For some, job layoffs and unforeseen external factors have loaded them up with debt.  For most, however, debt is the result of extraneous spending, poor cash management, or both.

Here are ten tips to getting out of debt. Some are easier to follow than others, but all are designed to help alleviate the problem:

1. Create a realistic monthly budget for your expenses. List all monthly bills and necessities and make sure they are covered by your monthly income. Allow only the money remaining after the bills are paid to be spent elsewhere. Stay within your budget guidelines.

2. Pay off the balance on the charge card account with the highest interest rate first (unless the balance on any card exceed 50 percent of your credit limit). First, pay all balances to below 50 percent of the card limit because balances above this level cause your credit score to diminish. Then pay off the balance on the charge card account with the highest APR. If the account was opened within the past year and you have additional older accounts, close it after it is paid off. Next month do the same with the card that has the next highest annual percentage rates. Continue until you reach the charge card account with the most favorable terms (i.e., low annual percentage rates). Use this as your preferred account. You need only four open accounts to establish a positive credit history.

3. Learn to use cash instead of charge card accounts. Have one primary charge card and use it only for emergencies or major necessities, such as a new refrigerator if the current one stops working. Put your charge card account in a safe place, not available for everyday use. Also, do not accept increases on your charge card limit above an amount you can easily pay off in three months.

4. Use direct deposit for your paychecks. Also have a limit on how much you will allow yourself to withdraw each week and month.

5. Cut down on your discretionary expenses. This includes dining out, overusing your cell phone, and other such unnecessary expenses.

6. Evaluate your living situation. Your housing costs should be no more than 33 percent of your household income, including mortgage payments, property tax, and both property and homeowner’s insurance. You can shop around for lower insurance rates, refinance your home mortgage, and look for more economical utility plans.

7. Avoid borrowing money to get out of debt, especially consolidation loans. Many Americans think this is a way of helping them get out of debt. However, consolidation loans are simply a means of combining debt. You could end up losing everything because you’ve tied it all up in one loan. If you must borrow, see if a friend or family member can lend you money, since the annual percentage rates should be low or nonexistent.

8. Contact your creditors and try to work out repayment plans. Many creditors are willing to work with you in a manner that will help them get their money without having to resort to debt collectors.

9. Become a savvy shopper. Look for deals, bargains, and savings. You’d be surprised at how much you can save if you take the time to shop around. Check out the price comparison Web sites such as Shopping.com and BizRate.com.

10. Look for extra ways to make some money. From part-time work to a garage sale to taking in a boarder, there are many ways to bring in some additional income.

If all else fails, seek out help from a debt reduction specialist or counselors who can help you formulate a plan for getting out of debt and staying out. Just make sure that you check out the service in advance. Many companies are simply taking advantage of Americans in debt and charging them high service charges.

This article is brought to you by www.JemCreditCards.com, Not just credit cards – we build financial stability! Your source for the best credit card including Discover balance transfer cards, Chase balance transfer cards, and much much more!

Pay Off Your Debt Without Ruining Your Credit Rating

There are lots of ways to eliminate your credit card account debt. You could declare bankruptcy, you could call one of those “secrets the credit card account companies don’t want you to know” places and really destroy your credit rating, or, you could follow my simple plan for paying off all your charge cards, while actually improving your credit score.

Now the plan is simple, but it is not easy. To make it work you are going to need to exercise a large amount of self control, and be committed to paying off your credit card account debt.

Paying off your debt is going to have to become more important to you than having the latest car, the biggest house, or even the nicest shoes. In some cases, to pay off your debt you are going to need to make some sacrifices in your style of living.And it won’t happen overnight.

Paying off your charge card account debt is a lot of hard work, but the rewards are outstanding. If you follow my plan, not only will you pay off your credit card accounts, at the same time you will be building an emergency fund savings account. Imagine how it will feel to be debt free, and with money in the credit card company. Imagine not needing to worry if your car needs repair. Imagine what it would be like to on a first class vacation, and not have to worry about paying the bills when you get home.

I know what I am talking about. There was a time when I had almost $30,000 in credit card debt. Plus a mortgage! 5 years ago I paid off my last debt, and I have lived debt free ever since. But that does not mean I am living the frugal life. Before I paid off my debt I was paying almost $2,000 per month in interest alone! (That included my mortgage, which I also paid off.) Paying off that much debt freed up a bunch of cash each month. Since I have become debt free I have taken a two week first class vacation to Belize, and paid cash! I have bought a car, with cash, and I have enough in savings that I will be OK for a long time if I happen to lose my job.

