Too often in the world of Debt Consolidation it is too easy to run and hide.
Run because you’re horrified and scared stiff of the mess you have found you and possibly your loved ones in. Hide because you hope against faint hope that if you hide it will all go away?
I know this sounds crazy and very controversial but this is usually the case and to be honest it’s the worst thing you can do.
This not some sort of exercise in macho management but you can’t fight your way out of a situation or hole if you don’t know how deep the hole is or what options (if any) are open to you?
Seriously, the last person you should ever try and lie to is yourself. Keep your counsel and advisors close and keep the lines of communication open and honest “in your own camp”.
What you by and large say to the outside world, contrary to popular belief is by and large irrelevant, it’s more a case of “how you say it” and how you control your situation that is important here.
So to sum up, don’t kid yourself. In the long term you’ll only be the one to suffer.
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Getting out of debt can be a long, drawn out process. If you spent years wrestling with financial problems, the solution will not come to you overnight. It can take months, even years to unravel debt difficulties but it can be done. You have some options to help you get started; let’s take a look at four of them:
Credit Counseling. Credit counseling companies are vying for your business. This can be a good option as you shop around to find the best plan out there, but bad as you learn that many companies will charge exorbitant fees or do work for you that you can do yourself. Some government agencies and nonprofit firms provide credit counseling too. For little or no money you may be able to find a professional who can help you navigate through your debt dilemma.
Debt Consolidation Loan. Replace your high interest credit cards with one, low interest rate credit card. You could also see if a lending institution will give you a debt consolidation loan. However, you may have to pay for an application fee, whereas with a credit card you would not.
Home Refinancing. Even with rising interest rates, refinancing your mortgage may make sense and allow for you to save hundreds of dollars per month on mortgage payments. With the monies saved with a new, lower mortgage payment you could use your savings to pay off your other debt.
Cash Out. Alternately to home refinancing, you may have enough equity in your home to cash out and pay off your debt. Importantly, although credit card debt is not tax deductible, a home equity loan is. Ultimately, you can reduce your debt as well as reduce your tax obligation by cashing out.
You have some viable solutions to help you reduce your debt. Learn all you can about each option and select the plan that is right for you.
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These days it has almost become a fashion to take loans. With loans so readily and easily. Loans have now almost become a cure for all our financial problems. With terms of loans so easy it is hard to resist going for these loans when we have a financial need or if we have multiple needs we have to take multiple loans.
It is therefore important that we should keep a regular tap on how we intend to pay our loans back. Because when we take multiple loans it becomes hard to keep track of them or sometimes to pay it back.
The problem of repayments can up for any one and it is sometimes difficult to repay the loans. The problem is even more difficult for tenants who have to pay rents and upon that they have to make loan repayments.
If that is the case then debt consolidation is ideal for those tenants who have taken multiple loans from different creditors and are having difficulties in paying them back.
This can lead to a few problems such as:
• The creditors are making calls to you which are embarrassing and humiliating you.
• With you not able to pay the money and defaulted payments the money you owe is becoming larger in amount. With interest rates getting higher.
• This sort can affect your credit score which can further lead to you to not getting a loan on good conditions again.
Debt consolidation for tenants provides them with an opportunity to consolidate all their loans into one single creditor. This not only will help them with the stated problems but will also provide them with a few benefits.
• The new loan which will be taken will be at a lower interest rate than the average of the other loans taken before that.
• With the new loans the borrowers can have a much easier repayment schedule and therefore low amount of monthly installments.
• The debt consolidation loans which are taken are provided without collateral to the tenants so there is no risk attached to these loans.
Debt consolidation is available to tenants who have a history of bad credit i.e. people who have filled for bankruptcy or CCJ’s. Debt consolidation for tenants can be very useful for them as this can improve their credit score if they can repay the dues in time.
All the borrowers need to do is to contact a creditor who is willing to provide you with debt consolidation service you can give your details and submit them and the loan decision will be made in a day or two.
It is a difficult life being a tenant and it gets even tougher when we take loans and are not able to cope up with the repayments of these loans. Debt consolidation provides a solution for tenants to these problems.
