in what should be a normal discussion of money.
Overworking or underearning: working extra hours to earn money to pay creditors; using time inefficiently; taking jobs below your skill and education level.
An unwillingness to care for and value yourself: living in self-imposed deprivation; denying your own basic needs in order to pay your creditors.
A feeling or hope that someone will take care of you if necessary so that you won't really get into serious financial trouble, that there will always be someone you can turn to.

The Tools of Debtors Anonymous
Recovery from compulsive debting begins when we stop incurring new, unsecured debt, one day at a time. (Unsecured debt is any debt that is not backed up by some form of collateral, such as a house or other asset.) We attain a daily reprieve from compulsive debting by practicing the Twelve Steps and by using the following tools.

1. Meetings
We attend meetings at which we share our experience, strength and hope with one another. Unless we give to newcomers what we have received from D.A., we cannot keep it ourselves.

2. Record Maintenance
We maintain records of our daily income and expenses, of our savings, and of the retirement of any portions of our outstanding debts.

3. Sponsorship
We have found it essential to our recovery to have a sponsor and to be a sponsor. A sponsor is a recovering debtor who guides us through the Twelve Steps and shares his or her own experience, strength, and recovery.

4. Pressure Relief Groups and Pressure Relief Meetings
After we have gained some familiarity with the D.A. program, we organize Pressure Relief Groups consisting of ourselves and two other recovering debtors who have not incurred unsecured debt for at least 90 days and who usually have more experience in the program. The group meets in a series of Pressure Relief Meetings to review our financial situation. These meetings typically result in the formulation of a spending plan and an action plan.

5. Spending Plan
The spending plan puts our needs first and gives us clarity and balance in our spending. It includes categories for income, spending, debt payment and savings (to help us build cash reserves, however humble). The income plan helps us focus on increasing our income. The debt payment category guides us in making realistic payment arrangements without depriving ourselves. Savings can include prudent reserve, retirement and special purchases.

6. Action Plan
With the help of our Pressure Relief Group, we develop a list of specific actions for resolving our debts, improving our financial situation, and achieving our goals without incurring unsecured debt.

7. The Telephone and the Internet
We maintain frequent contact with other D.A. members by using the telephone, e-mail, and other forms of communication. We make a point of talking to other D.A. members before and after taking difficult steps in our recovery.

8. D.A. and A.A. Literature
We study the literature of Debtors Anonymous and of Alcoholics Anonymous to strengthen our understanding of compulsive disease and of recovery from compulsive debting. In A.A. literature we can identify with many of the situations described by substituting the words "compulsive debt" for "alcohol."

9. Awareness
We maintain awareness of the danger of compulsive debt by taking note of bank, loan company and credit card advertising and their effects on us. We also remain aware of our personal finances in order to avoid vagueness, which can lead to compulsive debting or spending.

10. Business Meetings
We attend business meetings that are held monthly. Many of us have long harbored feelings that "business" was not a part of our lives but for others more qualified. Yet participation in running our own program teaches us how our organization operates, and also helps us to become responsible for our own recovery.

11. Service
We perform service at every level: personal, meeting, Intergroup, and World Service. Service is vital to our recovery. Only through service can we give to others what so generously has been given to us.

12. Anonymity
We practice anonymity, which allows us freedom of expression by assuring us that what we say at meetings or to other DA members at any time will not be repeated.

Revised 2005
© 2006 Debtors Anonymous General Service Board, Inc.

The 12 Steps of Debtors Anonymous
Copyright © A.A. World Services, Inc. Adapted and reprinted with permission

We admitted we were powerless over debt—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive debtors, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon D.A. unity.
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority-a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
The only requirement for D.A. membership is a desire to stop Debting.
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or D.A. as a whole.
Each group has but one primary purpose-to carry its message to the debtor who still suffers.
A D.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the D.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Every D.A. group ought to be fully self -supporting, declining outside contributions.
Debtors Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
D.A. as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
Debtors Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the D.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities

The Promises
[From pages 83-84, Alcoholics Anonymous "The Big Book", Reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.]

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not! They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

The 12 Promises of Debtors Anonymous
[Approved August 19, 2001, 15th Annual World Service Conference]

In the program of Debtors Anonymous, we come together to share our experience, strength and hope so that we may recover from the disease of compulsive debting. When we work D.A.'s Twelve Steps and use the D.A. Tools, we begin to receive these gifts of the program:

Where once we felt despair, we will experience a newfound hope.
Clarity will replace vagueness; we will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will live within our means, yet our means will not define us.
We will begin to live a prosperous life, unencumbered by fear, worry, resentment, or debt.
We will realize that we are enough; we will value ourselves and our contributions.
Isolation will give way to fellowship; faith will displace fear.
We will recognize that there is enough; our resources will be generous and we will share them with others and with D.A.
We will cease to compare ourselves to others; jealousy and envy will fade.
Acceptance and gratitude will replace regret, self-pity and longing.
We will no longer fear the truth; we will move from hiding in denial to living in reality.
Honesty will guide our actions toward a rich life filled with meaning and purpose.
We will recognize a Power Greater than ourselves as the source of our abundance; we realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not! They are well within our means. When we work this program with integrity and to the best of our ability, one day at a time, a life of prosperity and serenity will be ours.