Debt Help

Eliminating credit card debt is a top concern among millions of consumers. However, many people fail to outline a realistic strategy for reducing debts. There are many approaches that will put you on the path toward becoming debt free. Each person must assess his or her own situation and create a plan. Here are three tips to help you become debt free within a few years.

Recognize the Problem and Alter Spending Habits

Before you can take the necessary steps to reduce and eliminate credit card debt, you must first acknowledge excessive spending and resolve to change your lifestyle. Unfortunately, many people choose to live beyond their means. Furthermore, many acquire excessive debts because of trying to “keep up with the joneses.”

Credit cards serve a valuable purpose. They are great during emergencies and when you are financially strapped. However, if you are charging more than you can afford to pay, this creates a huge problem. As you endeavor to eliminate debts, be determined to stop using credit cards. Do not cancel credit accounts. However, you may consider cutting your cards or storing them away.

Pay Double, or Triple the Minimum Payment

If you are hoping to reduce credit card debts, you must be willing to pay more than the asking minimum payment. In fact, paying only the minimum will make it practically impossible to become debt free. Instead, attempt to double, even triple your monthly payments. If possible, make a large payment toward reducing your balance. This method is most effective.

Obtaining a lump sum of money is challenging. You may choose to use a tax return or bonus money received from work. Getting a part-time job may also provide you with the extra cash. If you own a home, take advantage of your home’s equity. Home equity loans or cash-out refinancing generally present homeowners with enough cash to payoff high interest credit cards and other debts.

Use a Debt Management Company

If you need assistance with managing large debts, think about contacting a debt management agency. Trained debt management specialists will review your credit and outline a plan for reducing debts. Furthermore, the company will contact creditors and negotiate a lower interest rate. By doing so, a larger portion of your monthly payments will go toward knocking down the principle balance. Thus, helping you achieve your ultimate goal of eliminating credit card debt.

Gas prices rising, talk of a recession, mortgage crisis, layoffs, cut backs and americans in debt. Sounds bad doesn’t it, well it is worse than you think.

Recent statistics show that americans are carrying larger balances on their credit cards and even using credit cards to pay off large bills each month suchs as auto loans, mortgage loans, and even other credit cards. How can you stop the cycle and get back into a positive cash flow? First you need to have a stabile income that is 20-30% above your monthly obligations for the month. Do not even think about your credit card balances at the moment. Pay the minimum, but focus on a job or income that has you at a comfortable level.

Second look at your household budget. Besides the credit cards what fat can you cut away. Most americans are spending way too much money on things like food, clothes, entertainment, and more. Food being an expense that every household can cut back 20-30%. If you take a moment and add up every dollar you spend eating out you will end up with a larger total than you think. A snack here, a drink there, a pizza for dinner, going out to eat a few times a week, all this is major money spent.

Take a hard look at your cable, phone and internet bill. Would bundling your services with a local provider save you even $75 per month.

We also recommend that you breakdown your insurance bills. Mortgage insurance, home insurance, car insurance, and health insurance. Go back to your insurance agent and push for discounts, if you have the same agent for car and home insurance you may be able to find savings by talking to your agent.

Ok so, we locked in a stabile income and we cut some fat from your monthly budget. Now we can take a look at the credit cards.

There are two debt help options, debt consolidation or debt settlement.

Debt Consolidation

Debt consolidation services have prearranged debt repayment plans with most credit card and collection companies. When you sign up with a debt consolidation company you are offered a lower overall monthly payment based on a lower interest rate they have arranged with the creditor.

This payment is lower than what the credit card companies offer you, saves you money every month and is often the best way to consolidate debt.

One benefit of a debt consolidation repayment plan is it will stop you from getting harassed by your creditors as long as you make the new, lower monthly payments.

The debt consolidation program benefits you if you have high interest rates or have higher credit card bills than you can manage. Some people like to make only one payment to one company for all of their debts.

Debt Negotiation

Debt negotiation is sometimes referred to as debt settlement. This is most often offered to people who can’t handle a debt consolidation program. If you can’t make the minimum payments of a debt consolidation repayment plan or haven’t made payments in the past 3 months, a debt negotiation program is the next step for solving debt and credit problems.

One benefit of a debt negotiation program is you stop making payments to your creditors. The debt negotiation company either takes monthly payments from you and keeps it in an account, or lets you keep the money in your own account.

While you are making these monthly payments to the debt negotiation company, they negotiate with your creditors for a lower payoff of around 40-50% of your total amount of debt. Once the negotiated settlement is agreed upon with your creditors, the debt negotiation company makes a one time payment to them.

Whatever you decide at this point you need to make a move and focus on getting rid of this credit card debt.

Foreclosure numbers continue to rise due mainly to unemployment numbers. As the economy is seeing signs of improvement the unemployment rate is still at record highs. Until this is corrected home foreclosures are going to remain a major issue for the US economy. There are man things you can do during these tough times to avoid foreclosure.

There are some myths about foreclosure, bankruptcy and credit. If you don’t have the facts, it’s impossible to make the best decisions. Take time to learn about foreclosure, the potential impact on your credit, and some steps you can take if you’re facing foreclosure.

Many people think that once they’ve settled a debt - no matter how that comes about - the impact on the credit report is negated. That’s not true and your decisions will remain a part of your credit history, probably for seven years. That means that your decision to enter foreclosure will be there for every potential creditor for many years, impacting your ability to obtain credit.

Foreclosure is only slightly better than bankruptcy. Some people call bankruptcy a “clean slate.” In truth, a bankruptcy will likely remain part of your credit score for even longer - usually ten years.

Foreclosure situations don’t happen overnight. Most people struggle for months (or longer) before the final straw. Often, payments are a little late at first. As the mountain of debt grows, payments are later. Late charges rack up, making it more difficult to catch up. One of the most important steps you can take to avoid foreclosure happens now - well before you’ve even considered foreclosure as a possibility.

Start by making every attempt to make your payments on time, every time. If you see that a payment is going to be late, contact your finance company. Though it’s usually tempting to avoid the phone calls that accompany late payments, be proactive. Let the company know that you’re having a problem and look for some options. Some finance companies will allow you to pay interest only on a payment, tacking the principle onto the end of the note. This isn’t a long-term solution that should be taken at the least sign of a problem, but could be the answer to getting your finances back on target.

Reviewing your credit report after a bankruptcy is very important. You filed for bankruptcy because you needed a fresh start and your credit report should reflect all accounts included in the bankruptcy. After bankruptcy, you debts should be shown as zero and paid off, although the record of the bankruptcy is still there. This is a sort of balance which is positive on one side, and negative on the other. Generally, your ability to pay off a debt is increased after bankruptcy due to the absence of other debts. After a period of 10 years has expired, a bankruptcy can be written off your credit record.
Accurate Credit Reports after bankruptcy

This is extremely important. You would be surprised to learn that many individuals after bankruptcy still have credit reports that show outstanding debts. Whether due to laziness or carelessness, credit agencies often keep inaccurate information about your debts on their records. This misinformation will most definitely ensure that you never get any credit from anyone again.

To avoid this it is recommended that you request a free credit report within 30 to 60 days after your bankruptcy is complete and review it over the next several months. If you still have unpaid debts on your credit report you need to work with the creditor to update your credit report.