Now normally this would be the place where I would tell you to buy my book, or sign up for my seminar, but that is not what I am going to do! Keep reading and I will tell you exactly what you need to do to pay off all your debt and become debt free.

Step Number 1- Find Out Exactly How Much You Owe On Your Credit Cards

Get all your credit card account statements together, and then using either a spreadsheet, or just a piece of paper, across the top create the following categories.Credit Card Name, Total Amount Owed, Interest Rate, Minimum Payment. Now using your charge card statements fill out the worksheet for every credit card that you are carrying a balance on. Then add up the total amount owed, and the total minimum payment. Take a moment to just look at these numbers. Look at the minimum payment amount. What could you do with that amount of cash if you didn’t have to send it to your credit card accounts? Now look at at the total amount due. Don’t worry about how big the number is, don’t feel guilty about running up that much debt. But do accept that this is the amount of debt you have, and that you are committed to getting rid of it.

Step 2 – What to Do When You Can’t Pay the Minimum Payments On Your Credit Card

Now go back to that minimum payment amount. If you regularly pay more than the minimum payment, I will get back to you in just a minute. But keep reading if you want to really accelerate paying off your charge card accounts. If you can’t pay more than your minimum payment, or if you are not able to pay even the minimum payments on your charge card. Listen UP! You are spending more than you earn. As long as you spend more than you earn, you will only get deeper and deeper in debt. And it will only get harder and harder to get it all paid off. Starting immediately you need to spend less, and make more. Personally I find spending less quite a bit easier than earning more. But I will be writing more hubs later that deal with both of these topics in more detail.

But for now, first look to where you can cut back on spending. You may think that you have cut back as much as you can, but I can almost bet you have not. Sometimes it takes drastic measures to make a real dent in your spending. Taking your lunch to work and passing on the daily latte will certainly help, but here are a couple ideas that will turbo charge your efforts to get your credit card debts paid off.

Consider selling your car and using public transportation. If you are making payments on your car, this might be all you need to get on the fast track for paying off your credit cards. Just make sure you can sell your car for enough to pay off the entire debt.
The second big step you can take to increase your income without taking another job is to consider taking in a roommate. In my area you can rent a room in your house for $500 per month. Once again, think about how quickly you could pay off your credit card accounts if you paid an extra $500 per month.

Step 3 – Paying Off Your Credit Cards, Have a Plan

Pull out your spreadsheet and take another look at your minimum payment. Now decide how much extra you can put towards paying off your credit cards.If you can’t come up with an extra amount, then go back and read the previous paragraphs. For the plan to work in a reasonable amount of time, you need to be able to pay more than the minimum payment. Decide which charge card you would like to pay off first. Some people like to pay off the card with the highest APR. That makes sense, because in the long run you will pay less in interest. Some people like to pay off the card with the lowest balance first. That way they will have the satisfaction of getting a card paid off in the quickest amount of time. Either way is fine with me, as long as you pick just one card that you want to pay off first, and stick with the decision.As you pay off each card, you will roll over the total payment into the next card you want to pay off.

For all of your credit card accounts except one, you are going to pay just the minimum payment…no more! This starting minimum payment is the payment you are going to make until the card is paid off. Over time, your minimum payment will go down, but the amount you pay on the card will not.

Now lets take a look at your extra payment amount. If it is under $12 take half of it and make that the additional payment on the card you are paying off first. That is right, I said half. Even if it is only $1. The other half of your extra payment amount you are to deposit in an emergency only savings account. Even if it is only $1. Now I know that most credit card companys will not open a savings account for only a dollar. Get creative, you don’t need to keep the cash at a credit card company, but you do need to put it aside to be used only for emergencies. And I mean real emergencies. You biggest priority right now is to pay off your debt. Your emergency fund is to be used only for things you literally can’t live without. If your extra payment amount is $12 or more, I want to you split it in thirds. One third to paying off your debt, one third to your emergency savings account, and one third to fun cash.

Step 4 – Automate Your Credit Card Payments

Now that you know exactly how much you will be paying on your credit cards each month, you can set up your payments so they happen automatically. Most credit card companys will let you do this through online banking, or you can contact your charge card account company and they will set you with an automatic payment plan. With all your payments on auto pilot, you won’t be late making a payment, and you won’t be tempted to skip a payment. You just need to be sure that you have enough in the bank to cover your payments.

