Find The Right Debt Relief Organization.
Hello my name is Steve Bis and I’ve been assisting people that are in arrears with their credit cards for a while now and realize the effect it has on someone’s life. When you have credit card debt and know that this matter is no longer something you can control, you should make a decision and make it as soon as possible. You should not procrastinate until it is too late. As many of you must already know is that the creditors are not very easy to deal with when you contact them with issues with billing. It’s very remarkable the way it works because when you initially obtain the card they are pretty nice people on the phone. Then if you call them to complain about a late or over limit charge and attempt to have it waived enough to try and maintain payments with 8% or even the 7.9 % interest that they are charging on your credit cards. How are you suppose to cover the new payments now? It was painstaking enough to manage before the interest skyrocketed. This is the reason Americans are searching for other options such as credit card debt settlement and credit counseling, or bankruptcy. If you are not familiar with any of your options then I will offer you a little information on them.
Be aware of misleading representation
80% or more of the companies you see on TV, internet or hear on the radio are not the companies you will be working with. They are lead brokers and lead generation sites that sell your personal info to other companies. This is why, when you call them they will tell you someone will contact you back shortly and will only give you very little information. If you fill out the application over the internet you should get a call from that company that day or at latest the next day, Monday - Friday. Make sure you remember their name to see if it is some other company with a different name that you end up speaking with later on. So you need to remember with who and where you requested the information. If it was over the internet make sure that is the company and that they are not going to sell your info to other companies, this way you don’t get flooded with calls from a bunch of different people.
Bankruptcy
Up until late 2004 bankruptcy was to be used for people who were having serious monetary troubles. Unfortunately it was mistreated by thousands of consumers who wanted to avoid paying their unsecured debts. They did not want to take responsibility for their misgivings. The credit card companies were sick and tired of this so they pushed to have the laws updated. It is now referred to as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection act of 2005. It would make it harder for the majority of Americans to file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should only be made use of as your very last choice after you have tried every conceivable option. Also you should contemplate the consequences that could come back later on down the road. You would have to find an attorney, go to court and that would cost you a substantial amount of your hard earned income. There is also the problem of it being on your FICO history for a long time. When you filling out any significant application or document you will always have to answer yes when asked the question about bankruptcy, so this does have a long lasting effect on your ability to obtain future credit.
Debt Consolidation Credit Counseling
In each direction you look, either it is advertised on the radio or television, you will hear about debt consolidation credit counseling. A credit counseling firm will attempt to get the credit card companies to reduce the interest on your credit accounts. You then make one monthly payment to the consumer credit counseling firm and they then pay each one of your creditors for you. The downside to this option is even though they reduce your interest charge on your credit card accounts you could still pay back as much as 120% of what you currently owe.
This is because with this kind of agenda you will still be paying back what you owe plus some of the interest for around possibly five years or more. Almost 75% of the people that are in credit counseling don’t graduate from the program for one reason or another. Another downfall to credit counseling is that if you have a money problem and are short on your monthly payment they will boot you off of the program without delay. They will also bump up your interest back up and the creditors could keep you off for around one year and on some occasions even longer. This might put you right back to where you started from, if not in a tougher situation.
Credit Card Debt Negotiation (also known as Debt Settlement)
This is the avenue which can save you the greatest amount of money. A good standing 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 ads all the time. These organizations are opening up everywhere across our beloved country. Some of these companies try to make it appear like they have a magic bullet and are going to make all your debt vanish out of nowhere.
There are even many companies that try to use religion to gain the trust of debtors. Whichever organization you intend on hiring it is your responsibility to due diligence on them. You can always start with the BBB (Better Business bureau). You should be able to uncover a lot about a company from them. If you find out that a company has only been in business for a short time and has a lot of complaints against them, then you must stay away. Another thing to keep an eye out for is how much time has the company been around. Some organizations only survive a couple of years before they get shut down or get caught with their paws in the cookie jar. Then some of them only stick around to make as much money as they can and close shop just to open up right next doorwith a different name] and will continue to do this until the FTC sues and jails them.
You need to feel confident with the person you are dealing with as well as the credit card debt settlement organization. If they are being pushy and trying to get you to sign a contract within the first 10 to 15 minutes of the call you need to be very careful. This is not a choice you want to jump into head first. Really, how can a company know they can assist you without reviewing your statements first? There are far too many organizations out there that only tell you all the good aspects about debt settlement. They tell you not to be concerned about a thing. This is a extremely simple process and nothing negative can ever happen to you. That is a load of you know what. It is not a extremely simple process and it is not the best choice for every debtor. Some people still get duped by them because that company candy coated everything and did not offer them full disclosure. For many debtors credit card settlement can really get you back on track and out of debt in under three years, while saving you thousands of dollars off your current balance.
Another issue to remember is a majority companies make all their money within the first six months of the the program. Now consider this, what reason will that company have to work out the best possible deal on your behalf if they know that they are’nt going to make any more money off of you? There is none! So you see, if an organization understands that why would they keep working on trying to get you the best settlement. This happens quite often. They really don’t care at that point. They take whatever your collectors’ offer, which means you put out more of your hard earned money You need to seek 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 good understanding of the different choices you have to becoming debt free. Thanks and have a good night.
