Get Out Of Debt

You see, making a decision about which path to pursue depends on your evaluation of your individual situation.

Bankruptcy:

Pros:

o Chapter 7 Eliminates Debt and allows you to keep any equity in your home. If your problem is primarily consumer debt, this may be the best option for you – if you qualify.

o Chapter 13 restructures debt allowing you to pay off the amount in a way that makes sense for your family.

o Filing for bankruptcy stops the foreclosure action on your home.

o If you lose the home during bankruptcy, you will be able to qualify for a new mortgage in as little as two years as long as you keep your credit clean after discharge.

o Many people find that their credit scores actually rise slightly after bankruptcy because there is new money available for purchases.

Cons:

o Many people who file for Chapter 13 fall out of bankruptcy and lose the court protection provided. This means that they often not only have the bankruptcy on their record, they also face foreclosure proceedings once again.

o If you abuse the system – doing a “face filing” bankruptcy for the sole purpose of delaying the foreclosure, you may face fines from the court.

o Bankruptcy stays on your credit report for ten full years – longer than just about any other negative credit mark.

Foreclosure:

Pros:

o Stays on your record for just 7 years

o Won’t risk falling out of foreclosure and having both a bankruptcy and foreclosure on your record

Cons:

o You lose your home and any equity in it

o Generally cannot get a new mortgage for at least 4 years.

o Possibility of a deficiency judgment against you which will require a bankruptcy filing anyway

Non-profit debt consolidation services are the type of services that each and every debtor should know about. They are services that help and serve people in need of help in maintaining their financial status. They are also services now given by organizations or ‘consolidations’ in counseling and educating their clients of their financial issues, namely their budgeting plans.

Debt consolidation services are meant for consumers who are in need of support and guidance due to their mismanagement of their financial situation. Such services provide personal assistance by giving professional budget planning and credit counseling. These services provide answers for financial questions and recommend steps to resolve the consumers’ financial difficulties that may be preventing them from making the most out of their money and credit. Advice and guidelines are given to help out their needs, so they can take control over their financial situation.

There are various companies that provide these non-profit debt consolidation services where the consumers are able to speak to the company’s certified consolidation specialists who will design a payment plan that is specific to their individual needs. As we know, these companies primary objective is to help consumer to solve their financial problems. They are basically designed to help people pay off bills and pay down debts. These services are meant for all those who are not able to meet their debt and expenses with their current income.

These services have another objective that, as the consumers repay their debts through the companies, they will become more educated about consumer debt and how it affects their lives. They could act as a guide to achieve success in their financial planning. These services have been known to help lower credit cards interest rates and their monthly payments by almost half. The main objective of such non-profit debt consolidation services is to help consumers gain control of their financial system and plan their budget well.

Debt got you down? You’re not alone. Consumer debt is at an all-time high and it’s not getting any better any time soon. Whether or not your debt problems are the result of an illness, unemployment, or simply from overspending, it can seem overwhelming and frustrating. By reading this article, you will learn some common pitfalls to avoid and consider before looking for consolidation debt help.

But whatever you do,

Debt settlement is one of the most effective solutions for the consumers who are interested in paying off debts. It is a process which leads consumers in an effective way so that they feel fewer burdens and less pressure from creditors. Settlement is the best alternative to bankruptcy.

Every process has some rules and regulations which need to be followed by its users. The combination of rules and regulations against some particular process makes a law for that process. Same is the case with debt settlement. The settlement process can only be executed within the boundaries of debt settlement law.

According to debt settlement law creditors have right to wiped off certain amount of consumer debt only if they are willing. The debt settlement law also allows creditors to directly negotiate with consumers or with debt settlement agencies. These negotiations can help both the debtors and creditors in paying off debts and leads them towards a debt free future.

Debt settlement law also helps consumers in a way that they can negotiate with creditors so that they can get rid of high interest rates and high monthly payments. So it’s not wrong to say that debt settlement law helps consumers in creating monthly budgets with greater relaxations.

Settlement law also allows creditors to wipe off extra charges in the form of late payment penalties and annual fees. This thing will help consumers in extracting actual debts. When a good portion of debt get reduce the consumers feel easier to manage monthly payments as they get reduced.

This law is equally helpful for both creditors and debtors as it help them creditors in recovering all the payments and debtors in paying off all the debts. Nobody is out of law whether its creditors or debtors. If they both remain themselves in the boundaries of law it can help them equally.

I have been in the credit card debt relief industry for just about 10 years now and have been in the financial industry for over 20 years. The point of this article is to give people a heads up on debt relief companies also known as debt settlement or debt negotiation companies. I will give you the pro’s and con’s of this process and what to watch out for when interviewing a company to help you get out of debt. Before I go on I want to let you know that this will be a rather long article and by the end of it my goal is to have you understand how the debt negotiation/settlement process works in case you don’t already know and I would like you to understand the tactics of companies out there that do not truly have your best interest at heart.