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If you are ready to bring your finances under control, a bad credit debt consolidation loan may be the right move for you. However, in today’s fiscal climate, there are a lot of debt consolidation scams to watch out for. Choosing the wrong lender can leave you in a financially worse position than when you started, while choosing the right lender can help you towards your goal of financial control. Research can help you to make the right choice.
What To Look For In A Lender
You need to understand that when looking for a bad credit debt consolidation loan, you are facing higher interest rates than someone with good credit that is seeking a loan. That, however, doesn’t mean that you should be paying outrageous rates and fees. Spend some time comparing rates and fees among lenders to get a feel for what is the norm for your financial situation.
When you get your potential lender list down to a likely few, check out their business reputations. You are bringing your debts together into one lump sum. The lender pays the debt, and you pay the lender a monthly sum, made up of the loan amount, the interest and the fees that the lender charges for his time in negotiating with your creditors and the risk he takes in making the loan. Therefore, you’ll need to make sure that they make payments to creditors on time. You’ll want to know if there have been any complaints for fraud or poor business practices. The Better Business Bureau is a good place to start your research.
Your home is usually the collateral on a debt consolidation loan. Thus, if you default on payments, you could lose your house to the lender, who would then sell it to cover the loan. Thus, you should beware of a lender that doesn’t take the time to help you figure out the smallest loan necessary to achieve your goals. Unscrupulous lenders will be pleased to loan you more than you need, as the profit from the fees charged and by taking hold of the collateral if you fail.
The best bad credit debt consolidation loan providers also offer credit-counseling services to help you through this difficult time period. These services can help you organize your finances and improve your money habits so that you’ll never find yourself in this situation again.
A debt consolidation loan can be just what you need to get your financial life back on track, provided you choose the right lender. Just as important as choosing the right lender, however, is developing the good financial habits that will bring you out of debt and into relative prosperity.
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Before sharing these recommendations, I suggest that you have a way of tracking your expenses. This will give you a clear picture of what you spend daily, weekly and/or monthly and aid you in reducing expenses where needed.
1) Accept the fact you are in debt and forgive yourself. If you are in denial, you are more likely to repeat the pattern.
2) Reduce monthly expenditures. For example, once the price of gas increased, our monthly gas costs went from roughly $200 to approximately $450- 500.00. In an effort to reduce our gas costs, I stopped taking miniature trips every day. Also, my husband would drive my car on the weekends because it costs less in gas.
3) If you’re a person that makes several trips to the grocery store during the month, reduce the number of trips to once a month except for fresh vegetables. This will reduce the number of times you have to put gas in the car. Today, it costs more just to leave the house to get groceries as well as going to work.
4) With the increasing utility bill, begin making repairs to your home now such as getting a programmable thermostat and set it to a certain temperature so that it will automatically come on.
5) As an option, temporarily get a second job for supplemental income. If married, this should be the person that has the ability to generate the most income. I do not recommend any Multi-level Marketing opportunities.
6) For a single person in debt – if you are off on weekends, temporarily get a weekend job and put those funds towards the bills along with your regular income.
7) If you have a cell phone and a regular phone that both have long distance, re-evaluate having both phones. It can get expensive to have both with long distance. Maybe you can remove the regular phone and just use your cell phone if most people call you on that number.
If you are a stay at home mom, in my opinion the kids should not be going to daycare. This is an unnecessary expense.
9) Be sensible about your expenditures when it comes to your children. For example, a six month old baby does not need name brand clothing. They need to be clothed. Suggest getting into ‘mommy group’ where you and your friends can swap clothing based on gender and age. I have a couple of moms that I swap clothes with and this saves all of us from having to shop at the store.
10) Grooming expenses for adults: do you really need to get your nails done every week? Could you put that money towards a bill? If you are getting your hair done whether it is a weave, perm, braids or tinting every week – do you need to go to a high end salon or could you go Great Clips for the same thing? I am not saying do not pamper yourself; however, as times get tougher what is the necessity?
11) Maintaining your vehicle is a necessity, but going to a car wash every week is not. You can wash your car at home. Re-evaluate how you are spending your money.
12) If you are a person that likes to go out to eat, reduce the amount of times per month you go out to eat. Begin cooking at home since you are buying groceries for the month.
