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Posts Tagged ‘Debt Settlement’

How to avoid bankruptcy

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Bankruptcy is a court process that is under federal control, where those in debt have an opportunity to eliminate or reprioritize his or her debts by selling assets or following a prescribed repayment plan. Instead of bankruptcy, give thought to a debt management plan. A debt management plan, if followed carefully, can help you avoid bankruptcy.

There are ways and reasons to avoid bankruptcy. One major reason to avoid bankruptcy is that it can have a negative affect on your credit. In addition, the negative affect on your credit often lasts 7-10 years. Also, it is preferred to avoid bankruptcy because you may lose your property. With bankruptcy, certain assets that you have will be sold so that your debts can be paid. In some cases with bankruptcy, a person can lose their car or home. More good reasons to think about a debt management plan.

Also, with bankruptcy, not all of your debts can be solved. Student loans, child support or alimony, and back taxes cannot be resolved with bankruptcy. And, lenders and creditors may repossess your property. With bankruptcy your finances will be affected in a negative way. For instance, you won’t be able to rent or buy a home or car. Still another reason to avoid bankruptcy is that your security clearance status will be affected if you don’t explain to your employer about bankruptcy or why you have filed for bankruptcy. A debt management plan can help you see where you’re overspending and create new and more effective ways to save your money and get back on track.

Still another reason to avoid bankruptcy is that you may not quality for new credit. It may take up to 3-4 years to quality for a secured loan once you have filed for bankruptcy. So, give thought to a debt management plan.

Instead of filing for bankruptcy, you can talk with your creditors to see if they can help you avoid bankruptcy, use debt settlement as a way to avoid this situation or get help with credit counseling. Debt settlement can be a way to avoid bankruptcy; however, it is important to not use a debt settlement company and not settle any debt that is current and ongoing. With debt settlement, focus on debts that have ready been charged off.

In addition, you might want to think about debt consolidation. This is where you pick a provider–just one–preferably with a good interest rate and then consolidate all of your debts. This method will; however, force you to be more frugle with your money and see if you are able to save any money. To avoid bankruptcy, try a debt management plan. A debt management plan may give you a way out from bankruptcy.

Get Another Debt to Be Debt Free?

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

These Debt Consolidation or Debt Continuation Companies don’t tell you what you should absolutely know to be debt free.

78% of people who consolidate their debts will fall again in debts after a short period of time, and will end up in the office of a debt consolidation service.

Why? Simply because you think that you will really be debt free after three or five years, but it is not the case. Let me explain… Those company, after giving you a very nice pitch (anyway, you did not have choice: bankruptcy, home equity – you can loose your home – , debt settlement company another kind of wolf -), promise you that you will pay a lower interest rate.

But what is the catch? Yes there is a catch. The catch is that you will stay longer in debt if you want lower interest rates.

It is not the only reason why I call them Debt Continuation Services. Another reason is: While people are trying to consolidate their debts, they still need to live, and they drag out the credit card for their everyday life. Yes, bills are not stopping while you are trying to get out of debt, it is going on. And those services know that you will come back, this is the reason why they want to help you.

They know that debt consolidation companies are gaining in popularity, and because thousands of customers turn to these services, they continue to grow.

How do they catch so much customers?

Let’s review some examples of pitches promising to be debt free:

* We will help you to eliminate your debts, don’t worry

* Consolidate your bills into one monthly payment without borrowing

* Stop credit harassment, foreclosures, repossessions, tax levies and garnishment

* Keep your property

* Wipe out your debts! Consolidate your bills! How? By using the protection and assistance provided by federal law. For once, let the law work for you

Until here, it sounds good… Let’s continue,

* For that, you just need to pay us a one time bill, or a small fee.

Oh great you say! I found these people and they want to help me, and I will be debt free in less than three years. I must give it a try.

What? They just need to get you more in trouble, by having more debts, paying interest rates, work for them (making them richer than they already are).

And upon that, you need to investigate before choosing any debt consolidation service, because there is a lot of scams out there.

Debt Reduction Is The Best Way To Being Debt-Free

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

It does not matter how big your debt burden is. You can always find a way out. But in order for you to clear your debt once and for all you have to be in it for the long haul. If you have amassed a lot of debt, you have to be prepared to work at reducing it. Some quick fix measures at debt reduction are designed as damage-control measures which try to get around the problem without eliminating it.

Such quick fix methods do not get rid of the main problem though they appear to do so, and your troubles get multiplied. The point to remember is that debt does not get eliminated at one shot. Try reducing it bit by bit.

Of course, if you are much too deep in debt and bankruptcy is imminent, the last ditch effort to pay back your dues is through an aggressive form of debt reduction called debt settlement. In this case, you being the borrower take the help of a debt settlement agency to get your creditors to bring about a reduction in the amount of money that you owe.

