How do I know if debt settlement is right for me?
Do you have little if any savings?
Are you over, at, or near your limit on your credit cards?
Are you making the minimum monthly payment on all of your credit cards each month?
Do you receive collection calls in regards to past due balances?
Are receiving credit card statements in the mail each month stressing you out?
Do you use credit cards as a means of supplementing your income?
Is making the monthly payments on your credit cards difficult for you?
Do you have to hide purchases on credit cards from another member of your family?
Are your monthly charges the same or higher each month?
Does thinking about your debt cause you to lose sleep at night?
Does your debt put noticeable stress on your marriage and/or family life?
Have you had a financial hardship that has caused you to get into debt?
Debt
settlement may be the answer you are looking for if you answered yes
to any of these questions.
What are my other options to pay back my debt?
Credit card
counseling: Consumer credit counseling can work
to reduce your interest rate but in most cases they will not eliminate the
interest. Consumer credit counseling does not reduce the balance you owe on any
credit card so you will be paying back more than 100% of the balance you owe,
and you may still be paying interest. Consumer
credit counseling will roll all of your monthly payments into one and make the
payments to your credit card companies for you. Your monthly payment will be
much higher and the program can take much longer than debt settlement.
Credit
consolidation: Is the process of getting a loan
and paying off all debt with the loan. One type of loan is a home equity loan,
which is taking money against the equity in your home. The loan is re-paid over
a set number of months at a specific interest rate. The money from the loan is
used to pay off debt. This option is never
recommended because it causes unsecured credit card debt to become secure as it
is now attached to a piece of property or other physical collateral. If you
default on the agreement it can cause the bank to come and claim the property or
collateral. This is essentially not paying debt off, but moving it around. This option is becoming increasing difficult to
qualify for. Your total debt to income ratio may be so high that you may not
qualify for this option at all. And the payments on these loans are much higher
than our debt settlement program.
File for bankruptcy: This should be your last resort. There are two chapters of bankruptcy that you are allowed to file:
Chapter 7: In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy assets can be sold, a trustee is
assigned to each case and will look over every purchase you make. Chapter 7 will
stay on the courts record for up to 20 years and will stay on your credit report
for up to 10 years. The bankruptcy laws were changed in October of 2005 and as a
result this chapter is very difficult to qualify for.
Chapter 13: After taking a means test this is the chapter most people will
qualify for. After being approved for a chapter 13 bankruptcy, a court appointed
trustee will distribute monthly payments on each of the debts. The amount to be
paid back can total 30-80% of the total debt owed and this amount is decided by
a judge. The judge decides how much you will pay back based on amount of
disposable income you have. This often results in a higher monthly payment than
our debt settlement. Filing for bankruptcy is not
free either. Chapter 13 bankruptcies can cost $1,500-$2,000 to file. This will
also be on your credit report for 7 years and can affect any future employment.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is similar to our debt
settlement program only with the headaches and hassles of going to court and
destroying your reputation.
Make minimum monthly
payments: This is the most commonly used
option. $30,000 in credit card debt, where you are
making the minimum monthly payments, it could take 20-30 years to pay it off and
you would pay more than double the amount you originally owed due to the
interest rates and finance charges adding up over the years. (Your Educational
Specialist will use our debt calculator to figure how much this option will cost
you). Your credit card companies have agreements
that let them essentially change the default interest rate anytime they want.
So your rate could jump up to 30% at any time. The
credit card companies’ goal is to keep you in debt for the rest of your
life.
Credit card settlement: Call your qualified representative to discuss your options and how our industry leading debt settlement programs work and start saving you money today.