Step 5 – Pay Cash for Everything

Let me tell you about a very difficult day in my life. I had committed to paying off my charge card account debt, and that meant not charging anything. How can you pay off your debt if you are continually adding to it? I was in the middle of putting in an above ground pool. It was May and the days were beginning to get warm. I couldn’t wait for my pool to be done so I could enjoy it. But on this particular day I realized that I needed some extra parts for the pool. I didn’t have the cash for it. I knew it could take weeks to save up the money for the parts, weeks that I could be swimming in my new pool. I am happy to say that I stuck to my plan. I made an extra effort to cut costs, and I did various odd jobs that I could find to bring in more money. In two weeks I had saved enough to buy what I needed to finish the pool, without adding to my charge card account debt.

Paying cash for everything is the hardest part of the plan, and the most important. As the old saying goes, if you want to get out of the hole, quit digging! This was the most challenging part for me and for most people. But once you get in the habit of paying with cash or doing without, you wil find that it gets easier and easier. Plus you will be getting the satisfaction of watching your credit card balances go down for a change.

The Final Step To Becoming Debt Free

Every once and again, most people will have a time when some extra money comes into the house. It could be a tax refund, a raise a work, even an inheritance you didn’t know was coming. Whenever that happens, just apply the one third rule. One third goes to paying off debt, one third goes to emergency savings, and one third goes to fun money.

A funny thing starts to happen as you learn to live on a cash basis, and as you watch your charge card account balances decline. You start to enjoy living within your means. You find that you are stressing less about cash, and you might actually find yourself feeling sorry for the people with lots of expensive “stuff” that they bought with debt.

And when the day comes when you finally pay off that last credit card account, you will have a huge sense of satisfaction, knowing that you have done what many people attempt, but few actually do.

Also, if you are looking for a balance transfer credit card to bring interest down, www.1-2-3-creditcards.com has the best credit card offers. I would advise starting with Discover cards or Chase credit cards.

The abundance of credit provided to individuals in the 1990’s has created a climate of borrowers present day that are overleveraged, without proper cash flow and sinking jobs and careers.

There are many ways being advertised to get charge card debt help and relief, but many of them do not work or they provide temporary benefits, but long-term problems.

In the economic climate of today, there are many companies primarily debt consolidation firms that claim to provide services to aid their clients in credit card debt relief. Here’s how debt consolidation works:

Debt consolidation agencies require clients to go 6-12 months without making payment on their debt. After this time period has elapsed, the agency will contact your creditors and negotiate your debt at a reduced rate. After a settlement has been negotiated, the client is required to make monthly payments to the debt consolidation agency. The amount you pay is based on your new negotiated debt, and is supposed to be less than the amount you would have been paying had you continued paying your monthly credit bills without the debt consolidation plan.

Here’s the problem with debt consolidation agencies:

In order for them to negotiate the lower rates, the debt consolidation agency requires you stop payments in order to leverage their ability to get you a reduced rate. Your creditors are willing to reduce the rate at this point because they are distressed in their attempt to collect your debt, and would much prefer to get something than nothing. The problem with this course of action is that during those 6-12 months you’re not paying your bills, your credit suffers. This can cause interest rates on your home and auto loans to increase, as well as auto insurance premium increases.

Debt consolidation is amongst the most popular route many people are mistakenly taking to fix their credit. As stated above the long-term negatives do not outweigh the short-term positives.

If you really want to get credit card account debt help, you need to do one or all of the following:

Negotiate a lower annual percentage rate:

Negotiating a lower interest is one of the easiest and most over-looked options to credit card account debt help and relief. If you’ve been responsible about making your monthly payments and have consistently been paying at least double or more of the minimum payment your credit card company will more than likely be willing to negotiate a lower annual percentage rate. There are many agencies that sell this service such as debt consolidation agencies, but they don’t tell you that you can do it on your own.

The primary benefit of a lower interest rate is that more of your monthly payment is applied to your principle balance as opposed to interest payments therefore allowing you to pay of your charge card debt faster. If you have charge card debt in excess of $5,000, negotiating your APR is great because the savings in interest payment will become visible a lot faster due to the amount of your balance.

