subject: Debt Management Plans - Are They The Solution That You Have Been Looking For? [print this page] Debt Management Plans - Are They The Solution That You Have Been Looking For?
Debt problems can quite easily take over anyone's life - financially and emotionally. The problem that most people face is the stigma that surrounds owing large amounts of money and the inevitable depression that it causes; not to mention the stress of having it on your mind 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although it is much easier said than done, there are ways to overcome your financial trouble and, if you are prepared to put the time and effort in, you will come out of your economic black hole a better person.
Instead of choosing to declare yourself bankrupt and causing yourself a good few years of economic hardship with refused loans due to a bad credit rating, one alternative is to contact a third party, such as a credit counseling agency, that can help you organize and control your current debts through the design and implementation of a debt management plan.
To define a debt management plan (DMP hereafter) in simple terms, it is a contract between a debtor and their creditor(s) in which a specified amount of money is paid back to the creditors over a stated period of time in order to pay back their withstanding arrears. A DMP is most commonly arranged for a term of between 3 and 5 years and can either be paid for by the creditors, or the debtors of the liability though an added percentage of the monthly payments.
The DMP proposal will be made stipulating fees that the debtor can reasonably afford to make based on their income and expenditure on essential items such as food, utility bills, and mortgage or rent. The creditors then are able to accept the DMP at their own discretion and can request yearly reviews to make sure that the debtor is paying as much as they can afford given the circumstances.
The fact that by entering into a debt management plan, you will not have any further communication with your creditors, is probably the most important reason for setting up a DMP. Also, if you do not trust yourself to regularly make payments on time, every month then you probably need a DMP to keep control of your finances. A drawback to DMPs is that the fees that most organizations demand can be quite a high percentage of your monthly payments, which ultimately, does not help your financial situation except to keep it in control.
Ultimately, unless there are really are no other options available to you then you should avoid setting up a DMP. The reason for this is that a debt management plan will increase the term of your debt repayments and there is also no guarantee that your creditor(s) will approve a debt management plan.
