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.

February 15, 2012

Top Credit Repair Tips To Get You Going

Almost everything you see in the world costs a lot of money these days. Whether we’re talking about a car, a home, or even attending a good college, you’re going to pay dearly for these things. It’s no mystery why so many people have poor credit in this day and age. Thankfully, it’s also no mystery to get out of this bad situation as the following will show.

If you need to repair your credit, consider speaking with a credit repair counselor. Many credit repair counselors can help you have even the largest debts paid off in just a few years. A counselor will know better than you what steps to take and what channels to follow in consolidating your debt and building new credit.

You should not close or cancel old credit card accounts when you are in the process of trying to repair your credit. This is not such a good idea because it will only serve to make your credit history appear to be much shorter than it is in reality.

Use a process of disputing and documenting your efforts in repairing your credit file. Erroneous reports can be the most difficult to remove from your history without following the proper steps. It is important to dispute a bad report, however, it is just as important to make a documented log on your contact and dispute efforts.

Improve your tarnished credit rating by paying your bills on time. Stop using credit cards with a large balance. Instead, pay them down to manageable levels. As you get closer to paying off the account the company will likely increase your credit limit. That will help your credit rating. Keep paying, be patient and you will reach your goal of a better credit rating.

If you are trying to repair or increase your credit score, then pay attention to all of your credit cards. Many lenders are unexpectedly lowering the limits on many of their cards. A lowered limit will result in a sudden jump in the percentage of your credit that you are using, which will have a significant negative effect on your credit score.

After you file for bankruptcy, it is important to check your credit report. Double check that the bankruptcy is listed and that the debts covered under it are all noted with a BK next to them. Having a correct report will show new creditors that those debts no longer apply, allowing you to repair your credit and move forward.

A great tip for people who are trying to repair their credit is to make sure you know who is looking at your credit report and why. This way you will know how many inquiries have been made and you can dispute any unnecessary or illegal inquiries into your report.

When you receive your credit report you should read through it and look for any errors. If there are mistakes you should file a dispute to correct any mistakes. You can also write to the credit reporting agency to let them know it is inaccurate and that it should be investigated.

Should you find yourself needed to declare bankruptcy, do so sooner rather than later. Anything you do to try to repair your credit before, in this scenario, inevitable bankruptcy will be futile since bankruptcy will cripple your credit score. First, you must declare bankruptcy, then begin to repair your credit.

It is important to have two major credit card accounts open and reflected on your credit report. These accounts should also have all the available credit still on the cards. Having two major credit cards shows relationships with Credit-card companies, and therefore, without these relationships or with more than two, you are viewed as a credit risk.

Any credit repair company that tells you to just trust them is NOT trustworthy! They should be able to explain all the services they offer for the fees they charge, and every representative of the company should be well aware of those services and be able to talk you through them.

By now you should realize that poor credit doesn’t doom you to a lifetime of financial despair. Many people with bad credit histories have followed the steps listed in this article and repaired their credit. You too can follow their example by taking this advice to heart. Before you know it, you too will be on the road to good credit.

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Tags: Budget, credit, Finance, insurance, money.