Balance transfer:

A balance transfer is not an option that is the most responsible, because your essentially “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” however it’s all about numbers. If your credit card account debt is high but your credit score is in the mid to upper 600’s you should be able to obtain more charge card accounts. If this is the case, a balance transfer is a great option for charge card accounts with high annual percentage rates.

For example, if you have a current credit card account with a 23% APR and you can get approved for a credit card account with a 10% fixed rate or 0% introductory rate, you could then do a balance transfer and transfer your high interest credit card account debt to your new low interest charge card account. You will see your principle balance drastically drop since more of your monthly payment is being applied to the principle.

Non-profit agency representation:

Non-profit agency representation is for individuals in circumstances who were legitimately taken advantage of by a creditor and they can provide proof in the terms and services of the creditors’ statements. This is a far stretch for most people and non-profits are very picky about who they represent since many of these cases do not get awarded in the debtors favor.

Michael Price has gone through the struggles of personal finance and has discovered solutions to many of the biggest problems that cause financial instability. Michael has published a guide to charge card debt help and personal finance. Checkout the guide at: chaoticonformity.com to get information and solutions to your financial wows.

Also, you can try talking to your bank. The best credit card companies to deal with in financial hardship situations are Discover cards and Chase cards.

Read below for all ask and question about charge card. I had tried my best to compress all of these tips for credit card account owners, tips on charge card account consolidation, how to reduce credit card account debt and how to face credit card debt efficiently so that you can easily apply in your daily usage of charge card.

Not all people happy each time their employer pay them. Why not? That salary needs to be divided for compulsory expenses. Other than house loan, car loan and basic needs, there were peoples became dizzy because the money left need to pay for credit card account debt. If just one credit card account which need to be paid, it will not become a problem. If they have three or more credit cards? This is an affect for not managing finance properly. Credit card that should be used in time of necessity has been used as a ‘ticket’ for over expense like buying unnecessary things.

Tips On Credit Card Consolidation

Do you really need a charge card account?

Many people get confused of charge card account function. Credit card is one facility to make payments, based on the concept of buy first, pay later. The use of credit card account also avoiding any risk when carrying too much cash along.

Credit card function also determined based on limit value of its credit. However, most people look this credit as the total that they can spend. Actually, charge card account is payment facility for them which qualified to afford paying their charge card account debt fully.

From financial aspects: Qualification to own charge card.

This case depends on individual financial position. First, you should know what your financial position is. When using credit card, you should be able and discipline in paying. Then, ask yourself what is the use of that credit card account. Credit card should be used in case of emergency like not enough cash. With increasing cost of living now, the ideal finance qualification is at least $800 per month income.

The information that you should knows before applying credit card.

The most important thing, you need to ensure yourself that you’re really understand charge card account function as payment facility. Then, you need to analyze your expenditure habit to be sure whether you should use credit card account. You also have to ask yourself whether you afford to repay your credit card debt fully with disciplined.

You should realize that if charge card debt paid half, you will face high interest charge, overtop personal loan. So, you need to scout first to seek best credit card account offer from banks. Some banks offer annual fee repeal, create combination with some product’s manufacturer and give a discount for any payments using credit card account. Some of them also give accumulated points that can be changed with goods.

Do you needs more than one charge card?

Two are the most. It’s not caused by higher credit limit. Two cards that were mentioned are Visa and MasterCard. Some business premise only receive visa card and vice versa.

How to reduce credit card account debt and its burden?

You should pay fully you charge card account debt immediately after used to avoid the burden of interest charge. For example, credit card account usage when shopping in sales promotion. You need to plan the repayment of that usage. Avoid using charge card without planning its payment first.

Suppose that you face the burden of interest charge of charge card which exceeded your ability to pay.

1. 1. Stop paying using credit card account. Maybe you should leave your charge card accounts at home to avoid using it.

2. Review your monthly outgoings and find the way to reduce any expenditure that doesn’t necessary so that this surplus revenue can be used to pay back your credit card account debt.

3. Change your lifestyle, such as reduce eating or amuse off could also help. Apart from that, try to get additional income resources, for example doing part-time jobs to settle your debt.

The most important thing is you should realize that you actually facing a financial problem and must do something to settle it.

As APR of charges of personal loan from financial institution was lower than interest rate of charges of credit card account, can loan be made to resolve your credit card debt?

Personal loan can also be made as an alternative to resolve charge card debt because its interest charge is lower. However, if this way also can’t resolve your credit card debt problems, you advised to get any services of Counseling and Credit Management’s agencies to do debt restructuring that had been borne. After committing this restructuring, you should still disciplining yourself in paying your charge card account debt.

