and search for dollarwise. you'll see the risk assessment test. >> you also have a bit of a calculation where you say if you take up your minimum payments on your credit cards, multiply by 20%, add that, so basically take up the total, add 20%, if you can't pay that off you have a problem. >> that's right. that's the calculation you use to determine whether you can get out of debt in your -- on your own in three to five years. minimum payments plus 20% of that total add it together. if you can pay that every month and not dig the hole deeper you can probably pay off your debt on your own. if you can't then you do need to talk to someone because you may need to reduce your interest rates, the monthly payments, you may be even in serious trouble and need to seek out the help of a bankruptcy attorney. >> how do we make sure you find somebody who is credible, a counselor who can help. it's not somebody who is going to scam you. people have offered -- they think they're being scammed. >> yeah. how do you know whethe

how much money are we putting against the problem and how big was that dollarwise?uest: there are lots of different estimates. what the total exposure to troubled assets are, and they range a great deal. in order to get the correct number, you have the very open access to every financial institution in the united states, and that it obviously a task certainly beyond our capabilities. the estimates there are trillions of dollars in troubled assets on the banks of these financial institutions. host: trillion vs $23.70 trillion the i guess should be answered so the public knows how much of the fixed costs gets to the size of the problem? guest: certainly we would confront -- concurre with a view of having a good sense of the problem is perhaps the first that of what you need to do to address it. a lot of these 50 programs, a will to make it clear, our liquidity programs not designed necessarily to address a particular asset. there are mortgage guarantees in that poll, for example. that is how these programs go. they are not all addressed on the bank's books. host: our