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Debt Solutions: Using Balance Transfers

January 16, 2009 By Jason

Balance transfers are a great way to reduce your debt faster, but you need to do some careful research to make sure you’re transferring your balance to a card that is really going to save you money. There are several major credit card companies that are offering super-low interest rates to new cardholders, but those introductory rates generally last only around 6 months.

One such card is the Chase Platinum MasterCard. It has a 0% introductory interest rate on balance transfers for 6 months. The AT&T Universal card has 0% interest on balance transfers for 9 months. And Discover’s Platinum card has 0% interest in balance transfers for one full year! Of course, you have to have exceptional credit to receive any of these cards. Not only that, but if you make a single slipup and miss a payment, you could get that 0% interest rate jacked all the way up to 28% or more!

When searching for cards to do a balance transfer to, you need to read the fine print. Almost all cards will have these hidden issues where they can jack up the interest rate, or they have very low introductory rates and then they raise the rate after a certain period. Always read the terms and conditions carefully before you sign up for any card.

Also, most cards charge transaction fees for balance transfers. This might be 3-5% of the balance. You could end up paying $50 on a $1,000 balance transfer. Some issuers will cap these fees at somewhere around $35 to $75, but that isn’t always the case. Be sure to read the fine print.

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Debt Solutions: Fixing Your Credit Report

January 16, 2009 By Jason

Many people ask how to fix my credit? To be able to get rid of a collection from your credit report you are going to first need to educated yourself on what a collection is. If you have a bill that you suddenly stop paying on the company will continue to send you monthly statements each month waiting for payment. Normally after six months has passed without a payment your account will be sent into collections. There are some companies that will wait longer then that however six months is the usual time frame.

When an account is sent into collection it is usually the creditor’s last chance at trying to retrieve the money that is owed to them. It is at this point in time that the creditor has tried calling you to try and set up some type of repayment schedule and has also sent several notices through the mail to inform you that your bill is past due. There are many creditors have their own in house collection departments while other creditors will outsource their collection needs to outside collection agencies.

There are many occasions when an account that is overdue is sold off to collection companies for pennies of the dollar. Normally if the account is still maintained by the original creditor and they are working with a collection service they will be paying the collection service a portion of what is recovered.

Ok now that we have gone over that information let’s discuss how to remove a collection from your credit report.

To be able to remove an entry from your credit report that has gone into collections you are going to need to dispute the account. To do this you need to write a dispute letter to the credit bureau or bureaus that are reporting the account. You need to make sure that you are sending basically the same letter to each of the bureaus that are reporting the account that was in collection. The letter needs to identify the item that you are disputing and why you are disputing it.

When your letter reaches the credit bureau they will be opening an investigation. The bureau will then be contacting the creditor that made the entry and let them know the reason that you are challenging the account entry. The credit bureau will then ask the creditor to prove that the entry is valid.

If the debt that is being challenged is fairly old then the creditor may not have the documentation readily available. The documents are likely to be in storage somewhere. If this happens to be the case for your debt it is very likely that the company will not want to spend anymore time or money on your account. If this is what is occurring they will most likely not reply to the credit bureaus inquiry and the the credit bureau will then take the entry off of your credit report.

Now if the company does send the credit bureau proof of the entry that you are disputing this is what is referred to as being verified. This does not mean that you are out of luck 9in getting it removed from your credit report. What it means is that you are jus going to have to pay it off or attempt to negotiate a lower payoff amount. In order for you to be able to remove the entry in this case you need to negotiate it being removed from your credit report as part of the payoff agreement.


Filed Under: Credit Card Debt, Debt Management, Debt Relief, Featured, Stress Management, Student Loan Debt Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Debt Solutions: Coping With Debt

January 16, 2009 By Jason

Debt is something that is affecting thousands of households across the country. People are dealing with medical bills, bank loans, student loans and this list goes on and on. Matters are made worse by people loosing their jobs and the economy of the country being less then stellar these days. So how does one cope with debt with the state of the economy?

Learning to budget your money is the best thing that someone can do to help deal with debt. A very savvy way to start developing a budget is to purchase a notebook and for a period of one month write down every last purchase that you make.

No matter how small the purchase is make sure that you write it down. After the month has passed sit down with your notebook and pen and cross out every single expense that is a luxury item. You only want to be spending your money on necessary expenses. It may take some time and adjusting to get used to but being able to follow a budget is a great thing in poor economic times.

