Hello my name is Joe Sellers and I have been assisting consumers that are in arrears with their unsecured credit card debt for a considerable amount of time and know the effects it has on their lives. When you have credit card debt and know that this matter is out of control, you should make a decision and make it as soon as you can. You don’t want to put it off until it is too late. As the majority of you must already know is that the collectors are not helpful when you contact them with complaints regarding you statement. It’s very fascinating the way it works because when you first get the card they are very polite people when you are speaking to them. Then if you contact them to argue against a late or over limit penalty fee and try to have it removed enough trying to maintain payments with 8% or even the 7.9 % interest that they are charging on your credit cards. How are you suppose to come up with the money for the higher payments now? It was painstaking enough to manage before the interest skyrocketed. This is exactly why U.S. citizens are seeking out other options such as debt settlement vs. credit counseling, or bankruptcy. If you do not know much about these options then I will give you a little information on them.
Bankruptcy
Up until late 2004 bankruptcy was to be used for consumers who were having severe financial problems. Regrettably it was mistreated by way too many consumers who were attempting to evade paying their unsecured debts. They did not want to be accountable for their misgivings. The credit card industry was sick and tired of this so they petitioned to have the laws updated. It is now referred to as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection act of 2005. This would make it more difficult for many debtors to file for help. Bankruptcy should only be considered as your last resort option after you have explored every alternative option. Also you should contemplate the negative aftereffects that will come back later down the road. You would have to find an attorney, go to court and that could cost you a lot of your hard earned income. There is also the problem of it being on your credit report anywhere from 7 to 10 years. When you sign any significant application or document you will always have to answer yes when asked the question about bankruptcy, so this does have a extremely long lasting effect on your ability to obtain future credit.
Credit counseling
In each direction you look, either on TV or the radio, you will hear about debt consolidation credit counseling. A credit counseling company will try to get the creditors to reduce the APR on your credit cards. You then make one monthly payment to the consumer credit counseling company and they then pay each one of your creditors for you. The downside to this option is even though they reduce the interest on your credit card balances you very well may still pay back as much as 130% of what you currently owe.
This is because on this sort of program 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 75% of the individuals that are in credit counseling don’t complete the program for missing as much as one payment. Another downfall to credit counseling is that if you have a income problem and are cannot make your monthly payment they will kick you off of the program immediately. They will also raise your interest back up and the creditor could keep you off the program for around one year and on some occasions even longer. This will put you right back to where you started from, if not in a tougher situation.
Debt Settlement (also known as debt relief)
This is the debt relief method which can save you the largest amount of money. A honest debt settlement company will save you at least 40% of what you currently owe. The 40% should include all the fees as well. Just like consumer credit counseling, you will hear a lot of radio and television ads very frequently. These companies are starting up everywhere across the United States. Some of these companies try to make it appear like they have a magical wand and are going to make all your debt vanish instantly.
There are also many companies that try to use religion to gain the trust of debtors. Whichever company you are going to hire it is your responsibility to do research on them. You can always begin with the BBB (Better Business bureau). You may be able to find out a lot about a company from the Better Business Bureau. If you soon realize that a company has only been in business for a little while and has a slew of complaints towards them, then you must stay away. One more thing to look for is how much time has the company been around. Some companies only survive a couple of years before they get shut down or get caught ripping people off. Then some of them only stick around to make as much as possible and close down just to open up across the streetwith a different name] and will continue to do this until they decide it is time to stop.
You need to feel confident with the person you are dealing with as well as the debt settlement company. If they are being pushy and trying to get you to sign a contract within the first 15 minutes of the conversation you need to watch out. This is not a choice you want to jump into head first. Really, how can a company be sure they can assist you without reviewing your statements first? There are far too many companies out there that only tell you all the good things about credit card debt settlement. They tell you not to fret about anything. This is a extremely simple process and nothing negative will ever happen to you. That is a pile of you know what. It is not a extremely simple process and it is not right for everyone. Some people still get duped by them because that company sugar coated the entire process and did not offer them full disclosure. For a lot of debtors credit card settlement can really get you back on track and out of debt in three years or less, while saving you thousands of dollars off your balance.
One more aspect to consider is most of the companies make all their fees within the first six months of the the program. Now I will ask you this question, what reason will that company have to work out the best possible settlement on your behalf if they know that they are not going to make any more money off of you? There is none! So you see, if that company knows that why would they keep working on trying to get you the best settlement. This happens all the time. They really don’t care at that point. They take whatever your creditors’ offer, which means you put out more of your hard earned money You need to search out a company that makes its fees the old fashion way, by earning it. Make sure they answer all your debt settlement inquries. I hope this has offered you a good understanding of the numerous options you have to becoming debt free. Thanks and have a good night.