Thursday, January 29, 2009

You Can Be Debt Free

By Brenda Lengel

Many of us worry about high credit card bills and we want to find out how we can become debt free. With all of the credit card offers that we receive in the mail each week and the pressure from retail stores to open a credit card account, it is easy to obtain a credit card, spend money on that card, and then not be able to pay the balance off at the end of the month. This leads us into debt, and if we are not careful, that debt can grow and cause us a great deal of stress.

The first thing you will need to do as you start to consider how you can become debt free is to review your monthly income and expenses. Find places where you can cut expenses and then set a monthly budget that you can follow. Save your credit cards for emergency situations only and cut up extra ones that are not needed. As you make these changes you may find enough money to meet the monthly payments on your cards and loans.

Many times it is necessary to contact a debt consolidation company in order to become debt free. The goal of a debt consolidation company is to help you with your credit card bills and loan payments that you are having difficulty paying. There are different methods of debt consolidation and your debt counselor will be able to review the methods with you and help you to choose the right program for your specific needs.

The debt consolidation company will negotiate with your creditors for lower interest rates and reduced fees. Your credit accounts are then combined into one account with the debt consolidation company and you make one monthly payment to them. The debt consolidation company then pays your creditors. This helps you reduce your debt burden and improve your credit scores.

If your debt burden is too large, you can take a debt consolidation loan to become debt free. A debt consolidation loan will help you consolidate all of your loans and credit card dues into one single loan at a lower rate of interest and for an extended payment term. This way you will have to pay just one monthly repayment rather than paying several expensive repayments.

The debt consolidation company may also offer debt settlement, where your accounts are all settled for a lower payment amount. Debt consolidation counselors know the best way to talk to your creditors about your credit card bills, and they will work to obtain the best settlement amount for you on each of your accounts. After you have made your required monthly payments to the debt consolidation company for the agreed upon term, you bill be debt free. Your accounts will have been settled for less than you currently owe and you will be free of the stress of credit card debt.

You will be debt free once you have made the required payments for any of these debt consolidation methods provided that you have not continued spending excessively and run up any new debts. The stress of the high balances on your credit cards will have been eliminated. You will be free to save money now for future purchases and you will have learned to follow a monthly budget. You can become debt free with the right guidance and the right debt consolidation program.

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