Learning new job skills that are related to your current job is a great way to deal with debt in a bad economy. Keeping a hold of a job in tough financial times is an extremely smart thing to do when you are trying to deal with debt. When you take the time to learn new job skills you are helping to “recession proof” your job situation. As long as you are gainfully employed you are going to be in a position to deal with your current debt situation.

There are many online colleges that offer online classes that are very convenient and affordable. They are an excellent way to sharpen old skills and learn new skills that would make you even better at your job then you currently are.

Coping with debt in today’s economy can be extremely hard to do. With a good amount of resolve you and your family will be able to make it through any and all hard financial times that come your way and be able to effectively manage al lof your debt without making your financial situation any worse.

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Credit Card Debt Consolidation

January 16, 2009 By Jason

The topic of credit card debit consolidation has become an extremely popular topic with millions of consumers these days. With hard economic times upon us and more and more families wondering how they are going to make ends meet each and every month, everyone is looking to reduce expenses.

However before you commit to any one credit consolidation there are several things that you should keep in mind.

You should not leap into getting a Home Equity Loan as while it was once a good method to consolidate your debt this is now far from the case. You will notice that this type of  debt consolidation loans has a lower rate of interest then the credit card debt that you are currently carrying. Credit card debt is unsecured debt while a loan against your home is not.

If you are experiencing a financial hardship and cannot make your credit card payments you will likely see your credit score take a nose dive.

If you are in a position to not make your home equity loan payments you will loose your home.

If it sounds too good to be true is probably is.

You will see that on the internet there are countless debt consolidation services that promise to be able to pay off your debt for pennies on the dollar. This is not the case. These too good to be true services are not offering credit card debt consolidation services.

When you happen to run across one of these services what they are really offering you is debt settlement not credit card debt consolidation. These are two very different services.

Your credit would be affected by using a debt settlement service and you may very well be responsible for repaying the taxes on any of the debt that the credit card company agrees to forgive.

Credit card debt consolidation will not help you out if you do not make changes in your financial habits.

The most important thing to remember is that credit card debt consolidation will not be helpful if you go through all the work of paying off your debts and then go right ahead and max your credit cards out again. You need to gain an understanding of what got you to this situation in the first place and adjust your spending habits so that you will not get yourself in this situation again.

There are a great number of credit card debt consolidation services that will offer their clients help with developing a budget as well as credit counseling services to assist in getting people back on the right track with their financial habits. You should definitely take advantage of these program offerings as they will assist you in not ending up right back were you started. These services will be able to show you want you should do and what you should avoid in order to maintain healthily financial standing.

If you are looking to create a more stable financial future for yourself, being able to get on top of the current debt you are carrying is a super place to begin. Going through credit card debit consolidation is a great way to become more in control of your finances. You need to be sure to keep these three suggestions in mind before you start the credit card debit consolidation process.

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Keeping Debt Under Control

January 16, 2009 By Jason

Paying off existing debt is one matter, but it’s important to keep yourself from getting further into debt, too. This can be tough when you’re trying to pay down your debt, because you’re putting so much of your disposable income into paying it down. That leaves you with very little left to actually spend on the things you want or need.

The temptation then, of course, is to use credit cards to take up the slack. You may be tempted to think that you could just put your bills on your lower-interest cards while you pay off the higher-interest ones, but that’s still keeping you in debt. The purpose is to pay off your debts without getting further into debt elsewhere. If you have absolutely no way to make decent payments while still paying your monthly bills, you may have to float bills on lower-interest cards while paying off the higher ones, but if you can possibly avoid this, you should.

Once you manage to pay down some of the higher-interest cards, you should be making fewer monthly payments. This should allow you to have some free cash for paying your bills each month without having to float anything additional on credit cards. This is when you’ll find that you can pay your cards off even faster.

Debt can spiral out of control very quickly if you let it. You have to work hard to wipe out your debts, but it’s very important to keep them under control so new debts don’t mount up and undo the work you’ve been doing to get your debts under control.

Filed Under: Debt Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paying off Credit Cards

January 15, 2009 By Jason

One very important way to reduce your debt is to pay off your credit cards as quickly as possible. Most people just make the minimum payment on their Credit Cards, but that means it will take years to pay off those debts. The minimum payments typically go mostly toward interest. Because your money is going toward paying the interest, very little actually goes toward paying off the debt.

