subject: Debt Relief: May Be Easier Than You Realize! [print this page] Debt Relief: May Be Easier Than You Realize!
If you are looking for debt relief, there are many things you can do to relieve your debt. Some of them include debt consolidation, debt settlement, debt management, a self repayment plan, and bankruptcy (although that would be a last resort). The purpose of debt relief should be doing what it takes to relieve (lower) your debt so that you can pay off your debt entirely and hopefully, stay out of debt.
Debt consolidation is consolidating (moving) all your debt into one place (on one credit card) so that you have one easy monthly payment and one low interest rate. It can be confusing to have several credit cards all with different payment deadlines, rates, charges, and rules. Chances are a lot higher you will forget to pay one on time, or lose one of the bills for that matter. Lots of times, when you consolidate your debt, you can get a lower interest rate, which will save you money and help you to be able to pay your payments.
Debt settlement is the process of negotiating to reduce the amount of debt you owe. Lots of times this is done by a third party (a settlement company). With reduced debt, your payments could go from impossible to pay to very affordable payments. It is, of course, very important to not continue to add onto the debt once payments become affordable because otherwise you will eventually be back to where you started, unable to make your payments.
Debt management is managing your debt, which would include the interest rate, fees, charges, and your actual payments. Managing your debt is the process of doing what you can to lower your interest rate and waive or reduce any ongoing fees and charges so that you can manage your payments into smaller (and hopefully, affordable) payments.
A self repayment plan is a plan that you formulate either by yourself or with the help of a third party to help you get out of debt. It is important to not only pay a set amount each month to ensure getting out of debt, but to not add to the debt at all. If all else fails, you can declare bankruptcy and just not ever pay, but that will ruin your credit, forcing you to pay cash for things. So, you may as well pay cash for things while building up your credit instead of paying cash for things because you can't use credit or get a loan for anything.
