Free money for bills ?

Searching for Free money for bills or Free money to pay bills? There is a little truth behind websites and tv commercials that pitch the idea of Government Grants providing money, but it's not as great as they make it out to be, and there's no need to buy anything to find it. 

Information on government grants or other sources of money is pretty readily accessible. If you found this article by searching Google, you are probably hoping to hear the pitch from a gentleman named Matthew Lesko. He's famous for selling a book titled "Free Money to Pay Your Bills", where he claims that there are "billions in hidden dollars" to be found.

This sort of claim should probably be evaluated using the kind of advice that your parents might give you..."if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". And, the evidence seems to support that. Documents that cover the truth about Mr. Lesko's book are hard to find, but I did find this article at MSNBC.

What is that "Free Money For Bills" commercial really selling?

Basically, what he's doing is taking the truth, that there are some number of specialized government grants...and not telling you the entire 

story. Many of these grants are very specialized, and only available to a very specific set of people, for a very specific set of reasons. For example, many of the grants are only applicable to farmers, or scientists, or specific to certain regions of the country. Further, all of this information isn't secret, or even difficult to find.  Also, a fairly large percentage of the programs are loans that must be repaid, albeit at a lower rate than a bank might charge. The bottom portion of this article includes several official U.S. government websites that spell out the grants and programs in great detail, and without an unrealistic sales pitch.

And this quote, directly from Mr Lesko, from washingtoncitypaper.com, seems to indicate that even the man behind all of this knows the real truth:

“A degree of lying—you know, white lies—seems to be inherent in all languages and all forms of communication,” he wrote in the introduction to his book Free Money to Pay Your Bills. “It’s really not lying; it’s more a matter of not presenting the downside of a situation.”

What's the truth then? Is there some kind of money out there we can get for free?

So, does that mean there really is no "Money to Pay your Bills" ?   Well, not exactly.  Some forms of assistance do exist, and many of them are free. It's just not as simple as a pile of money waiting to be claimed.  In fact, a large portion of the programs are loans, and not handouts...and must be repaid. There are, however, several government grants, programs and initiatives that are in place to help those in need.

Some ideas that are aren't exactly "Money for Free", but do really help:

• See our article that describes LIHEAP, a program that provides assistance for paying heating bills
• Similarly, you can call the National Energy Assistance Referral (NEAR) project hotline at 1-866-674-6327
• A real legitimate site that provides information on Goverment Grants is at www.grants.gov
• The Government Benefits, Grants, and Financial Aid section at usa.gov
• Govbenefits.gov - goes beyond just bills, covering assistance with child care, disability, taxes, etc.

Also see:

• Our debt reduction and credit card areas
• More information on low income assistance