First I would like to state that the process of debt negotiation as your means of consumer debt relief is not for everyone, some people are better suited for bankruptcy and others do not have the correct mindset to go through this process.

I would like you to first understand what debt negotiation is and how it works. The goal of a debt negotiator is to obtain a debt settlement for you on the current debt amount you owe your creditor. So for example you may owe one particular creditor $10,000 so the goal of the negotiator would be to have you end up paying back say $6,000. The two main benefits of going through this process are to save money on what you currently owe your creditors and to save time. By just paying the minimum payment with even a modest interest rate you will be looking at 30 or more years to become debt free, with a sound debt negotiation program you will be out of debt within 2-3 years or sooner depending on your current financial situation.

Now you must understand these are great benefits but as with anything in life there are drawbacks, nothing is perfect and this consumer debt relief procedure is no different. For starters your creditors will not be willing to negotiate a debt settlement at all if you are current with your monthly minimum payments. They would prefer you to stay on their credit treadmill for the next thirty years and pay them back over four times the balance in interest alone. So you must fall behind on your payments to put the creditors into a position where they will be willing to settle. Once you stop paying them the ball game changes completely and they will then be willing to talk in terms of negotiating a settlement.

So obviously for some people the beginning of this process will have a negative effect on their credit score. For those who are already falling behind then the negative effect will be no different than it already is. Unfortunately for some people this will be the deterring factor that keeps them from going into debt settlement making them a slave to their creditors for the next thirty years. The good news is that this negative effect does not last forever, in fact once the settlements start coming through your credit score will begin to rebound and go back up. The reason being over 30% of your credit score according to MyFICO is based on how much debt you owe. But if you are stuck in a bad debt situation even if you are current with your payments your score is probably not all that good in the first place, and besides when stuck deep in debt your focus should be on how to get out of debt as quickly as possible, not on your ability to accrue future debt.

Now by falling behind on your debts you must understand that these creditors are just not going to roll over and play dead, they will be calling to try and collect the debt. For some this is not a problem at all, for others it is, that is why I stated above this process is not for everyone and the consumer must be in the correct mind set. From my years of helping people there is no rhyme or reason to how many calls you will receive some clients of mine barely get calls while others get them almost everyday. Something to keep in mind too is that no company has the power to legally stop the calls, so any company that tells you they can is flat out lying.

As you can see like I said earlier there are pro’s and con’s, but if you can accept the con’s you will be quickly on the road to financial freedom and will save a lot of money in the process. Now to get to the meat of the matter and why I named this article “consumer credit card debt relief scams”.

We here in America over the past couple of years have been experiencing a very negative downturn in our economy. Thus putting many consumers in a compromising position financially, leaving boat loads of people stuck in credit card debt. So naturally this opened up a much larger market for debt negotiation. Many fly by night companies have been popping up all over the country, many of which are ex mortgage brokers who sold people bad loans and helped them get into this sticky position in the first place. Now I use the word scam which can take on a few meanings, while yes there are some companies out there that are flat out scams and have no intent on doing any work for you at all, most of the times that is not the case. Instead many companies simply do not give people all the facts on how debt negotiation works nor do they truly put them on a plan for success, which I will explain in a minute.

One common issue that most consumers have with debt settlement companies is they do not fully tell them about how the process works, instead they sugar coat things and just preach about the great benefits. I have spoken to countless amounts of people who have signed up with companies and were under the impression that they were going to stay current with their creditors and will never receive any calls. So needless to say this became a huge problem once they began.

Another major problem a lot of these companies have is deceiving people into the kind of savings they will be getting on their debts. Some companies will say they will save you 70% of what you owe. Now while they may get settlements that low what their opting not to tell you is how much you will be saving after you have A) paid them their fees, and B) paid back the creditors. Honest companies will tell you what your true savings will be. If you will save somewhere between 40-50% of what you owe including their fees and paying the creditors than that is pretty darn good. Plus many of these companies will try and guarantee a certain amount of savings, if you hear this run for the hills. NO one in this industry can guarantee a certain amount that is why it is called DEBT NEGOTIATION! They are negotiating to get a settlement for as low as they can get.

Then there are the companies who will let you pay whatever you can to get on their program. These are the worst because they do not truly have your interest at heart and know they are setting you up to fail and not succeed. You must understand to achieve the type of savings I stated above this process should take no more than three years, preferably two or less. And the bottom line is some people simply cannot get it done in that time frame and should realistically be looking into bankruptcy. What these unscrupulous consumer debt relief companies will do is put you on a program for 4 or more years and basically accepts whatever payment you can afford. Knowing full well you are not going to be saving much of anything and will more than likely fail off the program, all they care about is getting the fees and that is it. An honest company will diligently review your budget with you and make sure this is something that you can manage, as well as fully explain to you both the benefits and drawbacks of doing this. And let you make the conscience decision as to whether this is the best consumer debt relief method for your situation.

Another very good way to evaluate a company is to make sure they are registered with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and that they are in good standings with very few complaints. And if there are complaints make sure they were resolved to the clients liking.