What most people are looking for in a debt management program does not exist. I find myself constantly on the phone with clients who are drowning in credit card debt, looking for the perfect debt management program. This is the criteria they are usually seeking: - Eliminate all debts quickly - Have a positive effect on their credit - Not have to deal with any phone calls from creditors
Reality Check: There is no such program!
What I have found over years of assisting clients out of debt, is that most are initially looking for a program that does not, and has not every existed. Let me be perfectly clear, there is no debt management program in existence, aside from just making all your payments on time, that will provide the above benefits. Now that we have that understood, let's talk about what options are available and in short summary; provide a basic understanding of each.
Debt Consolidation: Debt consolidation loans are typically home equity loans or second mortgages. This is where you take the equity out of your home to pay off unsecured debts, and then just repay the equity loan with one payment, hopefully lower than the total min payments on all your unsecured debts. The upside is that you can trade in your high-interest unsecured debts for a lower-interest, single payment that can sometimes have a tax benefit. The downside is that most people who have a lot of unsecured debt will not qualify for a loan, or have any equity in their home.
Credit Counseling: Credit counseling companies have been getting a lot of trouble lately with consumer protection agencies. Most of them are non-profit and claim to lower your interest rates and provide a low monthly payment. Typically, they take your payment and distribute to pay each creditor a small payment. The good thing is well there is no good thing. Credit counseling programs hardly ever do what they claim, and many creditors no longer participate. Most have found this to be a serious waste of money and time. The bad thing is that your creditors will enter a statement onto your credit report for every account in credit couseling that states that the account is handled through a program. This is a seroius negative for anyone looking at your credit.
Debt Settlement: This has become, by far, the most popular and most effective program for getting out of debt in a short period of time. However, you must truly be in a financial hardship and not able to pay your current minimum payments. The idea here is to negotiate an accepted settlement of less than what is owed with each of your creditors. All creditors will accept settlements as long as you are far delinquent, and have shown valid reason. It seems that attorneys have been most effective in negotiations with creditors due to the fact they cannot be easily bullied by debt collectors. The positive is that you can completely pay off your accounts for a fraction of what is owed in a very short time-frame; usually 36 months or less. The negative is that your accounts must become very delinquent before creditors will accept settlements. This is not a problem if you are in a financial hardship; after all, you already have an inability to make your minimum payments.
Bankruptcy: It once was that anyone could file chapter 7 bankruptcy. In the post-bankruptcy reform era most people now don't qualify for bankruptcy, and have no other alternative except the options outlined in this article. The good thing is that once a chapter 7 bankruptcy is fully discharged, the owed amounts are written off and will not pursued further. The bad thing is that it is that you will have a permanent public court record, and will also have a public record on your credit report for up to 10 years.
I hope you find this information helpful, and that it provides you with a foundation that will allow you to choose the best plan given your circumstances.
About the Author:
Jon Ochs is the President/CEO of Nationwide Debt Solutions, and a well respected authority on debt relief plans.
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