12 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 12 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 DA, 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 DA 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 DA members before and after taking difficult steps in our recovery.
8. DA and AA 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 AA 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.
12 Steps of Debtors Anonymous
1. We admitted we were powerless over debt—that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to
them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted
it.
11. 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.
12. 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.
12 Traditions of Debtors Anonymous
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon D.A. unity.
2. 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.
3. The only requirement for DA membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured
debt.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or DA
as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose--to carry its message to the debtor who still
suffers.
6. A DA 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.
7. Every DA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Debtors Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers
may employ special workers.
9. DA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or
committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Debtors Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the DA name ought
never be drawn into public controversy.
11. 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.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to
place principles before personalities.