The way to control charge card account usage and the best practice to use this facility.

You should use charge card with full responsibility. Use charge card as payment facility and at the same time enjoys its advantages. For example, airline ticket was attached together with free trip insurance if booked on-line and paid using credit card account. That’s why we should be a wise consumer. Credit card is not a bad thing, but it all depends on how we use it.

All of these tips for credit card owners can be applied for everybody. For newbies in charge card account, please control your usage and just use it if needed. And the best, avoid it. But, with current world status, it’s impossible for not using credit card.

If you need a credit card, you can find the best credit card offers at www.1-2-3-creditcards.com. I advise starting with Discover credit cards or Chase cards.

A look into Credit Card Debt Reduction Companies

Hi my name is Stephen Bis and I have been working in the charge card debt reduction industry for over 10 years now and have been in the financial industry for over 20 years. The reason for me putting up this hub is to give American consumers a heads up on charge card account debt reduction companies also known as debt settlement or debt negotiation companies. I will give you the advantages and drawbacks of this process and what to look out for when speaking with a company to assist you in getting out of debt. Before I go any further I would like to let you know this will be a pretty long article and by the end of it my goal is to have you completely comprehend how the debt negotiation/settlement method works in case you don’t already know and I would like you to know the tactics of companies out there that don’t truly have your best interest in mind.

For starters I would like to state that the procedure of debt negotiation as your means of credit card account debt reduction isn’t for all, some folks are more qualified for bankruptcy and others simply don’t have the right mindset to go forward with this process.

I would like you to first understand what debt negotiation is and how it works. The ultimate goal of a debt negotiator is to obtain a debt settlement for the client on the current debt amount owed to the creditor. So for example you may owe one particular creditor $20,000 so the goal of the negotiator would be to have you end up paying back at most around $12,000. The two primary benefits of going through this process are to save cash on what you currently owe the credit card account companies and to save time. By merely paying the minimum payment with even a moderate APR you will be looking at thirty or more years to get out of debt, with a manageable debt negotiation program you will be out of charge card account debt within three years or sooner depending on your current financial situation and how fast you can accumulate the funds to do so.

Now you must realize these are tremendous financial advantages but as with everything in life there are a few downsides, nothing is perfect and this credit card account debt reduction procedure is certainly no different. First off your creditors will not be in a position to negotiate a debt settlement at all if you are current and on time with your minimum payments. They would love for you to stay running on their credit treadmill for the next three decades and pay them back over five times the balance in interest alone. So to be clear the account must be into default first in order to begin the process of negotiations with the charge card account companies. I’m not advocating someone who is perfectly capable of paying to quit paying their bills. This process is really for someone who is already in default or realizes that it’s only a matter of time before they will default.

So naturally for many people the beginning of this procedure will have an adverse effect on their credit rating. For the consumers who are already in a default status then the negative effect will be no different than it already is. It’s sad to say but for some people this will be the one factor that holds them back from going into debt settlement making them a slave to their creditors for the at least the next three decades. But there is good news, this negative effect does not last forever, in fact once the settlements get paid off your credit score will begin to recover and shoot back up. The reason is because over 30% of your credit rating according to Fair Isaac’s MyFICO is based on how much debt you owe. So if you are trapped in a bad debt situation even if you are up to date with your payments your score is more than likely not all that great in the first place; and besides when stuck deep in debt your number one priority should be on how to get out of charge card account debt as soon as you can, not on your ability to accrue future debt.

Now by falling behind on your payments you must realize that these creditors are just not going to leave you alone, they will be calling to attempt to collect the debt. For some people this is not an issue at all, for others it is, that is why I mentioned above this process is not for everybody and the consumer must be in the right mind set. From all my years of helping American consumers there is no rhyme or reason to how many collection calls you will receive, some clients of mine rarely get calls while others get them on a daily basis. Something to keep in mind too is that no organization has the power to legally stop the calls, so any company that tells you they can is flat out lying. Some companies may be able to cut back some of the calls but no one can guarantee them all stopping. As you can see like I said earlier there are advantages and drawbacks, but if you are willing to accept the drawbacks you will be quickly on the road to debt freedom and will save a ton of cash in the process. Now to get to why I named this article “credit card debt reduction scams”.

