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The Cost of Credit Card Debt

April 27, 2012 by

If one of your ancestors was an early settler in Georgia, you might not want to brag about it much. This is because Georgia started as a colony where England sent its debtors. So, if your great, great, great, great grandfather arrived in Georgia early on, you can almost bet he learned about the dangers of debt the hard way.

Of course, today the cost of credit card debt doesn’t include the threat of being thrown in the hold of a ship and sent off to some far away land. But the cost of credit card debt can still be severe.

Are you being harassed?

Are you receiving harassing phone calls at all hours of the evening where debt collectors are hollering at you and threatening dire consequences like having your wages garnisheed? Or maybe you can’t sleep nights worrying how you’re going pay your next month’s bills, including the minimum payments you’ll need to make on all those credit cards you’ve just about maxed out.

The emotional cost of credit card debt

If you’re carrying a lot of credit card debt, we don’t have to tell you what an emotional burden this can be. It can feel like you’re walking around every day carrying a 100-lb. backpack or you’re being crushed by a ginormous stack of bills. In fact, credit card debt can just suck all the fun out of life.

The financial cost of credit card debt

Credit card debt also comes with a financial cost beyond just the payments you’re fighting to make. Once you run up a lot of debt, you may not be able to get any new credit cards unless you’re willing to pay some outrageous interest rate. You may not be able to get any other kind of credit such as a loan unless you’re willing to put your house up as collateral or, again, pay an interest rate of 20%, 22% or even more. The higher the interest rate you’re forced to pay, the longer it will take you to pay off that card because so much of your monthly payment is going just to pay interest. For example, if you owe $15,000 on a card with 20% APR and make only the minimum payments, it would take you 18 years to pay if off. And the interest alone would cost you more than $10,500!

What to do about credit card debt

There are some good alternatives to making just minimum payments every month and keeping your fingers crossed that somehow things are going to get better. One solution is a debt consolidation loan. This is where you go to your bank or credit union and take out a loan big enough to pay off all your credit card debt. The advantage of a debt consolidation loan – besides the obvious one of getting those collection agencies off your back – is that you will get a much lower interest rate. In fact, you should be able to get a home equity line of credit or a second mortgage for 6% or less and have a monthly payment of around $300.

 Only one way to reduce your credit card debt

A problem with debt consolidation loans is that they do nothing to reduce your credit card debt. All you’re really doing is moving it from one lender (or lenders) to another. In comparison, there is a solution called debt relief that can actually reduce the amount you owe the credit card companies and get you lower monthly payments. The company National Debt Relief has years of experience negotiating with credit card companies to get debt reduced. In many cases, it has negotiated settlements of 50 cents on the dollar or a 50% reduction.

National Debt Relief has a website (http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com) where you can get a free debt analysis to see if the company could get your credit card debt reduced by 50% or more. The company charges no upfront fees; you pay only if it can negotiate a debt settlement plan you can live with – and that will get you out of debt in just 24 to 48 months.

 

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Debt Relief Loans

April 26, 2012 by

When I was young with a wife and 2 small children I managed to get myself into some serious debt. It’s not that I was a big spender or that I was stupid, it’s just that I wasn’t making as much money as it was costing us to live. That was back in the so-called “good old days” when the husband worked and the wife stays home. We had only one income and it just wasn’t enough to cover our normal living expenses. We got so far in debt that I had to go to one of those companies that specializes in debt relief loans. I was a college graduate with a decent job and it was just very embarrassing to have to go and basically plead for a loan.

Most families struggle with debt

Things are different now. It’s not as embarrassing to check out debt relief loans because almost every family is now in debt. I have seen reports that the average American household now carries about $19,000 in debt if you can imagine that. Plus, you can now get debt relief loans online and not have to face that stern looking loan officer who needs to know every detail of your financial life.

Secured and unsecured debt relief loans

Debt relief loans fall into two categories–secured and unsecured. A secured loan is one where you put up an asset as collateral for the loan. This could be a boat, your second home or your house. The important thing is that you have to have more equity in it then you are asking to borrow. For example, if you need to borrow $20,000 for debt relief, you would need to put up an asset where you had at least $20,000 in equity. If yours were the average American family, this would most likely be your home. If you fail to make your payments on a loan secured by your home, your lender could actually force you to sell it.

