There are a lot of people that want to settle their credit card account debts. Of course, everybody would be interested in getting out of their debts for less money.
In my personal opinion, this is always just a temporary solution. After these people have taken care of their debts with the help of some debt relief program, they’re likely to fall back into it. They’re also more likely to have to deal with higher annual percentage rates, because of the actions of the debt relief program. That’s why I will always advise people not to look for easy ways out, and just clear debt with a good plan.
That said, I know there will still be people that won’t heed my advice and who will still want to settle their debts. Since I’d rather they have good information before they take this venture and I wouldn’t like to see them hiring debt settlement companies, so I have written this article which will give them 3 steps to settling their charge card account debts on their own, tell them what the consequences will be and why debt settlement companies are a bad idea.
Create a monthly Budget
The first thing you need to do is create a budget for yourself. This is something not many like to do for themselves, because most people don’t like to make huge changes to their lifestyle. Well, that lifestyle is one of the main reason you have debts in the first place. This is an absolutely critical part of settling your debts.
For starters, you will need to asses your financial situation. Create a list of your income, expenses and debts. Income includes anything you make cash from, and expenses include anything you spend cash on.
Once you’ve listed all your expenses, organize the list into two categories; essential and inessential. Under essential expenses you’ll list the ones you can’t do without; food, water, electricity, car, etc. Under inessential expenses you’ll list things you spend money on, but you don’t really need; eating out, clubbing, new clothes, jewelry, etc.
While listing your debts, list all their information. What is the exact amount of debt? How much interest do you pay on each? What are their monthly minimum payments? After doing this, you will know exactly how much you owe to each bank. It can be a real wake-up call to see everything listed like this. It will help you keep focused on getting out of debt.
Now you’ll set up your monthly budget. You will start cutting your expenses by not spending a dollar on anything you’ve listed under inessential. It can be hard to not give into the temptation to do this. Just learn to say no to invitations from friends to go clubbing or eat at restaurants. It will be hard, but it will be worth it. You can start doing these things again once you’ve taken care of your problems.
See if you own anything that you don’t really need. Sell these items. Having a Playstation 3 is a luxury you can do without, so sell it. Are there any books you’ve already read? Sell them on Ebay. Maybe you can even move in with a friend for a while and save cash on rent.
This is where you start saving your cash. You’re going to need this money if you want to settle, so don’t sell yourself short by spending cash on unnecessary thing. Keep the money somewhere where an investigator won’t be able to find it.
Stop making payments to your banks
Now you will need to stop your monthly payments to your creditors. Don’t give them anything. You can expect a lot of call from your banks. Inform them they you simply can’t afford to pay them anything. Don’t get scared and pay them a small amount. This will just slow down the process.
Send your creditors a registered letter in which you’ll explain why you can’t make the payments. It is important to make this a registered letter, because you’ll be sure they’ve received it and you can keep the receipt as proof. Make a file for each separate bank in which you store correspondence like this. Keep all occurred correspondence in these files. This is for safety. There is a chance that they threaten to sue you, and then you’ll have some correspondence to back you up. You can tell the court you tried to work something out with them.
Start settling your charge card account debts
When you haven’t paid your credit card company for six straight months, you start negotiating a settlement. The reason your credit card companys will settle after not having been paid after six months is to keep you from going bankrupt. When you’ve filed for bankruptcy, they’re not going to get a penny out of you.
You will offer the creditor a percentage of what is owed, like somewhere between 40-60% should be good. You will pay this cash with the money you have saved up.
Make sure your credit card companys send you a letter stating that your settlement is a full payment. If you don’t get this letter, they can try to get the rest of the money owed by pretending not to recall the settlement conversation.
You will keep a higher credit rating if you have the credit card company close your account with a statement of full payment. This is a crucial step, because you don’t want a bad credit rating. This will make it harder for you to get loans, charge card accounts and mortgages in the near future. And if you do get one, the rates of interest will be through the roof. Don’t give them money until after you’ve received such a letter from them. Insist you get everything in writing before you take any action!
The Downside to Settling Credit Card Debt
The downside to using this system is that it will have had a negative effect on your credit rating, which means that you will have to pay more interest on future loans until you’ve repaired your credit rating. This is because you have neglected to pay your creditors for several months. It may also be affected by the credit card companys declaring your debt as settled. That’s why it’s so imperative that you get it in writing that the debt was paid in full.
Debt settlement can also be a very stressful process for most people. With all the intimidating phone calls and letters it’s hard for people to remain calm. The whole procedure is certainly not without risks, so that is understandable.
Why You Shouldn’t Deal with Debt Settlement Companies
There’s a lot of controversy around debt settlement companies. When your banks find out you have hired a debt settlement company, they’re not going to be happy with you, and a lot of famous financial experts call these companies scams. I don’t fully agree, since they usually do exactly what they say they will do, which is get you a debt reduction. However, they are a total ripoff.
When you hire a debt settlement company, you will have to pay them a sum of money every month. They will keep a significant part of this, and the rest they save for the settlement. They don’t pay your banks for a while. Meanwhile they tell you to dodge all phone calls from your creditors, which is a bad idea. Your banks will be more likely to sue when you try and avoid them. After a few months the debt settlement attorneys will start negotiating with your creditors and get you somewhere between 20-50% off of your total debt.
Because you have no correspondence with the creditors, they will be more likely to report your debt as settled. Like I said before, this will harm your credit rating even further.
As you can see, they take the exact same steps I have outlined in this article. Except they take cash from you every month as their fee. Why would you pay a company so much cash for something you can do yourself? All the money you give to them is cash you could have saved yourself.
So as you can see there are more downsides to hiring this kind of company than there are positives. I know it’s hard and stressful to have to deal with your credit card companys yourself, but it’s the best way to do it. If you really feel like this is too much for you to handle on your own and you really feel like you need outside help, then go to Freedom Debt Management. They are a non-profit organization and completely legitimate. They will not try to screw you over.
Finally, if you are not too deep in the debt, try working with your creditor for a lower payment based on a hardship situation, best credit card companies to do with in this scenario are Discover credit cards and Chase cards.