We living in the United States over the last few years have been going through a very bad downswing in our economy. Thus forcing many consumers into compromising positions financially, leaving large sums of Americans riddled with credit card debt. So understandably this opened up a much bigger marketplace for debt reduction. Many fly by night organizations have been shooting up all over our nation, many of which are ex mortgage lenders who sold people sketchy loans and helped them get into this messy position to begin with. Now I use the word “scam” which can take on a couple of different meanings, while sure there are some companies out there that are flat out scams and have no real intent on doing any work for you at all, most of the times that is not the case. Instead a lot of companies simply don’t offer people all the truths on how debt negotiation works nor do they honestly put them on a plan to succeed, which I will explain more in depth momentarily.

One common problem that many folks have with debt settlement companies is they do not fully disclose to them about how the process is going to work, instead they sugar coat everything and go on about the wonderful benefits. I have spoken with numerous amounts of people who have enrolled with a company and were under the impression that they were going to stay current and be on time with their creditors and will never receive any collection calls. So without needing to mention this became a big problem once they began the program.

Another big problem a lot of these companies have is misleading people into the type of savings they will be receiving on their debts. Some companies will say they can save you 70% of what you currently owe. Now while they may achieve getting settlements that low what their opting not to tell you is how much you will be saving after you have A) paid their service fees, and B) paid back your creditors. Truthful companies will tell you what your true savings will be. If you will save somewhere between 40-50% of what you owe including their fees and paying the creditors than that is pretty darn sweet of a deal. In addition most of these companies will try and guarantee a certain percentage of savings, if you hear this run for the hills. NO one in this industry can guarantee a certain amount that is why it is called DEBT NEGOTIATION! They are negotiating to get a settlement for as low as they can get. With that being said right now some companies are achieving amazing results because of how badly the creditors need cash due to this bad economy. There has never been such an opportune time for consumers who are struggling badly with debt to take advantage of the great savings they could realize from debt settlement. Perhaps being one of the only benefits of this horrible recession.

Then there are the companies who will let you pay whatever you can afford to sign up with their program. These are the most evil because they do not actually have your interest at heart and know they are putting you on a program to fail and not succeed. You must realize to achieve the sort of savings I stated above this process should take no more than three years, preferably two or less, in some rare cases it can be extended to four. And the bottom line is some people realistically cannot afford to get it done in that time schedule and should realistically be looking into a bankruptcy proceeding. What these unprincipled charge card account debt reduction companies will do is place you onto a program for 4 or more years and basically take whatever payment you will give them. Knowing full well you are not going to be saving much of any real amount of cash and will more than likely flunk off the program, all they are concerned with is getting the fees and that is it. A sincere company will thoroughly review your finances with you and make sure this is something that you can budget, as well as fully clarify to you both the benefits and drawbacks of doing this. And let you make the conscience choice as to whether this is the best charge card account debt reduction method for your state of affairs.

Another extremely effective way to evaluate a company is to make sure they are registered with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and that they are in good standings with a very little amount of complaints. And if there are complaints make sure they were resolved to the clients liking.

If you do not want to use a financial help company, you can always call your bank. The best credit card companies to deal with in financial hardship situations are Discover credit cards and Chase cards.

HOW TO SETTLE WITH CREDIT CARD COMPANIES

Why should you listen to me? I had $75,000 in charge card account debt and I settled it for $21,000.

If you have the money or can get the cash, (friends/relatives) to settle with credit card account companies…do it! Will settling with credit card account companies ding your credit? Yep. Should you care? Yes. But not so much. Obviously everyone is different…but every one’s credit is dinged these days, and people with outstanding credit can’t buy things like they use too. You can start rebuilding your credit right away and have it back enough to buy a house in a couple years.

QUICK THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

The charge card companies will send you a 1099 form for the difference for which you settle. In our case we will get a 1099 for $54,000 (ie income on our taxes) at the end of the year.

IF…you are insolvent (we are) ie, you owe more than you are worth. As I said, in our case we’ll get a 1099 for $54,000. But currently we owe more money (charge cards, house, a second mortgage) than we have. So the 1099…It doesn’t count against us! As an example, your house being upside down is good in determining this. We are upside down by like $66k…that put us over the top.

SO..if you are insolvent…it will not count against your taxes. It (the 1099) just goes away.
Do not charge things on you cards or take cash out for over $600 before you stop paying them. That’s fraud. If you have taken out large amounts, you better be able to prove it is not fraud, and you really need to wait at least 3 months before not paying your cards.