No collateral but …

The advantage an unsecured debt relief loan is that it requires no collateral. However, you will most likely have to pay a much higher interest rate because the lender is taking more risk. If you should fail to make payments on their unsecured loan, the most the lender can do is harass you for payment or turn the debt over to a collection agency. In addition, unsecured debt relief loans often come with high upfront fees because again, the lender is taking more risk and needs more money to offset it.

The best debt relief loans

It is probably better to apply for a secured loan because you will have a much better interest rate and can pay off the debt faster. As a rule, the best debt relief loans are a homeowner line of credit or a second mortgage. Your bank or credit union can probably help you with one of these loans. Be sure that you read the loan papers carefully so that you will understand exactly what you’re getting into. There will probably be loan origination fees and it’s important you know what they will be. It’s also important to remember that you’re not reducing your debt. You’re just moving it from one lender or set of lenders to another. You will have more time to pay off the loan but you’ll be paying off the same amount of money, plus whatever interest you’re charged.

Debt relief versus debt relief loans

One alternative to a debt relief loan is called debt relief or debt settlement. The company National Debt Relief has done debt settlement for many Americans. This consists of negotiating a settlement plan with the credit card companies that can reduce your debt by 50% or more.  Cutting your debt by 50% usually means reducing your monthly payments accordingly, which allows you to pay off your debt much faster. In fact, National Debt Relief ((http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com) says it can probably negotiate a settlement plan that will get you completely out of debt in 24 to 48 months.

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Fair Debt Collection Practices

April 26, 2012 by

Almost all of us start our lives as adults with little or no debt – with the possible exception of student loans. However, sometimes debt just starts to accumulate. Before we know it, we’re deep into credit card debt. Our phones start ringing at all hours. If we don’t pay our credit card bills, they can be turned over to collection agencies that start harassing us. If this sounds familiar, relax. There are laws about fair debt collection practices that protect us from unscrupulous collection agencies.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The U.S. Congress passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 1966 and amended it in 2006. It is designed specifically to protect us from unsavory collection agencies. If you’re being harassed by one of those agencies, it’s important to understand what bill collectors can and cannot do.

What collection agencies can’t do

According to the FDCPA, collection agencies cannot call you at inconvenient times such as 11:00 PM or call you constantly. It cannot tell any third parties (such as your employer) about your debts and it cannot use abusive or profane language. In addition, a bill collector cannot threaten to take action against you that isn’t legal, threaten to communicate false credit information about you or use deceptive methods to collect money from you. And maybe most important, it can’t call you before 8:00 AM or after 9:00 PM

How to deal with a collection agency

If you are contacted by a collection agency, you should first talk with the collector to see if the matter could be resolved. This is true even if you believe you don’t owe the debt or think you’re being contacted by mistake. In other words, don’t just ignore that first call.

If you don’t want the debt collector to contact you again, you can, according to the FDCPA, write a letter and tell it to stop contacting you. Send the original to the collection agency by certified mail and pay for a return receipt so you can prove the agency actually received it. Be sure to keep a copy for your records. When the collection agency receives your letter, it legally can’t communicate with you again with two exceptions.

First, it can contact you to let you know it will not be contacting you again. Second, it can contact you to let you know that it will be taking a certain action such as suing you.

If a collection agency fails to stop, you can sue it and collect damages.  However, in the short term, a better solution might be to report the company to your state’s Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  Some states have their own laws about debt collection and your Attorney General’s office can help you understand your rights in your state.

Other ways to handle debt

While the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can protect you from being harassed by collection agencies, it can’t protect you from your debt. If you’ve run up a lot of credit card debt, you will have to pay it off one way or another. Many families have chosen a technique called debt relief (or debt settlement) as a way to get out from under their debt. The way this works is that they contact a debt relief company such as National Debt Relief to negotiate a debt settlement for them. National Debt Relief has a proven track record for being able to negotiate settlements with the credit card companies where the debt has been reduced by 50% or more. Debt relief like this can have an affect on your credit rating but this is usually just for the short term and doesn’t have nearly as drastic an effect as filing for bankruptcy.

If the idea of debt relief appeals to you, be sure to go the National Debt Relief’s website (http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com) and fill out the free debt analysis form you’ll find there. The company charges no upfront fees so you have nothing to lose – except maybe half your debt.

