There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ recommendation is possible when considering the right amount of debt to assume. But that doesn’t mean there are no good guidelines at all.Naturally, credit card companies and other lenders are happy to make available as much money as they think their borrowers will repay. They take risks, but those are calculated risks. They look at default rates, current interest rates and carefully review credit history when they make loans. Borrowers can benefit by following some aspects of their strategy. Continue reading →

Credit card debt  is the worst of all nightmares. Wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of all that debt?  No more hassling phone calls and mailers, no more stressful nights wondering how you are going to make ends meet.

Credit card debt settlement can help by reducing the amount of debt owed to the bill collector.

You can approach credit card debt settlement in 2 ways. You can either go for credit card debt settlement all by yourself or you can take advice from a credit counselling company or a professional.

Any of these credit card debt settlement methods are fine, as long as they work for you and help you get debt-free quickly. If you go for credit card debt settlement all by yourself, you will need to analyse the various options available to you e.g. checking on various balance transfer offers available in the market, checking the short term loan options with the banks etc etc.

However, if you want to take credit card debt settlement advice from a professional, you need to be a bit careful.  For one thing, you should be able to trust the advisor fully. So you need to check the credentials of the credit card debt settlement advisor/company.

There are many debt settlement companies that advertise will promise to get rid of your debt virtually overnight. Be suspicious of these companies, 9 out of 10 times their advice or offers are not genuine.

A credit card debt settlement cannot erase your debt overnight.  What they can do is negotiate with your creditors for lower fees, give you genuine credit card debt settlement advice, and help you throughout until you are finally out of debt.  The credit card debt settlement companies/advisors will be able to help you in the best way if you tell them your current financial situation correctly. Your future plans are important too, as they might influence the decision on ‘What route for credit card debt settlement would work the best for you’.

Many people find that over time they have accumulated more debt than they can repay. When that happens, there is a reinforcing downward spiral. The inability to repay the debt leads to additional interest charges and penalties, making it still harder to repay the amount owed.When this happens, some people turn to debt consolidation. For thousands, this has seemed like the way out, the way back to financial health. However, there are pros and cons to debt consolidation, no matter what form it takes. Being aware of those will help you decide if it is the salvation in your particular circumstances. Continue reading →

Is consolidating credit card debt a good way to control your bills? You’ve see seen many credit card consolidation commercials and wondered if it is right for you.

Many debt experts believe that the the first step towards addressing the problem of credit card debt is to consolidate credit card debt.

But what is the best way to consolidate credit card debt? Do you just go with that attractive ad in the newspaper that says ‘…the lowest APR in the town is available here’?

There are always a number of offers available for you to choose from. The credit card suppliers keep coming with new and more attractive offers asking you to consolidate credit card debt with them. However, when you go lookingto consolidate credit card debt, you must be keenly looking for these 3 things (in terms of APR) – introductory APR, introductory APR period and the standard APR.

Let’s see how each one is important.

Introductory APR
Introductory APR is probably the most important thing to look for when you are looking to consolidate credit card debt. If you consolidate credit card debt to a card that has a low introductory APR e.g. 0%, the first thing you get is a breather/relief in terms of the rate at which your credit card debt has been growing. Based on how long that 0% APR period is (generally you will look to consolidate credit card debt with a credit card supplier who offers 0% initial APR), you will at least be able to temporarily break the growth rate of your credit card debt.

Standard APR
The longer the introductory period, the better.  But, you shouldn’t ignore the standard APR when you consolidate credit card debt. This is the interest rate that will be applied to your balance after the expiry of the introductory low APR period that was given to lure you to consolidate credit card debt with that credit card supplier. If the standard APR is too high and you know that you will not be able to clear off the entire credit card debt during the low APR period, that credit card is probably not the best for you to consolidate credit card debt to. However, if you think that you will be able to clear off the entire credit card debt during that period, you can make some compromises on the standard APR of the credit card to which you consolidate credit card debt.

Can I get out of credit card debt?

Yes, you can get out of credit card debt, anybody can. It’s not an easy road, but if you are determined to get out of credit card debt you surely can get out of it.

All you need to get out of credit card debt is determination and planning. Ask yourself this question:

• “What will I get if I am able to get out of credit card debt?”
• “What difference will it make”
• “What’s in it for me”
• “Is it really beneficial to get out of credit card debt”.

Use the answers to build your determination. Imagine a time when all the harassing mail and phone calls by creditors/collection agencies will be gone. This will help you to strengthening your determination and provide you with a reason on why you should endeavour to get out of credit card debt.

Think about the stress-free life after you get out of credit card debt. Try to link various reasons together and try to see the benefits through them. All these collectively will help in bolstering your determination and prevent it from getting weak at any point in time.

The second thing that you need to get out of credit card debt is proper planning.

Start by making a list of the credit cards that you currently posses and noting the debt and the APR for each of them. The sum total of all these various credit card debts, will give you the total credit card debt. You also need to check if you have been defaulting on payments on some of these credit cards (and hence incurring a late fee). You will need to avoid that and put it on the plan you have prepared to get out of credit card debt.

The next step in getting out of credit card debt is to check your current financial position and make an assessment of what you expect your future financial position to be. Next comes the research to check the various balance transfer offers available in the market; to see if one of these can prove beneficial to you.

Use all this information to calculate how much time you will require to get out of credit card debt and how you will distribute the debt payment across your various credit cards (ensuring that you payoff the debt that is hitting you the most and also ensuring that you don’t incur late fee on any credit card payments)

There are many reasons to consider mortgage refinances.  When rates are low, mortgage refinancing can lower your monthly payment.  It can also lower the amount of interest you have to pay over the life of the loan.But as a method of adjusting debt it has some drawbacks that should be considered before making that big step. Continue reading →