The way to pay off your cards is to put a little extra toward the principle each month. You should pay as much extra each month as you can afford, because the more you pay, the faster the debts will be eliminated. As long as you pay a bit above the minimum each money, you’ll be working toward eliminating the actual debt rather than just paying the interest each month.

It’s best to pay off high-interest cards first. You should put as much money as you can possibly manage each month into paying off your highest-interest cards. Pay slightly above the minimum payments on the lower-interest cards, and put the majority into the high-interest cards. Work on a single card at a time, putting that big chunk into the highest-rate card each month until it’s paid off. Then move on to the card with the next highest interest rate.

Some people prefer to knock out their lower balances first. While it makes better sense financially to pay off the higher-interest cards, some people find that very discouraging, especially if those high-interest cards have very high balances. If you start to knock down the lower balances first, you’ll seem to see results faster, because you’ll have some cards paid off completely a lot faster.

Whatever plan you make, just be sure to stick to it. Once you’ve decided which card to pay off first, just keep paying as much as you can on it each month until it’s paid off. Make a plan you know you can stick to, and then stick to it! That’s the key to paying debt down quickly.

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Reducing Debt

January 13, 2009 By Jason

You will hear this question from someone almost each and everyday “How can I reduce my debt?” This is a question that has been on the forefront of many people’s mind for countless years. There are a variety of debits that plague today’s consumers from medical bills to credit card debt, student loans to home loans, the revolving door of debt never seems to end.

This vicious cycle of debt occurs all too often by months of paying the interest charges that you can rack up from paying just the minimum balance of your debt.

Consumers will be thrilled to know that there are ways to reduce the amount of debt that you are dealing with. If you have the resolve to stick with some simple rules and get out of debt you can generally stay out of debt. Some of these rules include developing better spending habits, saving money and learning to create and stick to an effective budget.

When you ask yourself “What can I do to reduce and get rid of my debt?” You need to have answers that will actually work to help you get control over your financial troubles. This may very well involve you speaking with some type of financial professional.

These very simple rules can be hard to follow when you have been creating a vicious cycle of spending and accumulating more debt. However they can also be your only way to debt free living.

First of all you need to really take a look at what you are spending each and every month. Take the time to write down your bills and then you need to slash all unneeded spending out of your budget. This practice will free up a lot more cash to be able to pay off your bills. You should also avoid using your credit cards if at all possible. You will be giving up some luxury items for sure but it will help you become debt free.

You should change your daily routine. Many consumers are finding that when they are bored they tend to want to spend money on items that they do not really need. If you change what you do everyday you will not be finding yourself bored and thus saving yourself from spending money when you do not need to do so.

Toss out all of those credit cards. If you take away all the temptation of using your credit cards you are going to eliminate a huge amount of temptation purchases and set you on the right path to reducing the amount of debt that you are currently carrying. Once you have stopped using your credit cards you need to begin paying off any left over credit card debit. You should start with the credit card that carries the highest interest and move on from there.

Tip number four is creating an emergency fund for yourself and your family. If you have money put away for potential emergencies you are going to be well prepared when something does occur. This very simple tip can end up saving you countless amounts of money as you will be able to take care of the emergency by paying in cash.

If you have the resolve to stick to these very simple rules you will find that as your spending habits change you will start to see your financial standing change as well. So the you have it, your answer to “What can I do to reduce my debt?”.

Filed Under: Stress Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Debt Relief

January 13, 2009 By Jason

Each year millions upon millions of people are stressed out over debt in some why or another. Whether you are looking to pay off a few small bills or you are looking at getting rid of thousands of dollars of accumulated debt you need to know that it is very possible to get on top of your current financial crisis and life a life that is free of debt.

There are some very simple ways to help get you out of debt.. Here are some ideas to get you started with some debt relief.

If you like to eat out you should cut down on how many times you eat out each month if not give it up entirely. There are some great websites that have copycat recipes of many of today’s top restaurants. You will quickly see how much money you will be able to save by eating at home instead of going out. The money you save can be applied to your debts.

While everyone wants to enjoy purchasing brand name merchandise if you are looking to get out of debt you need to start looking into the benefits of store brand items. What many consumers fail to realize is that many store brands are manufactured by the same company that makes the brand name version. Many consumers that try the store brand items find them to be of equal if not better quality then their name brand counterparts.