Filed Under: Credit Card Debt Tagged With: , , , ,

Credit Card Consolidation

April 26, 2012 by

Did you know that in 2012, credit cards rank as the third highest debt in American homes? This is based on the analysis derived from the US Census, and the Federal Reserve’s Survey on Consumer Finances and Aggregate Revolving Consumer Debt Survey. The top two loans that burden consumers are mortgage and student debts.

Credit cards, are estimated to be almost $16,000 for the average American home. Given that amount plus the rising costs of living makes you wonder how on earth can we cope with such heavy debts?

Apart from putting a tight rein on your spending, you can always resort to credit card consolidation. We will advise you to consult an expert before you finalize your decision but let us educate you first on what this option can bring you.

The name itself is practically self explanatory. It means you will combine all your credit card payments into one. If you own multiple credit cards and you have somehow maxed them out, the interest rates alone will be enough to cripple you. This is likened to a relief program that will allow you to make only one monthly payment for all of them.

3 Options to Consolidate your Credit Card Debts

There are three options to use this credit card debt solution.

Taking Out a Consolidation Loan
This option simply means you will get a huge loan that will allow you to pay off your credit cards and combining all those payments under a single obligation. This is called a credit card consolidation loan and it is the same as a personal loan – but with lower interest rates. The great thing about this is it combines all your debts into one and thus making payments and monitoring a lot easier. It is, however, only advisable for people with good credit standing – otherwise, you will be given a high interest rate that could end up making you pay more than what you originally owe.

Transferring of Credit Card Balances
This is the Do It Yourself option. You will have to transfer your debt to the credit card with the lowest interest rate. There are credit cards that are specifically marketed for combining balances and they are offered with lower rates and monthly payment schemes. Just call your credit card company and ask about your options. Take note that these are usually promotional in nature so there is an expiration to it. After the promo expires, you are back to paying off high interest rates once more. You can easily go from 0% interest to 15% – 18%.

A piece of advice is in order here. While it is tempting, is not advisable to close the credit cards that you have cleared as this will look bad on your credit score.

Through a Credit Counseling Company
The last option involves the help of a professional credit card consolidation company. They will work with your lenders with the hope of getting a lower interest rate and more time to pay back what you owe. They will help you come into an agreement with your creditor so you will be given a more lenient payment plan. The company will act as the middle person who will pay off all your credit cards.

An Alternative To Traditional Credit Card Consolidation

Before deciding on the path that you think will help you best, we’d like to offer another consolidation solution that involves debt settlement. NationalDebtRelief.com is a company that will help you achieve this. Our goal will be to prove to your creditors that you are unable to pay for the original balance of your debt. We will negotiate on your behalf so your creditors will allow you to pay only for a percentage of your total debt – depending on your financial capabilities. We will discuss the amount that you can afford to pay on a monthly basis and we will work around that figure. You will send us that amount which will be held in an FDIC insured trust account. That is where we will get the funds to pay off the settlement that we can reach with the credit card companies you owe.

Give us a call so we can discuss your different options. The initial consultation is for free.

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Best Way To Consolidate Debt

April 26, 2012 by

Do you feel as if you were drowning in a river of debt? Many Americans do. I saw one report recently that American families have an average of $19,000-plus dollars of debt. Think about that for a minute. The Census Bureau recently says that $46,326 is the median household income these days. Of course, median means an average value as indicated by the middle number of numbers in a series and many American families earn more than this. However, what this suggests is that the average debt of American families is nearly half the median income – which is why so many people are looking for the best way to consolidate debt.

Let’s look at the alternatives

While technically speaking, this may not be a way to consolidate debt, there is a way to manage debt by first paying off your credit card with the highest interest rate, then the card with the next highest rate and so forth. If you owe, say that $19,000 on four different cards with interest rates ranging from 18 %  to 12% , you could get yourself out of debt in about 3 years simply by first paying off the card with the 18 %  interest rate, then the one with a 16 %  interest rate and so forth

Zero balance credit card transfers

A second way to consolidate debt is to transfer all of your credit card debt to a new card that has a zero interest rate–at least for some period of time. If you can get a credit card with zero interest for 18 months you could save around $900 on $5000 of debt. Of course, at the end of their promotional, your interest rate could skyrocket to as high as 20% .

