Thursday, January 22, 2009

Educate Yourself with Credit Counseling

By Paul J. Easton

You wake up one day and become conscious that it is time to do something about it. But barely enough money to cover basic living expenses, you are now struggling to pay for credit card bills. If only you have skipped that shopping last month.

Many people live off their credit cards saying that they will pay them next time but unfortunately don't. They keep on setting the problem aside until it is too late. Now, they have more debt than they can handle and goes crazy with the situation.

If you find yourself in the same boat, you must get help as soon as possible. Consumer credit counseling is one of the best ways to get started. This service is provided by different agencies to help you get on the track toward financial stability. Credit counseling agencies will give you guidance on the smart use of credit, budget creation, timely paying of bills, and the basic managing of your money. Most of the debtors who ask for help eventually seek the expertise of these agencies to set up a debt repayment plan with your other credit card lenders.

You most likely think I am trying to persuade or sell you some form of their services. There are non-profit counseling agencies around which do not ask for a fee. There are lots of credit counseling programs out there, just be careful with finding the right and sincere counselor. If you finally decided to go this route, take the time to ensure that you are guide by trustworthy people in making decisions that will help you get out of this crisis.

Once you have finished choosing the right credit counseling agency for you, the agency will require you to supply information about your earnings, expenses, and debts from different credit cards and other sources. By evaluating your information, the counselor will discuss a plan tailored to your conditions. Moreover, the credit counselor may advise you to take financial education classes. The counselor can help you set up a debt repayment plan to make a detailed method to get out of debt. The debt repayment plan typically only covers unsecured debt like credit cards. Under the plan, the counselor will arrange with your creditors a deal with terms that will allow you to repay debts at much lower interest rates. In most cases, they take one step further by negotiating with your lenders in order to eliminate late and penalty fees. Upon accepting of the terms by your credit card lenders, you will be making your monthly payments directly to your credit counseling agency. They will individually finish paying every account until all the balances turn zero. Your credit card accounts that are registered with these plans are usually closed by the lender.

More than just helping you get rid of debt, the credit counselor aims to educate you to better manage your money to avoid this financial trouble next time. So make this plan a learning process so you will never fall trap once more.

To learn more information about credit counseling and how to get rid of debt, visit us on the link above.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment