So, you have decided that settling your credit card debts on your own is the better path instead of hiring a debt relief company for the purpose.If you have the skills and talents to compete with these professionals when it comes to negotiation, communication and documentation then give it a shot. After all, if a nurse with little background in taxation and the law can single-handedly take on the Internal Revenue Service and win, then so can you where debt relief is concerned.
Keep these points in mind when you are settling credit card debt on your own. These three tips will ensure that you are one step closer to successfully taking on those credit card companies.
You must ensure that your accounts are considerably delinquent
You might want to negotiate for lower principal amounts on your credit card bills as soon as you cannot pay the minimum monthly payment required or as soon as you feel that you cannot pay your debts due to other financial obligations. Keep in mind, however, that the debt relief process cannot be availed of until and unless your credit card accounts are significantly delinquent.
How deep should you be?Delinquent credit card accounts are written off by creditors once the 180+ days windows has completed. The write-off subsequently devalues the account so much so that third parties can purchase it for as little as 5 percent of its face value.
To prevent this from taking place, the credit card company will be eager to settle the debt through a negotiation process.If the creditors get half of what you owe, thats much better than the 5% they would’ve gotten from the third party collection agencies.
Keep Descriptive And Detailed Documentation
The days of verbal agreements holding any value are long gone and especially when it comes to credit card debt settlement. After all, it will be your word against the word of the collection agents and you should know by now that nobody wins in such a case.
The other option is that you maintain excellent written records of all the matters related to the settlement and negotiation process with your creditors. Always send out letters with complete information to the proper addresses and addressees.After that, file the letters and other forms of communication in a binder that is easily accessible.
If you do have a conversation on the phone, record the details. Take note of the time and date, the persons you spoke to, their contact number and the general flow of the conversation.
Use Mail That Can Be Tracked
Once the settlement has been reached, send your payment through certified mail or any mail that can be tracked.Send the check along with a memo clarifying that the check is the full payment along with a copy of the settlement that was reached.Now, you will have pretty good documentation.
Dont forget the specific strategies that you need to use to settle the debt by yourself. Just remember these three tips and you should be alright during the entire process.
These are some specific steps that you can take. For more tips on how to fix a bad credit report you should read our articles about getting the best credit card debt relief help
Filed under Uncategorized by on Feb 27th, 2010. 
A record number of people were declared insolvent last year as the recession pushed many homeowners and businesses into the red, new figures revealed today. Across England and Wales, 134,142 people went bankrupt, took out an Individual Voluntary Arrangement or Debt Relief Order in 2009, the Insolvency Service said. This dwarfs the previous record of 107,288 personal insolvencies from 2006. Experts believe this had already been passed by October last year.
Total company liquidations reached 19,077 during 2009, the highest figure since 1993. But the number for companies in the final quarter of the year was lower than both the previous three months and the same quarter of 2008. In contrast, the level of individuals declared insolvent continued to speed up in the last quarter at 35,574 – the highest since records began in 1960.This is a 25 per cent rise on the figure for 2008 and the eight consecutive quarter where the tally has increased.
A breakdown of the total number of insolvencies for the final three months of 2009 showed 17,007 people went bankrupt, 7 per cent fewer than in the previous quarter. But a record 13,219 people took out Individual Voluntary Arrangements, under which interest on debt is frozen in exchange for a set amount being repaid each month. It is thought IVA numbers were boosted by companies cutting staff pay and overtime as an alternative to making redundancies, meaning people were in a position to repay some of what they owed, rather then being forced to declare themselves bankrupt.
There was also a further increase in the number of Debt Relief Orders taken out in the three months to the end of December, with these rising to 5,348, up from 4,505 in the previous quarter. Both chapter 7 bankruptcy and chapter 13 bankruptcy therefore continue to rise.
As consumers across the land continue to struggle, we continue to look for signs that an economic recover is at hand, budding, and springing forth.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Feb 6th, 2010.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is something that many people turn to when they see no other way of being able to manage their outstanding debts. It used to be that filing bankruptcy pretty much wiped the slate clean, but that has changed. The most common form of bankruptcy will require you to reorganize your debt and pay it off.
However, there are other forms of repaying debt that can help you avoid bankruptcy. Beginning with a credit counseling agency is your most productive move. Most debt counseling agencies today not only help with debt management plans, but they work with debt settlement and bankruptcy experts. This means that no matter what your debt situation is you can get the help that you need be visiting a credit counseling company.