Secured debt consolidation loan

If you do owe $19,000 and an asset worth $19,000 or more you could get what’s called a secured debt consolidation loan. This means you would put up your asset as collateral on the loan and, in return, get a very good interest rate. There are homeowner line of credit loans and second mortgage loans available today with interest rates of less than 5 % . A second advantage of a debt consolidation loan is that you can stretch out your payments to five, seven or even 10 years. When you stretch out a loan for that many years, you should end up with a much lower monthly payment.

Unsecured debt consolidation loan

As an alternative to a secured loan, you might be able to get an unsecured loan where you don’t have to put up anything as collateral. As a general rule, an unsecured loan comes with a higher interest rate because the lender is taking more of a risk, as there is no asset it could seize. These loans can be good news for you because if you can’t make your payments, there’s nothing much the lender can do except turn it over to a collection agency. In comparison, with a secured loan the lender could actually force you to sell the asset you pledged as collateral, which would most likely be your house.

Debt relief

Many families have found the best way to consolidate debt is with what’s called debt relief or debt settlement. They hire a debt settlement company that negotiates with their credit card providers to settle the debt. In fact, a skilled debt relief company can usually settle credit card debts at $.50 on the dollar.

Debt relief can be the best way to consolidate debt for many families because it’s the only way to both reduce debt by 50% or 60% and get much lower monthly payments. National Debt Relief is a debt settlement company with many years of experience negotiating with credit card companies to get its customers very favorable settlements. You can learn more about this company at its website, http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com. Give National Debt Relief the opportunity to settle your credit card debt and you may agree that it’s the best way to consolidate debt.

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Do it Yourself Debt Settlement – As Easy as it Sounds?

April 25, 2012 by

If you are like most Americans today, you are probably swimming in credit card and other debt. In fact, the average household has at least three credit cards and a total credit card debt of more than $10,000.

If you are struggling to make your minimum payments while juggling your monthly mortgage or rent, utility bills, groceries and everything else, you may just want to throw up your hands and give up. However, walking away from your debts can cause all kinds of other problems that will haunt you for years. If you watch television at all these days, it may cross your mind that you could negotiate a debt settlement with your creditors and be done with the entire mess. However, do-it-yourself debt settlement is not nearly as easy as it sounds.

What is Debt Settlement?

Debt settlement has become more popular in recent years with the downturn in the economy. With so many people defaulting in their credit cards, it has become popular lore that you can call up your credit card company and negotiate a pay off and they will be happy to receive any sort of payment rather than nothing at all. While this may essentially be true, actually negotiating a settlement can be a Herculean task.

Debt settlement is the process of reaching an agreement with your creditors for a reasonable reduction in the amount you owe them. They may agree to a one-time lump sum payment, eliminating accumulated fees, reducing your interest rate or make other accommodations for you.

Do-It-Yourself Debt Settlement

Television programs make do-it-yourself debt settlement sound fairly easy. On the surface of it, all you do is make a telephone call or two and you can quickly reach a settlement agreement. The reality is far different.

Most first line customer service representatives do not have the authority to make decisions that lead to debt settlement. You will need to speak to a supervisor with decision-making authority. It may take you numerous, long calls to reach someone with that type of authority. Each time you call, ask for the name of the person you speak with and note anything they tell you. Also, note the date and the time you call. Request that the agent record your conversation on your account notes.


In many cases, creditors are reluctant to offer and accept debt settlement proposals from consumers. They may offer temporary hardship programs for you to participate in as an option. However, these programs rarely reduce your debt amount. Additionally, they are only temporary and may only provide you with a few months of reduced payments.

Debt Settlement Assistance

An alternative to a do-it-yourself debt settlement is to work with a professional credit counseling agency. Qualified credit counselors are specifically trained in debt settlement and have the negotiation skills to get access to real decision-makers, and they can find real and lasting financial relief on your behalf. Although you may not see instant results, it will probably far less time consuming and stressful than trying to negotiate a settlement on your own.

In many cases, professional debt settlement credit counselors are able to save you 50 percent on your outstanding debts. Once a counselor has negotiated a debt settlement agreement that works for you, you can then begin a debt consolidation program to pay off your remaining debt amount.

Debt Settlement and Consolidation

With a lowered remaining debt, then you will need to have a workable solution to paying off your creditors. Debt consolidation is the answer to this financial issue. The credit counseling agency will set up an account for you, and you will make regular monthly payments to this account. You submit one single payment each month and, in turn, they make payments to your creditors on your behalf. This arrangement allows you to manage your monthly budget more easily while making sure your payments are made every month, on time.

