HOw easy is it to become debt free
My name is Steve Bis and I am assisting people that are in debt with their credit cards for a long time and am aware of the negative effects it has on their lives. When you have credit card debt and think that the situation is out of control, you must make a decision and make it ASAP. You do not want to procrastinate until it is too late. As the majority of you bye now already know is that the creditors are not very easy to deal with when you contact them with problems with billing. It’s extremely fascinating the way it works because when you first obtain the card they are pretty nice people while you are speaking with them. Then if you contact them to argue against a past due or over limit penalty fee and attempt to have it , they may let you off one time a year, if you are lucky. When it comes down to it what choices do you have? It’s not like you can discontinue paying your rent/mortgage or other requirements for your family to survive with day to day living expenses.
The credit card industry made a whopping 17 billion dollars in over limit and late fees in 2006 and it will be horrifyingly higher in the near future. Now I am sure that it has happened to you, where you go and open your credit card statement only to discover that your APR has nearly doubled or even tripled. It is bad enough trying to maintain payments with 10% or even the 7.9 % interest that they are charging on your credit cards. How are you suppose to cover the elevated payments now? It was horrible enough to manage before the interest skyrocketed. This is why many U.S. consumers are searching for other options such as debt settlement vs. credit counseling, or bankruptcy. If you are not familiar with any of your options then I will offer you a little information on them.
Consumer Bankruptcy
Before 2005 bankruptcy was to be used for people who were fighting through serious monetary problems. Regrettably it was misused by tens of thousands of people who were attempting to avoid paying their unsecured debts. They did not want to be held accountable for their misgivings. The credit card industry was sick and tired of this so they pushed to have the bankruptcy laws changed. It is now known as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection act of 2005. It would make it more difficult for many debtors to file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should only be considered as your last resort option after you have considered every alternative method. Also you should think of the consequences that will come back later down the road. You would have to locate an attorney, go to court and that could cost you a substantial amount of money. There is also the negative effect of it being on your credit report for a long time. When you filling out any important application or document you will always have to say yes when inquired about your previous bankruptcy, so this does have a long lasting effect on your credit.
Credit counseling
In each direction you turn, either it is advertised on the radio or television, you will hear about credit counseling. A credit counseling agency will attempt to get the creditors to reduce the APR on your credit cards. You then make one monthly payment to the consumer credit counseling agency and they then pay each one of your creditors on your behalf. The downside to this method is even though they reduce your interest rate on your credit card accounts you very well may still pay back as much as 120% of what you currently owe.
This is because joining this kind of agenda you will still be paying back what the full original balance was plus some of the interest for around possibly five years or more. Almost half of the individuals that are in credit counseling don’t complete the program for one reason or another. Another draw back to credit counseling is that if you have a income problem and are short on your monthly payment they will boot you out of the program right away. They will also bump up your interest back up and the creditors could keep you off the program for around one year and perhaps even longer. This might put you right back to where you started from, if not in a worse situation.
Credit Card Debt Negotiation (also known as debt settlement)
This is the method which can save you the greatest amount of money. A reputable credit card debt settlement company will save you at least 40% of what you are said to have to payback. The 40% should include all the fees as well. Similar to consumer credit counseling, you will hear a lot of TV and radio advertisements very frequently. These organizations are popping up everywhere across the United States. Some of these companies try to make it seem like they have a magic button and are going to make all your debt vanish extremely easily.
There are even some companies that try to use religion to obtain the trust of consumers. Whatever organization you are going with it is your responsibility to do research on them. You should begin with the BBB (Better Business bureau). You will be able to discover a lot about a company from them. If you realize that a company has only been in business for a little while and has a lot of complaints towards them, then you must avoid them. Another thing to keep an eye out for is how long has the company been around. Some organizations only make it one or two years before they get shut down or get caught ripping people off. Then some of them only stick around to make as much money as they can and close shop just to open up down the streetwith a different name] and will continue to do this over and over.
You need to feel confident with the individual you are dealing with as well as the debt settlement organization. If they are very pushy and trying to get you to sign a document within the first 15 minutes of the conversation you need to be careful. This is not a choice you want to dive into head first. Really, how can a company know they can assist you without going over your situation first? There are way too many organizations out there that only tell you all the good aspects about debt settlement. They tell you not to be concerned about anything. This is a very simple process and nothing negative will ever happen to you. That is a load of you know what. It is not a very simple process and it is not the best choice for every debtor. Some debtors still get taken by them because that company sugar coated everything and did not fully disclose everything. For many consumers debt settlement can really get you back on your feet and out of debt in under three years, while saving you thousands of dollars off your current balance.
Another thing to consider is most of the companies make all their money within the first six months of the their program. Now I will ask you this question, what reason will that company have to negotiate the best possible settlement on your behalf if they know that they are’nt going to make any more money from you? There is none! So you see, if an organization knows that why would they keep working on trying to get you a better settlement. This happens quite often. They really don’t care at that point. They take whatever your collectors’ offer, in turn meaning you pay more You need to search out a company that makes its money the old fashion way, by earning it. Make sure they answer all your debt settlement questions. I hope this has offered you a better understanding of the numerous options you have to becoming debt free. Thanks and have a good [night.
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