Debt Relief

Do you need debt relief? Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by debt, even hopeless? There are reasons you may be struggling to pay your bills and need debt relief. Making your minimum monthly payments could cost you many times the principal and take up to thirty years to eliminate your debt. There is a vast difference between making your monthly payments and resolving your debt.

Here are some facts about debt relief alternatives

Credit Counseling or Debt Consolidation as debt relief: A credit counseling debt relief plan does not erase your credit history. Your creditors will continue to report information about accounts that are handled through a debt relief plan. For example, creditors may report that an account is in a debt relief credit counseling, that payments may have been late or missed altogether, or there are write-offs or other concessions. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, accurate information about your accounts can stay on your credit report for up to seven years, that's seven years after your last payment on each account. A demonstrated pattern of timely payments will help you obtain credit in the future. Does that sound like debt relief?

Bankruptcy as debt relief: Many people do not understand all of the consequences when filing bankruptcy. Bankruptcy attorneys will often try to convince you that there are minimal consequences associated with bankruptcy. The reality is that bankruptcy has consequences far beyond your credit report. Federal Law requires you to disclose the filing of bankruptcy, regardless of the timeframe, when asked on any future employment application, loan application, mortgage application and numerous other documents you may be required to fill out in the future. Does that sound like debt relief or even credit repair?

Debt Settlement as debt relief: If you have cash, you may be able to negotiate with creditors to accept a lump sum payment for less than the actual balance due. In order to obtain a favorable settlement, it typically must be paid in full within 10 days of reaching an agreement. Some creditors refer to debt settlement as debt forgiveness, settlement in compromise, or a negotiated settlement. Any amount of debt forgiven is normally reported to the IRS, so that you pay income taxes on that amount. Attempting to get debt relief through settlement is looked upon more favorably than filing bankruptcy. Does that sound like debt relief or debt solution?

• FDCPA: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act - The full text of this consumer credit protection act.
• Debt Counseling - Learn when to ask for this kind of help.
• Paying off past due accounts - Does this help or hurt your debt situation?