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IVA Advice

Posted by | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 01-07-2011

Getting into debt can be difficult for one to get accepted by creditors. An IVA is a solution available to get creditors to give you a plan you can afford. Getting iva advice is important because debt problems will not disappear on their own; they must be dealt with as soon as possible.

When getting iva advice, the first thing required is to get all the information together on who you owe money to including companies and financial institutions. Once you have all the information about your debts in one detailed document, the next thing to do will be to choose which debts have the highest priorities. You must decide which debts should be paid off first and which will affect you the most if time is an issue.

With an iva, you will be required to pay off as much debt as you can afford for a certain period of time after which all the remaining debts will be written off. Getting iva advice is important because it is a better alternative than declaring bankruptcy. There are several options available when seeking iva advice; call centers are available and there are practitioners which are also available to help you out. It is best to seek as much iva advice as soon as possible which will allow you to have more time to pay off your debts. Most iva advice is free when contacting a call center. They will help you make your plan to propose it to creditors who will normally give you a plan that is affordable to you.

One of the great benefits of receiving iva advice is that most of the debtors will have their interest rates frozen. This will allow you to only pay off the loaned amount without have to pay off the high increase of interest.

Breaking down Debt Consolidation

Posted by | Posted in Debt Management | Posted on 02-02-2011

Introduction

Debt Consolidation is a procedure that a number of different people follow nowadays and ultimately what it means is that the person that is swimming in debt that happens to be far above what they have the ability to pay back is going to be the person that goes through a procedure that combines all of those different loans into one source of debt and therefore allows themselves to pay back the consolidated debt in a much easier and less stressful manner. Now, this is perhaps a definition that you’ve been exposed to before and while it sounds good on the top, ultimately it needs to be explained so that more people understand exactly what it is that is being talked about. We will break down a typical debt consolidation case over the rest of this article.

The Problem

The financial situation for the hypothetical person here has become very bleak. They have £10,000 left on their car loan, their mortgage still has a balance of £80,000 and when you toss in all of their other credit card debt, you get to the point where they are in debt up to £100,000 all things said and done. Now, £100,000 is a lot of money and in the case of a typical family it might even be more than three years worth of their wages, so ultimately when you take a look at the £100,000 of debt, you would want some plan that would allow you to deal with it.

The Solution

When you look at all of the different solutions, the first thing that you need to do in all of them is get your bearings. While the car loan and mortgage only represent two different sources of debt, the remaining £10,000 might come from as many as five or six other sources and that can make it very difficult to keep track of. So what you want to do is consolidate those debt sources into one debt source and the way to do that is to take out a home equity loan of £20,000 to pay off everything else and combine that £20,000 with the £80,000 mortgage that you already might have.

The Benefits

Aside from the convenience factor of only having one source of debt instead of several as was discussed above, there is also the interest rate factor. While the average mortgage will have an interest rate between 5% and 7% and most car loans will as well, credit card debt is usually going to be two to three times that amount and likely four or five times that amount if the debt is because of cash advances. So the interest rates would get lowered whenever you take a look at it that way.

Now, credit card minimum monthly repayment amounts are such that you are going to usually be paying at least 5% of your balance each month; in other words, credit card companies expect that any balance you happen to generate on your credit card can be cleared up in less than two years. Mortgages, as many people are aware, have 20 to 25 year terms and therefore the monthly repayment amount of consolidated debt will also be lower and therefore easier to manage.

5 Tips For Hiring A Professional Debt Settlement Company!

Posted by | Posted in Debt Management | Posted on 29-11-2010

If you’re considering using debt settlement to help you pay off your credit cards, here are 5 tips to help you decide on a company to help you.

Keep in mind that hiring a debt settlement company is no different than hiring any business to perform a service for you – so make sure you find the one that fits your needs the best. Not all debt settlement companies are the same. Like with any industry, there are good ones, and there are the rest.

Unfortunately, when it comes to settling credit card debts, you often hear more stories about people who complain than those who receive good service (and there are many).

How do you determine which settlement company will offer you the best service?

1)Shop around
When hiring a settlement company, you should contact at least 2-3 different businesses and compare the services and terms they offer. Not only will you find the best company to represent you, but you will learn a lot about how debt settlement works, and how it can help you.

2)Check with the BBB
While not everyone with a complaint contacts the Better Business Bureau (so a clean record may be misleading) if there are several unresolved complaints, that is a “red flag” to find out why there are unhappy customers. If the complaints have been resolved, that is a good sign that the debt settlement company offers good customer service. You can search for company records online at www.BBB.org.

3)Check references
While debt settlement is a confidential process, and therefore you may not find many companies willing to give out names of happy customers, it is worth asking. Talking to a former customer will tell you more about a company than any brochure or website.

4)Get all the details in writing first
This is an absolute MUST – you should never agree to anything, sign any paperwork, or send in any money until you get all the terms and conditions in writing. A written contract will help you understand what service you should receive, how much it will cost you, and protect you if an issue comes up.

5)Ask lots of questions
If you have any questions (and the more settlement companies you talk to, the more questions you will have) make sure to ask them – and get the answers you want. If a company is not willing to take the time to answer your questions now, how will they respond to you once you become a client and your money is at stake?

Bottom line, it is your responsibility to “do your homework” and research the best company to help you settle your debts.

If you take the time and effort to find the company that will fit your needs the best – just like you would when hiring any professional – you will greatly reduce the chances of a major problem occurring.

Settling your credit card debt is a big decision for anyone to make, so don’t make the decision lightly!

Get Out of Debt: The First Step

Posted by | Posted in Debt Management | Posted on 18-09-2010

The World is in debt.  Almost all people and organizations are carrying debt to survive, including the Governments of all of our Nations.  This is just a fact of life and this is the way that we were raised.  You must acquire debt to survive; there is no other way.

This is entirely not true.  In fact if we chose to save for the things that we really want, we would be able to afford a lot more than we already have.

Just think about it for a minute.  Without debt, we would only have to pay our “bills”.  Rent or Mortgage (Debt, but necessary), Utilities and Insurance.  Imagine all of the money that you would have at the end of the month.  No credit card payments, no car payment, no personal loans.  Now you can afford some of the luxuries that you used to pay for month after month on credit and it won’t cost you three times the cost of the purchase as with credit.

Okay, this sounds great in theory, but it is a little late.  Boy, if only you had told me this when I was 18 (like I would really have listened).  I am in debt up to eyeballs and there is no way out.  This is the way that it is supposed to be.  This is the only way that it can be.

Rubbish!

This is the exact reason that everyone stays in debt and why the credit card companies are making fortunes.  You can get yourself out of debt and take back control of your life.  Of course it will take desire, will power, and perseverance.  Most importantly you have to take the first step.

The key to getting out of debt is really quite simple; organization.
You cannot help yourself get out of any situation without first realizing what exactly you are into.  This indeed is the first step.

Most people go on day-to-day paying their bills as if it is just a part of life.  They get the bill, pay the minimum or a little over and wait for the next one.  This is a vicious cycle and it has no end.  As long as you keep doing this, is as long as you will stay in debt and stay at the mercy of your creditors.

You first need to gather all of your most recent statements.  Write down or input (I use Excel for this) all of your creditors.  At this point I would even put in your mortgage holder to give you the whole picture.  Find out your current balance for each and input that.  Now input your minimum payment for each one.  At this point I would not even worry about interest rates.

You now have the whole picture.  Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.  Now you know what you are up against and you can make a plan.  Just remember, try not to take on additional debt.

You are now ready to take control of you financial life.  Say goodbye to debt, say hello to life!