13) Entertainment – whether it is going to the movies, bars or happy hour – these expenses add up. For example going to a matinee is $7.50 a person (for the two of us is $15.00 before we even get food, which would cost us another $15.00) do you really need to see the movie now or could you wait three months and see it on DVD. Netflix is an option.
14) Add up how much you spend at a vending machine per week when you are at work if you work outside the home. Consider taking snacks from home.
15) Health insurance – if you had a job and are using COBRA for health insurance until you have secured another job, seek an alternative health insurance to the COBRA payments. I remember when I first stopped working at the law firm, we utilized COBRA for almost eighteen months and the price increased two times. Prior to the second increase, I located a shared insurance plan and saved us lots of money.
** There has to be some structure during these difficult economical times. However, these times do not have to be so hard that you cannot enjoy life.
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As debt continues to increase in many households across America, more families each year are finding themselves looking for ways to reduce their overall household debt. For some, this may be easier said than done. Debt reduction requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Especially when you are used to spending money left and right.
Those that are serious and committed to reducing their debt will eventually reap the rewards of being debt free. Reading my simple seven tips will give you many ideas, about how you can reduce your debt.
Cut back
When you start to cut back on spending, you will find corners that you can cut through out the month, to help you pay off your debts. Simple things such as, being aware of all of the electricity you use, and turning off lights that are not needed as you leave a room, will help reduce your light bill, therefore, you save a little more money to reduce your debt with. Once you become aware of your spending habits, and start cutting back, you will start to notice more ways to cut back each month.
Budget
Budget your income. List all of your monthly bills and their due dates. Apply them to your budget, as well as other household needs, for example, groceries, gas etc. Allow yourself only so much money per month to spend on extras. Sticking to your budget will show self control, and determination for reducing your debt.
Limit the use of your Credit cards
If you can not pay cash for it, then do not buy it. If you have to charge something, make sure that you can pay the balance in full when your next credit card bill comes in. Never charge on your credit card to only pay the minimum monthly amount. You will never get that maxed out credit card paid off that way. The importance of paying your credit card balance in full, can not be stressed enough.
Get rid of your credit cards
If you are determined to reduce your debt, cutting up your credit cards will help. If you do not have them, you can not use them. If this is too big of a step for you, at least get rid of the unnecessary ones. Keeping only one or two, low interest rate cards for emergencies only, is a good idea. Remember if you can not pay cash for something, then you probably do not need it.
Pay off your debts
If you have already acquired some debt you need to pay off, now is the time to get started. Decide which debt is your smallest and start with that one. Pay on it as your budget will allow. Once you have gotten your smallest debt paid off, you will have a feeling of satisfaction and know that you can pay off your debts. Then move to the next smallest debt, when you are paying them off one by one, it is easier to do, with out feeling over whelmed. Before you know it, all of your debts will be paid and you will feel great about knowing you paid them off.
Debt consolidation
Debt consolidation is another option to look at for reducing your debt. Debt consolidation companies, will call your creditors for you, and make payment arrangements for your debts. Many companies will get you one low monthly payment to pay each month, until all of your debt is paid off.
Financial counseling
Make an appointment with a financial counselor to help you reduce your debt. Some people find, having someone else point out the errors in their spending habits to help tremendously. Financial counselors can also show you how to better manage your money, and stick to a budget.
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Are you sick of paying interest on your monthly student loans with no end in sight? Afraid of cash-flow problems that may prevent you from paying your student loans on time? I know I was and there is a solution to this problem. It is called student loan consolidation.
What is Student Loan Consolidation?
Student loan consolidation simply means consolidating all your student loans into a single loan with a monthly payment plan. Effectively, all your previous student loans are written off and a new student loan is created which you have to pay off monthly.
Benefits of Student Loan Consolidation
Here are some of the benefits of student loan consolidation
1. Lower monthly payments
By consolidating all your student loans into one loan, you only need to pay off one loan monthly instead of several student loans monthly. Thus, your monthly payment is lower
2. Pay only one loan monthly instead of several student loans monthly
It is a lot easier if you have to manage only one student loan instead of several student loans with different payment deadlines. Also, sometimes with many student loans, you may ended up forgetting to pay one student loan.
