subject: Bad Credit Loans: How To Deal With The Aftermath [print this page] Let's face it: there's plenty of advice out there for dealing with bad credit loans. But what happens when you've unknowingly bitten the bullet and signed up for a bad credit loan or bad credit financing - and now you're stuck dealing with sky-high interest rates and exorbitant minimum payments? The first thing to do is not to panic: there's a way to deal with this. Sure, it may feel like you're running out of options when you're barely making the minimum payment each month - but there is a way to reduce your interest rates without resorting to expensive lawyers. Try using one or more of these techniques, and watch how your bad credit loan quickly shapes up into a smart money move:
By law, loans for people with bad credit cannot exceed the 30% interest rate mark. So if your bad credit loan has skyrocketed past this legal point, then immediately report them to your local consumer watchdog company. They'll take up your case for you, which usually results in the loan company backing down from their sky-high interest rates.
Understand more about how your bad credit financing works. For example, if you have credit cards for bad credit, then it's likely that you'll be socked with high interest rates if you maintain a balance for too long. Here's a helpful hint: immediately pay off any payments you've made with the card. Interest rates apply to card balances - and if there's no balance, then there's no interest rate. Brilliant!
When it comes to loans bad credit, never underestimate the power of negotiation. Lenders and banks would rather lower your minimum payments and interest rates rather than lose you as a customer. After all, if you can't pay the credit card, then they're not making a single penny off of you! Call up your lender's customer service team and explain your financial hardship to them; if they seem unwilling to budge, threaten to cancel the card. They'll usually relent after you reveal this hardball move.
Bad credit loans don't have to be synonymous with outrageous interest rates and minimum payments - just use it smartly, and communicate with your lenders for the best result!