Debt Settlement and Your Credit Rate

The overall process of debt settlement and consolidation with a professional debt relief organization generally takes 24 to 48 months for most consumers to complete and in the end, your credit should improve and you will be debt free in the process. Unlike bankruptcy, your credit will recover in a matter of months as regular payments are made on your behalf. By contrast, bankruptcy stays on your credit record for up to a decade and can impact more than your ability to get credit. In today’s world, negative credit can raise insurance rates and even prevent you from getting desired employment.

You may be surprised at how easy it is to get back on the road to financial health when you have someone working for you in your corner. We charge no up-front fees, and you are only charged when we can show results for our efforts on your behalf. If you think you could benefit from someone else taking on the task of negotiating at debt settlement on your benefit, call us or fill out the form for a free debt analysis.

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Best Debt Consolidation Loan

April 25, 2012 by

You’ve managed to accumulate so much debt, it’s making you crazy. You’re literally lying awake at night worrying how you’re going to make just the minimum payments required by those five or 10 credit cards you’ve been using.

You’ve been looking for the best debt consolidation loan you can find with no luck because of your bad credit.

You’ve looked at bankruptcy as a possible solution but don’t want to lose some of your assets as you could in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. You’ve talked with a credit counseling agency but it can’t offer you much in the way of relief – just somewhat lower monthly payments and fewer harassing phone calls. So now you’re thinking about the best debt consolidation loan as a way to escape those night terrors.

The advantages of a debt consolidation loan

The biggest plus of a debt consolidation loan is that it lets you combine all your credit card debts into one lower, more affordable payment that should be easier for you to manage. When you combine all that credit card debt into a single loan, you should have a much lower monthly payment, which could make your life a lot easier and a lot less stressful.

Debt consolidation loans

The biggest difference between your credit card debt and a debt consolidation loan is the difference between unsecured debt and secured debt.

Credit card debt is unsecured, that is if you fail to pay your credit card statements, all a credit card company can do is turn your account over to a collection agency that will then start harassing you for payment.  In comparison, a secured loan is secured by something you own and use as collateral for the loan. In most cases, the asset you would use as collateral will your house.

You also need a pretty high credit score to even qualify for a loan to consolidate your debts. Usually you need a 700 FICO and above, more than likely you will need a 740 to 760 to get a low enough rate to make consolidation worthwhile.

The risk of a secured loan

The downside of a loan where you use your house as collateral is that if you can’t make your loan payments, you could lose it. This is because your lender could foreclose on the loan and force you sell your house to pay off your loan.

The best debt consolidation loan

This means that the best debt consolidation loan would be an unsecured loan or one where you don’t have to use your house – or some other valuable asset – as collateral. For example, the online lender, Lending Tree, offers unsecured debt consolidation loans, as does the company Instant Debt Consolidation Loans.

The advantage of an unsecured debt consolidation loan – besides the fact that you don’t have to use your home as collateral – is that you may have fixed monthly payments, just as you would with a secured loan. However, you need to make sure that the interest rate you’re offered is a fixed rate and not a promotional rate. There are credit unions and banks that will try to tempt you to apply for an unsecured debt consolidation loan by offering a special promotional rate that lasts just six or nine months and then leaps into the stratosphere.

Higher interest rate

You may also find that the unsecured loan you’re offered comes with a higher interest rate. This is because a lender that has collateral will feel much better about loaning you money than a lender that has no collateral and is, thus, taking a bigger higher risk.

Seek actual debt reduction instead of a loan

The downside of even the best debt consolidation loans is that you owe the same amount of money as before. On the other hand, there are companies that can negotiate with your credit card companies to actually reduce your debt amount – by 50% or more – and also cut your monthly payments. These companies are usually called either debt settlement or debt relief companies.

One of the best of these is National Debt Relief, a company that is almost always ranked in the top three of debt settlement companies. You can get a free debt analysis and see exactly what we could to do for you, National Debt Relief charges nothing upfront and takes its fee only if it can negotiate a good settlement for you and how great would that be?

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Average Credit Card Debt

April 24, 2012 by

When you think about your credit card debt, what picture comes to mind? Do you see an 800-pound gorilla sitting on top of your head? Or is it a huge pile of bills that seems insurmountable? Maybe you see your debt like the ancient Greek king, Sisyphus, who was made to roll a huge boulder uphill every day only to see it roll back down. Whether you see your credit card debt as a gorilla or a colossal stone, you’re not alone. The average credit card debt in America has become almost as immense as Sisyphus’s boulder.

