A debt payment plan is one of the many financial plans that you can use in money management. But more importantly, it is one of the plans that you can use to improve your financial situation.
Too much debt is devastating financial condition to be in. It has enough influence in your finances and it is even powerful enough to control your future. It can dictate the type of salary that you need to have, what expenses you can make and even your future goals. If you do not solve this problem immediately, you might find yourself unable to grab opportunities that could have increased your net worth exponentially.
MarketWatch.com published an article that mentioned how American consumers are relying on credit cards quite heavily once more. In fact, in the second quarter of this year, consumers added $28.2 billion worth of credit card debt to the current unpaid balance. This is said to be the biggest amount in the past 6 years. Not only that, it is 200% more than the debt added in 2009 (the same quarter).
If our debts keep on growing, it is probably time for us to take a look at the debt payment plan that we are using to slowly but surely eliminate our credit obligations. If you do not have one yet, then it is about time that you think about creating one. When you have plan, your pursuit to pay off debts will be more effective than when you are just blindly making payments to every bill that you have.
What is making your payment plan for debts ineffective?
You can assume that our increasing debt may have been caused by our growing confidence when it comes to our financial security. According to the October 2014 survey done and published on Bankrate, 24% feel that their net worth is higher compared to 15% who felt that it was much lower. This confidence may have been causing consumers to rely on credit once more.
While total credit elimination is tough to accomplish at this point, you may want to consider checking your debt payment plan to make sure that your credit will be lowered to manageable amounts. If you leave your debts to chance, it might soon overtake your ability to pay it off.
Of course, you also need to check if your payment plan is working at all. If you find that you had been making payments every month but your debt does not seem to be getting any lower, you may want to check these 5 reasons why your plan may be failing.
Your plan is not realistic.
One of the primary reasons why most plans fail is because they are not realistic. The only way that you can assure yourself that your debt payment plan is realistic is when you consult your current finances. You need to be honest with yourself about how much money you can really afford to contribute towards your debts on a monthly basis. If not, you may find yourself with a plan that is doomed to fail from the very start.
You chose the wrong debt relief program.
In most cases, when your plan is not realistic, it leads to you choosing the wrong debt relief program. For instance, you could have chosen a debt management plan when all your money can really afford is a debt reduction. You need to look at your budget plan to choose the right debt solution. Otherwise, you might find yourself struggling to keep up with a plan that is too expensive for your income.
You do not have an emergency fund.
Another reason why you could be in trouble with your debt payment plan is because you do not have an emergency fund. Some people might not get the connection but let us explain. You may have just enough money to satisfy the debt payments but if something happens to compromise your budget, like a blown car transmission or a sudden illness – you might be in trouble. You should remove any possibility of you getting into more debt.
You are not committed to your plan.
If your debt payment plan is not working, it might be also because of your inability to commit to it. If you find yourself making late payments are failing to consider the penalty charges, you are already compromising the effectiveness of your plan. A plan, no matter how fool-proof it is will only be effective if you can follow it. Unless you can commit to it, then your plans of getting out of debt will not be realized.
You have not stopped taking more debts.
The last reason for your plan to fail is when you are still taking on more debts. This is one of the reasons why you need an emergency fund – to keep yourself from the need to take on more debt if the unexpected happens. But even if you have an emergency fund, if you continue to use your credit cards, you will find it hard to be completely be out of debt. You need to stop taking on more debts if you really want to complete your debt payment plan.
Steps to create a fail-safe credit repayment plan
In case you haven’t been working with a plan to get out of debt, there are a couple of things that you need to remember. First things first, know the importance of having a plan. That is because a plan will give your quest to eliminate debt some direction. It will give you a target and will allow you to gauge how far you have come. Creating a plan will force you to think forward into getting rid of your debts.
But for you to maximize the benefits of your debt payment plan, you may want to consider the following steps in creating it.
- Consult your finances. Do not just create a plan. Make sure you consult your budget so that you will know just how much you need to pay off your debts. It will also tell you if you need to reduce or debts or at least lower your monthly payments. Once you know how much you can comfortably afford to contribute towards your debts, then you can determine how you can pay it all off.
- Know your debts. The next step is to understand what type of debts you have. One article published on USNews.com tells a story of how some consumers paid off their debts. The article mentioned that if consumers had student loans and credit card debts, they should consider paying more towards the latter because it has a high interest rate. This is why you need to know what your debts are so you can prioritize appropriately.
- Identify the cause of debts. The next thing you have to identify is what caused you to fall into debt. You need to see if it is your lifestyle or your complete disregard for what you can or cannot afford. Once you know that, you can easily identify the habits that you need to change.
- Change your bad financial habits. The next, obviously, is you changing your habits. You need to make sure you will not fall into the same debt pit again. Unless you enjoy debt payment plans, you may want to make sure that you will not commit the same mistakes that got you in this financial position in the first place.
- Create the plan. Once you have all these details, you can create your debt payment plan. If you consider all of these, you should be able to create a plan that is realistic and effective.
- Monitor your finances. After creating your plan, that is not the end of your task. You need to monitor your finances so you can make sure that you are following your plan. You should try to monitor not just your plan, but also your spending, debt balance and your savings.
