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Posts Tagged ‘debt relief’

You have several options when it comes to eliminating and rising above the debt that has taken over your life. One of the best options is debt consolidation. In this article, we will discuss the top ten reasons you should consider debt consolidation over any other form of debt relief method available.

Reason to Consolidate Your Debt #1 – Lower Your Interest Rates

One of the best things about debt consolidation is that more often than not, you will have the opportunity to lower your rates of interest. Instead of several different interest rates, you will obtain one interest rate, that is far lower than the many combined. Typically, when you consolidate your debt, you keep that same interest rate as well. It does not tend to fluctuate as your original debt interest rates may.

Reason to Consolidate Your Debt #2 – Lower Your Stress Levels

Debt can cause a great deal of various feelings, afflictions, and this can be on both a personal and mental level. When debt begins to take control of your life, instead of the other way around, many things can happen, such as:

Depression
Anger
Stress
Health Issues
Arguments
Problems At Work
Lack of Concentration
Sleeplessness

Debt consolidation allows you to focus more on your life than your debt.

Reason to Consolidate Your Debt #3 – Improve Your Life

When you consolidate your debt, you are taking the necessary steps to improve your life overall. You will find that your health is better, your relationship are better, you feel better, and best of all, your credit starts to improve, and more doors will open for you. When you are making an effort to get yourself out of debt, more people are willing to give you a chance. Therefore, you may be able to finally purchase that home you have been wanting or even find a better place to live, within your means of course.
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Non-profit credit counseling agencies enjoy special benefits because of their status. There is a tax advantage; non-profits enjoy tax exemptions on both a state and federal level. Non-profit agencies are also eligible for both public and private grants to support their mission.

Non-profit agencies have a better reputation among both creditors and debtors. In order to initiate Fair Share contributions, non-profit status is mandatory. Some states even allow non-profit agencies greater freedom from consumer protection laws. Debtors feel more comfortable dealing with a non-profit agency than one with a more commercial focus.

Most major credit counseling agencies flaunt their status as non-profits, but some fail to live up to that promise. Some unscrupulous agencies are using their non-profit status to lure in unsuspecting clients and to fleece them. Debtors need to look beyond the non-profit label and investigate the agency before enrolling in a credit repair program.
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There are millions of Americans out there who have paid off heavy credit card debt, and you may be one of them. To get rid of credit card debt, it won’t be enough, however, to just make minimum monthly payments. In fact, you just need to do a little more than just paying the minimum monthly payments; you can save thousand of interests and shorten many years in settling your credit card debt. To give you a better picture how it work, let use a case study to elaborate the solution.

Case Study:

A friend of mine asked me to take a look at her monthly credit card statement; according to her, she has stopped using this credit card and try to pay it off, but feels like she isn’t getting anywhere.

The credit card statement record shows her balance is $5218.00 and she is paying 18% of interest; and she is paying the minimum payment at 3.5% or $10 whichever is higher. Like many who confuse with financial matters, she thinks that as long as she stops using the card and by just paying the minimum of monthly balance, her credit card debt will be cleared soon.

The Calculation Result:

If she has stopped using this credit card, and if she continues to make the minimum required monthly payment, as she has been, based on the way her bank calculates her minimum required monthly payment.

It will take her 181 months to pay off her current credit card balance of $5,218.00 and she will pay a total of $3762.35 in interest.

In other words, if she continues doing what she has been doing. It will take her 15 years and cost her $8980.35 to pay off her $5218.00 credit card balance. No wonder she feels like she is not getting anywhere.
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Have you succumbed to the lure of credit cards and found yourself in a bit of a pickle because of it?

Pull up a chair and have a seat – Welcome to the ever growing club of consumer debt. Your biggest challenge now is to dig yourself out of this situation and avoid having to pay anyone to help you do it.

The options at this stage are usually as follow (depending on the level of credit card debt):

• Consolidate into a loan.
• Debt Management.
• Bankruptcy.
• Do Nothing.
• Just pay off the cards over as long as it takes.
• Make the minimum payments and keep spending.
• Make an effective DIY plan.

The more popular solutions – such as consolidation loans and debt management -we see being touted everywhere are the ones that put your money in other people’s pocket. I don’t know about you but for me becoming free from debt should not involve spending more money, or *borrowing your way out of debt*.

So how does a DIY system work?

To break it down into 5 steps it looks something like this:

1. Address your spending habits and why you are in this situation.

To ever win with money and have a comfortable financial future you have to control your money – not the other way round. Take complete control and set yourself some realistic yet desirable goals for the future.

2. Know your options, the ins and outs of how they work – and why they are not for you.

Along the way you will be tempted by quick fix ‘make it all better’ solutions like consolidation loans and debt management. As mentioned already there is a multibillion dollar industry making a very healthy profit from consumer debt. Your DIY plan does not involve *paying to get out of debt*.
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