Solve Your Debt Problems
Although it would be wonderful if debt would magically disappear, the only way to get rid of it is to pay it off. Almost everyone has some sort of debt.
Although getting rid of debt is not as simple as accumulating it, there is a way you can put a stop to the downward spiral. There is a three step plan that can eliminate financial problems for everyone. The three steps to solving your debt problems include: inventory, prioritize, and rollover.
Take Inventory of All Debts Owed - Make a list of all credit cards, personal loans, student loans, car loans, etc. Next to each line item, list the interest rate and minimum payment required. After you have come up with all creditors, rewrite your loans in a different order. This time, line them up starting with the highest interest rate loan and ending with the lowest interest rate.
Prioritize Your Debts - The next step, is fairly simple because most of the work is already done for you. Each month pay only the minimum payment on every single loan except for the loan at the top of the list. The loan at the top has the highest interest rate, and therefore, is costing you the most unnecessary money. Every time you get any extra cash in the month you put it towards this loan and this loan only. You will find that this loan will quickly diminish until it has disappeared.
The Rollover Strategy - Rollover is the next and final step to the debt elimination system. Once the first loan on your list is paid off, simply rollover ALL the money you used to pay for that loan and roll it over to the next item on your list. This should be the loan with the 2nd highest interest rate. Each time you pay off a loan you add more money into your payment pot. This makes the next loan all that much quicker to eliminate. It becomes a snowball rolling down the hill, picking up more snow and more positive momentum.
If you are in a situation where you need help solving your debt troubles, this system does work. The best thing you can do for your financial future is to take the bull by it’s horns and proactively work on solving your debt problems.
How To Control Your Debt
If you’ve ever opened up your credit card statement and been shocked at the balance staring back at you, you’re not alone. More and more, Americans are stretching their credit to the max. The trend toward using credit cards to pay for regular expenses such as utility bills, grocery bills, gas, and fast food illustrates the increased dependency on credit. And credit cards are far from the only type of debt. Student loans, mortgages, IRS debts, and other indebtedness can leave you wondering how you can stay in control.
Know what you spend. When using a credit card, it’s quite easy to spend much more than you realize. Even small transactions add up rapidly into large balances with high interest rates. For this reason, it can be useful to keep a transaction register for your credit card similar to the one you keep for your checking account. Write down each transaction and add up your spending. If you want to make sure to spend no more than a certain amount per month or in total, write that amount in as a balance just as you would note the balance in your checking account. Subtract the transactions you make from that “balance” up to the full amount and then stop using the card until you’ve paid the amount back down. To make this work, you may need to take the card out of your wallet and put it away somewhere.
Know what you are really paying. How much debt are you comfortable with carrying? If you are unsure, ask yourself how much interest you are wiling to pay each month. Then calculate how much debt you can have at that level of interest by taking the number you’ve come up with and dividing it by the decimal form of the interest rate you’re paying. For example, if you would like to pay no more than £25 in interest each month and your interest rate is 12.9%, divide £25 by .129. (For 9.9%, the decimal form would be .099. Don’t forget to put in the extra zero for single digit interest rates.) You’ll find you should carry no more than about £195 as a balance on your card each month to stay at this interest level.
This rule also applies when shopping for a home. The price tag on the house itself is only the beginning. Consider the total amount you will actually have paid by the time you own the home free and clear. The way interest is calculated for a mortgage is somewhat complex, so ask your loan officer to add it up for you before making a purchase decision. As a general rule, you should never take on a mortgage payment that is more than 30% of your income, and certainly no more than you get after taxes from a bi-weekly paycheck.
Remove the option to use your credit card if you need to. If you’ve tried several methods of controlling your credit card spending and find that you lack the discipline to stick with the plan, you may need to hide or destroy your card. Hiding the card from yourself may work if you can put it somewhere that keeps you from using it. If you find yourself frequently retrieving it and using it despite the fact that you had put it away, then it may be time to destroy your card to curb your spending. One solution is to put your cards in a bowl and fill it with water. Freeze the bowl and the cards, that way you have to chip away to get to your cards… and hopefully any passing urges will be gone by the time your cards are thawed out.
Controlling your debt begins with being aware of it. Everyone finds it easy to pass the credit card across the counter, but when you know what that swipe will actually cost you, you’re more likely to think twice about reaching for a card.
How Do I Know If I Am a Candidate For a Debt Relief Program?
While specific debt relief companies have their own requirements for candidates, there are a number of fields that individuals can examine in order to determine whether or not they will likely be good candidates for such programs.
To begin with, most companies require their applicants to be at least ten thousand pounds in debt, and they must also possess a deep desire to become free of debt. Many individuals who are in the military cannot be aided by such programs because debt negotiation and debt consolidation may jeopardize the individuals who need security clearance. Individuals who are employed by the federal government need to be carefully screened in order to determine whether or not they are choice candidates for such a program. The following details the main guidelines that need to be explored in order to have the best odds of being approved for such a financial assistance program.