The average credit card debt

It’s somewhat difficult to say exactly what is the average credit card debt in America because, as you can imagine, it grows every year and the statistics are always a year behind. However, according to one source, the average credit card debt here in the U.S, per family is $15,519. Just imagine, an average of $15,519. This means many Americans owe even more than this.

To show you how credit card debt is growing, it was about $8300 at the end of 2008. And this was an average, meaning that it included every household in the U.S., even those that had no credit cards. By the end of 2009, this had grown $10,679 and, as you have seen, it’s now probably 50% more than that.

What you can do about credit card debt

The only good news of credit card debt is that there are things you can do to relieve the stress you’re feeling. For example, many Americans turn to credit counseling services to help with what’s called a debt management plan or DMP. The best of these services are non-profits that provide their services free of charge. Many of them are actually supported by the credit providers as it is in their best interests for you to manage your debt rather than declare bankruptcy.

If you choose one of these credit counseling agencies, be sure to understand upfront if they charge for their services and if so, how much. You should also have a clear understanding as to the services they provide. The best of these agencies should be able to restructure your debt so you can get rid of it in five years or less, negotiate lower interest rates, and combine all your credit card debt into one more affordable payment.

A debt consolidation loan

A second way to handle your credit card debt is with a debt consolidation loan. Many Americans choose this as a solution to credit card debt because it allows them to take out a loan, pay off all their credit card debt and then make just one low payment a month.

While there are advantages to a debt consolidation loan, there are also disadvantages. For one thing, it will probably take you as many as seven to 10 years to pay if off vs. the five years it might take you to pay off your credit cards with a debt management plan.

Second, most debt consolidation loans are “secured” loans. This means you have to secure them by pledging an asset – most likely your house. If you fail to make payments on the loan, you could be forced to sell your house to satisfy it – and would find yourself and your furniture out on the street.

Only one way to reduce that debt legally without bankruptcy

Neither debt management via a credit counseling service nor a debt consolidation loan will actually reduce your credit card debt amount itself. In the case of debt management, you will owe the same amount but will have reduced payments. A debt consolidation loan simply shifts your debt from unsecured to secured.

There is a way to really reduce your debt and get much more favorable monthly payments. It is credit debt relief called debt negotiation. A company such as National Debt Relief often gets credit card debt slashed by 50% or more. So if you have the average credit card debt of $15,000, you could pay it off for $7,500. If that sounds like a good solution to you, check out the free debt analysis tool. Since it’s free, you have nothing to lose except maybe that immense boulder you have to keep rolling uphill every day…

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Help With Medical Bills

April 24, 2012 by

If you haven’t received any medical bills recently, you may not be intimately familiar with what has happened in healthcare costs. You might have read about the high cost of healthcare or seen news stories about it but it’s really hard to appreciate what even a simple procedure can cost until you have one and see a bill.

Here’s an example. We have a friend who recently had a small bit of plastic surgery done to the bridge of his nose to remove what’s called a basal cell carcinoma. These carcinomas are not dangerous but can lead to dis-figuration. He was in a surgical suite for about 45 minutes while the surgeon cut off the carcinoma and then had it tested to make sure that he had removed all the cancer cells.

Do you want to know what this medical procedure cost?

The total charge was in excess of $900.

Fortunately, my friend had insurance that paid the bill. But just think of how he would’ve felt if he had to pay the $900 out-of-pocket. Now, think what kind of medical bills you might see if you were uninsured and had an operation even for something as simple as an appendectomy.

Help with medical bills

If you find yourself faced with a huge stack of medical bills, there is help available. Many Americans who have found themselves in this position pay these bills with a debt consolidation loan. Banks and credit unions are usually a good source for this type of loan. However, it does come with a downside. For one thing, you will most likely have to “secure” that loan by putting up some kind of asset as collateral. Unless you happen to own a boat or second home where you have enough equity to secure the loan, you will most likely have to put up your house as collateral. This puts it at risk for foreclosure because if you fail to make your loan payments, your lender can force you to sell it.

