After writing stories about consumer complaints week after week, it's nice to be able to write a positive business-consumer column.

On New Year's Day I was asked what I had heard about Groupon, a social business site that is growing like weeds all over Connecticut as well as the rest of the country.

The person asking me was Chris Defran, who substitutes for WTIC-AM's Ray Donaway whenever the Connecticut radio personality is on vacation. You can imagine how hard up they were for guests early on New Year's Day to invite me.

Anyway, Defran wanted to know whether Groupon is a scam.

Absolutely not, I told him and the half dozen people listening that morning.

Groupon is a wonderful idea intended to be a win-win for businesses, consumers and for its founders. I have heard nothing but good things about it from businesses and consumers.

The word Groupon comes from the words "group" and "coupon." Its intent is to create Black Friday hysteria every day by offering incredible deals that have to be snatched up in a few hours.

Half off of restaurant meals is the norm. So is 70 percent to 90 percent off on events, as well as huge discounts on merchandise and services.

For instance, at Plan B, one of my favorite restaurant chains in the Hartford area, it frequently offers 50 percent off on meals during certain times.

The way it works is that a Groupon employee will contact a merchant, or vice versa, and come up with a sale that requires a minimum number of people to participate as well as a limited length of time that people can sign up. Once the hour glass is empty, the sale is over.

The big winners are Groupon and the consumers who get the deals. Groupon guarantees your satisfaction or your money back.

For the merchants, they have to pay Groupon and lose money on most of the sales, but they get exposure, fill up empty tables on slow days and perhaps get new clients or customers who had never heard of them.

Groupon is also one of my advertisers, and I am supposed to get paid whenever a viewer signs up for Groupon through my CtWatchdog site. So far, I have not received a penny, so I will have to look into that. Right now I consider it a public service advertisement.

In the 20 months since Groupon has been in business, it has attracted more than 13 million subscribers - and has pulled in $500 million in revenue. It claims to have saved consumers close to a billion dollars.

Time to pay off debts

For some great tips on how to pay off your credit card and other debts in the least painful fashion, www.LowCards.com has some solid advice.

Here some of the suggestions, you can get the rest by going to this site: http://ctwatchdog.com/2011/01/01/ten-tips-to-reducing-your-debt-in-2011

Contact your creditors to negotiate lower rates. The less money you pay in interest, the more money you have to pay off your bills. If you are in danger of missing a payment, contact your creditors as soon as you realize you have a problem. They may be willing to work out a payment plan, lower your rate, or lower your monthly payment. Explain that you are in debt, the steps you are taking to repay it, and what you can pay today. If you request a lower interest rate and get turned down, politely ask to speak to the supervisor and ask again. Document all conversations, including whom you spoke with, and the date, time, and the results.

Pay more than your minimum payment. Your minimum payment is usually only 2 percent to 5 percent of your balance. At this rate, it will take many years to pay off your debt. In fact, your credit card bill now shows exactly how long it will take. You may be surprised about how much you will pay in interest payments by paying just the minimum payment each month.

If you have multiple credit cards with outstanding balances, focus on paying off the card with the highest interest rate first. Continue to pay the minimum on your other cards until the card with the highest rate is paid off, then focus your effort on the card with the next highest interest rate. Keep your oldest credit card accounts open and occasionally use them to buy a magazine or a movie ticket - just pay it off each month. This may help improve your credit score.

You can reach The Watchdog at George@connecticutwatchdog.com and he will answer as many e-mails as he can. Check out his website, www.ctwatchdog.com, for comprehensive consumer, health, finance, media, internet, computer, travel and education tips.