First, it is vital that individuals have a strong desire to be debt free. Debt relief programs are not just to get people out of debt. There is an educational process that takes place in order to help enrolled candidates learn about debt and how to avoid it going forward. There is no reason for companies to help individuals who do not honestly want to be debt-free for the long run.
Individuals must also want to avoid having to declare bankruptcy. This is often an option for individuals in debt, but it can be very hard to recover from such a process - and recovery can take a number of years to accomplish. Next, such financial aid programs help to take care of unsecured debt. For many people, this means that their debt will need to be comprised primarily of credit card debt. This can include major credit cards, financing contracts and department store credit cards. Miscellaneous bills, secured loans, government or federally funded student loans and other similar debt cannot be included in debt relief and their programs. Medical bills can often be negotiated by debt relief programs and the administrators working for the programs. Based on the background of the medical bill, it can be determined whether or not the specific bill can be included in a candidate’s debt relief program.
During this time period, candidates must prepare to have a certain kind of budget planned out. For many people, this means that they will need to expect to pay roughly the same amount of money that they are already paying when it comes to their individual bills over the course of a month. Most of the money that has previously been paid goes toward the interest owed on the money that an individual has been borrowing.
Going forward, with help from the financial assistance program, less of the paid money will be going toward interest, and more will be going toward the actual amount of money that is owed by the individual. Candidates should be prepared to pay between two and three hundred pounds each month for every ten thousand pounds that the individual owes. Specifics can be determined by discussing your individual case with a debt relief program and representative.
Debt Management Changes Spending Habits
Chances are, if I asked anyone on the street if they were in debt, the answer would be yes. Milions of Americans fall further into debt every single day. What used to be the American Dream has now become the American Way. We see something, we want it, we buy it. No cash on hand? No problem, just use credit. Right? Wrong! Credit card debt is sweeping the country in very much the same way an illness or plague could. Infecting uneducated buyers and reducing their lives to a stressful, existence of trying to make ends meet. It is time to stop the infection. Now is the time to get some decent advice about consolidating debt.
Debt consolidation is not really an easy solution, but it is one with proven results. There is no waving of a magic wand to make the debt go away, instead it requires looking at the debt, recognizing the vastness of it, and actually creating a plan to pay it. The load is reduced as the payments are applied. Slowly and steadily the load gets smaller and smaller until eventually credit cards, student loans, and all the other consumer debts that you ran up without giving a second thought are removed from your shoulders where they have been weighing you down.
One prudent debt management solution would be to consider a consolidation loan that would lump all the little burden bills into one bigger burden bills. The advantages would be that you have only one monthly bill to pay. This is a good thing unless you have incredibly low interest rates on your individual debts. I’m guessing you don’t. You can look online for debt consolidation advice. There are many qualified credit counseling professionals that can help you map out a debt consolidation plan and help you find low interest rate consolidation loans to replace the multitude of little higher interest rate debts you juggle on a monthly basis. You may even find that you can keep more money in your pocket each month for the necessities you have been doing without.
I know that for me, the debt consolidation advice I found online was not only useful, but truly life changing. It was free. Yes, free. And it was so incredibly easy to talk to the representative and then make a plan that I could live with. Now, I pay one bill with payments that are about half of the combined total I paid before. Try it. You don’t have anything at all to lose, except that stress headache you get every time you try to stretch your paycheck to cover all those little bills that are piling up.
Bill Consolidation Loan Tips
Bill consolidation loans can lower rates and help you pay of your debt faster. However, you want to be sure that you factor in the cost of fees, find low rates, and pick a short term loan. These tips will ensure that you don’t end up spending more by consolidating.
Factor In Fees
Depending on the type of loan you choose, fees can vary from thousands to nothing. Refinancing a home mortgage and using the equity to pay off bills is appealing to many. But the thousands that it costs to refinance should be considered, especially if you aren’t getting a better rate on your mortgage.
Home equity loans and lines of credit can be used with little or no fees. Their rates are higher, but for smaller amounts they can still be cheaper. Personal loans are also an option since they still beat high interest credit cards.
Make Rates Pay
Before consolidating your bills, make sure that your loan rate will be lower that what you are currently paying. This might mean that you don’t consolidate all your loans. For example, student loans often have the lowest rates possible, better than a mortgage rate.
If you can only consolidate part of your debt, pay off the accounts with the highest interest rates for the greatest savings.
Go Short – On Terms
Choosing shorter terms on your loan will save you money on interest costs. While smaller payments are tempting, the long term interest payments can easily be more than what you pay now. Credit card payments are set to pay off your balance in five years. So if you can financially handle your current payments, pick a five term loan.
Shop Online
Shopping online for a loan can also help you save money in interest and loan costs. Many financing companies offer more competitive rates online than in their conventional offices. Request quotes from several lenders and look at their terms. Even a difference as little as an eighth of a percent can financially make a big difference.
Close Paid Accounts
To protect your credit score, make sure to close accounts once they are paid off. This reduction in your available credit will set you up for better rates when you do choose to open a new account, such as a mortgage.