In the meantime, you are obliged to save enough money for a bulk settlement payment. If the settlement is approved, you will receive a notice from the creditor that the debt has been settled or paid. After this, it will be left to your creditor to notify the credit bureau that you have managed to clear all the dues that you owed. Settlement is particularly appealing for creditors during times of tough financial situations for the debtor, when he is near to the point of filing bankruptcy; in which case the creditor is faced with the possibility of losing more money by getting only a trifle portion of the original.

Debt settlements are only applicable to unsecured debts such as those concerning credit cards and medical dues. Also, remember that this is an emergency measure. Once this is done, the consequences will have to be dealt with. This would include things like a damaged credit rating, an increase in collection calls, the possibility of lawsuits, tax obligations, and that all-too-familiar necessity of coming to a terms with your creditors.

If your debt situation is not quite as bad, you should be able to lift the yoke of death soon enough. All you need is determination, patience, and a willingness to try out the most recent of debt reduction methods: debt-snowballing or debt repayment. When it is credit card related debt or something similar, reducing debt by this method becomes increasingly simple.

In order to get your debt out of your way, first make a list of all your dues in ascending order from the smallest balance to the largest (notice that the order is not based on interest rate, but on the due amount). If it so happens that some of the debts are of a similar value, place the ones with higher rates of interest above the others. After that, promise yourself that you will at least make the minimum payment every month.

If surplus funds are left, add this to the dues on the smallest debt, and keep focusing on completing your dues on the smallest debt until it is paid off completely. As soon as the smallest debt is off the list, do the same steps for the next ranked spot, this time adding the previous minimum payment for the cleared debt onto the funds allocated for the next.

Follow this method over a longer period of time, and you will soon find a way to get out of debt.

Debt Consolidation Secured Loans: A Race to Your Debt Free

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Debt Consolidation Secured Loans: A Race to Your Debt Free Future

A debt consolidation secured loan is particularly used for debt settlement. A debt consolidation process brings together or consolidates various debts and multiple payments like store, gas and phone bills, home improvements, medical bills, taxes, education, overdue rent etc. These are then repaid with one loan, one monthly installment, one loan lender and low interest rates. This means, that if you have several monthly payments or a number of different loans, you can make things easier by consolidating them and taking one single loan to pay off the total debt. This loan reduces the borrower’s monthly payments by lowering the interest rate or extending the repayment period or sometimes both. Secured Debt consolidation should be accompanied with low interest rates; otherwise debt consolidation doesnt make any sense. With a Debt Consolidation Loan you can borrow from 5,000 to 75,000 and up to 125% of your property value in some cases.

A Debt consolidation secured loans is self-explanatory. Being a type of secured loan, collateral of some kind is required to assure the lender of payback, either by repayment of the entire loan amount or by repossession of the collateral property. Here, the lender is not risking anything because he has ownership to the collateral, until repayment. Real estate (your home or property) and vehicles such as cars and trucks are the most common collateral for debt consolidation secured loans because of the ease with which a lender can determine the value and find a market for them. Collateral with the highest value should be used since a greater value in comparison to the loan amount can help you get lower interest rates and better loan terms i.e. you may end up paying lesser than you would by using collateral with a lower value.

Features of Secured Debt Consolidation Loans:

Secured debt consolidation loans require the borrower to offer their home or any securable asset as collateral. This helps the borrower to benefit from the excess of equity in their home.

The debts are settled by first clustering them into one and the single loan is divided to repay each of them individually.

The low interest of this loan makes it even more attractive.

Secured debt consolidation loans are repayable over a longer period of time in small and affordable installments.

Secured debt consolidation usually has a loan term of 10-30 years

Secured Debt consolidation is ideal for those who have debts exceeding 5000 with three or more individual creditors. It would work if you have expendable income of 100 or more. Secured Debt Consolidation is best for large amounts like 25,000. If you dont have the necessary disposable income, then take small loan amounts. This way you would clear some of pending debts and be in a realistic position to pay back.

Many people think they can’t get a loan if they have bad credit, CCJs, arrears or a past bankruptcy. Don’t let this stop you getting the cash you need. Secured Debt Consolidation is possible with bad credit as well. However, it can affect your chances of getting lower interest rates and better loan terms. All this depends on how comfortable a lender feels with the borrowers collateral and credit history. Because you have bad credit, it is important that you know your credit score. A credit score above 720 is considered a good credit score while that below 600 is a bad credit score. For an unsecured borrower, knowing your credit score gives you power to get correct rates. If you dont know your score then you may be charged more for bad credit score.

Debts can be sorted on ones own till they are small. They however, become big when they are not repaid on time or when they are ignored for a long period of time. Only credit that cannot be managed or is not being repaid requires debt consolidation. Secured debt consolidation can very easily be a source of further debt problems. With no debt problems on hand, after debt consolidation, you might be tempted to spend more and get further into debt. Remember that even though your monthly payment is less, a longer loan term will cost you more.