Credit card debt is the number one form of debt for Americans and continues to swell even more every year. When economic times are tough credit cards get even more use and for items they would not normally be used for, like groceries and gas. When this happens you are paying interest on daily essentials and paying more for them down the line instead of using your credit cards for emergency or large purchases. When anything is charged on one of your credit cards it is subject to interest rates and often paid off at the minimum payment over a period of years. So, one tank of gas or one trip to the grocery store for a week’s worth of food will literally take you years to pay off!
Credit counseling is a form of debt management that allows you to meet with a trained and often certified debt specialists with information about all areas of debt management include debt consolidation and debt negotiation, who can take a look at your current credit card debt situation and advise you on the path through your credit card debt and to a brighter, more stress-free financial future.
Before you journey out to find a credit counselor, take the time to put together a list of all your credit card accounts with the following information included for each: creditor, creditor contact information, current balance, monthly payments and interest rate. This is the basic information about your account and can help with the process of planning to get rid of that debt. For this article, we will cover the two main forms of credit counseling and the other ideas surrounding it. These include debt consolidation and debt negotiation.
Debt consolidation is the form of debt management that allows you to request a loan that will be used to pay off all other, including credit card, accounts leaving you with only one loan with one monthly payment and one interest rate. This can often bring instant relief from harassing phone calls and letters and can lower your monthly payments and overall interest rates. These loans are available in secured and unsecured like other loans and this is decided by the level of borrowing power you have.
Debt negotiation is a form of debt management that allows you or a representative for you to contact your creditors and negotiate with them to lower monthly payments, interest rates or come to a settlement agreement to pay off the loan or account balance at a lower amount. This can be intimidating for many debtors to do, but with the help of a credit counselor the process can be rewarding and successful.
Credit counselors can also offer other credit card debt elimination services like helping you put together a smart pay off plan, plan for the better, smarter financial future and work with you on budgeting and sticking to a monthly budget. When considering the options of credit counseling and they can help you find the best way out from under credit card debt and help you avoid getting into the same situation in the future. Credit counseling does not have to be a hard experience with embarrassment and ridicule, it can be a light, supportive process with the right credit counselor and credit counseling services firms behind you.