The facts about debt consolidation and the things you might not know.

Over the years various people have struggled with debt of one kind or the other. Over that span there have been various tools in helping them deal with this situation. Recently it seems that the number of people drowning in debt has increased considerably. This has brought the various debt relief programs to the forefront of our minds both because of our heightened awareness of topic and because of increased media coverage and advertisements.

For the most part many of the debt relief programs that are available to people have been around for a long time. Of course there are always those fly by night “eliminate your debt” scams that crop up then go away. For an example the idea you can go to court and threaten to sue the creditors if they don’t eliminate your debt. Beware, that is no better than snake oil and can put you in a much worse situation then what you are right now.

The debt relief programs I am speaking of are valid and legal and have been put in place to assist people in dealing with an unmanageable debt situation. But it is important to know all the details of these options and how each one works.

Being in the industry for many years I have head countless clients say they are looking to do debt consolidation. What they don’t realize is that almost all of the credit card debt relief options are debt consolidation programs.

The definition of a debt consolidation program is a plan that will allow you to consolidate all of your payments into one so that you are not making individual payments to each of your creditors. Now I understand that the way I worded it might not be exactly what you were looking for and the reason for that is that you are thinking of one particular form of debt consolidation, not the broad category.

Let me explain to you each of the debt relief options and how each one of them will help you to consolidate your debt into one monthly payment.

Let’s start off with one of the oldest forms of debt help, which is called Bankruptcy. This option has been around for many years and more recently was amended to make it more difficult to qualify for. What many people do not realize is there are various forms of bankruptcy. Most commonly thought of is chapter 7, where your debt is forgiven and you do not have to pay back anything to the creditors. This however is the most difficult to qualify for. More common is the chapter 13 bankruptcy. This is a debt consolidation program where the courts decide how much you can afford to pay on a monthly base and you pay the trustee who distributes the payments to the creditors. You could end up paying 100% of the debt and that option will be on your credit for the longest amount of time.

The next debt relief option is consumer credit counseling and is commonly thought of by people as a debt onsolidation program. This is where you hire an agency to negotiate your interest rates down on all of your creditors, then you mane one monthly payment to the agency. You end up paying back about 130% of what you owe over 5 to 7 years and the monthly payment you make is typically close to what your minimum payments were for the creditors.

Debt resolution is another option that has gained popularity in recent years. Essentially you hire an attorney or law firm to negotiate your debt for less than what you owe. You then make one monthly deposit into a trust account which is used to settle with the creditors. Since the FTC regulations that were passed in October 2010, this option has gained in popularity throughout the debt relief industry as a way to get around the regulations ban on charging upfront fees.

Many of these debt settlement lawyers will charge you a retainer to start and then charge legal fees that they deduct from each of your monthly deposits throughout the entire program on top of their settlement charges. First of all this will increase your total program cost. Second people assume that by having a debt settlement law firm negotiate their debt, they are protected more and will be able to do a better job.

The reality is that the law firm is not doing the negotiating. They sub contract debt settlement companies to do all of the maintenance and work on your account. Also, they do not protect you since they are only representing you for the purposes of negotiating your debt and nothing more! They do not represent you in court and in many cases will not even help you answer a summons should you receive one. This is evident by the number of class actions law suits and states’ attorneys that are going after these lawyer bases settlement debt consolidation companies.

The final debt consolidation program available is called debt settlement. This is where a reputable accredited company will negotiate with your creditors on your behalf and will allow you to settle for less than your full balances with your creditors. Companies that follow the regulations will not charge you any fees until they have successfully negotiated your accounts. You save your money in a dedicated account which you have full access to and as each creditor is settled with they are paid from that account.

If you would like to hear more details about all of your options then you can speak to a debt analyst with years of experience who can review your situation and give you the information you need to make the right choice. Simply fill out the short form on the right column or click the green button.

January 25, 2012

4 Ways You Can Hire A Better Debt Management Firm

Research should be done by individuals in debt who want to make use of the services of a debt management firm before they commit themselves. A debtor’s interest can be harmed by an unscrupulous debt management in many ways so make sure to keep the following 4 things in mind before hiring a debt management firm.

Avoid any agency that calls you by phone or sends you spam. There are a lot of debt management firms that advertise in the yellow pages or on the Web but do not over-aggressively solicit clients. This means that there is a good chance any company which does so is not on the level. Debt management companies that follow a cold calling policy or send unsolicited emails will usually not be able to provide any solid references. Serving as a guarantee for the debtor that his creditors will be paid is a reserve fund and most of these companies do not even keep one.

Non-profit agencies do not necessarily offer better service. First of all, services are not always free for non-profit debt management firms and some firms charge up to 15% of the debt amount. Just because it is a non-profit organization does not mean that it is a better debt management firm and a more efficient service provider than those that charge for the services. There’s also the fact that companies charging for their service are under an obligation to free their clients of debt as efficiently as possible because they are making a profit from their work and their profitability is directly linked to their credibility and reputation in the market.

Never part with credit card information on the phone. If the debt management firm is reputed and honest, then they would never ask you to provide your credit card number or bank information on the phone. The reason is because they understand that callers can be impersonated and the increase in online frauds is reason enough for individuals in debt to be extra cautious when checking out debt management firms. Debt management companies will never ask a prospect or an existing client to part with sensitive information of any kind over the phone if they are acting in good faith.

You shouldn’t believe anyone who offers a deal that’s too good to be true because chances are, it probably is. Often debtors come across debt management deals that promise to reduce their debt by half in short time. It’s likely that the debtor does end up paying high fees and a substantial upfront amount to the debt management company even though this is rare. Such companies also discourage debtors from communicating with their lenders; this is never a good idea and invariably leads to a negative impact on the debtor’s credit rating. If a debt reduction company promises to offer more than some interest reduction and counseling on getting out of debt and staying debt free, the claim should ideally not be taken at face value.

Boost your health with antioxidant astaxanthin and get the facts about astaxanthin benefits .

Tags: debt consolidation, Debt Consolidation Loans, debt management, Finance.