Because of the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, America’s unemployment rate hit
a historical high. This leaves thousands of families being overwhelmed by
mortgage payments, medical bills, and credit card debt with no income to pay
these expenses. For these individuals and families, Consumer Credit Debt
Counseling can solve their dilemmas.
Consumer Credit Debt Counselors are trained professionals who work side by side
with you. They can also negotiate with your creditors to reduce your debt by 60%
or more. With some counseling agencies, they require your debt to be above
$10,000.
Agencies offering these services will primarily help you learn two vital tools;
debt management and money management. For debt management, they negotiate with
your creditors to significantly reduce your debt, and then assist you in
creating a manageable payment plan with a predetermined time frame: such as
paying off $100,000 within five-years. A payment plan also shows which debts get
paid off first and how much to allot for each debt payment. The tool of money
management comes through building a budget based on your personal needs. A
critical benefit of a budget is that it can target areas of non-essential
purchases and overspending.
Debts such as medical bills, credit card debt, student loans, home improvement
loans, or other miscellaneous unsecured debts qualify for Consumer Credit Debt
Counseling. These are some of the many expenses that can quickly overwhelm
someone who now finds themselves unemployed, disabled, or the sudden loss of the
household’s only income through death.
Consumer Credit Debt Counseling agencies offer different options depending on
varying circumstances and the size of your debt. Most offer options such as Debt
Management plans and Debt Settlement plans. Debt Management is basically
consolidating your bills into one low interest debt payment, probably through a
debt consolidation loan. Debt Settlement plans are a positive alternative to
filing bankruptcy. Counselors negotiate reduced payment plans with creditors and
open a settlement account for you. Deposits are made by you into this account
and plan payments are made out of it. Unfortunately, debt settlement plans can
affect you credit in ways similar to bankruptcy, just not as detrimentally.
There are countless agencies and firms offering Consumer Credit Debt Counseling.
To name a few are Care One Debt Consolidation, Freedom Debt Help, Consumer
Credit and Debt Counseling Services, and Credit Counseling.org. Be sure to do
your own comparison research so you can choose the agency with the options to
best suit your financial circumstances.
Debt Relief Solutions