Congratulations if you are able to keep your credit card debts at reasonable and manageable levels. Unlike you, my credit card debts ended up incurring exorbitant interest charges, late payments fess and over-limit charges until I no longer was able to make next month’s payments and had to resort to a free debt management program.
If you ever find yourself having problems with paying off your credit card debts, the first course of action is to take a look at the budget. Finding ways to cut back on unnecessary expenses can help you pay down debts and keep monthly bills current.
But what if you can’t settle your debt problems with budgeting? Well, seek assistance from debt help relief options to help gain control over your debts so that your credit rating will not suffer badly.
Debt Consolidation. You may turn to debt consolidation as an answer to your debt problems. Debt consolidation enables you to transfer all your high-interest credit card debts to a lower interest credit card, or you put up the equity in your home to get the money to pay off your debts.
While both unsecured and secured debt consolidation options provide lower payments, they are with some drawbacks. Closing numerous credit card accounts and putting all of your debts into one account can negatively impact your ratio of debt to available credit, lowering your credit score.
And if you use your home equity to secure the money needed to pay off debts, you’re putting your home at an unnecessary risk. You face the risk of losing your home if you fail to make payments.
Credit Counseling. Another popular debt relief option is credit counseling. Credit counseling agencies, non-profit or for-profit, offer help with budgeting, and if it is determined that budgeting is not enough to solve your debt problems, they will sign you up with a debt management program.
A debt management program, also known as debt management plan, involves negotiation with creditors to reduce interest rates, eliminate late payment fees or over the limit charges, and lower payments.
You make one monthly affordable payment to the credit counseling agency’s collection account, and the agent forwards payments to each of your creditors.
A DMP can help you get out of debt faster, but it can also have negative impact on your credit score. As a note is added to your credit report stating that you are in a debt management plan, you no longer can get a new credit card or loan. However, the notation is removed once you’ve settled your debts.
Either you decide to enroll in debt consolidation or a debt management plan, it’s important to make sure you’re dealing with a reputable credit counseling agency that is a member of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) or the National Foundation of Credit Counseling (NFCC).
As AICCCA and NFCC regulate and monitor member agencies to make sure that they operate legally and ethically, you save yourself from being scammed by unscrupulous credit counseling agencies that charge high fees or fail to make payments to creditors on time.
To prevent yourself from facing undue stress caused by spiraling debts and damaging credit score, it’s wise to seek help at the first sign of trouble.