If you are a fan of renting movies you should look into getting movies from your local library. You can check them out for free and can keep for a longer period of time then you would be able to keep them from the video rental store.

If you smoke or drink alcoholic you need to quit. Not only will you save a ton of money you will find your health will improve as well. Think of all the money that you will have you apply to your debt.

Learn how to coupon shop if you are looking to get yourself out of debt. You should not only look for coupons for the local grocery stores you should look for coupons and deals for local restaurants and stores where you shop regularly. Additionally you should look into how to barter and give away sites like www.freecycle.com. You will be surprised at the things you will find people are just giving away or willing to trade for.

Learning to be happy with what you have can end up saving you money. Too many people feel that they need to have all of the toys and expensive items that their friends and family have and that “Keeping up with the Jones” attitude can end up costing you a pretty penny.

Making simple adjustments like this in your life will go far in adding more money to your monthly budget. The more money you are able to save each month the more money you will have to apply to your debt. What could be easier then that?

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Credit Card Solutions

January 13, 2009 By Jason

There are people with credit card debit all over the world. There are many consumers that manage having a credit card quite well: payments for purchases are made on time each and every month and they carry very little credit card debt. Then we have the group of credit card owners that do not manage having a credit card so well.

Perhaps they got a credit card too soon and were just not equipped to handle the purchasing power that a credit card gives a consumer. Maybe they simply have poor money management skills, either way they are facing some type of credit card debt. The following are some simple ways to deal with facing any level of credit card debt.

The first thing that you need to do is stop using your credit cards. You can not get out of debt when you keep creating it. Next you need to work out some type of repayment plan so you can get on top of repaying all of your debt. While you are working on creating this budget you need to make a list of everything that you spend in a month. You need to bite the bullet and get rid of all unneeded spending. This is the best way to free up the money that you are going to need to get out of your credit card debit.

In order to have a budget that is going to be successful you need to make sure that you can make a payment to your credit card debt while still being able to meet your other monthly obligations. If you are unable to take care of your basic needs while repairing your credit card debit you will most definitely be in a worse situation then you first thought.

If you do not decide to get rid of your credit cards all together you should consider transferring your credit card balances to one card with a low interest rate. This can end up saving you a lot of money while you are working on paying off your debt.

You can also look into using a debt consolidation service to help deal with your credit card debt. Do plenty of research before settling on a service to work for as it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to work with a legitimate debt consolidation company so that you can be sure that your money is going to the correct destination and that your payments are being reporting to the three main credit bureaus.

You do not need to feel overtaken by your credit card debt. All you need is a little determination and the will to stick with your budget and repayment plan and you are going to be enjoying a debt free life faster then you think.

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Reducing Your Credit Card Debt

January 13, 2009 By Jason

If you are one of the millions of people in the world that have a credit card in their possession you are likely dealing with credit card debit. That said if you are in the group of people that are looking into developing a healthy financial standing for themselves you are most definitely wondering what you can do to decrease your credit card debit. The following are some great ways to reduce credit card debit and develop good financial habits.

The first and clearly the most important thing that you can do to reduce credit card debit is to stop using your credit cards. If you can not pay for it in cash you simply do not need it. During this time of self imposed credit card banishment you can begin to reduce the balances on your credit cards and thus pull yourself out of debit.

Debit consolidation services are something else you can consider when you are looking to reduce your credit card debit. A debit consolidation service will work with your creditors and help reduce the late fees and any other fees that your credit card debit may have incurred. Working with a debit consolidation service can be a great idea as it can end up saving you a lot of money. The thing that you need to keep in mind with these services is that you need to seek out a legitimate debit consolidation service that will report to the major credit reporting bureaus.

Too many consumers end up working with unsavory services that take their money and make payments late and end up making their credit card debit even worse then when then began. Debit consolidation services that do not follow legitimate business practices are very likely to not report on time payments that you have made to them to major credit reporting bureaus. And if you are not having regular and on time payments reported to the credit bureaus you are basically on a road to nowhere.

If you are a consumer that owns more then one credit card you may very well want to transfer your entire credit card debit to one credit card that bears a much lower rate of interest. Then you need to develop a budget that will allow you to comfortably make payments on your credit card debit (not just the minimum required payment) and still be able to meet all of your other monthly obligations.

These are just three of the things that you can do to reduce your credit card debit all you need is the resolve to finally get into a better finally conquer the credit card debit that has been plaguing you.

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