Your credit card account companies will not work with you until you are behind on payments. I know…stupid…but true.

Do not threaten them (charge card account companies) with talk of credit card companyruptcy. That’s your ace in the hole. Also don’t be arrogant with them when they call to collect. They are just doing their jobs and 9 out of 10 of them will be at the least fair and at the most understanding. Now when your debt is sold to a “collection agency”…then the rules change. But lets not go there…you will see why.

Lets Get Started

 Stop Paying Credit Card Bills Today!
KEEP VERY GOOD NOTES WHEN YOU STOPPED PAYING, AND THE INFORMATION TOLD TO THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY OVER THE PHONE.   THIS WILL BE VERY HELPFUL IN THE FUTURE.  

Between 1 month and 3 months they will call you and try and collect. They will actually be understanding and nice. Just be honest, say you are tying to get money together but you don’t have enough to pay right now.

After or around 90 days start asking them things like “is there anything you can do, what options do you have?” They may or may not bring up settlement. If they don’t tell them your parents will loan you (whatever 15% of the amount you owe) to settle with any charge card account company we owe that is willing to settle…don’t say 15%. Give them the amount, not a percentage.   If you have enough cash to settle, never admit it.  As far as they know you are going to borrow it.  Is this fair?  Yes.  Why?  If you can’t pay your bills and go lenderrupt…the charge cards will get FAR less than you will pay them.  We were in no position to pay everyone back and not file bankruptcy without this option.

They will come back (almost laughing at you) when you tell them how much you can get.  They will probably say that they can’t do that…but they can settle for 85%. “Thank you, but I can’t afford that, so let me try to get some money together and see if I can get caught up”.  Is your response

This will happen back and forth for a month or two…it will get down to 50% and it will seem like they will not go lower! They will.

They may also give you a deal…where the conversation has led to them agreeing with you at 35%. The company person will say, “so you can pay 35%…let me take it to our managers to see if they can do it”. It will NOT happen. Unless you are in the 160-180 day range they’ll come back and tell you they couldn’t do it…but they would take 50%.

But between 160 days and 180 days the serious negotiations begin. We had 5 charge cards (Chase / Bank of America / Capital One),  Bank of America was the best, easiest to deal with.  I really appreciated that…no games.  At like 165 days Chase who all along said they could not go below 35% threw 45% at me…and when I hesitated dropped down to 30%. Deal!

There is EVERY bit of a chance we could have gotten them to 20% if not better. I’ve heard stories. We did not want to take the chance that it would go to collections (agency) and having to start all over with them.  Plus…lets be real. We owed the cash, they didn’t force us to use the cards. But they sure didn’t mind charging us the loan shark annual percentage rates fees.  Nobody is innocent here.. So don’t feel bad like you are doing a bad thing…it cuts both ways.

Once they settle…they will give you 3-6 months to pay (3-6 payments…usually 3-4)…you kinda can pick your terms. They will give you an agreement letter telling what they will do.

THINGS YOU SHOULD & SHOULDN’T DO:

SHOULD: Answer all phone calls. If you answer calls on say the first day of the week (or whenever), you might not and should not hear from them for another week.  If you avoid them they will make several calls a day and even start to look for alternative ways to reach you.

If you have voice mail (recorder)…put your first names in the message. This way they know it’s you, and they won’t try and call anyone else .

DO NOT give them ANY personal information on yourself or anyone in your family. They will ask about your income, your spouse…where they work…where you work. You are not obligated by law to answer their questions…other than the basic. Just tell them “it isn’t relevant where you or your partner works and that you are doing your best to get cash together to make a payment…that is what you are trying to do”.

Finally, the best credit card companies to work with in this situation are Discover cards and Chase cards.

Credit Card Consolidation clubs or consolidates debts into one account. The advantages are many – for one, debt consolidation means more convenience Credit card consolidation involves merging your credit card account balances into one, lower interest account. All charge card account consolidation strategies have one thing in common. Credit card consolidation could save your cash and time if you are in heavy debt due to overspending and mismanagement of credit. You can fall into multiple debt traps if you go on spending on several credit card accounts that you hold.

Credit card consolidation is moving your balances from multiple credit cards to a single charge card or loan. Many times people will move their high interest balances to a low interest rate charge card. Credit card consolidation helps you to avoid paying high interest on your charge card bills. So, if you’d like to obtain lower rates on your cards, get credit card account debt help from a debt consolidation company. Credit card consolidation debt can just be from a number of unsecured credits into one more unsecured credit, but more frequently it engages a protected loan next to a benefit that serves as security, most usually a house. In this case, an advance is secured next to the house.