3. Low, fixed interest rate
By consolidating your student loans, you will be able to take advantages of low, fixed interest rates. Currently, by law, student loan consolidation rates cannot exceed 8.25%. Furthermore, national interest rates are at a 40-year low therefore this is a good time to get one.
4. No credit card check or processing fees
No credit card check is required during the application of a student loan consolidation. The payment plans and terms are usually quite flexible in that they can customize it according to your financial standing.
5. Make monthly student loan payment electronically
While it is not necessary to make payment electronically, most lenders will knock 0.25% off your student loan rates if you make payment electronically. Also, using direct debit from your bank account will prevent you from forgetting to make a payment.
Sometimes it can get quite confusing as to the qualification of applying for a student loan consolidation. The official stand from the government is that students who are still in their grace period or who are still studying in school may qualify for government student loan consolidation
The government student loan consolidation nowadays are quite competitive compared to private sector, therefore I would recommend going for a government student loan consolidation. With so many benefits of getting a student loan consolidation, it is quite obvious to save money in the long run is to get one.
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Most people are only one major disaster or a few weeks of unemployment away from bankruptcy. If you have done all this work to get out of debt, you don’t want it to all be in vain, just by one major crisis hitting you or your family. There’s nothing you can do to totally protect yourself from every type of catastrophe, but there are steps you can take to significantly reduce your risk.
The first half of this article is going to be on insurance, and we’ll start with the type of insurance that is most likely to save you from being completely wiped out, medical insurance. This is one a lot of people choose not to buy because it’s quite often very expensive. This is a very dangerous decision, though.
You never know when you will need medical care and we all know it isn’t cheap. Even if you are in perfect health, medical conditions can pop-up over night. You could wake up tomorrow and either have a major internal problem show up, or possibly have an accident and break a bone. You can easily rack up bills in the thousands, ten thousands or even hundreds of thousands from a single incident, and you never know when one will strike. Once this incident occurs, it’s usually too late to get insurance.
If medical insurance is available through your employer this is usually the cheapest option, however you can still get insurance if your employer doesn’t offer it. The next cheapest option is most likely to get a group plan from another organization you belong to. Some examples would be a credit union or NASE. If you can’t find a group program, you can still buy insurance as an individual, it just typically costs more. The best way to reduce the cost is to go with a plan that has a high deductible. You may end up paying $2000 or so if you have a major incident, however it won’t completely wipe you out.
If you own a home, you most likely have homeowners insurance because your mortgage company has required it, but if not, be sure to get it. If you rent, you may think you don’t need insurance on your property, however if a disaster was to hit the apartment complex or other place you live, you can still lose all of your possessions. You may think the apartment’s insurance will cover your losses, but it won’t; you will need renter’s insurance. This is usually fairly affordable. If you own a car, you are required in most states to at least have liability insurance, but depending on the value of your car and whether or not you can afford to replace it if you were in a wreck, you may also want full coverage to cover any damage to your vehicle.
The last type of insurance I would like to mention is life insurance. This is something many people overlook, especially younger couples. If you are single and are not responsible for supporting anyone you may not need this insurance, but if you are married and have children or anyone else you are responsible for caring for, this is something you are going to want to have.
To determine how much insurance you need, I suggest calculating how much your family would need to get by with you gone and multiplying that by fifteen. This will most likely be a shockingly high number, but it will allow you to support your family indefinitely by allowing them to live off the interest from this money rather than the principal. You’ll learn more about this in the next article.
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If you have read the previous articles, so far you have learned how wide spread of a problem debt is, the true impact it can have on your life, and how to determine exactly how much debt you have and how much it will actually cost you. The next step is to attempt to reduce your interest rate. There are several ways you can accomplish this.
We’ll start by looking at what are typically known as the highest-interest debt, credit cards. Believe it or not, one of the easiest ways to do this is to simply call your credit card issuer and ask them to reduce your rate. This sounds laughable at first, but quite often it actually works. Credit card issuers typically charge customers much higher interest rates for the money they loan than what they pay to borrow it from others. This leads to huge profit margins, which means they really want to keep you as a customer, especially if you regularly pay your bill on time. They know you have plenty of options available, and are likely to switch to another credit card issuer if you feel you can get a better deal, so they’re happy to make a slightly smaller profit and keep you as a customer by lowering your rate.