If you are not a financial expert, your debt may not be as bad as you think. Unless, you have more in debt than you make in a year, there are most likely other alternatives that may be able to help you avoid filing bankruptcy. Debt settlement is an option that allows you to settle your accounts in full through an agreement with the lender to pay less than what is owed on the account.
Credit counseling is a plan that gives you the option to combine all of your unsecured debts into one account that requires only one payment per month. The benefit here is a significant interest rate reduction. Credit counseling will usually have you debt free in 3 to 5 years and debt settlement normally takes 1 to 3 years. Debt settlement will ruin your credit and require you to pay incomes tax on the forgiven amount. You will not have either of these with credit counseling.
It is best to talk to a non profit credit counseling agency before making a decision about bankruptcy. The worst thing that can happen is that would turn out to be your only alternative, but wouldn’t want to make sure you had no other alternatives before you filed bankruptcy. Talk to a credit counseling agency, if you not are sure of your debt relief alternatives.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jan 25th, 2010.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is something that many people turn to when they see no other way of being able to manage their outstanding debts. It used to be that filing bankruptcy pretty much wiped the slate clean, but that has changed. The most common form of bankruptcy will require you to reorganize your debt and pay it off.
However, there are other forms of repaying debt that can help you avoid bankruptcy. Beginning with a credit counseling agency is your most productive move. Most debt counseling agencies today not only help with debt management plans, but they work with debt settlement and bankruptcy experts. This means that no matter what your debt situation is you can get the help that you need be visiting a credit counseling company.
If you are not a financial expert, your debt may not be as bad as you think. Unless, you have more in debt than you make in a year, there are most likely other alternatives that may be able to help you avoid filing bankruptcy. Debt settlement is an option that allows you to settle your accounts in full through an agreement with the lender to pay less than what is owed on the account.
Credit counseling is a plan that gives you the option to combine all of your unsecured debts into one account that requires only one payment per month. The benefit here is a significant interest rate reduction. Credit counseling will usually have you debt free in 3 to 5 years and debt settlement normally takes 1 to 3 years. Debt settlement will ruin your credit and require you to pay incomes tax on the forgiven amount. You will not have either of these with credit counseling.
It is best to talk to a non profit credit counseling agency before making a decision about bankruptcy. The worst thing that can happen is that would turn out to be your only alternative, but wouldn’t want to make sure you had no other alternatives before you filed bankruptcy. Talk to a credit counseling agency, if you not are sure of your debt relief alternatives.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jan 25th, 2010.
When it comes to elimination of huge debts people either think of filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy or to opt for debt settlements. Regardless of the law a settlement is always considered to be better than filing a bankruptcy. With introduction of new law things will change to a certain level but financial settlement will still continue to be a better option for creditors as well as the debtors.
New law vs. Old law of bankruptcy
The financial institutions were never in favor of the old bankruptcy law as they could not recover anything from the person who filed bankruptcy under chapter 7. In case the debtor qualified under chapter 13 of the bankruptcy they still had to wait for the specified period to recover certain amount of their debt. The debtors preferred settlement more than bankruptcy. Bankruptcy can stay on their credit reports for a period of 10 years which is a very long time span. To some extent the new law is certainly in favor of creditors as more and more people will be forced to file bankruptcy under chapter 13 which means that the creditors would be able to recover at least some portion of their lending.
Debt settlement negations will continue
Even with new bankruptcy law the settlement still remains a better option for creditors as well as debtors. Debt settlements lower the debtor’s credit score but this is preferred over bankruptcy staying on their credit report for a longer time span. One might feel that with new law for bankruptcy creditors will not be so flexible for settlements. On the contrary no drastic effect would be there on the negotiations for the financial settlements. There are many reasons for this. With new law if the person qualifies for chapter 7 the creditors get nothing. Even if he qualifies for chapter 13 then also the creditors have to wait for a period of 5 years before they could recover 30 to 50 percent of debt. If they are in a position to recover the same amount in a lesser time span by through the debt settlement option they would naturally prefer it.
|
Debt settlement is a viable alternative to filing bankruptcy. Most consumers are able to eliminate at least 60% of their unsecured debt while avoiding many of the negative consequences with filing bankruptcy. If you are over $10k in unsecured debt you will be eligible for debt settlement. |
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jan 25th, 2010.