The most drastic solution

Of course, the most drastic way to get help with medical bill debt is to declare bankruptcy. More and more bankruptcies are being filed every day due to bankruptcy. In fact, the most recent statistics I saw was that 9000 Americans file for bankruptcy every day. The most favored form of bankruptcy is Chapter 7. Most people choose this because it allows them to keep some of their assets. For example, a Chapter 7 lets you keep up to $60,000 of equity in your home and $6000 worth of equity in your automobile. However, the bankruptcy judge or referee can order you to sell other of your assets to help pay creditors.. In other words, you could very well kiss that fishing boat or camping trailer goodbye. Plus, having a bankruptcy stays on your record and can have a negative affect on your credit score for as many as 10 years.

Consumer credit counseling

A third way to get help with medical bills is with consumer credit counseling. You may have seen ads on television for one of these agencies. The best ones are nonprofits and don’t charge for their services. They can afford to do this because they are financially bankrolled by credit providing companies (major credit card banks such as Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, Citibank) as it is in their best interest to help you with your debt rather than see you file for bankruptcy. While these credit-counseling agencies cannot get your debt lowered, they can get your interest reduced so that you will have lower monthly payments.

If you have credit card debt on top of those medical bills, you can also get help with it through a debt relief company such as National Debt Relief. It has a good history of helping its customers cut their credit card bills in half or better. It charges no upfront fees and you can get a free debt analysis with no obligation – and what’s better than free? Get help with your medical bills now.

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Debt Relief Programs

April 23, 2012 by

Big time debt usually doesn’t happen all at once. It’s like a fog that that slowly and quietly envelops you. In some cases it starts small – with your student loans, followed by that riding mower you just had to have. Then before you know it, you’ve maxed out your credit cards or are in so deep that the best you can do is make minimum payments every month. Of course, sometimes that huge pile of debt does arrive suddenly in the form of medical bills or because of some other emergency. But regardless of how you ran up that debt, one thing is clear. You need to check out some debt relief programs.

What are debt relief programs?

Debt relief programs are designed to help people who are stuck in debt with no relief in sight. They offer credit card relief through negotiation and settlement with your creditors and can often get your debt reduced by 50% or more.

The pros and cons of a debt consolidation loan

There are four or five other ways you can get some debt relief. One of the most popular of these is to get a debt consolidation loan. The idea here is to borrow enough from one source (usually a bank) to pay off all your creditors. The advantages of a debt consolidation loan are that you should get a better interest rate and you’ll have to write only one check a month. Plus, it stops all those credit card companies and other creditors from hounding you unmercifully every month.

However, there are two disadvantages to a debt consolidation loan. First, depending on how much you need to borrow, it can take five, seven or even 10 years to pay it off. Secondly, it will be a secured loan, which is a loan secured by some asset – probably your house. If you fail to make your loan payments, you could be forced to sell your house to settle the loan and find yourself out on the street. In addition, if you crunch the numbers, you may find you’ll pay more in interest than you would save in payments.

Why debt relief through settlement and negotiation might be a better solution

The biggest plus of debt settlement or debt negotiation is that unlike any other solution; it will actually reduce your outstanding balances. So, instead of swapping one form of debt for another (i.e., a consolidation loan), it can cut down your debt and help you get you free and clear in as few as 24 to 48 months.

How can this be?

There’s a secret that the credit providers don’t want you to know. It’s that they will negotiate your debt. Of course, they don’t want to and they will fight this tooth and nail. However, if a credit card company can be convinced to either settle for, say, 50 cents on the dollar or risk not getting anything – it will settle.

You vs. the credit card company

In theory, you could negotiate with your creditors yourself and try for debt settlement. But it would be like taking a knife to a gunfight. The credit card companies know how to fight debt settlement, as this is something they do every day. On the other hand, you’ve probably never done this before and don’t really know your rights and could be easily rebuffed.

This is why it pays to hire a company that is skilled and experienced in debt relief programs.  For example, the online company, National Debt Relief, has years of experience negotiating settlements with credit providers. It has saved its clients an average of 50% on their debt. To put this in concrete terms, let’s suppose you own a staggering $20,000. Wouldn’t you feel better if this were to be magically reduced to $10,000?

In addition to negotiating settlements with your creditors, National Debt Relief will work with them to develop a repayment program that can get you completely out of debt – probably in 48 months or less. And best of all, National Debt Relief charges no upfront fees so it costs you nothing unless it succeeds negotiating a good settlement for you.

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