Debt sometimes happens just because life is that way, such as a lost employment, medical emergency or plain old bad luck. Debt can throw finances out of order and make it seem impossible to get back under control, or sometimes it is just because we spend more than we make just to make our monthly ends meet. Debt consolidation can simply be from a number of unsecured loans into another unsecured loan, but more often it involves a secured loan against an asset that serves as collateral, most commonly a house. In this case, a mortgage is secured against the house. Debt Settlement may be the answer for you.

Debt consolidation loans on the other hand do not to negatively affect your credit score, although certainly if your debt-to-income ratio is suffering, this debt relief option will not help it. Debt consolidation typically works within your budget to set a monthly payment that you can afford, so, there’s no excuse for missing payments. Debt consolidation can help make your finances manageable.

Debt free living is easy if you never spend more than you have. Using cash only is a great way to do it. Debt Consolidation refinance loans can also produce a positive impact on credit scores. Credit reporting agencies place a large emphasis on an individual’s “credit mix”.

Debt management will help you consolidate your unsecured debts which include but are not limited to medical bills, unsecured loans, student loans, and credit card accounts into one low monthly payment. This will also allow you to save and get back on top while restoring your credit worthiness.

Interest rates are one of the keys to managing credit card account debt. If you have a high balance on a high interest credit card account, you are spending a lot of cash to “borrow” that money from the charge card company. Interest rates and loan costs are typically lower than that of a cash advance loan, and will even improve your credit rating once it’s fully paid off. In most cases, home equity lines of credit are also tax deductible. Interestingly enough, however, some experts say individuals who take out a home equity loan to pay off charge card debt accumulate similar debt in a two-year period.

Bankruptcy ruins your credit. Only debt settlement offers peace of mind and a fresh start. Bankruptcy is not your only option!

Loan consolidation is the best way to combine all your debts in to one, and pay one single lower monthly payment, which makes your financial situation easier. While you go for consolidate debt you will be qualify for lower interest rate than actually what you were paying.

Credit card consolidation is a procedure that collects all credit from several different cards into one lump sum to be paid off. This can be done with either loans or balance transfers to a low interest charge card account. Credit card consolidation is being catching on in the form of a smart and popular way, especially for consumers for lowering their ‘debt levels’. The way in which credit card consolidation operates is as follows: you acquire a new-fangled credit card account, that too, with good ‘credit line’. Credit card consolidation is considered an option when a person possesses a multitude of charge card account accounts that have become very difficult to control. It is too easy to extend charge card account debt and when added together the amount that one could pay out each month can add up to a substantial percentage of the household expenditure.

Credit card consolidation is not the perfect solution to credit card debt, but those who are struggling to make their monthly payments and continually making late payments may benefit from this type of arrangement. The truth is this: Debt can never be eliminated, but annual percentage rate debt can.
Credit card consolidation is ideal for anyone who is looking to have better credit now, and in the future. Consolidation is very common these days, and it is actually a sure way to combine your debt and make sure that you never get yourself too far in credit.

Personal debt in the US exceeds $8 trillion and in the UK the debt is around $2 trillion. This article provides advice on trying to stay on top of your credit card debts.

Financial experts are of the opinion that in majority of the instances consumers are cheated because of their ignorant nature. Even the BBB or the Better Business Bureau has urged consumers to have a clear idea of the debt help program they are opting for. Financial institutions rely on highly computerised credit rating systems, and co-operate with each other in providing details of bad credit risks. Hence the concept of the black list or black listing or being black listed.

Consumers can get help through consolidating their debts and multiple loans. The new loan will cost them lower rates of interest and save time as they have to repay only one lender instead of many.

Start with defining debt consolidation and the types of debt consolidation. Start using your debit cards instead of your credit card accounts and you will find that this will curb your passion to spend on plastic. You will go overdrawn in your lender account if you have not got enough money to cover your purchases.

People these days are seeking help of the credit counseling agencies as these agencies help a lot in shaping the right and effective decision. There are certain credit counseling agencies that offer proper counseling for the people who want to go for credit card consolidation loans.

Finally, the best charge card companies to deal with in a financial hardship situation are Discover credit cards and Chase cards.