Debt consolidation lead

If debt is consuming your life and paying the bills each month is like pushing a rock uphill one solution may be a credit counseling service specializing in the consolidation of debt. These type of companies can offer advice to help you in establishing a budget, giving tips and instruction on using credit wisely, show you a plan to track your bills and manage money more efficiently. Face it most of us went through school without any financial education.

These consumer money specialist who are trained along with certified can review your financial condition, if appropriate they can help arrange a plan for repayment to your creditors that will help get back on track financially.

After reviewing several companies and make a selection be prepared to lay it all out on the table. You cannot get healthy financially unless you come clean! You’ll need to provide your financials, everything from income, debts and expenses. This can seem painful as you get a true picture of where you sit in the world of money and debt, but this is a great opportunity to learn about money.

Your credit counselor takes all the information you provide, crunches the numbers, evaluates the information then sits down to discuss your current financial condition. During the discussion you should receive some recommendations along with the most appropriate consolidation advice based on the information provided for your situation.

To help you get a better handle on your financial issues one piece of advice may be to take a class on money, you may not want to wait by checking with your local community college, a financial education will only benefit you long term. Another suggestion may include signing up for a debt-management/ debt repayment plan.

Be prepared, your debt adviser may refer you to another organization, like one specialized in relationship counseling. These debt counselors understand that very often there are other factors hiding below the surface, which lead to financial struggles, and these factors impact other areas of your life.

When selecting a debt consolidation company look for one that can provide you with a list of satisfied clients you can contact, gives personalized service with trained counselors, can help you become educated on how to make better financial decisions and can provide tools to assist you in your efforts to achieve financial security. For example if you are saddled with a pile of credit card debt the simplest solution could be a balance transfer card with 0% interest for 12 months like the Visa balance transfer card.

Do not fall for companies with advertising campaign as the best and only option. In fact, you should probably steer clear of telephone calls or e-mails arriving from nowhere offering their services. The best choice often comes from word of mouth and past clients. Take the time and choose wisely – your financial future is at stake.

By: Landon McGehee

Filing bankruptcy can be overwhelming. Suddenly you’re thrust into a world of legal terms and mounds of paperwork you can barely understand. Is there help available? There sure is! Whether you can afford to hire a bankruptcy service or not, you can find the help you need to make this important decision easier to make – and manage. Here are a few places to start:

Credit Counseling:

Credit counselors have been trained to help you delve through your financial record and determine if bankruptcy really is your only alternative. All-too-often overburdened people who don’t know how to handle bill collector’s panic and file for bankruptcy before they really need to. A credit counselor can advise you as to any alternatives you may have including debt consolidation; how to have a portion of your debt forgiven and setting up repayment schedules with your creditors. In addition, they often offer help in setting up a budget and learning to stick to it.

Some credit counselors charge hefty fees for their services, but there are plenty of not-for-profit agencies throughout the United States eager to help those facing financial ruin. Check your yellow pages or local college or bank for information on any near where you live.

Debt Consolidation Services:

The purpose of these services is to help you consolidate your current debt into one lower monthly payment that is more easily managed. The danger to using these services is, that unless you also undergo intensive budget training you’re apt to be right back in financial trouble in no time. Be sure when consolidating that you use this opportunity to break the cycle of spending that got you into trouble in the first place.

Another option some services perform is debt forgiveness. They contact each of your creditors, and try to convince them to forgive a portion of your current debt – sometimes as high as 60% — with a promise of quick repayment. This is especially useful when consolidating debt since the less you have to pay back, the less you have to borrow in the consolidation loan. Why would a creditor agree to take less than you owe? The answer is simple: if you indeed file bankruptcy, they aren’t guaranteed anything, or may have to settle for pennies on the dollar, so it’s in their interest t get as much as possible now. While many will not forgive actual debt, most will forgive all of those late fees and interest charges.

Bankruptcy Lawyers:

Once you decide to file bankruptcy, hiring a qualified lawyer who specializes in the field will ensure that your case is handled in the best possible way and your paperwork will all be filed properly. This is not the time to try and save a few bucks. Hiring the wrong bankruptcy lawyer can cost you thousands in time and money in the long run. This is one of those times when you get what you pay for, so choose carefully – your financial future is at risk.

Bankruptcy help is available, if you take the time to look for and ask for it. Don’t try t go it alone. Get the help you need to ensure that you can move forward with the confidence that you can learn from your mistakes and move on.

By: Matt Hick

Debt Consolidation (also known as Bill Consolidation) is not right for all people or all situations. While it can sometimes dramatically help your financial situation, there are other times when it can actually hurt it. You may end up paying more interest, lose your home, or be in debt longer.

What you don’t want to do is pay a credit counselor to do things that you can do on your own for free. For example, you should never pay any company to “clean your credit record.” There is nothing they can do other than remove incorrect information from your credit report and consumers may do this for themselves for free. You also do not need to pay someone simply to receive a new payment plan from a creditor. You can call your credit card company directly. Many banks have an in-house program that will work with you to create a debt reduction program.

If you have a hard time controlling your spending, debt consolidation may make budgeting your money more difficult. You may feel like you have less debt since there is much less urgency to pay it off. Consolidating your loans will also free up space on your credit cards, which means there is the possibility of racking up more debt. It is important to remember that no matter what program you use you will still have to pay all of your debt plus interest back. Debt consolidation is a short-term fix for a large problem.

Another danger of debt consolidation is the possibility of losing your home. No matter how much you owe a credit card company, they cannot take your home. But once you sign those consolidation papers your home is up for grabs. If some sort of unexpected financial hardship comes along, you risk being homeless.

Besides risking your home, consolidation can hurt your credit. By applying for a new credit line and closing old accounts, you may damage your FICO credit score. While often times the benefits outweigh the downside of losing a few points, this is definitely something to consider.

Debt consolidation should be a means that allows you to pay your bills off more quickly and thereby pay less money. The problem is that many programs are designed to do the exact opposite. Companies that promise to cut your payment in half and offer lower rates are not thinking about your financial welfare, they are thinking about their own bottom line. The less you pay each month, the more you will pay in the long run, even with a lower interest rate. It is therefore profitable for a company to “help” you get a reduced monthly payment. This method is far from a solution. It will cost you more and it does nothing to address or stem the true problem; overspending. Chris Viale the general manager of a nonprofit credit-counseling agency called Cambridge Credit Corp., says that 70 percent of Americans who take out a loan to pay off their credit cards end up with the same or higher amount of debt within two years. If spending habits do not change, there is no program that will be able to keep you out of debt.

All of these factors must be considered before you decide to consolidate your debt. Only a true understanding of the costs and benefits will allow you to make decisions that lead to healthy finances.

By: Gerard Korsten