If that doesn’t work, a second option is to find a lower-rate credit card and roll your balance over to it. You may be tempted to go with a card that has a 0% introductory rate. This is probably not your best option though, unless you plan on paying off the card within six months. What you want to look for is a card with a low permanent rate. There are several sites available to where you can compare credit cards from multiple issuers such as Creditor Web, http://www.creditorweb.com/.
There are also several broader options available for credit cards and other types of debt. One of which is to look into refinancing any loans you have. Interest rates go up and down over time, and it’s quite possible the rate you can get now is lower than what it was at the time you originally financed the loans. Often there will be a refinancing fee involved, so use the amortization calculator from the previous article to make sure the amount you are going to save is greater than the amount you will have to pay.
You can also get a debt consolidation loan. You need to be careful when considering this option though, because although there are several legitimate companies offering debt consolidation loans, there are also several companies trying to make a quick buck at the expense of others. I highly recommend checking out any company you consider getting a loan through with the Better Business Bureau, especially if it’s not a reputable bank you are familiar with. In addition, once again use the amortization calculator to make sure you are actually saving money with the loan. Just because your monthly payments are lower doesn’t mean you’re saving money. $300 per month for 10 years is going to cost you more than $500 a month for 5 years.
The last option I want to suggest is for those of you who own a home. There are actually two options here, you can take out a second mortgage, or refinance your home for its current value and some additional funds, to pay off other debt. As with the one before, this can be both good and bad. It can be good because these loans typically offer the lowest interest rate because they are relatively safe loans for banks. That is also the same reason they are bad; if you do not pay them off, the bank can repossess your house. The other built-in benefit is by refinancing, you can often get a lower interest rate on your house, which can save you a bundle. As with the previous option, there’s often a refinancing fee, so use the amortization calculator, http://www.destroydebt.com/calculators/AmortizationCalculatorJs.aspx to make sure you are saving money by doing this.
With all of these methods let me stress that you should be very careful not to fall into the same trap many others have. Too often families will take out a second mortgage or debt consolidation loan to pay off their credit cards, but instead of using this is a means to reduce their debt, they charge up all the credit cards again and end up in a worse situation than they were before. Don’t let this happen to you. Once you have refinanced to eliminate any credit card debt, close those accounts. Just keep one open for emergency use only until you get to a later step in this guide where you can destroy that one, as well.
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Feb1st
Posted by admin at 12:41 pm. Filed under: credit card, debt, debt relief, get out of debt, refinance
Nowadays, debt has become a standard part of life. It comes in many forms including student loans, medical bills, auto loans, unpaid utilities, mortgages, money borrowed from friends and relatives, store credit and the most dreaded of them all, credit card debt. It’s a part of life for almost all of us, rich or poor, but it doesn’t have to be. In this nine-part series of articles you will learn the steps to take to become completely debt-free and stay debt-free.
Let me start off by saying not all debt is necessarily bad. It can be very beneficial to borrow money sometimes, if done for the right reason. For example, taking out a mortgage to buy even a modest home will most likely cost you several hundred thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, however you will gain equity and the house will usually appreciate in value, making it a better option in a lot of cases than living in an apartment. Other examples would be borrowing money for college in order to acquire a higher paying job, or borrowing money to start a business. Other times it is just un-avoidable such as a medical condition or loss of a job. They key is to borrow for the right reasons.
The problem is, we quite often borrow money for the wrong reasons. These include taking out auto loans for nicer cars than we really need, not saving money to cover minor emergencies that come up such as a major appliance breaking, and of course making purchases with credit cards when we don’t have the money to buy them.
The problem has really gotten out of control in the last few decades. The average American household owes about $19,000 in non-mortgage debt, including about $7,500 in credit card debt. When you compare that to the average household income of $43,500, you can see the average American household owes 43% of their annual salary in non-mortgage debt.
As you can see, if you’re in debt, you’re not alone. No matter what kind of debt you have, or how much, your life will be less stressful and more fruitful if you eliminate it. This nine-part series will walk you through each of the necessary steps to help you eliminate your debt. It definitely will take some work on your behalf, but if you stick with it, you can succeed and the benefits will be well worth the work.
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