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In Part II (Have you read Part I ?) of my evaluation of a Real Talk Dave Burke financial freedom seminar, I cited the example of wiping out debt that was given by the speaker, a Dave Burke client himself. It may have been confusing, so Part III here explains the math in more detail, as described by the Real Talk speaker:

“Calvin” makes $7,000 per month. His living expenses are also $7,000/month: He has zero in his checking account; an auto loan of $9,900, paying $125/month; and a credit card debt of 9,200, paying $275/month. His savings account has 3,000, and mortgage of $300,000 on a house worth $250,000. Calvin has, at his disposal, $80,000 of available credit card balance from other credit cards.

To kill temptation to dip into that $80,000, Calvin cancelled all but his Capital One credit card — before he signed on with Dave Burke Real Talk coaching. His Dave Burke Real Talk coach told him cancelling was a mistake, because 65 percent of your credit score is determined by a “utilization ratio,” NOT by paying on time. Calvin's credit card debt is 9,200. The original ratio was 9200:80,000.

After credit card cancellation, the ratio became 9200:10,000. (The Capital One limit was 10,000). This is a very low ratio and resulted in a credit score of 640. A 640 credit score wouldn't get him any lines of credit against the mortgage to help pay debts.

The Dave Burke Real Talk coach told Calvin to: 1) Run expenses through just the Capital One credit card, at a new deal of a zero interest that he obtained; 2) Go after the Capital One 9200 balance first. Calvin did this by using his savings of 3,000, and 6,200 of his monthly income. BAM! The Capital One debt was eliminated.

But he was also left with no money! How did he pay monthly expenses, gas, food, etc.? He lived off his Capital One credit line! Calvin's monthly income is 7,000, and he has about a month to come up with the payment for the new expenses he's incurring off the Capital One, since his next bill will be a month later. When that next statement comes, Calvin has the money to pay it in full.

His credit score has now risen to 728. Now, Calvin can 1) get his homeowner's insurance knocked down considerably, and 2) get his auto insurance premium knocked down. Apparently, a low credit score means a higher homeowner's and auto insurance premium.

Calvin can now get a line of credit against his house for $20,000. A home line of credit has a much lower fixed interest rate than a credit card. Calvin's then went after the 9900 auto loan, using the home credit line to pay this off. However, due to its low interest rate, he will pay it off in 11 months.

Are you getting the Real Talk concept? If not, you can sign up for Dave Burke's Real Talk coaching for $1,997.

- The one-on-one coaching always takes place outside the Real Talk seminar rooms! When I signed in, I noticed at least three stations where pairs of people were working at a computer.

- After sitting through the Dave Burke Real Talk financial freedom workshop, I realized that Dave Burke definitely exaggerates on his Real Talk show. And vital information is omitted, such as creating one debt (e.g., home equity line) to pay off another (e.g., MasterCard), even though in the long run, you'd be paying less per month to knock down a debt.

But think about this: Suppose you have a 10K credit card debt at 14 percent interest, and “wipe it out” in days by transferring it to your new home equity line, with its interest of only 6 percent. Dang, you still have a 10K debt to pay off! Of course, it will get paid off faster, especially if you apply to it the money you “save” each month by no longer paying the credit card's much higher monthly minimum. But you're still going to be paying this thing off for a very long time.

This is why when the Real Talk speaker said a client eliminated a 13K credit card debt in only six weeks, I couldn't believe it. I guess, in theory, the Real Talk client maybe transferred the 13K to some zero percent promo deal, then took money from savings, a 401K and the money from his cancelled HBO cable service, and applied all of it to the zero deal, thereby widdling the balance down to zero in six weeks. Yes, the Real Talk Dave Burke speaker DID mention the idea of cancelling cable to increase monthly cash flow.

- You can benefit with Dave Burke's Real Talk coaching only according to the tools that you already have. No savings? No 401K? Low income? This won't help. Remember my analogy with the weight loss ad example in Part I ?

- Even after attending a Dave Burke Real Talk financial freedom workshops, I still hold true and fast to the sentiments expressed in my first four Dave Burke Real Talk articles: Dave Burke's Real Talk radio show embellishes, and leaves out important information. Bottomline: You can get financial help for the price of $1997, and you'll learn tricks of the trade, but don't expect miracles or the “wealth” that Dave Burke's Real Talk radio show speaks of.

Step 1: Dave Burke has Real Talk reps, wearing Real Talk blue shirts, waiting for you at the back of the room when the financial freedom workshop is over, clipboards in hands, ready to take your payment. The speaker said if you can't come up with this money, Real Talk coaches will work with you on that.

Step 2: Go to the Real Talk web site and download the free software, which is required. Instructions are in the membership package that you'd pay for at the end of the seminar. Fill out a spreadsheet with all your financial information. The software will then compute a “financial summary. ”

Step 3: Your FICO scores must be submitted.

Step 4: Register at any one of these Dave Burke Real Talk financial freedom seminars by clicking, on the Real Talk web site, “I'm a member and I'm coming back for coaching.”

My final assessment: How well Dave Burke's Real Talk coaching works depends on what kind of tools you have in place. What if you only qualify for a $3,000 line of credit against your home, unlike Calvin, who qualified for a whopping $20,000, or the Real Talk speaker, who certainly qualified for a huge line of credit, since he was able to pull $18,000 from it every 10 months? (Read about what the Real Talk speaker did to eliminate $378,000 of his mortgage in Part II.) What if you don't even OWN a home in the first place ? ? ?

You can have a high credit score and still only qualify for a small loan, due to the loan-to-value ratio on your home. What if you bring home only $2,000 a month, but have debt higher than Calvin's? What if you don't have variables that can be tweaked for “hidden” money, such as homeowner's insurance?

Comments to my first four articles about Real Talk Dave Burke include complaints about not getting refunds.

As a personal trainer, I have shown prospective clients my client-testimoinal booklet. Do you think that for one moment, I'd include, in this booklet of testimonials, the 250-pound client who, after three months, lost only one pound? NO WAY. Likewise, Dave Burke's testimonials might be his program's star clients.

For Dave Burke Real Talk coaching, you can only work with what you have. Dave Burke's Real Talk financial freedom coaching is, essentially, financial advising — for $1,997. The concept behind Dave Burke Real Talk has merit in that, according to a recent Reader's Digest, you can knock years off a 30-year mortgage by making just one extra minimum payment per YEAR. This is similar to the concept that Dave Burke Real Talk presents.

Nevertheless, Dave Burke exaggerates on his Real Talk radio show. In order to wipe out debt, the money must come from SOMEWHERE. Hopefully, I'll be able to make this shell game work for me without spending $1,997.

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